Beer Bread Mix AND Charlottesville, VA Trader Joe's

We went on a road trip recently, and if you know me, you know what that means:  EXPLORING NEW TRADER JOE’S LOCATIONS!  This time we went to the TJ’s on Bond Street in Charlottesville, Virginia. I believe it was the 31^st Trader Joe’s location (in 14 states) that I have set foot in since I began this project.  😊

Wheee - Trader Joe's in Charlottesville, Virginia
(and me in a new scarf I bought earlier on the road trip)

The Charlottesville store is a little hard to get to because of its placement in a chichi outdoor mall.  Once you make all the necessary twists and turns to arrive, it fits right in with the upscale environment.  There is free parking, always a plus.  We were there on a Friday afternoon and it was a bit crowded.  The signage (each store has their own sign artists) was alright, not my favorite.  One thing that was really good (that I haven’t seen in other stores) was that right in the foyer they had a sign telling you what they were sampling today.  That meant you could start dreaming about what you would get a nibble of as you meandered the aisles doing your shopping!

Sign right when you enter the store telling you what is being sampled, cool!

Some of the store artwork.  As always, very appropriate subject matter for the location.

Every time I visit a new store I ask if they have a local item that is not sold nationwide at other TJ’s locations.  Some stores have no idea what I am talking about (and explain that all TJ’s stores carry identical items, which you know is not true if you have followed this blog as I have discovered cool regional items).  This store did not have any local things, though they did mention that they carry the big tin of Virginia Peanuts over the holidays (those are now in all TJ’s stores as seasonal items, and as a Virginian I think that is pretty cool).  We did find one local wine (from Horton Winery).  Speaking of wine, a great thing about this location is that they had some wine CHILLED.  Our usual TJ’s does not do that.  But if you live in Charlottesville, you can pop in for a bottle of white wine and pop that puppy open as soon as you get home!  Sweet.

Need some already chilled wine?  They've got you covered!

I believe this is the first Trader Joe’s I have ever gone into where I left empty handed.  Yup, we didn’t buy a single item.  Granted, we were on a road trip and had a car full of Trader Joe’s snacks and had already munched on some before we got to Charlottesville, but still, strolling through a grocery store and not coming out with something is rare for us. 

But just because we didn’t purchase anything in Charlottesville doesn’t mean there won’t be a product review today.  I will review something we bought at our local store – BEER BREAD MIX.  Have you tried it?  If not, you are seriously missing out!!

David looks a bit funny when considering the purchase of Beer Bread Mix

Here is what I think of it:  The worst thing about this bread is that it tastes so good when it is fresh and warm is that you might eat so much of it (because it is soooo tasty) that you won’t be able to eat the rest of your dinner.  And really, is that such a bad problem to have??

It is super easy to make – you just need the bread mix and one bottle of beer, plus some butter to put on top.  We used a Pills beer and the bread was delicious!  You can also add cheese, which we did not do since we were serving it with a homemade cheesy potato soup. 

Just add beer and butter!  Easy peasy

It tastes like a soda bread and I think it would be great with chili.  It is not sandwich making bread, but it is great alongside a meal.  It doesn’t taste too much like beer, but there is a hint of the flavor.  I don’t know how well the bread will hold up – it seems like something you will want to snarf down the day you make it. 

A warm piece of Beer Bread?  Yes please....

In all honesty, our box of this mix sat in the cupboard a looong time before I baked it.  Ours expired February 16^th and I made it 11 days later, but it still turned out great!  I am not sure if it is still on the shelves at TJ’s, I think it is/was a winter seasonal product.  If you see a box, grab it.  And if you do not see a box now, do not fear.  It should come ‘round again next fall!  I will give this product a 5!

David:  “It is like Irish soda bread and also a bit like cornbread.  It is delicious and hearty.  It is good to put butter on it even though there is already a lot of butter on it when you bake it.  I think it is a good idea not to add cheese to it because it is so tasty without it.  it is quick and easy to make.  It might be interesting to see what it would be like baked in tiny pans or like muffins.  I will give this a 5.”

Price:  $2.79

Rating:  5

And here is a bonus photo for anyone still reading.  On the same day of this road trip we also stopped at Cox Farms.  A photo of one of their signs, it says RESIST WHITE SUPREMACY, recently went viral.  We saw that sign along with several others.  This one was my favorite :).

But SRSLY....

Day 228 - Rail Splitter IPA (Triton Brewing Company)

If you have read other beer reviews on this blog, you know that I in no way profess to be a beer guru.  I am not a beer snob.  I know almost nothing about beer.  But when I travel to a new city and go to a new Trader Joe’s, I always check and see if they have local beer and/or wine.

