Pleasant surprise at the Warsaw Cafe

I've been walking and driving past the Warsaw Cafe for ten years; of course I have, it's right across Locust Street from Monk's Cafe. I can't tell you how many times I looked into this small restaurant and thought, "Damn, that place looks nice; we should try it." I've even read good reviews, but still never got there.

We went today. Cathy's mom Claire was in town; we got tickets to Riverdance for her birthday. Hey, it was great. Impressive entertainment, virtuoso musicianship by the 5-person 'orchestra,' and we had front-row seats up in Family Circle at the Academy of Music. But we got out of the matinee later than I'd expected, and by the time I'd called Ralph's, they were full, with no openings till 9:00. Crap. "Hey, Cath...why don't I run in and see if they've got a table at the Warsaw? Want to try it?"

Well, long story short, we all went in (they went in; I parked the car) and got dinner. Very nice: blinis with caviar, pierogies, perfect pumpernickel; I got the Transylvanian Casserole (Balkan lasagna with ground veal, eggplant, spinach, and cheese layered with filo; quite tasty with the good dusting of fresh chopped dill), Cath had some tasty cabbage rolls, the kids had crab cakes (Thomas has a gift for ordering against the culinary grain) and beef stroganoff, Claire had a big juicy chunk of grilled salmon. Dessert was the only disappointing note: the coffee was excellent, but the chocolate whisky torte, while tasty with golden raisins and almonds, didn't taste much like whisky at all. The Munich cheesecake was good, a light-textured thing, like a ricotta cheesecake.

So....? Yeah, the pleasant surprise was the beer! There was a small bottle display, but a good one: Okocim Pilsner and Porter, Tyskie pilsner, Paulaner Hefe and pilsner, Stoudt's Fat Dog Stout, and a big bottle of Hevelius Kaper that they had on special for $5.25. Had to try it! I wasn't sorry, either; it's an 8.7% strong lager -- that means it doesn't really fit neatly into any pigeonholes; if I had to make a call, I'd pin it as a blonde doublebock or a super-maibock. It was big, malty, medium-full bodied, and smooth, a pleasant surprise indeed. Pretty good little beer selection for an Eastern European place in Philly.

SBP: Summer Love Fest Update

Folks, we've got some news and updates for this coming weekend's Session Beer event at Ortino's Northside in Zieglerville, PA. Now, look: I know this is Memorial Day weekend, the traditional first weekend of summer, and more importantly around here, the weekend everyone heads down the shore to open beach homes, hit the Boardwalk, and start mindlessly regressing to drinking light beer. Let's say it again: "the weekend everyone heads down the shore." Let me just say one word: traffic. Wait, here's another: crowds. And two more: screaming kids.

So...exactly why are you even thinking about going down the shore instead of to Ortino's Northside? That's what I thought! Why not join us and let John Ortino do the barbecuing for you, let Dan and I pour your beers, and relax in the sunny Zieglerville countryside to the beat of the session beer life?

My dinner is Thursday night, May 24 at 6:30p.m. That's the grand premiere of the brand new outside bar. We have a menu: Tomatillo salsa with fresh-made corn chips, steamed clams made with Legacy's Midnight Wit, bar-b-que chicken with some tater salad, and some of Linda Ortino's homemade desserts (don't roll your eyes: Linda's ginger pound cake was a big hit at the first session dinner). We'll be joined by a special guest: Nodding Head brewer Gordon Grubb, who is a strong supporter of session beers and the Session Beer Project. The beers are confirmed: Allagash White, Stoudt's Weizen, Union Barrel Works Kölsch, Nodding Head Berliner Weisse, East End Brewing Wheat Hop and one of the last kegs in the country, so we've been told, of Oud Beersel Framboise. Be prepared to let out your belts: no one ever goes away hungry from one of these dinners. Only $40, and I dare you to find a comparable beer dinner in the area for that price.

Cask-Away Night is Friday, May 25, starting around 6 p.m. or so, also out on the new bar. We have four cask ales confirmed at this point: Legacy's Brown Aled Girl, two Nodding Head beers -- All Night Mild and Pale Ale, and a delicious Belgian Pale Ale from Iron Hill North Wales that I am dying to try on cask. Friday night is pay-as-you-go. Come on out and show these brewers that the suburbs know how to drink cask ale!

THE MAIN EVENT is Saturday, May 26: The Session Summer of Love. Kick off your 2007 Summer with what we believe is the first-ever American all-session beer festival: 30 craft beers pouring, all 5.5% ABV...or less! We have 25 confirmed at this point; the list is below. We also have an all-you-can-eat buffet of summer love barbecue: pulled pork, barbecued chicken and ribs, brisket, corn, taters, pasta salad, and even more side dishes. That's $15 (a gut-stuffing steal), the beers are pay-as-you-go. Everything starts at 1:00.

