Black velvets and ramblings.

I'm currently writing this blog entry with a seriously overwhelming feeling of euphoria. You see, I had just mastered the art of a black velvet in the comfort of my (friend's) home.

What is a black velvet? A proper black velvet is made with Guinness and champagne, but the "poor man's" black velvet is where it's at and it substitutes hard cider for champagne. This is a favorite staple of mine at my favorite beer bar, The Flying Saucer.

Let's back up just a bit. I haven't written an entry in a long while because I had gotten fired a week and a half ago. (Cue sadness and tears) Eerily enough, my lease is up at the end of the month. It became a choice of "Should I make my boyfriend pay all my bills month to month and struggle until we find out which university he gets accepted to at the end of spring" or "Hey, you haven't been home in four years. You haven't seen your mom in three years. Take. Advantage. Of. This. Opportunity." Needless to say, the second choice was easier and saves my boyfriend and I a ton of money. I'm originally from Massachusetts and currently live in Texas. So I silently thanked my boss from hell for the opportunity of a lifetime to visit home for a while.

It has been an extremely stressful eleven days but now that everything is officially taken care of, I can sit back and enjoy a beer. A wonderful, glorious beer made by yours truly.

Let's talk about the Flying Saucer. It is amazing. It saved me and let me experience beer in a way all people who "hate beer" should be saved. People, not everything tastes like Bud Lite. If you live by a bar with more than five beers on tap, please run as fast as you can to that bar.

The Flying Saucer has more than 200 beers and over 60 on draught. They have weekly specials and are always getting new beers on draught to try. The one weekly special they have that I've been a regular at is their Monday "Pint Nite" where all beers on draught are only $3.00 a pint. Three dollars! From someone who went from $9.00 cocktails to learning how to take advantage of happy hour specials, this was certainly intriguing.


The second time I went to the Flying Saucer (almost two years ago!) my best-friend-now-boyfriend ordered a black velvet and I distinctly remember making a face. Guinness with cider? No thank you. I'd stick to my religious experience AKA Woodchuck Amber. But when I saw how he fell in love with that first sip, I had to try it and never looked back. In a way, this experience was the gateway to being open to trying new beers.


The wonderful thing about the Flying Saucer is how they will give you samples of draught beer upon request. This saves you from having to suffer through an entire pint of beer you hate. Even so, the first few months I spent at Pint Nite were spent solely on black velvets and Woodchuck. I eventually branched out with Blue Moon and Sam Adams, and I was satisfied, save for a few random "daring" choices like Abita Purple Haze and Pyramid Apricot Ale. I figured as long as I wasn't drinking Bud Lite (which is not offered at Flying Saucer!) I was being plenty adventurous.

SO WRONG!

Guys, there is such a gigantic selection of beers out there that it's just criminal to stick to five-ish beers. Open your minds!

Anyway, the point of this entire rambling is that yes, I have recreated my absolute favorite beer in the world and I'm extremely proud. Beer layering (the Guinness is dense and can float over lots of beers/ciders) is an art but not a difficult one! My favorite cider to layer with is Ace Pear. This is what they use at Flying Saucer and it's a perfect cider. I've tried many many ciders (girlie gateway to beer!) and it just has a perfect flavor that compliments the hearty Guinness without being too sharp. It's just a wonderful rich, sweet drink.

Guinness Rating: A
Ace Pear Rating: A-

How to make your own black velvet at home:

1. Get Guinness Draught and hard cider. I've learned from reading other tutorials that not all ciders layer underneath Guinness well, so just be wary. Ace Pear is wonderful. I've seen many tutorials recommend Strongbow but I am personally not a fan of Strongbow at all (sorry!). Grab any easily bent spoon and you're ready to start.

2. Pour the cider in the glass first and fill halfway.

 

3. Hover the bent spoon in the glass above the cider and pour the Guinness on the spoon gently. This will cause the Guinness to easily layer over the cider without it mixing into the cider. A more advanced bartender could use the inside of the glass to pour the Guinness on, but this method was easy and painless.

 

4. Enjoy! :)

This concludes my extremely long babble of an entry. Because I am moving I am seriously sad about leaving the Saucer but I know I will have many opportunities to kick back with a beer! The entries to come will mostly focus on my move but I'll find time to chat about beer as well.

Time to finish this beauty.

I am a beer goddess.

I never thought I'd live to see the day where the words "I love beer" would come from MY mouth. I love beer. I do. I love the light, crisp taste of a summer ale and the complex, rich notes of a stout. I've gotten to become best friends with the all-mighty "Happy Hour" because let's face it, budgeting = life.

Now that I'm all grown up and can appreciate that not all beer tastes like a cheap can of Bud Lite, I've hit a sad realization that beer is fattening. It's not like I drink beer all day every day. But when I do hit happy hour once or twice a week I can easily down five to six beers in one sitting. That is a LOT of calories.

Summer is coming. I'm still on the path of losing my pregnancy weight from (gasp) three years ago. I'm not going to blame my weight not budging entirely on hereditary factors, instead I'm finally making smarter choices with my diet. Does this mean I'm going to cut out beer entirely? Ha, hell no. Instead I'm going to enjoy a couple of beers instead of the usual bingefest every week. To make cutting back more fun, I'm going to try a new beer every week and blog about it, as well as my better eating choices.

I blogged about my journey with the Whole30.* It was amazing and really shed light on food in a different way. But soon after the challenge I finally got employed and making home cooked meals became a nuisance. I ended up going back to the ways of convenience eating and only cooked once a week. I'm finally trying to reverse those bad habits. When you work until 1am and your boyfriend is on an opposite schedule it gets hard to meal plan! But that's the challenge and I'm finally willing to embrace it.

Huzzah to a new blog.

-BG

*For more info on my previous blog (and some awesome recipes if I do say so myself), please visit Thyme Will Tell.