Red Apron

Finally went to Red Apron Sunday.  They don’t have any taps.  Just bottles and cans.  They have lots of bottles to go but only five or six to drink there.  They have 6 really big bottles of Gulden Draak among others.  If you need any specialty meats or duck fat in a tub, you can probably find it here.

I had a chili dog and Steph had a bowl of chili.  We also had fries. Everything was good.  I had a Blue Mountain Kolsch and Steph has a Lagunitas Sucks.  The Lagunitas was really good.  I thought it was supposed to be a brown ale and it seemed more like an IPA to me.  After researching the beer a little, it's a replacement for a brown ale that they weren't able to brew due to production schedules and then kept because it's good.

Anyway, stop by Red Apron for good meats and beer.

McLean December Results

The holiday month brought us a taste of lagers. Though they don't posess the biting and robust flavor of an ale (at least to this author), we still managed to find a few with some taste. The winner was Raven's Special Lager of Baltimore - the face on the label belied the smooth taste and drinkability. The Henry Weinhard Private Reserve placed and the Blue Mountain Lager of Afton, VA pulled up the rear - it was smooth, but it didn't climb high enough for the judges. The selection was nice, but if you're going to pay the price, stick with an ale. ;)

Sweet Baby Jesus!

If you haven't tried the Sweet Baby Jesus Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter from DuClaw, then you are definitely missing out. Absolutely not a session beer - I consider it a desert beer. In fact, I'm not sure I could really drink and entire one by myself (I haven't yet). But if you are like me and enjoy the hell out of a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup, then you can appreciate the subtle flavors in this outstanding beer creation. Available for a limited time once a year, and only in the DelMarVA. I snuck some back on my last trip and have been politely sharing with my Southern brethren. I recently discovered that it pairs well with chocolate covered espresso beans.

McLean November Results

The winner for November was the Flying Dog K-9 by a unanimous vote.  The Harpoon Winter Warmer some how edged the Bell's Winter White Ale for second.

Racer 5 Amuse-Bouche...

What? Craft beer becoming a foodie's dream? Well, it happened with amuse-bouche (a single, bite-sized hors d'œuvre)by chef Nick Peyton at a (former) tony restaurant in Healdsburg, California - Cyrus. The picture below presents a "Racer 5 Beer Bubble", a golden sphere filled with Bear Republic Brewery's Racer 5 India Pale Ale and a hint of lemon. Looks good, but I think I'd ask for 12 more, or at least a variety of bubbles to compliment my meal.

Prost

Welcome Great Pumpkin!

What better way to celebrate a birthday (no matter the age) than with a little beer, pumpkin, and sugar.  This glass of pumkin ale goodness was found at Ford's Fish Shack in Ashburn > it's a Southern Tier Pumpkin Ale with crushed pumpkin seeds and brown sugar on the rim. It carried with it a nice color and "lovely citrus hop notes".  Welcome the Great Pumpkin.
Prost. 

Single-wide IPA does the trick in a Dogfish Head IPA glass...

Who says a double-wide is the only way to go?  Retrying a recent McLean beer club entry, I poured a nice golden Single-Wide IPA from Boulevard Brewing Company, StL MO for a low-key nightcap.  It provided the classic IPA hoppy nose, but not any bitterness.  What made it especially tasty was using my new Dogfish Head IPA glass.  They style of the glass forces your nose into the glass to get an extra whiff of hops + it has this unique base that is intended to help creating a constant head - not sure I experienced that (though I didn't give it much time) but it did make drinking this pleasant IPA unique.  I'd recommend the Single-Wide if you are looking for a classic easy to drink IPA.
Prost.

McLean June Tasting Results

June's tasting was a potpourri of European lagers, including Laverstock Park Farm's organic offering (England), the Greek competitor Mythos, Estrella Damm (brewed in Barcelona since 1876), and Austria's Salzburger Stiegl.  With only six participants this month, our tasting resulted in a tie between the Laverstock and Damm beers.  Mythos, unfortunately, reminded us that the Greeks have been focusing lately on economics rather than intoxicants.  And, the canned Stiegl brought up the rear.  In an effort to break the tie, a runoff was held, which resulted in a second tie - an unprecedented event for the drS Beer Club.

Memphis Blues and Beer...

A recent trip to Memphis brought another opportunity to try out the local craft brew scene.  Each restaurant or bar we visited had at least one local on tap - a coincidence? Likely not, it's more of an  establishment criteria.  Tasty results are presented below.
Prost.

Locales Pub - Downtown. Left to right: Lazy Magnolia Pale Ale - A hop-o-rama beer that is nicely drinkable; good nose, somewhat fruity; but, can be overwhelming to un-initiated. Yazoo Sly Rye Porter - nice and smooth; standard porter;  Yazoo Pale Ale - smooth, easily drinkable, good session beer.