Saturday Beer List
CHURCH BREW WORKS-PIOUS MONK DUNKEL (rare appearance)
LEGACY-MIDNIGHT WIT
RIVER HORSE-SUMMER BLONDE
APPALACHIAN-PEREGRINE PILSNER
ROCK BOTTOM-tba (count on Brian McConnell for something excellent)
MANAYUNK BREWING-BELGIAN FARMHOUSE ALE
EAST END BREWING-FAT GARY BROWN ALE (rare appearance)
BROOKLYN-LAGER
BARLEY CREEK-ANTLER BROWN
PENN-WEIZEN
FLYING FISH-FARMHOUSE SUMMER ALE
WEYERBACHER-HOUSE PALE ALE (rare appearance)
YARDS-PHILLY PALE ALE
GENERAL LAFAYETTE-PACIFIC PALE ALE (rare appearance)
ALLAGASH -WHITE
STOUDT'S- WEIZEN
UNION BARREL WORKS-KOLSCH
SLY FOX-BRITISH PALE ALE
LEGACY-READING PILSNER (rare appearance)
SOUTHAMPTON-SECERT ALE
DOGFISH HEAD-SHELTER PALE ALE
NODDING HEAD-BERLINER WEISSE
EAST END BREWING-WHEAT HOP (rare appearance)
VICTORY-WHIRLWIND WIT
LANCASTER-SUMMER RYE
TROEGS-DREAMWEAVER WHEAT

Another Summer Beer: Otter Creek White Sail

Otter Creek has been doing some new and exciting stuff since Morgan Wolaver bought the place and made his organic beers full-time. The Otter Creek brand wasn't banished, thank God, and they've been having a great time with their World Tour beers. This isn't one of those, just a Summer seasonal Witbier with orange peel and coriander. Let's open it up.

Hmmm...pretty clear for a wit. There's a wet oats smell to the head that's kind of nice, but no real citrus or coriander. Wow. Pretty light on the spices and flavorings. I get the coriander when I pull some air through it, but not really any citrus. I hate to get overwhelmed by a wit, and I hate to complain about this after bitching that the Steg Midsummer White was over-spiced, but there's just barely enough flavorings here to make this something other than a wheat ale. Sorry guys, there's just not enough here.

Maui Brewing Bikini Blonde Lager

Another beer Maui Brewing sent me: Bikini Blonde Lager. Supposed to be a helles lager, let's have a taste. Pours plenty of foam, with a brilliant blonde body. If I'm gonna get picky...the foam's kinda big-bulky, too many large bubbles, but that's pretty picky. Flavor's good, not real hoppy, which I was a little nervous about.

Body's right, malt's there, but...it's finishing a bit sweet, not with that elusive malt dryness that marks the classic and notable helles. I like just about everything else about this beer, but that sweetness is bothering me, and putting me off from that sip after sip evaporation that the style should bring to my drinking.

Five Summer Beers

I got a boatload of samples last week, and I thought I'd taste a few.

Samuel Adams Summer Ale -- 'Wheat ale brewed with lemon and grains of paradise.' I like pepper in beer; it gives it a spike nothing else can. The SASA pours a cloudy dark orange, and has a full nose: mostly lemon, but some spicy notes as well. It tastes a bit heavy for a summer ale up-front, but the lemon and grains of paradise (a peppercorn-like spice, also called alligator pepper) clean things up quickly, and it finishes with a clean note of malt sweetness. Very interesting beer, with surprising complexity; seems like it would be great with chicken and pork.

Samuel Adams Hefeweizen -- Okay, tamp down the prejudice: this is not a hefeweizen, it's an American unfiltered wheat ale, and I get really pissed by the whole idea of calling that a 'hefeweizen.' That's an established style, and it's all about a specific yeast character married to a high-wheat grist. This is all about unfiltered beer and innocuous flavor. That said...The SA "Hefe" is not bad as these abominations go. It's got some body, it's got a bit of hop, and it's fresh. Call it a Wheat Ale, and I might even like it. But I just can't get past it not being a hefeweizen.

BridgePort Haymaker Extra Pale Ale -- BridgePort makes some beers I really like: their IPA is a PNW classic, and I loved the new Beertown Brown seasonal. The Haymaker is good, too, but I'm having a bit of a problem with it. I like the idea of a summer beer from the PNW being malt-balanced (Haymaker is only lightly bittered at 15 IBU), but I'm afraid it may be too big at 12.8 P and 5.3% ABV. It's tasting more like a fall beer to me than a summer beer: heavy with the malt. If they backed off on the size, and re-tooled this as a mild (while still calling it an extra pale ale, of course), I think they'd have a winner for a summer beer.

Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat -- This beer always smells like it ought to be bright red, like a Sno-Cone. The cherry aroma blowing off it is rich and sweet. The label says it "combines Michigan cherries with a generous portion of wheat malt." Well, I have to say I think they've changed this one. The SA Cherry I remember tasted like a damned Sno-Cone, too, but this is a much better beer. There's cherry, particularly up-front, but it quickly slides into a malty middle that's quite impressive in its complexity: cookie and oats and bread, very nice. I'll be having this again, should be good with barbecue.

Stegmaier Midsummer White -- You guys know I'm a big Steg/Lion fan. I've been particularly digging their new line of Stegmaier seasonals, the Brewhouse Bock, Summer Stock Lager, and the Winter beer. They replaced the Summer Stock with Midsummer White this year, so I gave it a try. I'm not happy. There's an overdose of spice that tastes plastic/resiny, and the body's too heavy. This needs to be a lot lighter in the body, and the spicing needs adjustment. Bring back the Summer Stock. This ain't cutting it.

Probably have more samples to taste next week.

Import beers hit a soft patch while crafts surge

Not to get bogged down in month-to-month stuff, but...Miller Brewing has an industry-focused newsblog, BrewBlog, that I would recommend to you: solid beer biz news, and it's very amusing to watch them beat up on A-B; they're relentless.

There was a post today about supermarket beer sales. The short version: Crafts were up in April, imports were flat.

The longer version:

Crafts picked up sixth-tenths of a point of case share in supermarkets during the four weeks ended May 5, according to beer sales statistics from Nielsen. Crafts have been gaining share for more than three years. (emphasis added)

Boston Beer, the brewer of Samuel Adams and the biggest craft brewer, saw share grow by a tenth of a point during the latest period, according to Nielsen.

Import share, meanwhile, was flat during the period, according to Nielsen.

