Beer Friday #3

As I sit in the bunker — my office is in the basement again, and I know my family calls it The Bunker, I just know it — with the blizzard coming, and Trump fulminating, and Bernie warning of fiscal disaster, well...this seemed legit.


Ergo, nothing but butt-kicking beers will do.

Tröegs Nugget Nectar 2016, 7.5%

The New Label

I bought a case of this beautiful annual release at the Beer Yard in Wayne last Saturday. I've had a couple few some already, and you need to know...oh, hell, most of you already do know, but this is a ripper. Let's open it before someone grabs it away.

First off, beautiful pour. You guys with your "shaker pints are ugly" crap can suck it: copper and cream looks great in a shaker. That juicy aroma comes right off the top, too: vibratingly-fresh citrus, pine (bark, needles, sap, that dark-meat wood in the middle), and yeah, a bit of dank weed. I kinda miss the cat piss I used to get from this one.

Take a mouthful. Not a sip, not with this beer, take a mouthful and hold it. Bitter, flavorful, that pine and pith tearing up my palate and making my glands squeeze. The thing I've always liked about Nugget Nectar is the way it turns my mouth into a boppit clown, those ones you smack and they fly backwards and hit the floor and whip right back up to get hit again (did any of you have one of them? When I was about 10, I'd go down in the basement and just smack the shit out of that thing). Take a drink, wham with the bitterness, and about the time I notice the wham's gone away and the pine's running around in my mouth like a crazy chihuahua, I decide it's time to take a drink, wham with the bitterness, and about the time I notice the wham's gone away and the pine's running around in my mouth like a crazy chihuahua, I decide it's time to take a drink, wham with the bitterness, and about the time I notice the wham's gone away and the pine's running around in my mouth like a crazy chihuahua, I decide it's time to take a drink...you get the idea. Clearly the only way I'm going to experience the finish on this one is to drink the whole beer, because I'm not pausing between drinks long enough to experience it.

Hell, it ought to be snowing now.

Verdict: Good

Abita Bourbon Street Imperial Stout, 10.0%
Not your normal, but I would expect nothing less from Abita. The mash includes oats, for one; and it sure sounds like the beer — the stout — is lagered, "cold aged," for six weeks. Then it does eight weeks in "small batch" bourbon barrels. As a whiskey guy, I'd really like to know what Abita thinks "small batch" bourbon barrels are; craft distillers' barrels, or Beam barrels from their "small batch" series? Or something else? I dunno. To the beer!

Had to let this warm up; it's damned cold out in my garage right now. But even after an hour in deep-bowled Duvel tulip (I know, I know; I grabbed it on impulse) there's still a tight collar of persistent tan foam around the edge, and the aroma is pulsing at me from over a foot away. Let's go. Deep bittersweet chocolate, fresh coffee grounds, toasted pecans, and caramel aromas. Luscious. Ah ha. Not a syrupy, under-attenuated mess at all, this is a scarily light-bodied 10%. In fact, there's just enough body to handle the booze. Chocolate syrup, light bright Kenya AA coffee, sweet rolls, and some of that pecan...but the bourbon barrel character is restrained, an accompaniment rather than a steamroller. It's coming through at the finish, though, and that's nice.

I'd like to like this more, but the lightness is too light. If you're going to go big, barrel age an imperial stout, you ought to go big, I'm thinking.

Verdict: Okay

2SP SIP (Stigz's Imperial Porter) imperial porter, 8.4%
2SP is one of the crop of new breweries here in southeast Pennsylvania, and this is my draft beer for the week. I dropped down to the Hulmeville Inn again this afternoon, figured to get a taste of pre-storm frenzy...but not in this more working-class bar. Just another day for cable installers, welders, and fire fighters, which is part of why I like going there. The other part, of course, is the truly great draft beer selection, with local stuff like this (and Tired Hands, and Neshaminy, and Yards), and plenty of the best from away as well.

2SP's brewer Bob Barrar is well-known around here and at the GABF for his excellent big dark beers; when he was at Iron Hill Media, they called him The Machine for the clockwork way he won GABF medals. I figured this was the way to go, and I wasn't wrong. This is a big sweet chocolate cake of a beer. Get a whiff; ahhh. Chocolate, cocoa, Graham crackers, and light coffee beans on the nose. Annnnnd...the same on the tongue, with maybe a bit more coffee. Gotta love an honest nose.  Wait, wait...there's hop note on the end, too, just to wrap things up.

Creamy smooth, rich and sweet. Actually reminds me a lot of the Abita, but no barrel is mentioned, which makes a difference. Is it what most folks expect from "imperial porter"? Probably not, in these lupulin-drenched days, but I found it delicious, and could have gone another round if I hadn't still had to pick up sidewalk salt, and the day's mail, and gas for the snowblower, and a nice block of cheddar...just because. Now we're hunkering down, just me and the family, with only a fridge full of food and about 300 bottles of whiskey between us and starvation. See you on the other side.

Verdict: Good

Good times at Tröegs

Cathy and I went to the wedding of our old college friend Scott Fasnacht to Aimee Achorn this past weekend. It was a fantastic weekend, got to see a lot of old friends, including Scott's father Claire, who's getting up there but is still sharp, and Scott's brother Jim, an old friend himself from a different angle (things like this happen when you all live in Lancaster County...). Anyway...the wedding was in Elizabethtown (the rehearsal dinner was at the Liederkranz in Lancaster, and man, do they have a great beer selection), followed by a reception at the Hershey Country Club, where we were stuffed with great food (and some really good Bordeaux) and danced happily -- even me -- to the swing tunes of the Rob Stoneback Big Band (Rob's also an F&M alum, class of '73). Fantastic band, best I've heard in years.

