May 2014 ~ Monthly Beer Reviews

Another month has come and gone….I do apologize to all two of my faithful readers who actually give a shit about what I have to say for getting this out so late.  In the month of April, 81 beers were reviewed….and by reviews, I mean actual reviews…not jerk off reviews where some asshole goes to a beer festival, has a half ounce of a beer and has it totally figured it out.  Unfortunately, this is also a side effect of too much travelling and not having anything really productive to do on the road.

Anyways…beers, beers, and more beers…..so out of the 81 reviewed last month, here were the tops for May:

Top 5 Beer Reviews for May (yeah, its only 6 this month):

• Cigar City Brewing Double Barrel Aged Hunahpu ~ American Double / Imperial Stout ~ 4.5 /5 Rating
• De Cam Lambiek Special ~Lambic – Fruit ~ 4.4 /5 Rating
• Westbrook Brewing Mexican Cake (Cabernet Barrel) ~ American Double / Imperial Stout ~ 4.3 /5 Rating
• De Garde Brewing Imperial Hop Bu ~ Berliner Weisse ~ 4.2 /5 Rating
• Cigar City Brewing Hopped on the High Seas (Citra) ~ American IPA ~ 4.2 /5 Rating
• Night Shift Brewing Funk’d Citra ~ American Wild Ale ~ 4.2 /5 Rating

 

The 5 Beer Reviews (okay, 7) that shows how everyone is trying to do a Berliner Weisse now (and poorly):

• Old First Ward Crikrat Kolsch ~ Kolsch ~ 3.1 /5 Rating
• Funk Brewing Crimson ~ Farmhouse / Saison Ale ~ 3.1 /5 Rating
• Local Option Bierwerker Blood ov the Kings ~ American Wheat Ale ~ 3.1 /5 Rating
• The Bruery Papier ~ Belgian Strong Ale ~  3.1 /5 Rating
• Strand Brewing Ito Weisse ~ Berliner Weisse  ~ 2.9 /5 Rating
• Ithaca Brewing Cruiser ~ Berliner Weisse ~ 2.8 /5 Rating
• And the beer that just proves not every beer is all that rare was Jester King Brewing Bonnie the Rare ~ Berliner Weisse ~ 2.7 /5 Rating

Damn You #craftbeer, Why Have You Forsaken Me!!! (2014 Edition)

It has gotten to that time of year again when the snow has FINALLY melted and the weather is nice enough to get outdoors and hit the pavement.  As anyone who lives in Western New York knows, this winter was especially crappy with the continuous cold, heavy snow fall and record low temperatures.  Unfortunately, the ‘spring’ time has not been much better because the temperatures have still bee very low and the weather has been very wet.  Typically, when Memorial Day Weekend rolls around, I am planting my garden and laying down the mulch…unfortunately, my backyard is still pretty wet and I haven’t even hit the garden with the tiller yet.

My running goals and motivation are the same as last year, get in better shape, drop more LBs and hopefully survive the Buffalo Zombie Mud run this year.  Last year when I started off, I weighed 262.0 pounds and ended up around 237 pounds towards the end of October.  This year, I am starting off with a sexy 247.2 pounds with a goal set to get down to 220 pounds by Halloween

Here is my plan of attack for this year…

30 minutes (exact) to knock out the longest distance.  I ended up doing this by mid-June last year and it turned out to be very motivating as opposed to just running a single mile for time

My longest run last year was 3.18 miles in the 30 minute time allotment…my goal this year is break the 3.30 mile mark in 30 minutes, which is roughly a 9 minute mile average.

 

Here goes nothing…

Day One – 2.58 miles in 30 minutes….. Thankfully my back was bothering me going into the run because then it can continue to bother me the day afterwards too, while my body adjusts to doing actual exercise.  I remember being stuck at 2.84 miles about 45 days into my running last year, so this is actually a slow but encouraging start

Day Three – 2.72 miles in 30 minutes….An Obvious improvement from the first run of the year but my leg muscles and back issues are still hampering me.  My goal for the month of June is to get the distance to 3 miles and get the lungs up to par.

Day Five – 2.72 miles in 30 minutes….so better, no worse…only difference was that it was 85 degrees with 100% humidity…thought I was dragging ass too.

Day Seven – 2.88 miles in 30 minutes…thank you comfortable temperatures…pushing for that 10 minute per mile average by the end of the month.

Day Eight – weight at 245.7 pounds…down a pound and a half in the first week

Day Nine – 2.93 miles in 30 minutes…started out strong but kind of gassed out in the end.

Day Eleven – 1.5 miles in 20 minutes on the treadmill…it was raining out all day and was forced to run on my treadmill, which I hate….so hence the slacking

Intermission.   This whole week sucked with work and haven’t gotten out at all 😦

Feeling Boxed in with more #craftbeer

So this weekend was busier than hell because it was the first nice weekend that we have had since September…so on top of prepping the yard and deck for summer, I also had to contend with my daughter’s dance recital, entertaining my best friend in from Charlotte and prepping for my annual Memorial Day Weekend tasting.

As if I need more beer, boxes came flying in from all the place (making the wife not happy with me)…

The first box was a trade that I had set up with a guy that I had worked with before in one of my Sour BIFs.   The back story is not important and makes me look like a mild dick but basically, my friend Joe left a bottle of Jester King Bonnie the Rare berliner weisse at a friends house.  We happened to be there one night and I pulled it out of the fridge and he realized it was left there from a previous get together…well, he left a little early that night and we cracked the bottle open after he was gone.  Regardless of how bad it was (worst Jester King beer ever), Joe was pissed because we opened his bottle…so I felt compelled to make things right by acquiring another bottle…and this is what came in…

 

Next box was the conclusion of a trade set up in September…I had a guy who I traded with last summer that was looking for several bottles of Bruery Black Tuesday.  When my allotment came in from Reserve Society in October, I had a box packed up and out the door.  After the box arrived, the recipient lost his job

 

Finally was the start of what I hope will be a beautiful relationship with a guy up in the PNW.  In the past couple of years, there has been a bunch of small breweries that have popped up in the Portland Oregon area that have been making some great beers…and I want all of it.  He and I have traded before and he has participated in my Sours BIF previously.  Since my last Sours BIF, he felt that he has been in debt to me since I destroyed him with a huge box of Belgian Lambics.   Revenge is a dish served whale-ish….he destroyed my porch…

Yes…that is 7 bottles of De Garde 🙂 with several bottles of Adam and Cherry Adam 🙂 and several Upright sours 🙂

I had a bad experience lately trying to set up a trade with someone lived in an unrealistic world with their demands….it is stuff like this makes it better.  So much for ‘cutting down’ the cellar when weeks like this happen.

