1st Day in San Fransisco

After leaving Manchester, New Hampshire we flew to Cleaveland, Ohio for a really brief layover. Not so brief that we could not enjoy a beer from the Great Lakes Brewing Co. , Bock for me Pils for T. Now on to San Fransisco , after landing and grabbing our bags ( by the way ,what is up with peoples carry-ons these days ) we take the shuttle to the hotel. So you think the people you meet in a Dive-Bar are weird (more about that in a later post) try taking a communal hotel shuttle. Yeah not so fun screaming through the hills of San Fransisco in a van with bad breaks, no shocks and one hell of a crazy oldlady but we made it to the hotel.
Now I do not know how we got the price we did for the hotel but the Park 55 Windham was way above our normal digs for vacation (props to T for her vacation planning skills) and we even got a free upgrade to a better floor and room. Next thing we had to do was throw the bags in the room and find a beer. The closest beer place to the hotel was Thirsty Bear Brewpub. Thirsty Bear was a really nice place with huge doors, a long bar, plenty of seating, Spanish influenced menu and a good range of beers. We ordered some Tapas and a tasting rack each. Our bartenders name was Noe who was incredibly freindly and definetly has put plenty of time in behind the bar ,serving us with flare, prescision and care (pouring two sample racks faster than anyone I have seen). Noe chatted us up giving us some pertinent info on the city (travel tip- Always get the 411 from locals). After sampling Thirsty Bears Beers , say that five times fast, we headed back to the hotel bar for a nightcap. The hotel bar had a small but very solid beer list (1st hotelbar with a real bottle list) and it is here we met someone who will be a reoccuring character in our San Fran leg of vacation, Rick. Rick is a manager at the hotel and we hit it off with him right away. He provided us with some more great information on where to go, what to see, how to get there and what not to miss. I have to say our vacation would not be the same if not for Rick and I have a feeling we will cross paths with him again. If he ever reads this T and I wish him the best of luck with his Breakfast Joint and whatever other ventures he gets into be they the beerbar we talked about or otherwise, he deserves the best out of life.
Next up our trip to Wine Country for ...

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California Dreaming

We recently got back from California, where we spent a week. We try to travel somewhere each year and catch a few Red Sox games and this year we decided to see games in two cities, Oakland and Anaheim, for four games. Already a great trip but what do you do in the free time? Do you do the tourist thing and check out the sites? Are you a "foodie"? Are you like us, do you do the beer geek thing? How big and far do you push on vacation? If you have the chance at something rare do you go for it? How much would you spend on that rare thing? Have you ever been appauled, scared or intimidated walking into a highly recommended place? Have you ever been blown away by somewhere/someone? What do you remember most about your trips? People? Places? Beers? For our answers to these questions and more stay tuned to the blog over the next several weeks as we talk about our California Baseball Beercation.

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The Curiosities of Vacations

We usually start our vacations out with a preflight beer at the airport. Unfortunately the selection is usually limited, Sam Adams is our standard fair. This is where the curiosities start to creep in "What beers will we find?" "What breweries will we visit?" "What people will we meet?". Even though we leave home highly prepared having brewery tours scheduled , mini-trips (over an hour away from initial destination) arranged and even people to meet up with there is always the unknown. This unknown usually involves the people we meet. We have met some great people , the bartender in Kansas City who jumped up on the bar to watch a movie in between pours, the bartender at the Flying Saucer Cleaveland who homebrewed and had brewed with Adam Avery (catch the theme). We can plan to find good beer, we can plan to visit the most renowned breweries but the people are what makes the place. The best beer can be ruined by a bad bartender. So as we are waiting to leave we can only hope to meet up with some great beer people.

