Stovepipe Crow Update and Some Things up in Heaven Recipe

To start things off, a short update on my "mole-flavored" stout, Stovepipe Crow. Y'all may remember the Kitchen babbles when I cooked that batch up: I took a heavy chocolate Stout base, then added 5 oz. of smoked serrano peppers and a couple sticks of cinnamon to the secondary. I was pretty tickled with the tasting from the hydrometer tube when I bottled it all up on May 4th, so I was very anxious to give it a taste. Though I usually try to leave heavier brews for at least a couple months, I couldn't wait that long with this beauty. I did manage to wait more than an entire month, though!

 
Now, I wasn't shy with the pour here, so there's no excuse for the skimpy, scrimpy head on this brew. Worse yet, it dissipated very quickly and left very little in the way of lacing. Other than the disappointing head, though, Stovepipe Crow Mole Stout turned out absolutely fantastic! It's really, REALLY, hot...I love it, but it is likely too hot for most folks. I certainly named this one appropriately! (Southern myth: If you see a crow perched on a chimney, someone in the house will die soon. Drinking a Stovepipe Crow gonna make someone think they're gonna die soon, sure enough!) So, because the serranos brought a little too much heat I'm thinking chipotles for the next batch: chipotles are just smoked jalapenos, so they'll add that same smoky flavor, with much less heat than the serranos brought to the party

No surprises in the chocolatey goodness. This was the same base recipe as B) Endarkenment, so I knew exactly this was gonna have lovely bitter dark chocolate all over itself. The cinnamon came out very understated; in fact, it's barely noticeable. So I'm definitely going to want to add more cinnamon next time, and I think mebbe a couple vanilla beans to round out the sweet side of this equation. And yes, I will be brewing up Stovepipe Crow Mole Stout again, and probably well before I run out of bottles of the current batch! This stuff is exactly why I started brewing my own beer in the first place, and all the reason I need to keep doing so!

Other minor events in the kitchen this weekend: I finally got around to making a batch of Some Things up in Heaven Marshmallow Dipping Sauce to go with Drake's Sweet Potato Waffle Fries...and they were out the damn things!!! We had a very small group of folks show for trivia night this weekend, but those who did show up seemed to enjoy Tots and Crinkle Cut Fries dipped in the butter marshmallow goodness! As did the manager who I made taste a bite, with the hopes they'll add this as the standard sauce accompanying their tremendous Sweet Potato Waffle Fries so I wouldn't have to keep bringing my own dipping sauce! (And yes, I am that exactly the kind of asshole that would insist someone try the unidentified glop I brought in a used tupperware container! Haven't you been paying attention?!?)

Anyhow, this is super easy to make, and just the freakin' bomb for sweet potato fries or tots, and pretty damn tasty with just about anything else. (Hell, I'd dip used cardboard in this if I couldn't find anything more appropriate!) With Drake's sweet potato waffle fries (which are freaking awesome on their own!,) I was hoping for a dipping sauce to bring up memories of Thanksgiving dinner sweet potato casserole. Here's the recipe:

Some Things up in Heaven Marshmallow Dipping Sauce

1. 1/4 cup sour cream
2. 3/4 cup marshmallow creme
3. 3/4 stick butter
4. cinnamon to taste

     Mix the sour cream and marshmallow creme as well as can be expected, then slap the butter in a skillet     and just barely brown it. Mix that in with the other stuff. Stir plenty, then sprinkle cinnamon till it tastes like heaven. It's great warm, but it seems to improve a bit when refrigerated overnight. And yes, even though this isn't a beer, it deserves a Ray Wylie Hubbard song name, to match everything else slapped together in the Kitchen.

Future news: next brew up in the Kitchen is gonna be a watermelon wheat. Same base as Red Dress Raspberry Wheat, but at least twice as much watermelon as Red Dress got raspberry. And some fresh-squeezed watermelon juice added to the secondary? Hell, I better get to the welding shop for an oxygen tank; this may turn out bigger than I expected! Service Soon light relit on the Saturn Wagon, so the OBD II bluetooth that I'd forgotten I even had is gonna get put through its paces soon. (What, you don't think I'll bring the SW2 in the Kitchen to do that??? Haven't you been paying attention?!?) Ooh, and Sprint's desecration of all things holy to English teachers everywhere:  the Framily plan. But all that's next week, so...

Til next week, folks. Drink like a chimney and jump like a crocodile!

PS: What's up with that "next week" teaser? Sheesh...I'll soon be adding titles like "You'll never believe what happened next...!" And yes, I am exactly that kind of asshole. Haven't you been paying attention?