Why Is There Beer? beer tasting

The latest tasting at the Brickskeller was different than their normal affair. Instead of having one or more brewers come and speak about their wares they had a few folks from the industry on the panel to discuss any and all things beer. Bob Tupper hosted the event as usual. Everyone has been expecting his Tupper’s Hop Pocket Ale and Pilsner ever since he announced his partnership with St George’s Brewing. He said that after many many delays he was promised that the beer would start to brew this Tuesday. He also said that he hopes to brew other kinds of beer including possibly a wet hopped beer. The other panelists included Larry Robinson of Chevy Chase Liquors, Greg Kitsock the writer, Bill Catron a distributor, and Dave Alexander himself the owner of the Brickskeller and RFD. I took Judy for her first true beer tasting.

They each picked a couple beers for a total of ten. Four I had in my fridge at the time (but are of course favorites of mine), a couple I was unfamiliar with, and two more were aged. The list:

• Williams Brothers – Grozet 5%
• Rodenbach - Red Ale 5%
• St Louis – Gueuze Fond Tradition 5%
• Sierra Nevada – Harvest Wet Hop Ale 6.7%
• Victory – Wild Devil Ale 6.7%
• Anchor – Old Foghorn ’97 or ’95 8.8%
• Thomas Hardy 2005 11.7%
• Dogfish Head – Burton Baton 10%
• Stone – Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale 8.7%
• Founder’s – Breakfast Stout 8.3%

The Grozet was an interesting beer made with gooseberries and wheat. It was rather light; not too much of the Scottish flavors. I didn’t think it was much to write home about.

The Rodenbach was interesting. It is a red Flemish ale and had that sour cherry flavor. It wasn’t too sour; it was drinkable. The Red that we had is a blend of 25% old and 75% young. I guess the Grand Cru is a 33/66 ratio. Rodenbach has managed to keep its lineage of family owners throughout the generations.

The St Louis Gueuze was another Belgian style. I’ve had other lambics but I don’t think I’ve had much gueuze. It was pretty good and well balanced. Apparently this beer was a blend of one year and two year aged beer. Five kegs of this made it to the US.

The Sierra Nevada Harvest Wet Hop Ale is a familiar one. I just drank one from the store and have another in my fridge. This keg was much better than my bottles though. The bottle was starting to taste more like a traditional IPA whereas this keg had much more of that floral hoppy taste and aroma.

The Victory Wild Devil is one of the four beers in my fridge but the only one I have yet to try. I was quite pleased. Apparently this is a mix between a lambic and an IPA. They took their Hop Devil and added a Belgian yeast. It has a nice balance; it is not very sour. They paired the wild yeast flavor with the hops pretty well. I’ll have to go home and drink my bottle soon.

The Anchor Old Foghorn was either from 1997 or 1995. Apparently the Brickskeller cellar notes aren’t too complete from that time period. I’m not a big barley wine fan but this was pretty good. I’m sure the aging helped mellow it out a bit. I’ve never had a recent Old Foghorn so I can’t compare but I may need to buy some and stash them away for a decade.

The Thomas Hardy 2005 was interesting to taste because I’ve had the Thomas Hardy 1988 at a previous tasting. It had that syrupy rich taste but not as deep as the 1988. Judy gave most of her sample to me and I didn’t complain. I liked the Old Foghorn better but this was definitely a complex beer.

Dogfish Head Burton Baton is a favorite of mine. The panel really enjoyed this beer as well. They all felt it had some of the best aromas of any beer. The Burton Baton is pretty expensive at about $4 a 12 ounce. Although a lot of the beers we had are expensive. The Burton Baton is their 90 Minute IPA blended with an oak aged strong ale. A great beer.

Stone’s Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale is right at the top of my favorites with the Burton Baton. This is the same recipe as their 11th Anniversary Ale but they got such great feedback they are now brewing it whenever they have the time and ingredients. This is a wonderful hoppy black beer. I wish the panel would have talked more about this one.

The last beer was Founder’s Breakfast Stout. This was definitely a robust coffee flavored stout. As usual by the time they got to the last beer people were heading out the door because of the long event. They didn’t talk about the beers as much as they told stories. It was an interesting night. I could have listened to Bob, Bill, and Dave all night. They had to pull the words out of Larry’s mouth and Greg isn’t his best in front of crowds. They were a knowledgeable group though with a lot of experience and insight.

Smuttynose Beer Dinner

Last month was the Oktoberfest beer dinner and this month at Pizzeria Paradiso was an Autumn Smuttynose dinner. I took Sarah to her first beer dinner and it turned out pretty well. I’m starting to get spoiled and remember a few of their extra delicious pairings from the many dinners I’ve enjoyed. Now if it’s not an over the top taste bud sensation I’m almost disappointed. This was a good dinner though. The brewer was in attendance and speaking about his beers which is better than the usual regional rep. Maybe I wasn’t blown away by the beers.