Check back soon for our 1st Cali post

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Now I know Why

As mentioned in an earlier post we just recently got into beer trading. Our trades had been the standard "money for money" or "beer for beer" with an occasional extra thrown in usually a local brew even a tasting glass. We liked the allure of being able to get new beers, other peoples local small breweries or hard to get limited release beers but we never had an Oh My God Trade. Then it happened we set up a trade with an individual from Minnesota to get some beer from Surley Brewing and a bottle of Deschutes Abyss in exchange for New England Brewing Imperial Stout Trooper, Avery Victory at Sea and Troegs Nugget Nectar. We decided to throw in some locals for extras with Clownshoes 1.5, Gritty McDuff's Bitter and an IPA from Magic Hat. Now comes the hook that will have me addicted to trading for awhile, and that is what we got in return for extras (totally amazing). The day the trade was delivered to us I realized the box was oversized for two 4 packs and a 22ounce bottle so I was very geeked up. Once I had the box open you couldn't see anything but packing peanuts. Searching through the peanuts I pull out 5 beers (3 types of Surley Wet, Bitter Brewer & Abrasive and a Braun Brothers Braun Beer all extras). Next out of the ocean of peanuts was the Coffee Bender 4pack and Furious 4pack. What I thought was the last of the trade was the bubblewrapped bottle of Abyss but then I noticed another bottle and if you looked at the picture you know what it was. The man from Minnesota through in a bottle of DARKNESS from Surley a beer that has its own day and he throws it in as an EXTRA. Now for the beer geeks reading you know why I will be hooked on beer trades and hopefully you are as lucky as we were.

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Extreme Beer Fest 2011

We attended Beer Advocates Extreme Beer Fest for the first time this year. Now when most people think Extreme along with Beer they think high alcohol , hop monsters and barrel aged bombs. This year Beer Advocate decided to change peoples minds by asking every brewer to try to bring a "session beer" (session beer is low alcohol usually below 4.5%) but still have it be EXTREME. Beer Advocate termed it project ESB, extreme session beer. The Alstrom brothers of Beer Advocate teamed up with Dogfish Head Brewery and Katalyst Kombucha to come up with a collaborative brew that was fermented from a Kombucha culture (a symbiotic culture of yeast and bacteria that is normally used to ferment a natural beverage with supposed holistic/natural/homeopathic healing properties). Having sat in on the beer forum we learned that next year the Alstrom brothers plan on making it mandatory that the brewers bring at least one session beer. We commend Beer Advocate for yet again pushing the boundaries of beer and living up to their name and Advocating Beer.
Now on to the beer we decided to pick out three beers each to highlight and the beers we chose show the broad range of choices from low ABV Kombucha Blend to heavy hitting 18.2% ABV Black Tuesday.
T's Top 3 (in no particular order)
1)Dogfish Head / Delaware / www.dogfish.com
Ginger Kombucha / Namaste Blend (Kombucha ABV?/Namaste 5%)
2)Ithica Beer Co. / New York / www.ithicabeer.com
Lebleu wild ale with blueberries 4.8%
3)Shorts / Michigan / www.shortsbrewing.com
Almond Joy experimental 6%
The kombucha blend was a light refreshing "beer" that would be excellent for an all day BBQ or a "beer" to finish up with at the end of the night.
Lebleu was a delicious supersour beer that T says is "One of the best sours I have ever had"
Almond Joy was a candybar in a glass with subtle coconut and chocolate, very smooth.
Of course the three chosen by T are either limited release, one-off or not available in MA.
A's top 3 beers
1)Hillfarmstead Brewery / Vermont / www.hillfarmstead.com
Ephraim Imperial IPA 10.3%
2)TheBruery / California / www.thebruery.com
Black Tuesday Imperial Stout 18.2%
3) Firestone Walker / California / www.firestonebeer.com
Velvet Mekin Barrel Aged Oatmeal Stout 8.5%
Ephraim was one of the best IPA's I have had rivaling Pliny the Elder and Lake Erie Monster, having an aroma of tropical and citrus fruits and a hop taste that hides the alcohol making this a very dangerous beer.
Black Tuesday had the flavors of roasted malts, chocolate, dark fruit, dried berries with a full body and sweet bourbon throughout.
Velvet Mekin mirrored its name with a mouthfeel like no other beer I have had , almost slippery. It was chocolaty, sweet, malty and had a very low roasted flavor.
A's choices are no easier to get with one being a 3hour drive up to the nanobrewery to try to hunt it down, another not yet distributed in MA and the last only available from the brewery.
The beers were by far the best things at the fest but not the only specialty products available. The Big Cheese Boston made us a "drunken" grilled cheese like no other, Rye bread with Cheddah Pannini pressed. YUMMY! Our other snack was a waffle from Waffle Cabin out of Vermont warm, sweet, crispy, soft pillow of awesome (no syrup necessary). Only thing to say is SUPER YUMMY!
If you get the chance to attend one of Beer Advocate's festivals the Alstrom Brothers and their crew do it right. Beer,Food, Info, Great Atmosphere (EBF had 1000plus people in a small hall without issue) for a reasonable price , it is really worth it. Hope to see you at their next fest which is the ACBF or American Craft Beer Festival which is in June. Let us know if you are going and maybe we can meet up.

