On Sunday, May 24, we were in the `Cuse visiting my parents. Dad wanted to treat us to a night out — first we were going to go to Dinosaur BBQ, but the wait was an hour. Then on to the Clam Bar, which was closed. Then we went back to the city, in search of salvation from Empire Brewing Co. No dice…they were also closed the day before Memorial Day. So what to do? We checked out Syracuse Suds Factory, on the corner of Walton and Clinton!

I started my evening with the Black Cherry Lambic, which was as black as my soul and just as delicious. According to the brewpub’s Web site:

Based on a wheat ale, our variation of this unsual product of Belgin origins is made with pale and wheat malts, fuggles and cascade hops. It is fermented with a mixed strain yeast culture and abundance of black Bing cherries to produce a slightly tart and refreshing fruit character. Unfined, unfiltered and naturally aged for at least 1 1/2 months.

I can’t remember what Ray ordered first, but he finished the evening with the Sweet Stout, which he was immensely impressed with. My mom ordered a club sandwich, while the rest of us got an over-the-top rib melt. Definitely good pub food.

The next day, Memorial Day, we bid CNY adieu, packed up the car and trekked along I-90 towards my beloved Ra-cha-cha (or Rochester to you normal folks). I spent 4 years in the greater Rochester area, going to school at my dad’s alma mater, SUNY Brockport. So, quite frankly, I know the Thruway like the back of my hand and chose to drive, that way Ray could enjoy the scenery.

Though it’s not beer related, we went to Aladdin’s for dinner (I spent many an evening here in undergrad), where Ray paired an Anchor Steam with his pasta, and I enjoyed my first glass of Beaujolais. Then on to my favorite coffee shops of all time, Java’s and Spot Coffee. Located roughly a block or so from each other, they make for a great evening of coffee-sipping, dessert-eating, people-watching.

On Tuesday we headed out to Rohrbach Brewing Company’s restaurant/brewery location (they have a commercial brewery in Rochester as well). Starting off, we ordered a sampler of beers. Unfortunately, we weren’t very impressed with the Belgian Tripel, and the South Wedge Summer Wheat was so-so. The Magnum 44 double IPA was pretty good, but not what we thought a DIPA should really taste like. We did, however, thoroughly enjoy the Bluebeary Ale, which got the blueberry right on aroma and flavor. It was quite refreshing.

I also had a Vanilla Porter, but I think the beer that took the cake (or perhaps took the keg) for both of us was Rohrbach’s Red Wing Red Ale. This beer is brewed specially for the Triple A baseball farm team of the Minnesota Twins, the Rochester Red Wings. Ray and I were completely taken aback at how good this red ale was!

Brewery tours were not available at either location that day, but we did get a chance to talk to brewer Mitch LaGoy after we finished lunch. Mitch was plenty willing to talk about his brews, give his opinions on some of the beers brewed before he came on, and talk about some of his ideas for beers down the road — can we say watermelon wheat?

Mitch also told us about the Rye Pilsner he brewed recently and was kind enough to get us a sample. The both of us were very impressed … the rye was prominent, but it was most definitely a pilsner. He used Saaz hops, and brewed in the Czechoslovakian style — think Pilsner Urquell, but better.

Mitch was a very friendly guy, but there was just something about him that we wouldn’t put our finger on. And then Ray asked how old he was.

“I’m 21,” he said with a grin, making us both feel positively ancient.

Mitch got his start homebrewing at age 19, and 2 years later it’s his passion and career. On top of brewing for Rohrbach, Mitch is also getting his degree AND looking to get some brewing certification. Nice work kid!

Unfortunately, Ray decided to order the “Rohrbach Plate” for lunch. For those of you from Western NY (WNY), you know this as the “garbage plate.” The menu describes it as “our juicy 1/2 pound cheesburger … cooked to your liking, placed on a bed of mac salad and beer battered fried topped with raw onion and our house hot sauce…”

I would describe it as cardiac arrest.

To see how Ray fared, come back next week as we make our way down to B’flo where bison roam and “pop” is king.

Breweries, Brewpubs, Craft Beer, Miscellany 2 Comments »

On Saturday, May 23, Ray and I headed out bright and early with a cup of coffee and a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich from the Delran Coffee Shop. We were on a mission: 4 breweries in 9 days, culminating in a graduation party/Ward family reunion. This would also be the first time Ray met most of my family, which consists of about 20 people. Needless to say, Ray did survive the Ward-Wilson-McDonald meet-up, and enjoyed himself. But he can tell you more about that.

Our trip began in Ithaca, where we first stopped at Ithaca Beer Company. On the outskirts of Ithaca, the brewery is easy to find and greets beer-seekers with a good-sized tasting room, complete with a corner dedicated to homebrewing equipment (go you, Dan Mitchell, for encouraging folks to brew their own!)

After inquiring about a brewery tour and grabbing a sample, Ithaca Beer’s Gina Lola (Gina, if I spelled this incorrectly, please leave me a comment or e-mail and I’ll get it fixed!) gave us an excellent tour, not only explaining about Ithaca’s specific equipment, but also including information about how beer is actually made — this was beneficial to some of the folks who were not familiar with the process, and allowed Ray and me to look like know-it-alls.