Rendezvous - Downtown - the classic and famous rib joint.  Ghost River Golden Ale - a nice compliment to ribs, chicken, slaw, and beans.  Nice golden color, slight maltiness, good session beer.

Salt Lake - 3/3...Red Rock

Our SLC visit was capped off with a visit to Red Rock.  The atmosphere was lively and we were treated to stories from a bar partner who just had spent a week of solitude in the southern part of the state - lonely for conversation, good with stories, hankering for good beer.

We paired our dinner of wild Alaskan salmon with an Elephino Double IPA.  At 8.1 ABV it only came in the bottle (to adhere to Utah beer laws), but it was worth a 6-pack.  It was smooth with a controlled hoppiness with a hint of malt and a nice amber hue.  Fantastic!

Salt Lake City - #2/3...Uinta

Located in an industrial park south of downtown SLC, the trip to Uinta was worth the drive, but just far enough from our home base that we didn't risk settling in for 1-2 more.  The pub attached to the brewery was comfortable; we got there before 5 and were greeted by locals and employees justing getting off work.  (Looked like they were taking advantage a their daily freebie).

We had a few tasters, but particularly enjoyed the shown below - Wyld Extra Pale Ale on the left, Cutthroat Pale Ale on the right.  Each were good session beers, but probably not worth a trip out of downtown during future visits.

Salt Lake City - #1/3...Squatters

Once again a 'work' visit to SLC required welcome stops at some of our favorite brewpub stomping grounds (thankfully within walking distance of each other and the hotel) - Squatters and Red Rock - but we pulled in a visit to Uinta.  Prost.

Squatters - how could we not try everything they had on cask:  Porter, Oatmeal Stout, Golden Ale.  All were smooth, as you would expect, flavorful, and tasty enough to ask for seconds.  Nothing overpowering, or extraordinary, just good beer.

Spacebar Visit from 6/4/2013

I had these:

Bells Berliner Weisse – Tart.  On the initial sip, I regretted getting it because it was very tart.  I got used to the tartness and enjoyed the rest of the beer.  I’d get it again if I was in the mood.

Fort Collins Red Banshee – Caramel/toffee.  Just OK.  No issues drinking it.

Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti – I expected more from this.  I had heard good things of the Yeti but I thought this was too oaky.  I’ll have to try the un-oaked version.  Someone else got the Southern Tier Milk Imperial Stout on nitro and I thought that was much better than the Yeti.

Beer Beer Goggles

Check out this funny skit on YouTube.

Louisville 2 - NCAA Celebration

The cancelled flight brought another night in Louisville timed with the Cardinals NCAA parade and a short live shout-out (to the embarrassment of my companions) to the George Mason transfer that became the MOP (Luke Hancock).  We were able to checkout another craft location where we were treated to a nice mellow easy drinking local Golden 'Cougar Bait', one of my favorites - the slightly hoppy and flavorful Founders RyePA, and a solid and spicy sorache saison from Brooklyn (pictured below) - of which the combination of the three left me with a big smile.
Prost.

Louisville March Madness - Against the Grain

Timed perfectly with the NCAA Championship game, a trip to Louisville brought on a visit to a local brew pub - Against the Grain - to watch the Cardinals take out the Maize and Blue.  This brew pub/smokehouse maintains at least 6 beers on tap (session, hop, whim, malt, dark, smoke) each with a less than politically correct name (and one always a 'smoke'), and provides a selection that is reportedly always non-traditional (as it was this nightFor this visit my favorite was the Preparation H smoke along with the Golden Sower.  Checkout the sampler board (L-R, session to smoke) and the chalkboard.
Prost.

Tiny Brew

We had some left over ingredients (grain and hops) so we made a little beer with them.  There weren't a lot of grain left so we cut the batch size to 2 gallons and the beer will only be about 2% abv.  We were racking a stout to a secondary fermenter so we used the stout's yeast cake for this new beer.  The new beer is very dark due to the Carafa III grains.  Below is a picture of me crushing the Carafa III with a rolling pin.  It's not an efficient way to crush grains but we didn't have much to crush.  Hopefully, the beer will be drinkable.  We'll see.

Crime Doesn't Pay - Particularly When it Involves Beer

This article just shows that beer really has made it.  Prost.