The group was dragged down by negative trends by the two biggest imports, Corona Extra and Heineken. Corona lost three-tenths of a share point during the period;
Heineken.

Heineken Premium Light, which drove imports’ share growth last year, was flat.

What's all that mean? Like I said: don't get bogged down in month-to-month. The import sales are not a trend yet. Craft sales, on the other hand, are definitely on a long-term trend upwards.

Iron Hill North Wales beer alert

Just a quick note: I spun over to the Iron Hill North Wales brewpub yesterday to meet with Dan "Get Your Butt to Ortino's" Bengel about the Session of Summer Beer Love Session Fest, and tried the new Saison. Wow, excellent beer. Not a session beer at about 6.2%, but very nice: spicy, dry as a bone, refreshing, and tasty. I bought a growler of it, and a growler of the Belgian Pale, which is tasting very nice (opened it up and had it for dinner with a mixed grill Cathy threw together: beautiful). Brewer Larry Horwitz said there's an inside chance that the BP might be joining the Iron Hill regular line-up: good idea. At 4.2% [not 3.8%, as originally posted; sorry] , it's very flavorful and definitely sessionable.

SBP: session-strength pils coming from Victory...

Just got a hot flash from noted Victory rah-rah boy Richard Ruch:

And there is a new Braumeister Pils that should be available in two weeks. This will be a true session brew at 4.7%. The single hop is a German Spalt Select. The sample I had from the fermentation tank last nite had a slightly spicier and hoppier flavor profile than I expected. It was very delicious....looking forward to a number of slow pours of this beauty throughout the summer.

Me too, Ruch, me too!

Maui Brewing Big Swell IPA

Maui Brewing sent me some cans of their beers: Big Swell IPA, CoCoNut Porter, and Bikini Blonde Lager. The Big Swell sounded like the right choice for dinner tonight (grilled London broil with my Manly Marinade: ketchup, vinegar, Worcestershire, liquid smoke, and horseradish), so I stuck a can in the freezer for 20 minutes and popped it.

Very nice! Big IPA, 6.2% ABV, and cram-jammed with hop flavor. It's plenty bitter, has a good body to it, and a piney warning aroma of hops within. The look is deep amber-orange, somewhat cloudy, and a seriously tenacious cap of foam. Nice beer if you like a big American-type IPA...in a can, too. It met the Manly Marinade on even terms; the sweet ketchup actually brought out the malt depth. Good stuff, Maui!

More Anniversaries

After noting the Stoudt's 20th anniversary, it's only right to tip the hat to several other anniversaries either just celebrated or about to be.

Tröegs and Appalachian Brewing Companies both celebrate their 10th anniversary this year, in the same town, something that doesn't happen that often. ABC celebrated this past weekend with Outhouse Races (obviously some PA Dutch influence, there); Tröegs will be celebrating later in the summer.

Zeno's, the seminal beer bar in State College, PA, celebrated 35 years on May 6th. I haven't spent nearly enough time at this excellent bar, but I do remember the time I have spent fondly...if not always with crystalline clarity. Cheers for the pioneering work!

Stegmaier, the Lion's house brand, is 150 years old this year; hence the Stegmaier 1857 brand. Sieze the excuse to have a party, right on the brewery grounds, on June 2. There will be live music and the intro of the latest Stegmaier seasonal, Midsummer White. Get more info.

Congratulations to all!

SBP: BeerAdvocate Support

Props/kudos/cheers to The Brothers Alström of BeerAdvocate: recognizing the ABV-tilted nature of their BeerAdvocate Top 100 Beers list, they also have a Top Session Beers list here. Before anyone else brings it up, yes, I know, the list is heavily weighted to the beers between 5.0 and 5.5% ABV, but that's okay. This is a very healthy start, and something I'm quite happy to see. Check it out, start thinking session. (Thanks to Tony/WVbeergeek of BA for the link!)

Hammered

I hope you all know that Victory Brewing has picked up the license to brew Perkuno's Hammer, the Baltic porter I had a hand in instigating and naming at Heavyweight Brewing. Heavyweight closed last year, of course, and I was a bit bereft: no more Hammer. Luckily, some other people felt the same way, and yesterday was Hammerfall at Victory.

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We were standing in the control room at Victory. It was stiflingly hot, the AC was out, and we were all waiting for the moment when this first Victory brewing of the Hammer would start. Ron Barchet (Victory brewmaster): "Tom, do you want to push the button?" Tom Baker (Heavyweight owner/brewer/everything): "Me? Push the button?" Brian Hollinger (Victory brewing engineer): "That's the one there." Dave Sippel (Victory ass't brewer): "I already pushed it." Me: "Oh. What time is it?" Brian: "It's 1:00." Me (looking at a clock that says 1:03): "Cool, 1:00, right on time." (Silence for about a minute; people sweat) Me again: "Um...exactly what is going on now that we've pushed the button?"

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Turns out it was milling that had started up, so we trooped down to Victory's marvelous wetmill. Ron explained how wonderful it was: the malt is wetted very carefully so that the husk gets wet and soft, but not the kernel. This way, when the malt hits the rollers -- which are set quite tightly -- the kernel cracks as always, but the husk is not broken up, like it is in a dry mill. This makes for a better filter bed, and less tannins from the husk (because of less surface area).

Ron believes that there are only three wetmills in use at micros in the U.S.: Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, and Victory (and Deschutes, too: see comments below). It's wicked expensive, and expensive to maintain as well, and because there are so few of them, if it breaks down, a tech has to come from Germany. It's broken down once so far, which put a crimp in brewing. How long were they down? "A week," Ron admits. "But the benefits are worth it."

