| A little bit o' me in every bottle! Just a little! |
Sep
2
2010
You like Unibroue right? Who doesn’t? The Québécois brewery puts out some excellent beers: Maudite, La Fin du Monde, Trois Pistoles, and my newest fave, Quelque Chose.
Keep you eye on LadiesOCB because there are a LOT of fantastic things in the works! I’m really glad I have an opportunity to join the lovely ladies writing in that space—but fear not, I’ll still be over at BB writing away!
Aug
18
2010
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.
Some rights reserved by Steve_Tango
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.
Aug
10
2010
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.
Some rights reserved by DR000
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.
Jul
20
2010
Yes, I know Philly Beer Week has come and gone. This year, the revelries took place Jun 4-13, with 195 participants and more than 1,000 successful events. Suffice to say, the event freaking blew up from 2009—which had 700 events over the course of 10 days—with a lot of new faces and venues clamoring to get in on the action. Talk about a good thing gone great.
In 2009, Ray and I attended a couple of events, but it was tough with some of the more interesting ones being smack dab in the middle of the workday. However, in 2010, we missed every single event. Not because we have no love for Philly Beer Week, but because we were A. super busy with condo prepping and ACL sprains; and B. going to SAVOR. But I downloaded the Philly Beer Week iPhone app—designed by six members of Philly’s CocoaHeads—and was pretty impressed.
So a month and change has gone by, the Royal Stumble survived, and I just received a press release letting me know to prep my drinking arm, because Philly Beer Week 2011 will be back with a vengeance, spanning June 3-12, 2011. According to the release, PBW 2011 will see the return of the Hammer of Glory (HOG)—”the official keg hammer of Philly Beer Week, and its over-the-top journey across the city to arrive at the Opening Tap, conveyed by everything from kinetic sculpture to zip line to Philly Roller Girls”; The Forum of the Gods, with some of the biggest names in brewing for an informal round table talk; and tons of events ranging from beer pairings to meet the brewer to festivals. There is also talk of an enhanced iPhone app, inspired by the 2010 version. I will definitely be downloading that!
So consider this a “Save the Date” of sorts, and prep that drinking arm. If Philly Beer Week could grow from 700 to 1000 events in a single year, just imagine what’s in store for 2011.
Jul
15
2010
Waiting in line, in the rain, in good spirits, for Nodding Head's door to open
Saturday, July 10 was Nodding Head’s annual Royal Stumble, this year being the 11th for the unique beerfest. Talk about an institution! The theme was “It’s Always Sunny at the Royal Stumble,” but as I alluded to in my previous Wee Bit Stumble video, that was a misnomer. Why? Because it rained from early morning until well after Nodding Head opened its doors to a soggy line of people.
But could rain keep us down? Hell no! This is the Stumble! This is the fest where breweries are clamoring to make sure your glasses are full, and your buffet plates have a nice assortment of pub food. I’m betting Nodding Head could move the Stumble into the dead of winter and folks would still come out, brimming with craft beer love and non-douche-baggery.
Yards Philly Pale Ale wins the Royal Stumble for 2010!
This year, Ryan and LeeAnne joined us after I talked their ears off nonstop about how the Stumble is one of the quintessential fests of the year. Making our way up the stairs, Yards was the first to grace my glass, pouring me a tall one of their Philly Pale Ale. Crisp and hoppy, it was a great way to start. Yards also managed to kick their keg first, giving them the honor of being the RS winner. Yay for Yards!
After getting our first pour and winding through the boisterous crowd, we commandeered a table (like you do) tucked in a far back corner and went to the buffet in shifts to get pulled pork, mini latkes, mac salad, and for those interested, hot wings and franks. It was a nice spread that was replenished often, without being over the top, dry or skimpy.
The offerings for the day were:
Mmmm...beer!
Dock St.: Saison Du Potts
Dogfish Head: Festina Peche
Earth Bread + Brewery: Glutenus Minimus
Flying Fish: Farmhouse Ale
General LaFayette: Barren Hill Best Bitter
Nodding Head: Grog
Ommegang: Rare Vos
Philadelphia Brewing Co: Pennsylvania Pale Ale
Sly Fox: Helles
Stewart’s: Coffee Stout
Stoudt’s: Heifer in Wheat
Triumph: Saison
Troegs: Sunshine Pils
Twin Lakes: Greenville Pale Ale
Victory: Helios
Yards: Philly Pale Ale
There were a lot of familiar beers in the line up, as well as a few welcome surprises. Earth Bread + Brewery’s Glutenus Minimus knocked my socks off! The beer is gluten free and sits at 2.5% ABV. Despite the low ABV, the beer packed a punch in the flavor department. At first I thought I was drinking Dogfish Head’s Festina Peche when I snagged a sip from LeeAnne’s glass. Nope! It was EBB’s Glutenus, and the flavor sang of fresh, succulent peaches. I could sure use a growler of that!
