Patting my own back

I have to, because otherwise my mom might not see it: the new issue of Main Line Today has named me "Best Beer Guru" and put up seven "best of" beer picks I wrote (not exactly as I wrote them, but I'm an editor, I know how this works). It's all here. And that's a damned tasty glass of McKenzie Saison Vautour (is there any other kind?) I'm drinking in the picture.

Notice I did not get the award for being the "Best Beer Blogger." Sigh. Gotta get more going on here!

Pabst Deal Closes

News comes Friday that the Pabst deal is final. Connecticut investor C. Dean Metropoulos bought the company from the Kalmanovitz Charitable Foundation for an undisclosed price; the erstwhile chairman of Pabst, Lou Giraudo, would only say that the speculated price of about $250 million was incorrect. Metropoulos made no comment.  A Reuters story said that "The foundation listed its total assets as $62.3 million in its tax return for the year ending June 30, 2008." The story also noted that

"Sales of Pabst Blue Ribbon in food, drug and other retail outlets rose 33 percent to about $172.7 million in the 52 weeks ending April 18, The Wall Street Journal has reported, citing data from market research firm SymphonyIRI Group." 

So that's done. Now we'll see what the Pabst drinkers -- the reputed hipsters and bike messengers -- are going to do. I suspect they're going to keep drinking Pabst.

Tröegs building new brewery in Hershey

No, I'm not kidding. Tröegs has just announced that they will be building a new brewery in Hershey, Pennsylvania (not far from their current brewery in Harrisburg). Here's the release (I don't usually do this, but I'm in a rush today):

Chris and John Trogner, founders of Tröegs Brewing Company, announced today they have reached an agreement to open a new craft brewery in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Construction on the existing facility, located at 200 E. Hershey Park Drive, will begin immediately with a projected completion date of Fall 2011.

“This is an exciting new chapter for Tröegs Brewery,” said Chris Trogner. “When John and I started planning the brewery in 1995, we didn’t even know if we would ever make it to the actual brewing stage. Since opening in 1997, we have been fortunate to grow the Tröegs brand and increase our distribution into eight states. This new location will allow us to maintain our commitment to Central Pennsylvania and continue pursuing our brewing dreams in a state-of-the-art brewery with an expanded tasting room to give our customers an even greater beer experience.”

“Hershey is a special place, not just for people who call it home, but for the millions who come to visit each year,” said John. “We want to create an experience that compliments the other Hershey attractions, creating an even more vibrant and exciting destination for all visitors,” added Chris.

As part of the new facility, Tröegs Brewery will be installing a new brewhouse, fermenters and a kegging line. Once the new brewery is operational, all equipment will be moved from the Harrisburg plant to Hershey with no interruption to the beer production schedule. “Running two facilities simultaneously will create a series of challenges,” said John Trogner. “But we need to continue producing beer in our current location until the new location is completely operational.”

The Hershey facility will provide a unique brewing experience -- featuring a 5,000 square foot tasting room with the new brewhouse as the focal point of the room. The tasting room will open onto an outdoor seating area. “Visitors in our tasting room will be sitting literally in the middle of the brewhouse, said Chris Trogner. “They will be able to watch our brewers in action.”

When designing the concept for the new brewery, the goal was to make a customer really feel like they are a part of the brewing process. Visitors will be able to watch the brewers in action and take a self-guided tour down a window-lined hallway through the heart of the brewery. The smell of barley and hops will fill the air as the customer gets a glimpse at the fermentation process, packaging room and oak barrel-aging room, and lab. One exciting addition to the layout is the pilot brewing room where experimentation takes place and their famous Scratch beer series is dreamt-up and made. Tröegs will also continue to provide guided tours of the brewhouse on designated days.

“John and I have visited a lot of breweries over the years and we want to create an interactive facility where our customer really gets an understanding of what goes into making quality beer, Chris noted. “We want to showcase what we do best.”

That's big news.Notice: no interruption of brewing, much greater capacity, 5,000 square foot tasting toom and an outdoor seating area; barrel-aging room, pilot brewery. Oh, yeah. Good news!

Perfect Ten going fast

Wow. You know that 10th anniversary beer at Iron Hill Media I told you about? I couldn't make it over that day, so I asked IH Big Mahoff Mark Edelson (you know, the Weekend Closer at the Hooters in Concordville?) how long he thought it would be on. Short answer: not long. Long answer:

On average, a batch is on for about 4 weeks. Bob and I estimated originally it would be 3 weeks. We released it on Thursday and have sold about 40% of it already. Lucky to get through the weekend. Now people who want it for 4th of July are asking me how long it will keep in a growler!!