April 2014 ~ Monthly Beer Reviews

It is hard to imagine that April has come and gone already, especially given the fact that the temperatures are in the low 40’s and my backyard is a pond….usually by this time of year, I am breaking out the patio furniture, cleaning up the yard and the grill.    After having a chance of getting down to San Antonio last week to slay some Texas turds, I was able to follow it up with a nice trip down to wonderful Central PA…please, hold your applause.  Anyways, here is my highest rated beers for April:

Top 5 Beer Reviews for April (okay, it is 7 again but how is that different from any other month):

• Side Project Brewing Pulling Nails #1 ~ American Wild Ale ~ 4.3 /5 Rating
• Jester King Brewery Salt Lick (Censored) ~ Gose ~ 4.3 /5 Rating
• Cisco Brewers Pechish Woods ~ American Wild Ale ~ 4.2 /5 Rating
• Real Ale Brewing Devils Backbone ~ Belgian Triple ~ 4.1 /5 Rating
• Upland Brewing Sour Reserve ~ Lambic – Gueuze ~ 4.1 /5 Rating
• Modern Times Beer Fortunate Islands ~ American Wheat ~ 4.1 /5 Rating
• Hanssens Artisanaal Oude Gueuze ~ Lambic – Gueuze ~ 4.1 /5 Rating

 

The 5 Beer Reviews that screams out how superior sours beers are over common bullshit:

• Pizza Boy Brewing Hop Test #1 (White Pech) ~ American IPA ~ 6.0% ABV ~ 2.9 /5 Rating
• Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel (Calvados Edition) ~ American Imperial Stout ~ 10.9% ABV ~  2.5 /5 Rating
• FEMSA Dos Equis XX Special Lager ~ Pale Lager ~ 4.5% ABV ~ 2.3 /5 Rating
• FEMSA Carta Blanca ~ Pale Lager ~ 4.0% ABV ~ 2.1 /5 Rating
• And the beer that just proves how superior American beers are over the rest of the world was Kirin Brewing Ichiban ~ Pale Lager ~ 1.7 /5 Rating

Remember The Alamo?!?

Well, in case you don’t remember the Alamo, it is located in downtown San Antonio and quite the boring tourist attraction. I have always been a mild war history nut but the Alamo itself was kind of a let down as far as a tourist attraction went….and they didn’t even serve craft beer (now you can see my disappointment).  The building that you see before you was actually the Chapel of the entire Alamo compound and there isn’t much more beyond that, other than a small courtyard and a gift shop (which must have been built by Davey Crockett himself).

The Alamo…..(in the basement!)

So my wife wanted to go someplace on vacation that was a heck of a lot warmer than sunny Buffalo (like such a place exists) but wasn’t really interested in going back to Florida, so we decided on taking the kid to Sea World in San Antonio TX.  What we didn’t realize that we came down to San Antonio during Fiesta…which someone described to me as their version of Mardi Gras….except with a lot less boobs being shown and more Mexicans to go around.

Fiesta goes for 18 days straight and is now loosely based around the annual Battle of the Roses, which started as a dedication parade for those that fought at the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto back in 1890.  When we went downtown on Monday night, we visited the Market Square where there were streets lined with vendors and several stages providing various styles of music.  We also visited the famed San Antonio Riverwalk where there was a boat parade going on.  But, by Wednesday afternoon, we had noticed that downtown was becoming crazier with half the roads being closed, bleachers being set up all over the parade route, the cost of parking doubling and every corner being crazy busy…not exactly ideal when towing around a four year old with you.

One of the highest rated and most famous restaurants in San Antonio is Mi Tierra .  Located in the famed Market Square area of downtown San Antonio, this place is know for its great food and 24 hour bakery that never closes.  The food was decent, the atmosphere was great and my daughter is a huge fan of table side Mariachi bands.  Since I was in a Mexican restaurant, it was only fitting that I had to get a Mexican beer that I had never had before…

• Cervecceria Moctezuma Carta Blanca ~ Pale Lager ~ 4.0% ABV

While we were watching the boat parade on the Riverwalk, I found a kiosk nearby that was serving finger food and serving local craft beer, so I got to drink something while we watched the boat parade…

• Blue Star Brewing Flying Pig Extra Pale Ale ~ American Pale Ale ~ 5.0% ABV

Later on Monday evening, after the wife and daughter called No Mas!, it was time to meet up with my local trader at his local watering hole for a small bottle share…or so I thought, at Big Hops Growler Station.  We managed to keep the employees up past their bed times and we’re able to crush bottles until 1am (even though they closed at 10pm).

Big Hops Growler Station now has three locations around the San Antonio area and is a local watering hole for my TX trading partner Chris.  He managed to swindle the employees to allow us to have a bottle share there that night, for my arrival….and here is what we crushed:

Jester King Brewing RU55 ~ American Wild Ale ~ 7.3% ABV
Dark Horse Brewing 3 Pairs of Legs Maple Porter ~ American Porter ~ 7.0% ABV
Prairie Artisan Beers Bible Belt ~ American Double / Imperial Stout ~ 13.0% ABV
Grassroots Brewing Arctic Soiree ~ Saison / Farmhouse Ale ~ 6.0% ABV
Pisgah Brewing Hellbender ~ American Barleywine ~ 10.2% ABV
Bruery Griffon Bruxellois ~ American Wild Ale ~ 6.1% ABV
Bruery The Wanderer ~ American Wild Ale ~ 8.0% ABV
Freetail Brewing Ananke (2012) ~ American Wild Ale ~ 5.8% ABV
Freetail Brewing Ananke (2013) ~ American Wild Ale ~ 5.8% ABV
Lost Abbey Angel’s Share Brandy Barrel Aged (2008) ~ American Barleywine ~ 12.5% ABV
Karbach Brewing Series F.U.N. Series 008: Fra-Gee-Lay ~ Herbed / Spiced Beer ~ 8.0% ABV
Freetail Brewing La Muerta (2010) ~ American Double / Imperial Stout ~ 10.2% ABV
Cascade Brewing Elderberry ~ American Wild Ale ~ 8.1% ABV
Crooked Stave Artisan Beers Batch #60 ~ American Wild Ale ~ ABV Unknown
Ithaca Brewing Luminous ~ American Wild Ale ~ 6.0% ABV
Darkside Fermentation Flanders Red ~ Flanders Red Ale ~ 7.0% ABV
Grassroots Brewing Arctic Saison ~ Saison / Farmhouse Ale ~ 6.0% ABV
(512) Brewing Whiskey Barrel Aged Double Pecan Porter ~ American Porter ~ 8.2% ABV
Harpoon Brewery 100 Barrel Series #49: Brown IPA ~ American IPA ~ 5.7% ABV
Brewdog Paradox Springbank ~ American Double / Imperial Stout ~ 10.0% ABV
Buffalo Bayou Brewing Smoke on the Bayou ~ Scottish Ale ~ 9.0% ABV
Crooked Stave Artisan Beers Nightmare on Brett (aged in Leopold Bros Whiskey Barrels) ~ American Wild Ale ~ 9.67% ABV

 

On Tuesday, we took a bus tour around downtown San Antonio, a RiverWalk boat tour, then lunch at a downtown brewpub called The Granary ‘Cue & Brew.

