Montgomery Pie

I was snooping around, looking for material for the PA Breweries update's Regional Foods section (definitely getting expanded), when someone mentioned Montgomery Pie. What the heck's that, I asked my mom, and she went looking. Not only did she find it -- a kind of lighter, lemony version of a shoo-fly pie without the crumb topping -- she made one while we were in Virginia. When we stopped in yesterday to pick up the Corgis (Pen and Maud had been walked a lot, and were very happy, but tired!), she gave me the rest of it...she'd had to try it, of course.

I just had a piece with a glass of milk. It's mildly lemon-flavored, just enough, and nicely gooey; sweet, but not teeth-hurting. Better with cold milk than with coffee, I think. One more PA thing for the book. Anyone know a restaurant that serves it, or a bakeshop that sells it? Or why it's called Montgomery Pie?

Slap the PLCB today

I just posted in my PLCB blog about a poll running in today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I'd like to encourage you to go vote NO on the poll, saying you oppose the PLCB's automated wine kiosk and "boutique" wine store schemes. The reasons are here. This agency is out of its mind, and must be stopped. FREE THE BOOZE!

Update: YES! Results came in at 73% NO, 22% yes. I don't know -- or care -- how many "No" votes came from anti-alcohol types; we won this one. Wine kiosks and mini-wine boutiques...as if.

The Khyber, getting back into the swing

Back in the day, before the beer bar explosion in Philly, there were a only few places to find beer other than the usual. Irish bars had Guinness (back then, all of them did...), German beers at the Blue Ox and Austrian Village, Bridgid's had Belgian beers (which was astonishing to me when I arrived from Connecticut in 1991 (um...I'm a native Pennsylvanian, but between 1984 and 1991 I moved all over the country thanks to grad school and a civilian job with the US Army)), there was a growing variety at Copa, Too!...and there was the Khyber.

The Khyber was really old -- Khyber or McGillin's as the oldest Philly bar? McGillin's has the better claim -- really weird -- just look at it from the street -- and really funky -- the 'other side' had some amazing bands. They also had a great selection of drafts, bottles, and spirits, and that amazing 1876 backbar, originally built for the Philadelphia Centennial that year. I drank there fairly often, it was the place I'd meet people in the city, until Old City parking got just stupid nuts expensive. They did events -- I did a booksigning there, got on TV, and "One" Guy Hagner showed up with a case of beer from his first brewery, Franconia.

Then things kind of went downhill, got pretty average, and I didn't go in for years. Then I got an e-mail a few months ago about an event at the Khyber -- meant to blog on it, but didn't. Well, I got another one today for an event coming up that beerguy Stephen Simons calls HOPSCOTCH!

It's going to be on Monday, July 27th, from 5:00PM - 9:00PM, a competition between 12 beers are in contention, and one will win. "Will it be hopped up IPAs/APAs/DIPAs or the malty deliciousness of Scotch Ales/Wee Heavies? Hop heads & Malt Maniacs delight! Some very special brews will be on hand including, Bear Republic Racer X, Founders Backwoods Bastard, Smuttynose Scotch Style Ale." That Racer X is some shit, too.

So welcome back to the Khyber! Might have to get my fat butt back on the bike and get down to Old City again. The Khyber, Brownie's, Cuba Libre, Society Hill Hotel, Race Street Cafe, Plough and the Stars, Triumph, Eulogy, City Tavern...definitely worth it.

Kim Jong Ale?

Reuters reports that North Korea has run what appears to be its first ever television ad: for Taedonggang beer. Here's the story:

In what is reportedly the first television advertisement ever run in North Korea, the Taedong River brewery got nearly two and a half minutes of airtime after a "news" show on Thursday. The spot is about as weird as you might expect: The commercial informs viewers that Taedonggang beer can relieve stress, improve health, and even lengthen your life. The brewer may be making a feint toward Western capitalism here, but it didn't go so far as to claim that drinking beer would get you laid. Too American?
The North Koreans purchased an old Ushers brewery in England in 2000 and moved the whole thing to be reassembled in Pyonyang. Some commenters on the BBC News Web site say the brew tastes pretty good.

Well...what's this mean? Nothing surprising: even the wacky rulers in North Korea know that what Queen Victoria said is true: "Give my people plenty of beer, good beer, and cheap beer, and you will have no revolution among them."
The commercial follows.

A Whole Lot Of Lager

I've been pretty much off the air for five days. Hey, it was a holiday weekend! We dropped off the Corgis at a nice kennel and drove south to bro-in-law Carl's house south of Richmond for a family celebration: Carl's son Matthew graduated from high school this year, the first of the next generation of Cathy's family. He'd done very well in high school and was accepted as an Echols Scholar at the University of Virginia.

So we celebrated: way too much food, loud music (world music, Matt's studying a variety of languages and makes the cultures part of his study), and a 50 liter keg of Blue & Gray Classic Lager. Which was quite tasty, particularly since with the brewery's recent move, the only way they could sell Carl a keg -- Carl being a fairly regular customer -- was to give him unfiltered beer. Very tasty indeed, although when we had to move the last three gallons or so last night, it got real cloudy; lots of yeast in those last glasses!

