Honey Brown Beer Bread with Bacon, The Birth of a Brewery and More!

A #beermonth recipe, the birth of a brewery and exciting news of upcoming features on NY Foodgasm.

First: The Birth of a Brewery

This past weekend saw the birth of the newest brewery on Long Island: Moustache Brewing Co. celebrated their grand opening 4/19/14. The marketing was genius for their opening: Lauri and Matt (as I am sure most couples in their 30’s) are always asked when they are gonna have a baby. Well this couple had a baby- a beery baby!

It all started when Lauri was in her late 20’s- as most of us she had a quarter life crisis when life is just not as you had envisioned it after college. She hated her job and that unhappiness was leaking into her life. The only thing making her happy was home brewing beer with her husband, Matt. Seeing a life coach she realized what would make her happiest would be to open a brewery with Matt. They didn’t have any money do it, but that is where kickstarter came in… they not only met their goal but exceeded it! But then the real work began, the not fun shit: town codes, giving up your apartment, legal fees and many more annoying hoops to jump through.

Well after 2 years of trying to open they FINALLY did. The local beer community showed thirsty for some Moustache finally got some and it was worth the wait! I had the Rally Beard IPA- a hoptastic gulp of sunshine and at 8.1% ABV you will be sure to rally the day away! I also tried their Milk and Honey Brown Ale- so smooth, balanced and sweet. It is one of my new favorite local beers!

So in honor of the #birthofabrewery and in accordance with #beermonth I was inspired by their story and by their beer! Especially the milk and honey brown ale. PERFECT for Beer Bread!

The easiest and most delicious of breads to make! How easy? Easy enough that the water burning kind of bad cook can do it. But I have ONE VERY IMPORTANT TIP– you MUST sift or spoon in the flour. Trust me, do not pass go on this one. If you do your bread will be hard, really hard! Undigestibly so. I learned the hard way!

Why is this a Foodgasm?

Beer and Bread and Butter and Bacon- that is the 4 B’s of awesome bread! I found this recipe on Google and just adapted it the slightest bit. It supposedly was the BEST beer bread recipe and they were right! It definitely tastes like bread, BUT it is sweeter, soft and almost has a cake like texture. The honey in the bread just intensifies the natural honey flavor in the beer and the butter make it softer and makes the crust all pretty and shit. Lastly the bacon bitches… yes the bacon! You see in the photo the dark wings on the top of the bread, that is bacon. Not just any bacon, Black Forest Bacon from Trader Joe’s. It is magically delicious thick cut, nitrate free and soaked in some sort of sweet heavenly syrup. So every slice of bread is like a slice of heaven. Not the healthiest, but I did cut down on the amount of butter- I try when I can for damage control.

What you need

 Recipe adapted from Food.com

3 cups flour (sifted or at least spooned in)
3 teaspoons baking soda (omit if using self rising flour)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup honey
12 oz. beer, I used Moustache’s Milk and Honey Brown Ale (it’s amazeballs)
1/4 cup melted butter
2 slices baked thick cut bacon, I used Trader Joe’s Black Forest Bacon

1- Preheat oven to 375º
2- Mix together all dry ingredients. (seriously don’t pack in the flour!! sift or spoon!!)
2- Add in honey and beer.
3- Pour mixture into greased loaf pan
4- Pour melted butter over the top
5- insert slabs of cooked bacon into the side of the bread. (You can use more if you like)
6- Bake for about 1 hour, remove from pan and let cool 15 minutes
7- Slice into that Mo-fo and enjoy!

The Blog and it’s Evolution

Something I would like to mention on a side note. I try and keep everything on my blog as healthy as I can. But you gotta live and some of these goodies in moderation is what life is about. I cut the fat when I can. But I live by my mantra, “excess in modration.” It seems contradictory but it’s actually not. Let me explain.

I like to eat crazy food, fat-tastic or large quantities in moderation, kinda like the 80/20 rule. 80 percent of the time I am eating low fat, limit my intake of carbs, and getting in my 5 a day of fruits and/or veggies. The other 20 I live it up. The beer, the sweets and fat! So while I ALWAYS promote a healthy lifestyle- I believe indulgence is also part of that life style. Once a foodie, always a foodie. Since losing oodles of weight (over 70 pounds) I have learned to let myself indulge, but to watch the frequency of these “liberties” that I take. I also exercise so I can have a couple more “oops” moments.

Over the next year I hope to bring you much more about lifestyle and not just food. I have plans to branch out with different area of my blog: fitgasm, beergasm, and something about life/motivation (can’t think of a gasm for that yet). While I can help others with food, to really help people live a full and happy life there needs to be a more 360º approach.

My intent with this blog is to inspire others to live life powerfully and enjoy every minute. Your health and what you eat is just one aspect. Even in Weight Watchers, they discuss a variety of things, not just food. Your happiness affects every aspect of your life. If you are not happy there is some digging and you need to get to the root cause. For me I was not who I really wanted to be for a number of years. I was afraid to take chances and I didn’t think I was “good enough”. So that unhappiness of not being who I wanted to and growing up in a family that ate in mass quantities made me become overweight. Then being overweight made me even less happy. So I finally took life by the balls—- and I wanna help you with that too!

Let me know what YOU think. While this blog is an extension of me it’s also about you. Well it’s mostly about you and I wanna help with whatever I can!

Do you guys like the nutritional information as well? Just wondering. I didn’t include it in this post and I want to know if it is a feature you like.