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!

Beer in the cemetery...again

I wanted to help out my friend, the Reverend Kirk Berlenbach (at St. Timothy's Episcopal in Roxborough), because the guy runs one of the most lively, active, and dedicated beer clubs in Philadelphia, and I've had some real fun afternoons hanging out talking beer with them in the church basement. Really! They help run a homebrew competition and reception that doubles as a tour of the brewer mausoleums of the Laurel Hill and West Laurel Hill Cemeteries, led by Rich Wagner, the newly-published author of Philadelphia Beer: a heady history of brewing in the cradle of liberty (with a foreword by yours truly). Perhaps not a unique afternoon, but you gotta figure the combo's kinda rare. Check into it; you don't have to be in the competition to take the tour, have some fun, talk beer, and get some good home-made beer and food. 

  

SAVE THE DATE!
SATURDAY, MAY 19th
Step in to spring with some suds at West Laurel Hill’s Third Annual Homebrew Competition, Tour, Tasting and Reception.
Are you a homebrewer?  See how your brew measures up at this AHA-BJCP sanctioned event.  Both bottled entries and sixtel entries are welcome.  Brewers submitting a sixtel receive free entry for themselves and two guests.  Bottled entries are $7 per entry and must be received by Friday, May 11^th.    Certified BJCP judges are also welcome to apply.  

Not a homebrewer? Don’t miss one of West Laurel Hill’s most popular events!  Attend as a guest and you’ll have an opportunity to learn about Philadelphia’s rich brewing history.  Tickets are $25 per person including a tour of Laurel Hill and West Laurel Hill Cemeteries led by Pennsylvania brewery historian Rich Wagner, craft beer samplings and gourmet food.  Reservations are required and space is limited. For more information, to enter a homebrew or to purchase tickets call 610-668-4258 or e-mail Sarah at sjp@forever-care.com A portion of the proceeds from the event benefit the mission work of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, Roxborough.

Stone TBA

Those who know me well, know me in my unguarded moments, know me from my unpublished as well as published works...know that I'm skeptical of the vaunted impact of homebrewers on American craft brewing. Fritz Maytag wasn't a homebrewer, Bert Grant wasn't a homebrewer, Jim Koch may have brewed some batches at home, but all directed at his commercial product. Oh, I'll give you Ken Grossman, and Charlie Papazian, and -- here in Philly -- the influence of homebrew pioneers like George and Nancy from Home Sweet Homebrew. But I can't help thinking the industry is outgrowing the connection, and that homebrewers are mostly responsible for this bizarre fascination with stuffing hops into beers in every way possible...

And then I get a glass of something like this Stone/Fat Head's/Bear Republic collaboration project: TBA. I know this beer has homebrewing DNA (I know one of the homebrewers who was involved in the early origins of the 'style'), and I have a glass poured and waiting by the keyboard, and...wow, I can smell Columbus from here and it's grabbing me...

Poor little unsuspecting broonale...

Texas Brown Ale. The source of American Brown Ale, one of the earliest examples of the American habit of sneaking up on an unsuspecting English ale type, sapping it with a weighted floating hydrometer, dragging it into a dark basement, and ramming it full of hops until it shrieks with pine and citrus aromas... And it turns out to be a killer success. 

Why? Because it's a variant on our beloved hopsamatic, an IPA with sweet body, a sweet brown ale with a knife-sharp keel of steely hops. It is a beer that pleases, teases, and -- no, 'squeezes' would rhyme, but this beer slaps, there's no way around it. Excellent aroma, with the brown sugar and molasses swirling up through all the pine and citrus hops; good body, and again, sweet and bitter battle through. It fights to the last sip, and the finish stays bitter.

All right, homebrewers. You win this round. This is a beer with impact, and a beer that goes back to the beginnings of craft brewing, and at the earliest...it's a homebrew.

Sorry, Winos: Obama is The Beer President

I had to check to make sure this wasn't from The Onion, but it's true: the Obamas apparently had the White House kitchen homebrew a batch of honey ale, using a pound of honey gathered right on-premises from the White House hive. (The Obamas bought the homebrew equipment themselves, according to the story.) They served the beer (along with Pale Ale, Amber Ale, and Luna Stout from Green Bay's Hinterland Brewery, and Yuengling Lager...no East End!) at last night's Super Bowl party.

Will wonders never freakin' cease? I cannot believe wine people continue to delude themselves that the Prez and First Lady are wonderful wine lovers -- guys, just because they're Democrat lawyer elites doesn't mean they automatically suck down the vino!