Well, when I asked about local wine at the Trader Joe’s in Indianapolis, not one but TWO employees basically steered me away from it.  They both were clear to say that the local wine is SWEET, and the particular varieties that TJ’s carries are the really sweet ones, which apparently are the ones the locals like.  But we are not locals…  So I trusted their “unspoken advice” to skip the wine and went over to the beer section.

Local beer!!

Unlike our beer experience in Chicago where they would only sell us a six pack (it was the law – the store people were totally kind about it but couldn’t break the law, of course), the guys in Indy were more than happy to sell us however many beers we wanted!  So we chose 3 different local beers and one local cider. 

Rail Splitter IPA

This review is about Rail Splitter IPA.  Uncharacteristically for me, I am drinking it without food and at 6:30 pm.  We normally don’t bust out the alcohol until there is a plate of food in front of us and that usually happens sometime after 9:30 pm.  But we are at a Fringe Festival (see http://indyfringe.org/fringe15/little-business-big-top and that means schedules are NUTTY and life is turned on it’s head.  So, here I am post-show drinking this IPA!  (I directed a show in the festival, my partner David’s “A Little Business at the Big Top”!  It’s great, if I do say so myself, but of course I am a tad bit biased…).

"A Little Business at the Big Top" - coming soon to a theatre near you!
(That is, if you live near a theatre in Indianapolis or Cincinnati...) 

Back to the beer.

Yes!  This is good!  If you like IPA and you live in the Indiana area you should try this for sure.  We learned from TJ’s employees that on the TV show “Parks and Rec”, which took place in Pawnee, Indiana, a fictitious town, they always drank Rail Splitter beer!  As non-Hoosiers* we never noticed that, but I guess the locals really dig it (as would I if I had a local connection!).  Here is an article I found recapping the awesome (and certainly missed) TV show” Parks and Rec” - http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/arts-culture/parks-recreation-recap-one-last-ride/

David’s take is that this is not a “day drankin’” beer but would be good with stilton cheese!”.  Note – this is the second time lately in reviews that David has said “day drankin’”.  I think this is because a place we drive by often has it on their marquee and it makes us giggle. 

Anyway, try this beer.  It is good.

*I do not know what a Hoosier is…  I do not think I should need to Google this.  If people here call themselves something, I want them to tell me what that something means, ya know?  So far I have asked two people and they didn’t really know, they said something like, “It means a person from Indiana…”.  Yeah, but WHAT IS A HOOSIER?  Like, why is a person from Indiana called that?

Price – $1.67 per bottle

Rating – 3.75

Day 189 - Zip Line Beer

As I have done in all of the states we visited Trader Joe’s in, while in Omaha I tried to get LOCAL products.  Because Trader Joe’s stores across the country carry the same products, the department where you can usually find something different and LOCAL is the liquor department.  So off I went :).  It is RESEARCH for the blog, right??

Look - Omaha Trader Joe's has real LIQUOR!  This is only the second location we have seen with more than beer and wine - the other was LaJolla, California

Sign at the TJ's check out in Omaha - cool, eh??

I found this local beer, Zip Line.  But I searched and searched for a local WINE.  I know there ARE Nebraska wines, because my entire family lives in Nebraska and once when we went to visit they took us to a winery (Soaring Wings I believe it was called).  So I asked a Trader Joe’s guy where I might find a local Nebraska wine in the store, and he kindly pointed out (with a funny face) that they did not carry any…  It was sort of cute, really.  It felt as if he was trying to save us from having to taste a Nebraska wine…  (Note:  the wines at Soaring Wings were not bad when we went!  And the location was very pretty and nice.  It is a fun place to visit.  Sure, it is not SONOMA, but it is worth a drive out if you are in the area!  http://www.soaringwingswine.com/ )

David presents ZIP LINE - a Nebraska beer

So, no local wine, local beer it was!  We checked out with the crazily overpriced Zip Line Beer, brewed in the capital of Nebraska (Lincoln, for those of you not in the know).  It was $8.99 for a 4 pack - $2.25 per bottle.  Way more than regular beer at Trader Joe’s. 

Just because it has "limited series" written on the box doesn't mean they should overcharge for it...

This is a seasonal brew, and for a summer beer it is “okay” according to Jim, my brother-in-law who I consulted for this review.  Jim likes beer, in fact he has been known to brew some of his own up at home.  He said to really be good it would have to be colder than it was when I served it.  My bad.  Jim said it was, “Not my favorite IPA in all the world.  Peppery, smoky citrus.  There is a hint of – hold on (this is the point where he GARGLED the beer.  I liked this part.) COMPLEX.  To me, it has too much citrus.  It is kind of a summer Pale Ale actually.  I don’t know.  But that is too much for a 4 pack.”