Boulder police: Former Avery Brewing employee stole $15,000 worth of beer

By Mitchell Byars, Camera Staff Writerdailycamera.com

Posted:   02/15/2013 02:36:42 PM MST

February 15, 2013 11:57 PM GMTUpdated:   02/15/2013 04:57:26 PM MST

Some of the bottles of beer that Boulder police say they recovered at the home of Adam James Dickinson. (Boulder Police Department)

Boulder police have arrested a former Avery Brewing Company employee suspected of stealing more than $15,000 in rare beers.
Adam James Dickinson, 26, was arrested at his workplace in Fort Collins on Thursday on suspicion of theft after a manager at Avery, located at 5757 Arapahoe Road, suspected Dickinson had stolen bottles of rare beer while he was an employee at the brewery from March to October 2012, when he was fired.
Managers at Avery first reported the theft in mid-October.
Police recovered more than 570 bottles of beer at Dickinson's Fort Collins home, with some of the bottles estimated to be worth anywhere from $200 to $300 a bottle.
Among the bottles recovered were several cases of Isabelle Proximus

Adam Dickinson (Larimer County Sheriff's Office)

and several bottles of Duck Duck Gooze, Rogue Old Crustacean and one bottle of 2001 Rogue Old Crustacean Barley Wine.
Police said Dickinson also sold some of the stolen beer on eBay and gave other bottles away as gifts, including bottles of Black Tot Barrel-Aged Imperial Oatmeal Stout and Sui Generis Barrel-Aged Sour Ale valued at $300 a bottle.
Dickinson is being held on $5,000 at the Larimer County Detention Center.

March 2013 – McLean Results

March brought in the snowquester and the cold so the McLean faction of the DrS Beer Club carried the theme forward with a tasting of cold fermented and cold conditioned lagers and their pilsner brethren.  It was a battle that pitted Virginia (Starr Hill ‘Festie’ lager) v. Maryland (Heavy Seas Small Craft Warning Uber Pils ) v. Pennsylvania (Stoudts German Style Pilser).  The gathering brought in a southern judge from the home of The Masters, but the (damn Yankee) Old Line State entry was the clear winner, with Heavy Seas taking the prize.  The Heavy Seas provided a traditional light yet full pilsner taste, the second place Festie added some spice with a nice amber color, and the Stoudts plodded into third (at least according to this judge).

February 2013 McLean Results

We decided to be a little bold this month and picked barleywines as our style. The breweries are all in the mid-Atlantic region; DuClaw (Maryland), Flying Dog (Maryland), and Weyerbacher (Pennsylvania). We took our time with these. The results were: DuClaw Devil's Milk Flying Dog Horn Dog Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot

Credit to CWood for the write-up.

Mini-Keg Tapping

We tapped our first mini-keg over the weekend.  The keg is 5 liters.  Setup was easy.  Just push the tap into the keg and screw in a CO2 cartridge into the tap.  We finished about four of the liters that night.  The following evening, I poured a 4 oz glass to see how the beer was doing.  It was still drinkable but had become a bit stale.  Could have been user error.  Maybe adjusting the CO2 better would keep the beer fresh longer.

The beer we tried was Hombres, our Belgian IPA.  We used a generous amount of rye in this one.  The Belgian yeast is the most pronounced flavor but the Nelson Sauvin hops come through nicely.  The hops give the beer a pleasant aroma.  Overall, I like it a lot.

Twinsburg’s January 2103 Picks (kicking off the new year)
The newer member of Geology Row provided Porters to sample and snacks to supplement.  So much excitement surrounded this meeting that an ecologist decided a road trip from Memphis to good ole Northeast Ohio was necessary.  It was a neck and neck competition between two Michigan breweries.  In the end, the brewery with the best imitation of flavor from across the big pond to our right won. Results below, with description provided.

1st – Arcadia Ales - London-Style Porter
This 18th Century-style Smoked Porter has subtle accent of peat-like Bamberg smoked malt, which is apparent in both the aroma and flavor. It is brewed with seven varieties of premium European malted barley, resulting in note of bittersweet chocolate and coffee that are counter-balanced by a long-sustaining finish of Goldings hops

2nd - Founders Brewing Company - Porter
Pours silky black with a creamy tan head. The nose is sweet with strong chocolate and caramel malt presence. No absence of hops gives Founders’ robust porter the full flavor you deserve and expect. Cozy like velvet. It’s a lover, not a fighter.

3rd - Horny Goat Brewing Company - Brownie Porter

Brewed with 8 different types of malt, this thick, sweet, and nutty brew has slight notes of vanilla and hazelnut to complement the cinnamon and chocolate flavors, just like a delicious warm brownie.

McLean DRS Tournament III

We concluded another fun year last night with the Third Annual McLean DRS Tournament.  The rules are as follows:

Two brackets, four beers in each bracket.
Round 1 – taste and rate the four beers in each bracket (1-4, 1 being the best).  The two most enjoyed beers in each bracket will move on.
Round 2 – taste and rate the two remaining beers in each bracket (1-2, 1 being the best).  The most enjoyed beer in each bracket will move on.
Round 3 – taste and rate the final two beers, deciding the 2012 Champion.

