Buy Local Modays - Scanga Meat Company

Obviously I support my local/in-state breweries, but I try to support locally owned businesses and buy locally produced products as much as possible. I could go on and on about all the reasons I choose to support local businesses, but nothing sums it up quite as well as what I was once told by a customer at my 'day job'.

This particular customer is a salesman at a local car dealership (well the next town over, our town is too small to have a car dealership) and over the years we have purchased a few of our business vehicles from him.He came into the office looking for an item after I told him the price, he told me:

"I saw it for a little cheaper online, but they aren't going to buy a car from me."

 There isn't much of a better reason than that, keeping money in your local economy helps everyone.So on that note, I am going to try to reserve Mondays for posting about local businesses that I support (and I'm going to try my hardest to post something every Monday, that's why I picked Monday, it's payday and my day off).

It seems like every other day (if not every day) I find another reason to believe that it is important to know where your food comes from, whether it is GMOs or meat having e-coli or pink slime (if you don't know what that is you can read about it here). And so for that reason I have (for the most part) stopped buying meat products from the grocery store (and if I must it comes from my local natural/organic grocer). But, hey, I like meat and don't plan on becoming a vegetarian any time soon (although I was a vegetarian for a few years). I have, however chosen to support a local company instead. And maybe most importantly, I like a rare bloody burger, but I have always been terrified to eat meat picked up from the grocery store without making sure it is thoroughly cooked!

Scanga Meat Co. is located twenty-some odd miles away, they process their own meats and it gives me some peace of mind knowing that. They have a little shop at their ranch just outside of Salida, CO where you can pick up their meat products as well as cheeses and a few other natural products (although the other products aren't made there).

Even my brother who isn't really one to take a stand on much of anything, and used to mock me for going to the farmers market and spending a little extra, has recently began to realize that eating foods produced locally is a good idea. I know that local and organic products have a reputation for being a bit more expensive, and hey, I am a girl on a budget, but for me the peace of mind is worth spending a little more.Even though, it is a little more expensive, I still bought quite a bit for fairly inexpensive. I got 2lbs of ground beef, bacon, italian sausage and chicken for under $20 and that is definitely enough to get me by for a few of weeks (meat wise anyway).

STC (Small Town Colorado) Summer Beer Picks

Technically it is now the 3rd day of summer, so I am a little bit behind on this post (I meant to post this on the first day of summer), but I suppose it is better late than never. Without any further ado, here is my list of 10 must have summer beers!

# 10: New Belgium Brewing - Rolle Bolle or as I call it "Fat Tire with a Twist", it is very similar to Fat Tire, but with a citrus (orangy) twist.

#9: Left Hand Brewing Company - Polestar Pilsner I first tries this beer when I grabbed one from the 'mix and match' section of my favorite liquor store. A Pilsner is a type of Lager (like you know Bud, Coors and all those beers), but it has a bit of a kick to it (it's just a little hoppy) and although I am not generally a fan of hoppy beers that kick sets it apart from the other lager type beers.

#8: New Belgium - Fat Tire. Fat Tire has always said summer to me, when I was in college I used to work at a rafting company during the summer and Fat Tire was the beer of choice for most of the rafting industry, and my introduction to craft beer (if you haven't read it yet, you can read my full post on Fat Tire -Beer, It's A Love Story - here).

#7: Bristol Brewing Co. - Yellow Kite Summer Pils (available April - October) I first tried this beer at The Colorado Brewers Guild's Brewer's Rendezvous (my favorite must attend beer festival). I love this beer,it is one of the seasonal beers I can't wait to get my hands on as soon as 'spring' hits.

#6: Bristol Brewing - Beehive Honey Wheat. Apparently Bristol Brewing has the summer beer thing figured out (and beer in general, they are one of my favorite craft brewers). Instead of rewriting what I already wrote, you can read what I posted about Beehive here.

#5: Elevation Beer Co. - Apis IV I know, I know it looks too dark to be a 'Summer Beer' (at least to me, because I usually think light beers when I think of summer beer), but it is actually similar to Bristol Brewing's Beehive, and again, if you want to read more, you can read my post here.

#4: Amica's - Bomber Blonde Ale. Bomber Blonde Ale is light and has just a hint of a fruity taste, but not an overwhelming fruity taste, because if you follow this blog you probably know that I have an aversion to fruity beers (I may be a girl, but that's a little too girly, even for me). It's a great beer for summer, and day drinking (as I mentioned in my post here)!

Now for my top 3 summer beers and believe me it' was tough to figure out what order to put these in, but here they are.

#3: Breckenridge Brewery - SummerBright Ale. If Fat Tire was my introduction to craft beer, SummerBright Ale was the beer that cemented my undying love of craft beer. This is a summer beer for everyone, even the 'non-beer-snobs', this is even the one and only craft beer that my brother will drink (and he is a guy who only drinks Corona and Coors). I have read some reviews that say it is too watery, but for me it is one of the best summer beers!