Why is it that Victory is in company with two much larger craft brewers? "Because it's important," Ron said. "The stability and flavor improvement you can get from the wetmill are very important in the kind of beer we make." Why don't other brewers invest the quarter million dollars in a wetmill if it's so important? "Because here the owner is the brewmaster," said Ron. "The benefits in shelf-life and flavor are clear." Clear, but not something you can easily measure and put a price on? "Right," said Ron, and grinned. "But here the accountant is the brewer, too."

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Ron had pulled me a glass of Sapphire Bock, an interesting beer. A friend of his from brewing school works at a German brewery near the hops regions of Bavaria, near the Austrian border. The Bavarian hops growers came to him and said, look, we know the American craft brewers are using a lot of hops (damn betcha!). How can we get them interested in buying some of our very fine hops? Make a hoppy beer with them, and serve it at the Craft Brewers Conference, he says. Oh, wonderful, you must make us a hoppy beer with this new Saphir hop! He convinces them that it would make more sense for an American brewer to do it, and he knows just the guy.

So Victory makes a hoppy bock to his specs, and as Ron said, "It was interesting making it to his recipe. It's not what I would have done, but it's a perfectly good way of doing it." This was his opportunity to point out -- absolutely correctly -- that Victory had gotten big enough that people have started to complain that they don't do anything really interesting any more. "That's ridiculous," he said, "getting big has let us do even more interesting stuff, like this! Look out at the bar, we've got over 15 beers on right now." Victory's single-hop pils series has been nothing short of brilliant, but of course, they get no credit for it from the bulk of the geekerie because 1)they're lagers; and 2)they're under 7%. Sigh.

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The grist is welling up from the bottom of the mash tun. It's thick, it's cakey, it's got beans in it (over 100 lbs. of black-eyed peas; the Roman beans were crazy expensive, over a dollar a pound), it's...getting really high. "I've never seen it that high," says Brian. "Get that!" Tom shouts gleefully, "The Hammer's too big for Victory's mashtun!" They split the mash into another vessel (mash cooker?), and kept going.

The aiming point for the Original Gravity of the wort was 20.5P, a big boy that should ferment out right around 8%, maybe a bit higher. Hopping is early additions of Tettnang and Hallertauer; as Ron says, they've got contracts that make it economically reasonable to use these deliciously aromatic hops for bittering hops.

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My greatest Hammer Moment was sitting at the bar at dba in Manhattan, about three months after the Hammer came out in 12 oz. bottles, and hearing the bartender telling another customer about "this beer we had in last week, it was the best f---ing beer, it was big and black and fantastic, had some weird name, something hammer, like the God's Hammer, or something, and it rocked!" And I realized..."Are you talking about Perkuno's Hammer?" "Yeah, dude, that's it! That beer's f---ing awesome!" A moment I cherish.

Tom offered his best Hammer Moment. The first run of the Hammer was in individually numbered 750 ml bottles, with a label that was pretty faint to begin with, and rapidly faded to next to nothing in a cooler. And George Gray, the owner of Andy's Corner Bar, the legendary beer bar in Bogota, NJ, calls him to ask him what the hell this great beer is. "What's the name?" Tom asks. And George says he doesn't know, it's just a white label with a line and 320 written on it in Sharpie ink. Yup, that's the Hammer.

Ron's best Hammer Moment was when he decided Victory should keep it alive. "My first thought when I heard Heavyweight was closing was how that was too bad for Tom. But my second thought was 'Where am I going to find more Hammer?!' And that's when I thought we should figure out a way to do it." Now that's a great Hammer Moment.

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I had to leave; had to get home and get back to work. But the Hammer was on its way. Victory's brewed two 50 bbl. batches yesterday; as Tom said, he only brewed 150 bbls. of Hammer in the whole first year of production. It's coming out in 750s and draft. But it may not be called "Perkuno's Hammer." There may be legal action from other interested parties. Ron: "We may not call it Perkuno's Hammer, but we're making it."

We suggested a few other names: Perkuno's Bummer, Perkuno's Hemmorhoid, Perkuno's Mallet. It was obviously a slow day for imagination. I still like one of my original suggestions: Black Blizzard. Whatever name it comes out under, we'll know, and we'll let everyone know: Perkuno's Hammer strikes again!

SBP: Philadelphia City Paper embraces Session Beer

Philly City Paper ran another good beer piece yesterday: "Basic Training: Local writers and companies lead the retrograded session beer movement."

The piece, by Tim Hyland, quotes General Lafayette owner/brewer Chris Leonard, Tröegs co-founder Chris Trogner, Victory co-founder Bill Covaleski, and myself. A very positive piece on the session beer idea: thanks, CP and Tim.

SBP: Putting Our Session Beer Where Your Mouth Is

We teased you.

We promised you.

We threatened you. (Well, Dan did.)

And now it's finally here:

The Session Summer of Love

at Ortino's Northside

May 24, 25, and 26

That's right, folks: three days of session beer events. If that's not a Session Beer Project, I don't know what is. Ortino's Northside in Zieglersville, which hosted my first Session Beer event back in March, has stepped up to the plate with three events that promise extended drinking pleasure, smaller beers that will let your drinking day last longer. Radical.

It all starts Thursday May 24th at 6:30, when I host another session beer dinner. We'll be out on the new patio -- with the new outdoor bar and tap system -- getting into summertime mode with a menu of steamers, bar-b-que chicken, and tater salad. Nice light stuff, and we'll have some great lightweight beers (is that fun to say? You bet!): Allagash White, Stoudt's Weizen, some Kölsch from the new Union Barrel Works in Reamstown, a very rare out-of-Philly appearance of Nodding Head Berliner Weisse, an even rarer Pennsylvania appearance of East End Wheat Hop (because this Pittsburgh brewery is in Westsylvania, y'know), and a final special treat, the classic lambic Oud Beersel Framboise. That's value for the money at a $40 ticket. You can get them by stopping by The Northside or calling 610-287-7272 during business hours.

