International Stout/Porter Day? Sure, I'm in

Got a press release from Chris D'Puia, the beer maven at O'Reilly's, in Harrisburg (apparently they're not going by T. Brendan O'Reilly's anymore?), about their participation in the 1st Annual International Stout/Porter Day, on November 3rd. I didn't know about this, but it has a website, and it's not Guinness's "Arthur's Day." Whatever, it's an excuse to drink dark ales, and I am down with that!

Here's what's going on at O'Reilly's. I won't be there -- too far with what else I have to do that day -- but I WILL be drinking dark beer somewhere, at home, if needs be.

Starting at 6:00, there will be a growler and bottle share in the banquet room, next to the Pub (parallel to the bathrooms). Please bring a growler or a bottle of your choice to share with all of the attendees. Please note that it does not have to be a Stout or Porter, but they are recommended due to the reason of celebration.
At 8:00, we move the festivities into O’Reillys itself, where there will be at least 6 Stouts or Porters on tap and one firkin on the bar. Ffej and ADG of “Think Tank” will be in the house that evening playing live music.
As for food, it will be available to purchase in the pub, and it can be brought in to the banquet room. Outside food will not be permitted in the banquet room. However, it is most important to note that this room is being provided to us free of charge to rent as long as we do not leave a mess behind, so please clean up after yourselves. 

So get dark, folks. Sounds like fun to me!

Cafe Negro Porter

Finally getting to a sample of Cafe Negro Porter I got from BridgePort...and you know, I wish I'd gotten to it earlier. This is black coffee, not a sweetened-up lattemochafrappawappa; it's a nice dry porter, with some bite to it, and a big rush of fresh-roasted coffee coming in about 2/3 of the way through. At 5.5%, it's not quite a session beer, but I could see drinking a few of these on a rainy afternoon at the pub. Nicely done!

Yuengling Porter Follow-up

I did put the question to John Callahan, lead brewer at Yuengling's "new" Pottsville facility: is 'porterine used in brewing the Yuengling Porter? No porterine, he said, "our Porters are brewed with Briess specialty malts$$$, and it is the oldest, along with Chesterfield Ale, of our recipes."

Doubters? Believers? John's a pretty stand-up guy, based on the impressions he's made on me on this day and at the MBAA meeting we attended last year. I buy it.

That Yuengling Porter News

I briefly mentioned some news about Yuengling Porter last week. (That's a glass of the stuff on the bar at the pretty damned nice Maroons, a classy sports bar in Pottsville that's going to be a regular post-tour stop for me.) It's not much, and it's not about cans (sorry, jaysus), and it's not a change, but it was significant news for me.

Here's the thing. There's a brewing 'supply' called porterine. It's like Weyermann's Sinamar: a dark cereal extract that is used to change the color of beer. I've been told (always mistrust those words; I do) that many Bavarian "dunkel" beers are simply a brewer's helles + Sinamar. Similarly, "I've been told" that Yuengling uses porterine to change the color of Traditional Lager, and that Yuengling Porter is mostly dark thanks to the use of porterine. Both of the sources of the "I've been told" are brewing industry insiders; this doesn't mean I trust them 100%, but it does add some credence.

So...when I went to Pottsville three weeks ago to interview Dick Yuengling and Dave Casinelli, and to finally tour the big 'new' brewery, I had my eyes open for evidence of porterine. I didn't see any, but that's not proof positive it ain't there, even though John Callahan -- lead brewer for the facility -- gave me a thorough tour, let me take pix of anything I wanted, and answered any question I asked (and no, I didn't think to simply ask him about the porterine...color me dopey).

What I did see, and what this whole thing is about, was "supersacks" of the dark, roasted malts that go into Yuengling Porter: caramel and black patent. It's real. Callahan said the porter is still made with the original recipe. Buy that or not, but Callahan's not any kind of marketeer: he's the real deal, pure brewer, and I first met him at a MBAA meeting at The Lion last year. If he says it, he believes it to be true.

Callahan also said, with a lot of feeling, "Thank God for Lager." Traditional Lager is about 90% of the company's output, and if it hadn't been for Lager's success, Callahan (who's been with the company for 28 years) seemed pretty sure the company would have gone under.

Instead, the company is closing in on 2,000,000 barrels in annual sales, a wholly attainable goal for 2009, according to Casinelli, who began to laugh as we both recalled something industry analyst Robert Weinberg said back when Yuengling bought the Tampa brewery in 1999, to the effect that Yuengling was doing well, but the brewery selling 2,000,000 barrels in a year was about as likely as Weinberg getting a date with Sharon Stone. "We should buy them dinner," Casinelli said with a big shark's grin, and I think it would be a fantastic publicity coup.

Anyway, that's the news from Pottsville. Sorry if I oversold it. It was a fantastic interview; you'll get more of it in Pennsylvania Breweries 4.

Narragansett Porter -- Wow!

