Category Archives: Journeyman

Someone who has made significant progress and is showing the determination to complete the journey.

#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

 

 

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

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

 

 

Williamsburg: (Josiah) Chowning Tavern

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My wife and I visited Colonial Williamsburg last weekend and had lunch at (Josiah) Chowning’s Tavern.

Although the food was excellent and the sight-seeing was awesome, you obviously know I will talk about the brews!  At the top of their menu, they list both a “Seasonal Brew” and a “Specialty Brew.”

Yep, I had both. The first brew, the seasonal, was called “Old Stitch (Devil).”  It was a coffee stout at 5.4% ABV.  Excellent aroma and great flavor! Really hit the spot.  This beer is brewed for Chowning by the Williamsburg Alewerks.  I believe this is actually packaged as their Coffeehouse Stout.  I now have a bottle in my fridge (thanks Total Wine!) and I will see if it is actually the same brew.  We drank these brews out of the ceramic mugs.  Of course, since my wife can’t drink the beer (no Gluten) … she enjoyed a Hot Buttered Rum!

The second beer — the specialty beer — is their “Liebotschaner Cream Ale.”    I looked around for some reference to this beer and couldn’t find it.  It was a very tasty cream ale.  Apparently, this beer is made by The Lion Brewery (Wilkes-Barre, PA) as a contract brew.

Both of these beers were right in style–the only thing that stood out to me was the lack of any kind of head on the the “Old Stitch.”  Otherwise, it was quite tasty–the coffee came through right off the bat.  So, if you make a trip to Colonial Williamsburg, you won’t find yourself lacking in a good brew while visiting!

Enjoy,

Beer Mentor

 

“Improve Your Wit” Bier: Primary Fermentation

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All,

Just in case you were wondering if my yeast starter/brew session kicked off “OK” see the photo of my “airlock.”  It went so big that it “Krausen”ed right into the Airlock!

What’s even more interesting is that I put it in the warmest place in my house, and the temp is still holding steady at 68 degrees … yeah, it’s been a little cold around here.

Should be transferring to secondary in the next few days!

Beer Mentor

#25: The Flying Saucer (Ft Worth, Tx) (#39)

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My daughter and I had the good fortune of being near Ft Worth, Texas on 23 Dec 2010.  A perfect opportunity to head over to The Flying Saucer!  It’s always good to head to the original … this is place #25 for me on the AllAboutBeer.com 125 Places to Drink beer list.  The Flying Saucer is right next to the Bass Performance Hall — a place with a neat history and a great facade (see picture) …

Now on to the Flying Saucer.  I love this place!  I immediately joined the UFO Club in anticipation of completing their 200 Beer Competition.  The food was excellent, the atmosphere was great and the beer list was exceptional!  All three qualities I enjoy in a nice pub!  Here are a couple pictures of the exterior (sorry, taken with my phone … I forgot my camera)

Oh, I forgot, another great thing about this place is a very knowledgeable staff.  Here’s a couple of interior pictures … not the excellent German Sausage plates we had!

Finally, a took a (blurry) picture of the menu … like I said, this place has great character!

Enjoy!

Beer Mentor

Gluten-Free Beers

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Ok, let’s talk gluten-free beers for a moment.  For those who don’t know gluten is considered to be “wheat grain protein.”  The offending protein, gluten, is found in wheat, barley, rye–obviously, for beer drinkers, no barley is a bad thing!  If you are allergic to this, then “gluten” is a toxin to  your body–read more here: Celiac Sprue

So there are several companies out there who are now making beers that are gluten-free–that means the beer is made from sorghum, or buckwheat, rice, or any other non-gluten grain.   This list is based on beers my wife (who is gluten-intolerant) tells me are good to her (it doesn’t matter if they are good to me — I can drink any beer I want!)

So, from someone who is a “Celiac,”  here’s her beer opinions:

Bard’s–this beer is ok, but not her favorite.  This would probably be the last gluten-free beer she would chose.  It’s just too light, not enough character.

Green’s — these guys make several gluten-free beers.  The ones my wife has had are English or Belgian-style beers which are basically a Belgian Strong Pale Ale (Quest), a Dubbel (Endeavour), and an English Strong Ale (Discovery).  I know what the beer advocate ratings say, but these are very good gluten-free beers.  She would recommend these to any Celiac. (They are higher alcohol beers, though, so be careful)

Redbridge – Yeah, I know, an Anheuser-Busch beer.  But she really likes this one–it is her daily go-to beer.  I keep a stash of this in the fridge for her and, when she’s not drinking wine, she likes to grab one of these.