Then on Friday, May 25th, drop by for our "Cask Away" night, when we'll be serving up some perfect pins of session beer that washed up on the Zieglersville shore. It's pay-as-you-go in a challenge to Philadelphia: they say the suburbs don't drink cask ale. With beers like Nodding Head's All Night Ale (an espresso-infused dark mild) and Legacy Brown Aled Girl, I figure the suburbs will be there for a serious session. (We're still arranging beers on this one; we'll have at least five, and I'll put them up as we get them.)

The big event is Saturday, May 26th, when we unveil what we believe is the first event of its kind anywhere in the U.S.: a festival of session beers, where no beer will be served that's over 5.5% alcohol by volume. Get some great beers that won't sucker-punch you! A partial list: Southampton- Secret Ale, Flying Fish Farmhouse Summer Ale, Legacy Reading Pilsner, Victory Whirlwind Wit, Stoudt's Weizen, Lancaster Summer Rye, Erie Mad Anthony Ale, Sly Fox British Pale Ale, East End Wheat Hop (plus another, probably Fat Gary Nut Brown), Church Brew Works Pious Monk Dunkel, General Lafayette Pacific Pale Ale, Iron Hill Belgian Pale Ale, Union Barrel Works Kölsch, and some more of that Oud Beersel Framboise. You may also see some Weyerbacher Blanche, Penn Weizen, Barley Creek Brown, Climax Helles, Summit Wheat, Brooklyn Brown or Lager, ABC Pilsner, River Horse Summer Blonde, and Tröegs Dreamweaver, and we're still trying to decide what to pour from Nodding Head, Dogfish Head, and Yards. Saturday starts at 1:00 and it is all pay-as-you-go, no entrance fee, ticket, secret password, or nothin'.

Now...is that session enough for you?

I'm doing a little research myself this weekend with a sixtel of Flying Fish Farmhouse Ale at a family event. As Uncle Jack mentioned at the Beer Yard site, I was involved in a blind judging panel at the recent Manayunk Beer fest, where we picked this as Best of Show out of a field of 21 entries. I always liked the FFFA, but the blind tasting made me decide to have another look. Just in case the session should pale -- or it gets cold, or a snake bites someone -- we've also got a case of Brooklyn Local 1 and some Victory Saphir Bock. It pays to be prepared.

"It's Like I Don't Even Know You..."

I don't know Natalie MacLean. I've never met her. But I thoroughly enjoyed her book "Red & White & Drunk All Over," and I've enjoyed her website writing. We've exchanged e-mails and links, and that was enjoyable, too; Natalie's quite personable.

But something she wrote is hitting the blogwaves, and I'm baffled. Uncle Jack's already posted the text at his site; go read it and come back.

So...are you pissed off? Yeah, me too, but not by the beer v. wine thing. There are bored wine writers facing deadlines all the time, and this kind of thing has been done to death. That's what pisses me off: the "done to death" part. I like MacLean's wine writing because it's honest and fresh and very much not "same-old same-old," and this piece of dreck is nothing but.

Three years ago I might have taken it apart, point by point, but you know, I've done that. I am no longer trying to educate wine writers who refuse to get it unless they're paying me for the lessons. I am happy to share beer and whiskey knowledge with Eric Asimov at the NYT, a wine writer who most certainly does get it. I'm learning about wine myself, the fun way: I'm drinking a variety of it.

The thing that's most painful about this screed that MacLean slopped out is that it's so obviously an attempt to stir things up. She has not only turned her blind eye to craft beers, artisanal beers, the huge spectrum of beers beyond mainstream...she's telling us that she is as she does it. "Oh sure, you can talk about your craft ales and your artisanal brews, but most beer..." Right, we get it, you're deliberately avoiding the rocks that hole your argument, just as you're avoiding box wine, jug wine, fortified wine. It's not about a real argument, or creating a serious discussion. It's all about the bandwidth, baby: drive the traffic.

Well, that's why I cited Uncle Jack's website, not hers. I'm driving what meager traffic I influence to him. He deserves it.

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And to all you wine-bibers who are chortling over this...watch your back. You were thought to be every bit as nasty, pathetic, and drunk-oriented fifty years ago. A dedicated band of small, smart, passionate producers turned things around. Sound familiar? Okay, I'll spell it out for you: that's what's happening in beer right now. So why not lighten up and check out the good stuff? You might find something you really like, and a bottle of La Chouffe is a lot less than a comparable bottle of pinot noir.

Support Your Local Brewery™

It is very good to see that the Brewers Association has finally enlisted the assistance of you and me, the beer drinkers, to lobby on the behalf of breweries. I've been doing it for years, but I'm not always aware of what's happening in the legislature. The BA has created a group to get the word out and mobilize the awaiting enthusiasm of craft beer drinkers: Support Your Local Brewery.

I've signed up to receive e-mail alerts when there are issues affecting breweries unde debate in my state legislature. I assume we would also be alerted to national issues. I encourage you to do likewise.

Great work, Brewers Association! Now, if you could just remember that it's not just ales that are made by craft brewers...

SBP: Mild Weather in May

I didn't find mild on Friday, when we were supposed to blog about it for The Session, but I did find it in abundance yesterday, so I'm going to step into the Wayback Machine and pretend this all happened when the beer-blogging calendar wanted it to...