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A Trip to Redstone Liquors

Recently we took a trip to Redstone Liquors which over the past year has transformed into one of the areas better Beer Stores , actually one the best Beer Stores. We have witnessed Redstone changing from a store with a small but solid beer selection to a store with a beer selection that is awe-inspiring having over 1200 beers on the shelves. This change has occured at the hands of Kamal who seems to add a new section to the beer every time we go there. They have gone from Bud/Miller/Coors to having a great range of breweries. Big craft brewers like Dogfish Head, Stone, Founders, 21st Ammendment, GreatDivide, Lagunitas, Avery, Sam Adams, Southern Tier and Ommegang. To local like Allagash, Smuttynose, Seadog, Ipswich, and Harpoon. Also having harder to find brewries such as Nebraska Brewing, Schlafly, The Lost Abbey, The Bruery, and Hopping Frog. They even have the small/new guys Element, Blue Hills, White Birch, High and Mighty, Cody and Notch Session. To round out the beer world they have many foreign breweries Brew Dog, Mikkeler, Nøgne-Ø, Weihenstephaner, Chimay, Aecht Schlenkerla and many more.
Kamal has strengthened the beer section through other means also. He has used "social media" (Twitter , Facebook) to make announcements of events, tastings and product arrivals. He has several small tastings (usually on Fridays) and 2 Grand Tastings a year. He has a brewey of the month that gets its own display (seen in above photos) . In addition to increasing the number of beers they have Kamal has brought a level of customer service that is not seen in many stores, being available for questions from "Do you stock this?" to "What color cap does this vintage have?" (Ya I really asked that once). He is also happy to reserve a beer for you till you can stop in and has a very intimate knowledge of his inventory. If you have not yet been to Redstone yet take a second look at the pictures and that should be enough to make you want to go. Check them out it is worth the trip.
Redstone Liquors
109 Main Street
Stoneham, MA 02180
Redstone Plaza
781-438-9265
There are several good beer stores out there we, frequent Redstone, Andover Liquors and venture down to Julios as well. We need to go to Craft Beer Cellar and Beaconhill Wine. Is there another gem we are missing? Do you have a favorite? Please respond and spread the good beer word.

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Stout Month at Beer Works

February , my favorite month of the year. No , not because it is ski season (went once , never again), not because it of Valentine's Day (not one for mushy stuff on a specific day , should be any day of the year you show your loved one you care), not because Spring Training begins (although I am a diehard Red Sox fan and love to see the equipment truck pull away from Fenway headed to Fort Myers), but because it is Stout Month at Beer Works.
This year's stouts are Buckeye Oatmeal Stout , Espresso Stout , Milk Chocolate Stout and Curley's Irish Stout (a regular on the everyday beer menu).
Buckeye- A velvety stout with 20% flaked oatmeal smooth and roasted. Tasted grassy could not get oatmeal but had the biggest body of the four.
Espresso- Espresso coffee gives this malty stout its unique flavor. Tasted like black coffee in a pint glass.
Milk Chocolate- Full bodied dark ale flavored with lactose and chocolate. Could not find the lactose and it was more bitter dark chocolate than milk chocolate.
Curley's- Silky Irish-style stout with a creamy dense head. My favorite as long as it is on the menu I am there, nothing better than a 22oz of Curley's any day of the year. Love it Winter , Spring , Summer or Fall.
My favorite month is February which has now come and gone and now March is here and Beer Works has Irish month so check out Beer Works with locations in Boston at Fenway and Canal Street , Salem , Hingham and our favorite Lowell.