Twin Lakes Brewing Co.’s Greenville Pale Ale was an organic offering and nicely showcased Cascade hops. The gentleman manning the taps was jovial and full of information about the beer and brewery, and it was nice to see a new face at the fest.
As always, Festina Peche was a welcome refreshment, as was Stoudt’s Heifer in Wheat (I proudly told the brewery rep that I was married there, which he thought was pretty damn cool). Triumph’s Saison was spot-on for the style and General LaFayette’s Barren Hill Best Bitter had a pleasant nuttiness about it.
I think the beer that surprised me the most was Sly Fox’s Helles Golden Lager. I have to admit, I’m not really a lager girl. I respect the style and how accurate a brewer needs to be with lager beers, but they’ve never been on the top of my list. However, I found the Helles exceptionally crisp and refreshing, with a little je ne sais quoi that made it really enjoyable. I also had a chance to chat with Philly’s one and only Beerlass Suzy about the state of beer in NJ, Denver-area breweries, and my awesome Oskar Blues Canarchy t-shirt (which looks to be unavailable now, per the website).
LeeAnne and her 5 lb bag of artisan coffee from Stewart's
While Ray, Ryan and I were steadily getting our drink on, LeeAnne — who’s not a huge fan of beer — set about the challenge that Stewart’s Brewing Co. had put out: For every pour of their Coffee Stout you had, you would earn a sticker. The person with the most stickers got a 5-pound bag artisan coffee — the same kind that was used to brew the stout.
So LeeAnne, extroverted and friendly as she is, managed to amass 146 stickers, while not drowning herself in the stout (which was delicious, by the way). Instead, she went from person to person collecting stickers, all the while trying the beer a few times. Talk about entrepreneurial spirit.
We left the Royal Stumble shortly before the end with five pounds of coffee in tow, heading off through the humid, wet streets of Philly in search of our next great adventure for the weekend: roller derby.
Derby girls are faaaaaaast!
Jul
13
2010
What a weekend! Ray, Ryan, his epic GF LeeAnne and myself all stumbled on into Nodding Head’s Royal Stumble No. 11, themed “It’s Always Sunny at the Royal Stumble” (more on that misnomer tomorrow). We had a great time, followed by some kick ass roller derby mayhem in University City where the Broad Street Butchers beat the Philthy Britches to take home the championship trophy. You go girls (someday I will be one of you).
So, busy busy busy. While we gather our stumbling thoughts, here’s a wee bit o’ preview video for you — shot by the ever talented (and ever Scottish) Ray.
Jun
30
2010
Scintillating video that I shot with my iPhone at SAVOR 2010. Some of the language may not be safe for work depending on where you work, so make sure to turn it up super loud.
Jun
29
2010
Yesterday Ryan started us off on his journey of trying at least 100 different beers at SAVOR. Let’s see if he made it to his goal or not.
After we got our gear, we went to the first table, which housed the Evolution Craft Brewing Co. We tried their ESB and their porter: both delicious. And we were making good time — we’d been inside the building for little more than a minute and I’d already had two beers. At first we paced ourselves, taking the time to try the food, to pair it with the different beers as suggested. For a festival with 2000 people, the lines weren’t bad. It got a bit hairy around the main supporters’ tables, with heavy hitters like Rogue, Dogfish Head, Sam Adams, New Belgium and the like — the longest line coming from Dogfish Head, who were debuting their Bitches Brew. Thankfully, we hit it early, when we could still taste things. It was delicious.
We trudged on. The tables, set up in squares, had a brewery on each side and a different finger food at each corner. Sixteen regular tables and the Supporters’ Circle in the middle, with six breweries. We began to circle the tables, orbiting around one until we had tried everything it had to offer and then swinging over to another to make our rounds once again. We tried to go in order, but we had to divert our course a few times: a trip to the bathroom, a trip to the cheese table, a trip to the oyster bar, a trip to the bathroom.
I was checking beers off furiously, putting stars next to some*. I’d let Mel and Ray go before me to the brewer and whichever beer they didn’t get, I’d ask for. If they eat got a different beer, I just asked for the one that sounded better to me and got a taste of the other. Sip. Check. Comment. Exchange. Sip. Check. Comment. Next. We worked efficiently. Near the end, we worked probably more efficiently than most people who had taken in as much alcohol as we had, maybe because I wouldn’t let the fuzzies get to me — I was on a mission, and I couldn’t let it out of my sight, even when my face began to tingle and I just wanted to lie down with one of everything from the McDonald’s menu. I would feel like a complete ass if I left SAVOR, counted up my beers, and realized I had only tried 98. That wasn’t an option.
