Sunday I received an email from the lovely Amy Strauss. It went a little something like this:

Hey Mel!
Hope you are having a great weekend, even for today’s rain.

So, I work for this local Philly ‘burb-based food company, The Town Dish, who tackles Chester County and beyond.

With the assistance of Southwest Airlines, we’ll travel to another city and back in one day, meeting a few food bloggers who are kind enough to to guide our way of eating through their town.

We are hoping for our first trip to connect the bloggers of our area with the bloggers of the newly trekked city (Tuesday we are going to Boston) — thus why I am connecting you. Being that between Philly, the burbs both my way and your way, there’s a ton of people that can be represented, but since Bathtub Brewery is unique and worth the national mention, I would love for your blog to be included in our traveling-out-of-state roundup.

Of course I said yes! What an awesome opportunity for one of our homebrews to wind up in the hands of someone else who most likely ALSO appreciates fantastic beer?

Ray was onboard from the get-go, so I selected a 12 oz bottle of our Barleywine (it’s been aging over a year now), made an impromptu label and, at the last minute, attached one of our business cards with a rubber band and staple, making it a not-quite-so ghetto tag.

Monday I passed the bottle (donning a classy brown bag) along to Amy, who then got it over to her boss Mary, who packed it along with all the other goodies. Early Tuesday morning she boarded a Southwest flight for Boston with her suitcase full of Philly-appropriate goods for a “Dish on the Fly,” where she spent the entire day running around Boston with the city’s local food bloggers who have the 411 on the food and drink scene.

Talk about friggin’ awesome.

Riding along with our Barleywine was a bottle of Summer Love and HopDevil from Victory Brewing Co. Talk about an honor to share a suitcase with their brews! The Victory beers were gifted to Harpoon Brewery, another excellent contributor to craft beer.

Courtesy of Mary of @wcdish

Our Barleywine went to Charlie Cummings, brewer of Harpoon Brewery, who is also a homebrewer (of course). Doesn’t he look so happy to have our bottle in his hand?

So, not only was this a great opportunity for Bathtub to represent Philly, but I think the heart of this project is facilitating a connection between like-minded folks across the country. Folks who care about what they eat and drink, as well as the people behind the food and drink (or in other cases, the services and products they purchase).

This is a trend that several business books have looked at, showing how people are opening their wallets, but with their values in mind. We don’t just want stuff, we want goods that have a story behind them. We want eggs from the farmer who packs each dozen in a beautiful assortment of colors to make his customer smile; we want to buy vintage cookbooks from a bookshop owner who spends her off-hours searching for treasures high and low; we want to buy jewelry from someone who created a tiny studio out of her home and makes each ring from scratch. We want a story.

The Town Dish’s “Dish on the Fly” does that. It connects bloggers and connects our stories. It also shows the country what the Philadelphia-metro area is capable of, and it’s capable of A LOT.

Homebrewing, Miscellany 3 Comments »

Monthly Bathtub contributor Ryan from The Healthy Hog is back from vacation in the land of the north. Always mindful of those who might not be able to travel as much as he does, he kept a thorough account of all the beers he tried. Such a good lad.

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When Girlfriend and I originally planned a week-long vacation in Canada to see friends and family, I never expected to find much by the way of beer. At the beginning of the year, I had turned a two-week vacation to Australia and New Zealand into a beer tour, but was disappointed in my findings. Only two or three beers (of the 30+ I’d tried) had been above par (the best being a stout from Tasmania), and I had similar hopes for Canada. Despite Girlfriend hailing from the Nova Scotia, the only real experience I’d had with Canadian craft beer was Unibroue—which I’m not complaining about. Other than that, I knew the usual: Labatt*, Molson, Stella Artois.

Our first night in Canada, we went to a place specifically because of its above-average beer and cocktail list**. The first thing I saw was “Pump House Seasonal.” I asked the server and he said it was a “Thai wheat.” Not knowing what the hell a Thai wheat was, I decided to go ahead with it, mostly because the brewery was in New Brunswick***. When I took my first sip, I tasted something delicious, yet familiar. It took me a second to place it, and when I did, I immediately texted Mel****. The server hadn’t said Thai wheat, he’d said chai wheat. The beer tasted like a wonderful, slightly spicy, slightly cinnamony banana.

The remainder of the trip had its beer highs and lows, but that particular beer was the highest. Later that night, I had the Pump House Scotch Ale, and anytime we stopped at a liquor store I picked up another six-pack of Pump House: Special Old Bitter, Blueberry Ale and Red Ale. The Red Ale was the best of the rest, coming in second to the Chai Wheat and edging out the Scotch Ale.

