Weyerbacher Sour Black + Beer Blondies

Last Friday Weyerbacher released their newest sour beer, Sour Black. It was a black ale aged in the same wine barrels that previously held Rapture. They were doing a similar release to the past few so Jo and I drove up to Easton to check it out. When we arrived, there were already quite a few people in the brewery and samples were being served by the always friendly Weyerbacher staff. The first thing we tried was the Sour Black and both Jo and I thought it was quite good. Next I tried the Whiskey, the newest Brewer's Select, which was also quite delicious.

After wandering around a bit, talking to Natalie, and offering Beer Blondies (see recipe below) to people we made our way to the front and picked up some Whiskey, Sour Black and some Blasphemy. I totally forgot to take pictures though so you'll just have to use your imagination about how things looked. I do love how Weyerbacher offers samples of what they are selling you though. I realize it's because they have enough beer to actually be able to do so, but it's nice to be able to try things before deciding on how much to buy.

I was really curious if a full bottle of Sour Black would be as good as the small sample we had so Jo suggested we open one while watching the Euro Cup finals on Sunday.

Hint of roast in the nose hiding behind the tartness. The body was full of tart vinegar that fell slowly into some vanilla and a lightly roasty finish. The vinegar was definitely strong but Jo and I both like that flavor in our sours and I felt that the roast blended well with it instead of fighting with it. We're both definitely glad we bought a bunch of it especially since we just opened a second last night with PhillyTapFinder!

I mentioned the Beer Blondies earlier. Weird or not, I've made a habit of bringing something to Weyerbacher releases. This time I made some blondies with their Merry Monks tripel. The original recipe can be found here but I made a couple small changes as you can see below. Note that I doubled the recipe from that page and baked it in a 13 x 9 pan instead.

Beer Blondies

• 18 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2/3 cup Merry Monks (or other tripel if you want)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• Pinch of nutmeg
• Pinch of cinnamon
• Butterscotch Chips
• Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350, line 13x9 pan w/ foil, grease with baking spray. The foil helps you cut them easier since you can just lift it out of the pan when they are cool.

1. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl.
2. In electric mixer w/ paddle attachment, mix butter and sugar until fluffy (low/med speed)
3. Add wet ingredients (egg yolk, beer and vanilla) – mix on medium until just combined
4. Add flour mixture, mix on low until just combined
5. Add spices, mix on low. (Optional step as I didn't feel like they added much and will probably skip this in the future)
6. Add as many butterscotch chips as you feel like to the batter. I did a little more than half the bag.
7. Spread batter into pan w/ rubber spatula and then sprinkle the chocolate chips on top. Again, I did about half the bag or so but just do what you feel like. There's nothing wrong with too many chips! I pressed lightly into the dough before I put it into the oven.
8. Bake for 35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. I did 35 minutes but they probably could have used a couple more. Realize all ovens are different so it may be shorter or longer and just go by the toothpick method.

And then you have some delicious, very easy blondies made with beer. I'm thinking of trying them again using Weyerbacher's Blasphemy, their bourbon barrel quad, but we'll see if I get around to it. I also may reverse the chips, putting the chocolate into the batter and the butterscotch on top. I think it'll look neater. The order doesn't really matter.

Yet another great release and it's always nice seeing everyone at Weyerbacher. It's also a great excuse to find a cookie recipe and try an experiment. Glad the Sour Black was delicious too and look forward to whatever is next!