Greg Koch of Stone, Mel, Ryan and Ray all do "the face." Well, all but Ryan.
The first time I really looked at the time was at 10pm; an hour left. I wondered aloud if I’d hit my goal and Mel assured me I had. I made a quick count to double-check: 73 beers. An hour to go and I needed 30 more beers, which might prove difficult. We were starting to get tipsy — most notably Ray, who hadn’t been pouring his excess beer. The guy had been drinking like a champ the entire time I had been sipping and dumping, and it was starting to catch up. To make matters worse, the tables we had left to hit were scattered throughout the long, open hall, and some brewers were beginning to run out. We had to hurry.
I began what Mel so lovingly referred to as “The Death March.” I paraded us around the hall, not stopping until I’d reached a table we had overlooked. “We need to get to table seven!” And away we’d go, Mel and Ray tagging along behind me, gracefully humoring my pseudo-clearheaded single-mindedness.
Like a salesman at the end of the month, as long as I hit my numbers I didn’t care. Mel and I moved with the precision of a snake. My eyes had started to blur, so I had to rely on her for some info. Ray followed behind, not seeming to care much what we did. “Which one is this?” She’d name the brewery, I’d clumsily flip to the page in the program. “Okay. You get the IPA, I’ll get the saison.” I would take a sip, check it off, we’d switch and take a sip, check it off, and dump the rest. They were all starting to taste the same, so it didn’t matter what I was tasting. Dubbel, tripel, quadrupel, didn’t matter. IPA, double IPA, ESB, whatever. Sip, dump, check. I felt, near the end, that I should probably start asking for lesser pours, but didn’t bother. I just had to hit my mark.
The end finally came and we had to leave. I hadn’t counted my beers since 10, so I wasn’t sure if I’d had 100 or not. I wasn’t clear-headed enough to really mind as we walked out, Ray and I speaking in Scottish accents that sounded spot-on at the time. As soon as we sat down on the train, I went through and counted 103. Considering myself lucky that I could even count that high, I registered the victory and congratulated myself. Hopefully, when I was sober, I would be able to count it again and get the same number.
As it turned out, with the re-count I got 102, which was 73% of the beers on offer. I had just barely surpassed my goal, but the key word was “surpassed.” With all that behind me, though, it is now time to start looking to the future. What will next year’s SAVOR bring? Maybe I’ll try for all 140. Or maybe there will be even more than that. Hopefully Mel and Ray will be as accommodating of my Death Marches and slurred directions. The only sure thing, though, is that I will definitely need to work on my Scottish accent.
* The stars were my way of remembering which beers were the real standouts. The only problem was near the end when I stopped tasting things, I had to put stars next to the beers other people said were good. They all started to blend together in the last hour.
Jun
28
2010
Let me introduce Bathtub’s newest contributor, our guest blogger Ryan. Ryan is an avid eater and drinker who is currently working on the opposing goals of drinking his 500th different beer and maintaining his path on the South Beach diet, which is being chronicled on his blog The Healthy Hog.
For whatever reason, my entire beer-loving experience has been based on milestones. When I first started to realize all of what beer had to offer — when I really started getting into it and paying attention, when I began to learn that there was more to exotic beer than Guinness and Killian’s, that there was even a world beyond the rare* Magic Hat #9 — I set a goal for myself: I wanted to try 200 different beers by the time I turned 40. At that point, age 25, I think I’d tried somewhere in the mid-40s, and it seemed like I was falling behind. I hit 200 in the waning days of 2009, right before I turned 28.
But by then I lived in Philadelphia. The options were endless. Trying a variety of different beers was no longer a challenge when there were bars with 200 on their list and stores that sold individual bottles of beer I’d never even heard of. I hit 300 in the four months after reaching 200 thanks to a small beer festival and a beer-swilling trip through Australia and New Zealand. This was easy now. I needed something else.
How about 100 different beers in three-and-a-half hours at the SAVOR craft beer festival? After missing out on the ten minute ticket sale, Mel and Ray had come up with an extra ticket that I’d jumped on. So, despite my hatred of math, I went through some numbers.
• The festival is 210 minutes long.
• The beers come in 2-ounce pours.
• There are 70 breweries, 2 beers each: 140 different beers.
• 100 beers is 71% of the beers present.
• 2-ounce pours x 100 = 200 ounces of beer, or 16.6 12-ounce cans of beer.
I would potentially be drinking 2/3 of a case of beer in 3.5 hours, or a can of beer every 12.6 minutes. While I think I could do that for a little while — a beer every 12 minutes doesn’t sound too outrageous — I knew if I tried to maintain that pace all night I’d either pass out, throw up, or black out and do something to get myself arrested. Or maybe all three. I knew ahead of time I would have to sip and dump; after all, all I’d ever required of my beer milestones were a sip, a taste, and quick idea of what the beer was.
