Beer in Baltimore

The End Of Clipper City!

2009-12-21T14:44:00.001-05:00

Now that I have your attention..............

It's true. Direct from the hors--er, managing partner's mouth on Friday night.

"Clipper City will cease to exist as a brand effective February 1st."

The Heavy Seas brand will end up as the business name and house brand, with requisite changes to be made as needed. He was mum on exactly what beers might change, but it's certain that the Oxford and Clipper City names will be history.

Grab your Clipper City breweriana now, folks.

"Cheeee-eese, Gromit...."

2009-12-17T14:12:00.001-05:00

Cheeses to go with your Christmas beers and other booze. (I've always loved Comte, myself.)

And a Slate piece on whether the mere concept of cheese is environmentally "politically correct."

This should hold y'all for a few......

2009-12-17T12:44:00.004-05:00

I'm off out of town for a few, but before I scram, here's a quick update of what's worth paying attention to for your pre-Christmas libations:

Metropolitan (Federal Hill, 906 S. Charles St.): Firkin of Otter Creek's Quercus Vitis Humulus: "a bold 27 degree plato barley-wine, warm-fermented with Bohemian lager yeast, then blended with Sauvignon Blanc grape juice and fermented a second time with a pure culture of Champagne yeast, then aged on lightly toasted French Oak". 12% ABV, with 38 IBU. Previous samples of draft at Max's were quite intriguing. Starts @ 6 pm.

Max's: Cask Night: He'Brew Bittersweet Lenny IPA, Lagunitas Brown Shugga, and Lancaster Hop Hog. Discounts on casks Thursday nights beginning @ 6 pm. Meanwhile, there's a whole lotta holiday/Xmas/etc. beers still on tap, last I saw.......

Frisco Grille, Columbia: Firkin of Heavy Seas Loose Cannon dry-hopped with locally-grown (Frederick, Md.) Cascade hops, beginning 4 PM Thursday.

Judge's Bench, Main Street Ellicott City: Their first firkin tapping, also Heavy Seas Local-Hop Loose Cannon, along with some of the Clipper City brewing crew and Hugh Sisson, Friday evening beginning @ 5 pm. Also on hand: 2008 Below Decks, Yule Tide, Winter Storm, Peg Leg, and among the last of the Oxford Organic Amber, which is reported by Clipper City to be retired soon.

Mahaffey's: Wayne, ya big lug,. I love ya, man, but I can't tell them all what your weekly bomber special Thursdays is until you put my up-to-date e-mail address in your address book. Meanwhile, they usually also have $5 jumbo shrimp and "crab cake slider" platters Thursdays.

We Need To Address This......

2009-12-16T10:23:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Sam Sessa's Midnight Sun blog for the tip:

There's a bar in Dundalk called Hops Inn.

It's on Railway Avenue--a plus for this railway enthusiast.

Here's the beer list.

In spite of that name, there isn't anything even CLOSE to a "hoppy" beer there.

I suggest the sales reps from the distributors of Clipper City, Olivers, Victory, Wild Goose, Pub Dog, etc. pay them a visit. Or maybe I'll clandestinely plant hop vines there.

Xmas Beer Social @ Max's tomorrow

2009-12-14T15:51:00.000-05:00

The title pretty much says it all. Be there for a whole bunch of Christmas beers--and get there before they violate the fire code for capacity.

(Posting is likely to be pretty light for the rest of the month. One of my closest friends passed away a short while back, and we're just finding out about it now.)

What New Beers Do We Want? And Do We Need Them?

