Younger, Elder & More @ Capone's

Capone's

Saturday February 27th, 11:00am

Nuff Said!

Oh Yeah Canada!!!

The Canadian women's hockey team is catching flack over some on ice partying after defeating the US 2-0 to win gold. Hey world lighten up! What's wrong with a few beers and a cigar or two after a big win? Although ladies you should have ditched the Molson and Coors for Unibroue, Central City or Dieu du Ciel.

Sail the Seas or Seek Out Sam

Ahhhh, the Philadelphia beer geek dilemma of the day. Tonight (2/25) do you brave the snow and head to the Sidcar Bar for an evening of Ballast Point beers and sailor merriment or do you venture to Earth, Bread + Brewery to imbibe with the ruler of the Dogfish kingdom Sam Calagione? Damn, situations like this and it's not even Beer Week.

Sidecar Bar

Three Sheets to the Wind

4:00PM-Close, PAYG

Draft List

Victory at Sea (Imperial Coffee Vanilla Porter)

Sea Monster (Imperial Stout)

Three Sheets (Aged Barley Wine/French Oak Syrah barrels)

Sextant (Oatmeal Stout)

Sculpin (IPA/Firkin)

Big Eye (IPA)

Callico (Amber)

Yellow Tail Pale (Kolsch)

Wahoo (Wheat)

Earth, Bread + Brewery

Sam Calagione/ Keep the Pint Night

6:00PM-?, PAYG

Draft List

Black & Blue,

Red & White

Fort

Aprihop

Raison d'etra,

Indian Brown

60 Minute

Reach the Vertical Limit w/Stone @ Craft Ale House

Test your vertical limit tonight (2-24) at the Craft Ale House with three vertical flights from Stone. The hardest workin' rep in the land Lee Marren is in house stirring up the room and explaining all things Stone. This is a rare opportunity to sample so many vintages of great beer at one sitting. The journey starts at 6:00PM and goes til 11:00PM. Enjoy your flights.

Old Guardian Barley Wine: 06, 07, 08, 09

Double Bastard Ale: 06, 07, 08, 09

Imperial Russian Stout: 06, 07, 08, 09

Also on draft

09.09.09 Vertical Epic Ale

Supermarket Pubs in Business

Today's Inquirer Business section had an article on pubs in PA grocery stores. Wegmans and Whole Foods are highlighted and the article is stuff you've probably already read about. What is interesting is the gentleman in the photo. At first glance he resembles a certain beer writer you might expect to find at Wegmans enjoying a cold one. Although I doubt his first choice would be Heineken. I just hope he's getting kickbacks from everyone sporting The look.

Tomme, Sam and Beer Oh Yeah!

Next week Brett Packers Tomme Arthur of Lost Abbey/Port Brewing and Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewery roll into Philly to remind us all how good we have it. Hmmm, are we sure that Philly Beer Week doesn't start until June? Each brewer is hosting a special night of tasting and conversation.

Meet the Brewer Night: Tomme Arthur

Memphis Taproom

Monday Feb 22, 6-8PM

This one is close to my heart. One look at my profile pic and you know that I share the shaved dome and glasses look (along with a serious love for great beer) with Mr. Arthur and Memphis owner Brendan Hartranft. What's the big deal? $1.00 of all Port Brewing and Lost Abbey drafts for the follically and optically challenged. Bald dudes with glasses unite!

(From Memphis Taproom site)

Join Memphis Taproom on Monday, February 22 from 6-8pm as we host Port Brewing and Lost Abbey brewer Tomme Arthur for a night of chitchat and world class beer. The draft lineup will include Mongo Double IPA, Older Viscosity, Hop 15, Wipeout IPA, Gift of the Magi ('08) and Carnivale in addition to some super limited edition surprises.

Calagione is Down to Earth/Keep the Pint Night

Earth Bread + Brewery

Thursday Feb 25, 6-8PM

Interested in meeting an off-centered brewing rock star, drink his beer and take away some nifty glassware? Then this is your big night. Sam Calagione takes over Earth Bread + Brewery to chat it up and mingling with the beer people. Expect Dogfish influenced food and of course a fine selection of drafts.

Another Brett Packer Cometh.

Rob Todd founder of Allagash Brewing hits town Thursday March 11th for his whirlwind area tour. More info here.

