With all the crappy rainy weather we’ve been having in the northeast lately, I couldn’t resist posting just one more west coast photo. I submit for your approval tap handles 31-40 from the Real Ale Festival, and a little sunshine.
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I’ve just heard from Chris & Mark and as we speak they are brewing a Pale Ale / IPA style beer. Stay tuned for more details to follow but I personally can’t wait.
Just a few highlights from the June 2009 Old Forge Brewing Newsletter:
Thanks to Chuck for this update on some of the new beers arriving at Stokertown Beverage. This is of course in addition to the great regular selection of beers available @ Stockertown.
Pretty Things: Jack D'Or, The Confounded Mr. Sysiphus
Founders: Centennial IPA, Reds Rye IPA, Double Trouble Double-IPA Porter, Devil Dancer
Bear Republic: Racer 5, Hop Rod Rye, Red Rocket
Summit: Horizon Red, Extra Pale Ale, IPA, Great Northern Porter
High & Mighty: Beer of the Gods
Erie: De-Railed Cherry Cream Ale
River Horse: Summer Blonde, Double Wit, Tripel Horse, Variety Case
Shelton Brothers Imports: Mikkeller Nugget IPA, Mikkeller Czech Pilsner, Geants Goliath Tripel, Dieu du Ciel Rosee d' Hibiscus, Dieu du Ciel Peche Mortel, De Ranke XX Bitter, De Ranke Noir de Dottignies
Sorry for the bad cell-phone photo, but I assure you this WAS a bottle of Alesmith Speedway Stout....very tasty little sweet stout.
Just thought you'd want a peek at a few of the beers we bought on the west coast....by the way the Stone was $5.69 for a 22oz bottle.
I've heard from Joe @ Krugel's Georgetown Deli & Beer...Joe sent in this photo and note...
A simple picture can speak a thousand words, or in this case a thousand beers. Any beer lover that can look at this picture and not drool is a better man than me.
Cheers to the Port Brewing Real Ale Festival 2009!
I don't plan to build a movie, but I thought you'd like to see a quick video peek at the line-up of real-ale handles. It's so amazing to see 60+ hand-pumps in one place, especially if you get to taste them all.
Here's a great little article on John the owner and chef @ Elmer Sudds.
http://www.timesleader.com/features/Meet_the_chef_06-24-2009.html
Photo courtesy of the Times Leader.
Here's a shot of the entrance to the festival, looking back to the Pizza Port restaurant. One of the cool things about the festival is that you can order up some amazing Pizza Port pizza, and carry it in to the festival.
Here's a little tidbit from P'Burgh-Live on on Straub Brewery's new packaging:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_630593.html
From Dan:
Weyerbacher Update
June 24, 2009
Fourteen Release this Saturday! Stop by our Visitors Center, this Saturday to sample or purchase our 14th Anniversary Ale! Fourteen is wheat wine, 11.8% abv, amber in color, and silky smooth. Although any beer this strength can be cellared for a time, this beer is great right now. Stop in and check it out between Noon and 3p.m.
Unfiltered Double Simcoe is garnering impressive reviews on the net and generating tremendous consumer feedback for the brewery. We’re thrilled with the response and will be making more for mid-July release.
Riserva is Aging, now in bottles, we’re waiting for the conditioning process to complete. Best guess for release right now is mid-July or August. We’ll have a special Friday night release at the brewery when this baby’s ready.
Foxtrot has been selling well and has an A- average on Beer Advocate. There are only about 20 cs left, so be sure to stop by Saturday and pick up some before its gone.Visitor Center will be closed July 4th.
It's official.....Bavarian Barbarian bottles will be available starting July 2nd (that's next Thu for those without a calendar available). Stay tuned for distribution details.
From Mike:
On July 2nd, the Babarian will release 3 of their beers in 22oz bottles, just in time for the 4th of July! Cases of 12 will be available at the brewery.