2009-12-08T14:11:00.000-05:00

The DC-Beer e-mail list has been chattering with a discussion of "new" beers in the DC market for 2009, and a few discussions about possible new ones for 2010. Remember, this is Washington, DC, and by extension suburban Virginia and Maryland:

Founders
Duck Rabbit
Terrapin [ironically, was contracted in Maryland until recently--and not related to U. of Md.]
Bruery [Available in Baltimore]
Firestone Walker
21st Amendment ([also in Baltimore]
Goose Island
Stoudt's [disappeared for a while, seems to be back]
Climax
Butternuts

Possible/desired new entries for 2010:
New Belgium
Lost Abbey/Port Brewing
Russian River [available in Philly]

Now comes the delicate question: With such a rich diversity of beer brands and quality available here, do we really need to see more beers here? Is bringing in New Belgium, for example, worth probably losing shelf space for, oh, I don't know, The Bruery, Great Divide, or Avery? Is Lost Abbey or Port worth losing Lagunitas or Stone, or several of the Belgians? Because face facts, folks, there's only so many craft beer dollars to be had, absent some "benevolent dictator" outlawing industrial-scale lagers like Bud, Miller, and Coors. There are times when I truly feel bad that I'm passing up, say, a terrific Avery or Brooklyn or Oskar Blues or Otter Creek or Allagash beer in favor of something just a little bit more special, distinctive, local, or oddball. Beers are only worth the trouble of shipping, making distribution arrangements, etc. if they can get repeat customers, not just "okay, check that off my list" samplers.

Beside which, isn't there good reason to keep even the best beers local? Shouldn't I have good reason to look forward to visiting a beer bar in California, Colorado, Chicago, or Casablanca? The last thing I want is what I had happen during my last visit to Arizona, where the bar was ever so proud to show off their newly-acquired Dogfish Head beers (and I was wearing a Dogfish Head belt buckle!), and I had to get them to pull out the local stuff from the far corners........... including, of course, Lost Abbey Ten Commandments......

Baltimore Magazine's "25 Best Baltimore Bars"

2009-12-08T13:29:00.001-05:00

Courtesy of Sam Sessa's Midnight Sun blog for the tip, here's Baltimore Magazine's list of "25 Best Bars". Seven writers in the byline.

Bertha's
B&O American Brasserie
Brewer's Art
Cat's Eye Pub
Club 347
Club Charles
Five
Hamilton Tavern
Hard Yacht Cafe
Hightopps Backstage Grille
Idle Hour
Jerry's Belvedere Tavern
Little Havana
Mahaffey's Pub
Max's
Mick O'Shea's
Oregon Grille
Owl Bar
Pazo's
Pub Dog (Federal Hill)
Racer's Cafe
Red Star
Ropewalk Tavern
Sly Fox Pub
Wharf Rat

Sidebar essays chat about Bar (Fells Point), the Laughing Pint, Teavolve, Cazbar, and Regi's American Bistro.

Debate and/or discuss. My big qualm: Why did they highlight and write up the Annapolis location of Sly Fox when there's a perfectly functional one in the zone between Federal Hill and Locust Point?

Samuel Smith's Beer Dinner @ Metropolitan Dec. 15th

2009-12-07T12:43:00.000-05:00

In my e-mail inbox a few minutes ago:

Metropolitan is announcing the next in our series of beer dinners to be held next Tuesday, December 15. Chef Ferdinand Farly will be pairing five courses with five beers from the Samuel Smith Brewery in Yorkshire, England. Samuel Smith Brewery is one of the oldest and largest independent breweries in England, producing a variety of classic English ales in a brewery that dates back to 1758. John Brown of Merchant du Vin, the importer of Samuel Smith, will be on hand to talk about the brewery and the beers.

The details:
Date: Tuesday, December 15
Time: 7:00 pm
Cost: $50 per person, Limited to 15 people

The Menu:
1st Course: Green Pea & Mint Soup
Pure-Brewed Lager
2nd Course: Green Pea & Watercress Salad
Old Brewery Pale Ale
3rd Course: Curried Scallops
India Pale Ale
4th Course: Lemongrass Lambchop
Taddy Porter
5th Course: Fried Banana
Oatmeal Stout

If you are interested and wish to reserve a spot, call Metropolitan at 410-234-0235 or send an email.

