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May 14, 2008
23:39
C'est What Spring Festival Of Small Breweries
» ‎ Bartowel News

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C'est What's next semi-annual beer festival takes place on Friday, May 23 from 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM. There will be the usual and unusual, thirty-five to forty examples of the best beer Canada has to offer in sample sizes...
23:32
Great Canadian Homebrew Conference 2008
» ‎ Bartowel News

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Great Canadian Homebrew Conference June 7th 2008 Time: 10:30 - 4:00 pm (Doors open at 10:00) Rhino Bar and Grill (1249 Queen Street West) What goes together after a long Canadian winter better than a sunny patio and a refreshing...

23:20
Twelve Pack Review: The Abita Party Pack
» ‎ BEERJANGLIN'

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Maybe it's our white guilt, but we really enjoy supporting the breweries of New Orleans -- or at least the ones that are available where we live. Dixie Lager and Dixie Blackened Voodoo are fine examples of the lager and dark lager style, respectively.

I'm not sure how Hurricane Katrina affected the Abita Brewery; I know it took quite a toll on Dixie Brewing, but they are thankfully doing fine even though they sustained some damage.
Upon a Saturday sojourn to the Finger Lakes Beverage Company in Ithaca, NY, we saw the Abita Party Pack, two beers each of six different selections. We have not been able to secure twelve-packs of Abita in the Syracuse area, so we decided to give it a whirl.

The six selections are:
- Turbo Dog Brown Ale
- 20th Anniversary Pilsner
- Abita Amber
- Fall Fest Oktoberfest
- Purple Haze Raspberry Wheat
- Golden Lager
I decided to tackle them head on. Here are the results.
1. ABITA AMBER. Rather than the amber color I expected, more of a dark orange. Not much head and is more clear and light-looking than a typical amber. The smell is a sweetened burnt malt. Lots of brown sugar. It almost has a mild Scotch ale smell, with nice toasted barley. It's both sweet and dry at once.
  
  The taste is a striking sharp malt with some sweet brown sugarcane and molasses. Some mild caramel in there as well. It tastes like a liquid "Sugar Daddy" candy bar. It's sweet, but thankfully not saccharine. The feel is thick and chunky and chewy. It's milky and smooth. Really a nice feel. Overall it's very sweet but not TOO sweet. Well crafted and delicious. A hell of a good start.
2. FALL FEST. Has a light copper color. Decadent white foamy head. Light bubbly carbonation. It's sturdy and quite nice. The aroma is a rich bittersweet toasted malt with fresh English-smelling hops wafting above. Light caramel. Hints of mild liquid yeast as well.
  
  The taste is a rich toffee/molasses over a roasted (but not burnt) malt. The hops are a welcome bittering accent; they are mild and serve to balance that sweetness. Also a hint of pale malt.
  
  It feels creamy and thick. Stays on the tongue for a while; it's substantial. It's a sweet caramel/molasses beer with some mildly bitter hops. It's more like a roasted pale than anything, but a good Oktoberfest.
3. GOLDEN LAGER. It's a cloudy yellow with a proud finger of head. Looks more thick and chunky than a normal lager, for sure. The smell is a dry pilsnery/lager malt. The aroma is light, but it's clearly all-malt. Bitter but mild Hallertauer-smelling hops. Malt is German-lagery.
  
  The sweetness in the taste is the bitter malt, with the nice bitter hop accent. The taste matches the smell almost exactly, with the right bitter notes all around. It's a nice lager, much better than the typical Bud/Miller/Coors pale lager fare.
  
  It feels light and bubbly, like the feel of a nice, slightly spiky Belgian ale. It's a light and easy-drinkin' lager with lots of strong flavor.
4. TURBO DOG (Brown Ale). Well this is the beer that Stuff Magazine named the #1 beer in America back in 2005. Remind me to never listen to Stuff Magazine when it comes to beer. Not that Turbo Dog is bad, but it's average at best. It's dark brown like Coca-Cola with an off-brown cardboard colored head. It looks deep and murky.
  
  The smell is a strong whiff of alcohol with some darkly sweet roasted malt. It's got brown sugar practically wafting above the glass. It smells slightly darker than a normal brown.
  
