The Drunken Tailgate

What We’re Drinking: Anchor Christmas Ale

During the summer and fall I like to consume mass quantities of beers that are made for mass consumption. Your cheap Americans (Bud Light, Busch Light), Mexicans (Pacifico, Dos Equis), and Wheat Beers (Mothership Wit, Red Brick Blonde). As the football season winds down I turn my attention to beer of a heavier variety. This year I’ve discovered the Anchor Christmas Ale. I’ve always been a fan of Anchor Steam and flirted with their Liberty before. But this year’s Christmas Ale has really hit the spot. Just the right mix of chocolate and mild spices to warm the belly during a cold tailgate. The beer has a pretty interesting story as well…

Every year since 1975 the brewers at Anchor have brewed a distinctive and unique Christmas Ale, which is available from early November to mid-January. The Ale’s recipe is different every year—as is the tree on the label—but the intent with which we offer it remains the same: joy and celebration of the newness of life. Since ancient times, trees have symbolized the winter solstice when the earth, with its seasons, appears born anew.

So I don’t know if the 2009 is par for the course, but it definitely receives the Drunken Tailgate approval. In addition to the great taste, this is just a great bottle and label. I’m not going to lie and say these things don’t affect my opinion. Drink up!

Keep your beer cold with personalized koozies and make a statement at the same time since you can have your koozie say whatever you want.

Drunkenness Sells Out

We’ve talked about disposable flasks before, and I think they are a great way to sneak alcohol into games. They can be concealed better than most flasks and they will easily pass through a metal detector. But what am I to make of the fact that Restoration Hardware now sells their own line of sneak-it-in disposable flasks? They cost twice as much as the original, but is that really a concern when your already dropping $260 for a model car or $60 for fake Chuck Taylor low tops. I guess we should expect Home Depot to start selling pre-made beer funnels and iTunes to start listing Power Hour mixes.

(HT: uncrate)

Keep Your Jager Cold on the Go

Need to take a bottle of Jagermeister around campus but are worried that a brown bag won’t keep it ice cold? Luckily your local liquor store may be selling bottles of Jager that come with these handy orange koozies. Theoretically this would also keep 1.75ml bottles of vodka cold as well. Which is good since I don’t imagine Ketel One will be featuring a koozie as part of their packaging anytime soon.

Thanksgiving Tailgating

If you’re tailgating for the Texas/A&M game next Thursday on Thanksgiving or just looking to use some leftovers as part of your fare, we’ve got a couple of links and suggestions for you.

Beeriety has a post on pairing beers with your Thanksgiving meal. They also have a more general post on how to pair beer with food.

Turkey – Oktoberfest (Paulaner), Biere de Garde (3 Monts), Bock (Anchor Bock).

Sweet potato – Brown Ale (Newcastle), ESB/English Bitter (Fullers), Pumpkin Beer (Dogfish Head Punkin).

Stuffing – Rye Ale (Founder’s Red Rye).

Pumpkin pie – Dunkelweiss (Weihenstephaner Dunkel), Dopplebock (Ayinger), Cream Ale (Sam Adams), Pumpkin Beer (Dogfish Head Punkin).

Green beans/veggies – Pale Ale (Sam Smith).

Cranberry sauce – Lambic (Lindemans Framboise).

The Georgia Sports Blog made a Turducken for their tailgate a few years ago. A Turducken consists of a chicken that is stuffed inside a duck which is then stuffed inside a turkey. Read about the recipe and planning and the aftermath.

The Real Simple website has a recipe for using your leftover turkey to make Reuben sandwiches that you can serve hot by grilling over a campfire stove.

Turkey Reuben Sandwiches

1. Spread 4 slices rye bread with Dijon mustard and another 4 with Russian dressing.

2. Dividing evenly, top the mustard-spread bread slices with 8 slices roasted turkey, 1 cup sauerkraut, 8 slices Swiss cheese, and the remaining bread.

3. Pan-fry the sandwiches in olive oil until the cheese melts.

Penn State: Before and After

Tailgating Drinks: Bourbon Manhattan

I’m currently reading Everyday Drinking: The Distilled Kingsley Amis, which is just a magnificent book covering all aspects of alcohol. I suggest you pick it up tomorrow… like before noon. His recipe for a Whiskey Manhattan tickled my bourbon soaked fancy. For those who don’t usually drink bourbon straight it serves as a change up to using Coke or Ginger Ale as a mixer. For those who normally drink straight bourbon, it works a little sugary taste into a long day of tailgating. And luckily it’s not a hassle to make at a tailgate, especially if you have a traveling bar. I’ve modified Kingley’s take slightly to work in this context:

The (Whiskey) Manhattan

Ingredients:
2oz Buffalo Trace Bourbon
0.5oz Noilly Prat Sweet Vermouth
1 dash of Angostura bitters
1 maraschino cherry
Ice Cubes

Stir the fluid together very hard before adding the ice and fruit. Whatever the pundits may say, this in practice the not very energetic man’s Old-Fashioned, and is an excellent drink, though never, I think, as good as a properly made Old-Fashioned. And you really have to use bourbon (instead of the traditional rye whiskey).

