FOOLCiRCLE

(savor) an american craft beer & food experience, may 16-17, 2008, andrew w. mellon auditorium, washington d.c.

So this past weekend (May 16 & 17, 2008) was the first ever Savor beer and food event presented by the Brewers Association. Robert and I attended the Saturday evening event (6:30-10:00PM) held at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington D.C. To say this event was unique is not enough. To say this event was unlike anything I have ever attended is at least the truth. To say that this event was a great time, well, that’s what I’m going to say.

I had heard about this event like six months ago or so and really started to try and find a partner in crime about two months ago. It took until about two weeks before the event for me to convince someone to go, and I bet Robert doesn’t regret it one bit. This event was to my knowledge the largest craft beer and food pairing event of its kind. They paired approximately 48 different foods with 96 different beers. The idea was to show that not only is beer as good as wine for food pairings, but it may be actually better with all of the diversity that has arisen in the past 20 years or so in the craft beer movement. Actually, it was more than that, there was more of a ’shock and awe’ factor involved: dress was business casual, the location was an old auditorium with many steps and columns, much like the Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy album, the decor was dazzling, the representatives were top-notch, owners, head-brewers, Brewer Association top members, the food was way more gourmet than pretzels and waffles, and the beers were only the best in all of America. It was one of those ‘Wow’ moments when you first walked in and it never really got dull.

Throughout the weekend during the event the Brewers Association put together small (100 people) demonstrations and seminars on the different attributes that the craft beer community is making. We were able to attend the He Said Beer, She Said Wine: A Debate on Food Pairings with Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head and Marnie Olds a well established sommelier. It was actually a very fun and well thought out discussion, they offered us three small food selections each paired with a beer and a wine. First was chips and spicy salsa which was paired with Stone Smoked Porter and Riesling Loosen “Dr. L”, the beer won this round by crowd vote. Second was aged farmhouse cheddar cheese which was paired with Rogue Morimoto Soba Ale and Cabernet Sauvignon Concha Y Toro “Marques de Casa Concha”, the wine won this round. And third and finally was Askinosie dark chocolate which was paired with Dogfish Head World Wide Stout and Banfi “Rosa Regale” Brachetto d’Acqui, the beer won this round giving the night to beer. Sam and Marnie have done similar beer and wine pairing/competitions 22 times, and now beer has won 11 and wine 11, interesting. They both really had a lot to say on the subject, and have a great book available too.

Some of my favorite beers, and/or foods from the night that I can remember were: New Holland Brewing Company’s Dragon Milk Oak Aged Ale paired with Maytag Blue Cheese, New Albanian Brewing Company’s Thunderfoot Oak Aged Cherry Imperial Stout, Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey’s Judgment Day Abbey Ale and Veritas 003, Avery Brewing Company’s Fifteen (a farmhouse ale brewed with Brett) paired with Christopher Elbow Venezuelan Spiced Artisan Chocolates, Deschutes Brewer’s Obsidian Stout paired with Blue Cheese and Walnut Shortbread Rounds, Foothills Brewing’s Hoppyum IPA and Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout paired with Crostini of Figs and Prosciutto, Russian River Brewing Company’s Pliny the Elder and Supplication, Stone Brewing Co.’s Ruination IPA paired with Peking Duck Purses, and of course Dogfish Head Craft Brewery’s Palo Santo Marron and two versions of World Wide Stout (’06 &’07). The biggest disappointment was 21st Amendment’s Watermelon Wheat paired with Strawberry Chicken Salad, the beer was underwhelming and the salad almost made me sick, but really the only disappointment I can remember. To say that it was generally overwhelming in the best way possible isn’t saying enough.

My brother Dave also helped me start a really useful Google Map which helped me pin-point all of the local beer spots we may want to check out while we were in the area and their relationship from our hotel and the event. In addition to Savor we also stopped at RFD (a beer bar) and Capitol City Brewing Company (a brewpub), both were pretty cool and very close to the hotel.

So today was the Sly Fox Bock Fest and Goat Race - Rock the Goat!

I think the winning goat’s name this year was Jasper, so that would make it the Jasper Maibock that was tapped at the peak of the Bock Fest this year. Good things that Sly Fox did this year: Put up some large tents (30′x60′, two of them) for shade and protection from rain (which it didn’t), and separate the food and beer lines. Bad things that Sly Fox still has not learned: They need MORE taps, period. It is really weak to get a beer and think, ‘I guess I should get back in line, because by the time I get back to the front I’ll be done this beer.’ Saw a bunch of people up there again this year, but still missed a couple of the usual suspects, oh well.

