I have arrived in Rangely Colorado and it is chilly but also beautiful! At dinner we asked for a Colorado beer and the young waitress recommended the Breckrenridge Avalanche Ale – an amber ale. Her recommendation was pretty darned good. I went to the website to take a more detailed look at the beer, – you know – which malts, hops, bitterness and of course the ABV….this one was under 5% and that is not a bad thing. Crisp and clean beer. They also provided a recipe tab for the beers – see below.

Because of my love of canning and making jams one of the tabs caught my eye. Breckenridge Brewery in Breckenridge Colorado. Check them out.

http://www.breckbrew.com/about/story

The Players

• (2) 12-ounce bottles of Avalanche Amber Ale
• 2 sticks cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
• Grated zest of 1 orange
• 2 cups 100% apple juice
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 5 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 pouches liquid pectin

Details

Put beer, cinnamon, cardamom and orange zest into a medium-sized, stainless steel pot.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Remove from heat, cover and allow ingredients to steep for 20 minutes.  Remove and discard cinnamon sticks.   Transfer beer mixture to large, stainless steel pot.  Stir in apple juice, lemon juice and sugar.  Heat on high, stirring constantly.  Bring mixture to a full, rolling boil that can’t be broken by stirring.  Add both pouches of pectin and continue stirring.  When mixture comes back to a full, rolling boil, continue boiling hard and stirring constantly for two minutes, or until mixture begins “sheeting” off a spoon.  Remove from heat, quickly skim foam and fill hot jars to 1/4″ head space.  Wipe rims with clean, wet cloth and cover with lids and bands.  Tighten bands to fingertip tight (just until you feel resistance).  Place jars into water bath canner.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and cover.  Process for 10 minutes at sea level, 25 minutes here in Castle Rock, Colorado.  After 25 minutes, turn off heat and remove canner lid.  Allow to sit for 5 minutes, then remove jars to clean towel on countertop.  Allow to sit for 12 to 24 hours until all jars have “popped,” indicating an adequate seal.  Reprocess or refrigerate and promptly use any jars that don’t seal properly.

I Just gotta make this soon – I made some Serrano Pepper jelly last year that was yummy spread over soft cream cheese as a dip….I may have another choice now

This morning in Rangely Colorado…..wonderful crisp morning.

About 7:20 AM this morning from the Rangely College Campus….

Drink Local and Drink Responsibly

TTFN

Bishop