Cauliflower Soup with Rye Bread: There’s nothing quite like the smooth, nutty, earthy, warmth of a freshly made bowl of Creamy Cauliflower Soup. It just clings to your insides and warms you right up. The home baked rye bread synced with the soups toasty, earthy, sweetness; a flavor which was reflected in Boulevard Beer’s Love Child 4. However, the lactobaccillus and brettanomyces in this Barrel Aged Wild Ale brought some new flavors to the party too, dark fruit character with a burst of sour tartness to contract the soup’s nutty sweetness and provide balance to the meal. All while the beer’s funky notes kept the meal focused on the earthy theme.

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Chicken And Corn Chowder with Caesar Salad: Continuing Soup Month 2015 with a brawny Caesar salad and richly flavored soup. Strangeways’ Placebo Pils (an interesting beer brewed to celebrate the brewery’s first anniversary; utilizing Cascade, Centennial, Citra, Galena, Palisade, Opal, and Saphir hops) was uniquely qualified to accompany this meal because it incorporated various hopping methods, which contributed to different flavor profiles in the final product. The mash hopping provided a spicy, peppery, piney bitterness that worked well with the sturdy salad; while hop bursting and dry hoping added some bright, hoppy, floral elements that worked well with the soup’s herbal character.

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Belated Beekeeping Update: Well before tucking the Bee Hives in for the winter, they were medicated with a proverbial “spoonful” of medicine. The Hop Beta Acids in BetaTec’s Hop Guard II come from natural #hop compounds and hopefully will provide a safe and natural way to keep any Varroa Mites under control.

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Chicken And Rice Soup and Molasses Dinner Rolls: After some time outside in the frosty weather exposed to frigid temperatures, a warm, comforting Chicken And Rice soup Beer Pairing might be just the ticket to melt through a body’s frozen exterior and snugly wrap its cozy warmth around you. Paired with Round Guys Brewery’s clean tasting, 100% #Brett fermented Pale Ale, Fear Of A Brett Planet. The caramel-y, bready-like malt character of the beer complemented the sweetness of the Molasses Rolls while the very mild barnyard taste from the Brettynomyces Bruxellensis played well with the rustically herbal flavors in the soup.

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Whole Wheat Apple Pie: Celebrated National Pie Day 2015 yesterday with delicious Homemade Apple Pie, garnished with homemade Apple Jelly made from the fruit’s natural pectin; complemented by a tall glass of Gluten Free Traditional Dry Commonwealth Ciders. While there are definitely some great beers that would pair nicely with the dish, this Cider Pairing was full of flavor and avoided a potential beer pairing pitfall by ensuring that the apple-y flavors did not come off as acetaldehyde, an off-flavor in beer.

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Caraway Beet Soup with Smoked Salmon Toast Points: Today is Beer Can Appreciation Day and the 80^th Anniversary of Canned Beer, so it only seems fitting to celebrate the utilitarian Beer Can with a Beer Pairing using a Can Of Craft Beer. Since the sun is setting on this snowy day, even Mother Nature herself approves of using a can of Round Guys Brewery’s Sundown Saison to mark the occasion. The Caraway seeds in the Beet Soup matched the toasted ground caraway in the home baked landbrot (rye bread), while the lemon pepper-y flavor of the cardamom in the soup complimented the spicy orange-y flavor of the coriander in the bread; all while the aromatic French yeast and the floral, citrus hops in the beer tied the meal together.

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Pineapple-jell bottomed Coconut Cream Pie with homemade Coconut Ice Cream: What could match with the fruity, tropical, Pina Colada-like flavors in Cisco Brewers Lady Of The Woods better than a Beer Pairing using fresh white coconut meat and caramelized pineapple? A slice of home baked coconut cream pie with a fruity pineapple jell bottom spiced with winter spices and rum, a dip of silky smooth homemade coconut ice cream with crunchy chunks of Fly Joy Bars to provide a healthy textural contrast, and a smear of pineapple sauce for garnish; a great winter Beer And Dessert pairing to end the day with.

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Lemongrass Pork Banh Mi and Ginger-Carrot Soup: Another flavorful Beer Pairing for National Soup Month 2015; a complementary pairing of Hardywood’s Saison Rustica (a Saison brewed with a blend of various peppercorns, star anise, and fresh lemongrass) and a homemade Asian inspired Soup And Sandwich combo. While the flavors in the meal were delicious on their own, the beer served as a bridge; bringing together the lemony-pepper of the Banh mi and the gingery-licorice of the soup in an affectionate embrace that elevated the meal in a way that would have been impossible without the beer.

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Resting White Tailed Deer: snuck up on some sleeping whitetails (nestled in among the grass) on an early morning hike; managed to get a few photographs before the herd fled with their tails in the iconic alarm posture.

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Mushroom Bisque Soup and Mushroom Toast: time to continue National Soup Month 2015 with a satin smooth Mushroom Soup Beer Pairing. The earthy flavor provided by the roasted Cacao Nibs and raw cacao powder in Modern Romance  (a dark ale born from collaboration between Midnight Sun Brewing Co’s and Modern Dwellers Chocolate’s) complimented the soup’s woodsy mushroom notes, while the beer’s spicy chili provided perfect punctuation, counterbalancing the meal.

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