Cooking with Beer- Everyone is doing it

Most craft brewpubs incorporate their beer into their food menu.  Sometimes the beer flavor is apparent and other times it is making good use of spent grain.  Abita marinates their ribs in Purple Haze and Three Floyds  serves up a Pride and Joy tiramisu. Dogfish Head and Great Lakes Brewing Company make their burgers from local cattle fed spent brewing grains.  Kona Brewing adds spent grain into their pizza dough.  Craft brew pubs also tend to provide paring suggestions for their popular menu items.

When I saw an advertisement for T.G.I. Friday’s offering menu items made with beer I didn’t pay much attention to it.  But hearing it was made with Goose Island Honkers Ale made me rewind the DVR.  I was impressed T.G.I. Friday’s was using a craft beer and even more impressed when I researched a bit and found out the type of craft beers used depended on region.  A major chain going local?  I like that.

Beers included on the list are:

• Harpoon IPA
• Magic Hat #9
• New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale
• Goose Island Honkers Ale
• Abita Amber
• Alaskan IPA (Alaska only)
• Boulevard Wheat
• Uinta Cutthroat Ale (Utah only)

Way to go T.G.I. Friday’s and I hope more national chains promote craft beer and being sustainable.

Tags: Abita, Alaskan, Boulevard Brewing, Dogfish Head, GLBC, Goose Island, Harpoon, Magic Hat, New Belgium, T.G.I. Friday's, Three Floyds, Uinta