TYPE OF BEER: Granola Brown Ale
DATE CONSUMED: 04/21/20
BREWERY: Earnest Brew Works, Toledo, OH
PURCHASED AT: Erik’s Grocery Bag
ALC/VOL: 6.2%
COLOR: Dark Brown

 

 

TACO TUESDAY! Who doesn’t love tacos right? I’m sure there are a handful that don’t, but not this guy. I love tacos. This particular meal was in fact tacos on Tuesday.

It was a little bit of a twist on the traditional taco though. During this time of the Covid lockdown, we’ve decided to give a subscription to Hello Fresh a try to mix things up. I love to cook. I love to cook lots of things. But it’s nice to prepare meals that you wouldn’t necessarily make or try and that’s where Hello Fresh comes in. We mix in a Hello Fresh meal every other day. I have to tell you with 100% honesty that the meals we’ve had with our subscription have been fantastic. There has only been one that we weren’t too excited about, but it was still good. Just not as good as the rest we’ve had.

Back to the tacos! These were called Chickpea Tinga Tacos. Sounds weird I know… I had my doubts. I browned chickpeas, sautéed poblano peppers and shallots. Added Mexican seasoning and water. Mixed it all together for the filling. Diced tomatoes, pickled shallots, pepper jack cheese and hot sauce were the toppings.

Again with 100% honesty, if I blindfolded you and had you take a bite, you’d swear you were eating a taco with ground beef. It was delicious. It’s a meal we’ll have again.

The toughest decision with a lot of the meals that I make is what beer to pair with it. I’m somewhat limited with my choices as I’m not going to our beer HQ, Erik’s, for replenishment right now, but rather, this beer was a porch “thank you” drop off from our friend Christy the amazing master mind behind the Little Chunk of Goodness. She makes the most amazing cookies. I’d done a little graphics work for her and she thanked me with uh… beer. Totally unnecessary, but very much appreciate. Yum!

I chose the Earnest Brew Works Crunchy Hippie Granola Brown Ale for this meal. I thought that the brown ale would give a good base for the flavors of the tacos to come through. All I have to say about this beer is “HOLY DELICIOUS BAT MAN!” It was so good. I mean, seriously good. I love Waterloo Dark and New Castle Brown Ale. The Crunchy Hippie falls right in the middle of those two both in color and weight. But the taste… totally drinkable. I’m getting more for sure. With an ABV of 6.2% you’re feeling good pretty quickly. My only regret with this beer is that I didn’t have any more. But I’m fixing that.

That dinner and the beer were a good lead in to the Zoom Board of Directors meeting I had immediately after dinner. Not gonna lie, I may have had another beer during this meeting. Shhhhhhhh. HA!

If you find yourself staring at a can of Earnest Brew Works Crunchy Hippie. Don’t think. Just grab, buy and enjoy! I’ve also enjoyed Earnest’s The Spice is Right that I paired with vegetable  spicy fried rice that was tasty too, but not as tasty as the Crunchy Hippie. Cheers!

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