The Tour

Jose Pistola's

The BeerYard

Teresa's Next Door

Craft Ale House

Nugget Nectar Takes On the Heat

This week in the spirit of Mardi Gras I attacked the kitchen, which still hasn't recovered, to concoct my version of Jambalaya. I had assumed that most people knew what the spicy Cajun/Creole dish was until I mentioned it to a co-worker who looked at me in a state of culinary confusion. For her and others who might not know Jambalaya is a dish made with meat (chicken, sausage & shrimp), rice and vegetables (onions, peppers, tomatoes & celery). My twist is to up the spices and drop in a little beer. The minimal use of beer isn't as much for taste as it's a reason to flip the cap off another beer. Although since I add a stomach twisting amount of Dave's Insanity Sauce to my portion more beer is an obvious necessity.

And what beer goes with this intense dish? According to He Said Beer She Said Wine the perfect accompaniment is a, "big, bold, hoppy beer to stand up to the richness of the dish." Troeg's Nugget Nectar offers a serious hop hit that seemed fitting. The big amber's citrusy hops and light sweetness melded well with the Jambalaya's spicy heat and richness. This food and beer combo seemed obvious. I get the spicy, spicy thing but at the end of the meal my abused tongue could of used relief from any cold beer, hoppy or otherwise.

Let it Snow. I've Got Reading Material and Beer

This weekend I talked about those who hibernate during snowy conditions and people who venture out into the middle of the action. For Smowmageddon 2 I decided to to take the more passive approach and stick close to home. Since it was an official day off work and my only responsibility was to keep the driveway clear, no small task, I broke out some recently received beer related reading material.

Nearly a week ago I opened the pages of my first copy of All About Beer. I owe my new subscription to Alan McLeod over at A Good Beer Blog. He judged one of my beer pictures as prize worthy for this year's photo contest. What's great is this is just the start of a year of great beer reading. Thanks Alan.

The end of last week also brought a box to my door from Barnes and Noble. The wonderful Kelleigh gave me a $20 gift card for Christmas and I've used it wisely. You can see the three books I am currently working my way through. He Said Beer She Said Wine, Tasting Beer and Christmas Beer. I've dedicated most of the day to Randy Mosher's Tasting Beer in preparation for the Michael Jackson Tasting in March. So far it's a great read and goes quite well with a bottle of Yard's Tavern Porter. I've also read a few pages of Christmas Beer. Talk about a book that puts you in the mood for a good beer. The only problem is I don't have a single beer mentioned in Mr. Sixpack's pages. Bad planning on my part. On a day like today any of them would be fitting.

What I do have is a bottle of Dogfish Head Chateau Jiahu that I'm sharing with Kelleigh as the storm slowly rolls to a close. It's sweet and herbal with hints of toffee and honey. Grapes come out in the aroma but are more dominate in the taste. The aftertaste even reminds me of a Riesling. Chateau Jiahu will definitely open the eyes of many wine fans.

It's appropriate that Kelleigh, Ms. Wine Fanatic, loves this beer along with, He Said Beer She Said Wine. She's already claimed Sam and Marnie's book so I won't see it for awhile. No problem. At least I have the beer and Mr. Mosher's book to get me through this wintry blast.

Back to reading.

Update: Michael Jackson Tutored Tasting at Penn

Back when I first heard that Randy Mosher author of, Tasting Beer: An Insider's Guide to the World's Greatest Drink, would be guiding the tasting for the 20th Annual Michael Jackson Tutored Beer Tasting at Penn I jumped over to the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology website to get more details. Oddly nothing was listed on their calender of upcoming events. The only information out there was from other bloggers and those in the beer biz.

However yesterday I uncovered a link to ticket sales. Philly Beer Fests.ticketleap.com . This seems to point you in the right direction to make a purchase but it still didn't offer anymore than the general information that's already out.

I don't get it. For such a well known and professionally run event so far the overall promotion of it is terrible. You would think the promoters would want the word out in a big, big way. I'm most surprised that the Penn Museum calender of events for March still doesn't have it posted. This isn't 2 or 3 months out it only a month away. We can only hope things improve in the next couple weeks. I hate to see a great event end up having a less than great turnout.

General Admission

Session times

1:00, 3:30 & 6:00pm

Each tutored tasting is 1 hour followed by a 2 hour general tasting of over 100 different beers.