We arrived inside the festival after standing outside in the DC heat for maybe half an hour; now I had worked up a physical thirst to drink a lot of beer to match my metaphorical thirst to drink a lot of beer. We got our complimentary SAVOR snifter glass for our beer, a little complementary wooden spork for the food, and — thankfully — a program that listed all the breweries and the beers they had on offer. I’m glad all I had to do was check off beers as we went rather than write them down; I knew the longer we were there, the more my writing would begin to resemble George Lucas dialogue**. As it happened, even my check marks began to look illegible as the night went on. Come back tomorrow for part II, where things really start getting interesting
* In Bluefield, West Virginia, you won’t even find Guinness on tap. Killian’s is what you buy when you’ve got a few extra dollars. Forget seeing anything from even Magic Hat in a bar, let alone in the grocery store. If you’re lucky there, you’ll get a crack at a Sam Adams’ seasonal every once in a while.
** Think crayon scribblings from a mentally challenged chimpanzee.
Feb
1
2010
On Saturday, Ray and I and our two lovely friends LeeAnne and Ryan battled the bone-numbing cold to partake in High Street Grill’s Second Annual Winterfest. Drawn by promises of 40 different beers from 20 breweries, we were ready to sample til our hearts’ content — well, sample for 1 3/4 hours at least.
High Street offered 2 sessions – one at 1 PM and the other at 3 PM — located in the enclosed and heated tent behind the restaurant in the municipal parking lot. And while there are MAJOR bonus points for keeping the tent nice and toasty, there were definitely two problems:
But enough about the crowd. Let’s talk about the beers!
It was nice to see the Philly Metro area’s usual suspects: Victory, Sly Fox, Troeg’s and Yards. But what was even better? Drinking a sample of Oskar Blues’ Gordon, sipping some of Founder’s Imperial Stout, and snagging a pour of Left Hand’s Fade to Black seasonal. Notice something? These breweries are from Colorado, Michigan and Colorado, respectively. San Diego metro-based Stone Brewing was pouring some crowd favorites, Oaked Arrogant Bastard and the Pale Ale, while Fort Bragg Calif.’s North Coast Brewing Co. had samples of Red Seal and the wickedly delicious Old No. 38 on tap.
But back on our side of the Mississippi, it was great to see Jersey’s Riverhorse pouring the Oatmeal Milk Stout (one of our all-time favorites), as well as the Belgian Freeze, which was perfect for the weather. Our buddies from Stoudt’s were across the tent, pouring generous glasses of Old Fat Dog imperial oatmeal stout (nothing beats the Dog, nothing!) and the Winter Ale, which is a hoppy red for this season (we have a partially-decimated sixer chilling in our fridge currently). I got to chat with amicable Mike of Stoudts, where we had a Twitter connection — he had noticed me tweeting about the fest and how Ray and I recently got married at their brewery, so upon meeting there was an “Oh it’s you!” moment. Very cool. Great guy, phenomenal beers.
Major props have to go to the fellas manning Flying Dog’s table: up for grabs were the Gonzo imperial porter (soooo rich and chocolatey) and Raging Bitch, a Belgian-style IPA for their 20th anniversary that was so many kinds of right. Now, when going for my first Doggie sample, I snagged the porter, which I had yet to taste. The guys were telling me about the Bitch, and I said I would come back. Well, by the time I had the chance, the breweries were signaling the end of the session. Now, I’m not one to usually pull the girl card, but I wrestled through the crowd to get back to FD’s table. I met the guys with a small smile and signaled “just a little” towards my glass. They smiled and kindly gave me a half-pour so I could finally see what all the rage was about – and let me tell you, it was good. Despite the wild name, the beer is balanced with its sweetness and hoppiness. A really nice end to the day.
However, I think the highlight of the entire fest had to be Boaks Beer, which we had never heard of — and they’re even from NJ! Boaks had 3 taps to offer: Monster Mash, a Russian imperial stout; 2 Blind Monks, a Belgian dubbel; and Abbey Brown, a Belgian brown ale. Ray, Ryan and I made quick work of this, each getting a different sample. I found Monster Mash to be a little odd — something about the nose. 2 Blind Monks was nice, but I think my sample of Abbey Brown stole the show, with a funky nose and little sourness in the mouth.
Following the fest, we wandered up and down High Street, where the annual Fire & Ice fest was taking place. It was fascinating to see the various ice sculptures, but I think this one takes the cake.
LeeAnne rocks the plunger
I bet that's cold on the butt
After this photo, we all had AMAZING cake and coffee at Robin’s Nest. `Cuz that’s what you do after festing on the coldest day in January.
