MLB Beer one-upmanship?

I've been proud of the selection of local craft beer readily available at Citizens Bank Park for quite a while. (It's not just me: check out #5 here.) But it looks like the O's are one-upping us: Friday night home games will now have cask ale from Flying Dog in Camden Yards, beginning April 27. Excerpts from the press release:

Flying Dog is available at 20 locations in the park, including the Roof Deck bar and a Flying Dog storefront location that will offer beer pairings with locally-inspired foods, like Old Bay corn dogs. The chefs at Camden Yards will also use Flying Dog beer as an ingredient in some of this season’s food pairings. “Our ‘Firkin Fridays’ will highlight the growing popularity of not only craft beer, but also real ale,” [brewery sales VP Brian] Savage said, “which is a great fit for America’s pastime.”

Well, hell, Philly, we gotta step to this! Philly Brewing, Yards, Flying Fish, Victory? Who's gonna meet this challenge?!

Ernest & Scott, and Paris in London

Put some miles on the car last Thursday; drove down to Wilmington for the opening of Ernest & Scott Taproom (902 N. Market St.), the new beer bar in town. It's a whopper, too; restaurateur Scott Morrison laid down some serious bucks to outfit this large, balconied space. There's a solid commitment to cask ale, which explains why I ran into Paul Pendyck there (I had just seen Paul on Tuesday; took my mother to dinner at his Bulls Head Public House in Lititz and enjoyed two fine cask ales).

The beer engines weren't actually operating (someone had screwed up getting the breathers there), but there were seven firkins pouring, and I got stuck right into some Dogfish Head 75 Minute IPA, poured by Sam Calagione. Sam's been consulting on the beer program, and since is such a big deal for beer in Delaware, that's no surprise. The beer scene in Wilmington has been an on-again off-again proposition for years (except for Iron Hill on the riverside, and the excellent Washington Street Alehouse), and Delaware and area brewers would love to see this city in Philly's backyard pick up the pace.

It's a handsome place, solidly built (it's a former bank), and the beer engines are ready to go. The food I sampled was quite nice, and the beers... Yards ESA, in about as fine a condition I can recall; an excellent Stewarts IPA (poured by brewer Ric Hoffman himself, and thus much more tasty), and a tasty Evolution altbier that was tucked away in a neat little space upstairs.

Okay, just one other thing. I liked the place, and I wish it well, but trying to get around in downtown Wilmington just about did me in. Some idiot planner thought it would be a good idea to narrow all the streets, and push parking out to the edge of the commercial area, and just generally make it inconvenient to drive. Well, forget your suburban traffic, guys, and there's not enough city there to make this work. Wilmington's got to be more welcoming to visitors, because after this experience...I don't really want to go back, no matter how cool this place is.

Once I got the hell out of Wilmington (which wasn't easy either), I ran up to Philly (which I'd never thought of as particularly car-friendly before...) and stopped off at London Grill, where Terry Berch McNally was throwing a little fling for outgoing Sierra Nevada rep Patrick Mullin (actually, he's pretty much outgone already; he's running sales at Sly Fox now, and congrats to both of them), pouring her last keg of our Exportation porter from Sierra Nevada Beer Camp, the three SN Ovilas (Dubbel, Saison, & Quad), and the new Ruthless Rye.

Briefly: the Exportation is a mildly sour version of a mild Baltic Porter, and was quite tasty and easily enjoyed, not a smack in the chops or a pucker in the cheeks. Ovila Dubbel is a nice example of the style, rich but not sticky; the Saison is spicy and brisk, very enjoyable. And the Ruthless Rye was great, a battling mouthful of beer, shot full of spicy rye character that blended marvelously with the bold hops. A very nice beer indeed.

We spent some pleasant minutes talking, getting caught up (me, Terry, Exton Beverage's Greg Ramirez, Scoats of the Grey Lodge, Patrick, and Brendan from Memphis Taproom), then I asked Terry to take me to Paris. We got there in about 45 seconds; Paris is the new wine bar Terry's opened in the adjoining building. It's small, intimate, and the wine is on draft; a popular form of dispense in Europe and gaining momentum in the U.S., presumably for the same reason: freshness, ease of service, and of course, the excellent environmental advantages. This is, I believe, a first for Pennsylvania; best of luck to her!