Ticket cost $50.00

What Snow (Sat)? Iron Hill Brewery Belgium Comes to West Chester

When the snow starts falling there are two ways to handle it. Some will prepare for the worst and hibernate until the world is somewhat back to normal. The second approach is to take the wintry challenge head on and not let it stand in the way of getting things done. This was the attitude of Larry, the Iron Hill W.C. crew and all those who ventured out to Belgium Comes to West Chester on Saturday. No stinking 20+ inches of snow is enough to keep man and beer apart.

After clearing out my little section of the world Kelleigh and I headed out and arrived around 4:30 to a packed house. This year's set up was great. The Iron Hill team used their heads, organizing the 30 beers available into 3 groups of 10 sample pours each. Brilliant! It made navigating a monster beer list and picking samples simple. Of course regular pours and individual samples were also available. I made the difficult decision to have only one (damn) tray (sample #2) along with a few side pours. For those in the know (I hope you read this) the extra treat was in the brewhouse. The cleverly done Brew Lounge gave everyone the opportunity to sample 4 of Larry Horwitz and Jean Broillet's specialty beers. A very nice touch.

An extra huge thanks to Bryan Kolesar for allowing me to partake in the bottle of New Belgium La Folie. Go figure I ran into him in The Brew Lounge. If you don't know, I'm the cheerful one on the left trying to hold back my excitement. I must of been in a state of good beer shock. And this year's Belgium Comes to West Chester certainly provided plenty of that.

What Snow (Friday night)?

It's Friday night and the snow has just started to fall. Where am I, Home Depot getting salt? Nope. At the supermarket stalking up? Not a chance. How about at Capone's preparing for a big beer weekend? Ding, ding ding we have a winner. While the 2nd largest snowfall on record in Philadelphia started churning I figured the best way to survive the winter blast was to find beers that make the cold weather more bearable.

Rogue John John Whiskey Aged Dead Guy Ale

This is one that I had read about and was happy to see Matt put on draft. The Whiskey Aged Dead Guy is sort of a self collaboration. Rogue Brewmaster John Maier and Rogue Spirits Master Distiller John Couchet have combined their talents to create the John John Series of beers. Whiskey Aged Dead Guy is the first release.

It's a very interesting intertwining of beer and whiskey. Dead Guy wort is used to create Dead Guy whiskey. After the DG Whiskey is bottled the barrels used for aging the whiskey are then used to age DG Ale. The perfect use of all things Rogue.

Mmmm whiskey it's there from the start, in the aroma and taste. Fruit, vanilla and touches of oak are all in the flavor. I even picked up a little toasted coconut. What's nice is the whiskey doesn't blow everything else away. There is a good balance. The breadiness and hopiness of the original Dead Guy still come through. Since I'm a huge whiskey fan I wish there were more of it in the taste but I think most will like the way it's done. I'm really looking forward to trying the rest of the John John Series.

Big Snowy Beer Weekend

If you love snow and beer then this is the weekend for you. Philly is getting slammed by both. On the beer side it starts today with several events and promos and continues with more all day tomorrow. The snowy forecast is for 12-18+ inches starting Friday afternoon and on into Saturday. It will be interesting see what effects the white stuff has on the weekend plans.

The Strong Ale Fest @ Union Jack's on the Manatawny has been rescheduled for Sat Feb 13th at noon.

Friday February 5th

Capone's

11:30 Taps open

Happy Anniversary Boaks Brewing

(Capone's website)

Next Promo Meet the Brewer : Come out and Celebrate Brian Boaks 3 Year Anniversary and Try his Top 2 Drafts: Three Blind Monks & Monster Mash R.I.S.Imperial Stout ! He will be glad to speak to you Personally from 6:30 to 9:30Due to the weather Please call to see if the Brew makes it ? In either case the beer will be flowing ! 610-279-4748 On Saturday we may open the bar later also call ! No matter what the Weather is like the Beer Store will be open open normal hours both days !