  The taste again has that heavy blast of alcohol at first, with a sweet malt swooping in immediately afterward to apologize. Then it hits me that this beer is just too sweet and saccharine, without enough balance. This would have been a perfect example of adding some hops to a dark beer to give it a rich full flavor. Instead, we get heavy and sweet sugars. It's not awful, it's just unbalanced.
  
  It feels thick and milky, although not as smooth as typical browns. It's more of a choker-downer. Overall, not really balanced enough for me to recommend. It's got some of the flavors of a brown, but with more alcohol (which by the way, doesn't count as bitter enough to balance). It's decent, but Stuff Magazine should stick to putting ridiculously hot women on its magazine and get the #&$@ out of the beer game.
5. PURPLE HAZE (Raspberry Wheat). I have heard mixed things about this one. BeerAdvocate.com really doesn't like it, and I've heard that it's a beer for chicks. Let's see for ourselves, shall we?
  
  The color is a peach-color with minimal head. It looks fruity all right, and it's hazy. Not a horrible sign. The smell, on the other hand, isn't what I'd call incredible. It's far too sweet for sure, with a sugary raspberry flavor with some mild wheat to dry it out. This could use a bitter malt balance, such as a chocolate or caramel malt to even the score.
  
  It is very sweet in the taste, but the wheat does a much better job of balancing everything. It's still too far on the sweet side of the spectrum, but decent. It's a little tart and puckery. It does get better as it warms up, but a nice toasted malt would have done wonders for this beer.
  
  It feels creamy, with some dry yeast on the tongue to remind you of the good old days. It is clearly too one-sided for me to drink it all night, but all-told it's a decent "guilty pleasure" beer.
6. 20th ANNIVERSARY PILSNER. A fine bookend to the first beer, this is one of the better pilsners I have had in quite a while. It's a hazy bright golden color, and a half-finger of foamy head. Classic pilsner look.
  
  Before I go on, I have to say I'm not a huge fan of pilsners in general, and that's because they are all so similar, they are like bitter pale ales (yes, I know pilsners are actually lagers) with a smidgen of mandatory bitter hops. And there is very little deviation from this tried and true formula. (If I have my head up my ass on this, please give me some examples to prove me wrong. I'm all ears.)
  
  Ok, so, the smell of this pils is really good. It's got a pleasant flowery aroma, with bitter Euro-German style hops. Doesn't have the too-bitter chlorine smell to which so many lesser pilsners fall victim. Really crisp aroma.
  
  Now the flavor took me completely by surprise. It's got such a nicely diverse hop flavor. Not only does it have the bittering pilsner hops, but also a flowery, estery hop with a burst of citrus. But it's not an IPA or overly hoppy; it's just well balanced. The pale-ish malt steps aside for a second to be the Stockton to the hops' Malone. The finish is pure grapefruit (Javen!).
  
  It feels fizzy and bubbly like champagne. Really nicely crafted, and the bubbles help evangelize the good word of the effervescent flavors. It's a superior pils, bursing with diverse flavors. It's got a wonderful finish. It is to what all pilsners should aspire.
As far as the 12er goes as a whole, I would say the 20th Anniversary Pilsner and the Amber are the two best, and both worth picking up a popularly-priced sixpack. The Fall Fest and the Golden lager are a good addition to mix up the 12-pack. And the Turbo Dog and Purple Haze -- ironically the most widely available of the twelver -- are just okay.

23:08
15 Days 'til Homebrew Blogging Day
» ‎ Beer Bits 2

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Just in case you forgot ;-) I am looking forward to it. Gotta get my story about how I got started homebrewing together.

Lots going on in my non homebrewing/beer life right now (what does that meann?). Family getting together, work going well enough I guess, just bought a present for my sons birthday. Right now I'm downloading Puppy Linux to see if I can revive some old hardware laying around. I'm also staring at a basement full of crap. Gotta get it cleaned up before visitors come!

Cheers!

22:02
The dance card begins to fill.....
» ‎ Flossmoor Beer Blog

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I had the time of my life.... so the summer is creeping up and with that means Andrew and I have a whole lot of festivals, events and now appearances and tastings with this new production line. Here's a glimpse of our calendar for now. We'll add more events and more information on these as they approach.

