Monthly Archives: February 2011

Summary: All About Beers “Growler List”

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If you’ve been following my post, you know I’ve been attempting to visit as many places as possible on the All About Beer Magazine’s “Growler List.”  This is a list of 125 best places in the world to have a beer.  It was published in May of 2008.  There are a couple of other lists out there — 150 Top Bars by both All About Beer, Washington Magazine, and Draft Magazine.

I kind of set this list as my “benchmark” and have been working through it as best I can.  I’m not debating the merits of the list … I’m just using it as a stepping stone.  I’ve got a list of places I’ve been building I should publish.  However, this post is about my current status on completing this list.  So, let’s get to it!

Total (actual) places visited: 24.  Quickly listing them (with their associated list number):

1) GABF (Denver, CO)
2) Grand Place (Brussels, Belgium)
5) Oktoberfest (Munich, Germany)
7) Abbaye de Notre-Dame d’Orval (Orval, Belgium)
11) Hofbrauhaus (Munich, German)
14) The Market Porter (Stoney Street, London, England)
15) Cat’s Eye Pub, Inner Harbor (Baltimore, MD)
26) French Quarter* (New Orleans, LA)
30) The Olde Mitre Tavern, Ely Court, Hatton Garden (London, England)
39) The Flying Saucer (Ft Worth, TX)
48) The Blue Tusk (Syracuse, NY)
51) The White Horse Pub, Parsons Green (London, England)
57) Andechs Monastery (Andechs, Germany)
66) Delerium Cafe (Brussels, Belgium)
80) Le Bier Circus (Brussels, Belgium)
82) Irseer Klosterbrauerei (Irsee, German)
91) Dogfish Head Ale House (Rehoboth Beach, DE)
92) Belgo Central (London, England)
97) Clark’s Ale House (Syracuse, NY)
103) Kelly’s Caribbean Bar (Key West, FL)
104) Rose & Crown Pub (Epcot Center, FL)
110) The Gingerman (Austin, TX)
114) The Dubliner (Washington, DC)
121) Old Ebbitt Grill (Washington, DC)

Places I’ve substituted for items on the list that I consider experiential listings.  In my opinion, you have to enjoy the venue to enjoy the brew … so I think this is a fair substitution: 5

16) Substituting Camden Yards for Fenway Park
– Drinking Clipper City Brews behind home plate in Camden Yards … awesome!
19) Substituting Highland Games for Horse Racing
– Drinking Stouts in the Beer Tent at the Glengarry Highland Games in Ontario listening to the Grade 1 North American Champions improv … fantastic!
22) German Bundesliga Fussball over NASCAR
– Drinking a sweet Pilsner watching 1FCK am Betze! Prima!
31) NFL Game (Cowboys/Redskins) instead of NASCAR (again)
44) NFL Europe Tailgating in Frankfurt over SEC Tailgating
– I’m a Big 12 fan … so, I’ll take the tailgating in Frankfurt! Sweet!

Substituting for a place no longer open: 1

123) Tim Schafer’s is closed I understand.  Substituting In De Vrede (Westvleteren, Belgium)

That gives me a total of 30 “visited.” I plan on visiting the following 8 sites in the next three months:

9) Monk’s Cafe (Philadelphia, PA)
12) The Brickskeller (now Bier Baron) (Washington, DC)
25) World Beer Festival (Raleigh, NC)
33) The Wynkoop Brewery (Denver, CO)
42) SandLot Brewery, Coors Field (Denver, CO)
45) Selin’s Grove Brewing (Selinsgrove, PA)
54) Falling Rock Tap House (Denver, CO)
71) Brewer’s Art (Baltimore, MD)
76) City Tavern (Philadelphia, PA)

So, my target on the list is 37 “places” by the end of May. Wish me luck!

Beer Mentor

#26: Cat’s Eye Pub (Baltimore) (#15)

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A surprise trip for me today to the “Cat’s Eye Pub” in Baltimore, Maryland.

