the goose goofs off: the goose loves beer-butt chicken

This one is a nice fast post. Short and sweet. And tasty.

Billy and I have been wanting to make a beer can chicken for awhile. Like years. So we wait until summer is practically over already and decide to grill one up. It was so surprisingly easy and amazingly tasty - we should have been grilling these ages ago.

There are a ton of recipes online, but we decided to use one that Billy's boss Bill gave us:

Rick Browne's Original Beer-Butt Chicken

For the dry rub:
1	teaspoon brown sugar
1	teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon onion powder
1	teaspoon summer savory
¼	teaspoon cayenne pepper
1	teaspoon paprika
1	teaspoon dry yellow mustard
tablespoon fine sea salt For the basting spray:
1	(12-ounce) can of your favorite
	beer
1	cup apple cider
2	tablespoons olive oil
tablespoons balsamic vinegar For the chicken:
1	large chicken

Make the rub: In a small bowl, mix the rub ingredients until well combined. Wash, dry, and season the chicken generously inside and out with the rub. Work the mixture well into the skin and under the skin wherever possible. Place in a medium howl, cover, and set aside at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes.
Prepare the spray: Pour one cup of the beer into a spray bottle, add the cider, olive oil and balsamic vinegar to the bottle, and set aside.
Heat a grill to 300° to 350°. Slide the chicken tail-side down over the partially-full can of beer; use the two legs and the can for a tripod to hold the chicken upright. Grill for 1-½ to 2 hours over indirect heat. During the cooking time, spray the chicken with the basting spray several times. The chicken is done when the internal temperature reaches 180°.

Carefully remove the bird from the grill, still resting on the can, and place it on a heatproof countertop. After your guests have reacted appropriately, remove the chicken from the beer can with tongs while holding the grill rack with an oven mitt. (Careful! The can is hot.)Give the chicken one more spritz of the basting spray, then carve and serve.

The dry rub.

Here's Billy, pretending to kiss the bacteria-filled uncooked chicken. And washing the chicken too. There's Bentley in the background, making sure his chicken doesn't go too far.

Wave hello!

Bentley keeping watch over his chicken. No, our beagle isn't as tall as the counter. He just stands on the back of the couch, which sits up against our bar.

That chicken's for me, right Dad?

I've never seen him so focused. Oh wait, unless he's looking at a treat in your hand. Or unless he's looking at the carrot cake cupcake-muffin in my hand. Okay he gets really focused on food, whether it's for him or not.

Ah, now yu can see his set up. I can't believe he broke his gaze with Mr. Chicken. I guess Bentley loses that staring contest.

Here's our glorious dry rubbed chicken.

Now don't let this photo fool you. We enjoy ourselves a good drink, whether it be beer or wine or something harder. And no, we did not substitute Sprite for beer in this recipe. It's just that my husband is a rather (terrific) beer snob, and doesn't buy beer in cans. So we poured the Sprite into a glass (and then I poured some raspberry vodka into that same glass - see? we drink) and then filled the empty can with beer.