Sam Adams, Meet Juicy Lucy

Have you been to Minneapolis? I haven't, but Lindsey and Trevor talk about it and its superiority to every other city incessantly. Thus, I get the impression that it is, in fact, a big deal.

A specific big deal comes in the form of the "juicy Lucy" - a burger filled with cheese such that you bite into it and best have a napkin on hand for the gushing that will ensue. Over spring break, Lindsey was busy sunning in the Keys and Trevor and I sat up here touring breweries and cooking a little more creatively.

Observe T-rev filling up the turkey patty. We had sun-dried tomatoes that we mixed with the ground turkey meat (in addition to the regulated bread crumbs and egg). Ciabatta rolls were halved, drizzled with olive oil and baked for 15min while we cooked the burger patties. The patties were so large (12oz. easily) that they cooked for almost ten minutes a side.

I happen to have a pretty small mouth. My dentist (and the orthodonist from back in the day) always comments on how I ought to use kids' toothbrushes. Rather than feel like an awkward prepubescent holding a brush no larger than my palm every morning and night, I just opt to use smarter technique with a big kids' brush. Anyways, you can see how big the burger ended up being.


I ended up having to take two bites vertically (that is, one on top of the other) to make my way through this delicious monstrosity. While trekking through the land of lean poultry burgers, I learned an interesting something. Feta melts at a higher temperature than most cheeses, so it was just barely on the verge of goopey when we happened upon it in the center of the burger. Still, it was damn good stuff. Surprisingly, considering the nature of feta, I still think the meat could have had more salt.

As far as Sam Adams goes, we just hiked on down to the Jamaica Plain area, walked five minutes to the brewery, and were shown around a bit. I snagged a few images of the guy from the Sam Adams commercials in his signature brown khaki overalls but the quality isn't good enough to share here. The sampling was, of course, the best part. The sampling glasses were so bitty! We got to try Sam's classic Boston Lager in addition to the Noble Pils, Cherry Wheat (or was it Pale Ale?) and Irish Red. The under-21's were given root beer. All the beer was delicious, and why not? It was totally free. The only negation to the trip was that our host was a bit on the stingy side. No refills of any sort were given out. Trevor says that he's always been able to squeeze out an extra sample size (or four) from the host, but this one would not budge.

So much for spring break indulgences.