Wowsers. 

Homebrew Mad Lib

I've been cleaning up the desk in prep for this weekend's big party, and came across this homemade homebrewing Mad Lib we came up with a few years ago. I present it just for fun. You know how to do this, right? You copy and paste it into Word or Notepad or whatever, then go through the text, prompting your friends -- who haven't seen the text -- to fill in the blanks only by asking them for the types of words in brackets, and then you read it. Hilarity ensues. That's the idea, anyway. Lame? Sure, and that's half the fun. 

Big Homebrewing Fun!

The National Homebrewers ___________[event] was held in ___________[city] last month, and it ___________[verb ending in 'ed'] a lot. There were ___________[number] contestants, who brewed a total of ___________[number] beers, most of which were ___________[adjective].

The judges ___________[adverb] disqualified most of the beers, saying they were either too ___________[adjective] or not ___________[adjective] enough. The brewers of the disqualified beers said the judges were all too ___________[adjective].

The 2nd place beer, a ___________[beer style], made the judges ___________[verb] with pleasure. The liked the ___________[color] color, the rich aroma of ___________[noun], and the complex flavors of ___________[noun], ___________[noun], and ___________[noun]. Two judges said the beer really deserved to ___________[verb].

But they all agreed that the 1st place beer was a ___________[noun]. "It really ___________[verb ending in 's']!" one judge ___________[verb ending in 'ed']. It was a ___________[adjective, size] beer, with ___________[number] IBU and a massive ___________[number] percent alcohol. "It tastes better than ___________[plural noun]," said the head judge. 

The winner, ___________[first name] ___________[family name], said they had brewed the beer ___________[adverb]. "It's a ___________[adjective] recipe," they said, "and it makes ___________[number] gallons of beer for only ___________[number] dollars."

The judges drank ___________[number] more glasses of the winning beers, then went out on the town to ___________[verb] all night.

(No homebrewers were harmed in the creation of this amusement. I swear. If any homebrewers are offended by this, please feel free to substitute "Pro brewer" for "homebrewer" at any and all points. Or "giraffe," if that works for you.)

Doing anything Friday, Lehigh Valley?

There's a Taste of Philly beer event at the Allentown Brew Works in the High Gravity Room: this Friday, 7-10, beer and food from Tastykake, Amoroso, and Original Philly Cheesesteak. Here's the kicker: this is a 100% charity event. Every dollar from ticket sales goes directly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It's in memory of Jeff Fegley's brother David. Good cause, people, good beers:

There will be a minimum of 41 selections at this festival, with summer samplings of: 12 Allentown Brew Works beers, 6 Bethlehem Brew Works beers, plus  Weyerbacher, Manayunk Brewing,  Yards Brewing Company, Victory Brewing, and the Philadelphia Brewing Company.

The brewers down the road at Boston Beer are bringing beers (hope they bring the Noble Pils!), and homebrewers from Keystone Home Brew Supply and Lehigh Valley Homebrewers are bringing beers (you know: mad, cutting-edge, homebrewed beers!).

I can't make it -- not around -- but you can. $30 in advance, and you can contribute more if you'd like.

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!

Longshot Double IPA

After the long wait from last year, we finally got Mike McDole's Double IPA in the Samuel Adams Longshot series, the beers Boston Beer brews and distributes nationally as the result of a country-wide homebrew competition. McDole's beer actually won last year, but because of the hops shortage, the decision was made to hold off production till this year.

I got two samples, and cracked one last night. Yow. This is one wicked bitter beer, slicingly hoppy, chockful of pine and citrus...but without much body under it, or at least, not enough, it seemed to me. I do love me a hoppy beer, but this one's missing the malt it needs to keep it upright. JMO, but after all, it's JMB, you know? Some of you will love this, as it feeds your needs. Me, I'm looking forward to trying the Traditional Bock that came with it in the Longshot sixpack.

Homebrewers and DigiCams

Keystone Homebrewing (in Montgomeryville and Bethlehem, PA) has a new contest: Keystone is Everywhere. They want homebrewers (and homevintners) to get pix of themselves in Keystone t-shirts at a variety of places and events or with a variety of people, and I do mean, a variety: Larry Horwitz, the brewer at Iron Hill North Wales is worth 5 points, 10 points in a Keystone Homebrew shirt...plus an additional 5 points if he's got his brewing boots on. The eponymous Crabby Larry of Crabby Larry's brew pub is worth double if you can get him smiling. Michael Jackson ("either one will do") is worth 15 points, 25 with the Keystone t-shirt (good luck on that one), and 10 extra points if he's got his one white glove on. It's 3 points if you get your picture next to the Pennsylvania state flower (mountain laurel) or tree (eastern hemlock); 10 if you get both in one shot. Prizes include gift certs, discounts, and...a free t-shirt (you'll need a replacement after this).