We sat with an interesting tall character with blond hair parted down the middle and almost in his eyes. He met his quite friend at some odd neighborhood dog/drink street gathering that has been going on for years. The other two were a young couple at their first beer dinner who liked the restaurant and didn’t know anything about beer. The tall old blond dude kept the table high in group sprits. The menu:

Sweet Potato Coffee

Robust Porter 5.7%

Spinach, Artichoke, Olive Salad

w/ Farmhouse Lemon Dressing

Farmhouse Ale 7.5%

Salmon Pastrami

IPA “Finest Kind” 6.9%

Pumpkin Pesto, Pancetta, Parmesan Pizza

Pumpkin Ale 6%

Old Brown Tomato Sauce, Fontina, Gorgonzola, Roasted Garlic, Cherry Tomatoes, Thyme, Oregano Pizza

Old Brown Dog 6.7%

Autumn Pound Cake

Baltic Porter 8.7%

The first course, “the bite”, isn’t sweet potato coffee it’s coffee sweet potato. And I didn’t taste much coffee. Everyone seemed to like it though as long as they only had a bite. And everyone liked the Robust Porter. It was an interesting start.

The salad dressing was a lot of lemon but I liked it with the Farmhouse Ale. The dressing was made with the ale but it was pretty much all lemon. There was a lot of artichoke which was good but I would have liked more spinach.

Everyone was curious about the salmon pastrami. It came out as two peppered strips on toasted bread with a cream cheese made with the IPA. It was quite good. The table wasn’t so much a fan of the IPA as I was but the appetizer was given the thumbs up. The salmon pastrami and cream cheese on toasted bread was delicious.

The first pizza was interesting, almost a little dry with just the pesto, but still pretty good. The pesto was made with a lot of pumpkin but I didn’t taste it. The Pancetta and toasted parmesan was good with the Pumpkin Ale. The brewer said he likes his beer tasting like beer with the spices kept subtle which was good to hear. The Pumpkin Ale was good but I think it was the only pumpkin beer I’ve had this year other than the 1 yr old Dogfish Head Pumpkin Ale.

The second pizza was pretty good looking to the table. I sent a MMS to Teri as she is a pizza lover. This was a cheesy creamy pizza. Greg the beer guy said he wanted a creamy pizza to go with the Old Brown Dog. It was too cheesy to eat with your fingers. It was a lot better than I thought though not being a fan of an overly cheesy pizza. I ate more than one piece. The Old Brown Dog was not as robust as I’m used to. The brewer said it was a good session beer. He also said he was told to brew Really Old Brown Dog as they had the idea and the label ready to go. He said that one was very malty, which I liked, and this next one will be more of a Barley Wine, which is not my favorite style. Apparently they sorta skipped 2009 and will brew it next year.

The Autumn Pound Cake was good. And of course not just a pound cake. There was some super thick rich chocolate/maple sauce on top as well as roasted apples. It was quite good. Of course by the time you get to the deserts they always taste damn good. The Baltic Porter was much different than the Robust Porter. That is all I can say.

gypsy jazz

A nice hotel downtown has been putting on a jazz series and lately they have been doing a tribute to Django Reinhardt. Django is a favorite of mine so I’ve been meaning to check it out. The guy I really wanted to see as part of this tribute series was Frank Vignola but I missed his shows. This other band, Harmonious Wail, was playing and Kirby said she would go with me. They are an interesting group from Wisconsin.

After some Thaitanic we headed to the hotel for the show. The Madison is a very nice hotel; recently renovated I think. The band was playing in the back of the restaurant. The band came on after we sat in our assigned seats and ordered a drink. The woman vocalist had a great voice. She played percussion on a Smirnoff box and mixed in some scat. One guy kept switching between guitar, mandolin, ukulele, and an acoustic four string. They also had another guitarist that played some good lead. A rhythm guitarist appeared to be on loan. The double bass player was pretty good and had some great moves as all stand up bass players should. They played their own folksy style of jazz but there were a few good gypsy jazz songs. I would have preferred more of the gypsy jazz but overall it was a good show.

It was nice to see Kirby for the first time since she came back from Colombia. She will be her usual self and pop in and out when she feels she has time.

Robert Earl Keen & Friends

Sarah mentioned her favorite singer, Robert Earl Keen, was coming to the Birchmere. Even though it was country, being the music guy that I am I volunteered to take her if she couldn’t drag any friends along. I noticed the tickets weren’t cheap and commented to her that being a popular show tickets could go quick. Sure enough a few days later it was sold out. So I took it upon myself to check Craigslist. I saw two posts asking for tickets but no one was selling tickets. Later that night I happened to see an ad about 15 minutes after it was posted and emailed the guy. He was offering two tickets at face value. I quickly claimed them and then teased Sarah before letting her know she was going to see her favorite man.