I'd like to say I went home after this, but...I stopped at the Grey Lodge for just one more (honest, Ernest & Scott were just pouring 3 oz. samples!). It's still pleasant to stop in there, and I do it often on my way home from Philly events to wind down.

This Friday is Double Trouble

This Friday is the first of three Friday the 13ths in 2012 -- the next one comes thirteen weeks later in April...followed by one thirteen weeks later in July. And I think we all know who's responsible for that: Mister Friday the Firkinteenth himself, Scoats "Mike Scotese" Grey Lodge. You know the guy, comes out from behind the bar on February 2nd, hugs old bearded rummies in parrot shirts, has a mad passion for numbers and wordplay, serves 20+ beers on cask every Friday the 13th? Yeah, that's him. The fun starts at noon, and there will be seven casks pouring till they're all gone, and it will be a madhouse, and I will be there. I've only missed a couple, and I'm not missing this one. Here, see what Scoats has to say:

This will be our 24th Friday the Firkinteenth; we've been doing it since 1998. We've gotten a little bit of press about it over the years and a couple of people have attended (Note to the inexperienced: he is understating to the point of sarcasm). For our 24th Firkinteenth, we will have our first cask cider, a bunch of English casks, the Philly debut of Fifty Fifty Rockslide IPA, what might be the debut of Flying Fish's newest beer - Scarlet Fever, plus a lot of usual suspect beers that could well be the sleeper standouts. Tapping begins at noon again this time around. At 11am our full menu will be available. For the Firkinteenth, all food service will be 2nd floor only.

Is that enough fun for one non-Philly Beer Week (which starts in only 143 days!) day for you? No? Okay, this Friday is also 113 Day, as in 1/13 (that's 13 January to all my Euro-friends), as in Sly Fox Rt. 113 IPA, and Sly Fox's Corey Reid is trying to turn it into a national holiday...but he'll settle for Phoenixville. For now. So...at Sly Fox's Phoenixville brewpub, anyone in the pub at 1:13 PM (Eastern...) can get one pint of Rt. 113 for $1.13 (bring change, help 'em out), and when the firkin of Rt. 113 is tapped at 5:00, you can get a 10 oz. pour for $1.13. Hey, now there's an economic stimulus for you. Come on out and get some number-based hoppiness!

Will you feel lucky this Friday?

What can it mean?

• Cigar City Humidor IPA
• Cricket Hill Reserve Series Brown
• Dock Street TBA
• Dogfish Head 75 Minute IPA
• Flying Fish Farmhouse
• Fullers London Pride
• Lancaster Milk Stout
• Manayunk Brewerytown Brown Ale
• Manayunk Hop Phanatic
• Nodding Head Marauder
• Philly Fleur de Lehigh
• Prism Bitto Honey
• Sixpoint Modern Rye
• Sly Fox 113 IPA
• Sly Fox Chester County Bitter
• Stouts Pils
• Stouts special bourbon barrel aged Scarlet Lady ESB
• Troegs Hopback Amber
• Troegs Javahead
• Victory Headwaters Pale Ale
• Wells Banana Bread
• Wells Bombadier
• Weyerbacher Verboten with camomille tea
• Yards ESA 

It can only mean one thing: Friday the Firkinteenth. Starts at noon, this Friday.

Bulls Head Pub open in Lititz

Quick note of congratulations (and a heads-up to real ale lovers in Lancaster County): Paul Pendyck, the beer engine guru of Lancaster, has opened the Bulls Head Pub in the General Sutter Inn, at 14 E. Main St. in Lititz (it's so new the website doesn't reflect the change yet). The inn has been hosting regular cask ale nights, but the Bulls Head will have two casks on at all times. Now I can visit and get some exquisitely well-cared for real ale on my schedule, and that's great!

So, apart from two good brewpubs, when is Lancaster city going to step up? Beer has been languishing there for years; McFly's is gone, Quips has gone downhill... I hear Crush is good, but it's a wine bar! The bar at the Lancaster Arts Hotel is good, but it's really more a restaurant. Where's the beer bar Lancaster deserves?

Old Bart Strikes Again

I hadn't had enough Yards Old Bart New Year's Eve at Dawson Street. But I didn't really want to drive the whole way into Philly again...