I was also able to try multiple beers from a local Nova Scotian brewery named Propeller: an ESB, IPA and London Porter. The Porter was easily the best, which could be due to a multitude of reasons: Porter is my favorite style of beer, it was late after a long night of “trying new beers,” and I don’t particularly like bitterness*****. I do remember the porter being an excellent beer, though, despite any sensory shortcomings at that point.

The other great beer experience on the trip came during a small two-day scuttle around Prince Edward Island, home of the best mussels in the world and only one brewery. Of course, I couldn’t pass that up: How many people do I know who can say they’ve had every beer brewed in a single city, let alone an entire province? One******. The Gahan House was my one requirement on P.E.I., so we swung in to have a little nosh and I got, of course, a sampler of every beer they brewed.

While I can’t really judge the 1772 IPA (there’s that bitter beer again), I can say with certainty that my two least favorite beers were the Harvest Gold Pale Ale and Sir John A’s Honey Wheat Ale—which sounds like it would be delicious, but turned out to taste like any run-of-the-mill lager. A step up were Cole’s Cream Ale and the Iron Horse Brown Ale, which I would drink again, but not as my first choice. Their two best brews, however, were the Island Red Amber Ale (which they steamed their freshest of the fresh P.E.I. mussels in) and the Sydney Street Stout, an excellent example of the style that necessitated I order an extra half-pint. I passed it around and everyone seemed pleasantly surprised.

Which sums up my beer experience in Canada: pleasant surprise. I had a few average beers and even a few terrible beers (stay away from Rickard’s Dark), but of the even 20 that I had, even the small beers in the various middles-of-nowhere we visited had their merits, some that would even draw me back. I’ve already told Girlfriend that any future trip to Canada will involve a stop in Moncton, New Brunswick to visit my new friends at Pump House.

* Don’t believe my scoffing at Labatt. Having spent plenty of time in Cleveland, I’ve come to appreciate it more than most macrobrews.
** I immediately noticed a distressing concept: all of our sub-par macrobreweries (Bud, Coors, etc.) are also brewed in Canada and therefore make the “Domestic” list on menus.
*** My newest quest: drink a beer brewed in every state and province.
**** See: The superior Boris the Spider Chai Oatmeal Stout.
***** Why do I keep buying beer with descriptions like “special bitter” and “extra bitter”? Who knows.
****** Me.

Breweries, Craft Beer 1 Comment »

Recently, Beer Advocate named its Top 100 Beers based on a nifty equation that goes a little like this:

weighted rank (WR) = (number of reviews for the beer ÷ (number of reviews for the beer+minimum reviews required to be listed (currently 1000) )) × review average for the beer + (minimum reviews required to be listed (currently 1000) ÷ (number of reviews for the beer+minimum reviews required to be listed (currently 1000) )) × the mean across the list (currently 4.03)

Or, in other words: weighted rank (WR) = (v ÷ (v+m)) × R + (m ÷ (v+m)) × C

Check out Beer Advocate’s post for a more in depth explanation of the math behind the list (look for it at the bottom), but in the meantime, peruse the list here and note which beers we’ve had off of the Top 100 list.

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Beer Advocate’s Top 100 Beers On Planet Earth

