FOOLCiRCLE

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.

Yesterday was the One Final Victory for Heavyweight event at The Drafting Room in Exton, PA and you know I was there.

The basis for the event was basically Victory was releasing a new beer, Baltic Thunder, which was  a remake of a Heavyweight beer, Perkuno’s Hammer. Supposedly the story goes like this, Heavyweight Brewery closed in 2006 after about ten years of mild success to a very devout fan base. One of the beers Heavyweight brewed was called Perkuno’s Hammer and was a Baltic Porter style beer, which is a beer style that not many people make and was one of their most popular. This beer was so popular that after they closed Victory came up with a way (bought the rights?) to re-brew the beer to make it still available as a Victory product. Well, all of this happened in the middle of 2007. After about six months of legal nonsense of name issues, and label issues, and bottling issues Victory finally released Baltic Thunder their Baltic Porter beer brewed in honor of Perkuno’s Hammer.

So yesterday at the event it was the official release of Baltic Thunder plus one of the last kegs of Perkuno’s Hammer was also tapped. Like most people I did a side-by-side tasting of the two beers to see how the original has held up and to see how similar the new one was. Unfortunately the Perkuno’s Hammer didn’t fair too well, it was slightly oxidized and sour, but the Baltic Thunder was fantastic. The Baltic Thunder was very rich and malty with a slight chocolate note in the back. I picked up a couple 22oz bottles at $8 a piece to only later find out they were selling them at Victory for $3, suckage.

They also had a lot of other really great beers on tap suck as Seven Threads Symposium Ale,  Heavyweight’s Baltus, Heavyweight’s Lunacy, Victory’s Harvest Ale and Pils, Victory’s Abbey 6, Victory’s Hop Wallop on cask, and a bunch of very limited Heavyweight bottles. The Symposium Ale was blended for 2005 Craft Brewers Conference in Philadelphia, this amalgamation consists of Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale, Flying Fish Porter, Independence Oatmeal Stout (RIP), Iron Hill Pig Iron Porter, Nodding Head Grog, Stoudt’s Fat Dog Stout, Victory Storm King and Yard’s IPA. If you ask me that’s eight breweries not seven, go figure. Anyway it was a really neat beer that I’m sure will never be reproduced again.

I got lucky and Dave, Catherine, Lyric, and Colin came down and joined me for lunch. I called them to see if they were interested in grabbing lunch not really having any idea how far Exton was from their house or knowing if they were available. Lucky enough they were around and able to come down. I think everyone had a good time, I know my time was better because they were there. Overall it was a really cool little beer event, I wish there was a Drafting Room or similar type place closer to home.

Hopefully 2008 is finding everyone healthy and happy so far. This year for NYE we went down to Dogfish Head again for their five course beer dinner and NYE festivities.

This was Dave, Jody, Karen, and I’s second year going to DFH for NYE and it was even more fun this year than last year. Last year we went to the early seating (6PM) for dinner and then went back to the beach house to celebrate New Year’s. This year we went to the late seating (8PM) for dinner and then stayed at DFH to watch the band they had, Nate Myers and the Aces, and then stayed the night in Rehoboth at the Brighton Suites Hotel. The dinner turned out to be even better than I remember last years dinner being. Only the first course was a little off to me (capers and olives = double strike), but it was a great idea that just didn’t mesh with my taste buds. The band was pretty cool too. They kind of were heavy-harmonica blues-influenced rock. It seemed as if the room took a little bit to warm up to them, but by midnight the place was jumping especially with a great cover of Jump Around by House of Pain. Below is the menu from the dinner:

1st course
Ahi Tuna Nicoise Salad
With shallots, sweet potatoes, olives and capers
½ pint of Pangaea

2nd course
Crab Soufflé
With asparagus hollandaise
Pint of 60 Minute IPA

3rd course
Raspberry Fort Sorbet
With lime infusion

4th course
Grilled Duck Cassoulet
With Smoked oyster mushrooms and white truffle
Pint of 90 Minute IPA

5th course
Triple Chocolate Mousse Tower
With blue cheese anglaise
½ Pint of Chicory Stout with a shot of Blue Hen Chocolate Vodka

Midnight Champagne toast

And is if this post isn’t going to look too long already, here are the lyrics to a new song my friend Erik Mitchell has recently wrote that I think are very appropriate for New Year’s Day, well, at least for some up us. He also has these lyrics and a bunch of other stuff posted on his myspace page so go check him out there.