So...the party's over around 5:30, and we're at loose ends, so...I suggested that Tröegs was right down the road from the Hotel Hershey, where we were all staying (and they had no Tröegs on tap, though they made me some excellent Old Grand-dad Manhattans), why don't we head down there? No one else had ever been, so we went back and changed, consolidated cars, and while Cathy and another wife went next door to the outlets, I went into the brewery with four of my best friends: Eric Noll and his wife Georgie, Tom Curtin (Thomas's godfather), and Larry Tighe.

We had a great time! Saw Ed Yashinsky and some of the Tröegs crew at the front, said hi, that got tucked into some Perpetual IPA and Scratch Fresh Hop, and we all started telling stories. The place was hopping, loud and happy, and the beer was excellent. I'm almost relieved there's not a place this great near me; I'd be there four times a week!

This was my first time at the brewery when it's been busy, and it is a LOT of fun. If we'd been hungry at all, we'd have tried some of the food -- it looked great -- but we were all still stuffed. Great weekend; great beers.

Dogs and Tröegs at the Beer Yard (and TND, too)

Uncle Jack sent this earlier today (and supplied the first photo), and I'll happily pass it along. Big Matt Guyer is a dog person, as are the Trogner Bros, Uncle Jack, and I, and we hope you'll consider this charity beer event. 

Beer Yard, Tröegs Brewing and Teresa's Next Door Team Up To Support SPCA

Last year: Matt G, back left; Big Dan Bengel center; and Jack's Buddy, lying down

Once again, The Beer Yard, Tröegs Brewing and Teresa's Next Door are offering their customers and fans a chance to enjoy great beer and food at a Saturday afternoon celebration benefiting the local SPCA, held in the Beer Yard parking lot. The event runs from 1-4PM on Saturday, Sept 1.Attendees will enjoy a wide variety of Tröegs beers and tasty treats from the grill set up by Teresa's Next Door. A free logo pint glass (while they last) will accompany every case of Tröegs sold and $5 from every case sold throughout the entire weekend will go to the Delco SPCA. That same deal applies to every check at TND for the weekend on which a customer writes "SPCA," so it's a party that just keeps on keepin' on right through Labor Day.
You'll be proud to tell your canine companions you attended...in fact, they're invited as well, just so long as they are on leashes). It's going to be a barkin' good time.

I'd be there with the Corgis, but we're spending the weekend with family. Get on out there and drink for the dogs!

Please fill this cooler with beer for us dogs.

Philly Beer Week - report

Well...we're over halfway through. I skipped the first two days for personal reasons, but Philly Beer Week is well underway. My first event was Sunday evening at the Grey Lodge: the New Jersey beer event. Scoats had an ambitious program of New Jersey beers planned, but we had some wholesaler issues and that fell through...but then River Horse came through with an unexpected pin of cask Hopalotamus, which was MOST welcome! I sang a rewritten version of John Gorka's "I'm From New Jersey", talking about what New Jersey beers were like ten years ago:

Beers from New Jersey —
We don't expect too much.
If those beers ended today
We would adjust

Beers from New Jersey
I don’t mean Rolling Rock;
That’s just Budweiser
with added corn

Beers from New Jersey
They’re mostly contract;
Some guy with a label
and a dumb idea.

...and so on. But like I said: ten years ago! Things are quite a bit different now. What we did note, Scoats and I, was that the breweries still look kind of 10 years ago: small, handicapped by state laws, the "no sales by the glass" for breweries and "no packaging" for the brewpubs (and only two locations, too). Excepting of course Flying Fish, where the new brewery is flipping huge... We had good beers -- the Cricket Hill was exceptional --talked to some good folks, but I won't lie to you: it wasn't crowded. NJ breweries are not the draw that the Upstate PA Beer Night has been in previous years.

An anonymous donor buying Jack's beers.

I left at 7 for the Scratch Off at Standard Tap, the head-to-head who'll-buy-the-most pints with the Tröegs beers Uncle Jack Curtin and I brewed: Biere de Grouch and Zwickel Licker, respectively. It was crazy, a madhouse, and we got silly rather quickly. It was, as someone said, a true Philly election: it was bought. I may have started that, buying ten glasses of "my" beer at the upstairs bar, and it escalated. Still, both beers were quite good, as was the Perpetual IPA that was also available, and the crowd was happy and having fun. The number sold teetered back and forth all night, but when the final totals came out at 9:00...it was 111 to 108, and Zwickel Licker was on the short end. Congratulations to Uncle Jack, and his well-heeled partisans! (And many thanks to my well-heeled partisans -- especially the ones from Al's of Hampden!)

Tuesday I did two events again, again starting at the Grey Lodge. The first one was the booze song karaoke we dreamed up, and I did get up there in front of everyone -- okay, about 20 very amused folks, including my Hulmeville Inn friends (Steve, Rob...got any pix you can send?) -- and sing songs like "A Jug of This," "I Drink Alone," "I Like Beer," and "Whiskey in the Jar," which was a big success and had most everyone singing along on the choruses. We ran out of songs around 8:30, so I tore into "Ring of Fire," which was right in the meat of my range, and "Love Me Two Times," and I'll admit that I have no idea why I sang that one. Maybe because I'd sung "Moon of Alabama" before and the karaoke guy thought I liked the Doors? Anyway, we wound up with the Hulmeville folks and Scoats and me roaring out The Dead Milkmen's "Punk Rock Girl," and that was great. Good times.

I ran out the door and drove down to Center City to join the Session Beer Panel in progress at Farmer's Cabinet. Stellar panel of east coast bar owners/managers (see the post below for the names and the beers we tasted), and a good crowd in the room...but I wish we'd had more discussion. It mostly came down to one person at a time talking about one beer or brewery at a time, which got a bit stultifying. Still, some excellent beers, and my pick, Yards Brawler, came off quite well among them. Terry Hawbaker's non-traditional Göse was quite good as well. That went till almost midnight...and I finally got home. Whew.