*Tuesday May 20th- Wheat beer extravaganza at Piece in Chicago. Several guest wheat beers and of course Jonathan Cutler's award winning wheat beers.

*Friday, May 30th-Bottled Beer tasting at Armenetti's on Lincoln. 5:30/6-8PM

*Saturday June 7-Brew Ha Ha at Balmoral Park. 6PM $25. Music, giveaways, and more. Craft beer and Ponies! Don't miss it.

*Saturday July 12th-Chicago AleFest. Soldier Field. New location. Bigger. Better.

*Saturday August 9th-Great Taste of the Midwest. Good luck getting tickets. DON'T call me.

*Saturday August 23rd. Some new fest in Oak Park?? more details TBA

*Saturday September 13th. Flossmoor Fest.

*Wednesday September 17th. Beer dinner with City Provisions in Chicago.

So that's a good start. Surely we'll commit to more. Let's hope I can get away from the brewery for a few days. Oh wait, isn't that what beer festivals are...vacation??
cheers!

21:57
Vermont: Ridge Runner, Rock Art Brewery, Morrisville
» ‎ A Good Beer Blog

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A Good Beer Blog --
Ah, the new issue of Beeradvocate magazine and its cupie doll tap handles. There was quite an outrage over this among circles so small that they might not even form circles. Funny no one thought that they were in drag or just detritus of toy box.
Anyway, this is a very light take on barley wine from Vermont's Rock Art Brewery. Plenty of pale malt graininess with a nice seam of apple butter, smoke and brown bread lightly cut by twig hops and, I think, a little black malt. A bit of mineral drying in the water. It pours a gorgeous brown that is a notch redder than beer bottle brown and sits under rich lacing deep cream froth. And at 7.5%, the brewery - interestingly - calls this a mild barley wine. So maybe this is a beer living in a parallel universe with Scots wee heavy ales or even Ron's beloved Victorian high-test mild. Not overly complex but also none of that beer broth thing that can pop up in the higher test barley wines if not handled well.
Good BAer support.

21:52
August Schell “FireBrick” Vienna Lager
» ‎ SevenPack Beer Blog

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Next up from the Schell Sampler is their Vienna-style lager, a variety that I haven’t drank a ton of, but I understand.

This beer pours a very dark golden color that is borderline amber. The aroma is super-malty, which fits the genre. There is a whispy off-white head that floats around in fine islands on the surface of the beer. In the mouth, this beer is again a malt-bomb. The hallmarks of a Vienna-style lager is an overabundance of malt, coupled with a light hop presence, and I’d say the Schell hits this spot on. The predominant flavor is of sweetbread all through the mouth, with only the lightest bitterness shining through from the hops. The flavor of this beer would generally make me expect a rich, full mouthfeel. However, this beer is actually quite clean and refreshing. Although the flavor is full, this beer washes clean and leaves just a slight sweet flavor at the back of the mouth, leaving the rest of the mouth quite pristine. Honestly, this kinda of beer isn’t really my cup of tea. However, knowing what I do about this style of beer, I’d say Schell did a decent job. If you like the genre, try it out and let me know if I’m right!

21:45
#251 Left Hand - Milk Stout
» ‎ Year of Beer

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A milk stout is a stout sweetened with lactose a sugar derived from milk. The lactose is used because it is a non-fermentable sugar and the yeast will not eat it.

The aroma is has a heavy roast malt flavor with coffee and a light burn toast. The color is black with just a little light shining through. The head pours thick and has good retention.

The taste is very sweet, different than the normal mat sweetness this is a more candy like sweetness. There is a coffee but it is second to the sweetness. The taste is a lot like a cup of coffee with a lot of sugar and a little milk. There is no noticeable hop flavors of bitterness, all like covered by the lactose sweetness. The mouthfeel is very smooth making the beer easy to drink. The finish is sweet with some coffee flavors.

I've never had a milk stout before, and I really like this. The taste is different and I really enjoy the smooth mouthfeel.

20:50
Green Flash Barleywine - Tasting and Aging Notes
» ‎ The Brew Basement

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Name: Barleywine (No fancy names here!)

Brewer: Green Flash

Style: Barleywine (Bet you couldn’t figure that one out!)