Freakin’ goat races, a German Oompa Band, more Bock beer than you can shake a stick at - where else could you be besides Sly Fox Brewery in Phoenixville, PA in May.

Well, it’s three days away, so I better give people a heads up if they have any interest.

This Saturday, April 5, 2008, is the 1st Cure For What Ales You (CFWAY) Homebrew Fest at Iron Hill in Newark, DE. I have included a link which has all the vitals straight from the horses mouth plus directions, so I am going to give mt two cents instead. It seems like these local guys who host the website CFWAY have a great idea to run a non-traditional homebrew competition at the ever homebrew-friendly local brewpub chain Iron Hill at their Newark, DE location. Their idea is basically this: get as many local homebrewers as possible (50 is the number I’ve heard) and offer them an opportunity to showcase their homebrew to the public. What’s the catch? Well, each homebrewer has to supply at least a case of beer to be consumed and judged for free. No entry fee for the brewers or public. The brewers get to show off there stuff and promote homebrewing, while the public gets to enjoy many tasty free homebrews. Plus there is a broad category competition going on where the brewers could be compensated for their hard work.

Sounds like a good time to me. How will it go? Who knows. I’m sure their will be a learning curve, for I have never heard of something like this, plus it is their first year giving it a shot. But, it has a huge chance to be a real success. I really have no idea how they are setting this up or running it, but I picture a typical (but smaller) brewfest scenario, but behind the tables will be homebrewers pimping their beers not pro-brewers. I am highly looking forward to this. Join the fun this Saturday at Iron Hill in Newark, DE from 1PM-5PM. Stop by and say “hi” to me if you’re not already a familiar face.

Sometimes things don’t make sense, or at least don’t add up, but they still have to happen.

What do the following have in common: Sixth Glass Quadrupel, Catherine Zeta Jones, Ninety-Nine card game, the Wa-Wa’s, Helen’s Sausage House, Tilcon, methane gas, “Cover It with Gas and Set It on Fire”, Theobroma, Surrender Monkey, 420, meatloaf, and “Deathtrap”? I don’t know either, but there is a common thread.

Yesterday I got to try two new Dogfish Head beers, Theobroma and Surrender Monkey. Theobroma is another “ancient” brew along the lines of Midas Touch and Chateau Jiahu. And Surrender Monkey is a Scottish-style session ale brewed with traditional gruit spices.

Here’s some information on the Theobroma from Dogfish Head; “This beer is based on chemical analysis of pottery fragments found in Honduras which revealed the earliest known alcoholic chocolate drink used by early civilizations to toast special occasions. The discovery of this beverage pushed back the earliest use of cocoa for human consumption more than 500 years to 1200 BC. As per the analysis, Dogfish Head’s Theobroma (translated into ‘food of the gods’) is brewed with Aztec cocoa powder and cocoa nibs, honey, chilies, and annatto (fragrant tree seeds). Theobroma is 10% abv and will be available in Champagne bottles for an August 2008 release.” Personally, I thought this beer was interesting. I did not pick up on any chocolate notes which was a little disappointing, but otherwise it was pretty effervescent, smelt slightly sweet and Belgian-esque, tasted different yet developed into a harmonious blend. Sorry, I didn’t take any notes while tasting it and that is all I have as a memory. Not something I would want to drink regularly, but I will definitely pick up a couple bottles when it comes out in August.

And here’s some information on Surrender Monkey from Dogfish Head; “Surrender Monkey is a Scottish-style Ale brewed by our brewer Brian Connery. The beer is brewed with four traditional Gruit spices; yarrow, mugwort, meadowsweet and camomile. The spices are steeped separately and the tea is then added to the beer pre-fermentation. Surrender Monkey is malty with a flowery nose displaying hints of honey and green apple. Brian fermented the beer with our proprietary Dogfish yeast. He chose this style to give a shout-out to his own Scottish heritage and named the beer in honor of Groundskeeper Willie of “The Simpsons” It is scheduled to go on tap Friday, February 15, 2008 - 4.1% abv.” So of course I didn’t get an obscure Simpson’s reference like that, so this is what Wiki has to say on the reference; “The phrase was first popularized in the Simpsons episode “‘Round Springfield” (first aired on April 30, 1995). Groundskeeper Willie, the school janitor, an unkempt immigrant from Scotland, is teaching French due to budget cuts, dressed in a striped jumper and a beret. He greets the class with ‘Bonjourrrrr, yah cheese-eatin’ surrender monkeys!’” There is more on the actual phrase on Wiki if you care to read. This beer was real mellow and real aromatic. It reminded me of beer iced-herbal-tea, not in a weird way. At the sessionable strength that it is it could easily be drand glass after glass, but with the unique flavor profile I think I would be done after two. This seems like an interesting beer to brew, but  I bet it was pseudo-brewed in response to the hop shortage. Either way another interesting one from DFH.