Hoppy Hoppy, Joy Joy at Red Brick Station

2009-12-05T13:13:00.000-05:00

I managed a long-overdue but all-too-quick visit to Red Brick Station yesterday, and found a surprise awaiting me.

First, Percolator. Not a dopplebock, but instead a 6.5% hoppy ale named after all the hops percolating inside the brew kettle. (Also on draft at Mahaffey's as of Thursday night...).

Second, A-10 Warthog IPA, named for, and brewed in part for, the military aircraft that are tested at nearby Martin State Airport. It's an outrageously hoppy 6.5% IPA, perfect for hopheads fond of the thought of picking hop cones out of their teeth after drinking, full of fresh aromas and grapefruity hop bite. Brewer Mike McDonald explained it thus: "The test pilots at Martin converge here for lunch and drinks every test day that gets canceled because of inclement weather--and lately that's about one day a week. We brewed up the beer with them in mind, and when we named it after the plane, they gave us the picture now hanging on the wall there!" Another difference is the yeast: instead of the "house" Ringwood yeast, McDonald fermented the beer with a batch of "Chico" yeast, made to replicate Sierra Nevada's house strain, acquired from nearby DuClaw Brewing.

Winter Solstice Ale is just around the corner, a deeply roast porter that, in the premature sample from the aging tanks, had a lot of coffee notes, but is held to a drinkable 5.5%. It features 20 pounds of cocoa nibs, along with vanilla--"the vanilla is only a chocolate flavor enhancer, just like commercial milk chocolate," said McDonald. The finished product will probably have richer chocolate flavors but a dry finish.

McDonald said of an earlier batch of Highlander Heavy that was on draft a month or more ago: "That was a last keg that was sitting around in the back of the cooler. I haven't even gotten around to brewing this year's batch, but I have to tweak the recipe again." It seemed that last year's batch dramatically demonstrated the huge difference that different malt suppliers can make; a blend of the same malt specifications from a different malster produced a result not to McDonald's satisfaction, and one that didn't age well, either, if some reviews of that last keg are to be believed.

UPDATED: New Max's Cask Nights, and the Same Old One at Metropolitan

2009-12-03T12:12:00.003-05:00

UPDATED and bumped up: In addition to the earlier post content below, let's add that Thursday has been the cask night at Metropolitan for a while now, and tonight-s cask is Wild Goose Snow Goose, a sentimental old favorite of mine....... decisions, decisions............ Plus, Thursday has long been a featured-beer night at Mahaffey's in Canton; now if I could just get Wayne to add my newer e-mail back to his list instead of the one I dropped over a year ago............

What? With three beer engines, EVERY day is Cask Day at Max's Taphouse, you would think.

But starting Thursday Dec. 3rd, Max's is holding Cask Nights in addition to its usual Trivia Nights. Similar to the Tuesday Beer Socials, beginning at 6 p.m. there will be a featured beer (or more than one, or even a firkin now and then), with a discount on the price for that night only. The starting line-up for the 3rd:

BrewDog Harcore IPA 9.0% ABV. Scottish Imperial IPA, 150 IBU's

Williams Bros. 80 Shilling 4.2% ABV. Scottish Ale

Lagunitas Brown Shugga 9.8% ABV. Strong Ale Hybrid

Max's has now purchased several of its own firkins, and is dispatching them to various breweries through the distributors, in order to assure supply. This is hardly new--many local beer bars now have their own firkins, as it's often the only way to get cask ale. (If you see a fire-engine-red one floating around, it's from Metropolitan Coffeehouse.)

What Do I Have To Do To Get Your Beer, Anyway?

2009-12-02T23:31:00.001-05:00

What's the most popular and requested draft beer in Baltimore?

Well, if you just count tap handles, it's probably Bud Light. But if you open a bar in town, you might have the big industrial brewers falling over themselves trying to "buy" their way into your place (they'll install your draft system as long as you serve their products, for example).