The Morning After A Long Night
Words/Music: Erik Mitchell

Woke up this morning
Cigarette butt stuck to my head
Mumbling, fumbling, grumbling, bumbling
Stumbling my way out of bed
Made my way to the bathroom
Asked myself “What the hell did I done?”
The only thing that’s clear I had a fight with alcohol
And it won

It’s the morning after a long night
You know my head isn’t quite right now
The morning after a long night

My bloodshot eyes tell the story
So do the ink stamps on both of my hands
They’re not Livestrong bracelets
They’re over-21 wristbands
My head is propped up on the toilet
My body’s splayed out on the floor
I bargain with the porcelain god
But he knows I’ve been there before

It’s the morning after a long night
You know my head isn’t quite right now
The morning after a long night

You know it’s hard to remember
Everything that I had to drink
But considering the state I’m in
Looks like I got some time to think…
Bottle of rum and some 151
And shot of tequilla, a six-pack of Zima
Some SoCo and Lime, a carafe of white wine
Sex on the Beach, Schapps — PEACH!
Kahlua and cream and a dirty martini
The vodka was mild and the Turkey was Wild
Whisky Sours on the hour, Jagermeister!

It’s the morning after a long night
You know my head isn’t quite right now
The morning after a long night
It’s the morning after a long night
You know my head isn’t quite right now
The morning after a long night

©2007 Old City Music

Karen & I were invited out to dinner on Friday (12.21.07) by our friends Aimee & Jace for Aimee’s birthday.

Jace had received some gift certificates to a restaurant chain Roy’s Restaurant and there was one nearby in Philadelphia. He invited us to join them, their treat, sounds like a good plan to me. I had never heard of Roy’s before so I did what any modern idiot does and googled it. It turns out Roy’s specializes in Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine. I really had no idea what that meant, but it made me think of pineapples, fresh seafood, and the Polynesian from Disney World. After reading all I could on the website, I determined what my initial impressions weren’t off, but it also only appeared to be the tip of the iceberg. It appeared as if we were going to be in for a feast.

Here is what we ordered that I can remember:

• First Course: Sushi & Cocktails
  • Lakanilau Roll - Kobe beef, snow crab, avocado, and asparagus
  • Another Roll with lobster, caviar, and asparagus
  • And a Hawaii Martini each with pineapple, vanilla vodka, and coconut rum
• Second Course: Hot Appetizers
  • Crunchy Golden Lobster Potstickers
  • Kobe beef, jalapeno, and cheese dumplings
  • Vegetable spring rolls
• Third Course: Entries and Wine
  • A bottle of Stump Jump Red (blend: Grenache, Shiraz, Mourvedre)
  • I had amazing U10 scallops, with fantastic mashed root vegetables, a roasted yellow pepper puree, a small piece of fresh bacon , and a tamarind sauce that I never needed to use.
  • Karen had some sort of fish that actually looked over cooked but tasted OK (the only real negative of the night)
  • Jace had lamb lollipops served rare with an amazing savory bread pudding (this is what I almost ordered)
  • Aimee had a scallop and shrimp combo with rice and micro-greens
• Fourth Course: Dessert & Coffee
  • Hot Chocolate Souffle, a flourless chocolate cake with a hot molten chocolate center
  • Pineapple Upside-down Cake
  • Jace, Aimee, and I got coffees, Karen had a cappuccino and a hazelnut dessert martini

I would recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a nice place to eat in Philadelphia. I was never able to see the final bill, but I know it wasn’t cheap, maybe $300+ for the four of us. But we were also eating and drinking whatever we wanted knowing that it was mostly covered by gift certificates. Thanks again Aimee & Jace.