Cooking with Beer: "Hop Dog" made with Hoptimum

OK, Memorial Day is fast approaching  and with it, comes BBQ's! So, I wanted to include a good recipe that would work well at a backyard BBQ  that would also include beer, so I started looking around for one I thought looked good.

Well, this one sort of fell into my lap, and it looks GREAT! Made with just a few basic ingredients, this is a simple, but obviously flavor packed recipe just about anyone with basic kitchen/grilling skills can make. I found this on the Sierra Nevada's website (via their Facebook page). Using either hot dogs, or your favorite sausage or brat, their signature mustard (which is awesome!) and some of their crazy hop bomb, Hoptimum. Throw in some sauerkraut, caraway seed, and carrot, and, well, you've got yourself a basic, yet extremely flavorful dish, that your fellow BBQ goers with love! Thanks to Serra Nevada for this (the recipe and below photos are theirs). Check it out....

This is all you need!

Hoptimum® Sauerkraut Sausage
1 cup Hoptimum
8 of your favorite variety of sausage or hot dog
16-ounce can of sauerkraut
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 carrot, grated
Sierra Nevada mustard



In a medium pot, combine the sauerkraut, caraway seeds and carrots. Add the Hoptimum and simmer the mixture over medium heat for 10–15 minutes.

Fill a glass with the remaining beer to sip while you tend to the sausage, which you should cook according to the package’s directions or your own grill mastery—you’re a ninja with tongs, right?

Whether bare or in a bun, top the sausage with the sauerkraut and mustard, and unabashedly dive into the

OK, that looks good!

hearty medley.


Hope you enjoy! To check out the full photo set, description of this recipe, as well as a video with a little of the history, and description of Hoptimum, check out Sierra Nevada's page here.....


For another amazing recipe, using Sierra Nevada's Summerfest, to make trout, click here....

Until next time
Bottoms up my friends

The Beer Czar