The Granary

The Granary ‘Cue & Brew has been open for several years now and feature Farm to Table proteins from several farms in Texas.  They strive to feature fresh foods while using only the best local quality ingredients, nothing off the back of a distributors food truck.  From what I can gather, he Granary has been brewing their own beers now for a little over one year now, in keeping with the same standards of ingredients that they utilize with their food too, Farm to Tap.  The interesting thing about their location is that is located in the vicinity of the Pearl Brewing Complex, which has been defunct now for many years.  It was only until recently that a company came along, purchased the entire canning complex and repurposed the property for loft apartments and retail shops but still maintain the Pearl identity.  My wife got the Beef Brisket, my daughter has the chicken and I destroyed a Pastrami Rib crusted with a cracked pepper rub…all of the food was excellent and their BBQ sauce was decent with a nice mildly smoked flavor to it.  At the time we went, they had 4 in-house beers on tap, 2 in-house pops (yes, Pop not Soda) and several guest taps…but since I wanted local beers, I grabbed these selections:

• The Granary ‘Cue & Brew Rye Saison ~ Saison / Farmhouse Ale ~ 6.0% ABV
• The Granary ‘Cue & Brew IPA ~ American IPA ~ 5.6% ABV

After getting blasted by 95 degree heat all day, we decided to hit the hotel and relax for a little while…and thankfully the Embassy Suites by the airport had a bar inside, so I decided to grab a happy hour turd.

• Busted Sandal Brewing Slippery Rock IPA ~ American IPA ~ 7.1% ABV

Since we were still very tired from the heat and long day, we decided to stay down for dinner that night and ended up at Freetail Brewing for some pizza and beers.

Freetail Brewing Company

Freetail Brewing Company was started towards the end of 2008 and have since then grown very nicely with a goal of making quality beers, which they have done.  Some of their bottle selections have become some of the best beers made in TX in many different beer styles with options like La Muerta, Old Bat Rastard and Ananke.  Over the past 5 years, they have grown beyond their current locations capacity and are expanding to a new locations dubbed FT2, which will be their production brewery located in downtown San Antonio.  When we arrived, as if on queue, my daughter passed out in the car about 90 seconds before we arrived, so she was cranky and tired when we entered the place.  Unfortunately, I had enough time there to order a pizza, two quick pints and pay the bill…and all within 20 minutes.  The pizza was pretty good and the in-house beers were decent (tonight):

• Freetail Brewing Spirulina Wit ~ Herbed / Spiced Beer ~ 4.2% ABV
• Freetail Brewing Primavera Prematura ~ Saison / Farmhouse Ale ~ 6.8% ABV

 

Wednesday morning rolled in and we were all still pretty tired from the previous day, plus my wife still had a touch of heat exhaustion.  We were kind of dragging our asses in the morning but had to power our way through the day because we had tickets for several things that we had to do.  After jumping back on the tour bus and looping almost all the way around downtown again, we stopped at the 750 foot Tower of the Americas.  The Tower of the Americas was the corner stone piece of the HemisFair Park, home of the 1968 World’s Fair, and it listed as the second highest free standing structure in the US, second only to the Stratosphere in Las Vegas.

We decided to head back down to the RiverWalk and hit one of the highest rated restaurants in San Antonio, Boudro’s.   Set along the riverwalk, we were able to grab a table right on the riverwalk where my daughter was amused by the birds swimming the riverwalk and waving at all the boats passing by.  While Boudro’s was supposed to be known for their great food, my wife and I left both disappointed in our meals…maybe they are well known for their dinner food.  Anyways, I couldn’t come down to Texas without slamming one of these ‘craft beers’:

• Spoetzl Brewery Shiner Bock ~ Vienna Lager ~ 4.41% ABV

After lunch, we headed over to the San Antonio Children’s Museum for a couple of hours to burn some energy off then down the street to San Antonio’s famed Buckhorn Saloon & Museum.  The Buckhorn Saloon & Museum is listed as the oldest running saloon in Texas, dating back to 1881.  It was originally established as a trading post originally for all of the cowboys to blow off steam but then turned into a saloon and house of ill repute.  The interior is loaded with a ton of taxidermy and the largest collection of antlers ever assembled.  For a tourist trap, they actually had a nice tap list of local Texas beers, so I grabbed this one:

• Karbach Brewing Hopadillo IPA ~ American IPA ~ 6.6% ABV

After returning to the hotel and the family passing out early on me, I had a little under two hours to get for a couple…and since I was only 10 minutes from Freetail Brewing, I decided to head back there again.

• Freetail Brewing Rye Wit ~ Witbier ~ 4.4% ABV
• Live Oak Brewing Weiber Rauch ~ Smoked Beer ~ ABV Unknown
• Freetail Brewing Buffalo Hump 1840 IPA ~ Belgian IPA ~ 6.3% ABV
• Freetail Brewing Spirulina Wit
• Live Oak Brewing Hefeweizen ~ Hefeweizen ~ 5.2% ABV

While I was there, I was bullshitting with a couple of guys and it turned out that one guy was opening his brewery sometime by the end of this year.  San Antonio Brewing Company coming soon..plus the guy was really cool about wanting to hear an out of towners perspective on the craft beer scene.  Overall, a really good place to visit with some really good pizza but the house beers were rather disappointing.

 

Thursday morning came and we decided that instead of dragging the four year old all over downtown San Antonio with the craziness of Fiesta, we opted for a two hour drive down to Corpus Christie so that we could hit the beach for the day.  When we got to the shores of North Beach, to my surprise was this fucking beauty…the USS Lexington.

USS Lexington – Corpus Christi TX

After being at the beach for roughly an hour, the sun broke through the overcast and it was time for a beer, but the only shit that the nearby bar would allow me to leave with was this nasty gem…

• Anheauser-Busch Budweiser ~ Pale Lager ~ 5.0% ABV

During this time, my wife had the realization that her father had served on the Lexington.  As much as I would have loved to tour an air craft carrier, we were nasty from swimming in the Gulf (see BP Oil Rig Spill for more details…), we didn’t think that our daughter would want to take the tour…plus we had to meet some friend out for dinner later that night.

After getting back to out hotel for much needed showers and some quick relaxation time, we headed over to meet up with my Texas trading partner, Chris and his new bride Amanda, at a real San Antonio gem, The Cove.  This place has to be the most diversified business plan in the history of the world…maybe a close second place behind General Electric.  The Cove is comprised of the following entities on the property…a Self Serve Car Wash, Coin Operated Laundry, Ice Cream Parlor, a walk up Food Counter, a music bar, playground, dog park and 50 tap Texas Craft Beer Bar.   Yeah, it was interesting but such a cool set up…after we ate dinner in the front bar (indoors), we headed outside to let the daughter play with the other kids at the playground while the adults drank from the Texas Beer Bar.

• Guadalupe Brewing Texas Honey Ale ~ American Blonde Ale ~ 7.32% ABV
• Karbach Brewing Weisse Versa Wheat ~ American Wheat Ale ~ 5.2% ABV
• New Braunfels Brewing Shiva’s Tears ~ Weizenbock ~ ABV Unknown

 

On Friday, it was my daughters reason for pestering me for the past month…Sea World.  Of course, I had to grab a beer for my theme park tick on Untappd.

• Cerveceria Moctezuma Dos Equis Special Lager ~ Pale Lager ~ 4.5% ABV

Every night between the hours of 5pm-730pm, the hotel we were staying offered up a free happy hour…which included PBR and Killians. Gross indeed, but the hotel bar also had some bottles (that I didnt realize until our last night there) so I decided to grab another Texas turd from the bar…

• Saint Arnold Amber Ale ~ Amber Ale ~ 5.5% ABV

With the kid and wife passed out and our last night in San Antonio, I decided that I had to sneak back to The Cove for a couple more beers..