Drunken Tailgate thoughts:

- Sweet Vermouth comes in bottles with red labels. Dry Vermouth comes in green labels. Sometimes they are not marked very well. That being said, it’s good to keep a bottle of dry and sweet vermouth in your bar.

- Angostura bitters is one of those things that looks ridiculous on a drink recipe, but you can get a bottle for a couple of bucks and it will last you a decade.

- Same goes for Maraschino cherries. Just keep them in the fridge and you should be able to use them over the course of a year if you enjoy cocktails

Tailgating Vacation: Kentucky Bourbon Trail

If you’re attending a road football game at the University of Kentucky (Lexington) or Louisville you should definitely work a bourbon distillery tour into your plans for the weekend. It’s also possible that you could work this into Cincinnati, Western Kentucky, or Bowling Green games. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail includes Buffalo Trace, Four Roses, Woodford Reserve, and Wild Turkey in the general Lexington area. Tom Moore, Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, and Heaven Hill would be closer to Louisville. Hitting up a Friday tour is the perfect way to kick off a football weekend. Even if you’re not a big fan of drinking bourbon, the distillery tours are interesting because of the complexities and magnitude of the process.

I just visited the Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. It’s about 30 minutes from Lexington and an hour from Louisville. This is the longest continuously operating distillery in the US. They were one of four distilleries that were allowed to continue producing bourbon during prohibition for medicinal purposes. The distillery has had several owners and has been previously known as the George T. Stagg Distillery. In 1999 it was renamed Buffalo Trace and they started producing bourbon under their own name. Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon is 90 proof (more than most) and is aged for 9 years. Theoretically it’s on the same basic level as Wild Turkey, Maker’s Mark, etc. Buffalo Trace has won a variety of awards like the Double Gold at the 2009 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. In the last couple of years I’ve been more of a Scotch drinker, but I drank Buffalo Trace for three straight days and would never turn it down. It seems to have a smoother taste than the bourbons I’ve had recently like Wild Turkey and Jim Beam. At the normal prices, it’s also an amazing value.

In addition to Buffalo Trace, the distillery creates, ages, and bottles an insane number of other bourbon brands. The list includes Van Winkle, Blanton’s, W.L. Weller, Elmer T. Lee, George T. Stagg, Rock Hill Farms, Eagle Rare, and more. These run the gamut of spending amounts. Buffalo Trace is in the $20 range, Blanton’s is in the $50’s, and Pappy Van Winkle 23 Year Old Family Reserve is upwards of $200. If you get the chance look for these at your local liquor store. And by all means, if you get the chance, visit Buffalo Trace or another bourbon distillery during your weekend tailgating vacation.

The Smell of Fall

During the winter I frequently enjoy a nice scotch to close out an evening. It’s an indoor drink that provides the proper warmth (physically and emotionally). As the weather improves I usually kick off the spring drinking season with Gin Weekend. Then eventually gracing the sweltering heat of summer with tequila. But as September comes and brings a nip to the air, it’s time again to meet bourbon’s sweet embrace. If you grew up going to football games in the South then you recognized the smell of bourbon before you even knew what liquor was. I remember being completely confused as to why people were putting the end of their spirit shakers in their souvenir cokes and mixing them. Even for the biggest beer drinker, bourbon become a necessity during tailgating season. It’s a lot easier to sneak a couple of miniatures into the game than trying to conceal a six pack of cold ones.

With all of these autumn induced feelings about bourbon swirling through my head, it’s with great pleasure that I’ll be attending the Buffalo Trace Distillery’s White Dog Days Celebration this weekend, Oct 15-17th, in Frankfort and Lexington, Kentucky. On Friday, Buffalo Trace is sponsoring the Franklin County Stakes race at Keeneland race track in Lexington. On Saturday, Buffalo Trace is opening their distillery in Franklin up for a day of music, tours, Bourbon Boot camp, and corn hole and barrel rolling contests.

As every avid drinker is advised to slow their brown liquor roll during summer, so does Buffalo Trace, who does not distill during the summer. White Dog Days is the kickoff to the new distillation season. White Dog itself is the name Buffalo Trace has given to the clear distillate that is made before it’s placed in barrels for aging to create bourbon. They have decided to bottle a small batch of White Dog, which can be purchased from their gift shop. One should note that White Dog is “not a sipping drink” since it’s essentially moonshine. So yes, I’m going to Kentucky this weekend to drink bourbon, moonshine, and bet on the ponies. If you are anywhere within driving distance you should take part in the festivities. If you can’t make it by, look up the closest retailer of Buffalo Trace Bourbon to you and give it a try tailgating this weekend.