2014 DrS Kickoff

March came in like a lion and so did the inaugural 2014 DrS Beer Club. Though attendance was down, spirits were high as we tasted 4 Belgian style beers: Ommegang Abbey Al (Winner), New Belgium brewery’s Trippel, Westmalle Trappist Tripel, and Devil’s Backbone’s Azrael Belgian style. These robust ales provided a fitting tie-in to what we hope was the last snow of the spring of 2014. Ommegang was the runaway winner with a true dark abbey ale color (deep brown), taste (yeasty), and finish (slight hop overtones), with New Belgium’s Trippel coming in a close second. Prost.

New Brews

In case you were wondering when the next great Space Bar will open, check this out - a list of active brewery permit applications by state.  Virginia had a net year-over-year increase of 21 new permitted breweries while Georgia only had 9.  California had 128.  On the East Coast, it looks like a road trip is in order for New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Florida.

Beer Drone

When this does get approved, I fully expect deliveries of home brew from both C. Woodley and J. Carter to somehow make the 1000 mile trek to my house on a weekly basis, at a minimum.

Habanero Pale Ale Brewing

We started brewing around 1pm on Saturday.  We've been discussing a chili beer for a while and finally settled on a recipe a few weeks ago.  It's a pretty simple recipe but the habanero complicated things since we've never used them before.  Ended up using one pepper that we took the seeds and pulp out of.  Cascade and Citra hops were used.  We'll dry hop with them as well.  After pitching we took a gravity reading and found that we were 0.01 below our planned OG.  To get the OG up to a more acceptable level, we added 1 lbs of DME to 0.25 gallons of water then added it to the bucket.  Hope that didn't screw things up too much.  The wort had the flavor we wanted; fruity up front with a spicy finish.  Hopefully, it will stay that way after fermentation.  If the spicyness isn't where we want it, we'll add a little Habanero to the secondary.

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.