Mad Fox Barleywine Festival

My favorite local brewpub hosted a Barleywine beer festival all day Saturday and Sunday. Bill Madden usually only sells his own beers at his brewpub but this weekend he is opening his taps to some fine beers from near and far. Teri and I got there with perfect timing. The place was full around 2:30 with a 20 minute wait for a table so while on the wait list we wandered to the bar. There were some beer geeks that I recognized. I had already seen some tweets from folks who arrived before me. Even though the place was full with people standing around Teri and I managed to get two seats at the bar. We canceled our table reservation and settled in at the bar among all the other folks there to get a taste of some new beers. Other than their normal line up of Mad Fox beers they had 11 Barleywines from all over. Then at 3:00 they switched over to 11 different Barleywines. They served 4 oz glasses for $3 and we were able to sample beers from both sessions. Beers sampled...

• Brooklyn Monster 2010 and 2007
• DuClaw Devils Milk regular and aged in Jack Daniels Barrels
• Lagunitas Olde Gnarleywine
• Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Jack & Ken's
• Victory Old Horizontal
• Avery Hog Heaven
• Bearded Pat's Barleywine
• Climax Barleywine-Style Ale
• Duck-Rabbit Barleywine
• Mad Fox Wheat Wacker
• Weyerbacher Insanity
• Insanity Grand Illusion
• Mad Fox slobberknocker on cask
• Mad Fox Wee Heavy on cask (half pint)

The Brooklyn Monster was my favorite. It was simple, not over powering, and for some reason hit me just right. The 2007 was a slightly fiery example of the 2010. The 2010 was almost too drinkable thinking back on it.

The DuClaw Devils Milk was hard not to like with the brewer sitting next to me. He said the barrel version was aged for about 5.5 weeks.

The Old Gnarleywine had that distinctive Lagunitas flavor which I enjoy.

Bill's Slobberknocker on cask was better than expected.

Barleywines average around 9% or 10% alcohol so we were feeling good after those tastings. Sitting next to us was the brewer from DuClaw. I asked lots of questions and we talked about getting barrels from Jack Daniels, distribution, brewery vs bottling ratio, the growing craft brewery market, and others. Teri and I had the pulled big sandwich from a whole pig they grilled up that day. It had a light vinger sauce which isn't my favorite but I really enjoyed the sandwich. I talked to the co-brewer Charlie for a bit as he was running around switching the taps. He said they were out of my favorite Orange Whip because they couldn't find any citrus hops. I could tell from what he said and from what others said that it is a popular beer. I was dissapointed that it was no longer available but still filled my growler with some of their Saison. On the way out a Girl Scout and her mom were selling cookies. After passing them we reversed, parked, and stocked up on the first round of Girl Scout cookies for the year. $4 this year! I remember when they were $2.50.

Galactic w/ Cyril Neville and Corey Henry again

pic by: TheWestcott

Galactic was at the 9:30 Club again with Cyril Neville of the Neville Brothers and Corey Henry from the Rebirth Brass Band. Teri and I arrived about 20 minutes late. Being Friday I have a late afternoon meeting with the client in which Robie and I mostly finished a growler of Flying Dog limited release Irish Red. It was a full crowd when we did arrived. They had a backdrop with the words "Ya Ka May". It was a good show with some good grooves and solos. I recognize less and less songs from them these days. They played straight through with no break. There was a bass solo before Stanton did his thing on drums. Their guests stayed on the stage for most of the show then left for the final jams before all coming out at the end. I like how the band is playing these days, similar to their original style, compared to the harder hip-hop type stuff they were doing a few years ago. We had to walk a few blocks in the drizzle to find a cab but it wasn't too bad. It was a fun night.

changin' it up

The blog has been the same default colors since the beginning of time. I think I'll change up the colors and theme on occasion.

Jason Alstrom likes my fridge

Jason Alstrom, founder of one of the biggest beer websites there is, tweeted a pic of a fridge full of beer so I replied with a pic of mine.

JasonAlstrom: Wow ... RT @SlopeSurfer: my #beer stock goo.gl/gXBw8 http://twitpic.com/419lq1 --http://twitter.com/JasonAlstrom/status/38800115368075264

Tea Leaf Green

Teri and went to check out Tea Leaf Green at the 9:30 Club. I haven't seen them in a long time and really wasn't all that impressed the last time I saw them. I decided to check them out again for something to do on a Friday night. When we first walked in I didn't recognize them with their former lead guitarist and singer gone. I only recognized a song or two. The place was pretty full. They played well but it wasn't the great jams I remember from them years ago.

my second basketball game

I went to my second Wizards game and my second professional basketball game last night. My first game was with a coworker from Convista who was dating a Wizards cheerleader. We got 400 level tickets but with only 200 people in the stadium we were able to walk down to the 15th row of the lower level. This game was a bit different. My company got nice seats to a few games with the intent of giving them to business partners and the like. Apparently there was no one to give them away to as Woody, Robie, and myself sat at about 15th row or so. They were playing the Phoenix Suns. John McCain was there routing his home state. They did a quick interview with him between quarters. We also saw Wolf Blitzer and Juan William (the guy fired from NPR). I think the Wizards lost.

Terrapin Beer Dinner @ Fire Works

Fire Works' first real beer dinner was based around the Terrapin Brewery in Athens, GA. There were open tables in the back room and we counted only about 20 people. The Fire Works beer manager and the local Terrapin rep were on hand to discuss the food and drink. Teri brought along her brother, JR, and her mom who was in town for work. It was their first beer dinner. Teri's mom had her first beer tasting with us and we also took her cousin to his first beer dinner.

They did a pretty good job with this meal but the quantity of beer was a bit low. The menu:

Chicken in Saffron Spinach Ravioli

Ginger tomato sauce, fried leek

Rye Pale Ale

Local Butter Lettuce, Gorgonzola, Walnut Flat Bread

Greek vinaigrette

Hopsecutioner IPA

Shrimp & Tasso Risotto

Black butter

Tomfoolery Black Saison

Sticky Duck Leg

Maple sweet potatoes

Wake 'n Bake Coffee Oatmeal Stout

Wake 'n Bake Stout Cheesecake

Espresso custard sauce, coffee almond coffee

Moohoo Chocolate Milk Stout

Even though we felt the amount of beverage served with each course was light they did give us a full pint of Golden Ale before the dinner started. They served this in a Terrapin glass which we got to take home.

The Tomfoolery Black Saison was served from a cask and it was the first time served outside of the brewery.

The Sticky Duck Leg (which was quite good) came with their Wake 'n Bake Coffee Oatmeal Stout. You won't find Wake 'n Bake on the label though because the feds didn't like that name.

They served us an after dinner beer from their special Georgia Theatre series called Double Feature. It's a Belgian-style Dubbel Ale that comes in 22oz bombers.

One of the questions asked to the brewery rep was about the name and he confirmed that the owners are Grateful Dead fans.