More Tasty Notes

Hey, it's a sunny Friday afternoon, I just mowed the lawn, and I'm having...a lawnmower beer! I got some samples of Kona Longboard Lager, in 12 oz. cans, and chilled one for after the grass was cut. Poured yellow and white in my willibecker glass, smelled lightly malty, and tasted just like that. Reminded more of a Munich helles than anything else, maybe a bit lighter in body, but with that nice malty dryness. Very easy to drink indeed.

More Housekeeping...Captcha probably returning

I gave it a shot, folks, but I'm getting comment spam on an hourly basis. I suppose I could just dump it all once a day, but it's clogging up my inbox. I'm probably going to put the Captcha back on, and complain to Google. This will result in my being ignored, and it will piss you off. Perhaps YOU could complain to Google about their Captcha?

Happy birthday, Devil's Den

I've been doing some events with Erin at Devil's Den (and at her other place, the Old Eagle Tavern), and generally having a good time...and you know what they say about time flying when you're having fun: Devil's Den is 4 years old already! I know this because I got an email from Erin about it...

Join us Sunday, April 1st, for our four year anniversary party. We will be hosting a complimentary buffet from 4 - 7pm. We will be tapping a selection of special, limited drafts along with some of our favorite beers. Look for a specially made oak-aged Stillwater Folklore on our hand pump, Malheur 10, Voodoo Love Child, Central Waters Peruvian Morning along side Spaten, Franziskaner and Ommegang drafts.  We hope to see you there. 

You'll have to drink my share; I'll be at the American Distillers Institute craft distilling conference in Louisville. Cheers!

Grab Bag o' Tasting Notes, Part 2

Moving right along...

Genesee sent me a box full of Dundee samples (not related to the Genesee beers in the previous post -- that was bought and paid for...by Sam, for me), and one was a new one: Dundee Irish Red Lager. Reminds me of the Killian's, but with a sharper edge up front, and a sweeter, smoother finish. Again, this is a good non-hoppy beer, and there are people out there who like craft beer that isn't hopped to the nines. I'm betting this would be good with aged, firm cheeses, or beef stews. It's pretty good on its own.

Sigh...I was going to taste two new "white IPAs" from Saranac and Deschutes...but I've run out of time. Leaving for Chicago for WhiskyFest tomorrow, and I suspect I may have some fun stuff to write about. Talk to you later.

Grab Bag o' Tasting Notes

Had some good and not-so-good beers lately, and thought I'd put them all up together.

First, not-so-good: Samuel Adams Third Voyage double IPA (8.0%). Wanted to like this, had an interesting story about Captain Cook's 3rd Voyage (to New Zealand and the PacNW, where they got the hops for this twin-hemi hopped beer)...but while it had a spicy, fruity, piney nose, the beer itself was heavy, almost logy, and thick in the mouth. I know double IPAs are big, but the really good ones are much lighter on their feet than this.

Then, Samuel Adams turns around and delivers on the Belgian Session ale, at 4.3% (some details here), and it was wonderful. Skillful brewing got a lot of flavor out of the yeast, spices, and fruit peels in the beer, and that's what session beer brewing is all about. This one is a cross between a Belgian pale and a witbier, and it works quite well: the spicy notes mingled with light and creamy orange, and the whole thing finishes crisp and dry. This isn't me liking session beer, this is me liking a good beer.

I picked up two beers from Blatant Brewery in Massachusetts two weeks ago, and reviewed the Blatant Session here. I liked it, but I liked the Blatant IPA (6.5%) even more. The hops are firmly up-front, with an insistent pine-and-pith aroma and a captivating (and appetizing) bitterness on the tongue, and the whole of the beer trips lightly on the tongue, an agile dancer of an IPA that twirls and stamps. Delicious, and I wish I'd bought more.

I mentioned the newly reformulated Killian's Irish Red in my St. Patrick's Day post (you know, the one and only one), and it deserves further mention.I remember the way Coors originally did Killian's, back in the 1980s: a surprisingly estery ale, quite tasty, a beer I used to buy by the keg. Then they changed it...and it was bland, but still red, and propped up by plastic paddy marketing. This new beer is still a lager, I think, but the new Killian's is much more malty than the debased reddish-amber flab-bag it had become. It's slippery-smooth, with some juicy Vienna-like malt in the middle, and a good malt finish. Again, surprising. Definitely one I'd buy if I were out in a bar.

I also got a variety 12-pack of Genesee beers from my good friend Sam Komlenic for my birthday last month, and I cracked out two of them, too. 12 Horse Ale was an old fave, but...wow, not so much. Blunt, even coarse, to the point where I was thinking to myself, man, I hope this has changed, because I'd hate to think I once liked a beer like this. But the old reliable, Genesee Cream Ale, was a fun beer to drink! I wasn't expecting much after the 12 Horse wagon crash, but Genny Cream was sweet and light, showing the cream ale style that won multiple GABF gold medals (Genny Cream has more gold medals than almost any other beer; seven, I think). I'd happily order this again on a hot day in a shady bar.