This is easily the most pleasant beer surprise I've had in a while. Well...beer tasting surprise; the Penn revival noted below was pretty damned pleasant (as was the Yuengling Porter discovery that I still have to write about). But this is about the flavor.

The first time I wrote about Narragansett was back in February. They sent me some samples of the Lager for a story I was writing (for American Brewer, about how they were reviving the brand, and doing a nice job of it). I wanted Porter then, because Narragansett Porter was the last 'Gansett beer I'd had, waaaaay back in the dawn of my beer-drinking days, and I wanted the cyclical part of it. They didn't have any. Humph.

Then I got an e-mail about a bit launch of Porter, so I said yes, I'd like some. And a sixer showed up. Well, as I'd posted on Facebook, my tasting table's kinda full, so it took a week or so to get around to chilling one, which I did Monday night.

Wow! This is great stuff! Cottrell Brewing's doing it for them under contract, and they're doing a nice job. It's plenty dark, with a great tan cap of foam, a chocolatey aroma that follows through in the mouth, with just enough roasty cut at the end to clean things up for the next swallow. I had it with our pork and onions favorite (recipe here, simple and delicious), and it was awesome. So I wanted another, and I had one, just now. Still great stuff. Wonder if I can get it here?

(Speaking of great stuff...I picked up Nora early at school today, and took her to lunch at the General Lafayette. I had a cask Pacific Pale Ale that was great, dry and hoppy, with a rare Steak Frites that was probably the very best food I've ever had at the General; great fries (salt and pepper'd fresh-cuts) and a very toothsome piece of beef, done just to my order. Nice work on the kitchen recovery, Chris!)

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!

Deschutes Black Butte XX Porter

I got this bottle of Deschutes Black Butte XX Porter a while ago, and my hoarding instinct kicked in. Keep it, you can't get Deschutes here, you'll never see it again! The little voice saying "Drink it!" was all but drowned out.

Finally I gave in. Woof. Truly black, and opaque. What a big mouthful, one that bears no comparison to its namesake, the eminently quaff-o-matical Black Butte Porter. Aged in oak, spiked with coffee and cocoa beans, and 11% ABV, the XX storms the chops and detonates. It's not precisely 'integrated,' but this once I'll forgive that because the blast of beer is so rumbunctious. Boozy, coffee-bitter, this is a big beer that hangs over the edges, a sumo, not a samurai.

Best news I heard today: Black Butte XXI will be out in July. May have to travel somewhere that I can buy some.

Tria and Jose's: a great Friday night

I had an event at Tria last night, and Cathy got to go along. It was a very good evening, lots of fun. We started at Tria Washington West, at 12th and Spruce, where we tasted small samples of five of the featured beers from the class that was to follow: Pennichuck Pozharnik imperial stout, Victory Old Horizontal, De Dolle Stille Nacht, Gouden Carolus Grand Cru, and Aventinus Eisbock. (The class also got Brooklyn Black Ops, Fuller's Vintage Ale 2008, and Samichlaus -- as you can see, it was NOT a SBP-approved evening!) This was a kind of consolation happy hour for the class selling out so quickly. The class went very well -- we were loose, we had fun, and the Tria staff was having fun right with us.

When the class was over at 8:00, we hung around talking for a bit, and then took a great tip from Art "FooBooz" Etchells (who took his own advice and attended the class; great to finally meet you, Art!) and went to Jose Pistolas for dinner. I was real happy to look at the beer list and see Philly Brewing's Joe coffee porter: I've been hoping to get a chance to try that, and it was excellent, one of the better coffee beers I've had. I hope to see that in their regular line-up (and I'd love to see an occasional appearance by the base porter, too).

But what a good chow-down: I decided to have the Sunrise Burrito since I was having a cup of coffee, and it was the best breakfast-type burrito I've ever had, without question, fat, cheesy, solid and grippable. And Cathy's Chili Relleno special was outstanding, the biggest stuffed chili I remember seeing, and chunky with chorizo. Mighty nice!

We headed home, happy to get a night out before Cathy goes back to work on Monday. Thanks to the folks at Tria for extending the opportunity to present a class at the Fermentation School space: always a pleasure!

Flying Fish Imperial Espresso Porter

I interviewed Flying Fish owner Gene Muller just about a year ago for the entry in New Jersey Breweries. We had a real good interview, and at the end, Gene says he knows I've had most of their beers, and knows I liked the (discontinued) Porter; how about you try this bottle of the new Imperial Espresso Porter? Cool, I said, thanks...took the bottle home, put it in the fridge for later, and promptly forgot it.

Hey, I forgot a growler for three months one time!

So tonight I happened on it as I was grilling turkey "tenderloins" for dinner. What the hell, let's pop it. Why did I wait so long? This baby was delish: not so much espresso as milk chocolate, sweet and darkly malty like an Okocim Porter without the beefy body. Drinkable, not sickly sweet -- more like cake sweet, cookie sweet -- and with enough complexity to keep it interesting. Cathy and I enjoyed it without any hesitation. I'll be looking for more.