• (512) Brewing FOUR ~ English Strong Ale ~ 7.5% ABV
• Real Ale Brewing Lost Gold IPA ~ American IPA ~ 6.6% ABV
• Real Ale Brewing Devil’s Backbone ~ Abbey Tripel ~ 8.1% ABV

Airplane beer, courtesy of Southwest Airlines…

• New Belgium Brewing Fat Tire ~ Amber Ale ~ 5.2% ABV

 

I have to say that when we booked this trip, I told the wife to not book anything other than the day to Sea World because I wouldn’t to do things on the fly…after everything was said and done, we did a shit ton of things…and I got to drink a shit ton of good beer.  San Antonio was fun to say the least and a nice craft beer town on the rise.

Texas Whalez Bro…

March 2014 ~ Monthly Beer Reviews

I do apologize for being late with this post but the past four weeks has been very hectic with work and with all the travel (which included a trip to central Pennsylvania and another to Eastern PA, Maryland and Delaware), it has led to a ton of reviews for the month of March (70 in total).  Unfortunately I think my work travelling is coming to an end which means I may have to go out and get a real job soon.  Anyways, lets get to the good stuff…the good beers for March:

Top 5 Beer Reviews for March (okay, it is 7 but they are solid ticks):

• Cantillon Saint Lamvinus ~ Lambic – Fruit ~ 5.0% ABV ~ 4.5 /5 Rating
• Selins Grove Brewing Framboise ~ Vegetable / Fruit Ale ~ 6.5% ABV ~ 4.5 /5 Rating
• Pizza Boy Brewing Permasmile ~ American Wild Ale ~ 5.0% ABV ~ 4.4 /5 Rating
• Goose Island Bourbon County Bramble Rye ~ American Double / Imperial Stout ~ 14.2% ABV ~ 4.4 /5 Rating
• Forest & Main Brewing Upward Facing Eyes ~ Farmhouse / Saison Ale ~ 5.0% ABV ~ 4.3 /5 Rating
• Otter Creek Citra Mantra ~ American Pale Lager ~ 5.7% ABV ~ 4.3 /5 Rating
• Goose Island Bourbon County Barleywine ~ American Barleywine ~ 12.1% ABV ~ 4.3 /5 Rating

 

The 5 Beer Reviews that made me realize that everything can not be a Wild Ale or Bourbon County variant:

• Terrapin Brewing Cabernet Barrel Aged Monks Revenge ~ Belgian IPA ~ 9.8% ABV ~ 3.1 /5 Rating
• Stewarts Brewing Citra IPA ~ American IPA ~ ABV Unknown ~ 3.1 /5 Rating
• Left Hands Brewing Sawtooth Ale with Peaches ~ English Special Bitter ~ 5.3% ABV ~  2.9 /5 Rating
• Picobrouwerij Alvinne Phi ~ American Wild Ale ~ 10.0% ABV ~ 2.8 /5 Rating
• And the beer that made me wish I had chosen a better brewery other than Stewarts was Stewarts Brewing Kolsch ~ Kolsch ~ 2.7 /5 Rating

I know it may catch some of your of guard that there is an Otter Creek in my top 5 beers for this month but they must have finally realized that they can still make good beers and sell them to the masses.  I am not calling them the new White Whale brewery of the week but they have launches three straight beers that are better tan most other shelf beers or even some rarities in some cases.  Obviously, they are still no Cantillon…but few breweries are 🙂

Tour de Mid-Atlantic

I am seriously going to start copying and pasting my intro for each entry going forward because it is the same thing, with the exception of the location. I should take that back because it seems like the locations are going to be the same for the time being too…now comes the challenge of finding new breweries/beers to drink.

This installment of the Wandering Idiot lead me to Maryland, Delaware and Eastern Pennsylvania for another beer soaked adventure starting with a nice 620am flight to Baltimore MD. After a long day of work where it seemed like I was spinning my wheels, I was hoping that I would have made it through Philadelphia before the traffic picked up but that was not the case. Instead of trying to force my way through the city, I decided to just hang back for a while, grab some dinner and a couple of beers at Stewarts Brewing Company.

Stewarts Brewing Company is located in Bear DE, not to far from the Maryland border and the University of Delaware.  Unfortunately I could not find much history about the place other than that they have been open for almost 15 years now and have won plenty of medals at the World Beer Cup and GABF, including their most recent Gold Medal in 2013 for their Belgian tripel Stumbling Monk.

Exterior of Stewarts Brewing Company

Stewarts Brewing company from the interior looks like a family dinner place where the daily special is meatloaf and your waitress is named Flo.  Other than the back corner room with the brewing equipment, the rest of the place just was boring and unimpressive.  Unfortunately, the beer quality was a direct resemblance of the interior…boring and unimpressive.  I would end up coming back here later in the week, drinking different selections and feeling even less impressed the second time around.

While I was there for the first time, I was sort of hungry and settle on some chicken wings and a salad.  I have to be honest that I have only had a bad salad once, to the point where I had to send it back…this time was borderline becoming my second time.  Although my food sucked, I did enjoy my final beer of the night but consumed these beers while there…

• Stewarts Brewing Wind Blown Blonde ~ Kolsch ~ 5.0% ABV
• Stewarts Brewing Oyster Stout ~ Dry Irish Stout ~ 4.6% ABV
• Stewarts Brewing Bourbon Barrel Aged Barleywine (2011) ~ American Barleywine ~ 10.6% ABV

Exterior of Allentown Brew Works

After leaving Stewarts and making the 2 hour drive up to my hotel, I decided to make a quick stop at Allentown Brew Works (home to Fegleys Brew Works).  Fegleys Brew Works was created in 1998 and home to their main brewing equipment and bottling line.  Along with many of their flagship bottled beers, they also offer in house seasonals and one offs.  The exterior as you can see looks to have been revamped at some point to open up the place to lots of natural light.  The interior is great half of the buildings West wall covered in brewing tanks and a long bar that can seat about 25-30 patrons.  In addition to tables covering most of the place, there is a second level for additional dining.  As per my typical agenda, I try to avoid the flagship beers and go for the in-house or seasonal beers but ended up drinking a decent flagship beer…on top of several in house beers too.

• Fegleys Brew Works HopSolutely ~ American / Imperial IPA ~ 11.5% ABV
• Fegleys Brew Works Shangri-La ~ Belgian Ale ~ 8.0% ABV

 

After another 12 hours plus day of work (as it seems to be going lately), I decided that I wanted to get out early for dinner so that I could crash earlier than normal (normal being midnight).  Thankfully, Bethlehem Brew Works was only minutes away from the hotel in downtown Bethlehem.   Bethlehem Brew Works is the newer of the two ‘brew works’ operated by Fegleys.  Bethlehem Brew Works was opened several years later and houses in-house beer production only.  One of the nice things about both locations is that they brew their own in-house and seasonal beers.  Unfortunately, I was not impressed by any of the beers that I had at the Bethlehem location, compared to those had at the Allentown Location.