Mild is perhaps the archetype of session beers. It's low in alcohol, nicely flavored with malts and usually a good ale yeast, and it's a smooth, easy drinker.

But it is unfortunately hard to find. Mild just isn't that popular in the U.S., for a variety of reasons. It's looked down on as uninteresting by a number of beer geeks -- not big enough, not hoppy enough -- which includes a number of brewers. "Mild" is not a familiar beer name for most Americans, who unfortunately won't try a beer if it's called "Mild" (or "Bitter," for that matter).

On the other hand, I wasn't surprised at all to find milds at a homebrewing event. Homebrewers, for all their tendencies to go big and go crazy with exotic and experimental beers, also have a respect for uncommon beers. They also know that a flawless low-alcohol beer says more about their skill than a big, chunky beer that might be hiding flaws under heavy layers of hops and roasted malts. And they also like to drink, which mild is perfect for. I meet more and more homebrewers who tell me that they almost always have a mild or bitter around to drink every day.

Sure enough, while walking around the grassy field of the Southern California Homebrewers Festival on a perfect SoCal afternoon, I came across some milds in short order. The Maltose Falcons club was pouring four of them, all on cask (That's right: four, on cask. There were about 16 other beers and meads on tap as well. This is not your typical homebrewing event, these guys are serious. I was awed): Rainier (hopped with the new Mt. Rainier hop), Oat Malt, and Alderwood (made with smoked malt), the fourth wasn't on when I made my run, and I've forgotten the name, sorry.

The Rainier reminded me somewhat of the Three Floyds Pride & Joy Mild, in that it was refreshing, but perhaps too hoppy for the style. The Alderwood was good, not overdone at all, but a bit odd. The Oat Malt was just what I was looking for: good malty flavor in spades, light-bodied but not thin at all, and a subtle richness that rounded things off nicely. And it was really tasty with the "Big Dick's Famous Pickled Egg" I got at another club's stand. For about ten minutes, I was in mild heaven. If not for the "try me, try me!" vibe that festivals like this generate, I'd probably have stuck with this for quite a while, and would have been happy.

The only sad thing about this was that I had to go to a homebrewing festival to find more than a single mild. To be honest, finding a mild in Philly would probably have required some serious searching. There aren't any local brewers who regularly make a mild; Victory has on occasion, Weyerbacher made a nice one back five years ago or so, and Yards has done one.

But they just don't sell. Why? Philadelphia is a town that gets cask ale, possibly more than any other U.S. town. But while pale ales and IPAs and porters and stouts thrive on cask here, milds don't even show up. I have to be honest, too: it's not a case of "milds don't sell because no one makes them, and no one makes milds because they don't sell" circular illogic. Brewers have tried making milds, and they languish in the market.

Is it the name? Is it the unfamiliarity? I don't know if I completely buy that: there are lots of people buying beers with unfamiliar names, just look at the popularity of Belgians. One of Yards' most popular beers is their Saison, hardly a household word outside geek circles.

Are they boring? Not at all, when they're made well. Maybe that's part of it, that brewers don't have enough faith in mild to make it without pumping it up somehow, over-hopping it, or smoking it, or pushing the upper edge of the style on ABV. When things like that get done to a mild, they don't ring true. It's like poodle-clipping a Golden Retriever. Just let the mild be a good mild, don't cover it up.

Getting a good mild is something that's at the heart of the Session Beer Project. The beer-blogging project this post is part of, The Session, is about milds this month: I hope it generates some interest in brewers and drinkers alike. Otherwise, mild is going to be treated the same way Tom Pastorius at Penn Brewing says dark beer is treated, like going to church: everyone talks about it, but most people don't go more than once or twice a year.

That's not enough to keep a beer alive. If you see mild, get it. If it's good, get stuck into it. I'm counting on you. And meanwhile... keep up the good work, homebrewers.

Milds: Why I haven't done The Session...yet

Yesterday, Friday, May 4th, was the day for The Session, the beer blogging we've been doing, and Jay Brooks declared it to be Mild Month. Everyone else is checking in...and here's Mister Session Beer Project, silent. What's up?

I'm in California, and couldn't even look for mild yesterday. It's a long story, but here's the gist: today I'll be having at least four milds...and I'll be in late. But I'll be there. You betcha!

Pennsylvania Brewery news up on my site

I've got some Pennsylvania news up on the site: a three brewer move involving John Harvard's Wayne, Johnstown Brewing, and the soon-to-open Rivertowne Pourhouse; and an update on One Guy Brewing in Berwick.

Get it while it's hot.

Triumph Eats Good, Too

Triumph Old City threw a press dinner last night, and I didn't want to pass up the chance to hang around with the working press, so once again I made the trek to Chestnut Street (although this time I did have to pay for parking...). There was a brewery tour (which included a look at the grist gun, a thoroughly cool piece of brewing technology I hadn't seen before) with Patrick Jones, a tasting session with Jay Misson (which got rapidly raucous; the working press ain't used to gunning down five quick beers), and then...dinner.

Triumph Old City is all about small plates and sharing, so the food came in sharing-friendly configurations. Three little burgers on a plate, for instance: a burger-burger, a mushroom burger (made of mushrooms, that is: vegetarian) with bacon (brilliant!), and a pork roll burger ("Just to get pork roll on the menu," said Jay). Crisp little traingles of thin crust pizza with mushrooms and truffle oil. Grilled shrimps and scallops.

And then there was dessert, which is the real reason I'm even posting this, because I got the chocolate mint julep gelato, and it was phenomenal. Imagine a really good chocolate gelato, with a clean dose of fresh mint flavor, stuffed with as much Knob Creek as they could fit into it without dropping the freezing point to an unworkable level. It was frickin' awesome.

