KegWorks Blog

I know that the summer is over and the grilling season is quickly coming to an end. So, before you close up your grill, throw on one last steak and some Tequila.

Here is what you need:

1 cup of tequila
1 sliced lime
1 cup of chopped jalapeño pepper
Steak (your preference)
Toothpicks

Cooking Directions:

• Pound the steak for about 2 minutes.
• Place the steak, peppers and tequila in a bag and marinate overnight, turning occasionally.
• Remove steak from refrigerator, and stick the sliced limes to the steak with the toothpicks.
• Throw on the grill and pour the leftover marinate over the steak.
• Cook to your preference.

Serve with rice or potatoes with a side of pinto beans and tortillas.
Perfect with Red Stripe beer!

TAGS [ TEQUILA | RECIPES | GRILLING ]

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This week our top selling product was this Stainless Steel Combination Foot Rail Bracket. This bracket is popular because of its classic style, easy functionality and of course – its quality. These brackets fit 2-inch Outside Diameter bar foot rails and offer support to the face of the bar and the floor. Usually, brass is our best seller when it comes to foot rails, but this week, I guess everyone was looking for steel.

Adding bar foot rails gives your bar tons of added comfort and style. There is nothing like giving your guests a place to rest their feet at your bar! And, contrary to what you may think, installing bar foot rails is a relatively easy project that tons of home bar owners take on themselves.

We offer instructions on our site about what you need to know before you order your foot rails, and then how to install them.

If you want to take your bar to the next level, but have questions, you can always call one of our experts! They are more than happy to help you work through any specific needs that you may have!

TAGS [ BAR RAILS | FOOT RAILS | HOME BAR ]

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Although we didn’t fly out until Sunday afternoon, Saturday, July 21 was our last day of seminars at Tales of the Cocktail 2007 in New Orleans.

The first one we attended was called “Cocktails and the Blogosphere.” I could write at length about the presenters in this session, or I could take the easy way out and just link to their blogs so you can get to know them yourself - Paul Clarke, Chuck Taggert, Rick Stutz, and Darcy O’Neil. I found Mr. O’Neil to be the most interesting due to his unique combination of front-line bartending experience married with a formal education in chemistry.

The next session of the day was a very informative history lesson on Tiki drinks and culture called “Tiki Drinks from A to Zombie – Celebrating the Island Lifestyle.” When it comes to researching Tiki culture, session leader Jeff “Beachbum” Berry is about as un-laidback as possible. Fellow presenter and rum aficionado Wayne Curtis humorously described his Tiki tenacity when he said, “If you are an aging bartender who worked at Don the Beachcomber’s and are lying in a hospital, the last face you might see is Jeff Berry saying, ‘What was the secret ingredient in that drink?’”

In the session, Berry recounted the tale of Don the Beachcomber and the invention of the Tiki movement. There was some pretty fascinating stuff involving world travel, meticulous drink experimentation and cocktail espionage. I’m not going to ruin the stories for you by butchering and cramming them into this small space. I will, however, make a shameless plug for his new book, Sippin’ Safari, which contains the stories and is available right here at KegWorks.

Our final seminar of the day and the conference was focused on what many consider to be the world’s first flavored vodka, simply titled “Gin.” Juniper berries implemented in the distillation process give gin its pine flavor. I got to sample four distinctly different gins and left impressed with the knowledge of Simon Ford, session sponsor Plymouth Gin’s brand ambassador.

In the end, Tales of the Cocktail was about what I expected going in. I learned a lot about alcohol. I discovered an entire culture devoted to the art of mixing drinks. I met some extremely passionate people… passionate about cocktails. Yeah. That about sums it up. I need a beer.

TAGS [ COCKTAIL | COCKTAILS | TIKI ]

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It’s almost that time of year again; time for Oktoberfest - a true beer drinkers holiday. Oktoberfest celebrations will be held all over the world in the month of October, but the official dates for this year’s celebration from the home of the holiday in Munich, Germany are September 22nd to October 7th.

A special beer is brewed and served at the event called a Märzen or Maerzen. Märzens are lagers that are usually a bit darker and stronger than the more typical styles of lager beer served in Munich, and made to be drunk in large quantities. In 2006, 6.1 million liter mugs of beer were sold at the festival. The beer usually ranges from light to dark amber in color with sweet malts as the dominant characteristic of the style.

Two of my favorite Oktoberfest import brews are from two Munich brewers, Spaten and Paulaner. They are readily available at many supermarkets and beer stores in my area and start appearing in the shelves in early September. Both are a medium amber, very sweet and malty with very little hops. I am not positive that these are the exact beers served at Oktoberfest, but both taste great to me and are very drinkable.