Vintage: 2007

Cellared On: April 9th, 2008

Original Tasting: April 21st, 2008

Green Flash’s barleywine poured a clear dark amber with a very light brown head. There were some sweet caramel and toffee malt notes in the smell, but they were totally overwhelmed by the citrusy spicy smells of the hops. It reminded me more of a double IPA then a barleywine. Given the big hop presence, I was pretty sure I knew where this barleywine was headed too….

After one good swig, I knew I was right. This barleywine was one hop bomb from start to finish. There were lots of complex flavors to the hoppy bitterness - mostly grapefruit (and orange) citrus notes, but there was a kind of spicy piney flavor as well. There was also a rich malt presence here - it’s just taking a background role to the hops. The malty sweetness had a caramel/toffee feel to it, but it really had a hard time exerting itself. A little bit of alcohol came in and rode this thick and syrupy brew out through the finish, which was sweet with intense lingering bitterness.

Enjoyable to drink, but most definitely a sipper.

Cellar Outlook: This brew could definitely use a year or two to calm down and balance out a bit. I’m hoping that as the hops pull back we’ll get some additional development of roasty flavors.

Next Tasting: October 2008

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com

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20:20
Skinny Dipping in Old Roseville
» ‎ Pacific Brew News Blog

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I'm pretty proud of where I live, like most of you are, but things have been a bit rocky in my town's beer scene lately. Yes, we have Beermann's, but they're only open on Friday evenings. Yes, we have Mary's now, but they're never going to be a regular spot. BJ's? Well, they suffer the same as Mary, just not a place I am attracted to on a regular basis - not a knock on the beer, mind you. Luckily, however, things appear to be looking up in Old Town Roseville, as Bianca has things moving in the right direction at The Owl Club.

Last week she offered Racer 5 Pint Night, to welcome the new Speed Racer movie. From all reports, this was a big success! I mean, 3 bucks for a pint of Racer 5, what more can you ask for?

This week's special sees another good craft beer on tap and on special, New Belgium's Skinny Dip. Admittedly, this isn't a go-to beer for me, but as I see the forecast creeping toward triple-digits by the end of the week, you really can't ask for a better time to enjoy Skinny Dip. Here's what you can get if you hit Owl Club tomorrow:
- $10 buys you a Skinny Dip shirt, pint glass and your first pint of beer.
- $5 buys you a Skinny Dip pint glass and your first pint of beer.
- Refills of Skinny Dip are only $3
If you're looking for an escape from the Sacramento heat, or are in the market for pint glasses and t-shirts, you won't be sorry to hit up Owl Club. Remember though, no shirt, no shoes, no service.

Owl Club
111 Church St
Roseville, CA 95678
(916) 782-5222

Also On Tap
- Sacramento Brewing has their award winning Vienna Lager on tap now, Luna de Miel. This is served with a lime, to be warned, but with or without, this is a very refreshing beer you can enjoy a few pints of. Also check out their new Hefeweizen, using a yeast that I find to be more palatable, with more of that Bavarian yeast character you hope to find. Odd move I found, I really liked their Hefeweizen to begin with, but with the new yeast the beer actually beat my favorite hefeweizen in the state - Blue Frog! I'm telling you, Peter won't be happy till every beer he makes brings home a medal.
- Auburn Alehouse is about to release its newest batch of IPA, which is reformulated (to be fair, they've all be reformulated) with promises that the hops will be plentiful! Brian may be one of the bigger hop heads in the region, his IPAs only get more flavorful and fuller in aroma as he moves forward. If you're there, however, the Pilsner is simply unbeatable as an afternoon refresher. Man, I love his pils.
- Rubicon's Purple (maibock) was on last time I was there, and it's better than I remember - and I've always been a fan. This isn't a hot weather beer, per se, but if you're there in the evening as it begins to cool off, I think you're gonna be happy to have found it.

19:53
NorthCoast beer dinner
» ‎ MNBeer - By, for and about Minnesota beer. Dedicated to MN breweries, brewpubs & homebrew

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June 7, 2008
7:00 pm
Here is the skinny: June 7th, 7PM - 10 Beers - Schell’s Caramel Bock and Firebrick, Surly Cynic Ale and Bender, Summit Extra Special Bitter and Hefeweizen, Whirlybird Oatmeal Stout and Scotch Ale from Brau Brothers and Angry Planet Pale Ale & Black Helicopter from Flat Earth. Each will be paired with a course of food. $75 per person + tax and gratuity. Advanced tickets can be purchased through localwineevents.com or reserved with a credit card through NorthCoast at 952.475.4960.

