I'm a sucker

You know... I keep buying Gale's Prize Old Ale, kind of a constant rebirth of hope. I've had a couple that were just excellent, and I keep hoping that the next one will be as well, and I keep getting screwed.

Today was no different. I have a long tradition of drinking heavy stuff on the afternoon of Easter Sunday (and then singing Easter Vigil), so after a big stashed bottle of Lagunitas Eye of the Hairball wheatwine, I pulled out the Gale's, a 1998. Pulled the cork, poured the beer -- pleh! Sour. Real sour. Undrinkable sour. Dammit. I find myself hoping that Fuller's will do it better.

The 2003 Heavyweight Old Salty I opened instead...now that was a treat. Warming, too. Thanks, Tom, Bill. Good job.

But now it's time to make dinner: Rieker's Specials (four different burgers on a skewer, with German barbecue sauce), spätzle, and some salad. Then it's time to sing and welcome the Resurrection.

Doing Anything This Saturday Afternoon?

As you may know, I'm real big on Rieker's Prime Meats, the German deli and butcher in Fox Chase, Northeast Philly. They make and smoke their own sausages, and they make fantastic hams and bacons, and their supply of authentic German candies, pickles, sauces, and so on is second to none. (I like to stop in there after donating platelets at the Red Cross's Northeast Donor Center, you know, to replenish my hemoglobin and such.)

So when the folks across the street at the Blue Ox Bistro contacted me and suggested that we do a Philly Beer Week event with Rieker's...I about wet myself. Sorry for that image, but...

So here's the deal. The event is this Saturday at 2:00 PM (an hour after my wheat beer breakfast at the Grey Lodge, feel free to join me), for a cover of $25: a steal for the event. We're going to match up the great German and German-type beers the Blue Ox is serving (really; if you haven't been back since the re-opening, you'll be pleased) with some of the delicious German-type meats you can find at Rieker's. We'll eat, we'll drool a bit, we'll talk beer and smoked meat.

Then we'll all walk across the street to Rieker's where you'll be able to shop for the stuff you just tasted, a food-beer home-restaurant cross-over you won't find too many places! I'll be right there with you, helping with suggestions, pointing out the sweets and delicacies (they do have smoked eel, just ask (and if you know what I'm talking about, you know me too well)), and translating to the best of my abilities. Then we'll head back across the street to the Blue Ox, and wind up at 5:00.

Here's the menu (we're still making beer pairings, but you'll get Spaten Maibock, Sly Fox Rauchbier, Tucher Hefeweizen, a Victory Braumeister Pils, and the "1809" Berliner Weisse)

• Assorted cheeses, Rieker's own landjaeger sausage, Rieker's rauchpeitschen "Smoked Whip" sausage (better than any damned Slim Jim!)
• Rieker’s Triple-Smoked Bacon, lettuce & tomato sandwich, potato salad with more triple-smoked bacon
• Rieker’s smoked Hungarian bratwurst, Rieker’s smoked pfefferwurst (my favorite post-platelet treat, a peppery, soft, smoked sausage), Rieker’s bockwurst
• Mussels in Tucher Hefeweizen sauce (not from Rieker's, but hey: hefeweizen mussels!)
• Egg Skillet with Reiker’s smoked Kielbasa & Radeberger Pilsner cheese sauce, Burger with Radeberger cheese sauce

If you like German beer, if you like German food, if you like shopping in a deli where the people behind the counter actually made most of the meats on display...join us on Saturday. We'll have a good time!