Bethlehem Brew Works is a decent sized building with their brewing equipment up by the front windows and between the two levels of the facility.  It featured a long beer that could hold 20-25 patrons with tables running down the other side of the building, on top of a secondary level that is wide open with more tables.  For a Tuesday night, the place was jam packed with people at 630pm…and the menu was very impressive.  I purchased a buffalo meat burger which was cooked perfectly, topped with sautéed onions and mushrooms and a spicy mayo.  Its too bad that the beers that I drank that night didn’t match the quality of the food…

• Fegleys Brew Works Barrel Aged Insidious ~ American Double / Imperial Stout ~ 9.0% ABV
• Fegleys Brew Works Steelgaarden Wit ~ Witbier ~ 5.2% ABV
• Fegleys Brew Works Monkey Wrench ~ Saison / Farmhouse Ale ~ 7.0% ABV
• Fegleys Brew Works Sunny Pale Ale ~ American Pale Ale ~ ABV Unknown

After leaving Bethlehem Brew Works, I had to crack open a bomber that I purchased the previous night at Allentown Brew Works to ‘earn’ my Untappd Hotel Hopper badge…

• Fegleys Brew Works Space Monkey ~ Saison / Farmhouse Ale ~ 7.0% ABV

 

After another long 12+ hour day of work, I found myself just on the outskirts of Philadelphia with some work in the immediate area for the following day.  Since I was in the area, I had to get down to a new place that is supposed to be killing it with their beers…Forest & Main Brewing Company.

Exterior of Forest & Main Brewing

Forest & Main Brewing Company is located in the small town of Ambler PA, roughly 15 miles Northwest of Philadelphia.  They have been open for roughly two years now with the notion of being ‘that small town brewpub’ and they have maintained it well.  As you can see by the photo above, Forest & Main is situated in a small ranch style house, located in a town with a history well over 200 years old.  The interior of the house is extremely old school with old plank style floor that is so old, you can literally see through the slats into the cellar area.  The bar area is a small 8×12 room in the front of the house with a small 5 stool bar against the back wall with a small bartenders cove in what was probably a former closet.  For dinner I decided on another buffalo burger (love that lean meat…) with home made potato chips which were actually very tasty.  Here is what I had for dessert…

• Forest & Main Brewing Upward Facing Eyes ~ Saison / Farmhouse Ale ~ 5.0% ABV
• Forest & Main Brewing Alopex ~ American Pale Ale ~ 4.5% ABV
• Forest & Main Brewing Nalanda (Wine Barrel Aged) ~ Saison / Farmhouse Ale ~ 6.0% ABV
• Forest & Main Brewing Golden Eternity ~ English Special Bitter ~ 3.0% ABV

Since I was only ten minutes away from Tired Hands Brewing Company, I decided to give it another try.  My first experience there was less than impressive as far as the beer quality was.  I am sure that their bottle offerings are outstanding but the beers that I have had from them are nothing better than average as a whole.  So here is what I had this time…

• Tired Hands Brewing Borgeb ~ American Double / Imperial IPA ~ 8.0% ABV
• Tired Hands Brewing First Level ~ Imperial Pale Ale ~ 6.2% ABV
• Tired Hands Brewing Hop Hands ~ Imperial Pale Ale ~ 4.8% ABV
• Tired Hands Brewing Forevertime ~ Saison / Farmhouse Ale ~ 7.5% ABV

Revisiting Hop Hands was a pleasant touch this time along with my pickle plate accompanied with a nice stick of cave aged blue cheese and thinly sliced proschuitto.

 

On Wednesday, I had a really weird day which started out with having a Semi Tractor Trailer blowing his engine right in front of me on I-76, thus blowing out a huge cloud of white smoke and covering my rental car in engine oil.  The smoke from the blow out was so bad that when I was finally able to pass the truck, I had to roll down the window of the car because the smoke was very toxic and causing me to violently cough…had to get some ‘fresh’ Philly air in the car before I got really sick.  Work sucked as it typically does when I am on the road but was able to finish up at a decent time, which allowed me to grab an early dinner at Iron Hill Brewery in Wilmington DE.

Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant is a regional chain of brewpubs that is based in the PA/DE/NJ with nine locations in the tri-state area.  My sister used to live in Wilmington about a decade ago and Iron Hill was a typical stop for me…again, if I had only started reviewing beers back then instead of waiting until 2011.  Ugh.  Anyways, I remember their beers being average but the place having really good food…and it didn’t disappoint this time either, at least food wise.  I had a really solid Chicken Fajita chopped salad that was huge and tasty, properly seasoned and with solid portions of toppings and chicken.  Unfortunately, the beer quality did not match the food quality this time…

• Iron Hill Brewery Belgian Brunette ~ Belgian Strong Ale ~ 7.1% ABV
• Iron Hill Brewery Gold Digger IPA ~ American IPA ~ 6.0% ABV

After a disappointing beer selection at Iron Hill, I had to eject early because I was meeting up with a former co-worker for a couple of beers…unfortunately, she wanted to go to Stewarts because she is a mug club member there.  Thankfully for me, they still had their 2011 Bourbon Barrel Aged Barleywine on tap which was actually pretty solid…but then I saw a new beer on tap that always gets my attention…it is just too bad that it didn’t even come close to what I was hoping it would be.

• Stewarts Brewing Company Citra IPA ~ American IPA ~ ABV Unknown

 

Good Ol’ Friday…it is very unusual that I ever work on a Friday, it is not because I am lazy but more of the fact that I usually don’t have any work leftover from the week but this week I was slammed.  After another long 10 hour day of work, I had three hours to kill before my flight back to Buffalo, so I made another stop at Frisco Tap & Brewhouse.  This was my second trip to this place and loved it the first time, so I was more than happy to make a stop here on my way to the airport.

When I arrived at Frisco Tap & Brewhouse, it was roughly around 530pm and there was not a parking spot to be had.  Thankfully, this must have been a (good) problem that they run into and started offering Valet Parking free of charge.  Yes, a brewpub that offers Valet Parking…very posh. The place was jam packed with about 90% of the tables filled but thankfully, I was able to get the last open spot at the bar. For dinner, I ordered a solid Buffalo Meat burger topped with a local sliced pickle and a chipotle mayo.  Solid as hell food along with some interesting beers.

• Push Brewing HoCo Pale Ale ~ American Pale Ale ~ 4.3% ABV
• Terrapin Brewing Cabernet Barrel Aged Monks Revenge ~ Belgian Strong Ale ~ 9.8% ABV

I will probably make a stop to Frisco Tap every time I have to fly out of Baltimore airport because of its great tap selection and close proximity to the airport.  I really got to say that I was severely disappointed in the barrel aged Monks Revenge.  This was one of the first beers that I ever had from Terrapin and still like it to this day but the  Cabernet barrel really cut out of the original flavor and actually made the beer taste like a tequila barrel aged beer….I like tequila and tequila barrel beers but this one was no where even close to the quality of the original base beer.

 

 

Tour de Central Pennsylvania

As the running intro for almost all of my entries lately begin….work…blah blah blah….travel….blah blah blah…..and Beer!  This week it took me back to the lovely area of Central Pennsylvania…Chambersburg, Harrisburg, State College and the sweetest place on earth, Hershey.

