Where there's smoke...there's Yards

On September 23rd, I have a private tasting in Lancaster. It's a two hour drive. But I'm not going to miss The Third Annual Smoke ‘Em if Yous Got ‘Em that afternoon at Yards. Shmokey beers? Shmokey foods? Shmokin' hot music? Shmokin' ceegars? Iron Hill brewer Larry Horwitz in a bacon suit, chased by a pack of wild dogs? 

You damn betcha I'm gonna be there, cuz there was some awesome good beers there last year (and check out those breweries!). Come on down and join me!

Yards Brewing Company is hosting Smoke ‘Em if Yous Got ‘Em on Friday, September 23, 2011 from 2 to 6:30 pm. And this year’s event is going to be smokier than ever.

With Smoked Beers From

• Allentown/Bethlehem Brew Works
• Ballast Point
• BrewDog
• Brooklyn Brewery
• Caldera Brewing
• Dark Horse
• De Dochtor Van Korenaar
• Emeliesse
• Evil Twin
• Iron Hill
• Ithaca Beer Co.
• Sixpoint
• Sly Fox
• Stoudts
• Victory Brewing Co.
• Yards Brewing Co.

Smoked Foods from Amateurs and Professionals Alike

Including Brauhaus Schmitz, Percy St. BBQ and The Smoke Truck

Music By

Brad Hinton Band and Keystone Mountain Boys
And other surprises.
Tickets are $50 in advance and include food, beer samples and commemorative glassware. Procrastinators will pay $60 for the same privileges, and well, Designated Drivers will pay $25 for food, music, water and hopefully future favors from your friends.
Purchase Tickets

Where There's Smoke, there's Lew

Wanted to get in a plug for an event I really thought would cut through the noise of Philly Beer Week, if only because so many people being repulsed by it: Scoats and I, with chef Kevin McDevitt, are putting on an all-smoked dinner at Hop Angel Brauhaus tomorrow night. The menu is below, and you'll notice: everything is smoked, even the dessert. I know a lot of you don't like smoked beers, but for those of you that do...this is smokin', baby. Please note the seafood course, where we have a beer that is technically not smoked (Schlenkerla Helles uses no smoked malt, but picks up smoke hints from the brewing system that otherwise does exclusively smoked beers), and the return of Unibroue Raftman, the best peat-smoked beer I know of. We've got some beauts here, and if you've never had Bruder Basil cheese...you're in for a treat.
Come out tomorrow night. PAYG starts at 5, we'll have a more formal served dinner at 7 for $50 that includes all the beers and all the foods (at a significant savings).

Smoked Beer Dinner with Lew Bryson

1st

Three smoked cheese plate served with apple and raison compote and lingonberries

paired with: Roy Pitz Ludwig's Revenge, Sly Fox Rauchbier

2nd

Smoked mussels and Trout salad

paired with: Schlenkerla Helles, Unibroue Raftman

3rd

Choice of Hungarian and smoked whip with an onion gravy and sauerkraut or rolled Roulade with gravy and mashed potatoes

paired with: Stone Smoked Porter, Victory Scarlet Fire

4th

Carmel covered vanilla bean ice cream and a smoked salt

paired with: Schlenkerla Oak Smoke

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!