1. Pliny The Elder, Russian River Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 8%)
2. Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout, Founders Brewing (American Double/Imperial Stout; 11.2%)
3. Trappistes Rochefort 10, Brasserie de Rochefort (Quadrupel; 11.3%)
4. HopSlam Ale, Bell’s Brewery (American Double/Imperial IPA; 10%)
5. Stone Imperial Russian Stout, Stone Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 10.5%)
6. St. Bernardus Abt 12, Brouwerij St. Bernardus (Quadrupel; 10.50%)
7. Founders Breakfast Stout, Founders Brewing (American Double/Imperial Stout; 8.3%)
8. Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier, Brauerei Weihenstephan (Hefeweizen; 5.4%)
9. Péché Mortel (Imperial Stout Au Cafe), Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel (American Double/Imperial Stout; 9.5%)
10. Celebrator Doppelbock, Brauerei Aying (Doppelbock; 6.7%)
11. Duvel, Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat (Belgian Strong Pale Ale; 8.5%)
12. Dreadnaught IPA, Three Floyds Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 9.5%)
13. Nugget Nectar, Tröegs Brewing (American Amber/Red Ale; 7.5%)
14. La Fin Du Monde, Unibroue (Tripel; 9%)
15. Bourbon County Stout, Goose Island (American Double/Imperial Stout: 13%)
16. Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, North Coast Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 9%)
17. Two Hearted Ale, Bell’s Brewery (American IPA / 7.1%)
18. Ruination IPA, Stone Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 7.7%)
19. Schneider Aventinus, Private Weissbierbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn (Weizenbock / 8.2%)
20. Double Bastard Ale, Stone Brewing (American Strong Ale / 10.5%)
21. 90 Minute IPA, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (American Double/Imperial IPA; 9%)
22. Hop Rod Rye, Bear Republic Brewing (American IPA; 8%)
23. Trappistes Rochefort 8, Brasserie de Rochefort (Belgian Strong Dark Ale; 9.2%)
24. Chimay Grande Réserve (Blue), Bières de Chimay, a.k.a. Abbaye Notre Dame de Scourmont (Belgian Strong Dark Ale; 9%)
25. Stone IPA, Stone Brewing (American IPA; 6.9%)
26. Arrogant Bastard Ale, Stone Brewing (American Strong Ale; 7.2%)
27. Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, Great Lakes Brewing (American Porter; 5.8%)
28. Chocolate Stout, Rogue Ales (American Stout; 6%)
29. Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout, Great Divide Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 9.5%)
30. Ten FIDY, Oskar Blues Grill & Brewery (Russian Imperial Stout; 9.5%)
31. Storm King Stout, Victory Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 9.1%)
32. Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout, Rogue Ales (Oatmeal Stout; 6.1%)
33. Alpha King Pale Ale, Three Floyds Brewing (American Pale Ale; 6%)
34. Westmalle Trappist Tripel, Brouwerij Westmalle (Tripel; 9.5%)
35. Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout, Samuel Smith Old Brewery at Tadcaster (Russian Imperial Stout; 7%)
36. Yeti Imperial Stout, Great Divide Brewing (Russian Imperial Stout; 9.5%)
37. Hennepin (Farmhouse Saison), Brewery Ommegang (Saison/Farmhouse Ale; 7.7%)
38. Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout, Samuel Smith Old Brewery at Tadcaster (Oatmeal Stout; 5%)
39. Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, Brooklyn Brewery (Russian Imperial Stout; 10.1%)
40. Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale, Stone Brewing (American Strong Ale; 7.2%)
41. Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale, Stone Brewing (American Strong Ale; 8.7%)
42. Trois Pistoles, Unibroue (Belgian Strong Dark Ale; 9%)
43. Bell’s Expedition Stout, Bell’s Brewery (Russian Imperial Stout; 10.5%)
44. Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, Sierra Nevada Brewing (American IPA; 6.8%)
45. Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale, Sierra Nevada Brewing (American Barleywine; 9.6%)
46. Racer 5 India Pale Ale, Bear Republic Brewing (American IPA; 7%)
47. Orval Trappist Ale, Brasserie d’Orval (Belgian Pale Ale; 6.9%)
48. Hercules Double IPA, Great Divide Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 10%)
49. Maharaja, Avery Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 10.3%)
50. Maudite, Unibroue (Belgian Strong Dark Ale; 8%)
51. Sierra Nevada Harvest Wet Hop Ale, Sierra Nevada Brewing (American IPA; 6.7%)
52. Palo Santo Marron, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (American Brown Ale; 12%)
53. Hop Stoopid, Lagunitas Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 8%)
54. Ommegang (Abbey Ale), Brewery Ommegang (Dubbel; 8.5%)
55. Anchor Porter, Anchor Brewing (American Porter; 5.6%)
56. HopDevil Ale, Victory Brewing (American IPA; 6.7%)
57. World Wide Stout, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (American Double/Imperial Stout; 18%)
58. Three Philosophers Belgian Style Blend, Brewery Ommegang (Quadrupel; 9.8%)
59. Young’s Double Chocolate Stout, Wells & Young’s Ltd (Milk/Sweet Stout; 5.2%)
60. Smuttynose IPA “Finest Kind”, Smuttynose Brewing (American IPA; 6.9%)
61. Stone Smoked Porter, Stone Brewing (American Porter; 5.9%)
62. Chimay Première (Red), Bières de Chimay, a.k.a. Abbaye Notre Dame de Scourmont (Dubbel; 7%)
63. Indian Brown Ale, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (American Brown Ale; 7.2%)
64. Chimay Tripel (White), Bières de Chimay, a.k.a. Abbaye Notre Dame de Scourmont (Tripel; 8%)
65. Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA, Sierra Nevada Brewing (American IPA; 7.2%)
66. Prima Pils, Victory Brewing (German Pilsener; 5.3%)
67. Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier Naturtrüb, Paulaner Salvator Thomasbraeu (Hefeweizen; 5.5%)
68. Hazelnut Brown Nectar, Rogue Ales (American Brown Ale; 6.2%)
69. Hop Wallop, Victory Brewing (American Double/Imperial IPA; 8.5%)
70. Gonzo Imperial Porter, Flying Dog Brewer (Baltic Porter; 7.80%)
71. Fuller’s ESB, Fuller Smith & Turner (Extra Special/Strong Bitter (ESB); 5.9%)
72. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Sierra Nevada Brewing (American Pale Ale; 5.6%)
73. Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale, Samuel Smith Old Brewery at Tadcaster (English Brown Ale; 5%)
74. Delirium Tremens, Brouwerij Huyghe (Belgian Strong Pale Ale; 8.5%)
75. 60 Minute IPA, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (American IPA; 6%)
76. Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse, Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu (Hefeweizen; 5%)
77. Sierra Nevada Porter, Sierra Nevada Brewing (American Porter; 5.6%)
78. Anchor Liberty Ale, Anchor Brewing (American Pale Ale; 6%)
79. Samuel Adams Cream Stout, Boston Beer Company (Milk/Sweet Stout; 4.69%)
80. Dale’s Pale Ale, Oskar Blues Grill & Brewery (American Pale Ale; 6.5%)
81. Mocha Porter, Rogue Ales (American Porter; 5.3%)
82. Dead Guy Ale, Rogue Ales (Maibock/Helles Bock; 6.5%)
83. Salvator Doppel Bock, Paulaner Salvator Thomasbraeu (Doppelbock; 7.9%)
84. Spaten Optimator, Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu (Doppelbock; 7.2%)
85. 120 Minute IPA, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (American Double/Imperial IPA; 18%)
86. Hoegaarden Original White Ale, Brouwerij van Hoegaarden (Witbier; 4.9%)
87. Punkin Ale, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (Pumpkin Ale; 7%)
88. Bell’s Oberon Ale, Bell’s Brewery (American Pale Wheat Ale; 5.8%)
89. Anchor Steam Beer, Anchor Brewing (California Common/Steam Beer; 4.9%)
90. Guinness Extra Stout (Original), Guinness/Diageo (Irish Dry Stout; 6%)
91. Samuel Adams Black Lager, Boston Beer Company (Schwarzbier; 4.9%)
92. Samuel Adams Boston Lager, Boston Beer Company (Vienna Lager; 4.75%)
93. ApriHop, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (American IPA; 7%)
94. Midas Touch Golden Elixir, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (Herb/Spice Beer; 9%)
95. Golden Monkey, Victory Brewing (Tripel; 9.5%)
96. Samuel Adams Winter Lager, Boston Beer Company (Bock; 5.8%)
97. Raison D’etre, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (Belgian Strong Dark Ale; 8%)
98. Pilsner Urquell, Plzensky Prazdroj (Czech Pilsener; 4.4%)
99. Samuel Adams Octoberfest, Boston Beer Company (Märzen/Oktoberfest; 5.4%)
100. Sierra Nevada Summerfest Lager, Sierra Nevada Brewing (Czech Pilsener; 5%)