So yesterday, 02.29.08 (may favorite date, the 29th of February), was the Iron Hill Wilmington location Mug Club renewal party.

The deal with the Iron Hill Mug Club is basically you pay a yearly $35 fee to be a part of the club. For being a part of the club you get in return for the year: a mug of beer (24oz.) for the price of a pint of beer (16oz.), you get a $25 gift certificate for every 300 points you accumulate, you get 1 point for every dollar you spend at any Iron Hill, when you sign up or renew you get a “free” 200 points, you get special invites to other Mug Club only events which typically include free appetizers,  special beer releases, and raffles, at the end of the year you get to keep your mug (I think I have 3 now), and your Mug Club card gives you these benefits at all of the Iron Hill locations (7 total now). I think that covers it.

So last night I went up with Karen and we didn’t get there until about half way through the event. I renewed and then went for a beer. I grabbed an Imperial Stout and Karen grabbed a Raspberry Wheat. The place was mobbed, and after talking to one of our friends that works there it was supposedly even worse earlier. Part of the problem was that normally for these Mug Club events we are given the whole upstairs to use, but last night they had already rented out the back room (half the upstairs) for a private event. So we had less space and probably more people than usual, ugh. So after renewing and buying our first round of beers it was enough to put me over the 300 point mark again so I was rewarded with a $25 gift certificate. Also during the door prize raffle I won a 2007 bottle of Iron Hill Old Ale. Plus I walked with my new mug. So to me, scoring a gift certificate ($25), a bottle of beer ($20), and my mug (priceless) all in one shot like that I feel like I was already reimbursed on the price of signing up for the Mug Club and the rest is all gravy, sweet.

To me, if you go to any Iron Hill enough to spend $100 in a year (plus the 200 “free” points) in order to get even one $25 gift certificate and pick up your mug at the end of the year you have more than covered the expense, not even counting the other benefits throughout the year.

So today was the first time I stopped at the Beer Yard and Teresa’s Next Door, all I have to say is if you are near Exit 13 on the Blue Route and you’re feeling beery, this is your stop.

Since I just posted a review at BeerAdvocate, I’ll just use that, but here it is

• Review by FoolCircle: A+ / 4.55 (out of 5)
• vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 - $$$
• I just returned from my first visit to both the Beer Yard and Teresa’s Next Door. They are located about a mile and a half from one another, if you have the money there is no reason not to stop at both.
• The atmosphere is really cool. Controlled dim lighting, a long bar with a great stone top, stone on the back splash and floor, wood everywhere, parchment walls, a great overall smell from the kitchen . . . nirvana (oh yeah, check out the cool sinks in the bathroom too).
• The quality was really great too. We sat at the bar and the bartender was very attentive without being up in our junk. He let us try anything we wanted on tap even though we later found out that he was way weeded with 10+ beers kicking in a two hour time frame. But we tried five different beers and they were all crispy yum yums and the food was pretty banging too.
• Again the service was good. The bartenders did switch shifts in the middle and the second bartender wasn’t quite on his game, in the sense of I was out of beer in my glass before I had to ask him for another one. But over all it was good, they were nice, and they knew their stuff.
• The selection was great. They had twenty-four taps, two beers on cask, and approximately 150 beers in bottles with the majority being American micros and Belgian beers. The beers ranged in price from $3 (Yuengling Lager) to $46 (Chimay Blue Magnum) with the average being in the $5-$10 range depending on what you were drinking. But, the selection was good and well organized.
• The food was pretty good too. We tried one of their cheese plates and one order of the pom frites (Belgian style french fries). the cheese plate we had was some sort of cheese with Guinness infused in to it served with bread, toast, grapes, and candied cherries - it was banging and reasonably sized for like six dollars. The pom frites were not bad and cheap like four bucks, but the sauce they were served with was like crack! We went through two crocks of the stuff and still had fries left over, crazy.
• The place felt a little pricey, pretty much all the entrees were over $20 and a lot of the beers I were interested in were in the $10+ range, which gets old quick. We got fortunate and our bill was lower than I thought it should be, so I don’t have a really fair idea how much it would cost.
• Overall, I would say this place would easily be worth a half an hour to forty-five minute drive to have once a month and multiple times a week if you lived within walking distance. Definitely raised the bar to my local expectation. Good job!