And yeah, the beers were pretty good too. And Jay took me aside and explained the dunkel I bitched about before, and we talked about Sinamar and dark malts and, well, I hate it when the brewer's right. Just ask O'Reilly.

A Milestone...Kind Of

Seen Through A Glass is officially of note!

I got my first spam comment this morning. STAG is out there enough that the spammers have noticed, which means I'll be trashing spam comments.

Wow. I feel validated and violated at the same time.

Onwards!

Stoudt's at 20

It seems hard to believe, but Stoudt Brewing notches 20 years this year. I don't know if it seems like yesterday or forever -- guess I'm getting to that age -- but I can tell you that the brewery's never looked better.

Carol and Ed Stoudt threw a party at their beerhall to celebrate (That's Ed, my hatted self, Carol, and Bill "Mr. Victory" Covaleski...um, towards the end of the party), and Cathy and I went up. We pulled in behind a Berkshire Brewing pickup; wow, I said, they're coming in from all over! We ran into Tom Peters of Monk's Cafe and the Iron Hill Gang right away, grabbed some beers -- Pilsner, natch -- and started going on about whatever was on our minds.

The dinner, paired with different Stoudt's beers, was excellent, very well-prepared, and the evening's entertainment was exceptional as well: a roast of Carol and Ed by friends from the brewing industry: Covaleski, Gary Bogoff (from Berkshire Brewing), Ken Allen of Anderson Valley, Chris O'Connor of Northampton Brewery (also celebrating 20 years this year), Sebbie "East Coast Rogue" Buhler, and Mark Edelson of Iron Hill.

There was at least one other roaster, but I'm blanking; Cathy and I were sitting with the Iron Hill brewers, a raucous and hilarious bunch, and I may have paid less attention at times than I should have. One major topic of table conversation was how Edelson, who was 'batting cleanup' as the last roaster, was going to do after the phenomenal performance by O'Connor, who brought the house down with his stories and barbs. We howled when Larry Horwitz (Iron Hill North Wales brewer) texted Edelson to ask him that, and Edelson responded "Im screwed."

We couldn't allow that to happen of course, so we sent him some material, and we collected some single brewer's cards and put them in my hat for Mark to pull out a "Mystery Date" for Carol's two unspoken-for daughters. The look of grateful relief on his face was a beautiful thing, and as you can see by Carol's reaction in the picture to the left, he killed.

After Mark redeemed himself, we got the release we'd been waiting for: the 20th anniversary beer, Smooth Hoperator. As you might guess from the name, it's a hopped-up doppelbock (although I've seen it tagged as an amber lager and an AIPA on various beersites...either I'm nuts or they are). Smooth as a preacher's downfall, powerfully hoppy, and just a bit dangerously drinkable at 7%, this one's a winner.

So, okay...that's the party. Thoughts on the Stoudt's 20th anniversary? Well, pleasure, mostly, and some vindication. I've always been a fan of this brewery, lager/German-oriented as it is. I've been friends with Ed and Carol for years, been to a number of their fests. I'm very glad to see the brewery finally off contracting; I think the beer has benefitted from the focus, and I'm glad to see the response from the customers has been positive. I'm hoping that people will give them another look in the light of the 20th anniversary: this is a brewery with relevance. The classic styles they continue to produce are some of the best American iterations of their type.

Here's to plenty more years of fine beers from Stoudt's Brewing. Stick to your guns, keep brewing lagers in a family tradition, and don't back down on the Germanosity of the whole operation. And whatever has to be done to keep the fests going, do it, they're still some of the best around.

From Cathy and I: Prost, Stoudt's! Viel Erfolg!

Canned Wheat

As a lot of you know, Sly Fox released their Royal Weisse in cans in April. As many of you probably don't know, they thereby became the second east coast micro to release a canned hefeweizen. Butternuts Beer & Ale, of Garrattsville, NY, has had a hefe called Heinieweisse for a while now. The brewery contacted me a few weeks ago, and sent me some samples. Tonight I got to taste the two of them, the only two canned American hefes I know of, with some delicious veal sausages I got at Rieker's Prime Meats in Northeast Philly.

I'll cut to the chase: the Heinieweisse did not come off well in the head-to-head comparison. The depth of flavor was not there, the classic hefe character was not there, and there was an unpleasant mineral component to the beer. The Royal Weisse was very impressive, full-flavored, würzig, and refreshing. I'm going to try some Heinieweisse solo, maybe tomorrow.

Western PA: The run home

Since I had to stay straight enough to drive 6 miles back out to my motel, I was in real good shape Sunday morning. Got up about 7:00, showered, dressed, and packed, and went downtown to pick up Woody. We broke our fast at the Zodiac Dinor (2516 State St., (814) 455-3543), where I had another Greek sauce omelette. Good omelette, but the Greek sauce was cold in spots: kinda like it had been heated up rapidly and unevenly. Bummer. Quiet on a Sunday morning. We read the paper and headed southeast.

I'd decided I wanted to skip the Interstates this Sunday morning, so we picked up Rt. 6 and then ran down through the Allegheny National Forest. Great roads, great ridge-running, and we made good time. Woody was dozing on and off, so I just let the Passat run and listened to the music. We ran I-80 for about 20 miles, then got off near Clearfield. I was headed for Otto's, but also for Port Matilda, where I pulled off for a kind of second breakfast at Clem's.


Clem's does barbecue, and I love it. I regularly go out of my way to get it, because Clem Panteleone agrees with my theory of barbecue: the meat is more important than anything: the smoke, the wood, the sauce, the atmosphere.