On my first night in the area, I ended up in Chambersburg PA, which is just a couple miles north of the PA/MD border.  In my previous trip to this particular area, I had hooked up with a Beer Advocate user that I had previously traded with, for a beer or two.  Well, sometimes when you are having fun, you don’t realize that it is past midnight and you have cracked more than a couple beers.  My friend Travis had invited several of his friends over to sample beers and the night took off from there…until the next day actually.  Here was a list of the cracks from that night…

• Troegs Brewing Splinter Gold (batch #2) ~ American Wild Ale ~ 12.0% ABV
• Prairie Artisan Ales Prairie Gold ~ American Wild Ale ~ 6.5% ABV
• Cantillon Saint Lamvinus (2012) ~ Lambic – Fruit ~ 5.0% ABV
• Russian River Brewing Beatification (batch #6) ~ American Wild Ale ~ 5.5% ABV
• Cascade Brewing Manhattan NW ~ American Wild Ale ~ 11.32% ABV
• Upland Brewing Raspberry Lambic ~ Lambic – Fruit ~ ABV Unknown
• Freetail Brewing Yo Soy Un Berliner ~ Berliner Weissbier ~ 4.4% ABV
• Cigar City Brewing Guava Grove Lactobacillus ~ American Wild Ale ~ 8.0% ABV
• Upright Brewing Gose ~ Gose ~ 5.2% ABV
• Jester King Brewing RU-55 ~ American Wild Ale ~ 7.3% ABV
• Prairie Artisan Wine Barrel Noir ~ American Double / Imperial Stout ~ 11.0% ABV
• Goose Island Brewing Bourbon County Stout Backyard Rye ~ American Double / Imperial Stout ~ 12.7% ABV
• Goose Island Brewing Bourbon County Stout Cherry Rye ~ American Double / Imperial ~ 13.0% ABV
• Goose Island Brewing Bourbon County Stout Bramble Rye ~ American Double / Imperial ~ 12.7% ABV

Although it was awesome to get to stack up a three year vertical of Bourbon County Fruit Stouts, it also did all of his in for the night too.  Thankfully, my hotel was less than a mile away from where we were or it would have been a long ride back that night.

On Tuesday night, I had the opportunity to meet up with a now former coworker for dinner.  The only problem was that I wanted to go to different breweries that night and both of them were 25 minutes in each direction…not to mention hat my hotel was 20 minutes in a completely different direction.  Making an executive decision (because this determined the fate of the world, obviously), I decided to head East and go to Spring House Brewery.

Spring House Brewery opened up in 2006 by head brewer Matt Kearsy.  He has a very familiar story where he hated his job, was an avid home brewer and finally said ‘Fuck It’, I’m opening a brewery’.  His original location was done right at his home, which was built in the 1790s and had a functioning natural spring (until the 1970s) in the basement, hence the name Spring House Brewery.  Unfortunately, when you base a brewery out of your house, things could get a little hectic and congested, so he decided to open The Taproom in downtown Lancaster in early 2011.

I had first discovered Spring House Brewery at the GABF in 2012.  During the first session (Thursday Night), it was one of those fluke things where you are walking around, happen to see a long line to a brewery, see some catchy names and say, ‘Why Not’.  Holy Shit, now I knew why there was such a long line, the beer was fantastic as I got to taste Braaaiins! (their pumpkin beer) and was blown away.  My best friends had tried Satan’s Bake Sale (mint chocolate chip stout) and had the same reaction…well, two more times through the line that night and we were hooked.   We had gone back to their booth during the third session (Saturday Afternoon) and they were almost wiped out of beer completely…which by the end of the session, they had vacated their booth because they were sold out.  Fast forward one full year, when I return back to the GABF Saturday afternoon sessions, with my buddy Matt and his friend Aaron, I had pointed out that we needed to get to Spring House but when we finally made our way over there, again, they were down to their last beer and sold out by the end of the session.

Given the fact that I was only about 20 minutes away from Lancaster, PA, its just made sense to get out while I could.  When I arrived, the place was about a quarter filled, had some dim lighting to go with the mildly macabre décor, but had a nice feel to it.  The service was decent, they had 9 beers on tap at the time that I went, along with 3 bottles for sale to go as well.  Here is what I consumed while on premises…

• Spring House Brewing Lil’ Gruesome Peanut Butter & Jelly Stout ~ Fruit / Vegetable Beer ~ 7.0% ABV
• Spring House Brewing Curses IPA ~ American IPA ~ 6.9% ABV
• Spring House Brewing Penelope Saison ~ Farmhouse / Saison Ale ~ 4.9% ABV
• Spring House Brewing Big Gruesome Chocolate Peanut Butter Stout ~ American Double / Imperial Stout ~ 8.4% ABV

For the most part, Spring House Brewing met my expectations for the evening.  While not every beer was a complete success in my eyes, there were more hits than misses.  Spring House would definitely make a nice watering hole if it were located in my backyard…unfortunately, it is not.  Until next time Spring House…

It is amazing how things chance in such a short period of time when it comes to the weather.  As in most places, we have a saying in Buffalo…if you don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes.  Such seemed to be the case for me on Wednesday too when the previous day had a high of 65 degrees, Wednesday was in the lower 20’s.  It just made for another miserable 12 hour work day with constant bands of rain/snow.  After arriving at the hotel in Hershey, I made a quick turnaround and headed to the closest brewery near my hotel, Troegs Brewing Company.

Troegs Brewing Company was created in 1997 by a pair of brothers who became overwhelmed by the craft beer scene in Colorado.  While they enjoyed their several years in Colorado, they wanted to get a full blown production brewery up and running back in the mid-atlantic area where there was less competition and less pressure.  Troegs had out grown their previous brewery and moved into a new facility in 2011, where they could meet the demand for their beers.  My first trip to Troegs was about 6 months after they had moved into their new facility.  To this day, I still stick to the fact that Troegs has the largest tasting room that I have ever been in (and I am over 120+ breweries visited).

I ran into Troegs really because I was curious to see what new or interesting beers that they might have on tap.  In my previous trip to Troegs, they had 4 different Scratch series beers on tap but unfortunately, it was not as abundant this day.  Actually, when I walked in and saw the draft board, it literally became…’well, I should have one beer while I am here’, as there wasn’t a single scratch beer on tap, and the only ‘special’ beers was Nugget Nectar and…

• Troegs Brewing Company Cultivator ~ Heller Bock ~ 6.9% ABV

…but then I also saw this little nugget on the board too.

• Troegs Brewing Company Splinter Brown ~ American Wild Ale ~ 8.5% ABV

Now the quick story behind this beer being an In House Only bottle was because of issues with the carbonation inside the bottle.  The brewers were concerned about the carbonation pressure of the bottles and didn’t feel safe with releasing it to the public with corks that could crush someones eye, so they kept the entire release In House Only, to be opened by Troegs Certified Serving Professionals.

After leaving Troegs, I headed to the other side of the capital city of PA to a small town called Enola, where Al’s of Hampden is located…home of Pizza Boy Brewing Company.

