Trader Joe's Beer Bread Mix

I've never had beer bread. I also don't drink beer. While I never really saw the need for a beer bread mix, this mix remains dearly beloved by many. It comes around only during the fall and couldn't be easier to use. So if baking but not too much or beer in your bread sounds appealing, read on. 

I jest that Trader Joe's is a place for people who like to cook but not too much. There's partial truth to that. People that make food from scratch have either a ridiculous amount of time or a super dedication toward homecoming. A lot of Trader Joe's products cater to the person who wants something at least semi-homemade or healthy but with minimal hassle. I kind of like the measuring, mixing, and generating a mountain of dishes [for A to wash]. It's therapeutic. :)

Apparently you can make beer bread without beer and substitute another carbonated beverage. Haven't tried this but would be curious what the results would be. As with most TJ baking mixes, the effort is little more than dumping things into a bowl and not overmixing. 

The ingredients seem similar to a soda bread. I've attempted Irish soda bread before but wasn't too impressed with it. The loaf was kind of dense and relatively flavorless. 

My friends made this without the cheese, but I would imagine cheese in this type of bread would work quite well. The result was pretty good. The beer (We used a mild Asahi...I don't drink beer so I don't know what kind of beer would work best here) adds a nice malty, fermented taste vaguely reminiscent of a sourdough. Since the butter is supposed to be drizzled over the top, that's the only part of the bread that is nice and buttery. I think I would prefer if the whole loaf had that butteriness but perhaps it would interfere with the rise from the baking soda and carbonation. Still, it wasn't overly dry. The crumb was dense but not tough (don't overmix!). I could definitely see people liking this with chili and or a beer. 

Overall, not a bad product at all. $2.99 for a baking mix is a pretty decent price and better than most other grocery store brands. This isn't something I personally would gravitate toward but would definitely recommend for some light fall baking. Pick it up before the holiday goods drown out the wonders of fall! 

TL;DR: Trader Joe's Beer Bread Mix. An easy quick bread with butter and beer. OOOO how about adding butterbeer? 6.5 out of 10.