The Drafting Room (Exton)

West Coast Brewery Night

(Drafting Room website)
Friday, February 5th“Tap Time” @ 6pm
Featuring: Stone Double Bastard (2006), Russian River Blind Pig, Ballast Point Sculpin, IPA Coronado Idiot IPA, Green Flash West Coast IPA, Sierra Nevada Life & Limb, BrewDog/ Stone Collaboration “Basha”, Moylan’s IPA, Sierra Nevada “Edge of Darkness”, Anderson Valley 20th Anniversary, Eel Brewing Salient du Scotia Brune, Green Flash West Coast IPA (Firkin).

Saturday February 6th

The Institute

All Things Coffee, Chocolate and Barrel Aged

(Institute website)

February 6th 2pm until?
The name says it all.
Draft /firkin list with more being added
Dock Street Sexual Chocolate
Wyerbacher Hotel Imperial Orange-Chocolate Porter
Wyerbacher Barrel Aged Heresy
Founders Backwoods Bastard(Bourbon Barrel Aged Scotch Ale)
Allagash Curieux (Bourbon Barrel Aged Tripel)
Bells Java Stout
1 or the other, not sure which: Southern Tier Oak Aged Unearthly Double IPA or He'Brew Rye Whiskey Barrel Aged Lenny

Iron Hill Brewery (West Chester)

BELGIUM COMES TO WEST CHESTER

FEBRUARY 6, 2010 2 – 9 PM. PAYG

(Iron Hill site)

Join us as we team up with regional breweries to showcase the best locally craft-brewed Belgian-style beers ~ Meet the brewers behind the beers ~Cambridge Brewing Co • Devil’s Backbone • Dogfish Head Earth, Bread + Brewery • Flying Fish • Harpoon Iron Hill West Chester, Phoenixville, Wilmington, North Wales, Media, Lancaster & Maple Shade Ithaca • Manayunk • Mckenzie’s • Nodding Head Rock Bottom • Sly Fox • Stewart’s • Stoudt’s • Troegs Victory • Weyerbacher • Yards

Whole New Setting for Beer @Whole Foods Market Plymouth Meeting

This past Sunday I finally made it to the new Whole Foods Market at Plymouth Meeting Mall. My soul purpose for going was to check out the beer which has been receiving a fair amount of coverage from fellow beer aficionados.

If your not from PA then you may not get the hoopla over beer being sold in a super market. Similar to Wegmans and Market District (Giant Eagle) Whole Foods is jumping through the legal loophole of having a store within a store in order to sell alcoholic beverages. The structure is silly and a little awkward, but it's nice having the option to grab a beer when you're buying groceries.

The Whole Foods set up for beer is in The Cold Point Pub located in the front of the store. The pub design is fairly generic with it's own entrance, register for wine and beer sales, a few comfy leather chairs, high stools along the counters and a great view of the check out area. Perfect for spotting your significant other in line when trying to figure out whether or not to order another beer. Separated with sliding glass doors the back of the pub is a cold room filled with sixes and single bottles for take out. The selection isn't huge but does offer a surprisingly good mix of craft brews, macros, Belgians and other imports. The prices for PA seem very fair and in some cases low. This is really noticeable when it comes to growler fills and drafts.

Everything on drafts is local: Yards, Victory, Flying Fish, Troegs, Sly Fox and Lancaster. All 14oz pours were $2.99, small growlers (32oz) $3.99-$5.49 and large growlers (64oz), $7.99-$10.99. Since Whole Foods is big on recycling you can bring your own growler or if you need to purchase one both 64oz and 32oz sizes are only $3.99.

When Kelleigh and I arrived the place was packed. We managed to grab 2 leather chairs which turned out to be the perfect place to observe the swirl of activity. Most people coming in had oooohs and ahhhs for the place and seemed warm on the set up. While in the cooler area I overheard nothing but good words about the beer selection and prices.

Wine fans were having the most fun with the interesting wall-o-wine machine that dispenses various sized pours from a selection of approximately 15 bottles. After getting a wine card from the cashier you place whatever monitary value on it you wish, get a glass, slide the card into the wine machine, select the beverage and the size sample you want and tadda liquid happiness. Slick, clean, perfectly chilled and wonderfully impersonal.

Since everything is so new I'm sure there are a few bugs to work out. The employees seem slightly overwhelmed by all the traffic and since the seating area is fairly small it doesn't take many people walking in to create an overcrowding situation. Hopefully that changes as the newness wears off. I didn't quiz anyone so I'm not sure of their overall beer and wine knowledge. What I do know is the arrangement to get a draft is odd. I had to pay for a beer upfront then take the receipt to one of the employees who got my draft (Lancaster Milk Stout). Not horrible just different.