Last night I did two events just for fun; only one of them was mine. I went to the Great Lakes industry presentation on water quality and sustainability at the Waterworks, and it was just beautiful there. Never been before, and I intend to take the family back.The beer was excellent as well: The Wright Pilsner, Rally Drum Red (rare appearance of a pub-only brew), and of course, my beloved Edmund Fitzgerald Porter. Good eats from London Grill and Mad Mex, too. We had a very interesting presentation on Philadelphia brewing history from Rich Wagner, celebrating his new book, Philadelphia Beer. (I am quite proud that Rich asked me to write the foreword; cheers!)

After that, I drove up the hill to London Grill, where I hosted a cider event featuring Arsenal, Revolution, and Desiato ciders, all from Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, Philly, and Bucks County, respectively), and all had their owners there. Arsenal's Bill Larkin, Revolution's Jonathan Gradman, and Desiato's Rich Smithson all did presentations on their ciders, all of which were quite different from the others. Arsenal's were more like dry apple wines at higher ABV; Revolution was unfiltered (a pale cloudy yellow, much like a witbier); and Desiato was quite rustic, interestingly rough. We had a good time talking and learning; I'm really an enthusiastic amateur when it comes to cider, and while I was happy to share what I knew, I was there to learn myself. A most satisfying event; not surprising at London.

Onward! Tonight it's the Philly Beer Geek Finals at Manayunk...

Philly Beer Week with Lew Bryson: what I'm hosting

I know: it's about time I put this up! Here's what I'm hosting and appearing for during Philly Beer Week -- I took a break from the first two days to celebrate my daughter's high school graduation -- and I hope you'll join us for some of them!

TODAY - Sunday, June 3

Beer From New Jersey...You Don't Expect Too Much...

Okay, you may or may not be familiar with the John Gorka song, but New Jersey beer does tend to get overlooked, excepting maybe Flying Fish, and even that still gets dissed. Get over it! Scoats and I decided to ramble through the Garden State this year instead of our annual roll through upstate PA, and we came back with some excellent beer and some great stories. Join us at the Grey Lodge today, 5-7, for New Jersey beers and an up-to-date look at the state of beer in the Beer Garden State. PAYG.

Lew Vs. Jack: the Scratch Beer Showdown

You've been hearing about this -- the video, the trash talk, the successful sneak preview at Kite & Key on Friday -- and tonight it happens. Uncle Jack Curtin and I were each invited to brew a beer on the small Scratch system at Tröegs, to our design, both of which will be on tap at Standard Tap tonight, from 5-9. Jack brewed his favorite type of beer, the biere de garde; I brewed an unfiltered Dortmunder Export. The guys at the brewery dubbed them Biere de Grouch and Zwickel Licker, and I'm good with both names... We'd both like to win this, but I'm at an obvious handicap: due to scheduling problems (and Jack's fine hand...), I won't be able to get to Standard Tap till  about 7:20, and I know Jack will be pressuring people heavily during that first 2.5 hours. I'm counting on you to keep this fair by stopping in to have a couple Zwickel Lickers (just ask for "Lew's beer," that'll work). There's lots of stuff going on in the neighborhood (check the PhillyBeerWeek site or the app for Northern Liberties/Fishtown); come by and help me out!

TUESDAY - June 5

3 Bourbons, 3 Scotch, and 5 Beers

My singing partner: Jack Daniel

It's an open secret that I sing, and after the fun we had at last December's carol sing that I led at the Grey Lodge, Scoats asked me back for something a bit more topical. 'Pick out 3 of your favorite bourbons and Scotches, and 5 of your favorite beers,' he said, 'and we'll do some booze song karaoke.' Hey, I suck at karaoke, but this is passion; I intend to rise above, and I hope you'll come out and sing and drink with me. Here's the drinks list we came up with: bourbons - Baker's, Elijah Craig 12 Year Old, and Four Roses Yellow Label. Scotch - Glenfarclas 105, Johnnie Walker Black, and Highland Park 15. Beers - Flying Fish Farmhouse, Great Lakes Ed Fitz Porter, Saison Dupont, Stoudt's Pilsner, and Hill Farmstead Edward. The songs? Scotch and Soda, I Like Beer, Whiskey in the Jar, Jockey Full of Bourbon, A Pub with no Beer, A Jug of This...you get the idea. We're going to have some fun, and talk whiskey and beer...and sing a couple songs. That's Tuesday, 7-9, at the Grey Lodge.

Session Beer Panel 

But once again, my schedule is crazy, because I'll be leaving the Grey Lodge as soon as the last song is sung to fly to Center City for this huge Session Beer Panel at the Farmer's Cabinet. It starts at 8:00 -- I'll get there around 9:25 -- and it's going to be some of the most influential bar owners/managers on the East Coast, and they're worth mentioning by name and bar:

• Joe Carroll, owner of Spuyten Duyvil, Brooklyn, NY
• Dave Brodick (or his manager), owner of Blind Tiger, NYC
• Chris Lively, owner or Ebenezer's, Maine
• Greg Engert, partner/beer guy Churchkey, Wash DC
• Casey Hard, beer guy of Max's, Baltimore
• Daniel Lanigan, owner of Alewife, Boston & Baltimore, Lord Hobo's, Boston
• Alec Lopez, owner of Armsby Abbey & The Dive Bar, Boston
• Dave Pollack, owner of The Diamond, Brooklyn, NY

The panel is moderated by Dan Shelton of Shelton Brothers importers (so you know there will be outrageous controversial positions taken), and we'll be going till at least 10 PM...and Dan's a bit windy (not that I'm laconic), so it's probably going to go as late as you want. And this is a ticketed event, and it may seem a bit steep at first look: $50. But take a gander at what you get for that $50 besides the amazing panel. Not only do you get the delish cheese and charcuterie that Farmer's Cabinet is known for, you'll be getting pours -- not samples, pours -- of some of the best damned session beers available:

• Cantillon Gueuze (draft)
• De La Senne Taras Boulba (draft)
• De Molen Engels (firkin)
• Stillwater Premium (bottle)
• An english bitter from either: Timothy Taylor, Coniston, Titanic, or Adnams
• Thiriez Extra (bottle)
• Guinei Riner (bottle)
• Tuatara Pils (bottle)
• Cabinet Gose (draft)
• Amager Fusion (draft)
• Two Brothers Long Haul (bottle)
• Carton Boat Beer (bottle)
• Yards Brawler (bottle or firkin)
• Spezial Rauchbier (bottle)
• Mikkeller Drink In the Sun (draft)

And more, probably; every time I check my email, Dan's suggesting another. Come out and talk and drink session beer (and eat good eats); I guarantee a great time. It's a session beer festival with the best damned session beer seminar you've ever heard.

WEDNESDAY - June 6

Ciders at London Grill 

You probably didn't know that I'm a cider enthusiast; I don't write much about cider, though that's going to be changing. Get the first fruits of my growing research at London Grill, where we'll be pouring ciders from Pennsylvania -- Arsenal Cidery from Pittsburgh with head vintner Bill Larkin, Philly local Revolution Cidery and vintner Johnathon Gradman, and Bucks County's Desiato Cidery and Richard Smithson -- along with a few other very special ciders. There'll be a good range of ciders, and do not expect fizzy boozy apple juice. If you like serious cider, innovative stuff done with fermented apples, this is a great event to stop in and check out (and check out London's draft wine setup, too). We're going to take a great bite of the cider apple; join us! London Grill, 6-9 PM, PAYG.

THURSDAY - June 7

Philly Beer Geek Finals

If you've never been to the Philly Beer Geek finals...it's not just for the competitors and their friends, believe me. This event is a hoot, and the judges -- me and a very ready crew of Philly beer celebs -- will be doing our best to keep the contestants unbalanced, and you laughing your butt off. There's beer passion and knowledge and, well, insanity displayed, and not a bit of it is taken too seriously. Come join us for a surprisingly great time! Plenty of great beer available, too... 8-11 PM at Manayunk Brewing, PAYG. 

Saturday - June 9

Herr Bryson's Brewers Breakfast
Gotta wind up the week big. I usually do a wheat beer breakfast with Scoats at the Grey Lodge the first Saturday of PBW -- an event that the Houston Chronicle once cited as evidence that Philly was a city of drunks... -- but my daughter Nora graduated high school that morning. So...instead we moved it to Hop Angel Brauhaus, and made it a German brewer's breakfast, like you'd find at the gasthaus breweries in Germany -- Früh in Köln, Im Füchschen in Düsseldorf, Fässla in Bamberg -- big plates of wurst and cheese, plenty of pickled herring (hey, it's a buffet, you don't have to eat the herring; more for me), solid rye bread, and shtuff like that. And lots of German beers, and the great German-type beers that our local brewers make. I'll be telling you all about those great little places, and the beers, and why German breakfasts are one of my favorite meals. It's all PAYG, and starts at 11, runs till 2. Just the recovery you need from a hard week of Philly Beer Week...before you make that final event and have that final beer!

A Pretty Good Night

This video premiered last night at the Philly Beer Scene Best of Philly awards show at World Cafe Live, and while it wasn't the highlight of the night, it was an amusing moment. Almost as good as the line about a homebrew being so funky that Sam Calagione called for the recipe, or William Reed's Carol Stoudt impersonation.

Joe Gunn: a touch sarcastic

First, about the show: fantastic. Mat "Red Shoes" Falco put together an incredible thing, a fun in-crowd show that had a great back-up band in Swift Technique, an excellent venue (with great beer, as always -- I drank a lot of Nodding Head Grog and Ric Hoffman's IPA from Stewart's, with a tasty glass of Forest and Main IPA thrown in for fun), and an indefatigable machine of an MC, Jose Pistola's own Mighty Joe Gunn, who didn't really keep things moving...but he did keep them pretty damned fun.

No, really, it's not Carol Stoudt!

Awards? They were presented by a full spectrum of the folks from Philadelphia's beer scene (appropriately, right?), from brewers to bar owners to wholesalers to distributors to homebrewers, and even beer writers, and that was a lot of fun too; sometimes intentionally. I haven't found a full list yet, but...here's what I remember, and it's not necessarily in order, because things didn't completely correspond to the list I was given. I'll flesh this out later. (Actually, Uncle Jack did, with a complete list that includes awards that weren't even mentioned last night...lookie here.)

Carolyn Smagalski & Mat: Red Shoes!

• Best Brewery Rep: Weyerbacher's Mike Lubieski
• Best Distributor in the City: Bella Vista
• Best Local Lager: Victory Prima Pils
• Best Local Belgian-style Beer: Weyerbacher Merry Monks
• Best Bottle Shop in the City: Craft Beer Outlet
• Wholesaler of the Year: Origlio
• The Philly Tap Finder award for the Most Searched For Beer of the Year: Tröegs Nugget Nectar
• Best Homebrew Shop: Keystone Homebrew
• Best European Beer Bar: Monk's Cafe
• Best Local Stout/Porter: Victory Storm King
• Best Local Barrel-Aged Beer: Weyerbacher Insanity
• Best Local Pale Ale/IPA: Yards Philly Pale
• Best Brewpub: Iron Hill
• Best New Bar in the City: Barcade
• Best Bar in the Burbs: Hulmeville Inn
• Best Brewery: Victory Brewing

The Weyerbacher Love Crew (Colin Presby w/the award for Best Barrel-aged Beer)

Uncle Jack Curtin and I got to present the final award, for Brewmaster of the Year, and I have to admit, by that time, we were all dragging a bit. So it was a good thing that they ran that Tröegs video (which is, of course, about the event Jack and I are doing at Standard Tap on June 3rd), which gave us a chance to sit and relax before taking the stage. We made a few weak jokes, then got right down to it: the winner was Chris Wilson of Weyerbacher, which brought the whole Weyerbacher Love Crew up on stage again, and Chris, resplendent in a white dinner jacket and green Weyerbacher t-shirt, made an acceptance speech that was pure Chris. And that...was that.