Jill and I were returning to DC from Atlantic City–we’d just seen Flogging Molly in concert at the House of Blues!  I said “Hey we’re going by that way!”  And, as usual, she said “Yes.” (Wow, she’s great!)  So, we headed to place #26 for me on the AllAboutBeer.com “125 Places to Drink Beer” list–it’s number 15 on the list.

I can see why this place is on the list.  Just from the outside you think “this place has character.”  You walk inside, and “Bam!” It is a definite throw-back pub.  Fantastic.  It has wood carvings, and murals, and model boats.  Everything you would expect out of an Irish Pub in Clipper City!  The mural in the pictures below depicts the “History of Ireland.”  It even has a printed description so you can read about it.

This place was voted a 2010 Best Live Music in Baltimore … as we were sitting there enjoying our drinks, the band started trickling in … the bartender told us these guys have been their house band for the last 25 years!  LOL!  Wish we could have stayed around to listen.  But on to the important stuff …

As you can see from the pictures above, there were about 40 beers/ciders on draft.  They had their own “Special Ale” which was an Amber … mighty tasty!  Here I am enjoying it …

They also had several of the Heavy Seas brews AND several of the specialty Sam Adams … the Noble Pils, etc.  Overall a very nice selection of session brews (Miller, Bud, etc) and a good mix of craft brews (and that’s not even talking about the bottled beer!)  I wrapped up my visit with the Heavy Seas Loose Cannon — an excellent IPA!

We both enjoyed the atmosphere and the beverages.  Afterwards, we walked around the harbor and took in some of the sights, like these mermaids.  Obviously, you have to polish the brass! <smile>

Enjoy,

Beer Mentor

 

 

RFD (DC): A Tasting hosted by Bob Tupper

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On Wednesday, 16 Feb, a couple of friends and I attended a Strong Ale tasting event hosted by Bob Tupper at RFD in Washington, DC (Chinatown).  He used to host these sessions at the Brickskeller but moved it here when the ownership of the Brickskeller changed (the Brickskeller is now Bier Baron).

As should be expected, we showed up a little early and had a mini-tasting of our own before we started the Strong-Ale Tasting!

We ordered ourselves a sample from the extensive draft list at RFD.  We had (in order of tasting):

Port City Essential Pale Ale, Mad Fox Diabolik Belgian Strong Ale, Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, Dominion Millennium English Style Barleywine, and the Starr Hill Cryptical Imperial Stout.  I tried to order beers someone from Colorado wouldn’t normally have available.  Port City, the new brewery, is doing a very nice job.  I really enjoyed all of these beers.  The Starr Hill was good, but didn’t seem to match its style claim.  The Edmund Fitzgerald was wonderful.

Now, on to the tasting.  You can see the list here (with a couple of photos of Bob Tupper).

I will put up another post with my tasting notes on all 10 of these beers.  I do want to say that the 11-year old J.W. Lee Harvest Ale (provided by the brewer from Sweetwater Tavern) was amazing!  It is so nice to have these opportunities.  Here are the accompanying pictures–like I said, I will put together another post with my tasting notes.

Of course, when you’ve had a few strong ales, you always seem to have more fun wherever you are! <smile>

Beer Mentor

Stumblingpiper’s Pub: An Evening of Beer Tasting

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A couple of days ago I had a couple of friends over and we went for a long Mountain Bike ride … that ride set us up nicely for a “beer tasting” evening in Stumblingpiper’s Pub. You may ask, where is this Pub?  That’s easy … it’s in my house! <smile>

My lovely bride made us a huge pot of Chocolate Beer Chili (with Bison) and cornbread!  Yes! (Let me know if you’d like the recipe).  We decided to bring out the big beers for this one.

Yep … in order of tastings.

1) Mike’s ESB Homebrew (two bottles in the back).  This is an award-winning brew from a Colorado Springs homebrewer — one of the Brew Bros!  What a nice ESB–an excellent appetizer.

2) Southern Tier Iniquity.  I’ve had this beer before, but my friends had not.  I really like this style of Black IPAs.  It has a great balance — the darker malts definitely do not overcome this beer … it was the right start for the chili!