A domestic Oktoberfest brew I enjoy is Saranac’s Octoberfest lager. When poured into glass Saranac’s version of a Märzen has a medium amber color a and light tight head. The nose is malty upfront with a peppery undertone of German Saaz and Tettnag hops. The taste is full of sweet roasted malt that tastes like caramel with a hint of vanilla that is cut off by the spicy bitterness of German hops that pleasantly linger on the pallet. Overall this beer is much more hoppy than German import Oktoberfest Märzen, but equally drinkable.

So grab your favorite Märzen, invite some friends, and have your own little Oktoberfest.

TAGS [ OCTOBERFEST | OKTOBERFEST | BEER | BEER REVIEW ]

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This motto has served me well over the years. Sometimes life starts to get to you and you need to get away. I’ve been getting very close to that point. So I’m getting out of town for a few days. Some guys go fishing or hunting, while others head for the beach. I go to Cleveland.

Cleveland????

Before you judge, let me explain. I spent my college years and most of my 20’s living in C-Town. From those 10 years came some great friends, a love for Ohio State Football and Indians baseball and a bevy of drinking establishments that hold special places in my heart. One particular place I would like to tell you about is the Great Lakes Brewing Company.

Founded in 1988, Great Lakes Brewing was the first microbrewery in the state of Ohio. Located at 2516 Market Avenue, the brewery and brewpub was once the home to the notorious Market Tavern. Be sure to ask about the bullet holes in the mahogany bar rumored to come from the Market Tavern’s most famous patron, Eliot Ness.

Now let’s get to the beer. Great Lakes Brewing is known for its Dortmunder Gold Lager, but be sure to try the Burning River Pale Ale or the Edmond Fitzgerald Porter. These have decent distribution so I can usually find these in Buffalo, sometimes even on tap. What I love about being in Cleveland is that you can find a wide variety Great Lakes beers everywhere you go, bottle or draught. Lunch at the brewpub is on the agenda for Saturday and I’m already looking forward to the Oktoberfest and the Prohibition Pilsner.

So if a boys’ weekend with two visits to Jacobs Field, a round of golf, watching my favorite football team with my best friends and drinking my favorite beers for two days doesn’t relax me…I’m not sure anything will.

TAGS [ BEER | GREAT LAKES BREWING | CLEVELAND ]

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So, today I pulled a report of our top selling products (by volume) in the last 7 days. You would think that, with our customers, (being the beer drinkers that they are) our number one product might be tap handles, couplers, or draft beer cleaning kits. But apparently our customers love liquor too. (Nice!)

This week’s number one selling product was our Plastic Quaffer.

You put your shot on the top and your chaser on the bottom – how ingenious! There is a 1-ounce upper cup and a 2.25-ounce lower, which makes the perfect drink without all of the hassle; Use it for all those times when you can’t get to the chaser fast enough.

I never even knew what a Quaffer was before I worked at KegWorks (and whoa, had I known, college would have been so much easier). So, for my edification, I looked up the definition of Quaffer, and it’s all coming together for me.

Quaff [kwof, kwaf, kwawf]
–verb
to drink a beverage, esp. an intoxicating one, copiously and with hearty enjoyment.

Sounds fantastic! Who wouldn’t want one?

TAGS [ LIQUOR | QUAFFER | TAP HANDLES | COUPLERS | DRAFT BEER ]

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I’ve been on a bit of a bourbon kick of late. Long ago, I couldn’t have imagined having a taste for fine bourbon, but now seven years later (!!!) I am finding that nothing hits the spot quite like it. Just this past Friday, I decided to lavish myself with this simple pleasure, in the form of a manhattan… and I think I’ll do it again.

Over the weekend I regaled a long time friend (and bartender of 11 years), Jay, with my growing love for the finer things in life - like good bourbon. We chatted about the best places to find a good drink in Buffalo and how a good bartender should make a great manhattan. Since he had been in the business for so long, although not anymore, I know I can always trust his tips and recipes. I began rattling off a manhattan recipe from my head, and he immediately stopped me when I said “an ounce of sweet vermouth,” to convey the importance of not overdoing it, thus bruising the alcohol. Jay gave me a recipe of his own, and I look forward to trying it out this coming weekend. Here it is, straight from a connoisseur’s mouth:

Jay’s Manhattan Recipe

A bit of sweet vermouth
2 oz bourbon
2 dashes bitters
Maraschino cherry

Fill an old fashioned glass with ice. Put in just enough sweet vermouth to coat the ice cubes - any more, and you’ll risk bruising the alcohol. Add bourbon (I prefer Maker’s Mark) and 2 dashes of bitters. Give a little stir, and garnish with a maraschino cherry, if desired.

Try it out - a good bourbon manhattan is a beautiful thing!

TAGS [ COCKTAILS | MANHATTAN | BOURBON | BITTERS ]

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