We had some cans of Sly Fox Phoenix Pale Ale, too, and a Pike Place Monk's Uncle Triple (very nice golden color, pleasantly dry malt presentation (too many sappy tripels out there), with some great spicy notes -- quite a good beer, and I recommend it to you), and I got a bit sappy myself drinking some Old Charter 101, but mostly...we drank Lager. Mostly Carl and I drank Lager, although his brothers Chris and Curt helped. (Don't anyone's parents come to graduation parties any more?) We worked some of it off with a hike around the pond at Pocahontas State Park (that's Carl in the hat and Curt in the...skin).

Most of the family went home Sunday morning. We had breakfast with them before they left, then went to 11 AM mass, and took the rest of the day pretty darned easy as it rained almost all day. More Lager, of course.

Monday Cathy and Thomas and I toured University of Richmond and William & Mary, part of the reason for the trip. We're doing college visits this month. It was not as grueling as we'd feared: the weather was simply wonderful, high 80s with hardly any humidity. Of course, we were touring two beautiful campuses, which didn't hurt. We took the Johnstown-Scotland ferry back across the James River on the way back from Williamsburg, which was smooth, cool, and very pretty, then joined Carl and family for one last dinner (pizza and salad...and Lager).

Today was grueling. We left Carl's at 8:30, drove down I-85 and had breakfast at Brian's Steakhouse in South Hills, VA (excellent), then struck west on VA Rt. 58, a fun and gorgeous drive I've done in the past, and enjoyed again today. But...it was 1:15 by the time we made Wake Forest, and today was hotter (thank God for the breeze). After the talk and the tour (another nice campus, Thomas pulls a face when he notices me taking a picture), we toddled down to Little Richard's Bar-B-Que on Country Club Road.

Holy crap, it was good. I got the coarse-chopped tray with slaw, hush puppies, and fries (why do these places insist on deep-frying 'krinkle-kut' "fries"? Make some damned fresh-cuts, willya?), and tossed the meat up with Little Richard's "dip," the Lexington-style sauce that is just hypnotic to the tongue. Yum-damnit-yum, and the hushpuppies were plentiful and crisp, the slaw diced with dip, and the meat...well, I'm very glad that Little Richard's actually smokes their 'que. 'Nuff said. The side of beans was disappointing: if they weren't lightly doctored canned beans, they were putting too much effort into making something that tasted just like lightly doctored canned beans.

Somehow we managed to realize that dessert -- banana pudding! -- would just not have been -- chocolate pie! -- a good idea, and hit the road at 5:15...for Charlottesville. Argh. The Jetta's nice, don't get me wrong, but four people in it for eight hours? We got a little snarky at times. The driving was fabulous (once we got off I-40 onto Rt. 29 North); hills, practically deserted four lane highway, beautiful vistas of forests, even the waves of kudzu looked good. We got to Ch'ville at 9, and dossed down in our hotel room. Know how grueling all that driving was? I didn't have the energy to drive into town to take in the excellent beers at South Street. I feel like I've let you down, but I was just not getting back in that car again till tomorrow morning!

Tomorrow we tour UVA, probably grab lunch at either Michael's or the Mellow Mushroom (fast good pizza, one pint for the road), then drop in to take a look at the Dickinson College campus before picking up the Corgis and going home. In other words...we're looking at another six and a half hours in the car. Although the last hour and a half will be in both cars, with the Corgis, which will be much better. Talk to you later!

ANOTHER Leigh and Brendan operation!

That's right...a third operation from Leigh Maida and Brendan Hartranft after Memphis and Local 44: Resurrection Taproom, at the current location of Yello! Bar. Here's the story, from Leigh, earlier today:

Brendan and I are poised to sign a lease on the space known as (up until last night) Yello Bar, at Grays Ferry Ave and Catharine Street. (The fry oil might not even be cooled down yet... This is new for us, no years of decay to wade through. Well, I hope!)
We'll be renovating and redecorating the innards and (if all goes right) plan to be open by the first week of September. This is kind of break neck speed, even for us, but I think we've got the team assembled that can pull it off.
The name will be Resurrection Ale House, and we're hammering out a menu now that we think fills a gap in the neighborhood, casual, beer-centric, someplace you can feel like a grown up, and be catered to with care, but not have to spend a ton of money to feel like you got some real value out of your experience. We're focused (as always) on a stellar craft beer list, but we're equally focused this time on the dining side of things too. For now we're sort of working under the term "beer bistro" as a guiding principle, for the menu, the decor, the over all vibe of the place. We're hoping for the same kinds of laid back, food and beer savvy, mixed-bag of cool guests that we get to meet at Memphis and Local 44.
Brendan's planning a drive down to Baltimore to (hopefully) pick up a keg of Resurrection Ale from Brewers Art for the opening. (yay!)
There's a website (naturellement) and people can sign up for the mailing list to check up on the status of the opening and get invited to the big opening night bash.

Well...some people are thriving in the economy. Craft beer continues to rock. Rock on!

Joe Under Glass

Just got news from Philadelphia Brewing Company: their Joe Porter, laced with coffee, is going to make a short appearance in bottles, sometime in September, in their assortment cases. This is excellent news; PBC's everyday year-round beers -- Kenzinger, Newbold, Rowhouse, and Walt Wit -- are good, but their limited release beers like Joe, Fleur de Lehigh, and Shackamaximum Imperial Stout have been outstanding. Getting more Joe is a good, good thing. Thanks, PBC!