Luckily I had another option: Tuesday night, Old Bart Day 6, featured a firkin of the stuff at the Hulmeville Inn, which is cool, the hangout of a bunch of buddies, and ridiculously close to my home. So I rolled down the hill, and found the usual suspects, plus two Yards bigshots, Steve Mashington and Tom Kehoe. And yes, that's a picture of Tom, with a firkin that has a picture of Tom's head attached...along with a wig and a black cape of sorts, and thereby hangs a tale.

The Hulmeville has a reputation for swarming firkins and draining them in short order. No way that's happening with 10+% Old Bart, says Kehoe! Oh, yeah, it will, says owner Jeff Lavin. By the time the trash-talking was done, a wager was made. If the firkin took more than 45 minutes to drain, Jeff would put all of Yards beers on tap at once, an all-Yards week. But if it took less than that, Kehoe would "dance with the firkin."

No suspense: it took 31 minutes (and I helped!), including the three pints of yeasty mung some brave souls took to help the cause ("Don't get far from the men's room after that," I overheard (Jeff had a reserve pin of Old Bart, and replaced their beer smoothies, no charge)). Kehoe was one hell of a sport: he danced with the firkin, first to "The Time of My Life" and then, quite appropriately, to "Dancin' With Myself."

The beer was great, again. "We're gonna have to bottle this next year," Mash said to me. Well, yeah! And make more of it, too! Enjoy the dance...

Charity for the Animals (with beer!)

However you celebrate the season -- Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Solstice, New Year's, or just a secular feel-good-time -- this time of year traditionally brings acts of kindly charity. The economy has many people in terrible condition, and that's in the front of everyone's mind. But animals hurt too, especially in the cold, and our friends at the Khyber are making it easy, even tempting, to do something nice for them.

Firkins for our Furry Friends

Looks like it may be snowing cats & dogs tomorrow, but at the Khyber we've got something special planned. Saturday December 19th -- 1:00pm-8:00pm

A special fundraiser for our friends at P.A.W.S. (Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society, who care for abandoned and unwanted animals) featuring an array of cask conditioned bartop kegs of quality craft brews. $20 at the door gets you a bottomless cup of these delicious beers: Sly Fox Chester County Bitter, Stoudt's Fat Dog Imperial Oatmeal Stout, Yards General Washington's Tavern Porter, and a vintage PBC Shackamaximum Imperial Stout.

All proceeds go directly to P.A.W.S. to help them in their efforts to save Philadelphia’s homeless, abandoned, and unwanted animals. So come in, get warm, and help us help PAWS!
Brews graciously donated by Yards, Philly Brewing, Sly Fox and Stoudt's.

And might I remind you: the Sly Fox is a great drinkable session beer, the Fat Dog is an eye-opener, Tavern Porter has that lovely licorice bite...but the Shackamaximum on cask is the absolute shit. 'Nuff said.

Yards Cape of Good Hope IPA

Drinking Yards Cape of Good Hope IPA on cask @ Memphis Taproom. Huge fruit/pine nose, aromatically hoppy, but the mouth is gently malty, hop-flavorful, and not hugely bitter. Very enjoyable indeed.

That was my original mobile blogging post; here's a little more. COGH is draft/cask-only, 8%, and -- I'm surprised to learn -- 70 IBU. (Maybe that's calculated...) And as Brendan said at Memphis, it may not be Yards' best beer, but it might be their most elegant. Here's what Yards has to say:

With the Cape of Good Hope installment of Yards IPA, we’ve embarked on an epic journey of our own. Thoroughly hopped with Amarillos in both the whirlpool and the fermenter, it was then transferred to our makeshift shipping cask, where it was dry-hopped again with Nugget and Columbus. Set adrift in our brewery without cooling, it was able to age as though it had been put to sea for six months. The result is an authentic double dry hopped and uniquely aged India Pale Ale reminiscent of something you’d find solace in on a balmy, Indian evening far away from home.

If that's what it took...keep doing it.

My weekend weren't too bad

So...I was able to finish up my story on Friday in time to pick up Nora at school, get her home, and head down to the Grey Lodge for Friday the Firkinteenth. Wow. Things were moving fast! Out of 20 casks, begun at noon, there were only 7 still on, with three in the wings...and within five minutes of my arrival, two more kicked (including the Stoudt's Scrawny Dog, which I really wanted to try). Things went incredibly fast; the last cask looked to be kicking by 7, a new record, I think. Everyone kept telling me how great the beers I missed were; luckily, the Sly Fox Seamus was pretty damned good, beautifully conditioned. It was a great time...but I decided to haul back home. We cued up a DVD of Silverado I'd picked up at the grocery store for six bucks, and drank a couple Nugget Nectars.