NorthCoast Restaurant
294 Grove Lane East Suite 130
Wayzata, MN 55391

19:42
Summer Poll
» ‎ Barley Blog, The

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I’m trying out this new Google Documents spreadsheet poll feature, so I figured what better way to see what it can do than find out what everyone’s favorite summer brew is. It could be a style, a specific brand or one of your own concoctions. Once I get some decent results I’ll share them with [...]

19:14
Oskar Blues Old Chub
» ‎ Barley Vine

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Well, I guess I must be hitting on a theme, two canned beers in one week. Oskar Blues is new to the Texas market, but I actually made it to their brewery not to long ago and found their beers to be extremely good. The package of course is canned which as I've mentioned before, I really appreciate and am glad that more craft breweries are doing it. Not only does Oskar Blues can all their beer, they were the first craft brewery to do so back in 2002. Not bad.
The Beer: This one is a Scottish Style beer along the lines of a Wee Heavy weighing in at 8.0%. The beer pours a very dark brown almost black topped with a creamy cappuccino colored head. The nose has notes of raisins, coffee, and toffee. The mouth is chewy, smooth. Rich roasted malt flavors abound, little hop flavor here. Chocolately, esspresso. Very nice and silky smooth. Another canned beer, another A- from me. Here's what the folks at BA had to say.

18:43
More on organic beer
» ‎ Grizzly Growler

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Though he doesn’t address the hops or water specifically, I thought this comment from Brad Simshaw, a co-owner of Blackfoot River Brewing Co., is fairly informational about what it takes to become certified organic.

There is much more to an organic beer than just ingredients. In a truly organic beer not only must all ingredients be certified as organic but also the production process used in brewing the beer must be certified as an organic process. All parts of the process are scrutinized; the storage of the organic ingredients, the milling of the organic grain, the flow of the wort and beer through pumps and hoses, etc. The organic certification process is a rigorous inspection that even involves a check of sales records to determine if more organic beer is being sold than was produced. This inspection is completed annually. Only then are you allowed to declare that the beer is an organic beer. At Blackfoot River Brewing Company (which, for the record, I am part owner) we are glad for the strict regulations regarding organic beers. This guarantees an organic product for the consumer. Our organic beer does not come in bottles, but the tap handle does sport the USDA/Organic label, something allowed only if the beer has been certified organic. For those who would like to try an organic beer on tap I believe our organic porter is in the Missoula market.

Thanks Brad, and I’ll be looking for some of that organic porter around town.

Cheers,

GG

18:24
Almost Oz, definitely Chico, and seen in Alexandria: all wet
» ‎ Yours for Good Fermentables ™

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The 2008 Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Fresh Hop Ale is a "wet-hopped" ale.

An American craft beer neologism, the term refers to a beer made with hops that are used in the brew kettle on the same day -- or close enough -- that they have been harvested. Commercial hops normally undergo a curing period, but not so-called wet hops. Beers made with them are intensely grassy and herbal, tasting as if biting into a fresh sprig of mint covered by a bale of newly mowed grass.

[Some beer lovers, in a love-hate relationship with wine, often unintentionally demean wet-hopped beers by falsely comparing them to the Beaujolais Nouveau wines of France, which are generally poor, insignificant, wines. Sierra Nevada's Harvest Ale and others of its ilk are emphatically not insignificant beers. Go here for an earlier rant on that.]

Sierra Nevada can claim most of the credit for creating the first commercial fresh harvest beers. Beginning in 1996, the brewery arranged for shipment of hops from Pacific Northwest fields on the day they were harvested. The harvest is in Autumn. The 'wet-hopped' beers are released soon after.

But this year, Sierra Nevada has traveled to the seasonal and geographic antipode, New Zealand, for the uncured 'wet' hops for its 2008 Southern Hemisphere Fresh Hop Ale. And the brewery flew them in. this is the first time any American brewer has done such.