Al’s of Hampden/Pizza Boy Brewing was started several years ago as a pizza parlor but then the owner Al got into serving local craft beer.  Within the past 18 months, they have since moved into a bigger facility now offering 102 taps of liquid goodness but still offering many taps of local craft beer, in paying homage to their craft beer roots.  With 102 taps staring me down, I did the only thing I thought was safe…head for the rarer bottles :)…

• Pizza Boy Brewing Permasmile ~ American Wild Ale ~ 5.0% ABV
• Pizza Boy Afternoon Delight ~ Berliner Weisse ~ 6.0% ABV
• Spring House Brewing Satan’s Bake Sale ~ American Stout ~ 8.0% ABV

All I can say about Pizza Boy is that make sure that you eat before you arrive, as I thought the pizza was shit…but their beer list is amazing, especially for someone who is not local to the area or state for that matter.

Thursday was just another shitty work day where the weather sucked, people wasted my time and things didn’t go according to plan…thankfully, my last stop of the day was 20 minutes away from Selin’s Grove Brewing Company located in Selinsgrove, PA.  While this brewery may not be known to a lot of people, but to the trained palate (and beer geek), Selin’s Grove is known for making some of the best fruit beers in the world (literally).

Selins Grove Brewing Company opened up in 1996 by a husband and wife team that were striking out in their craft brewing adventure after both were working at New Belgium Brewing for several years, in various positions.  They really became real brewers when they replaced their 3 barrel system in 2004 with some second hand equipment purchased from Avery Brewing.  Since their real brewing expansion in 2004, they have since upgraded their system several more times in the past decade to keep up with demand with their beers, especially with their Kriek, Framboise, and Pumpkin beers which are some of the highest rate in the world.

Although this was not my first time stopping here, I was still excited when I arrived because I was hoping to have a chance to get to try another fruit beer…and I was so fortunate to get these beers while I was here…

• Selins Grove Brewing Framboise ~ Fruit Beer ~ 6.5% ABV
• Selins Grove Brewing Stealth Triple ~ Triple ~ 8.5% ABV

Although the place is small and dark on the inside, always worth the stop if you can snag one of their famed fruit beers.

From Selins Grove Brewing, I made the half hour drive north up into Williamsport, PA (home of the Little League World Series).  Thankfully, I have never had the pleasure of working in the area during said Little League World Series, I have been to this town many times and have hit up this place on many occasions.

Bullfrog Brewery opened up in 1996 in downtown Williamsport and maintains the same location, brewing system that they started with since the beginning.  In early 2013, they opened a small secondary location for which they use to brew additional beer, fill kegs and sixtels.  Bullfrog was known to have brewed some ‘White Whale’ sours but that seemed to end when their head brewer left Bullfrog in 2012 for Pizza Boy Brewing.  While the Jazz Night was annoyingly loud and some of the locals I could have done without, I still managed to put down several more selections from Bullfrog…

• Bullfrog Brewery Jong Bruin Kriek ~ Oud Bruin ~ 7.0% ABV
• Bullfrog Brewery Hopsphyxcitration ~ American Pale Ale ~ 6.0% ABV

Another week is in the books…just another travel adventure for a Wandering Idiot.  And Yes, I am still standing…

February 2014 ~ Monthly Beer Reviews

Didn’t 2014 just start yesterday???    It really seems to be just like yesterday that we had turned the page for the new year but instead I am writing the second installment of my monthly beer reviews for 2014.  Again, another crazy month with work travel and just general doings that included a trip to sunny Newfoundland and another visit to the Del-Mar-Va region too.  It is funny too because when the weather is crappy, the amount of reviews I do goes up but the amount of tastings drops off dramatically.  Anyways, other than complaining about work and being cooped up in the house, lets get to the good stuff..

Top 5 Beer Reviews for February (hey, 6 is actually really good considering the past few months was at 9):

• Almanac Brewing Valley of the Heart’s Delight ~ American Wild Ale~ 4.4 /5 Rating
• Hair of the Dog Otto from the Wood ~ Barley Wine ~ 4.4 /5 Rating
• Burley Oak Tart Attack ~ American Wild Ale ~ 4.3/5 Rating
• Crooked Stave Artisan Ales St. Bretta (Fall) ~ Witbier ~ 4.1 /5 Rating
• La Cumbre Elevated IPA ~ American IPA~ 4.1 /5 Rating
• Westbrook Brewing Mr. Chipper ~ Flanders Red Ale ~ 4.1 /5 Rating

The 5 Beer Reviews that made me wish that I never went to Newfoundland as all 5 beers were had on that trip:

• Molson Rickards Oakhouse ~ Amber / Red Lager ~ 2.8 /5 Rating
• Coors Brewing Original ~ American Adjunct Lager ~ 2.0 /5 Rating
• Henieken Birra Moretti ~ American Adjunct Lager ~ 1.9  /5 Rating
• Molson Black Horse~ American Adjunct Lager ~ 1.4 /5 Rating
• And the beverage that made me regret going to Canada (again) was Labatt Brewing Blue Star  ~ American Adjunct Lager ~ 1.3 /5 Rating

If you are to draw any conclusions from this month is A) Not every place I go to is a craft beer paradise and B) American Adjunct Lagers suck, not matter which country they are made in.

A Return to my Craft Beer Roots…

The reason why I referred to this post as a return to my roots, it would have to go back to my earlier Craft Beer years.  In 2003, my sister had to Wilmington DE from middle of nowhere GA and while I was drinking better beer at this point in my life, I never really took it seriously.  So, like most people, I got my first real hacks on Dogfish Head.  When my sister moved to Delaware, one of my first stops in the state was to Dogfish Head.  I became a fan instantly because like their slogan is…Off Centers Ales for Off Centered People.  I truly took that statement to heart because I went all in on their crazy beer styles.  It was something new, something different, something decent to drink finally…and that’s the beginnings of the monster that I am today.  But before we jump into Dogfish Head, lets get back to the real time beginning of this trip.

To regurgitate the same opening line….work…travel…and I ended up in (Insert Location Here).  This time the location was Maryland and Delaware.  Unlike my previous destination, this week actually quite a few locations for me to belly up for some craft beer goodness.  On Monday, my flight getting into Baltimore arrived just before 10am, but after a rough day of work, I wasn’t able to complete as much as I had hoped…thankfully, since my last stop of the day was less than one mile from a location of DuClaw Brewing, that’s where my first stop of the week was.

DuClaw Brewing was started in 1995 (in Craft Beer Years, that’s like a long long long time ago) before anyone really knew what a brewpub was.  Since they opened their doors, they have since expanded to several locations and a full time small production brewery location.  I happened to be near their Bel Air, MD location (which is north of Baltimore) and I believe their original location.  Upon entering, it is a wide open floorplan with high ceilings and pretty cool brewiana of their beers along the high part of the walls.  It had a ton of seating along to compliment a long bar with an island, which probably could seat at least 50+ patrons at any given time.  If this were a local place for me, I definitely could see coming here for a game or just popping in for a pint anytime.  For those that do not know, my philosophy when going to a brewpub is ‘go for the goodies’ meaning one-offs, rarities or exclusives.  In keep with said philosophy, here is what I bellied up (or down really) to:

(Note: someone asked me why I didn’t give a little background on the beers…I was posting links of the beer but apparently that wasn’t what they were looking for, so enjoy)

• DuClaw Brewing Naked Fish ~ Fruit Beer ~ 4.6% ABV ~ 3.5 /5 Rating (was an American stout brewed with gourmet raspberry chocolate flavored coffee)
• DuClaw Brewing Misery ~ Wheat Wine ~ 10.0% ABV ~ 4.0 /5 Rating (a full bodied wheat wine with some hops added)
• DuClaw Brewing Bourbon Barrel Devil’s Milk ~ 10.6% ABV ~ Barley Wine ~ 4.0 /5 Rating (standard barley wine aged on Heaven Hill Bourbon Barrels)

I really liked DuClaw and if I am ever stuck in the Baltimore area again for work, would definitely hit up again.  I didn’t get anything to eat while I was there but they had a full menu and the food didn’t look bad as the bartenders were walking it out to patrons in front of me.