We got there right after 7:00 and the parking lot was full. We found some good seats at my usual spot on stage left. Apparently he normally plays with a band but tonight he was with Bruce Robinson and Todd Snider. Robert came out first and said that the three of them will each play a few songs solo and then come out together for the second set. It was interesting that Robert played first. The crowd was happy with his choice of songs. Bruce Robison was pretty good as well. These guys are definitely song writers as opposed to just some guy that looks good and can sing. Todd Snider was probably my favorite. He came out for his solo set in bare feet. He was also the only one with a roadie taking care of him. Todd reminded me a bit of Bob Dylan with his song writing and his harmonica playing. He was a funny guy and had the crowd going on a few of his songs. He had a bit of the Arlo Guthrie thing going on too with his story telling songs.

They played together after the set break but they really didn’t play together. The three of them sat together on stage but they took turns playing their own songs. Maybe they don’t normally play together or something. It appeared they wanted to try to join in with whoever was singing but they didn’t want to ruin the song having not rehearsed it together. So they just took turns singing songs while the other two sat and watched. It would have been nice had they played all together.

I’m not a fan of country but I enjoyed the show. They were all good song writers. No flashy pickin’ but apparently the words fit together well. I could be convinced to go again with good reason. Sarah was happy and enjoyed the show.

rockin’ out at IOTA

There were a few shows at IOTA in the last week.

Last Friday Sarah and I went to IOTA to see Down Dexter. We had nothing else going on and the alternative, Bill Frisell at the Kennedy Center, didn’t seem like it would live up to my Friday night expectations. The previous week we hit the comedy show at Listrani’s. That was pretty much a bomb. The first comedian was wasted and the second one joked about how pathetic it was to perform for us. This week we decided to check out some music. After some dinner we headed over to IOTA and walked in around 10:30. The place was full as usual and it appeared as if the lead singer had some friends and family in the crowd. They only played for another hour or so and the show was over.

I missed The Brew and The Heavy Pets on Sunday. Lee wasn’t feel well.

On Tuesday somehow I dragged some coworkers to see Trampled By Turtles. I was out at happy hour with Lewis and Teri at some new place Sonny took us called Eat Bar. After a few drinks and some food Teri convinced the crew to go see the band I was interested in. Of course they forgot between all the drinks that it was a bluegrass band. They still paid the $12 cover (except for Sonny) and came in. I asked the doorman about the show I missed on Sunday and the guy gave me a CD of The Brew. Inside I got beers for the group. Sonny and Lewis were a bit bored. They also felt a bit in the minority but I did point out a few other non-whities. Teri seemed to be enjoying herself which I’m sure was due to the drinks involved. The three of them left after a few songs. I hung out for the last jam. It was a decent band. Not nearly as intense as the Stringdusters but they got it going during a few songs.

Caps pull through

I hit my first game of the year on Saturday and the Caps almost gave away another win. I got tickets through some scalper guy who has multiple tickets to games for multiple sports. I found him on Craigslist while looking for Widespread/Allman Brothers tickets. I got two club level seats for Teri and I at $75 each which is a great deal. I dig the club level with its plush carpet and shorter beer and bathroom lines.

The Caps started the season off well in preseason and their first couple games. Then they lost four times usually giving up an early lead. On Thursday they kicked some butt against the Sharks. And they started off Saturday’s game well being up 2-0 after the first period. It was usually territory though and their defense was yet to be trusted. The Predators came back with two goals of their own. The five minute overtime failed to produce a winner so they went to the shootout. Ovie, who had the first two goals, got one past the goalie and the Caps walked away with a win. It was drama but they came through.

another weekend in DC; another protest

A ton of people showed up downtown for the National Equality March yesterday. It was a nice day and I rode my bike down to check things out. The march was supposed to start at noon and I showed up a bit before 1:00 at the corner of 17th and Pennsylvania Ave where the march was turning to go past the White House. The route was closed to traffic and the marchers took up the whole width of the street zigzagging around the block in both directions. I started to take some pics and videos of the amusing signs and characters while the protesters kept coming and coming. They were organized in to groups. Other than a ton of general sounding GLBT groups there were catholic church chapters, groups from each state, and even “Teabaggers for Gay Rights”. They continued to stream past for at least an hour.

Once the last of the protesters came by I cruised over to the capitol area to try to catch the beginning of the march. On the way I spotted the Playgirl van. The march was so big that half of the protesters were already forming on the Capitol grounds when I got there and I was resigned to watch the second half of the march again. They had a speaker near the west steps of the Capitol and the Capitol grounds were already mostly full. I saw some religious freak driving a box truck covered with anti-gay slogans around the mall. I followed him for a block to see the reaction of protesters but since he couldn’t get near the parade route not many saw him. The few that did see him waved hello.

I rode around the Capitol and decided to grab some ful at Keren. Along the way I noticed the Breast Cancer Walk participants in pink who were outnumbered in DC probably 1000 to 1 by the gays.

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