The beers were randomly grouped by pulling numbers out of a hat.  The groups were:

Group Pretzel

1) Uinta Hop Notch IPA (Stand in for Appalachian Brewing Hoppy Trails IPA)

2) Morland Old Speckled Hen

3) Devil’s Backbone Vienna Lager

4) Ice Cave Nanobrewery's Unknown:  Sassy Giraffe, Vintage 2012

Group Potato Chip

1) Anchor Breckle’s Brown 

2) Weyerbacher Winter Ale 

3) Flying Dog Dogtoberfest

4) Anderson Valley Amber (Stand in for Anderson Valley Summer Solstice)

Uinta Hop Notch IPA and Morland Old Speckled Hen made it out of Group Pretzl and Anchor Breckle’s Brown and Weyerbacher Winter Ale made it out of Group Potato Chip.  Uinta Hop Notch IPA then met Anchor Breckle’s Brown in the Championship.  Uinta Hop Notch IPA won a 4-2 vote.  Very close.  

All the beers were good.  Below are the condensed results.

Last Place: Flying Dog Dogtoberfest; Anderson Valley Amber; Devil's Backbone Vienna Lager

Fifth Place: Ice Cave Nanobrewery's Unknown:  Sassy Giraffe, Vintage 2012

Tied for Third: Weyerbacher Winter Ale; Morland Old Speckled Hen

Second Place: Anchor Breckle's Brown

Winner: Uinta Hop Notch IPA

I picked up three new Bavarian Brews this weekend at Total Wine (Weissbierpils, German Pilsner, and Zwickel Bier); these were all they had from the House of Oettingen-Wallerstein.  I tried the Weissbierpils; it had a classic German taste, very nice aroma, and was tasty.  The bonus is that the Pilsner and Zwickel have the locking top and will become part of the home-brew bottle arsenal.

Prost.

The prestigious House of Oettingen-Wallerstein is bringing their beers to the U.S. for the first time! A family-owned brewery in Bavaria stemming from noble Germany lineage, Fürst-Wallerstein was founded during the late 1500s and, to this day, uses only the best regional hops and malts to create timeless and unique, high-quality beers.

http://www.totalwine.com/eng/search/furst-wallerstein?utm_source=01_10_item&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=furst_wallerstein

VA Brew Ridge Trail

Went down to Nelson County over the weekend and stopped by Devils Backbone and Wild Wolf breweries.  We went to Devils Backbone first.  Started with the Session Rye Ale.  I enjoyed it.  Easy to drink with a fair amount of hoppiness.  Plus I'm a sucker for rye.  For dinner, I had the bacon burger with beer cheese spread.  That was good, too.  I had the Morana Twave, a dark Czech-style beer, with dinner.  It was really good.  Malty.  Others in my party had the Six Point Pale Ale, Wee Dream, and a well aged Skull Crushing Ape.  All were good but not as good at the Morana Twave.

We then moved on Wild Wolf about five minutes down the road.  While waiting for our table, we went to the bar.  The wait was supposed to be 20 minutes but it ended up being over an hour.  I started with the pilsner.  It was fine.  Once we got a table, I went with a flight of their seasonals.  There were six; Ginger Lager, WolfNStein Imperial Stout, Honey Saison, Wit Wolf IPA, Double IPA, and American Stout.  The Honey Saison and Imperial Stout were the highlights.  The Ginger Lager is very interesting but not quite to my liking.  The food was good.  We were all disappointed that no one got the brisket/nacho melt.

If you're in the area, stop by either of these places.  Blue Mountain is a good choice in the area, too.

Freshman Brewer...

The following comes from a young novice brewer working his way through his first batch of homebrew.  As a colleague pointed out, this is "proof once more that beer provides important life experiences that teach us critical thinking and problem-solving skills…"  Please continue supporting your local home brewer!!


"So last night before I went to bed I was a little worried... The krausen (foam) from my happy farting yeast was starting to creep up towards the top of the carboy. I laid in bed for over an hour terrified of what I might wake up to in the morning, then finally fell asleep. Due to the extreme anxiety of a messy situation or even worse, ruined beer, I woke up WIDE awake at 4:30 am to find this situation! AHHHHHH! The horror. The anguish. The farting yeast. Fortunatley, Northern Brewer had thoroughly prepared me with their handy dandy Home Brewing 101 DVD that came with my starter kit (Thank you Ashley!). The beer gods had woken me, literally, in plenty of time to avoid a bad situation. The airlock had not clogged, and the yeast was still active. Praise be to god (that is, the beer god of course). I quickly assembled the krausen-ator (not a real term, but that's what everyone should call it) and the beer and yeast just kept on doing their business."

Brett Is Your Friend

Good NYT article on Brettanomyces yeast strain that's been around for centuries.