Jack announcing; I'm having a private moment w/my award.

Except for one other thing: I won Best Beer Writer of the Year, which I have to admit floored me. Because the competition has seriously stepped up around here, truth be told. From Uncle Jack's shoot-from-the-hip opinions, to Bryan Kolesar's in-depth reporting, Lisa Grimm's thoughtful considerations, Suzy Woods's personable and personal enthusiasm, and of course Don Russell's completely connected professionalism...plus Craig LaBan's great occasional beer forays in the Inky and all the local blogs, Philly's a great place to read about beer, too. Winning this award was humbling, and I want to thank all the people who voted, as well as all the fantastic people who make this such a great business.

Got some odd looks with the trophy on the way home on the train, but talking to Eddie Friedland on the way was well worth it. A good night, indeed.

All photos courtesy of Stephen "Click-click" Lyford; thanks, fella!

Bring it on, Jack me boy!

If you aren't thirsty...don't bother coming.

Uncle Jack and I were contacted by John "Latent Homebrewer" Trogner and Ed "Music Man" Yashinsky at Tröegs. 'Look,' they said, 'you guys are always snarling at each other. Why not settle it with a Scratch Beer showdown? Both of you come up to the brewery, sit down with our brewers, and we'll brew what you come up with for a head-to-head grudge match during Philly Beer Week?' Kind of like the Royal Stumble, only with just the two of us, mano a mano (the tap-working hand, that is).

So we did, and we invite you to come out to Standard Tap for the fun, 1st Sunday of Philly Beer Week, and enjoy the hell out of my Zwickel Licker, an unfiltered Dortmunder Export lager! You can get a sample taste of Jack's biere de vieux petard, too. It's all PAYG, and we'll see you there!

Biking and beer weekend

I've talked about 'em: the bros-in-law, Chris, Carl, and Curt Childs

I left the house early Friday afternoon to go on a biking weekend I'd been planning since Christmas: a ride with my three brothers-in-law, Chris, Curt, and Carl Childs on the Torrey C. Brown and York Heritage rail trails, two trails that link up at the Mason-Dixon Line and form a 41 mile trail that runs from Cockeysville, Maryland to York, Pennsylvania. It was perfect weather, and I rolled down to Baltimore to meet Carl at Mahaffey's Pub, where we ate and drank our way through a 7-year-old $50 gift certificate I'd bought as part of a Katrina Relief beer-related fundraiser that Beer in Baltimore blogger Sandy Mitchell helped organize...and Sandy showed up at Mahaffey's, appropriately.

We tramped around Canton a bit -- finally got pie at Dangerously Delicious, and it was worth the wait -- then made our way up to York, where we met Curt and Chris at the parking lot of our motel, which will remain nameless, because I decline to give it any publicity. Yuck. Cheap, though, and a great location four blocks from the trailhead and within easy walking distance of good eats and drinks. We dropped off a car and drove down to Cockeysville, where we had a couple beers in our motel there, then fell asleep.

Saturday morning meant breakfast at the Ashton Diner (yum, might have to Yelp them), and a 9:20 launch from the trailhead. It was cool and shady, no headwind, and the trail wound along the Big Gunpowder River. Beautiful day. We, um, were doing okay; Chris is always in shape, cycles constantly, the other three of us were on our first big ride of the year, and weren't as machine-like as we could have been. The trails on both sides of the Mason-Dixon rise at a 2-4% grade to the peak at the border, and the last parts are the steepest. We were chuffing hard as we finished the first half, and the flat stretch through New Freedom on the Pennsy side was most welcome.

We stopped there for lunch at The Hodle, a smoky, busy bar that offered pretty good sandwiches and Tröegs Nugget Nectar and Lancaster Rumspringa. We partook. Service was ungodly slow -- they'd been swamped by a big bunch of Harley riders -- but the beer and fresh air outside were great, and by the time we left around 2:20 (we'd arrived at 12:10), we were refreshed, and hit the gentle downslope in a rush. The last few miles into York were a bit tiring, but after a shower, we were ready for some fun. We ate out on the sidewalk at Maewyn's, drinking down big table-tap dispensers of Long Trail Double Bag and Tröegs Sunshine Pils. We had a couple shots of whiskey, some more beers, and wound up on the balcony of our unnamed motel, watching the action as a local prom let out. To bed.

Sunday was a replay, except Curt decided to drop out, and drove the car back to Cockeysville. We had another great day, had a better lunch -- but no beer -- at Paesano's in New Freedom, and boomed down the shady downgrade. We finished about 2:50, said good-bye, packed up, and headed home. Two great days, 82 miles of riding, and man, is my butt sore...

Nick Johnson, Matt Guyer, beer, dogs...you can't help but wanna go, right?

Uncle Jack drew my attention to this event: we're both dog owners, he knows I'm a sucker for stuff like this (I'm a sucker for the beers at the Beer Yard and Teresa's Next Door, too, and God knows I'm liking the Tröegs). It's tomorrow afternoon, so check it out if you got nothing going on. I'll be in Boston, taking the boy back to school, but hey, that's the sacrifices you have to make. Cheers!

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!

Kegs Go Home

Philly Beer Week's last event for me happened two days ago on Saturday; the Return of the Kegs. I took the kegs from our Upstate Beer Night at the Grey Lodge back to the brewers. It was a long day.