Based on my count, Ray and I have had at least 65 of the beers, so we’ve drank 65% of the best beers on the planet. Not too shabby! I guess we’ll need to start working on the ones we’ve missed, though.

One thing I noticed was that Stoudts Brewing Co. was not on the list, which I find odd. The Fat Dog Imperial Oatmeal stout is top notch, and the DIPA is so smooth. Scarlet Lady is also a excellent beer … at least in my opinion they’re all worlds better than Sam Adams’ offerings.

Breweries, Craft Beer, Miscellany 1 Comment »

Back in late June I  was all ready to share the recipe for the chai I brewed for Boris the Spider Chai Oatmeal stout. And I was, I really was. Then I discovered that the recipe, inked onto an index card had gone missing, but I gave you the process so you could play around and make your own (which is really the best way).

Well, the condo’s on the market AND I found my original chai recipe. Awesome, right?

Chai Recipe (cold brew)

1 oz of tea (blend of 5 bags of the Breakfast Blend and 3 of Darjeeling)
2 star anise
7-10 cardamom pods
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1 tsp coriander
3-4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tbsp whole cloves

The star anise, cardamom and cloves will all need to be cracked a bit, using a mortar and pestle. Don’t pulverize.

Place chai mix in a French press and add 8 oz cold filtered water. Stir, place top on and chill for 12 hours.

After the tea has brewed, push the plunger down and pour into a measuring cup. Add to your fermenting beer in the secondary and let it mull.

Miscellany Comments Off