OC Pink Boots Society Pink Boots Brew, 2018

This past Friday, Unite, a Belgium Tripel Pink Boots Brew created by the OC Pink Boots Society Chapter was released at Anaheim Brewery.  Brewed in collaboration with several OC Pink Boots Society members, the beer was brewed to celebrate International Women's Day.  A portion of the proceeds from the beer will go to the Pink Boots Society as well as a local non-profit the Orange County Family Justice Center Foundation.  

For this year's Pink Boots Brew beer, members were able to select any style of beer, and were encouraged to use a new custom Pink Boots Blend of hops created specifically for the Pink Boots Society by YCH Hops.  I think it is so rad that a special blend of hops was created specifically for the Pink Boots Society.  A portion of the proceeds from the sales of the special Pink Boots Blend of hops will be donated to the scholarship funds of the Pink Boots Society.  

For those unfamiliar with the Pink Boots Society, it is an organization for women who are either currently employed in the beer industry or who have had at least 15 years of experience prior to returning as well as women who are in the process of opening a brewery, brew pub, taproom, or other beer establishment along with women who are enrolled in a beer education program.  The Pink Boots Society helps women by having a professional association that offers both a means for collaboration as well as education.  The Pink Boots Society offers scholarships to help women brewers further their knowledge and expertise in the beer industry.

For this year's Pink Boots Brew, women from around the United States and world at over 230 (!!) breweries collaborated to brew a beer on or around March 8th, International Women's Day.  It's so amazing to see women brewing beer together as well as enjoying the final product of their work for the Pink Boots Brew.  

Game Day Snacks Featuring Sartori Cheese

Last week, I was asked by #FoodieChats to create some game day snacks using Sartori Cheese.  I was so excited to participate!  A package arrived on Friday with three types of cheese from Sartori Cheese as well as a Green Bay Packers hat.

My boyfriend and I quickly started brainstorming ideas for what we would create.  Of course, we also had to make sure that we included beer with our game day snack foods.  We decided to make three items, featuring the three cheeses that were sent from Sartori Cheese.  We also decided to make sure to include the San Diego Chargers as well as use a cutting board in the shape of the great state of California!

First, we made cheese football crackers using the Chipotle Bellavitano cheese.  

Next up, we made bite sized grilled cheese sandwiches with apple slices, Sartori Montamore cheese and drizzled it with honey.  

Finally, we used chicken apple sausages with marinara sauce topped with Sartori Reserve Tuscan Blend Shaved cheese.

Cheese Football Crackers

Ingredients:

8 ounces Sartori Chipotle Bellavitano

4 tablespoons butter

1 cup flour

5 tablespoons Left Coast Amber Lager Una Mas

1 teaspoons sea salt

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a stand mixer with dough hook.

Once a ball of dough is formed, roll out the dough and cut into desired shape.  In this case, we used a pizza cutter to create the football shapes as well as to score the lines on the crackers.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15-18 minutes.

Chicken Sausage with Marinara

Ingredients:

One container of Sartori Reserve Tuscan Blend Shaved cheese

One package of chicken apple sausages

One small container of marinara sauce

One package of hot dog buns

1 can Oggi's Tomlinson 21 SIPA

Directions:

Boil sausages in beer, finish off on grill.

Top sausages with marinara sauce and cheese.

Grilled Cheese with Apple

Ingredients:

Sartori Montamore cheese 

2 slices sourdough bread

Butter

1 Granny Smith apple

Honey

Directions:

Preheat skillet over medium heat.

Butter both slices of bread with desired amount of butter.

Place bread butter side down in skillet and add slices of cheese and apple.

Butter the second slice of bread and place butter-side up on top of sandwich.

Grill until lightly browned and flip over.

Cut sandwich into small slices.

Drizzle with honey as desired.

5th Annual San Clemente Micro-Brew Festival

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to visit a brewery for the first time and also to attend an event for the first time!  For the past five years, Left Coast Brewing Company has hosted the San Clemente Micro-Brew Festival.  This event supports a fantastic cause, Welcome Home Military Events which are put on by the San Clemente Chamber of Commerce.  The event was held in the parking lot of Left Cost Brewing Company and had a great variety of beers to sample.  There were two tickets available for festival attendees, VIP allowed guests to enter the festival one hour early, which is a great idea.  Being able to enter the event an hour early made it easy to sample both new beers as well as old favorites.  Admission to the Micro-Brew Festival included 12 four ounce pours, which was more than enough.  The festival was five hours for VIP ticket holders and four hours for general admission ticket holders.  This was an ample amount of time to sample beers as well as to have time to chat with friends.  I like events where I don't feel rushed to try super popular beers which may result in a huge line.

Breweries that attended this year included:

Artifex Brewing

Bagby Beer Company

Ballast Point

Beach City Brewery

Beachwood BBQ & Brewing

Cismontane Brewing Company

Coronado Brewing Company

Green Flash Brewing Co

Left Coast Brewing Co

Legacy Brewing Co

Lucky Buddha

Ninkasi Brewing Company

Oggi's Pizza & Brewing Co

Pizza Port Brewing Company, San Clemente

Saint Archer Brewing Co

Along with delicious beers, three food trucks also brought yummy food for attendees to sample throughout the event.  Food trucks that attended included:

Bacon Mania

The Buffalo Truck

Classic Tacos

The San Clemente Micro-Brew Festival was very well organized, the check in process was very smooth and I loved how they included a list of the breweries along with their beers they would be pouring as you entered.  Although the weather was overcast, and actually started to rain a short while after general admission ticket holders were admitted, I'd rather have a cloudy day for a beer fest than a super hot day!

I had a fantastic time at the San Clemente Micro-Brew Festival.  I loved that there were breweries that I had sampled before as well as ones that I hadn't tried yet.  Everyone was very happy and eager to talk about their beers.  I also enjoyed that the crowd was super mellow.