Like most of my craft beer brothers, I too am guilty of something…..being an Untappd whore.  While most of them state they are not, it is crap because it is a great tool to see what your friends are drinking.  I have been called Eliteist by several of friends because I don’t Accept every Untappd invitation but then again, if I have never met you before, then why do I care what you are drinking.  I really do reserve my friends list for drinking buddies and trading partners only.  But, with that being said, none of them have ever reached the Level Two badge for Hotel Hopper.  Since I am in a perfect position to reach Level Ten potentially, I started bringing beer with me on the road (sometimes out of necessity) to get those hotel ticks.  After leaving DuClaw, I headed to the hotel for some work clean up activity and to relax…while there, I sampled this suitcase whale:

• Karbach Brewing Mother-In-Lager ~ Dunkel ~ 5.8% ABV ~ 3.2 /5 Rating (standard American made dunkel)

After bullshiting in the hotel room, I had to get out, even if for a little while because I was hungry and was sick of being in the hotel room (did enough of that the previous week), so I looked up several highly rated places and decided to settle on Frisco Taphouse and Brewery.  To my surprise when I arrived was that it was an actual brewery too….although the name I listed does say AND BREWERY, every place I looked at reviews only had listed as Frisco Taphouse.  Surprise!!!

From what I could gather about Frisco Taphouse AND BREWERY was that it opened sometime in 2005 and recently moved to this new location within the last 12 months and opened up Push Brewing along with the new location.  The place is great with some really high spacious ceilings, brewiana all over the walls, a nice sized bar that can hold about 25 patrons, tables all around and couches along several walls.  Huge TVs behind the bar area and a small, enclosed brewing facility up by the front windows.  I ordered a Buffalo Meat burger with rice and it was cooked very well but the rice was bland (like rice….go figure).  Frisco offered 50 taps which included several selections from Push Brewing, along with a nice sized bottle collection to pull form too.  Here is what I pulled…

• Perennial Brewing Pommel Bier ~ Belgian Pale Ale ~ 5.9% ABV ~ 3.6 /5 Rating (Belgian Pale Ale made North American Malts, Pacific Northwest Hops and Belgian Yeast)
• Push Brewing / Flying Dog White Devil, White Devil ~ White IPA ~ 6.66% ABV ~ 3.8 /5 Rating (a collaboration between Push Brewing and Flying Dog Brewing, a White IPA using the same yeast strain as Flying Dogs Raging Bitch)
• Push Brewing / Boulevard Brewing Mark of the Beast ~ Pumpkin Ale ~ 7.3% ~ 3.8 /5 Rating (standard pumpkin ale but with a grainy/cereal malt backbone)

Again, another solid find and a place that I would definitely revisit again the next time I was back in the area, close to BWI airport.

The next day, after another very long day of work, it was time to revisit the beginning of where craft beer really began to blossom for me.  Thankfully my next stop was on my way towards my hotel for the evening, in a small town in lower Delaware…Dogfish Head.  It has literally been a full decade since the last time I stepped through the front door of Dogfish Head Brewing & Eats (their brewpub, not to be confused with the production brewery in Milton DE)…and the place hasn’t changed once bit.  It still had the tight, comfortable feel to it, brewiana all over the walls, small bar that hold 15-16 patrons, nothing flashy…just traditional old time brewpub.  As Dogfish Heads slogan is…Off Centered Ales for Off Centered People, that is exactly what their brewpub exclusive beers have always been it seems (and still is to this day…)

• Dogfish Head (Province Ales) Wild Carrot Seed Ale ~ Spiced / Herb Ale ~ 5.2% ABV ~ 3.4 /5 Rating (um…it tasted like dirty carrots and seeds, not much more to say)
• Dogfish Head Raw Creation ~ Spiced / Herb Ale ~ 9.1% ABV ~ 3.2 /5 Rating (collaborative effort between Dogfish Head and D.C. based Gouter, producer of raw, organic tonics and cleanses.  For this beer we decided to go with a Midas Touch recipe base sans saffron (same grain bill, honey, and white Muscat grape juice) combined with Gouter’s Hydrate Tonic, made from Lemon, Cayenne Pepper, Coconut Nectar, Cucumber, and Lemongrass)
• Dogfish Head Just Richard ~ Old Ale ~ 7.9% ABV ~ 3.6 /5 Rating (Spotted Dick is actually a traditional English dessert, not terribly common here across The Pond.  A spiced bread pudding with raisins, the dessert actually compliments the malty stone fruit flavors of the pale ale and caramel malts, as well as the roasty nutty character added by the roasted Chestnuts.  Originally this beer had a much more suggestive name for fun with our co-workers, but for the sake of staying light hearted, we decided we’d go with Just Richard for the wide release)

While it was great to revisit this place again, especially with the large gap in time between visits, it is more of a tourist trap now.  Other than the three beers I drank this evening, it is all offerings that you can pick up at most corner grocery stores now.  Enough Said.

Again, another hotel, another hotel tick for Untappd…

• La Cumbre Brewing Elevated IPA ~ American IPA ~ 7.2% ABV ~ 4.1 /5 Rating (solid citrus, piney IPA with great hop and malt balance)

So while I was stuck in a heavy tourist town for the night, it is quite dead on a Tuesday Night…in February.  I am sure that every night during the summer, it is slamming with people up and down the main drag…but when the snow is falling and the beaches are a little cold, dead as a doornail.  While this next place wasn’t the closest to me, it seemed to have had the most solid line up of all the breweries in the Delmarva region (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia peninsula).

Burley Oak Brewery was opened several years ago with the premise of using local ingredients, coupled with traditional and new brewing practices.  The name of the brewery was interesting enough with BURLEY coming from the land originally named BURLEY PLANTATION back from the 1790s and OAK coming the building itself, originally built as a Cooperage – oak barrel maker.  If they are taking that kind of care with just the name of the place, you can only imagine what they were doing with their beers…and they did not disappoint me one bit…

• Burley Oak Brewery Sour Trip ~ Berliner Weiss ~ 4.0% ABV ~ 3.6 /5 Rating (a nice basic lemon and wheat flavored Berliner)
• Burley Oak Brewery Tart Attack ~ American Wild Ale ~ 6.5% ABV ~ 4.3 /5 Rating (a solid dark red sour ale with an outstanding tart fruit backbone)
• Burley Oak Brewery Aboriginal Gangster ~ American IPA ~ 6.5% ABV ~ 3.6 /5 Rating (an American IPA made with New Zealand Hops)

I was really happy to have found this place and was kind of saddened that I didn’t have more time to spend here.  If I ever get back to this side of the state of Maryland again, definitely a must stop.