Jim doing a taste test

My favorite part - Jim gargling the beer.  This makes it fancy.

David and Jim tried to come up with the best pairing for this beer and decided on HOT DOGS.  Classy.

David’s review was this, “This beer would best be poured over the pavement by a police officer who has stopped you”.  Umm, I take it this was not David’s favorite beer on the planet.  Maybe because he was drinking it at Jim’s house and was wishing he had some of Jim’s home brew instead.

Price - $8.99

Rating – 3 (that is the rating Jim gave it and I gave it the same, so it averaged out to a 3)

Day 173 - Sweet and Spicy Pecans

The first note you get when you pop one of these pecans in your mouth is SWEET.  So you think, “Spicy?  The label says SPICY.  These things are not spi… Hey…  Wait a gosh darn second…”.  Cuz, see, that is when the SPICY hits ya!  And the spicy is what stays with ya!

I like these better than David does.  He would prefer more SWEET less lingering SPICY I think.  They are not my ultimate Trader Joe’s nut favorite, and I can’t eat more than a handful (of nuts…), but they are pretty good. 

Looks like lots of people were buying these the day we were there!

The package mentions putting them on a salad.  That is something I really should try.  I never think about putting NUTS on salads, even though I make and eat a lot of salads.  When I buy a salad at TJ’s or order one in a restaurant that includes nuts, I am usually quite happy.  So why I never remember to put them on homemade salads is beyond me.  Anyway, I shall try that with a few of these and see how it goes.

I think these would be good to put out in a pretty little bowl if you were throwing a cocktail party.  Especially if you had a lot of beer you wanted to get rid of, cuz peoples’ mouths would be hot from the spicy nuts and they would be slamming back brewskies. 

These pecans look GIGANTIC in this photo.  It is because this is a little Barbie sized bowl :) .

I think these are a bit overpriced for the amount you get (5 oz).

Price – $3.99

Rating – 3

Day 158 - Skinny Dip (New Belgium) Beer

As with most (if not all) beer reviews on this blog, I must preface this by saying that I know practically nothing about beer.  I didn’t drink much of it until a year or two ago, and I still choose wine over it.  But I have been known to kick back a brewsky every now and again (boy that sounds dumb when I say it…). 

So we were having a beach party and I wanted to stock up on beer.  I wasn’t sure what to get, but this one is called SKINNY DIP so hey, yeah, THIS IS A SURE BET, RIGHT?  Totally chose it for the name.  J 

SKINNY DIP in action!  No, not SKINNY DIPPING, but drinking a Skinny Dip beer

 And it is a fine beer.  I mean, not FINER than other beers per se, but it does the trick.  The label says the “hops frolic with bready malts for a crisp sip as refreshing as a freshwater dip”.  Damn – that is some fancy  marketing!!   

This is a seasonal beer (summer only – cuz who skinny dips in winter??).  Lucky for you, gentle reader, I did a price comparison and found that a six pack was a full FIFTY CENTS cheaper at Trader Joe’s than at Publix (a large Florida grocery store chain). 

Publix - $9.49!

 Trader Joe's - $8.99 (not great signage - this was the Winter Park, FL store)

So if you like Skinny Dip, pick it up at Trader Joe’s instead of some other grocery store.  Save some money and celebrate SUMMER!

Price - $8.49

Rating - 4

Day 85 - Josephsbrau Prost (beer)

I am not sure if I have complained about this on this blog before, so let me get this out in the open:  our Trader Joe’s in Falls Church, VA USED TO do wine and beer tastings a LOT.  Like, almost every time we shopped.  And let me be clear – tasting wine/beer while shopping not only makes shopping more pleasant, it almost ensures you will purchase at least one of the items you just tasted!  Over a year ago they cut way back on their tastings (boooooo!!!) and since then it has been more difficult to get exposed to new varieties of wine and beer to buy.

But this past Sunday they HAD A TASTING!  And one of the items being poured was a flyer item that we had never tasted before called Josephsbrau Prost (beer).  We were happy to taste it – it was terrific!!  Cold, crisp, and delicious.  And so we did what any satisfied taster would do – bought a six pack!

Beer and wine tasting on a Sunday afternoon at Trader Joe's - how civilized!

See Trader Joe’s???  We would never had thrown that 6 pack in our cart had you not scheduled that friendly staff member to stand in the liquor section a couple of hours and entertain guests.  I say that is a win-win!  (Note to management if any of you see this – the few times that you also have a cheese and cracker combo with the wine/beer, we (and people around us) normally end up buying the cheese, too, so SPLURGE next time and put out a snack that goes with what you are pouring!  It makes you look like great hosts and it adds up to more sales – cha-ching!!)