I filled up the Passat, and dropped Thomas off at Holy Ghost for the qualifying rounds for the National Catholic Forensics League championship (he qualified, and will be competing in Albany in May!). That was about 7:50 AM, and I aimed it north from there, up the Turnpike Extension. First stop was One Guy Brewing, and although I mostly just had time to drop off the keg (Atomic Punk IPA, and it went over well) and hit the head, I did get a short progress report. Guy's still having to run hard to meet demand, and an expansion of the taproom (almost doubling in size) is about to start. He's getting Friday nights when people can't get in the door! Bravo, Berwick.

Off again, headed for Williamsport. It was a beautiful day, cold and mostly sunny, and not too much traffic on the road...except for one wing-ding on Rt. 15 North, who just would not let me pass him. I don't get that. If someone wants to pass you, why not just pull over and let them by? Why play games and whip back and forth across two lanes to keep them from passing? Are you bored?

Anyway...slid into one of the courthouse parking spots, grabbed the Bullfrog keg (Beesting Saison, might have been the hit of the night) and handed it to a waitress (the pub wasn't open yet, it was a bit before 11). Ran back to the car and drove three blocks to Bavarian Barbarian. Mike was in, and I gave him his dunkelweizen keg back (not enough dunkelweizens out there, and I hope he keeps making this one). Took a few minutes to sample his spiced winter ale, First Snow (good -- for spiced ale, I'm not a huge fan, but this had all the right pieces in the right places and didn't overwhelm in any direction), then hit the road again.

Now I headed down Rt. 220, then cut back east and south, over two ridges (that's the landscape picture above) to Millheim and Elk Creek Cafe and Aleworks, to return the last keg (strong Belgian golden, and that was nice in a small glass). I had pushed hard all morning so I could relax now: I'd never had the food at Elk Creek, and I wanted to try it. Worth the wait. I had a glass of Oatmeal Stout -- smooth, bitter, nice -- with a bowl of lamb-lentil stew, and then a Blue Heron Pale Ale -- bright and hoppy, very drinkable -- with a smoked turkey, bacon, and avocado sandwich on flatbread, which was delicious; the side of house-made potato chips were outstanding. Gotta go back for more.

Down the valley to pick up Rt. 322 down to the Susquehanna, when I realized I had about 30 minutes to kill before talking to the Harrisburg homebrew club (ReHAB) at Scotzin Brothers homebrew shop in Lemoyne. It was a Saturday afternooon; I stopped by Tröegs. Wow. First time I've been in since the remodeling of the tasting area. What a huge difference. If you haven't been, you should go, it's a great place to try the latest and greatest from the Trogners. Just don't do like I did and park in the wet spot in the parking lot; turned out to be run-off from spent grain, and my car and I both smelled horrible!

Across the river to Lemoyne, where I spent a very pleasant two hours talking beer (and whiskey) with the homebrewers, and sampled some pretty darned good homebrews. They did not make a mead-drinker out of me -- sorry, guys, others have tried, and it just ain't happening (with one exception in Oklahoma and I've never tasted the equal since) -- but there were a couple beers that were excellent.

I left there about 5:30, stopped in at my parents' on the way home for dinner, then finally -- 450 miles later -- returned home. That's when I found out that my daughter, Nora, had learned that her school robotics team, the Mount St. Joseph Academy Firebirds (Nora's a freshman member), had won the Chairman's Award at the Philadelphia Regional FIRST competition, an awesome and jaw-dropping honor indeed. We were pretty proud parents. Good day!

Rye-wine?

I wrote this facetiousness in a comment not long ago, in the New Year's Day post where I first suggested that 2009 might be the Year of Session Beer:

"Your 22% tobacco-infused rye-wine (Rye-wine! Has anyone done one of those?) is great, man, but this bitter is bone-crushingly authentic ("authentic" is a real good word to use, I hear...), and I'm going to have five of them! WooHoo, now that's extreme beer!"

I've since learned that Drake's does a ryewine, and a couple other brewers have done one-offs. But when I saw this short blurb on MyBeerBuzz about #18 in the Tröegs Scratch Beer series, I was...intrigued. #18 is billed as a "Triple Rye Ale." Ryewine?

Not exactly. I got in touch with John Trogner, who told me it's actually "Triple Rye Pale Ale," or maybe 'Triple RyePA.' One of their brewers has been wanting to make a rye beer, any kind of rye beer, and John's been thinking about doubling up on double IPAs to make a triple IPA. As John put it, one day after work they're all sitting around, having a few beers, and after a couple, the two ideas collided. A Triple RyePA!

"It's not a Belgian kind of tripel," John said. "And it's fun, you know, we have fun with the names of the Scratch beers, even if no one else gets the joke. [Flying Mouflan, anyone?]"

The beer's already been brewed, with about 30% malted rye in the mash. "And a ridiculous amount of hops," said John. "Why not? Lots of Warrior, lots of Mt. Hood. The main flavor is Chinook, that stinky citrus." Sounds so appealing, but who am I to talk?

John said it should be out in about two weeks, depending on other work. But I gotta tell you, I wonder how much will be left: sounds like they've been hitting the zwickel pretty regular on this one: "The rye’s got a nice subtle spiciness," John said, drool practically coming over the phoneline, "and it’s got a rounded, creamy mouthfeel."

Might have to get in the Passat and go try this one.

Brewer Matrimony

Saturday, Cathy and I went up to Stoudt's for the wedding celebration of Whitney Thompson and Larry Horwitz, who are, besides being our friends, brewers at Tröegs and Iron Hill North Wales, respectively. We had a great time -- other than the experiences Jack and I had with numb bartenders, first at Union Barrel Works and then at the Holiday Inn -- and Jack has done a surprisingly jovial job of recounting the evening at his blog. Go have a look. It was a fun time, and I did love the drinks card at the party: long and loving descriptions of the Tröegs and Iron Hill beers available, followed by one line at the bottom:

"Wines -- Red, White, and Pink."