Finally, the last beer she had was a Spanish beer that is gluten-free: Estrella Damm.  This one has won a gold medal the last couple of years … it is an excellent, gluten-free beer.  This one is probably moving up to be her favorite.

She will continue to sample other gluten-free beers as she gets the chance–the selection is growing … which is wonderful for her!

Enjoy,

Beer Mentor

How do I pick a Good Beer?

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I know that the first lesson for the “Beer Apprentice” at beermentor.com is “Identify a ‘good’ beer.”  I “developed” about 5 hours worth of work to get a good feeling for Beer basics and styles.  I also recommended purchasing several of these styles and sampling them.

However, after you’ve completed this lesson, where do you turn to find “Good Versions” of the styles you like?  For instance, if you really like American IPAs, how do  you go about picking a good one to try?

The most obvious answer is “Ask an expert”–but this begs the question “Who is an expert?”  The difficulty you find is knowing if you can trust someone to recommend the style you want to try.  For instance, if a friend of yours happens to love English Bitters (and pretty much drinks only those), you probably wouldn’t ask him what American IPA he would recommend.

Sooooo, I would fall back on the less obvious way to find one to try.  The first places I would look are the most recent GABF or World Beer Cub winners for that style.  For instance, Sweetgrass APA from Grand Teton Brewing is the most recent (2009) GABF Gold Medal winner.  From the World Beer Cup (2008), the top two IPAs are “IPA” from  Odell Brewing Co (Gold) and “Union Jack IPA“, from Firestone Walker Brewing Co (Silver).  These are selections from certified judges and will probably be fantastic options (Actually, they are fantastic options … I’ve had all three … wow, they are good!)

If these aren’t available in your area, then as a secondary option, I would 1) make a list of the available beers in that style, and then 2) go to ratebeer.com or beeradvocate.com to see how those particular beers stack up.  Even though the folks that rate these beers at these sites are not (usually) certified judges, the collective mind of all these folks usually get it right and the rating will be spot on for the beer. Once you have a couple of options, buy them, chill them correctly (but don’t make them too cold), and have a tasting session with some friends!

The final option would be to go to a bar or restaurant that serves a sampling of the style you want to try and just go for it!  This is usually hit-or-miss, but, hey, you are out drinking beer!

Yes!

Beer Mentor

The difference between East Coast/West Coast APAs?

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As I start moving into the 200’s for “beers in a row” I just wonder how long I can keep it up!  This has been difficult — I’ve been sick a couple of times and just had to drink through it … and other times I’ve just not really felt like a brew … but I have persevered.  So, today, I’ve sampled beer #201.

Tonight’s brew was another Southern Tier: Phin  & Matt’s Extraordinary Ale.

I like this beer … I just don’t love it.  If you’ve read some of my other posts/comments you may have read that I notice a difference between East Coast and West Coast “American Pale Ales (APA).”  This is an East Coast APA.  I know there is a subtle difference between IPAs and APAs … the APAs tend to be more hopped up.  However, when you drink a west coast APA, you get HOPS!  Lots of them … and the balance is more pronounced toward the hop.  With the East Coast APAs, you get MALT.

In actuality, the East Coast APAs are probably more balanced, but I just don’t like it when I have an APA/IPA and don’t think “HOP!”  To me, an APA (or an IPA) should say you love Hops and, oh by the way, there’s some malt in there too.

So, while I like Phin and Matt’s Extraordinary Ale … I’ll stick with the more hopped up ones … especially Southern Tier’s Imperial Collection … Yummy!

Beer Mentor

Sam Adams Seasonal: Summer Ale

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I was in Jacksonville, NC, today and was having dinner at their local Chili’s restaurant.  I scanned the menu, didn’t see Shiner bock, so I decided to have the Sam Adam’s Seasonal — currently the Summer Ale.

I would like to say I enjoyed this beer … but I can’t.  I like the fact that their summer ale is a wheat beer … but the problem I had was not with this beer, it was with the dispensing equipment at this Chili’s.

If you’ve had plenty of beer from the tap (yes, I have), then you know what I’m talking about.  It is almost automatic when you get a whiff of the beer that the lines haven’t been cleaned in a while (see this article about this).

So, I know I usually enjoy my Sam Adams … especially their summer seasonal, but I’ll have to get it at another location.

Restaurants — clean your lines!  Actually, I probably should have mentioned it to them… next time, I swear, I’m going to mention it to them!  I had the same problem at a place called Bilbo Baggins in Alexandria, VA.

Beer Mentor