But is there a beer with a waiting list--a beer where someone has to die or get bumped off before you get their beer? According to Sam Sessa's Midnight Sun post, most certainly: Brewers Art Resurrection. Go read the post; he got it mostly right (but didn't go into the bottling-at-Sly-Fox-in-Pennsylvania situation).

This dilemma highlights the growing problem that confronts a great many brewpubs nationwide, but is exacerbated in urban areas and Baltimore in particular. At one point, Baltimore had five brewpubs in the city limits; now it's down to two brewpubs and three "brewpub outlets" where the beer is brewed outside the city--and only if we still consider the Ram's Head Live complex near the Power Plant still a brewery outlet, in spite of many guest beers. Both the remaining brewpubs, and one of the now-gone ones (Sisson's), have/had brewing systems literally crammed into back corners and basement space, and frankly, it completely dumbfounds me that ANY brewer would be willing to work long-term in those claustrophobic, cramped confines. My Bacchus, unions were formed and arose to power to combat such working conditions, dammit! Steve Jones of Oliver's/Pratt Street has jokingly called himself the "hunchback," and anyone who has ever been down in the brewpub's basement--a typical old-Baltimore-downtown basement--would be flabbergasted. Brewers Art's set-up is slightly less claustrophobic, but equally cramped and "inhumane" by many labor standards.

Oliver's is lucky enough that Bill Oliver bought long-term and has lots of excess capacity in its conditioning vessels (thus allowing Jones and assistant Justin D'Amadio the opportunity to work more and expand their market to D.C. and beyond--Olivers is rapidly becoming the "default" reserve cask beer at a lot of places now). Brewers Art doesn't have that luxury--it's either tank space or a kitchen. Take your pick. The brewery at the former Sisson's, last operated under the current owner Ryleigh's, was removed and sold to Mountain State Brewing's Brian Arnett, because, as I was told by the management, they ran the numbers and found that there was more money to be made from additional seating space than there was from the brewery; a similar fate for the same reason befell the brewery at the original DuClaw in Bel Air, and I suspect the only reason they haven't ripped out the brewery at the Annapolis Ram's Head Tavern is the sheer disruption the scrapping would cause.

Thanks to that stupid, fantasy-based, and even unethical real estate boom of the late 1990s and beyond, the square footage involved in running a brewpub in an urban area is anywhere from expensive to ludicrous. Nobody in their right minds, unless they inherit the property or have a "sweetheart" deal with a property owner or the city, would open a brewpub in an inner city in America today, what with property and business taxes, license fees, and the sheer cost of the necessary real estate. Bill Oliver, the former owner of what is now the Pratt Street Ale House, was heavily rumored, before selling the place last year, to have been seeking out a solution similar to what DuClaw carried out: putting the actual brewing operations outside the city and operating the pubs as "tied houses." (Thirsty Dog/Dog Pub similarly set up shop out in the old Clay Pipe facility in the "industrial" side of Westminster, with an eye towards their expansion to other locations, but they had been serving Old Dominion beers as their "own" brands before OD pulled out of Maryland, forcing their hand at an innovative solution, one that has scored them one GABF medal so far....)

Should we have mercy on these poor souls? Would we be all right if, just to make up fantasies, Brewers Art shut down for two weeks, disassembled their brewing equipment, and set up a new brewery with three times the capacity and a bottling line in, oh, I don't know, a business park in Owings Mills or Glen Burnie? And PSAH/Olivers relocated to a back corner of an abandoned industrial building in Highlandtown or a pier in Canton, brewing up beers in a nice Pugsley system sourced from Shipyard or Wild Goose?

Hey--it would mean we'd get a bit more Resurrection, Cerebus, or Le Canard, right?

Incidentally, since Sam let the cat out of the bag in his post, so to speak, I'll point out that there are still a scant few tickets left for their annual holiday beer tasting on Dec. 12th, noon to 4 p.m. 20% of the gross is donated to a chosen local charity; about a dozen of the region's breweries will be on hand with their holiday beers, and Brewers Art sets out a buffet of their excellent food to accompany it all--and that's usually the first "keg to kick." Tickets, advance only, are $40 plus a processing fee; go here for tickets, and don't call the brewpub.

