We had a party to go to this weekend where we were to bring an appetizer and a dessert. My wife made some cranberry and white chocolate chip cookies from a recipe on the back of the Ocean Spray package of dried cranberries. I wanted to do something a little more sophisticated and fun and so I turned to a recipe for beer bread that I saw Alton Brown make the other night on his "Fermentation Nation" episode of Good Eats.
The main flavors for this bread come from some dill, cheddar cheese and, of course, beer. AB recommended a good pale ale as opposed to a stout, or lager, that I see called for in many recipes. I decided to go with Ithaca’s Cascazilla, a monstrously hoppy brew. Here’s a picture of it…
Unfortunately, this bread was close to awful. I found it way too salty to begin with, but even beyond that it just didn’t have a good taste to it. I followed the recipe exactly including weighing my ingredients. The texture of the bread was perfect, so I am pretty sure I didn’t make any mistakes. I’m not going to even give you the recipe (though the link is above). The unofficial Hop Talk rating for this is a 1. So sad.
But the cookies were awesome!

Oof! So sorry Alton Brown’s beer bread let you down! I’m surprised. Will have to try his recipe. In the meantime, here’s a link to mine- it’s been foolproof so far, and receptive to different variations of flavor, added ingredients and beer.
http://www.examiner.com/x-15157-NY-Beer-Pairing-Examiner~y2009m9d27-Beer-Bread-Variations-for-a-Spanish-feast
Let me know how the next beer bread goes!
Alton Brown let you down?
The wife has a recipe for beer bread that came with her bread machine. It never fails to please.
I know… A.B. let me down…
I will try the one Elizabeth suggested sometime.
I may also just try something I can find on my iPhone.
I say you write Alton and find out what went wrong