Great Lakes Brewery Dinner

Great Lakes recently started distributing in the DC area and it was my first brewery I visited I think on Phish tour back in the 90's. During the brewery tour they did a comparison with the same beer at different temperatures. One was on ice and the other was at proper serving temperature. Of course you could taste a lot more flavors in the beer that wasn't ice cold. It is nice to see their beers locally. Pizzeria Paradiso hosted a Great Lakes Brewery dinner shortly after the beer became available in DC.

Monster Popcorn
Popcorn w/ Caraway, Fennel, Celery Seed, Salt, Black Pepper, Parmesan
Lake Erie Monster IIPA

Rustic Antipasto Plate
Spanish Mahon, Cured Speck, Tomato White Bean Basil Salad
Burning River Pale Ale

The Red Sea Pasta Salad
Shrimp, Cerignola Olive, Lemon Campanelle Salad
Holy Moses White Ale

Prohibition Pepperoni Pie
Pepperoni, Mozzarella, Fontina, Tomato Sauce cooked w/ Garlic, Onions, Oregano, Thyme & Eliot Ness
Eliot Ness Amber Lager

Perry Commo - dore Sings w/ Ewe Calzone
Vidalia Onion, Roasted Mushroom, Ricotta, Ewe's Blue
Commodore Perry IPA

The Voyage of the Oatmeal Fitzgerald
Lemon, Espresso Oatmeal Pudding, Served w/ a Candied Lemon Oatmeal Cookie
Edmund Fitzgerald Porter
The brewery rep said this version of the Lake Erie Monster was the junior version. It was about 8.5% ABV and 70 IBU now and should be about 9.2% ABV and 80 IBU when it is served to the public in May.

The Burning River Pale Ale was tasty. It is close to an IPA with a citrus NW hop flavor. It is not so bitter from the late hop addition.

Nothing spectacular with the Holy Moses but was an easy drinking white.

The Eliot Ness Amber was more malty than most which I think I like. This was 6.2% ABV and 30 IBU.

The Commodore Perry IPA was up at 7.5% and had a good classic nice hop taste. It was either the brewery rep or Greg that said they wanted to pair this with the special blue cheese used on the pizza.

The Edmund Fitzgerald was a drinkable Porter but that is a common problem at the end of a beer dinner/tasting. It wasn't my favorite beer dinner but it had some good tastes and it was nice to go sample the Great Lakes line again.

WBF Raleigh

Time keeps going by quicker and the next beerfest is always around the corner. It's spring and time for the World Beer Festival in Raleigh. Mark and Michelle didn't make it this time. Teri and I drove down together. We hit the evening session which I don't think is our normal pattern for the Raleigh event. We met Jeff Carr and Steve before the festival. They were in town for the Widespread Panic concerts.

It almost rained but it turned out to be just a sprinkle. I brought some hard pretzels but holy cow I must be absolutely wasted when we go to Flying Saucer and order those pretzels because I forgot all about them. They are the best pretzels on Earth.

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Beth's pics

Ovie puck

Teri and I went to watch game 4 of the first round of the playoffs at the official Caps viewing party. I've never been to the Union Jacks, didn't even know it was there, but the place is big. We figured it will fill up fast and got there as quickly as we could after work. And the place was empty. For a little bit at least. I was surprised how long it took but by game time every seat was taken and there was little room to stand near the bars. It was a sea of red. Teri and I were one of the few people not wearing red.

The audio absolutely sucked but we had seats, a view, and the crowd was pumped. They gave away raffle tickets and had prizes. The Washington Freedom were there but I didn't see them unfortunately. They gave away tickets to round two. Had we only known at the time how worthless they would be. I got lucky and won a puck signed by the Great 8 himself. Maybe some day I will display it next to the chipped game puck I got years ago.

rare Brooklyn Brewery casks

ChurchKey has been having a bunch of nice rare cask tappings. The had the head brewer of Brooklyn Brewery in for a beer dinner and he brought five rare Brooklyn casks down with him. I wasn't able to get tickets to the dinner but had to go sample one or two of those casks. Teri and I went after work. I spotted Garrett Oliver hanging with the beer manager Greg near the bar before they started their dinner. Once the dinner started Teri and I were able to get a seat at the end of the bar.

The first beer I tried was the Dark Matter. It was great. It is a strong brown ale aged in bourbon and whiskey barrels. You could really smell the liquor but it didn't have an overpowering taste. A great beer to sip in the evening.

Teri got the Sabroso Ale and it was also excellent. I was really loving that beer on cask. I could drink a lot of that. I ordered one after the Dark Matter. We had a sample of the Cookie Jar Porter but it wasn't anything either of us were in the mood for at the time. After a couple appetizers we took off to watch the Caps in round one of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Description of the five Brooklyn beers...

5 Ultra Rare Cask Ales From Brooklyn Brewery

Brooklyn Sabroso Ale: Garrett graciously casked this brew for our event and this is the first time it has made an appearance in the DC area (it is brewed primarily for Danny Meyer's NYC taco bar, El Verano). A refreshing Blonde Ale, with nice hoppy notes (as it is dry-hopped w/ Simcoe) and a touch of citrus (from the addition of orange peels).

Brooklyn Cookie Jar Porter: For those who you who have bemoaned the limited, one-off aspect of Brooklyn's Brewmaster's Reserve Series, here is a cask version of something we thought we wouldn't see anytime soon. Some call this an oatmeal cookie in a glass, and rightfully so. It is a rich Porter with a touch of roast, brewed with golden oats for a silky texture. Raisins, brown sugar, honey, vanilla-beans and a dash of spice all further the complexity of deliciousness!

Brooklyn Dark Matter: Not only is this the most recent Brewmaster's Reserve release, and one of the best yet, but it is unprecedented to see this on CASK!. This is a strong Brown Ale aged in both Bourbon and Rye Whiskey barrels then blended to taste. Sweet Bourbon notes mingle with spicy Rye, and all is balanced by the caramel richness of oak.

Brooklyn East India Pale Ale: A take on the classic IPAs of England, this brew is a golden hue from choice English malt, and has big hop aromas of lemongrass, pine and citrus. Robustly bitter, with a warming malt palate, and a clean hoppy finish.

Brooklyn Best Bitter: This is the cask version of Brooklyn's ever-popular Pennant Pale Ale. It is honey-colored, with a brisk, malty taste, and a nicely balanced hop character. Brewed from Scottish Maris Otter malt, this ale shows biscuity and toasted notes as well as a round smoothness.

Billy Goat trail

Since we failed to trek the trail on our last trip Teri and I made a second attempt. This time it was open. Being one of the first nice weekends of the year there were lots of people out. The most crowded I've seen the trail actually. It wasn't horrible though and we were able to maintain our own pace. Just like last time the water was quite high. I recorded the GIS data from the hike on my phone but for some reason the file won't upload to my Garmin Connect account. We saw lots of kayakers and rock climbers. We also saw 17 turtles all hanging out together; with 15 on the same two logs.

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