Do You Have a "Regular" Beer?

2009-12-02T09:05:00.002-05:00

A poll to the right for readers of this blog (and non-readers, if you want to read this to a friend or blind beer drinker):

Do you have a routine "regular" beer in your life? Either a favorite or a "go-to" beer that is regular in your life? Do you always have a case of Clipper City Heavy Seas Loose Cannon or Wild Goose IPA in your cellar, or a six-pack of The Raven or Victory Prima Pils in your fridge? Are you constantly filling a growler of DuClaw Misfit Red or Olivers ESB every week? Do you have a standing order for a sixtel or keg of such a beer for your kegerator? Do you get cantankerous if the level of Brewers Art Resurrection in your blood gets low?

If not: Why not?

Homebrewers: Are you brewing the same recipe routinely, or are you constantly trying new things?

The one most popular question I get asked when people find I write and blog about beer is "what's your favorite beer?" I always refuse to answer, for three reasons: One I at least attempt to maintain a diplomatic sense of neutrality as a reporter on the scene; two, we have to recognize what what I may like in a beer (maltier, balanced English-style ales) may not be what the extreme-beer fanatic or hophead has in mind; and three, being in this incredibly rich, sophisticated, and diversified market, I have such an embarrassment of riches to choose from that it's embarrassing and pathetic to even think of winnowing such a list down to a Top 25. Plus, variety being the spice of life and all that, I can't imagine a situation where I'd want an entire sixtel, let alone a half-keg or keg, of any specific beer, even a "holy grail" such as Thomas Hardy's, J.W. Lees Harvest Ale, Samichlaus, New Glarus Belgian Red or Raspberry Tart, or anything, unless I can invite about 50 fans to share it with me--and isn't that really the point of a beer festival, after all?

December Mid-Atlantic Brewing News is out......

2009-12-02T08:48:00.002-05:00

Spotted at Max's Taphouse last night. Check your local good-beer venue for your copy. Cover stories on "extreme beers" and "how hoppy can you make a beer?"--the latter by yours truly.

FDA Going After "Buzz Beer"? Or, Goodbye to Coffee Stout?

2009-12-02T08:32:00.004-05:00

Greg Kitsock's beer column in today's Washington Post calls to our attention that news that the federal Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on caffeinated alcoholic beverages:

On Nov. 13, the FDA sent a letter to 30 manufacturers warning that "there are no food additive regulations that permit the addition of caffeine at any level in alcoholic beverages." The agency has given the companies a month to present scientific evidence that the combination of alcohol and caffeine is safe. The FDA was prompted in part by complaints from the attorneys general of 18 states that such high-octane energy drinks can be addictive and can create wide-awake drunks who are unable to judge their level of impairment and are therefore prone to engage in risky behaviors such as driving under the influence.

The apparent intended target of this "campaign" are "are caffeinated spirits such as the vodka and tequila made by Pink and flavored malt beverages such as Four Loko, a deep-purple concoction spiked with guarana (which contains caffeine) that measures 12 percent alcohol and tastes like grape Kool-Aid mixed with cough medicine." (I pity Kitsock if he actually tasted this swill, though a fellow writer grabbed a similar "beverage" while we were on a fact/photo-finding mission to Fordham in Delaware....... and, yes, it was about as pathetic.)

But the unintentional victim of such an assault could also be coffee-laced beers--now its own medal category in the Great American Beer Festival. Locally, who remembers Fuel at Capitol City in the Inner Harbor--still being made at other Cap City outlets? Who's had other terrific coffee stouts such as Southern Tier's Java? And now maybe we know why Dogfish Head does a Chicory Stout rather than a coffee stout? Of course, the whole image of the concept is not helped any by the fact that beer enthusiast Drew Carey mocked the concept by having the characters on his eponymous show start up a garage brewery making "Buzz Beer".....