Saturday was my birthday. Had coffee and the morning paper with Cathy, and after we settled Nora in with the dogs -- she wasn't feeling too well (pronounced "would rather be on Facebook") -- Cathy and I went out for lunch (Thomas is away at a forensics meet). We went to Earth Bread + Brewery, where I got an Ed Bear Stout (nice, drinkable, burnt grain bitter) and Cathy got a glass of wine. I finally got the Seed Flatbread, and it was as good as everyone's said, which I can't believe I'm saying. Get one. I had it with a glass of Schlenkerla Helles, and it was perfect.

After we were done, we walked down to McMenamin's for a beer, kind of for old time's sake -- we spent a...different kind of evening there on my birthday about ten years ago. Glass of ESA, and then off we went to Weaver's Way Co-op, because I wanted to see what the big deal was. It was not a big deal. The prices were okay, the selection was okay -- just okay -- and while some of the people in the store were very nice, there were some annoyingly impatient regulars who just didn't want anyone to get between them and their tofu because they had to have it right now! I was also kind of jarred by the big "Buy Local" sign and all the Mexican produce. Nice idea overall, but I'll pass.

We went home and hit the Newtown Farmer's Market, looking for an idea for a birthday dinner. We wound up with some great double-smoked bacon and hydroponic tomatoes and made BLTs (which rocked) on Le Bus bread (which we got at Weaver's Way), smoked salmon, some triple cream Delice de Bourgogne and Bucheron, and finished up with baklava. Then I gave Cathy her Valentine's Day present: a case of Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA (she was very happy, and yeah, I do know how lucky that makes me). And we drank some and watched some of the first season of Buffy (got it for the kids for Christmas).

Sunday? I woke up feeling crappy, didn't sing, and spent the afternoon cleaning the house and playing with the dogs. Had some more Nugget Nectar with dinner -- "beefy soba noodles," which looked like something a Klingon would eat, but tasted pretty good -- and then read some.

I Feel Lucky Today

Just a well-deserved tip of the hat to Scoats, the main man, the event genius, the number-crunching funster, the Coyote of Bar Promotions. Thanks to him, I got up this morning, Friday the Thirteenth, and had no ominous thoughts of bad luck or bad things happening (even after I saw the airplane tragedy in New York) because of the date.

Instead, all I could think of in connection to the calendar was cask ale, pouring from bar-stacked firkins, because today is, and has become, Friday the Firkinteenth. It's a much better tradition overall. Thanks, Scoats!

SBP: Is 2009 "The Year of The Session"?

The family went to Memphis Taproom for our New Year's Eve lunch yesterday, and it was excellent. I had a delicious glass of Blind Pig IPA (which beats the Plinys going away, in my mouth) and a sweet goblet of Great Divide Hibernation, and finished up with a big pint of Yards Brawler: a bold canvas of malt without the lumping thickness of 'big beer.' (Cathy agreed to drive home, so I had three without worry.)

Lunch was a Hangtown Fry hoagie, stuffed with an onion omelette and some perfect fried oysters dredged in cornmeal; the oysters were sweet and meaty, and the crust crunched with the realization of the corn. Cathy had a portobello patty melt that made me think of reubens, Nora tore up a perfect burger, and Thomas had a grown-up's chicken fingers, with rough, crunchy, spiced crust and fleshy chicken underneath. A great way to end the year at our favorite new bar.

But that's not why I posted, and certainly not why this is my first post of 2009. It was a brief conversation I had with owner Brendan Hartranft. We talked about Local 44 opening today, and that led to the 'business model' (work hard, pay it off, keep the string going), which led to talk of the possible next Brendan/Leigh operation: a cask ale pub. "Six beer engines," said Brendan, just spinning an idea (he spun others as well), "and a small place, maybe 30 seats, with a simple lunch menu, maybe five or six pasties, a couple salads. I think that could work."