AT BREWERY:
Case of Hammerin' Ale - $32.50
Case of Headbangerz' Brown Ale - $32.50
Case of Weldspatter IPA - $35.00
Mixed Case (4 of each) - $35.00
Today's show featured an interview with local Scranton boy Beau Baden, or as the beer world knows him, Brewmaster at Allentown and Bethlehem Brew Works. Well equipped with three growlers, the guys tasted their seasonal Wheat, their HopSolutely Triple IPA and Beau's famous aged Cranberry Lambic...a triple slam breakfast that would give Denny's a run for their money. I've heard lots of good things about the Brewworks triple IPA and the Cranberry lambic, so much so that I think I'll be taking the ride down soon to visit Beau and try some myself. For those of you unwilling to make the arduous 1-hour ride, Beau brought some good news today. Brewworks will be bottling their beers soon for distribution in Northeastern PA (that's us), and the first beer to be bottled will be the triple IPA. I'll be following this story so stay tuned here for details. This is also a show worth replaying on the Rock107 podcast page to tune into some of Beau's brewing knowledge. Beau imparted some great details about how they will be bottle fermenting the triple IPA and also how he ferments and ages the Cranberry Lambic. For anyone into home brewing, there are some interesting details to be found here. Cheers to Beau and the guys...I look forward to trying some of the Brewworks beers on tap and in bottles.
One of the great things about the Real Ale Festival is that it's held at the Port Brewing actual brewery in Carlsbad. Here's a little peek in the cooler, and by cooler I mean a cooler the size of a garage. Notice the Rodenbach & SN kegs and the Hop Union boxes of hop pellets. I saw more but I've been sworn to secrecy!
I've heard from the guys at Lion Brewery and I'm happy to report some very good news. First, this years production of Midsummer White has been released, and the brewery is already down to their last 500 cases and a limited number of kegs remaining. Work is also underway to brew their 2009 Oktoberfest. The guys tell me that the tanks are currently full of other customer's oktoberfest beers, and the Stegmaier Oktoberfest is scheduled to hit the tanks late in the week of July 6th with a projected bottling date in mid-Aug. I'm also happy to hear that about 120 cases of Stegmaier Holiday Warmer from the Nov 2008 production run has been set aside and will be available in limited quantity. As many of you may remember, the guys also did some oak-aged Holiday Warmer that aged really nicely--so stay tuned for any details on availability of 2009 warmer.
This little photo shows some of the Port Brewing guys and the Carlsbad Port Brewing facility. A sharp eye may back out a particular brewmaster of note....and of course some bourbon barrels & stainless tanks.
Here's the south end of the tap handles, or what Mrs' Beerbuzz was calling my "happy place." I spent quite a bit of time at this end of the bar, both chatting it up with the staff, and enjoying the great line-up of beers at the end of the list. If you look close you can see the duck-tape labels.
From Stone:
Here's a little peek at the first 20 hand pumps. Yes the first 20 of 60! You can correlate the beer menu with the handle number if you'd like, or just stare like a deer in the headlights like I am.
Here's a little sneak peak at Bavarian Barbarian bottles...coming soon. Stay tuned.
Just in case you're still standing after the last few days of PBRAF menu highlights, this page will certainly floor you. Of course my first beer of the day was a 12% 2009 Brandy Barrel Angel's Share...and wow what a great barleywine this years Angel's Share is. Other highlights on this page are my beloved Sierra Nevada Torpedo (incredible on hand pump) and Sierra Nevada The Empire Strikes Black Imperial Stout.....super tasty. Also the Levitation and Three Floyds beverages were fantastic on hand-pump. My special Thanks to Tomme Arthur for saying hello, for organizing the event and for the wonderful list of one-of-a-kind Port Brewing & Lost Abbey beers that we poured.
Here's a little peek at the PBRAF menu, actually just the front of the menu. In the end there were 60 different beers to chose from, and a few surprises also. There are LOTS of highlights on this page that I'm sure you'll scour, but be sure to peek at numbers 3, 4, 5, 17, 18, 19, 25 and especially 13. The Mead Lange was amazing and at 15%, boy did it kick my butt! I guess it didn't help that they poured me a 6oz glass....by mistake of course. There are a lot of hidden gems in here that are simply amazing beers mixed in with really-amazing beers.
Of course I always feel like a beer-VIP ;) but in this case we really were. We decided to hit the VIP session of the PBRAF and were pleasantly surprised. Not only do you get first crack at the beers, but you also get to hang with a much smaller crowd, so getting and enjoying your beers is much easier. You're looking at the VIP wrist band, a beer ticket & the VIP supplemental beer menu. I can tell you we managed to try them all and there were many great beers in here. Personally I liked the Pure Hoppiness, the Grand Mantis, the Paradox, the Bog Eye w/Ginger and the Sublemely Self Righteous Ale...OK wait, now that I re-read down the list I really liked them all.
Here are a few shots from the Wegman's Beer & Food pairing event. Thanks to Keith for providing these shots.