Ithaca Beer Company employs 12 people, and distributes in 10 states. Much like Dogfish Head, Ithaca also provides its spent grains to farmers. We got to take a peek at the oak barrels the brewery has, some of which had chalk-writing indicating what beer was residing inside.

Gina Lola wrapped the tour up after showing us the bottling line, and we ventured back into the tasting room. Standing alongside other Ithaca natives and Cornell and Ithaca College kids, we tried a few more samples of beers such as Partly Sunny, a wheat beer brewed with coriander and lemon zest, and Willard’s Stash, which I think was a really bold saison. We also revisited some of the flagship beers — Ray discovered that he actually really likes CascaZilla, and award-winning Flower Power was pure liquid refreshment.

After purchasing a 6-pack of Partly Sunny, 4-packs of Ithaca’s Root Beer and Ginger Beer, and two of its Excelsior! beer series: alpHalpHa and TEN, we had the chance to chat with Gina Lola and give her our blog card. It was great to talk with someone so passionate about beer, and it sounds like she’s interested in homebrewing (do it!).

Next, we headed to my Uncle Larry and Aunt Susan’s house. First off, they’re two of my favorite people, and second, the moment you meet them they’ll become your favorite people, too! We planned to have a BBQ with them, and my folks drove down from Syracuse to join. We shared some of our homebrews and got good reviews — my dad, a light-lager kind of guy, even told me that he really liked the Kölsch.

Ray managed to survive a discussion of politics with my dad and uncle, and there was enough steak, chicken and grilled veggies to feed an army. Typical Ward gathering.

Next up, I’ll tell you all about the brewpub on the corner of Clinton and Walton in Syracuse’s Armory Square, as well as the 21-year-old brewer we met in Rochester.

Breweries, Craft Beer, Miscellany 2 Comments »

Welcome to The Session, a monthly event for beer and brewing bloggers! This is Session #28, for which our friend and beer odyssey writer at Red, White, and Brew Brian Yaeger has chosen the topic, “Think/Drink Globally.” Brian writes: … “in honor of Global Craft Beer Forever, I pose everyone writes about the farthest brewery (including brewpubs) you have visited and specifically the best beer you had there.”

For me, the farthest brewpub I’ve been to is Gordon Biersch in Las Vegas. As you may remember, last October I was out there on business, amid a sea of Miller Lites and rum and Diet Coke. It was a sad, sad situation.

But on the last night out there we had our group dinner at Gordon Biersch. I remember that I started my evening with Gordon Biersch’s seasonal, which was a festbier. This style is not normally my thing, but this brew was nice and malty, as well as crisp. I ordered the goat cheese ravioli in brown butter sauce with spinach, mushrooms and pine nuts, and the festbier was a nice complement.

Now, we don’t have any festbiers lurking around the house, though Brian did instruct us to either drink some of the same beer, whether it be the exact beer, or a similar style. Because I rarely drink festbiers, the only brew I can think of to compare with GB’s would be Victory’s Festbier. I’ll go even farther to say that I think I may have preferred GB’s fall seasonal, but overall and pound for pound of malt, I have to say I prefer Victory’s beers.

I think I’ve had a Heineken in Amsterdam, back when I was a kid. Technically, I guess I should be writing about that, but, yeah, no.

The place I’d like to talk about is Glacier Brewhouse, way up in Anchorage, Alaska, where the sun goes down for months at a time, sidewalks are in the middle of the street, and local ordinances prohibit male babysitters, toilets that require the user to jiggle the handle when flushed, and rhyming. Anchorage is very very weird and you should never let anyone tell you that it’s actually perfectly normal and resembles a less populated Philadelphia with wider streets. These are falsehoods.

(Now that I think of it, Anchorage is probably farther away from South Jersey than Amsterdam is, actually, so this works out.)

Glacier Brewhouse was a welcome and surprising discovery during my trip to Alaska with my sister and my parents a few years ago. Days of cruising and bussing with nothing to drink but salmon had left us aching for some Good Beer, so we were thrilled when the tour guide made a passing mention of the place when we asked about nearby restaurants.

The interior is immensely spacious, with enough dining area for probably 100-150 people spread out amongst tables, a capacious bar, and a long high top that could probably seat 10-15 people on either side. The building has a feel that blends rustic and plush styling. A big fireplace sits in the middle of the dining room.

Glacier has an exhaustive line of beers aged in oak barrels from Jim Beam distillery in Kentucky. The only one available when we were there was the Beam Scottish Ale, which is the beer that stands out in my memory above all others from the brewery.

Unfortunately, I believe their beer is unavailable outside of the brewhouse (or at the very least isn’t available here), and strong Scottish ales are just now coming out of season for me and my habits, so I don’t have anything comparable on hand, but I can easily describe this beauty from memory: Big, slick body with lots of caramel notes that swirl around a dark orange pint of delight with delicious (and pungent!) bourbon and vanilla flavors. Very malty and sweet, it was an unusually long-term sipper for a beer that was only around 6-7% alcohol.

We hit the place twice on our trip, and remarkably, the beer tasted noticeably different between the two visits. On the first dinner there, the beer was much heavier on the vanilla, but on the second night several days later, the bourbon was much more aggressive. We must have gotten a fresher barrel the second time.

Breweries, Brewpubs, Craft Beer, The Session 3 Comments »