Hops from New Zealand have historically been pesticide-free, as has been most of its produce. Over a decade ago, I was using NZ Hallertau and Pacific Gem as aroma and character hops in beers at two different breweries. Lacking the typical catty, grapefruit aromas of US varietals, these hops may not appeal to many American craft beer lovers, but I was then (and am still) a fan of their distinctive piney/berry/citrus/medicinal herbal character.

So how is 2008 Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Fresh Hop Ale? Delicious! A firm sweet malt character in balance with the basil/minty dark berry citrus character of the hops.

2008 Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Fresh Hop Ale is allocated, in short supply. But, several stores in the DC-Baltimore-Richmond area do have this wonderful beer to sell ... at least at present. So don't wait too long.

I was alerted to the coming of this delicious thing by Nick Anderson, the "beermonger" at beer/wine store Rick's in Alexandria, Virginia.

Nick has recently begun writing both a blog at beermonger.net, and a weekly on-line column at www.LocalKicks.com. The latter's inaugural piece featured a nice write-up on Clipper City Brewing, for which I'm a Territory Manager. Thank you, Nick.
17:16
Clipper City and American Craft Beer Week
» ‎ Yours for Good Fermentables ™

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It's American Craft Beer Week, and the flu knocked me from my first event on Monday: the Spring Beer Tasting at the Hard Rock Café in Bethesda, Maryland.

As part of our celebrations, Clipper City Brewing will also be at SAVOR -- the first ever national exposition of beer and food -- both Friday and Saturday, and then at the Virginia Beer Festival in Norfolk on Saturday.

Hugh Sisson, the owner of the brewery, will be conducting a demonstration of mid-Atlantic/Chesapeake fare for the Saturday afternoon session, with the executive chef of Phillips Seafood Restaurant.

This was originally intended to feature recipes for duck, rockfish, crabs, and oysters. But, as the Mellon Auditorium --the venue for this expo on beer and food-- does not allow cooking on premises, the choices and demonstration have been limited. No cooking for a food exposition? Go figure!

Prior to the SAVOR, several DC-area beer bars and restaurants have pulled out the stops, offering special events and beer dinners. Since Clipper City Brewing is from Baltimore, I'll just mention one, home boy Max's TapHouse, which has scheduled a very large assortment of American craft beers on draft, some local, some rare:
- Allagash Curieux
- Allagash Four
- Avery Collaboration Not Litagation
- Avery Czar
- Brewers Art Green Peppercorn triple
- Brewers Art Seven Bueties
- Brewers Art Sour Cherry
- Brewery Art Tiny Tim
- Cape Ann Greenhorn Double IPA
- Cape Ann Tea Party
- Cape Ann Kolsch
- Dogfish Head 120 Minute
- Dogfish Head Aprihop
- Dogfish Head Fort
- Dogfish Head Golden Era
- Dogfish Head Palo Santo
- Dogfish Head Red & White
- Dogfish Head World Wide Stout
- Dominion Millenium
- Eugene City 3 Bills Golden
- Eugene City Track Town 100 Meter IPA
- Great Divide Espresso Yeti
- Issaquah Rye In The Eye
- Lagunitas Gnarleywine
- Lagunitas Hop Stoopid
- Lancaster Maibock
- Lancaster Milk Stout/Hop Hog Blend
- Lancaster Fruit Hefeweizen
- Magic Hat Chaotic Chemisrty
- Magic Hat Midland Mild
- North Coast #38 Stout
- North Coast Brother Thelonious
- North Coast Le Merle
- North Coast Old Stock Ale
- North Coast Pranqster
- Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence
- Ommegang Ommegeddon
- Ommegang Three Philosophers
- Oskar Blues Ten Fidy
- Rogue Brewer
- Rogue Double Dead Guy
- Rogue XS Imperial Porter
- Sierra Nervada Southern Hemipshere
- Sierra Nevada Torpedo
- Southampton Biere De Mars
- Southampton Imperial Porter
- Southampton Cuvee De Fluer
- Southampton Maibock
- Southern Tier Back Burner
- Southern Tier Gemeni
- Southern Tier Chocolat
- Stone Anniversary
- Stone Old Guardian 2007
- Stone Old Guardian 2008
- Stone Vertical Epic 2008
- Thirty Dog Cerberus
- Thirty Dog Ortheus
- Troegs Nugget Nectar
- Troegs Special Release
- Troegs Special Release
- Victory Abbey Six
- Victory Braumeister Pils
- Vixctory Old Horizontal
- Victory Scarlet Fire
- Victory St Boisterous
- Victory V12
- Weyerbacher Blasphemy
- Oxford Class(Cask)