Six beer engines? Great idea, makes me drool, but can you get enough real, true cask-conditioned ale to fill them? Without going into too much (secret?) detail, the answer is yes, he thinks he can, and with great session-strength stuff. Which led to this statement by Brendan: "I think this is going to be the year for session beer. We've all got a Belgian hangover, and people want to drink beer. And the beer that gets it right first is going to capture a lot of the market."

He's not the first to say this, but saying it that definitely, in Philly, is a landmark. We've got some beers that are ready (Brawler, the dry stouts from Victory and Sly Fox, EB+B's low alcohol series, General Lafayette's Mirage), we've got some bars and brewpubs that are ready. The big question is: are you ready?

I think we are. This could be the year we stop hitting ourselves over the head with beer...and start embracing and enjoying it instead. Less problems with DUI, less problems with outrage over high prices, and most likely, more local beer. All that, and the possibility of developing a true beer culture and getting more people back to bars to enjoy themselves in moderation.

Ask for session beer. It's our year.

Iron Hill Black & Tan cask lineup for Nov. 15

Here's the run-down on what's going to be at that Iron Hill cask Black & Tan event I told you about last week. It all goes down at noon at Iron Hill Newark. Mix it up!

IRON HILL CASKS
Iron Hill West Chester – Baltic Porter (7% ABV)
Iron Hill Wilmington – Bourbon Double Brown Ale (8.5%)
Iron Hill Lancaster – Belgian Pale Ale (5.0%)
Iron Hill North Wales – ESB (4.5%)
Iron Hill Phoenixville – Sticke Altbier (7.2%)

Guest Casks
Flying Fish – Extra Pale Ale (4.8% ABV)
Sly Fox – Oatmeal Stout (5.2%)
Stewart’s – Coffee Stout (5.9%)
General Lafayette Inn – Red Velvet, a blend of Chocolate Thunder Porter (6.7%) and Sunset Red Ale (5.9%)
Victory – Storm King Stout (9.1%)
Nodding Head – BPA Bill Payer Ale (6.5%)
Earth Bread + Brewery – The Bradley Effect (dark gruit ale; 4.2% ABV)
Yards – IPA (7.0%)
Triumph Philadelphia – Bengal Gold IPA (6.5%)

Iron Hill cask event: I'm getting me some of that!

Got a release on the next Iron Hill Brewers' Reserve event: a 'roll your own' Black and Tan* cask ale event at their Newark brewpub on November 15, starting at noon. Iron Hill brewers will supply "cask conditioned dark and pale ales", as will brewers from Stewart’s, Nodding Head, Yards, General Lafayette Inn, Sly Fox, Triumph, and Earth Bread + Brewery (I assume I don't have to tell you that these are some of our best cask brewers in the area, right?). Customers will, says the release, "be encouraged to create their own “Black and Tan” combinations." Beers will be sold by the pint till it all runs out. I missed the SPBW Real Ale event a few weeks ago, I'll be damned if I'm gonna miss this one! See you there.

*Before the inevitable "Black and Tan is offensive to the Irish!" comments come rolling in (and I won't allow them to post, so don't waste your time and mine)... The Royal Irish Constabulary Reserve Force, the British paramilitary group that quickly gained a reputation for brutality in the early 1920s in Ireland, became known as the "Black & Tans" because of their uniform colors, true enough. But "black and tan" as the name for a mix of a dark and lighter beer actually pre-dates that, going back into the 1800s. So stop being all Irish-American (like me and my wife are) and in my face with it, and relax, and enjoy this delicious mixture for what it is: beer.

Fall is here, and lots of events

It's officially fall beer season, now that Fall's officially begun and the Munich Oktoberfest is under way. So here's some of the stuff going on around the greater Philadelphia area.

This weekend, as I mentioned here, is the Philly Oktoberfest. I also have two book signings with Mark Haynie for New Jersey Breweries: the first, the fun, the big one at the Flying Fish Brewery in Cherry Hill, Friday night 5-7. Talked to Casey Hughes last night, and he's talking about breaking out some Puckerfish and maybe some other fun stuff. The other signing is at the Borders in Marlton, NJ, Saturday afternoon, 1-3. Can't promise you beer, but we'll tell you all kinds of stories about what we went through to get the book done. And as Uncle Jack mentions, this weekend is also the Victory Fallfest on Saturday and the venerable Sippin' By The River on Sunday (a worthy benefit for IBD and Crohn's Disease research).