Also, I picked up a case of Hoptimus Prime from Legacy at the Beer Yard. What a great freakin’ name! I got to sample this last night, it was good, but not amazing. Nice and hoppy, pretty easy drinker, and the alcohol was well hidden. I could easily drink a few of these. A good example of an East Coast varietal Double IPA, but the West Coast boys still got this style nailed.

Once again it was time for the Lewes Polar Bear Plunge and we rocked it out in full force.

It was Sunday February 3, 2008 this year and Robert and I went down once again. This was our third consecutive year and probably the best year weather and donations wise. We raised over $300 between the two of us without really going out of our way much. The weather was 52F at plunge time with a water temperature of 42F. Once again there was a record number of plungers this year and people in attendance. I haven’t seen the totals for total contributions this year, but I but it set a new record too.

In the picture above you can see my lovely “swimming cap”. The only thing I dislike about the plunge is the fact that I’m underwater less than five seconds and I have to deal with a cold wet head for the rest of the day. I briefly (and mostly jokingly) wore this lovely homemade swim cap as a thought on how to stay dry. And yes, that is a plastic bag with a drum stick holding it together. Yes, Robert had a set of drum sticks in his bag, actually it was more like purse with all the random crap he had in there.

After the plunge we hit up Dogfish Head once again where we both enjoyed a couple beers including a Fort, now that’ll warm you up! DFH also gave us a pint glass each, and assumingly to any other plungers that came after the plunge and spent at least $10 on food. Since they did not advertise this it was a nice treat. I also walked away from DFH with a new dope hoodie sweatshirt. It is brown with an off-centered DFH logo embroidered on the left chest with green hops silk screened over that, it’s fresh. Thanks Dave & Jody for the gift card for my birthday, that was a great treat.

Last night I saw moe. at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia, PA to a very sold out (over-sold) crowd.

moe. had this great idea, they released a new album of all “previously not played” songs on an album right before their tour. To some people this may be a “duh” kind of statement, but this is the jam-band community we’re talking about. In the jam-band community most artists appear to tour for touring sake regardless of when their albums are released. And since most artist are on the road so much new songs are constantly being tested, to the point of when you typically buy a new album you’ll already know the majority of the songs you’ll just want to hear the studio version. So for them to release a 10 song CD with of all new material and tour behind it becomes a new approach to things. This album is called “Sticks and Stones” and was produced by John Siket ala Phish’s “The Siket Disc”.

One of the promotions moe. had with this disc/tour was if you pre-ordered the CD in a certain two week span from their website they would include a pass (see above) to come up on stage during the encore as a guest singer to help sing the chorus of one of their new song “Raise a Glass”. What a great idea! Of course I ordered two CDs to get two passes so that whoever came to the show with me could come up on stage too. I gave the other CD and pass to Craig for his birthday since I new he was going up to the show too. The promotion was a great idea, period. Now the execution, well, let’s just say it was disappointing.

I arrived at the show and checked in at the merchandise table per the instructions that came with the pass. The guy tells me ’sorry, but they don’t have anymore slots to fill, only the first 25 people get to go up.’ What!? They never said anything anywhere about only the first 25 people thing. Shit, if I would have known that I would have stood in line to get in when the doors opened instead of sitting out in my car drinking homebrew, beat. And just to rub salt in the wound, at the merch table they were selling the CD of course, well the CD was the same price as the pre-order CD and was autographed by the entire band. What!? So not only did I pay more for my CD (with shipping), not only did I get pissed on about going up on stage (think about it, how awesome would that have been to do that with one of your favorite bands), but I also got denied have my CD autographed … whatever.

After I got the yucky taste out of my mouth I thoroughly enjoyed the music. Even though Craig was there I went up by myself, so since I was solo I decided to stay on the floor and see how close I could get since it was a GA show. I got about three rows from the front between Rob and Al. It was jam packed in there and hot as hell, they don’t call it the Sweat Factory for nothing. By the time the band had reached maybe there third song and the audience shifted I wound up staying put more like at the eighth row back which was a little better actually. The music sounded great to me, but the idiotic people around me were driving me nuts; under-age, drunk, talking, and all up in your business - not cool. The encore thing with people up on stage went over like a freakin’ stone balloon, I’m glad it was suck a short song. I still would have liked to have done it, but it looked awkward for the band and the fans on stage.

Setlist: Set 1: head. > Darkness > St. Augustine > Good Trip > Spaz Medicine, The Pit > head.