Further, the libertarian in me is aghast at the FDA's statement: "there are no food additive regulations that permit the addition of caffeine". Well, ex-cuuuse the heck out of me, but just where the hell do they get off making a statement like that? Basically, we're not allowed to do something related to foodstuffs unless it is specifically allowed and blessed by the FDA? Did we have to seek out the FDA's approval to add fruit to a beer? Chili peppers? Cinnamon and nutmeg? Do I have to ask their blessing if I want to age it in an oak barrel--or, for that matter, a hickory or maple barrel?

Oh, wait, you say? The issue arises because caffeine is considered a drug? I'll tell y'all what: Let's start making the coffee stouts out of decaffeinated coffee. Then tell the FDA to stick it where the sun don't shine. Or, more accurately, to just "buzz off." And while they're at it, look at those "Irish Coffees" down at the "Irish" pub and elsewhere.......

UPDATE: Much more discussion at the professional level, including a list of targeted products, HERE.

In addition, a professional brewer e-mailed me the following:

The FDA letter specifically states:
"A10. This FDA action is not directed at products that are flavored with coffee. The beverages that are the subject of FDA’s request for information are characterized by the intentional addition of caffeine to alcoholic beverages by the manufacturer."

Thus, it is not the addition of coffee, a legitimate food product, that they have issue with, but the addition of pure/straight caffeine, a chemical compound. IMHO, and non-legal opinion, they most certainly DO have a right to limit such additions, in the public interest. I realize the caffeine almost certainly COMES FROM a food product, but so does MSG and a myriad of other CHEMICALS which are dangerous in straight concentrated form and therefore regulated.

To which I will point out: OK, it's not permissible for someone to blend this stuff and commercially package it, but it's perfectly OK if I do it myself, at my own risk. Okay. Fine. Then what of the bartender making Jack and Cokes, or Irish Coffees, or Red Bull and vodkas?

Someone call the Associated Press......

2009-11-30T10:49:00.000-05:00

..... and tell them, who are happily helping Samuel Adams with their publicity for the latest batch of overpriced, over-hyped Utopias, to kindly refer to my post of a couple days ago. Heck, I'm just amazed that the M.A.D.D. CEO didn't fall all over himself to reflexively condemn the stuff--"However, he hopes the beverage's higher alcohol content is properly labeled and that it isn't marketed to minors." (Anyone hurt themselves laughing? Especially in those states where you're not allowed to label the alcohol content on the bottle?)

For the record, the thirteen states where you're not allowed to buy such a strong beer: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont and Washington.

Mail-Order Beer In Maryland's Future?

2009-11-27T21:01:00.002-05:00

Today's Baltimore Sun has an article on the latest effort to legalize wine shipments into Maryland, in an attempt to put it on par with 35 other states and the District of Columbia.

The issue has fermented for years in the legislature where a bill has been bottled up in committee, but wine producers and connoisseurs see an opportunity in the next session that begins in January. They say they have more funding and support, and they hope to draw votes by casting the bill as a pro-consumer issue that lawmakers can promote to voters before the 2010 election.

"We've got a lot of things going in our favor, and this issue will finally have its day," said Adam Borden, executive director of Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws, an organization whose membership has grown tenfold with increased outreach over the past year.

The odds are that if it happens for wine, it will equally apply to spirits and beer. Imagine finally being able to join a "Beer of the Month" club or getting someone to ship you--legally--some prized beer you can't get here--Goose Island, New Glarus, Lost Abbey, etc. (Not that it's that serious an issue here; there's darned few world-class beers you can't get here in Maryland as long as you go to the right retailers.....)

What beer would you mail-order if you could?

The Newest "Strongest Beer"

2009-11-26T22:24:00.002-05:00

BrewDog, the Scottish brewery that is doing its god-damnest to outdo all other contenders (Dogfish Head, Hitachino Nest, Stone, Unibroue, Three Floyds, you name it) for the Brewery With The Most Attitude, has sent me a press release/blogpost for its newest beer, Tactical Nuclear Penguin. Weighing in at an ABV of 32%, it beats the previous record of 31% reputedly held by German beer brand Schorschbraer.