Bob Barrar, ladies and gentlemen, Bob Barrar!

Down the other leg of the Trousers of Time

Picked this up from Uncle Jack's site,and it's everything he says it is and a bag of crisps. A goofy, cheap-video look at what happened around here in 1996: Dogfish Head, Iron Hill, Flying Fish, Yards, and Victory opened, and pressed on when other places didn't (Independence, Red Bell, Brandywine, Valley Forge, etc.). But don't for a moment think it's serious; it's not. It's goofy and fun and effin' brilliant. Fire it up, have a laugh, and be glad these guys didn't give up.

Go to Iron Hill Media Today -- Right Now

Just got the word: big Bob Barrar, the Medal Machine brewer of Iron Hill Media, is celebrating today's 10th anniversary of Media's opening with an Imperial IPA called Perfect 10. Here's the description:

A Full bodied Imperial IPA with ten things that make this beer perfect:

1. TEN different hop varieties

2. One Hundred and TEN IBU’s

3. TEN Percent ABV

4. TEN lbs. of Orange Blossom Honey per barrel

5. TEN lbs. of hops per barrel

6. TEN grams of servo (yeast nutrient)

7. TEN years of Media Brewing

8. TEN minutes in the Hop Back on 46 lbs. of hops

9. TEN years of Bob Barrar, Head Brewer

10.TEN year celebration of Media Hop Heads

Go get it, folks!

Schedule Your Book Signing Now

To all Pennsylvania brewers and bars*: 

If you're interested in doing a book signing event when Pennsylvania Breweries 4 comes out this fall (late September, early October), shoot me a message and we'll work on scheduling a proper event. Thanks!

 

*If you're a bar owner, and you're wondering whether you're in the book, feel free to drop me a line to ask. Not every good beer bar's in: if you weren't close enough* to a brewery, or I just didn't know about you, or, well, I brain-farted, you might not have made it, in which case I'll explain why and apologize if necessary.

*"Close enough" is an arbitrary distance that varies depending on how rural or urban your area is. It might be five miles, or 30, depending.

Devil's Den Saved Some Goodies for Dad

Leftovers from Philly Beer Week? Great planning? Patriarchal lovefest? I don't care, but Devil's Den just told me about some beers they're going to have on for Father's Day, and suddenly I think I'm going to have to have a talk with Cathy and the kids about where we're going on Sunday...check this out:

Brotherly Suds #1  - ESB brewed for Beer Week by Sly Fox, Yards, Stoudts, Troegs & Victory  - amber color, toasted toffee, caramel body, notes of dark fruits, citrus & pine hops. 6%

Russian River Registration Ale - IPA brewed for Philadelphia, golden color, light caramel malt body, strong grapefruit, citrus hops with mild spicy pine hops. 75 IBU  7.5%

Russian River Consecration  - dark sour ale brewed with brett, aged 8 months in Cabernet barrels with currants added, garnet color, sharp, with funky notes of dark fruits & oak. 10%

Port Brewing-Lost Abbey 4th Anniversary Ale  - strong pale ale, hazy amber, toasted malt body, touches of caramel & spice with big juicy citrus hops & alcohol warmth. 10%

Not bad, eh? Maybe it's true what people were saying: Every week is Beer Week in Philly.

New gig at All About Beer

I'll be taking over John Hansell's seat in All About Beer's long-running Beer Talk beer review section, effective immediately. John's handing over the next four beers to be reviewed to me tomorrow. I'm honored to be part of this small, select group, and doubly-honored that John nominated me directly to the magazine staff as his replacement. Should be fun, swapping review opinions with Steve Beaumont.

Some other big news...just for me

I don't like to get too personal here; that's what FaceBook is for. But the past two weeks have been really stressful, and things are getting better. My father lost a lot of weight, and we were afraid his cancer had advanced. A good friend of the family, John Lelak, our kids' "third grandfather," got an e.coli infection and dropped 12 pounds; he was in the hospital and sounded terrible. Our dog Maud had failed to heal after popping the dog equivalent of her ACL, and had to have surgery.

Things are a lot better. Maud is recovering, her sutures are healing well, and she's being very tolerant of her enforced rest. John's recovered well, sounds much better, and is working on renovating his brother-in-law's house. And my dad...well, it turned out to be a blocked bile duct that was successfully operated on yesterday. He's just been released from the hospital (with news from the latest imaging that his cancer has not spread), and told me he's really, really hungry. Best news I've had in weeks.

So...sorry to be so public with that, but I've found it really hard to focus. I hope things are better now.