#2. Asher Brewing - Treehugger Organic Amber. When I first tried this beer a couple of summers ago, it was the first beer in a very long time that just made me say, wow! It is a slightly sweet amber ale, which was so good that I forgot to take pictures when I was at the brewery. But, this is not only a great summer beer, but as of right now my favorite beer. (So, sad I can't get it here, but next trip I make to Boulder, I will definitely be picking up a growler - or two)

#1: San Luis Valley Brewing Co. - Valle Especial. Valle Especial is a Mexican Lager, you know, like Corona, which is why I rated this as my number one summer beer pick. Corona always has been and always will be the first beer that I grab for relaxing on a hot summer day, the Valle Especial is very similar to Corona, but made in Colorado! Honestly, there is nothing better in the summer than an ice cold beer with a slice of lime.

Gluten Free Beer

Gluten Free seems to be all the rage lately, every where you go there are gluten free options. With so many people going gluten free it makes sense to have some gluten free beer options. Of course there are a few gluten free beers out there, but the Colorado craft beer lovers need an option too.

This post is somewhat of a follow up to  my last post 'Hard Cider, Baby', in which I mentioned that a friend-of-a-friend had asked me about gluten free beer and hard ciders made in Colorado for the bar she works at. I told her about New Planet Beer, but I had never tried it myself. So, last Friday night when I headed to my favorite liquor store (The Little Daisy, which I wrote about here) I happened to notice that they had just started carrying New Planet Beer.

I had never actually tried New Planet Beer (or any gluten free beer) for a few reasons. First, because I was a little scared that it wouldn't be very good, second, because up until last week I had never run across any in my local liquor stores (a down side to living in a small town is that I have long ago exhausted their selection of craft beers) and finally, because I have not gotten nearly as many chances as I have wanted to visit breweries lately. So, after seeing a new craft beer in the cooler at my little liquor store and because I had told someone about it already, I, of course was going to have to grab a six-pack.

So, with my new beer to try in hand off I went to my usual Friday afternoon hangout with my friends, my friends who happen to make their own beer (which I wrote about here). I have to admit that I cracked the first bottle with just a little bit of trepidation, but I was pleasantly surprised with my purchase.

They had a choice of 'Tread Lightly Ale', 'Pale Ale', and 'Raspberry Ale'. I, of course went with the 'Tread Lightly Ale', because as I mentioned at least a few times before I am not the biggest fan of 'hoppy' beers, obviously the 'Pale Ale' was out (even if they aren't quite as 'hoppy' as an IPA), they are still a bit hoppy for me. And despite the fact that it is generally considered a 'girly beer', I just can't get on board with fruity beers (although I will admit that I did have quite the love affair with Tommy Knocker's TundraBeary Summer Ale once upon a time).

There was a hint of sweetness , which while I am not an expert I would guess comes from the corn extract. I will also mention that for those of us who watch (or do our very best to try to watch) what we put into our bodies, their labels actually list the ingredients. Also, they list the nutrition information, which as much as I have always thought they should put on beer labels, I now see why they don't. Let's just say that it made me want to go for a run, and it's probably not nearly as high calorie as some beers. But, back on topic, I was impressed with my first gluten free beer and would like to try some of their other options (maybe someday soon I will get a chance to take alittle brewery visiting weekend trip.

***On a side note, I would like to mention that my thoughts are with all of the people who have been/are being affected by the wildfires in Colorado right now. And I would like to mention that much of Colorado does have fire-bans currently, so if you live in or are visiting Colorado, please check on the restrictions in your area. And please follow all bans.***

Hard Cider, Baby!

Honestly, I never knew that anyone in Colorado made hard cider, actually I had never even thought about it. I have only had hard cider a hand full of times in my life.

Why write about cider now? Well, an acquaintance of mine is a bartender and the bar that she works at is trying to specialize in alcohol from Colorado. A mutual friend of ours told her about my blog and suggested that she talk to me. So, she asked first if I knew of any gluten free beers from Colorado, so I of course told her about New Planet Beer. And then she wanted to know if I knew of any hard ciders from Colorado, and as I already mentioned, I had no idea. So, with the help of my good friend Google (which I'm sure thinks I am a raging alcoholic with all of the alcohol related searches I do), I found out about the Colorado Cider Company, and hunted down a bottle of 'Glider Cider' (I even had to go to a liquor store the next town over to find it).

Like I said, I have only had hard cider a hand full of times, so I don't really have much to compare it to. The Colorado Cider Company website describes it as :

Colorado Cider Company was founded to produce a fresh hard cider for the discerning Colorado drinker. With a well-developed craft beer market and and educated populace, Hard Cider has been a missing choice in the cacophony of craft drinks in local pubs & liquor stores. We hope to remedy that.

Glider is our flagship dry cider. Crisp, tart and drinkable.

Gluten Free-All Juice, 6.95% ABV- in 22oz bottles

It isn't quite as sweet as I remember the few ciders I have tried in the past, but I actually like that about it! The fact that it has a little bit of tartness to it may have made me become just a little bit of a hard cider fan and if I am ever asked again if I know of a hard cider from Colorado I will have an answer.