3) Brooklyn Brewery Black Ops.  This beer surprised all of us.  I originally thought it was another Black IPA … but upon further review, we realized it was bourbon-barrel-aged Stout.  I think I should have aged it a little longer — the bourbon was really in your face with this beer … so much so that it distracted from the Stout flavor.  Interesting that it was re-fermented with Champagne yeast … 2 of the 3 of us finished ours (and then had to finish the other guy’s too … he just couldn’t get past the Bourbon-flavor).

4) Samuel Adams-Weihenstephan Infinium (2010).  This was our second surprise beer.  Seeing that it was a US/German collaboration, we had no idea it would be a Belgian-style Ale (Guess we should read these things before opening and drinking!) <smile>  After the initial surprise wore off, both Mike and I had a big smile on our face … I really liked the balance of this beer … a sour ale finished with Champagne yeast.  Again, with this one, 2 of the 3 of us finished this one off.

5) Fegley Brew works Hop’solutely Triple IPA.  We finished off with the Triple IPA.  I had purchased this beer on a trip to Jim Thorpe, PA last year.  It has sat in my basement for about 7-8 months … it really helped (from the other reviews I’ve seen).  This was an excellent example of a high ABV /IPA … good balance of hops/alcohol/malt.  Of course, as with most in this style, it had a slight, cloying sweetness … but I thought that was well-balanced by the hops.  A nice, final dessert beer!

It was a great evening of tastings with friends at the Stumblingpiper Pub!

Beer Mentor

Devine Rebel 2010: Beer from the Future!

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I picked up this collaboration beer from Brew Dog and Mikkeller today: Devine Rebel 2010. Apparently they’ve done a couple of versions of this one.  I haven’t tried it yet but it seems to have received a good rating.

I guess I can’t really drink this one yet because it hasn’t actually been bottled (see label below).  Since I bought it on the 13th of February, I guess I will have to wait 2 more days until it is actually bottled!

I guess batch 406 won’t be bottled until Tuesday, 15 Feb 2011.  Or it will be bottled on 2 Nov 2015.  Or on 11 Feb 2015.  Any way you look at it, these guys are so good, they are distributing the beer as fresh as possible.   I look forward to trying this beer from the future!

Beer Mentor

Beer / Food Pairing – Beer Mentor-style!

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Recently I was asked to come up with a salad, entree, and dessert paired with beers.  Jill (my wife) and I came up with these dishes on one of our weekend trips recently.  She and I prepared these meals and I invited a friend over to partake and compare.  So, here they are — the food (plus recipe) and the beer pairing.

SALAD/Extra Special Salad
Beer (ESB): Breckenridge Small Batch 471 ESB
Dish: A slaw-style salad marinated with malt vinegar
Details/Ingredients: 1 head each of Red & Green Cabbage, 16 oz can of Red (Kidney) Beans, 16 oz can of White (Navy) Beans, 1 TSP of Crushed Red Pepper, 16 oz of Vegetable Broth, and 32 oz of Malt Vinegar.
Recipe: Cut up the Red & Green Cabbage into slaw, combine with Vegetable broth, cover with water in a pan and boil for 15 minutes.  Drain and combine with beans and red pepper.  Add Malt Vinegar and marinade OVERNIGHT. Add salt to taste (maybe a little more red pepper if it doesn’t have a little kick).  Serve cold.

ENTREE/Gorgonzola-stuffed Bison Steak
Beer (Imperial IPA): Dogfish Head Squall IPA
Dish: A chopped bison steak with Gorgonzola.  Sides of Sweet Corn Succotash and Garlic-seasoned “Crostini.”
Details: 1/3 lb of chopped bison/buffalo steak.  1/4 cup of gorgonzola crumbles.  Shape the meat into a rectangle, pour the cheese in the middle, then fold it over to form a square.  Salt and pepper to taste — grill the steak to desired state.
Succotash: Saute in butter 16 oz can of sweet corn, 1 diced red bell pepper, and 1 diced red onion until tender.  In the last minute add approx 1/4 cup of cilantro (to taste).  Salt and pepper to taste as well.
Finally, serve with garlic-seasoned “crostini” or garlic toast.(Forgot to make the crostini this time <smile>)

DESSERT/Cherry Lime a la Mode!
Beer (LAMBIC): Since I was out of Lambics, we used Bell’s Cherry Stout
Dish: Lime Sherbert with Crushed Black Pepper, garnished with a Belgian Waffle “Cracker.”
Details/Recipe: Mix fresh crushed black pepper with the Lime Sherbert (too taste).