Got some more, but I have to go sing. Maybe later.

Are you ready for some Goat Races?

Put it on your calendar (unless you already have it there, you smart beer-lover): the Sly Fox Goat Races are on May 6th, 11 AM to 6 PM. Details are here. And a smart pragmatic note from Sly Fox this year that it would behoove you to consider: if you want this to remain the carefree no-cover pay as you go fun afternoon it's always been...please buy beer only from the Sly Fox stands (and if you can, stick around P-ville and get dinner at one of the neighboring restaurants). It keeps everyone happy, and $5 a beer ain't that bad at all. Bring cash; it's all cash, which keeps the lines moving (bring fivers and singles; don't forget to tip!).

And bring your family! This is one of the best family-oriented beer events around, and your young children will be excited to see real goats right up close (and probably laugh out loud at the inevitable caprine antics that ensue). The crowd is very mellow, and stupid behavior is not only rare, it's usually taken care of by the other attendees; as it should be.

I'll have to miss it this year; I'll be in Iceland...more about that later. Please drink my share of [Winning Goat's Name Here] Maibock, and have my share of fun!

Session Beer Day, April 7!

I don't often double-post from one of my other blogs, but this is one of those times; since the Session Beer Project actually started here, it seems proper. 


I suggested to the members of the small (but rapidly growing) Session Beer Project page on Facebook that we should make April 5th (4.5) or April 7th (Little Repeal Day, when 4.0% ABV beer became legal before repeal of the 18th Amendment) our day, Session Beer Day. We could ask for session beers at our favorite bars, and brewpubs, and suchlike, invite people to try them, gin up plenty of social media whoopee, and all dat.

We decided on April 7: there are a lot of photographs of a LOT of Americans happily drinking 4.0% beer we can use, it's a day the beer industry is already aware of, and...it's a Saturday this year (the day before Easter, which is actually kind of weird for me; I have a tradition of drinking big beers that afternoon), which doesn't hurt when you're planning a beer event!

What to do? If you work at a bar (or manage one, or own one), please consider throwing some under-4.5% beers on for April 7th, and making a special price or promotion for them. Tell folks it's Session Beer Day, and encourage them to see how good lower alcohol beers can be. (Good day to get a "We Support" window sticker, too!) If you're a brewer or wholesaler, encourage your accounts to pick up your under-4.5% beers for that day; it's a great chance to promote those beers! If you're a beer blogger/tweeter/writer, please consider spreading the word about Session Beer Day: use the hashtag #sessionday . And if you're a session beer drinker...get out there and ask for it!

We've got some interest...but this is totally grassroots. This isn't a sponsored event, it's not organized (if you know me, you know that), and it's simply about going out and drinking session beer -- 4.5% or lower, good-tasting, great beer -- and enjoying it. 

Victory Expanding...in Chester County!

Just got this from Karen at Victory: the Downingtown brewery will reach capacity in 2012 (which I'm guessing means that they are not able to get more space at the current location), so they're going to be building a new additional brewery not far away in Parkesburg, PA. The water will come from the west branch of the Brandywine (see the whole water explanation below), so they can still make Headwaters there.

Congratulations to our booming local!

Victory Brewing Announces Expansion Plans

Second brewing facility will create more beer and more jobs.

DOWNINGTOWN, PA – Victory Brewing Company is opening a second brewery in Chester County, Pa., which will allow the company to continue to create new, innovative beers and additional employment opportunities.

In 2012, Victory’s current brewery in Downingtown, Pa. will reach capacity. In order to keep up with consumers’ demand for full-flavored, high quality beer, Victory is forging ahead with expansion plans.

“Our thirsty fans have been asking us for more,” said Bill Covaleski, President and Co-Brewmaster of Victory Brewing Company. “In order to give them what they want, we need more space to make it happen.”

The new brewery location was chosen because of its similarities to Victory’s home in Downingtown. Just as the home brewery recycled an old Pepperidge Farm factory, the expansion brewery is being built within an existing complex in Parkesburg, Pa. The Downingtown location is situated a mere 14 miles from the headwaters of the east branch of the Brandywine Creek and the Parkesburg brewery will be just 17 miles from the headwaters of the west branch.

Environmental impact and water quality were major considerations for this expansion. Nearly eight months of water-quality research found that the mineral composition of the west branch water is nearly identical to the east branch.

In keeping with Victory’s “locally brewed, locally loved” motto, the choice to expand was not made lightly. The Parkesburg location will allow Victory to produce even more locally brewed and locally loved beer.

“Growing into a new facility will have some growing pains,” said Ron Barchet, CEO and Co-Brewmaster of Victory Brewing Company. “But once we are up and running, it will allow us endless opportunities to experiment with new flavors and re-create old favorites.”

Fleur de Lehigh

If you remember, I got a sample bottle of the new batch of Fleur de Lehigh back on my Pliny Day. Well...I took a ride today, and decided after I got back that a nice springy day like this was perfect to taste-test it.