Now, the following weekend is a big one. The Lion hosts their 4th annual Oktoberfest, and the event and the beer just keep getting better (Friday and Saturday, Oct 3-4). The 4th is the justly famed Kennett Square Brewfest, and if I weren't speaking at the World Beer Festival in Durham, I guarantee you I'd be in Kennett. And the Grey Lodge has 10-4 Good Buddy, a celebration of small plates and small beers, which should be fun too.

The next weekend, well, there's some stuff going on, but I'll be in San Francisco for WhiskyFest, and most of the brewers will be in Denver for GABF, so you're on your own. You might want to check out the River Horse Oktoberfest in Lambertville -- they've been doing some excellent beers lately; Double White, anyone? -- which is no admission, pay as you go, with live music, both days 12-5.

But the following weekend is big. There's the Stoudt's Micro Fest on Saturday (two sessions), the Newtown Brewfest on Saturday (long sold out; I couldn't even get a ticket), World Cafe Live will have another one of their neat little indoor beerfests with thirty German brewers (including folks like Weltenburger, Schneider, Flensburger, and and Weihenstephaner, along with the usual suspects), and a little farther off, the 5th Annual Chesapeake Bay Real Ale Festival in Baltimore, at the Wharf Rat (27 firkins!). Then Sunday, October 19, join me at the Garden State Craft Brewers Guild Oktoberfest in Newark! From 1-5, you can get all the best from NJ's award-winning brewers and get your copy of New Jersey Breweries signed; what more could you ask?

Well, maybe one more thing. I got a nice little e-mail from Chick's Cafe, where, yes, Katie Loeb is still PhillyMag's most innovative cocktail creator of the year. They have received their license for sidewalk drinking, so enjoy the mellow evenings of autumn. Might have to do a little of that myself.

Where I'll Be This Week

It's a busy week coming up for me. After writing about 8,000 words worth of stories this week (plus some blog posts), it's all about events.

I'm doing an interview for a video documentary on River Horse this Thursday, the 24th, and then, in a nice bit of synchronicity, I'll be hosting another Firkin Night at the Hulmeville Inn with a cask of River Horse Special Ale, dry-hopped in the cask with a big wad of Cascades. Hey, get your American Pale Ale groove on, baby! They'll also have Hop Hazard and Imperial Cherry Amber and I'm hoping the Double White holds out. That's 6-9 (or until the firkin kicks; last month's only took 110 minutes!)

Friday I'm doing a private tasting for a birthday party; I am available for private and business entertainment, doing beer or whiskey tastings, education, or dinners (contact me if you're interested).

Then Saturday I'm judging at the big Battle of the Brewery Bands at Stoudt's. Here's the skinny on this amazing, amusing event:

THE BATTLE OF THE BREWERY BANDS

Local brew bands get to show off their other talents in a musical fight for the “Golden Keg” and the benefit of their choice. All proceeds will be donated to the winners' favorite charities. The winning band will have 50% of the proceeds donated to the charity. Second place winning band will receive 20% for charity, and the additional 30% will be divided up among the rest of the bands to donate. Everyone is a winner for charity. The event is from 6-10 pm, ticket price is $20 which includes beer, food, music and a good old ass-kickin' time. Participating breweries will bring a keg of their choice. Only 600 tickets available, call now for tickets 717-484-4386-X204.

Judges for the event will be: Tom Peters - owner of the great Monk's Cafe in Philly. Lew Bryson - me. Kevin Trayner - Ale Street News beer writer. Francine Scoboris - Berks County Living editor.

Brewery Bands participating --chosen charity
Tröeg's "Starsan" - Capital Area Greenbelt Association
Victory's "Brewers Blues" - A Hospital in Philadelphia
Legacy's "Brews Brothers" - Humane Society
Union Barrel Work's "Sunset Limited" - American Cancer Society
PA. HomeBrew Club's "The Yeastie Boys" - Hospice
Stoudt's "Bad Strudel" - Relay for Life

It ought to be fun, and it's sure as hell gonna be loud. Come on up to Adamstown and join us!

Finally, Sunday marks the first official launch event for New Jersey Breweries at the Grey Lodge Pub at 11 AM. Get all the details here or here, which is probably gonna be more up to the minute!

The Session #17 -- Declaring my Independence

It's The Session, beer blogging on a common topic, and this month it's "drinking anti-seasonally." See all the links soon here.