Even with it's quirks, having another place to get good beer is a huge plus. The system is odd and far from perfect but it seems like Whole Foods is doing well with the parameters they have to work within.

Will I pop in just to have a beer? Probably not. Will I have one before or after shopping for my flax seed cereal, fresh baked multigrain loaf and organic soy milk? Damn right I will.

Happy Groundhog Day, Six More Weeks of Winter

Break out the Winter Warmers Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow so six more weeks of winter. Today is always the perfect excuse to break out this movie clip.

Michael Jackson Tutored Tasting is On for the 20th Year

I am more than a little beer geeked up over the news that the University of Pennsylvania is hosting the Michael Jackson Tutored Beer Tasting on March 13. This is the 20th year for the event and beer author Randy Mosher will conduct the tastings. I first read the good news on Mr. Sixpack's site and tripped across it again while perusing Mr. Curtin's Liquid Diet.

If you are a beer fan (being here I assume you are) and have not had the opportunity to attend in the past make it a point to go this year. This is not the overly packed, fight for your beer and then wait, wait, wait type of beer event. It's very well run. Three start times during the day and a limited amount of tickets help to lessen the crowds. The first hour is a tutored tasting which is followed by a 2 hour general tasting session of over 100 additional beers in the Chinese Rotunda. Even with the large number of people who attend there's not much of a wait when trying to get a beer. Since the event takes place in the University of Pennsylvania's Archaeology & Anthropology Museum there's sort of a grand feel to the whole affair. A good mix of beer culture and history.

I've made it to the tasting 4 times and it's one of my favorite beer events. The first time I attended was still the most memorable. I met Michael Jackson and amazingly I wasn't even aware of the general tasting. After the tutored tasting a friend and I were preparing to leave when they announced the start of the general tasting. To my surprise I had two more hours to sample more amazing beer and managed to have a few words with Michael Jackson. Picture telling a kid who has opened all his Christmas gifts that there is a second room of gifts and Santa is handing them out. That was my excitement level. Still one of my best beer days ever.

The details of this year's tasting are still hard to come by. Hopefully in the upcoming weeks ticket information will become available on the Penn Museum website or a sponsor's site. I'll post it when I get it.

Papier for the New Year

As January rolls to a close someone asked me what beer I had to kick off 2010? I've never made it a point to start the new year with a particular beer. Typically on Dec 31st at 11:59 I'm tossing back something good but ask me a month later what it was and I'll have no idea. However this year since I knew I wasn't doing the usual suburban couch surfing for New Years Eve I went to the cellar for something out of the ordinary.

Kelleigh and I spent the early part of the evening having dinner in Center City then headed off to the party. A huge thanks to Adelle and Ed for the invite. Since Ed has managed to surprise me with several great bottles I figured it was only fair to return the favor. Along with a sixer of Racer 5 I unveiled a bottle of The Bruery's Papier.

At the strike of midnight we clanked glasses of champagne with everyone then quickly switched from the bubbly grape to the bourbon aged old ale. According to the label this version of Papier is a blending of 75% Oak Aged Old Ale and 25% ale aged in bourbon barrels and has an abv of 14.5%. For such a big beer brandy snifters were appropriate however we made do with larger glasses.

With very little carbonation Papier's appearance was more liquor than beer. What head existed at the start quickly faded. A swirl of the glass brought out sweet aromas of figs, raisins and lots of bourbon. It reminded me somewhat of a port. The shock came with the taste. Along with the sweet maltiness, big raisin flavor and oak came an odd vinegar like sourness that stood out from the other flavors. Although the vinegar surprise wasn't enough to completely spoil the enjoyment it did lessen the appeal. Luckily, the sourness became less noticeable as the beer warmed. Although the 14.5% may of had a lot to do with forgetting about the odd flavor. I only wish the bourbon and oak had been what I remembered most about this beer.

The lack of carbonation, slightly off putting sourness and a hefty price tag are a few of the reasons why some will knock this beer. I found it interesting and decent for the style. However it's not a bottle I plan to invest in again. As for a way to bring in 2010 the Racer 5 and Live Free or Die we had later were a better way to celebrate the New Year.