Everything was wonderful together — for the dessert, definitely should have had the Lambic … it would have been the perfect mix (but this one was pretty good!)

Beer Mentor

Belgian-Style Witbier: Racking to Secondary

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I finally racked my Belgian-style Witbier to the secondary fermentation “tank.”   I left it in primary fermentation for 15 days … seems a little long, but it kept being active.  I think the temperature stayed between 68 and 70 degrees pretty much the entire time (except when we lost electricity and the temp in the house dropped to 54 degrees … then it was a little cooler! <smile>).

The first thing I did was prep and sanitize the equipment.

You’ll notice that I use a “Better Bottle” as my secondary fermentation “tank.”  I typically use the “bucket” for primary fermentation because it always makes it easy to transfer (and clean up).  You can see that in these pictures — you can definitely see what I have to clean!

I thought the color was right on … of course there’s still some fermentables (and other stuff) suspended in the pre-beer … it will clear over time … but check out the color here.

Also, you can see that the Specific Gravity is 1.024 (approx).  My target Final Gravity is 1.010 … again, I think I have some suspended particles that give it a little higher gravity; however, it was still bubbling away after I transferred it.  Of course, you always want to tast the intermediate “beer”–it was delicious.  I can’t wait for the final product!

Beer Mentor

90 Reasons to Drink Beer at Home

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I was curious why (so often) I would rather drink beer at my house than go out to a great brewpub.  Besides the fact that it is safer and less expensive (no cab fares, etc), I also realized that I have a bigger selection available in my house than I can find at most of the local pubs.  I counted tonight: I have 90 different beers available to drink.  LOL!

Just in case you were curious, here’s the list!

(Oh, I didn’t mention my Whiskey/Scotch/Bourbon/Brandy Collection either …)

Enjoy,

Beer Mentor

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The List at “Clark’s Ale House”

Austrian

    Samichlaus Classic, Helles

Belgian

    Gouden Carolus – Cuvee Van de Keizer (2008, 2009, 2010)

    Delerium Tremens, Noel

    Green’s Dubbel Dark Ale, Tripel Blond Ale (Gluten Free)

    Chimay Tripel (White), Premiere (Red), Grand Reserve (Blue)

    Orval

    Trappistes Rochefort 8 (Cuvee 2009)

    Westmalle Dubbel, Tripel

    Westvleteren Blond, 12

Canadian

    Unibroue La Fin Du Monde

English

Ringwood Brewery “Old Thumper” (Brewed in US)

German

Franziskaner Hefe Weisse

Keiler Weissbier

Schneider Weisse Hefe Weizen, Aventinus WeisBock,

Aventinus (2006, 2010)

Warsteiner

Weihenstephaner Kristall Weissbier

Irish

Guinness Draught, Foreign Extra Stout

Harp Lager

Netherlands

Brouwerij de Molen: Bommen & Granaten (2009),

Rasputin (2009), Revelation Cat Triple Hop Bock (2009),

Vuur & Vlam (2009), Premiant Hopburst (2009), Amarillo (2009)

Scottish

Brewdog Hardcore IPA

Spanish

Estrella Damm Daura

US – California

Firestone Walker Pale 31, 14th Anniversary Ale

Lagunitas Gnarly Wine (2009)

