It's a Drunken Kind of Potluck

Hi folks.  I finally made real yeast bread for the first time ever!  I think there is room to improve, but my first shot wasn't too shabby!
 
I had read about making beer bread for a while, and when I read the Beer Cheese Bread post on Buns in My Oven I knew wanted to make it.  I picked this to bring to my office Christmas potluck lunch because I knew the lushes would love it.  Just kidding - although we've got a couple of Louisiana folks in the office ;).  I have never bought a beer in my life, eventhough I am fascinated by the scientific brewing process.  I thought this could be a fun new activity, especially since Publix sells individual bottles of brewery beer now.  Instead, my friend gave me a couple from his refrigerator - which was cheaper and meant I could avoid remembering those Sunday alcohol sales hours (does the new law let you buy it on Sunday now, but still only during certain hours? Do those hours coincide with when I get done watching the kiddies at the church house?  You know, questions like that).
 
I measured all of my ingredients before I started because I didn't want to ruin my bread in a panic because I didn't have the right thing just when I needed it. However, I could not find my loaf pans anywhere.  I had some mini loaf pans for gift giving, but I had no clue how much to put in each one because I'd never made this before.  This elicited an emergency phone call to my mother, who suggested using her Christmas tree shaped bundt pan.  I was unsure about this, but ultimately it's what I went with.  The dough was stuffed in there, but it was almost midnight and I was pretty desperate.  
 
Y'all, this stuff smells amazing when you bake it!  And when you pull it out it is all gooey and cheesy and calling out to you.  I turned the bread out pretty quickly onto a cooling rack and it all came out in one piece.  Then, the cheese began oozing out of the top of the Christmas trees.  No lie.  Which is why everybody in my office would look at it and go "Who brought the volcano bread?". 
 
 

Since this was meant to be in 2 separate pans, it was pretty dense.  But man, was it yummy!  If you want to make bread but have been too afraid to try, this is a great place to start!

The great thing about this bread is that the beer cooks out while leaving a distinctive taste to the bread.  This was not true for our Office Assistant's doused rum cake.  I figured I'd be ok, because I mean - it's just a cake.  And how much more could she have poured on there after she took it out of the oven?  Well, let me tell ya - a lot.  That is why I have been tipsy for over an hour and struggled through this blog post.  Please forgive the errors :).  Because I'm not kidding.  Gonna take a nap now.