17:13
Samichlaus Beer & Dinner Event
» ‎ Musings Over a Pint

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The recent Brasserie Beck newsletter brings word of an interesting, if pricey, Samichlaus beer dinner. I was fortunate to taste some vintage Samichlaus recently and enjoyed it quite a bit.
On Tuesday, June 3rd, Brasserie Beck holds its first-ever Beer Dinner featuring Samiclaus Vintages and the last known keg of 1997 Hurlimann Samichlaus in existence. The five-course dinner will include bottled vintages from 2000 to 2004 and 2006-2007, a 2005 keg and the 1997 that was keged at the Hurlimann Brewery in Zurich Switzerland.

Samiclaus is known as one of the strongest lager beers in the world with 14% alcohol by volume. The pours between the dinner courses will be approximately 2 oz. each and paired with robust Brasserie Beck menu items of Pork Belly, Duck Confit, Steak with Peppercorn Sauce, Cheese Course and a Dessert with a beer reduction.

The evening’s guest speaker will be Karl Stohr, seventh generation owner of the Eggenberger brewery in Vorchdorf, Austria and also attended by Martin Wetten of Wetten Importers, Inc.

Dinner Details: $110 per person (exclusive of tax and gratuity) 7pm at Brasserie Beck, 1101 K Street, Washington, DC 20005 Reservations by credit card only by calling 202-408-1717 Seating is limited. Valet parking available for $7.

The coveted 1997 keg will be available for sale at the bar after the June 3rd dinner.

As fun as it sounds, I'll have to pass on this one. However, since some of my friends are Samichlaus fans and drink it often, I figure we could have our own country version of this event. Samichlaus goes well with roasted peanuts, and I have both 2006 and 2007 vintages available. I'm estimating $5.00 a head should about cover it!

Samichlaus, Samiclaus, two spellings, one good beer.

15:50
Warm weather beer treats
» ‎ Sioux Brew

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You think summer time and beer and the first thing that probably pops into your head is a nice cool brew after a hard day of playing on the river or mowing the back 40.

And you know, I’d be the last to disagree.

However, some occasions - like a casual dinner get-together with friends - may call for a little bit more than an ice cold lager. Let’s think a little bit grander. Let’s think beer as an ice cream topping. Let’s think beer as a frozen dessert.

I tend towards being a lazy sort when the weather gets hot (and you know it will sooner rather than later), so ease of preparation is key. With the following two summer beer suggestions, the hardest part of the prep work is remembering to buy the beer.

Vanilla ice cream topped with Imperial Porter.

Imperial porters are an odd sort of summer beer suggestion. By themselves, imperial porters are an ideal winter drink. They are thick, pitch black and malty beasts that add to body warmth rather than inspire summer daydreams.

However, their viscous, heavy flavors are the perfect foil to a nice cold dish of vanilla ice cream. Splash a tablespoon or so of a good imperial porter over a scoop of full-cream vanilla ice cream and you have a dessert designed to drive the summer heat away.

I recommend trying Flying Dog’s Gonzo Imperial Porter, the only commercial imperial porter available in Siouxland, over a scoop of Blue Bunny’s Premium All-Natural vanilla ice cream. The sugars in the ice cream cut through the porter’s complex malt goodness, without masking the beer’s flavor profile. They two work perfectly together, and add a richness to the ice cream may have you throwing out that bottle of chocolate syrup.

Total preparation time is as fast as you can scoop the ice cream and open the beer.

Gonzo Imperial Porter, 7.8 percent alcohol, is a 2008 World Beer Cup gold-medal winning brew and is available in four-packs at the South Sioux City HyVee Wine and Spirits. Save any leftover bottles for winter consumption as this beer will keep.

Lambic Sorbet

Lambic beers are native to Belgium and are open fermented “wild” beers. What this means to you is that the beers are fermented in open vessels and exposed to whatever yeasts happen to settle in the vat. As a result, the best lambics are sour and often described as having barnyardy flavors. Stay with me, because this is a good thing.