Set 2: Jazzwank > Timmy Tucker > Can’t Seem To Find, Deep This Time > Gone, September > Buster, E: Raise A Glass, Faker > Timmy Tucker

Here’s a copy of the show if you wish to download it.

Though they seemingly stole the idea of the name directly from Brewery Ommegang’s Begium Comes to Cooperstown, the event was all their own.

On Saturday after brewing the Honey Oatmeal Stout our group expanded to include DJ Voodoo, Mitchell, Robert, Dave, and Myself and we all went up to Iron Hill West Chester to check out there Belgian beer event, Belgium Comes to West Chester. This was the first time I had attended and I am not sure if this was the first time they have done it. It was pretty cool, lots of different Iron Hill beers from all of the different locations, plus lots of local featured Belgian style beers. I saw several of the Iron Hill brewers and crews from at least Stewart’s, Sly Fox, and Flying Fish - things were well represented. The restaurant on the whole seemed full but tame, but the back bar where the event was in full swing was rowdy in the best way possible. We all grabbed a table near the back, we could still feel the energy, but weren’t deep in the mix. Here is a list of at least some of the beers, I think there were 22 total, here’s like 17, enjoy:

Stumblin’ Monk - Stewart’s
Otay - Nodding Head
Mad Elf - Troeg’s
Saison Vos - Sly Fox
Tripel Lindy - Manayunk Brewery
Stoudt’s Tripel - Stoudts
Belgian Red Ale - Triumph
Biere de Framboises - General Lafayette Inn
Abbey 6 - Victory
Heywood - Iron Hill, West Chester
The Quadfather - Iron Hill, West Chester
Bourbon-aged Quadfather - Iron Hill, West Chester
The Cannibal - Iron Hill, West Chester
Imperial Wit - Iron Hill, Phoenixville
Fe10 - Iron Hill, Newark
Flemish Red - Iron Hill, North Wales
Rudolph’s Revenge - Iron Hill, Media

My two favorite of the night were easily the Flemish Red from Iron Hill, North Wales and the Fe10 from Iron Hill, Newark. The Flemish Red was a very tight tart bright red variation of the style. This is a style that very much has my attention right now and I want to learn more about it, and then brew it. Also, the Fe10 has finally really come to stand on its own. It has always been OK and has gotten better, but now it is a stand-out. One of my favorite comments last night was Mitchell after he tasted my Heywood from Iron Hill, West Chester. The Heywood is fermented completely in oak with 100% Brettanomyces, it was tart, complex, and funky, and I really enjoyed it once I settled in with it. But, Mitchell took a sip and had this look on his face like I just made him watch the BME Pain Olympics and tried to describe the aftertaste as a cross between cheese and feet. He then described how he imagined this beer being served with a hill-billy named “Heywood” with his shoes off and his feet in a barrel of spoiled beer. And whenever one was ordered ol’ Heywood would dip a glass into the barrel and pull out the beer to be served. It sounds kind of weird now, but it was very funny then.

So last night Mike, Karen, and I went up to the Tin Angel to go see our friends Erik and Robert play a short show at the Tin Angel.

They played the early show last night in a style they call “in the round” with two other artist Lizanne Knott and John Conahan. They also had another musician from Alaska open for them named Esther Golton. In the round means that each musician takes a turn playing one song, then it is the next musician’s turn until each person has had a turn and then it repeats the order again. I think each person got to play only four songs last night and then one song where they all played together. You could totally tell that the three of them have played in different formats together before because the on-stage playing around and joining in to enhance each other’s songs was pretty cool. I think the four songs Mitchell played were: In the Bayou, Piece of the Pie, “Apart at the Seams” (first time played, I do not know the title), and Morning After a Long Night. I do not know the name of any of the songs John and Lizanne played, but I’ll tell you what, John can rock your balls off, he really does a great job.

After the show things got a little messy for a bit. It appears as if there were about seven of us and two more coming looking for something to do after the show (it was still early, 9PM). Naturally we all turned to the two guys who just performed that we came up to see. They were a little preoccupied at first talking with the crowd, but after half an hour and no one could make up their mind it got a little disappointing. We eventually decided to just go down the street to Eulogy, but that turned into a bust, way to crowded on a Saturday to try and find a spot for like ten people. I got discouraged and decided it was time for us to leave. On the way home we decided to go to Iron Hill in Wilmington for something to do. From there we wound up at Dave & Jody’s for a short spell, and then eventually back at my place. It was a really great time at the Tin Angel with a really bad speed bump afterward that turned into a good night in the long run.