Rob DeNunzio ("Pfiff!") declared that this month's Session would be about "Drinking anti-seasonally." Rob has a bit more than the usual beer geek's animus towards light lager, and I think he wanted us all to drink heavy in the heat.

Screw that. I chose to interpret this differently, aided by the calendar and Thomas Jefferson. Today is Independence Day in America, The Glorious Fourth of July, and I chose to celebrate for The Session by going to a brewpub owned by Englishmen and drinking English-type real ales brewed on an English-made system with English yeast. That's anti-seasonal, in my book.

My wife's brothers are here for the long holiday weekend. This morning, Carl and I loaded up our bikes and headed to Stockton, NJ, up along the Delaware River. We rode the Delaware & Raritan State Park trail 12 miles to Frenchtown, then 4 miles up a decidedly more dodgy single-track to Milford. We racked and locked the bikes, changed into fresh t-shirts, and parked our butts at the bar of the Ship Inn. We each got 20 oz. pints of cask Best Bitter, and got thoroughly stuck into them.

The Ship Inn is a Ringwood yeast brewery, a yeast that raises the hackles of many a geek. To use Mr. DeNunzio's title: pfiff. Beer is as beer does, my momma always said (no, she didn't, but what the hell, Tom Hanks never played ping pong with the Chinese, either), and this is good beer. So good we had another, and then got a 5 liter polypin to take home.

I'm a solid American, a patriot, and I'll be picking up my craft beer (Sierra Nevada Summerfest and Flying Fish Farmhouse) later today. But those pints of English ale, hard-won by a long ride and standing determinedly session-strength against a craft onslaught of "Bigger! Bitter! Stuffed with more flavor than you can taste!", were a counter-move that made my day. Glad we smoothed things over with the Limeys.

Join Me For A Firkin of Farmhouse!

There's a nice old place not far from me, the Hulmeville Inn, that has been steadily improving their beer selection. I mean, a lot. Like, right now, they've got Southampton Secret, Weyerbacher Double Simcoe, Bell's Oberon, River Horse Double White (which I really shoulda told you about after trying it at the Iron Hill Media festival; the hit beer of the fest for me), and some other cool stuff coming up.

One of the cool things is a firkin of specially-hopped Flying Fish Farmhouse Summer Ale that they're going to be tapping this Thursday, June 26th, at 7 PM. I'm going to be there hosting it, and we can talk Flying Fish, New Jersey beer, Philly beer, cask beer, whatever you want to yak about. I'll be there from 7 to 9, and I'll bet we can kick that firkin before the time's up.

Come on out and join us for this kickoff of Hulmeville Inn's summer cask program!

Ithaca Beer, welcome to Philly!

I've been drinking Ithaca Beer Company beers since before I started the research for New York Breweries, back in 2001. They started off with some fairly standard offerings, including the Apricot Wheat that's their best-seller (approximately 45% of total sales), but they've turned it up; Flower Power IPA is a blossoming beauty of hop flavor and aroma (and way too drinkable at 8% ABV), and their Excelsior series is awesome: White Gold, a slightly funky ("Ithaca wild yeast," executive brewer Jeff O'Neil told me, from a small pilot batch that was being carefully blended in) big spiced wheat ale; Caffeinator, a coffee doppelbock; and TEN, a massively whomped-up version of their Cascazilla red ale that took first place at the TAPNY festival tasting this year, propelling Ithaca into the New York State championship, winning the F.X. Matt Memorial Cup.

So it's not surprising that after a successful foray into the hot beer market of Pittsburgh, Ithaca decided to test the waters in Philly. They launched Tuesday night at McGillin's Olde Ale House, and I drove down to Standard Tap, unloaded my bike (free parking in NoLibs, baby), and rode down to have a taste. I was sweating in the 97° heat, but you know, there were a lot more bikes on the streets than the last time I did this. Interesting.

Anyway, it was cool in McGillin's, and though I was early, Jeff was good enough to hammer home the tap in a pin of Flower Power. It was a beautiful pour, a healthy billowing flower of foam over a cool apricot-hued beer. The aroma was mighty and wonderful, hop-twisted and estery, and deep under it was a beer that was West Coast-hoppy but East Coast-balanced. "I'm not so much on bitter," said O'Neil, "but I love hop flavor. Sorry it's not as "session" as you'd like, though." I managed to choke it down, quite quickly, and ask for a half-glass more.