How's it feel to be the trivialized ones for a change, grape punks?

A Celebration of History at Tröegs

I wish I had some pictures of this, but I don't (hint, hint, anyone who was there...): last night was the "New Beer's Day" anniversary celebration at Tröegs, and we had a blast. I had a very easy run up the Turnpike to Harrisburg (and got 44 mpg with the diesel; better than expected!) and got in a bit early, so I treated myself to a Zoigl Star Lager at Appalachian before heading down Cameron Street to Tröegs (Zoigl's getting a bit long in tooth, but holding up beautifully; delicious kellerbier, stop by and have some).

In honor of 3.2 beer, the drink that post-Prohibition America found "surprisingly good," Tröegs brewed up a version of their old ESB with all English hops, malt, and yeast that came in a little over 4% ABV. I had a glass of that while waiting to give my speech (the evening was a benefit for the Harrisburg Historical Society, so yes, I paid for my beer. That one, anyway, after that, people just put them in my hand...) and it was nice, tasty, refreshing, flavorful, but not hammering.

When 8:00 came, a local fellow read what was apparently one of FDR's speeches...mostly about bank reform. Historians. I stepped up to the mike and told them I was there to talk about beer. This, like the original legislation back in 1933, was met with a roar of approval. I told them how Prohibition was something we deserved -- the booze industry was out of control -- but that it was overdone: I once used the analogy that putting in Prohibition to fight booze business corruption was like shooting your dog because he farts real bad when you feed him beef jerky. It would be much less drastic and much more effective to stop feeding him jerky...or open a window and both of you live with it. They liked that, too. Once Prohibition was in, again it was about money: political money for politicians who supported it, illegal money for the bootleggers and illicit producers, and no tax money for the dopey government that put it into force. Repeal, of course, was all about money: the Depression made Repeal almost necessary. Repeal meant 50,000 jobs and millions in taxes for jobs programs: done deal.

We're only celebrating the advent of 3.2 beer, I told them; full Repeal would have to wait another 8 months. But -- taking a sip of my ESB -- just like people found out back then, low alcohol beer can taste "surprisingly good!" We toasted the return of beer -- never to go away again! -- and then I stepped up to the firkin of ESB, took the big wooden mallet, and pounded home the tap. Did fine, too, didn't spill a drop. And the cask version tasted just great.

A very good evening, and a successful fund-raiser for the Historical Society; by 9:00, they'd already decided to do it again next year. The band, the Hoppin' John Orchestra, was not just fantastic, they were perfectly appropriate, and my hat's off to whoever decided to have them for the event.

Happy New Beer's Day!

Ah, Repeal.

We're celebrating 75 years since the return of sanity in America this year, and it starts on April 7: New Beer's Day. Beer got a jump on the actual repeal of the 18th Amendment, which didn't happen until 8 months later: Congress, with the willing blessing of FDR, jiggered the Volstead Act to classify 3.2% ABW beer as non-intoxicating, making it legal for sale, and the nation -- well, 20 forward-looking states and the District -- whooped it up accordingly.

The folks at Tröegs have made an occasion of it, and they are doing it up right: beer, beer, and more beer -- some of it under the 3.2 limit, oh sweet Session Beer -- and they've asked me to come up and open the celebration with a short lecture on how we got into the whole Prohibition mess, and how we got out of it.

It's at the brewery on Friday, April 11, beginning at 7:30. Tickets are $25 in advance, $40 after April 8 (and at the door), and all proceeds benefit the Historical Society of Dauphin County. (The cost of the ticket covers the food, entertainment, and the benefit: beers are $3 for the regular Tröegs lineup and $5 for the specialty beers; more details here.)

Come on up and join me in a toast to the moderate, healthy, wonderful joys of beer!

Tröegs Nugget Nectar

WHOO! I'm keeping my New Year's resolutions; or one of them at least:

If there's a hop shortage -- and there is -- screw it: I am going to grab all
the super-hoppy beers I want and can get. Hopheads who got all defensive when I
talked about hoppy beers being simple? Pile on, I can take it. Just don't get
between me and the IPA taps.

So when I wanted a beer this afternoon (and I did, because when I interviewed Jim Koch about the new Samuel Adams Irish Red the booger taunted me that he was drinking a beer, and why wasn't I?) I reached in the fridge and pulled out a bottle of Tröegs Nugget Nectar, the beer that the Trogners insist isn't an IPA, but an imperial amber ale.

Okay, whatever. Mostly, it's hoppier than blazes. It's like grapefruit pith, it's piney, it's...okay, it's got a kind of cat's piss smell that's weirdly appealing. I can't believe I'm going to leave that in, but I am, because it's true. The amazing thing about this beer -- one amazing thing about this beer is how the bitterness doesn't hook into your tongue and linger forever: it's like wasabi, it hits WHAM and you stagger a bit, and it's gone. Which means it's time for another swallow, another mouth-squeezing taste, a blast of lupulin freshness -- hmmm, the cat's piss is gone -- and that's the other amazing thing about this beer: it's bitter, it's jam-packed with flavor, it's ... gone. Way too drinkable, which ain't a bad thing, just something you have to keep your eye on.

Scared of the hop shortage? Get as much of this as you can and stop worrying.

New Jersey Breweries, Tröegs, & Iron Hill Lancaster

You may be wondering why STAG shut down for a week. Well, New Jersey Breweries was all wrapped up, but I had a ton of Malt Advocate work to get caught up on, a lot of house and family things had backed up, and I had two trips to get in. The one, last Friday, was to give a talk on Prohibition to a group up near Harrisburg, a commitment I'd made months ago. The other, last Wednesday, was more beery.

