Drunk Brats

About two months ago, I took my boyfriend to visit my home state of Wisconsin. In addition to seeing sights like Lambeau Field and the only remaining pulpwood stacker in the world (my hometown’s pride and joy), I made sure to introduce him to Crescent Meats, a butcher shop right up the road from my parents’ house on Highway 27 in Chippewa County. We bought cheddar wursts, beer brats to grill the next day, along with a couple beef sticks (for him, obviously). It was so good that, last month, we placed an order online to have Crescent ship us some Wisconsin-made meat, most of which was intended as a Father’s Day gift for Jay’s dad. Since we were making the order, we got some Italian sausage and beer brats for ourselves. I recently decided to do something I’ve never done with beer brats -  boil them … in beer. They turned out so good, very tender and incredibly flavorful with the addition of some herbs to the boil. I will definitely be doing this again.

36 oz. beer of your choice - we used a home-brewed red ale (3 cans or bottles)

5 or 6 beer brats (or regular bratwurst)

1 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. dried cilantro

1/2 tsp. rosemary

In a medium stock pot or Dutch oven, bring the beer to a boil. Place the bratwurst in the boiling beer. Add the herbs and continue boiling for 25 minutes until tender. Remove from beer broth and serve with your choice of bread/roll and condiments.