Stone Ruination IPA

Trader Joe’s 2010 Vintage Ale

US – Colorado

Breckenridge Small Batch 471 IPA

New Belgium Fat Tire

Trinity “Slap Your Mammy” Double IPA

US – Delaware

Dogfish Head: Palo Santo Marron, Pangaea, Namaste,

Sahtea, Chateau Jiahu, Miles Davis Bitches Brew

US – Maine

Allagash Odyssey (2008), Fluxus (2009)

US – Massachusetts

Sam Adams: Infinium Ale, Boston Lager, White Ale,

Irish Red, Winter Lager, Holiday Porter, Chocolate Bock,

Old Fezziwig

US – Michigan

Bell’s Winter White Ale

Founders Porter

US – Missouri

Anheuser-Busch Redbridge (Gluten Free)

US – New York

Brooklyn Winter Ale, Black Ops

Middle Ages Druid Fluid, Wailing Wench, X-Double IPA, Kilt Tilter

Southern Tier Iniquity, Farmer’s Tan, Choklat Stout

South Hampton Cuvee de Fleurs

US – Pennsylvannia

Fegley’s Brewwerks Devious Imperial Pumpkin, Hop’Solutely Triple IPA

Troegs Nugget Nectar, Dream Weaver, Java Head

Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot

Yuengling Lager, Light Lager, Lord Chesterfield Ale

US – Texas

Shiner Holiday Cheer

US – Virginia

James Clark Apricot Mead, Belgian-style Witbier

Williamsburg Alewerks Coffee House Stout

US – Washington State

Red Hook Long Hammer IPA

Savor Fest: Logo Contest!

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There’s this (pretty) new fest in Washington DC called “Savor.”  This is the (I think) fourth year the fest will be in existence.  My friends Ray and Bobby accompanied me to the second one in 2009.  It was awesome!  Here’s the link for the details: Savor

This fest is a great time AND a great venue (The National Building Museum).

This year, DC BEER is hosting a logo contest for SAVOR.    Since I have so much copious free time, I thought I’d try my hand at the logo design.  Woo Hoo.  Let me know what you think!

Beer Mentor

New Brewery: Port City Brewing Company

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This Friday I was fortunate enough to attend the Open House for the newest Production Brewery in the DC area: Port City Brewing.  Actually, I had the day off Friday, I was looking for something to do–a friend of mine had mentioned there was a new brewery opening in Alexandria but he couldn’t remember the name.  Google here I come! I saw this article about it in the Washington Post and thought I could pick up a Growler around lunch (I thought they were already open)–The article mentions that their Belgian Wit would be available — and since I’m currently brewing a wit bier I thought it would be a great opportunity.

I showed up around noon and they were obviously not open.  I was able to poke my head in the back and (fortunately) one of the brewers told me their open house was at 4pm.

I showed back up at 4pm and, sure enough, they were open!

They had two of their four flagship beers available for tasting (see picture above).  Here are the images of the four beers:

The beers were quite nice — I even brought home a growler of the Pale Ale.  Yea, refill for $10 baby!  I was impressed with their setup, operation, and the fact that they were very nice (that’s always a plus in my mind around DC!).  The owner gave us a short tour of their brewery.  Here you can see their base grain storage silo and a shot of where it comes out of their grinding room.

They’ve got a very state-of-the-art brewing system.  Here you can see their mash tuns, kettle, and their 30, 60, and 90 barrel fermentors.

These tanks in the below pictures are their staging vessels for kegging and (soon) bottling.  Just to the left of the tanks you can see their cold storage facility.  Since their beer is not pasteurized it needs to be kept cool.   These tanks will also be used (eventually) for lagering.

They are nearly ready to begin bottling–here’s a shot of their bottling equipment.  An interesting anecdote that may actually interest only me:  they picked up this bottling equipment second-hand from the Southern Tier Brewing company.  That’s another plus in my mind — I love those Southern Tier guys!

Finally, I overheard that their witbier is already on tap at Churchkey.  They have it at a few other spots–but I don’t remember where.  Their WitBier and Pale Ale are ready now.  The Porter is next with the IPA following close on their heels in a couple of weeks!  I can’t wait!  Welcome to the DC area, Port City Brewing!

Beer Mentor