A Southerner's Dream Come True: Whiskey & Bacon

Guess what, New York Strips were on sale ... so guess what this guy got ...

We tried a new recipe on these. We went to Pepper Palace on vacation and picked up this "American Blend" rub. It smelled good and I'm a patriotic person so we got it. Sprinkled some veggie oil on, then garlic, and topped it off with the rub.

Let it marinate for about 15 minutes and then threw it on the grill (make sure to pat it dry before placing on the grill. The "juice" will cause it to flare up) and sprinkled on a whiskey and worcestershire sauce mix as I rotated.

On the side, we made a bacon "confetti cream corn". It sounds fancy, but is pretty simple. Take your corn and cut it off the cob ...

dice 1/2 a cup of sweet onion, green pepper, and red pepper ....

and cook it all together on med-high for 6 minutes or till it's soft. Then add 8oz cream cheese, 1/2 cup of half and half, and 1 tsp of sugar, salt, and black pepper.

To continue with the whiskey theme, we decided to make a special drink. Now, Georgia may be named "The Peach State", but South Carolina produces more peaches than Georgia. To put it simple, even at their claim to fame, South Carolina is still better than they are.

The drink is simple, you mix half of a chopped up peach (doesn't have to be as chopped as pictured), 1 1/2 turbinado sugar, and 3 oz whiskey, shake it up and poor into a glass, and then add 1/4 cup of "lemon-lime soft drink" (Dawn made me get the "zero" ... stupid trying to get in shape), or however much for your preference.

As the drinks are being made, the steaks come off the grill. For some reason, I didn't get the marks I usually do, but they were cooked to perfection.

Oh yeah, don't forget the bacon to go on top of the corn, because bacon makes everything better.

The Georgia jabs and peach comments were solely made in honor of this weekends game. You see, my Gamecocks may have taken a little lump in week 1, and we may not have played the best against ECU, but the Jawja Mutts are coming to town, and here in the south, we believe in our teams till the bitter sweet end. So, with that said, LET'S GO COCKS!!!!!

Loaded Landsharks

In honor of International Beer Day, I thought it'd be fitting to do a beer post.

A few years ago, Dawn and I went to Margaritaville in Myrtle Beach, SC. The waiter came by and asked what we'd like to drink so I ordered a Landshark. I'd never had a Landshark before, but they're made by the Margaritaville Brewing Co. so I thought I'd give it a shot. The waiter then asked "Do you want a regular Landshark or a Loaded Landshark?" I said, well I don't know, what's the difference.

Well, if you'll sit back for just a moment, I'll tell you what a Loaded Landshark is and I'll even show you how to make one.

First, you need a Landshark .. DUH! (you can actually do this with a Corona as well, but it's not as good). Then you need a lime flavored tequila (Margaritaville's is the best. Hornito's is pretty good too)

Once you have those 2 things, you need to remove the lids.

Take your tequila and pour it into the bottle stopping around the bottom of the head of the bottle. 

Cap the bottle with your hand a flip. Now, if you're feeling brave, you can flip it, turn it back over, and then take it to the face before it explodes. If you're too old for all that crap, flip it a time or two (keep a good seal with your hand or you'll spray the whole kitchen ... don't ask me how I know this), and then put it down on a counter with your hand still on it and allow everything time to settle down. This only takes a few seconds, but you need to let it settle or ... you'll spray everything in the kitchen.

Once everything has settled comes the most important part of ... you grab the bottle on the side, pull it towards your face, once you get the bottle to your mouth you tip the bottle up and enjoy.

Happy Friday everyone, have a great International Beer Day!

Sam Adams Spring Thaw Variety Pack

In the last 2-3 years I've really started to branch out a bit with my beers. Before, I was mostly a Bud Light kind of guy, and although I still prefer a Bud Light on most days, I've become a big Sam Adams fan. 

Probably my all-time favorite is the Sam Adams Summer Ale with Winter Lager being a very close second. I was checking out another persons entry to a Throwdown last week and noticed he had a picture of a Sam Adams Maple Pecan Porter (yes, that does sound AMAZING), so the search began. This weekend we went to Total Wine, and when I thought all hope was gone, I spotted this variety pack with it. 

Out of the entire pack, I had only tried the original Boston Lager, so each would end up being new to me. 

Now, I'll be the first to admit, I am far from a beer connoisseur. To me, a beer is either good, bad, or "it's ight". I mean, I still really have no clue what the difference between Lager, Ale, IPA, IPL, Red, Porter, or any other type of beer is. I just know good, bad, or ight. 

I'm THAT GUY that the bartender comes up to after I say "I'll try (insert beer)" and says "It's very hoppy isn't it?" and I say "Yeah, it's got a lot of ... flavor." To which he then responds "Oh, it's a very flavorful beer."    What does that even mean? I sure as heck don't know, it just sounded good. 

So, to say the least, I'm not guru when it comes to beers. With all of that said, I've really enjoyed every single one of these. The Irish Red and Double Agent are a little heavier than I usually prefer, but are not bad by a long shot. White Lantern is a beer that I could see myself picking up a 6 pack of. The Alpine Spring is my favorite out of the pack. 

Now, to the point of me buying the pack in the first place, the Maple Pecan Porter. This beer is delicious. It's like you're having a handful of pecans covered is maple syrup mmm mmm mmmmmmm. As you would think, it is a little heavier though, so it'd be tough to have multiples, but for a happy hour or a drink or two ... amazing. Now I can only hope they'll sell the 6 pack around here.