To quote PBC rep Tony Madjor (from last year), "Fleur is an unfiltered Golden Ale brewed with ginger, lemongrass, rhubarb root, cardamom seed, and rose hips. Alcohol is 4.75%...amber color."

Fleur is indeed amber, and it is unfiltered: it's a uniformly hazy amber. But it is not uniform in taste, it's like no other beer I know, almost gruit-like in its spicy, herbal, vegetative intensity. It's like running through a hot meadow full of the blooming variety of summer, kicking up the warmed aromas released as you flash through the fields. It is perhaps my very favorite spiced beer, moreso than all the spiced winter beers and witbiers. Fleur is a beauty, an unabashed blast of flavors that meld into a beautifully intense experience. I intend to grab all of it I can get.

My one, my only, St. Patrick's Day post

I have been inundated with St. Patrick's Day-related press releases. I believe it has become a bigger drinking holiday than New Year's Eve -- at least, from a non-wine writing perspective. All kinds of beer and spirits companies have presented their boozes to me as PERFECT FOR ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Well, bullshit. Let me give you some drinking advice for the original Green Day.

First off, feel free! If you want to go out and do the rounds tomorrow (or even start tonight), if you're going to be watching or marching in a parade, if you're going to have any kind of Irish dinner tomorrow (we're having champ and soda bread, and some good Irish cheese), if you plan to celebrate tomorrow for reasons sacred or profane...good on you. I don't hold with the hand-wringing about defamation of the Irish, or even the public drunkenness (as if the tailgating at any NFL game is any better), or the way a Catholic feast day venerating the memory of a true saint of the Church has become a whacked-out celebration (mostly for Americans). Big deal; it's what we do. Everyone around the world likes to have a party. If you're a puritan or a bluenose, stay home tomorrow and drink mineral water, and please, don't bother telling the rest of us that's what you're doing. We don't care.

Now, here's the drinking advice part. If you're going to celebrate with booze, do it smart. For instance, the beer we like to call dry Irish stout -- Guinness, O'Hara's, Beamish, Murphy's, O'Reilly's, Donnybrook, Dark Starr, Black Fly, whatever your local is -- often weighs in under 4.5% ABV (check your local faves on this; some are substantially more!), so it IS a session beer, regardless of what your idiot friends tell you about how much Guinness will EFF YOU UP!!! MAN!!!! It's a great beer for pacing yourself through a whole day of drinking, if that's what you're on to, and you can take in plenty of music and parade while doing it (just stay near the bogs, because you're talking a mighty volume of liquid).

Whether it's Irish or not, it's got more flavor than the usual alternative: green-dyed Miller Lite. Do you really want to drink crap like that? Look, if you don't like stout, Smithwick's is a pretty good amber (and still 4.5%), even the newly reformulated Coors-brewed Killian's is 4.9%, and it is, I'm happy to report, much tastier than it had become in its debased days.

If you'll be having whiskey -- and you should, you should -- Irish whiskey is the most friendly stuff you'll find, soft and sweet and very much approachable. You can hardly go wrong here, so it's almost foolish to steer you. The Holy Trinity -- Jameson, Bushmills, Tullamore -- is readily available, and with the general improvement in the quality of Irish over the past 20 years, you can't really go wrong.

(And one addition to this, after I originally posted it: I don't generally hold with the precious snob talk about how you must drink your whiskey neat...but in the case of Irish? Since most of it is 80 proof, it's great neat, and that's how most folks do drink it. If you want a hot whiskey, and the place you're in will do one, and it's cold and raw like it is today here in Philly, do it!)

But look...why not up your game a bit, or at least try something different? For instance, my Irish bar go-to is Guinness and a shot of Powers. Can't go wrong, and let me tell you: good whiskey. Or try Black Bush, the sherry-aged Bushmills. Or fergodssake, try something from the "other Irish distillery," Cooley: Kilbeggan, or The Tyrconnell (a fine and delicate single malt).

Walking up the category works, too. For a bit more cash (lads, lasses: take cash tomorrow, don't feck about with credit cards, you'll just hold up other folks who need to get a drink! And don't forget plenty of dollar bills for tips!), you can get Jameson 12 Year Old, Bushmills 10 or the 1608, or Tullamore 10. See what Irish can offer.

If you want one good whiskey to start the afternoon, before you're just tossing stuff past your gums -- and remember, if you do drink whiskey, please pace yourself, you can't drink it like beer! -- take a moment to savor a nip of Redbreast, or Bushmills 16, or some smoky Connemara, or maybe a Midleton Very Rare. More money, but blessed be Jesus, well worth it.

So. That's the primer. Don't get thrashed -- it's unseemly -- but don't be afraid to have fun, and smile, and laugh, and shake hands with strangers, and sing! Have fun. Be a bit safe. And walk, take transit, or get a sober driver. I'll see you Sunday.