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Underappreciated Beer People

You often hear about special beers, great brewers/breweries or what bars have to offer on tap but seldom do you hear about someones beertender (unless they were awful). One Saturday recently we went into Lowell Beer Works just to stop in and try the new Beers of the Month then head home where we had some beers and snacks lined up for the night. As we walked in we saw Paul , one of our favorite beertenders, behind the bar and my face lit up because I knew our plans had changed for the better. Once we realized Paul was teamed with Amy, another favorite beertender, our quick stop for a couple sample racks had changed to an all-night session. A nights plans changed by one person, the bartender. So this got me thinking what makes up a good beertender? Do you have a favorite? What qualities does he/she have to be your favorite? For us we like both Paul and Amy because they are outgoing and can carry a coversation even on the busiest of nights, they have a good sense of humor though completely differant, Amy dry & sarcastic and Paul jovial & self depricating and they are knowledgable about what they serve enough so if you need help with a choice whether beer or food they can help. As with any relationship (for lack of a better word), the relationship with a regular beertender is fostered over time and they get to know your habits maybe what type of beers you like, the glassware you prefer( yes my "princess glass" Amy) maybe sometimes you do not even have to order because they already know what you want. So if you have not yet done it acknowledge your better beertender. Also let us know your favorites and why they are.
P.S. If you are ever in Lowell Beer Works look for Big Paul and Amy and tell them we sent you.

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Sea Dog Brewpub Woburn,MA

Our group of seven took a trip to the new Sea Dog Brewpub in Woburn, MA. The pub is part of a chain with another Brewpub in Hull, MA and three brewing locations in Bangor, South Portland and Topsham ME. It was a very open place with a comfortable waiting area furnished with cushioned chairs and sofa, a nice sized bar area with plenty of bar tables. The pub was dimly lit with a few Sea Dog wall paintings scattered throughout the establishment and one end of the bar was covered with Mugclub mugs.
When we arrived there was a bit of a wait (no doubt that was due to it being the "new place in town") so we decided to take up residence at a small side-bar area and order some appetizers and beer of course. The appetizer list was standard with some variations like Sweet Potato Skins, Lobster Tempura and Buffalo Wings that were grilled. There were also your regular appetizers like nachos and chicken fingers. Even though we didn't order entrees their small menu seemed to hit all areas sandwiches, burgers, pasta, chicken and it was heavy on the Sea(dog)food. Overall our service was great even though we did have to wait a little in between orders but that is most likely because it was so busy.
On to the main reason we went there, the beer. They listed eight standard beers Owls Head Light, Wind Jammer Blonde Ale, Sea Dog Pale Ale (not available when we visited), Old East India Pale Ale, Old Gollywobbler Brown Ale, Riverdriver Hazelnut Porter, Sea Dog Stout, and Blueberry Wheat. They also had a Seasonal which was a Winter Ale, they had a Raspberry that was not listed and unfortunately they had no Cask Conditioned Ales. The highlights for our group were 1) the IPA- an english style IPA with a light floral aroma, crisp clean balanced flavor and a tinge of bitterness 2) the Hazelnut Porter- dark near black having a big sweet nose the flavor started almost surgary followed by a rush of hazelnut then backed with dark malt bitterness 3) Blueberry Wheat- was the surprise of the night with most turning their noses up to a fruit beer at first, you could smell the blueberry from a distance and it had a big blast of sweetness that was nicely balanced with the sour from the blueberries floating in the beer.
Overall a great establishment that is worth checking out, good beer and good food always make for an enjoyable experience.

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Beer Trading

A new area of the beer world for us has been beer trading. Trading is easy enough to get into, the two ways we have arranged trades has been through Beer Advocate (www.beeradvocate.com) and Twitter . Beer Advocate gives you plenty of routes to trades with a "beer trading group" , member profiles can contain beers people want (wants) or beers they have (gots) and you can look up specific beers and see who "wants" or "gots" it. Trades via Twitter you have to be a little more lucky/daring/social for them to get done but we did an epic trade with @agirlandherbeer, a fellow tweeter, that we will discuss in another post.
Although not technically our first trade but our first completed trade was with a member of Beer Advocate. After several Beer Mails , intra-website emails on Beer Advocate, over the course of a few weeks we aquired a six pack of beer mostly from the Delaware area. The highlight of the trade was four beers from an up and coming brewery Evolution Craft Brewing Company ( www.evolutioncraftbrewing.com ). Evolution has just recently expanded their distribution and aquired more equipment so hopefully they will reach Mass soon so I don't have to trade for them. The beers we received were Exile ESB, No.3IPA, Lucky 7 Porter and Primal Pale Ale. All excellent beers with the Primal Pale Ale being my favorite. The other two beers we got as extras (beers or items added to the trade that were not discussed in the deal these enhance the trade ,a form of beer thank you/cheers) in the trade were Flying Fish Grand Cru Winter Reserve and Bells Christmas Ale. Also thrown in as an extra was a very nice tasting glass seen in the picture above.
Trading can be very rewarding with the chance to get beers not available in your area but it can get expensive. So if you haven't tried trading yet give it a go you never know what you might be able to get, small local brewery beers that don't distribute to your area or some rare beers that are hard to find no matter where you live. Good Luck happy trading.