The full list is here. BTW, before anyone shrieks, I'm not getting any kickback for this. I just thought it was funny.

SBP: Mild Weather in May

I didn't find mild on Friday, when we were supposed to blog about it for The Session, but I did find it in abundance yesterday, so I'm going to step into the Wayback Machine and pretend this all happened when the beer-blogging calendar wanted it to...

Mild is perhaps the archetype of session beers. It's low in alcohol, nicely flavored with malts and usually a good ale yeast, and it's a smooth, easy drinker.

But it is unfortunately hard to find. Mild just isn't that popular in the U.S., for a variety of reasons. It's looked down on as uninteresting by a number of beer geeks -- not big enough, not hoppy enough -- which includes a number of brewers. "Mild" is not a familiar beer name for most Americans, who unfortunately won't try a beer if it's called "Mild" (or "Bitter," for that matter).

On the other hand, I wasn't surprised at all to find milds at a homebrewing event. Homebrewers, for all their tendencies to go big and go crazy with exotic and experimental beers, also have a respect for uncommon beers. They also know that a flawless low-alcohol beer says more about their skill than a big, chunky beer that might be hiding flaws under heavy layers of hops and roasted malts. And they also like to drink, which mild is perfect for. I meet more and more homebrewers who tell me that they almost always have a mild or bitter around to drink every day.

Sure enough, while walking around the grassy field of the Southern California Homebrewers Festival on a perfect SoCal afternoon, I came across some milds in short order. The Maltose Falcons club was pouring four of them, all on cask (That's right: four, on cask. There were about 16 other beers and meads on tap as well. This is not your typical homebrewing event, these guys are serious. I was awed): Rainier (hopped with the new Mt. Rainier hop), Oat Malt, and Alderwood (made with smoked malt), the fourth wasn't on when I made my run, and I've forgotten the name, sorry.

The Rainier reminded me somewhat of the Three Floyds Pride & Joy Mild, in that it was refreshing, but perhaps too hoppy for the style. The Alderwood was good, not overdone at all, but a bit odd. The Oat Malt was just what I was looking for: good malty flavor in spades, light-bodied but not thin at all, and a subtle richness that rounded things off nicely. And it was really tasty with the "Big Dick's Famous Pickled Egg" I got at another club's stand. For about ten minutes, I was in mild heaven. If not for the "try me, try me!" vibe that festivals like this generate, I'd probably have stuck with this for quite a while, and would have been happy.

The only sad thing about this was that I had to go to a homebrewing festival to find more than a single mild. To be honest, finding a mild in Philly would probably have required some serious searching. There aren't any local brewers who regularly make a mild; Victory has on occasion, Weyerbacher made a nice one back five years ago or so, and Yards has done one.

But they just don't sell. Why? Philadelphia is a town that gets cask ale, possibly more than any other U.S. town. But while pale ales and IPAs and porters and stouts thrive on cask here, milds don't even show up. I have to be honest, too: it's not a case of "milds don't sell because no one makes them, and no one makes milds because they don't sell" circular illogic. Brewers have tried making milds, and they languish in the market.

Is it the name? Is it the unfamiliarity? I don't know if I completely buy that: there are lots of people buying beers with unfamiliar names, just look at the popularity of Belgians. One of Yards' most popular beers is their Saison, hardly a household word outside geek circles.

Are they boring? Not at all, when they're made well. Maybe that's part of it, that brewers don't have enough faith in mild to make it without pumping it up somehow, over-hopping it, or smoking it, or pushing the upper edge of the style on ABV. When things like that get done to a mild, they don't ring true. It's like poodle-clipping a Golden Retriever. Just let the mild be a good mild, don't cover it up.

Getting a good mild is something that's at the heart of the Session Beer Project. The beer-blogging project this post is part of, The Session, is about milds this month: I hope it generates some interest in brewers and drinkers alike. Otherwise, mild is going to be treated the same way Tom Pastorius at Penn Brewing says dark beer is treated, like going to church: everyone talks about it, but most people don't go more than once or twice a year.

That's not enough to keep a beer alive. If you see mild, get it. If it's good, get stuck into it. I'm counting on you. And meanwhile... keep up the good work, homebrewers.