Before you folks get your knickers in a bunch, be advised: This beer, as described by the brewery below, is technically illegal to manufacture in the United States, because the process of removing ice from frozen beer to increase alcohol content is considered--rightly so--a form of "distillation":

The Antarctic name inducing schizophrenia of this uber-imperial stout originates from the amount of time it spent exposed to extreme cold. This beer began life as a 10% imperial stout 18 months ago. The beer was aged for 8 months in an Isle of Arran whisky cask and 8 months in an Islay cask making it our first double cask aged beer. After an intense 16 month, the final stages took a ground breaking approach by storing the beer at -20 degrees for three weeks to get it to 32%.

For the big chill the beer was put into containers and transported to the cold store of a local ice cream factory where it endured 21 days at penguin temperatures. Alcohol freezes at a lower temperature than water. As the beer got colder BrewDog Chief Engineer, Steven Sutherland decanted the beer periodically, only ice was left in the container, creating more intensity of flavours and a stronger concentration of alcohol for the next phase of freezing. The process was repeated until it reached 32%.

Tactical Nuclear Penguin from BrewDog on Vimeo.

Will we get any? I doubt it. It may be illegal to make the stuff here, but there are several foreign-made eisbocks and other such products on beer shelves here. The problem is the limited supply and price:

Of the 500 330ml bottles released, 250 will be available for £30 [$48] with a further 250 available for £250 [$400] – the latter will include a share in the BrewDog company as part of its ‘Equity for Punks’ campaign which is aiming to raise £2.3m [$3.7 million] to build a new eco-friendly, carbon-neutral brewery in Aberdeen.

I'm not certain about the international investment laws, but I'm reasonably certain the offer of alcohol with an investment share has to break some Federal investment laws here in the States.......

For a review of one of BrewDog's other ludicrous-extreme beers which, at last report, you CAN get here, see Brad's review of their Atlantic IPA here.

UPDATE: More from the BBC here.

Mark Your Calendars: Max's Belgian Fest 2010

2009-11-24T15:44:00.001-05:00

Feb. 12-14, 2010.

120 Belgian drafts planned, as well as 120 Belgian bottled beers (as usual, a scant few of both will likely be Belgian-styled American beers such as Ommegang or Brewers Art), plus Belgian-inspired bar eats.

Are You Drinking Thankgiving Eve?

2009-11-24T14:46:00.005-05:00

I asked last year about this reported phenomenon: Thanksgiving Eve purportedly being the biggest drinking or bar-traffic day of the year, ahead of even St. Patrick's Day, Super Bowl Sunday, Mardi Gras, New Year's Eve, etc.

And again, I ask: Is it true? If so, why? Anyone got any studies, facts, etc. to prove this allegation, or is it just another scare-mongering tactic by the police and neo-Prohibitionists?

All statistics aside, if you want real ale that night, Metropolitan is tapping a firkin of Dog Pub's Chocolate Oatmeal Stout tomorrow at 6 pm in lieu of their usual Firkin Thursday.......... and all DuClaw locations, including the one in Fells Point, are having parties for the occasion, with growler discounts and extended Happy Hours............

Are you going out that night? Good weather or bad? Where and why?

Kasper on Tap is Back!

2009-11-22T09:32:00.002-05:00

Enough said?

Beer News Roundup

2009-11-20T08:40:00.001-05:00

I'm just stumbling over beer news in my normal news perusal, so here, look over my shoulder:

BBC News: the seemingly weekly news of booze being healthy: "Drinking alcohol every day cuts the risk of heart disease in men by more than a third, a major study suggests. The Spanish research involving more than 15,500 men and 26,000 women found large quantities of alcohol could be even more beneficial for men."