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Review of Beer Summit Winter Jubillee

On Jan 14th and 15th of 2011 was the annual Beer Summitt Winter Jubillee held at the Park Plaza Castle. This years fest was incredible with aproximately 60 breweries and 200 beers. The fest seemed more organized and steamlined than past years. It also appeared to have more open spaces to relax in, as previous events left you feeling sardine like. The crowd as usual was very enthusiastic but not overly vocal as some other events with no known altercations happening at our session. As far as breweries mentioning all would be to much but for a rundown of our favorite/best of fest.
Brewery- Fishermans with two outstanding beers there Stout run thru coffee and the Accidental Eis-DIPA (keg partially froze in brewers trunk)
Blend- "CHUCK-BERRRRRRRYYY" which was Woodchuck Cider with Seadog Blueberry
Innovative Idea- Choklat Float a medallion of vanilla ice cream floated on Southern Tier Choklat.
Surprise- Cody Brewing after having a bad experience at another fest with their beer Cody came roaring back and blew us away. Their Brown was to form and the Whiskey Aged Stout phenominal (if bottled I need this)
New to Us- BNektar Meadary Mead is a new beverage for us and these guys really opened our eyes to the range of flavor available with T loving their Pyment (mead w/ grapes)
There were several other excellent showings Haverhill/TAP with their Joshua Norton Stout , Ithica 13 , Watch City 1yr old Kingpin Imperial Stout , Clown Shoes Tramp Stamp , as well as beers from DogFishHead , Lagunitas , Founders , Brooklyn , Victory Sam Adams and many others.

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New Years Eve 12/31/2010

New Years Eve 12/31/2010 , the perfect day to start up our blog. We decided to stay in and enjoy our 1st Beer and Cheese pairing and allow the "rookies" their night out. We picked up three cheeses to match with beers we already had at home.
Our 1st pair was Widmer The Drifter labeled as a Pale Ale with a Sharp Cheddar that had been aged for 2yrs. T noted that The Drifter seemed to have more characteristics of an IPA, even being a little cold it had a very hoppy aroma and a bitter bite. The Cheddar was delicious ,though I may be biased it being my favorite type of cheese, having a very sharp mouth watering taste. The mix of the two was very surprising the beer seemed to make the cheese almost creamy and the beer lost some of its bitterness and became more floral and citric in taste.
Next we moved on to Parmesan (due to a aweful Brie choice by A) paired with Maui Coconut Porter. The Parm was pretty standard in taste with a very grainy texture. The Porter was on point for a Robust Porter but we both had trouble picking up any coconut. Paired together they didn't blend as well as the 1st pairing but the earthy roasted quality of the Porter was subdued by the Parm and a subtle sweetness was brought out .
The final pairing of the night was the most intimidating of the 3, Anchor Foghorn and Stilton. The Stilton was very imposing not looking very appealing and definetly giving off some funk and tasting highly salty with lots of Umami (fun word to say). Anchor Foghorn a big beer (Barleywine) big in every way alcohol, maltiness and hops. We were having trouble seeing how these two could pair well, no matter what we read about pairings. After building a little courage (no doubt fortified by earlier beers) we dove into the pairing and both of us were surprised at how well they blended no longer to salty or funky of a cheese nor was the beer to big an experience tough to descibe .
To sum up the pairings I feel the Old Foghorn and Stilton paired the best followed by the Drifter and Cheddar with the Maui Coconut Porter and Parmesan coming in 3rd (slightly unfair to judge because it was a last second swap out of cheese for this pair).
We learned a lot in our 1st pairing of cheese with beer. 1)take some chances, try differant/new cheeses. 2)be prepared for mishaps, like picking a cheese that seems to have gone bad(dummy). 3) have fun with it food pairing guidelines are just that guidelines not hardcore rules.
To add 1 final footnote I would like to thank @agirlandherbeer from Twitter for the Maui Coconut Porter that she sent to us in a beer trade that I will blog about later.

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