This is a tasty beer that we would have completely missed out on had the store not done a tasting - thanks Trader Joe's!

Anyway, we had this beer tonight with chicken chili and it was a great combo.  I can also imagine sipping it while sitting on a porch or patio on a warm summer night.  Josephsbrau Prost is good beer at a great price.

Price - $6.49

Rating - 4

Day 74 - Partially Popped Popcorn

We did NOT expect to like this.  We saw it on an end cap of “New Products” and we looked at one another and went, “Ewwww!”.  I mean, it bills itself as “…the little crunchies usually found in the bottom of the popcorn bowl…” – aka the WORST PART OF THE POPCORN EXPERIENCE.  I hate those bits at the bottom of the bowl, doesn’t EVERYONE?  They are hard, don’t taste good, hurt your teeth, and worst of all they break into little razor sharp bits that deposit themselves deep into the bed of your gums where they annoy the heck out of you until you get off your butt and find a toothpick or dental floss to force them out!!!  (Can you tell by my description that the bits at the bottom of the bowl are NOT my favorite part?)

Partially Popped Pop Corn??  David's teeth hurt jusst THINKING ABOUT EATING IT!

Anyway, the description on the back of this bag goes on to say that these bits have, “…a texture that makes them almost addictive and easier on the jaw”.  Hmmmm, color me a doubter on this one…

But we need to try loads of Trader Joe’s products this year – reviewing one per day requires COMMITMENT, folks.  And like they say, in for a penny, in for a pound!  So, we needed to try this.  We asked a Trader Joe’s associate if she had tried it yet, she hadn’t and she sort of wrinkled up her nose and agreed with us that the premise sounded bad…  However, as Trader Joe’s employees are wont to do, she offered to OPEN A BAG SO WE COULD TRY IT!  Yuppers – right there in the store. 

And try we did (as did she).  Turns out – THESE LITTLE SUCKERS ARE GOOD!  They are CRUNCY but not tooth-hurting crunchy.  They taste GOOD.  And they somehow managed to eliminate the little bits that love to get stuck between your teeth!   We put a bag in our cart – sold!! 

La Jolla, CA Trader Joe's sign - each store has an in-house artist to make signage so your sign will look different than this one

We soon found a terrific pairing for this snack – beer!  We snuck the bag into a craft brewery in La Jolla, CA and ate Partially Popped Popcorn with beer – yummmm!  They almost have a “corn nut” flavor (which got me to thinking, “I haven’t had corn nuts in years.  In fact, what IS a corn nut????” – this deep thought may have been because of the beer…).  One negative thing about these – they are made with butter and sea salt, and that really sticks to your fingers.  But heck – just lick ‘em off when you are done!

I highly recommend you pick a bag of these up and TRY THEM.  We are now on our second bag!    If you get them and do not like them, remember, you can always return the opened bag and Trader Joe’s will happily refund your money.  Seriously, they give you no grief about returning a product.  (But I don’t think you will return this one because they are delicious.)

Price – $2.49

Rating – 4.75

Day 60 - Beer (in general)

Here’s the thing – at Trader Joe’s, beer is FLEXIBLE.  In stores that sell alcohol, they have a good selection of beer.  They even let you MIX AND MATCH bottles and make your own six pack!!  They often have stapled paper grocery bags filled with “mystery” beer selections.  And guess what else?  THEY CARRY LOCAL BEERS!  So, when we visit an out of town Trader Joe’s, I check out the local beer!  It rocks.

Look at the LOCAL BEER SECTION in a North Carolina Trader Joe's!

We are not huge beer drinkers, but we do enjoy a bottle every once in a while.  I do not by any stretch of the imagination consider myself qualified enough to review specific BEERS here.  I do not have a “sophisticated” beer palate and can never even remember what “style” of beer I like.  So when we were in North Carolina recently, I had a Trader Joe’s employee steer me towards the local beer section and just made us a mixed up six pack.  J 

David downing one of our beers

 We have drunk 5 of the 6 bottles.  Of those, 4 were delicious and one was not my thing.  I don’t think it was because it was a bad BEER, it was just a type of beer that didn’t taste good to me.

Hoppyum IPA

I guess my point is – if you like beer, GO TO TRADER JOE’S and check out the selection.  Make a six pack (or 2 or 3…).  They are really reasonably priced and you may discover one that is perfect for you!

Hoppy Bunny APA (get it?  HOPPY Bunny!!)

This review gives Trader Joe’s beer a perfect score for:  great beer selection, carrying local brews, and letting customers mix and match to bring home the exact bottles they want.

Price – varies

Rating - 5