Beer Cheese Soup (aka Leinie's Beer Cheese Soup)

Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 55 mins

Ingredients

• 6 cups chicken stock (low sodium broth works excellent!)
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2-1 cup butter (4 ounces = 1 stick)
• 1 cup minnesota wild rice
• 6 -10 slices bacon, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups fresh mushrooms, chopped into large chunks (roughly 8 ounces)
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3/4 teaspoon celery salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon tabasco sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
• 3 -4 cups leinenkugel's red lager beer (3 bottles)
• 4 cups extra-sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (use wisconsin-made cheddar, such as sargento chefstyle shredded sharp cheddar cheese. chefstyle tast)

Recipe

• 1 cook wild rice, set aside (or you can use precooked wild rice from the can).
• 2 cook bacon, chop & then set aside.
• 3 sauté onion and mushrooms in (2 tbsp) butter until tender. set aside (or dump into bacon & rice pan/bowl to save room).
• 4 warm (6 tbsp) butter in a small pan, add flour and cook for 3-4 minutes on low heat, stirring frequently, which will make a nice (roux) paste. set aside.
• 5 bring chicken stock to a low boil.
• 6 stir in flour/butter mixture until dissolved.
• 7 reduce heat to low and cook for 10 minutes, stirring often to prevent burning. add sour cream, worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, celery salt, ground mustard, tabasco, & pepper.
• 8 add wild rice, bacon, mushrooms, & onion, then stir in cheese until completely melted.
• 9 cook on low-medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• 10 slowly add lienie's red and cook for 15 - 30 minutes on med-low, stirring frequently (adjust consistency by adding more leinie’s or flour if necessary). careful to not hard boil.
• 11 add additional pepper, wild rice, bacon and/or mushrooms to taste.
• 12 garnish with additional bacon and/or popcorn and a couple shreds of cheese. side with a sourdough boule or similar fresh bread; when tail-gaiting use sourdough croutons.
• 13 freeze it, gift it, love it. this is the soup that all your friends will want the recipe for!
• 14 ignore nutrition facts –if your worried about fat or calories you probably shouldn’t make beer cheese soup : ) bon appétit !