As much as I'm tempted to wax poetically about "Hookers" and "Melons" while I tippy-toe off the politically correct gender-stereotype bandwagon, I shall not. After all, I'm jet-lagged after a week in Calif, and I'm running on little sleep, so let's keep it brief. Today's show featured Thomas Hooker Watermelon beer, and I'll admit it sounds tasty. Yes I love watermelon and I know to some it may seem a gross combination, but I'd like to try this one...so lets leave it at that.
Just a quick update from Leo about the beers they'll be pouring at Sam Sneads:
Tonight (6/19) @ Sam Snead's Tavern:Blanche Au Natural (that's Wit Beer w/hairy armpits)O.S.B. (Organic Special Bitter)Entire (Brown Porter)
Scratch #20-2009: Apollo Imperial Ale
I'm still getting organized, and since beer, traveling, and living out of a suitcase (especially one full of beer) don't go well together....we'll start slow. The 2009 Port Brewing Real Ale Festival (PBRAF) uses beer tickets to control the madness, so here's a peek at the back of a beer ticket. Now before you chide me for returning with a ticket that could have added one more beer to my belly, let me offer up the following: a) It is a great souvenir, b) there was no shortage of tickets with 6 family members, c) we tasted everything, d) I had plans for the following day, e) some of my readers were nice enough to give me tickets, and f) the guys pouring were nice enough to "forget" to take a ticket every time. In any case here's a peek at the back of the ticket.
We're starting our return trip for the festival. Stay tuned for some really cool photos, tap lists and a few other bottle tidbits from the west coast. I'll details more later but I just wanted to say hello and thank you to the many west coast (and even east coast) beer lovers I met at the festival. The beer culture is alive & well on both coasts so it was very cool to not only meet some great west coast friends, but to also see some guys from Harrisburg, PA in attendance. Cheers guys and stay tuned for some more photos to come.
As you read this post I am airborne and on my way to sunny San Diego for the Port Brewing Real Ale Festival. To be more accurate I'll be in Carlsbad CA in the Friday VIP session...so stay tuned. Here's a little peek at the hand-pump line up from last year to make you jealous. I'll bring back details, beer menus, pictures and a belly full of great real ales. Cheers!
PS Yes I'll be out of town on the left coast for a while so updates may be a little scarce...
I WILL be TWITTERING from the west coast, @ the Real Ale Festival LIVE, and at any other events/craft beer establishments we visit. Watch for Twitter updates here (right hand bar) or directly on my Twitter Feed.
I've heard from Chuck @ Stockertown Beverage and he was nice enough to pass on some of the new beers Stokertown will be carrying. I'm hoping to add Stockertown full-time to mybeerbuzz so we can get updates on a more regular basis. Here are some of the new beers Stockertown will be carrying:
Erie : De-Railed Cherry Cream Ale
River Horse: Variety Case, Summer Blonde, Tripel Horse Belgian Tripel, Double Wit Ale
Rock Art: Belvidere Big IPA, Jasmine Pale Ale
Boaks: Two Blind Monks Belgian Dubbel, Monster Mash RIS, coming soon..Lemongrass Wheat
Founders; Cerise Cherry Ale, Curmudgeon Old Ale...ltd quantites of Double Trouble Double IPA, Imperial Stout, Centennial IPA, Reds Rye IPA, and an awsome Porter
Bear Republic: Racer 5 IPA, Red Rocket, Hop Rod Rye XP Pale Ale plus special draft items: El Oso, Nor-Cal, Late Harvest Lager, Jack London ESB..etc
Cricket Hill: Jersey Summer Breakfast Ale
Breckenridge : Agave Wheat, Summer Bright
Jolly Pumpkin: Oro d'Calabazza, La Roja, Calabazza Blanca, Bambier, ES Bam, Luciernaga
Summit: Horizon Red Ale (very hoppy!), Summer Variety Case
Duck Rabbit: Milk Stout, Porter, Amber Ale, Brown Ale, Barleywine, Rabid Duck Russian Imp. Stout, Variety Case
Southampton: Belgian Triple
Pretty Things: Jack d'Or...coming soon..The Confounded Mr. Sysiphus, Baby Tree
Thomas Hooker: More Than a Mouthful Watermelon Ale
Roy Pitz: (Draft Only) Best Blonde ale, Old Jail Ale, Lovitz Watermelon Lager
Imported Goodies: Dieu du Ciel Peche Mortel, Equinox Printemps, Rigor Mortis Abt, Mikkeller Nelson Sauvin IPA, Nogne-O Porter, Brown Imperial Stout, plus ltd quantites of Cantillon.
Thanks Chuck!
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