I've made a tradition out of hand-delivering the manuscripts of the Breweries books to my editor, Kyle Weaver, at Stackpole Books in Mechanicsburg, Penn., starting with the first edition of Pennsylvania Breweries. This one, as Kyle pointed out, marked 10 years that we've been working together. So after I dropped off the chunk of paper, and told him a few stories about putting the book together, we went out to lunch at the Pizza Grille in Camp Hill I had a Tröegs Pale Ale -- actually, we both did; Kyle's onto good beer now too, and always seeks out the locals when he travels -- and a really different mushroom pizza, with smoked mozzarella, and a wild mushroom puree instead of the traditional tomato sauce. Delicious, and the beer was great.

It was so good, in fact, that after I said good-bye to Kyle, I steered the Passat over to Tröegs. I wanted to taste the latest Scratch Beer, #6, loosely patterned on a Dortmunder Export. I caught Chris Trogner just leaving, and he turned around and poured me a beer (he was headed for the bank, and was willing to put that off). Well, you know, I like Exports, and I liked this beer, quite a bit, actually, but... No, it's not precisely an Export. It's got the heft, and the color, but it's hopped a bit more like a pilsner.

And that was where we took off when John Trogner joined us. Is that a problem, that it's not a helles, a hellerbock, an Export, or a pilsner? No, we both agreed, it wasn't, what it was was very interesting. We had a beer that didn't fit in the traditional spectrum of lagers that everyone seems to have set in stone. About the only thing anyone's done is to lighten the color of Festbier and make that bastard "imperial pilsner." That hardly seems to be tradition-breaking. But then, lagers are things of subtle differences, at least...traditionally.

Makes me very interested to think about what could be done to a lager. Folks weren't shy about experimenting when the process was quantified in the 1800s: we got schwarzbier, erlanger, budweiser, pilsner, wiener, helles, dunkles, bock, doppelbock, eisbock, rauchbier, braunbier...and then what? A couple damned world wars come along, the communists slap down the production quotas, and brewers stop thinking of anything except how to make more of it cheaper? That's nothing but embarrassing. I left Tröegs with thoughts buzzing in my head.

Down the road to my last stop: the official opening day of Iron Hill Lancaster. I'm a Franklin & Marshall College alumnus (as is Cathy, my wife), and it was weird and wonderful to see Iron Hill right across the street from Williamson Field, where I used to march with the band at football games. It was also weird and wonderful to see Iron Hill folk like Kevin Finn, Mark Edelson, and Lancaster head brewer Paul Rutherford (and publicity gal supreme Jennie Hatton) up in my old stomping grounds. I love the idea of Iron Hill in Lancaster -- not sure how Lancaster Brewing feels about it, but two brewpubs is good for a town in my experience, and often good for each of the brewpubs, too.

The beer? I had a red lager (hmmm, red lager? Map that one) that was smooth and malty, a short sip of a sweet and aromatic Belgian Pale Ale, and a glass of Dubbel that I had to leave part of because of alcohol intake -- it was plenty good enough to drink, believe me. Wish I could have stayed for dinner, but I had to run on down the road and pick up Penderyn at the folks' (I couldn't leave him in his crate that long, and it was too cold to leave him outside), and then get on home.

And that's some of where I've been and what I've been doing.

Tröegs Action

I dropped by Tröegs last weekend, September 1st, to try some Scratch Beer. The Trogners are celebrating their brewery's 10th anniversary by brewing a series of draft-only beers from recipes they thought up back in the pre-business days...mostly, and serving them only on draft at the brewery on Saturdays...mostly. The one I got on Saturday was Scratch #3, which is -- appropriately -- a Triple. It was big and flavorful at 9.5%, certainly no session beer. It was, however, quite drinkable thanks to good attenuation. The boys used a different Belgian yeast strain than the one used in Mad Elf, and it worked quite well.

Then I got some Dead Reckoning Porter, and it's quite a bit hoppier than I remember from the first time around. It's verging on dark IPA territory, but with a solid bedrock of dark malt character; at 5.8% and 53 IBUs, it's sniffing around the lower end of Baltic territory. (Geeks: I'm kidding. This is not a Baltic porter. Just messing around.) I liked it so much I had to have another.

Finally, John went back and tickled the zwickel for a preview of Scratch Beer #4: The Flying Mouflan...at least, I think that's what John was saying. It's a wild-assed American-style barleywine. John described it this way: "We took Nugget Nectar and pushed it off a cliff." I smelled hops from three feet away, and said to him, "There's so much hops oil in this, it's greasy." It's a whopping big mutha, too, over 10%. But the beauty of this beer is that the hops don't grab your tongue like a sandpaper mitten: they've got the 'honeyed hops' effect going, like eating hop candy. It's a big sweet malty barleywine, juiced up with silly amounts of hop flavor and aroma, and a bitterness that mostly comes in the finish. If you want a pint of this stuff, get a driver.

Good time at the brewery, my first time on a Saturday tour day. If you haven't made this stop, you should put it on your schedule.

"What the Hell is Scratch Beer?"

"What the Hell is Scratch Beer?" is the provocative teaser in the latest Tröegs Tales, the Harrisburg craft brewer's e-letter. "We can’t tell you yet, but it is part of our 10th Anniversary Celebration and you will be able to experience it exclusively at Tröegs Brewery."

No more details...at least not official ones. But I heard around the backdoor of the brewery from a wholly unreliable source that the Scratch Beers will be a series of very small one-off batches, based on recipes from ten years ago, beer ideas that John & Chris had before the brewery opened, but didn't quite make the cut for those first beers. Now's their chance. They will be bottle-only, and only available in the brewery giftshop; there won't even be enough made to put out in normal channels.

Of course, that's just what I heard... If you want the solid facts, as soon as they come out, with a list of the actual beers (which should be released all through the summer...I hear), you oughta subscribe to Tröegs Tales: the full story comes out next month.