Beer Barbeque And Refreshing Beer Cocktails For Labor Day

     Since the Labor Day holiday is upon us here are some succulent barbecue beer sauces and some refreshing beer cocktails recipes.

In the BBQ realm it never is the cut of the meat that artisans swear by. The magic is ALL in the sauce. While a painstakingly perfect selection of spices works to evoke an unforgettable tang, preference to draw on budding beer knowledge for a more intense "X factor". Used in both sauce and brine, beer gives BBQ a boost, infusing meat with flavor and tenderizing it to the bone.
In the blog you are going to find a few sauce recipes and brine suggestions:

Meats low in fat such as chicken, pork and fish render extremely well to a lengthy steep brine. Brining liquid, being high in sodium and sugar, draws out juices and denatures the proteins of meat, rehydrating it with increased flavor and adding the perk of deep-seated tenderizer.
Because the brining liquid's flavor will spend through the meat, the best beer to use will be no darker than a brown ale. The idea is to not overwhelm or replace natural flavoring. 

1. Fish: Allagash White
A delicious wheat beer already brewed with a blend of spices, Allagash was made to marry fish .
Suggested brining additions: white sugar, black pepper, lemon and thyme.

2 Chicken: Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA
A juicy taste explosion with a hop lover's flavor profile, this beer is made with only Simcoe hops. Starting with a burst of fruit, followed by the emergence of the hops, Double Simcoe is lovely brined with chicken.

Suggested brining additions: honey, bay, rosemary and orange.

3. Pork: Rodenbach Grand Cru
This legendary Flemish sour ale is bright and tart, with hints of berries and oak. Within it's rich ruby depths you will discover hearty wine-like flavors, a beautiful pairing for sweet and sour pork.
Suggested brining additions: brown sugar, clove, pineapple, ginger and garlic.

Chipotle Stone Smoked Porter BBQ sauce
When dealing with beef, nothing is better than a tender rack of toothsome ribs drenched in a succulent sauce. While any dark beer and malty beer will work well with molasses and spice. Stone Smoked Porter is the higher echelon beer type. Smoky and smooth from a peat-smoked malt, when incorporated into a BBQ sauce, robust notes of coffee and chocolate truly come forth. Add chipotle and the ending result invokes the dark complexity of Mexican mole.

Ingredients:
16oz Stone Smoked Porter
40oz Ketchup 
10oz apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup olive oil
3 tbsp Tabasco Chipotle Sauce
5 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 cloves garlic(grated)
3 tbsp kosher salt
3 chipotle peppers
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 corn starch

Preparation:

-Remove seeds from peppers. Toast seeds over medium heat in a dry skillet. 
-Combine 12oz porter and half of the toasted seeds with all the remaining ingredients(except corn starch) into a medium saucepan.
-Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Keep a close eye, stirring every few minutes for about 30 minutes.
-Allow to reduce before adding the remaining 4oz of beer.
-Reduce again for 3 minutes and whisk in the corn starch, removing from heat and mixing till smooth.
-Salt to taste and strain into a plastic container, removing all seeds in the process.
-Refrigerate overnight to thicken and develop full flavor.

TIP: If you dare, cols smoke the beer before adding it to the BBQ sauce. Pour beer into a metal container and place on the top rack of a smoldering grill for 30 minutes.

Beer Cocktail Recipes:
Sometimes you want a beer and sometimes you want a cocktail why not have both.

1. Bloody Beer
8oz pale
8oz tomato juice
2 dashes Tabasco sauce
1 pinch black pepper
Add equal parts beer and tomato juice with two dashes of Tabasco and mix. Sprinkle with pepper and serve.

2. Beer Margaritas(recipe makes a pitcher)
4 (12oz) bottles  cold light beer
1 cup tequila
1 can (12oz) frozen limeade concentrate, thawed
Lime wedges
Salt, For rimming glasses
In a large pitcher, combine beer, tequila and limeade. Rub a lime wedge around the rim of each glass and dip it in the salt. Pour the margaritas into glasses and garnish with a lime wedge.

3. Cider Cocktails
Black and Tan- 1/2 stout 1/2 cider(layered not mixed)
Snake Bite- Equal  parts Hard Cider and a Lager. I prefer to use Strongbow or Magner's cider and Miller High-Life for this one.
Spiced Cider- Pint of Hard Cider with a shot of Spiced Rum.