Los Angeles Times: Beer bars booming in L.A. (And L.A. gets its first brewpub--or so the article claims.)

Extreme Beers in the Washington Post

2009-11-18T12:49:00.001-05:00

Mid-Atlantic Brewing News editor and Washington Post columnist Greg Kitsock does a Washington Post column on the topic I asked about a short while back, extreme beers.

I was the source of his sample of BrewDog's Nanny State, shipped over for our sampling pleasure (or lack thereof?) by the Scottish brewery.

As for my own thoughts about extreme beers, I feel the whole extreme beer movement is best summarized by this "The City" cartoon by alt-comic cartoonist John Backderf, or Derf (reprinted with permission--and even he no longer has the original in his files); just substitute the latest hop-bomb or exotic-ingredient beer for the game and the beer geeks for the kid:

(Click on the above image for an enlarged version.)

Christmas Beer Exchange?

2009-11-16T15:38:00.000-05:00

Calling All Homebrewers, and Holiday Beer Fans!

My homebrewing friend John, who sort of twisted my arm into making a Christmas beer this year (and I sought my revenge by making it a public demonstration for Baltimore Beer Week) came up with a brilliant idea:

"Why should the women have all the fun with their Christmas cookie exchanges? Why don't we have a Christmas beer exchange? Trade a couple bottles or a six-pack of your Christmas beer with others, and get more variety for the winter!"

So here's what I'm offering: If you are interested in trading your Christmas-strength homebrew for other folks, comment, and volunteer. I'm also willing to entertain the possibility of letting non-homebrewers get in on this by buying a commercially-made beer, but I will watch over that and make sure that we don't get ten folks all bringing Snow Goose, Anchor Our Special Ale, or whatnot.

I'll make this one better: If I get a nice, round 12 or 24 folks commenting, volunteering, and willing to put money where their mouths are, I will arrange with a Baltimore liquor store to assemble mixed 12-packs or cases of Xmas ales. Your cost will be the actual cost of the beer in question divided by the number of participants, with no mark-up. This offer will probably exclude homebrew, unless necessary to bring the number to a round 12 or 24. Just as a guesstimate, expect the cost of a 12-pack to be around $20, and a case to be around $40, unless we go an extra league and rope in something especially spectacular. In addition, if you are traveling and can acquire 12 or 24 bottles of some holiday beer we can't get through normal channels, drop me an e-mail and we'll see if we can make appropriate arrangements.

Wall Street Journal: A Look at Wine Ratings

2009-11-16T09:55:00.000-05:00

Make that one downright cynical look at wine ratings:

They pour, sip and, with passion and snobbery, glorify or doom wines. But studies say the wine-rating system is badly flawed. How the experts fare against a coin toss.

And people occasionally wonder why I don't deal much with BeerAdvocate and RateBeer.............

Hindenburg Beer Auction Shatters Records!

2009-11-14T17:15:00.003-05:00

From the Chippenham Gazette & Herald (UK):

The world record price for a bottle of beer was smashed in Devizes today when a bottle of Lowebrau lager sold for over £10,000 [$16,680].
The bottle was recovered from the wreckage of the German airship Hindenburg after it burst into flames as it moored at Lakehurst, New York, on May 6 1937. It was part of the collection of survivor Richard Kollmer.
The previous highest price for a single bottle of beer is thought to be around £2,500 and auctioneer Alan Aldridge started bidding at £3,000 [$5,006]. There was fierce competition from telephone bidders all over the world, mainly from the US. Mr Aldridge eventually knocked the item down for £9,400 [$15,687]. With buyer's premium, the bottle will cost the purchaser £10,810 [$18,039] .

An electro-plated milk pitcher, also recovered from the wreckage, went for over £9,000.
The prices for the Hindenburg memorabilia dwarfed those for items connected with Elvis Presley, Diana Ross, Peter Sellers and Paul McCartney.

Lot 206 and 207 are shown in the online catalogue here. Earlier Beer in Baltimore post on the topic here.