I asked owner Dan Mitchell, why Philly? "We've done very well in Pittsburgh," he said. "We started talking to people (wholesalers) in Philly about two months ago...the guys at Penn (Distributers) seemed to get our beer the best." That's who they went with, and Penn was out in force at this launch. Dan was particularly impressed by the way Philly folks already were aware of Ithaca's beers, thanks largely to beer-trading efforts engendered by beer websites.

The market's ready to show some love to Ithaca's bigger beers, it appears, and we'll be getting regular -- small, but regular -- shipments of cask ale as well, starting with another pin of Flower Power and an Oak-aged Nut Brown (that Jeff says is spectacular) that will be at Friday the Firkinteenth tomorrow (only one in 2008, weather's looking good, whoo-hoo!!!).

I think that Ithaca may actually find a solid market for the Apricot here as well. Philly is well-known as a hot-spot for Belgian-type beers, and a love for lagers, but we don't have a regular fruit beer...and I don't think it's because there's not a market for it. I just think no one's offered it year-round. Apricot may go big here, in which case I suspect you'll see some local brewers bending to the buck and sniffing around the fruit. Could happen.

Anyway, I thanked Dan and Jeff for coming down and for the invite to the launch, strapped on my Camelbak (with two Excelsior bottles stuffed in there, Old Habit Rye and TEN, thanks again, guys!) and helmet, saddled up and headed north, eyeing the ominous clouds. They weren't quite ominous enough to stop me from nipping into Standard Tap for a quick cold pint of Kenzinger (and it was quick, I'm telling you, after that hot ride; it barely touched the sides on the way down) before strapping the bike to the back of the Passat and heading home. I beat the rain by about ten minutes.

Would you like a CD with that?

In case you missed hearing about it... One Guy Brewing (date-sensitive link) in Berwick is giving away CDs this Saturday. Really, giving them away, and they're real music. Between brewing jobs, Guy bought and sold CDs in a big way at eBay and flea markets (ask him about the Amish girl at the stand next to his...), and he's got a bunch of them left. Last time I was up I skimmed them and got a Patty Benatar compilation for my daughter, Fallout Boy for my son, and The Radiators "Law of the Fish" for me. Free. Like you can, this Saturday. He might have some of the Chinese flower petal art left, too: ask him.

Oh, and he's supposed to have more cask ale (dry-hopped with EKG this time), pilsner, Berwick Lager, and stout. All that, pizza from King's, and free CDs? Get your asses to Berwick!

Beer-In-A-Box

I'm still working on New Jersey Breweries; got one of the very last interviews today at River Horse Brewing in Lambertville (where new owners with new money are starting to rev up this brewery; could be some interesting stuff coming in the near future). But last week I ran up the Delaware River to Milford and talked with Tim Hall, brewer at the Ship Inn.

The Ship's always been a favorite for their cask Ringwood ales, and I've got a lot of fun stuff to share on it -- in the book. But at the end of the interview we did a quick run of the beers, including an ESB Tim had in the tanks, which was excellent: lively, fruity, just beer near the peak of condition. He said that if I liked it so much I should take some home. I think he really wanted to show off their new package: beer-in-a-box.

This is much like the wineboxes: a plastic bag full of beer inside a cardboard box. The boxes come in two sizes: 1.25 and 2.5 gallons. In this case, Tim tapped the still-fermenting beer right out of the tank into the bag for me. He filled it, capped it, and tucked in the little spigot to replace the cap when I was ready to drink. "Just keep it cool, and keep an eye on it," he said. "If it gets too full of gas, let a little off."

I had to do that once, but otherwise, just let it sit until today, when I tapped it before dinner. Man, does this ever work great! For a night, I've got about a gallon of great real ale in my house! It's fresh, lively, fruity, and has a deliciously bitter finish. Best of all, it's got that fine, light carbonation I highly prize in cask ale.

I don't know of any other place that's doing this, but if you get to the Ship, do it. Get the cask in the box, take it home and enjoy it. It's not cheap, but remember: it's more than twice your regular growler fill, and most brewpubs won't even fill a growler of cask ale. This rocks.

Which is why I had to blog about it, even when I'm this busy. Back to work!