In order to cut the sourness, most lambics are naturally flavored with fruit. Most common are cassis (black currant), cherry, apple and peach. The resulting beer has a flavor more in common with a fruit flavored champagne. Although it’s still not a casual beer, it is much more tame, elegant and drinkable than the unflavored version.

My lambic sorbet recipe is a variation on the classic granita and uses Lindeman Cassis Lambic which is widely available in the Sioux City area. The powered sugar further cuts the sourness and adds a nice, but not cloying, sweetness.

1 355ml bottle of Lindeman’s Cassis Lambic

1/2 cup of powdered sugar

Stir until well mixed and and then pour into a pre-chilled non-metalic (avoid nasty beer reactions!) pan or bowl and freeze for about three hours. Stir occasionally to keep it from freezing solid. When it gets to a nice semi-hard slushy consistency, scoop into chilled serving bowls.

Yields about 4 servings.

An ideal dessert pairing with sorbet this would be a flourless chocolate torte.

-Tim Hynds

15:40
A Couple Days Off
» ‎ Beer Haiku Daily

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trying to maintain
the elusive two beer buzz
until the weekend

Written by Captain Hops.

Thing of the Day: The New York Times Weekend in the Country Crossword Puzzles: 200 Relaxing Puzzles

Sponsor: Beer Haiku Daily merchandise. Get the official T-Shirts here. They make great gifts!

15:26
What Do They Drink In Bury St Edmunds?
» ‎ maeib's Beerblog

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I had to laugh on Monday night, whilst watching The One Show. The reporter went to Bury St Edmunds, primarily to visit England's smallest pub The Nutshell, which I have blogged about before.
First though they went to everybody's favourite brewery Greene King to show what modern Bury is famous for. Then we saw all the various pub signs in town with the Greene King name (note though, that these were not the new style GK signs with just the brewery logo), then we went to chat to The Nutshell's landlord and get out our tape measure to prove its diminuitiveness.
Finally we chat to two regulars who proclaim their love for the pub and the various characters who pass through its doors in the name of tourism. A closer look though reveals that these regulars are not drinking the local ale, but Guinness!
So after a few minutes of wonderful advertizing for GK, we are left with the two customers who won't touch the stuff. What does that say I wonder?

15:20
SABMiller to distribute Grolsch
» ‎ Sioux Brew

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MILWAUKEE (AP) - SABMiller Brewing PLC says it will buy the rights from rival Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. to distribute Grolsch beer in the U.S.

London-based SABMiller says the distribution will be done by its U.S. subsidiary, Milwaukee-based Miller Brewing Co. Financial terms were not disclosed.

St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch acquired distribution rights to the Dutch beer, known for it’s distinct swivel-top, in February 2006, but SABMiller took over Royal Grolsch NV this past February.

SABMiller announced in November it would bid $1.2 billion for Grolsch, the second-largest Dutch brewer after Heineken.

Anheuser-Busch says it expects the deal to be complete by August.

Miller also distributes European brews Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Pilsner Urquell.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

15:19
Wanted: New Albanian art show, May 15, 16 & 17.
» ‎ Potable Curmudgeon, The

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Kevin and the gang have another art show for the coming weekend. Check out the art in Prost, NABC's special events wing.

15:04
Zingy and Refreshing Notes
» ‎ Relentless Thirst

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The title could refer to beer, but for once,...

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14:26
Big brewers love their beer too
» ‎ boakandbailey.com

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We recently had an interesting conversation with a former executive level employee of a one of the big booze companies. He likes decent beer himself and was outraged by this.

But he also said that, in his time travelling the world for IndustroBooze, he met a lot of brewers of what most of us would consider crappy beers, and found that, to a man, they loved the beer they produced.

He said that the makers of one of the big bland American lagers drank it themselves and were genuinely convinced of its quality. They couldn’t understand why it was so reviled. After all, making it taste the way it did, consistently, was hard work for them — not just a matter of pressing a button.

Perhaps most revealingly, he described the experience of working for a big international drinks company as like being “brainwashed”. The company’s own prod

really simple BEER syndication » May 14, 2008

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