The smoke? Clem cooks his ribs hot, over fire. Heresy, but shut up and eat 'em. The wood? Clem uses oak because (he told me) hickory has too much flavor and masks the pig. Sauce? It's a rich red sauce, sweet and tangy, but it's not baked on like some places. And Clem's place has NO atmosphere; hell, it doesn't even have four walls or a place to sit. But the kid working the place did come out and offer everyone some wings to sample (I just don't eat wings any more, they're death on the diet, but I had one. Mmmmmm...). And the pork is just fantastic. I got a combo plate of a half rack of baby backs and a portion of boneless "country" ribs. Good Gawd, it was so good that I ate till I hurt. I hate doing that any more, but I held even on weight over the trip, so I guess I got away with it.

We wet-napped our faces and got out of there. Down to Otto's, the great brewpub on the west end of State College. No need for lunch, obviously, but I did get a half-pint of Arthur's Mild, and it was tasty and session-delicious. Owner-brewer Charlie Schnable took a break from epoxying the floor of his new coldroom to join us for a quick beer, then took me on a look in the brewhouse. It has filled up since the last time I was in there! Lotsa tanks, and Charlie's kind of wondering what he's gonna do next. Hope he keeps making the delicious beer he's been making.

We were joined at the bar by Sam Komlenic, who I last talked about in the WhiskyFest posts. Funny; I correspond with Sam fairly often, but this is the most I've seen him in two years. A pleasant change. As you can see from the picture to the left of Sam and Woody, Sam, another former "big guy," has benefited from the Weight Watchers program; dropped 30 lbs. and never stopped drinking beer and whiskey. It works, folks! Sam treated us to a sample of some pre-war rye whiskey, and it was damned nice. Thanks, Sam.

We were going to take a spin out to Millheim to see how the Elk Creek brewpub project was coming along, but I got a call from Cathy: my brother-in-law had had an accident and was on the way to the ER. We finished up and hit the road. About the time I dropped Woody off in Lancaster, I got another call: the brother was not as bad as we'd been told, and he was going to be fine. Good. Danke, Herr Gott. So I drove home, and enjoyed the presence of my family and my wee dog. A good weekend.

Western PA: Greek sauce, Festival, To the Lighthouse

My Erie Weekend: Part II (Part I is here).

I got up Saturday morning (April 21) hankering for a dinor breakfast (that's how "diner" is traditionally spelled in Erie; apparently no one is really sure why), and although I have a couple favorites, I'm always looking for something new. I fired up the Web and found the Lawrence Park Dinor, an authentic Silk City diner (Silk City made the "railroad car" diners; there are some modern diners named Silk City -- not the same thing): game on!

It was a long, somewhat complicated way off, so I MapQuested directions and a map, and took non-flash digicam pix of both screens with my new camera (a Canon A630, a bigger camera with more battery power and more comfort for my big hands, I'm very happy with the pictures I'm getting now): brilliant idea, worked like a charm, and after a 15 minute drive in the early morning sunshine, I pulled up in front of the beautifully maintained Silk City you see above. It's so damned authentic that it's on the National Register of Historic Places. How many of those serve breakfast?

I got a seat at the counter, right by the grill, where the owner, George Gourlias, was frying eggs and potatoes, slapping down the ham, and turning bacon. Gawd, it was tremendous. Coffee came quick and hot, and when I saw "Greek Sauce Omelette" on the menu, I knew it was for me.

Greek sauce is a puree of ground beef and spices similar to Coney Island sauce, usually put on hot dogs, often called "Texas Hots" or "Texas Wieners." Greek sauce is found all across New York State, from Brooklyn to Plattsburgh to Buffalo, but it's also all across Pennsylvania, from Philly to Scranton to Erie. When I was doing the research for the latest Pennsylvania Breweries, I found a very early reference to Greek sauce in Kane, Pa., up in the northwest corner, possibly pre-dating the Coney Island use usually given as the first (George said it was invented at Coney Island, for example).

George did his omelette French-style: a light cake of eggs, still moist, and tri-folded, with the Greek sauce ladled generously over the top. Great sauce, spicy but not overdone, and I tore into it. George has the place for sale; he's been there for 15 years, I think he said, has another restaurant on the west side of Erie, and is looking to open something different. He's certainly got a good business to sell: the Park was busy, friendly, and smelling great.

I finished breakfast, drove around a bit, then went back to the room and did some writing. About 11:00 I called Woody, arranged to meet him at the Maritime Museum, where he was touring the brig Niagara, Pennsylvania's flagship. Woody's retired Navy, and was fired up by the idea of the three-week sailing school course offered by the Museum. I picked him up and we headed for the brewpub for the fest.

You can see the 1920s public architecture influence on Union Station in this shot: it's a grand building, and the restoration inside makes BrewErie a great place to host a fest (although I'm afraid the carpet's going to need a cleaning; lotta spilled beer). I was signing books and working the crowd; saw plenty of old friends and tasted some great beers. Penn's Weizenbock was a great pour, as was the rye beer from North Country and a surprisingly huge and delicious barleywine from Hereford & Hops.

The three-hour sessions were a good idea, no one got out of hand. Actually, for a first-time fest, it was extremely well-run. The only problem I noted was that the crowd was allowed to linger after the first session was over. With only an hour between sessions, people were hustling to re-set for the second session, and the brewers didn't get much of a break. Lessons learned. On the other hand, it was good to have the second session done at 8:00: plenty of evening yet to enjoy!

Speaking of which...about 7:20, Mary showed up at my table. Did I still want to go out to the lighthouse? You bet! We made arrangements, and by 8 I was following Dorothy's Honda SUV out onto Presque Isle to the lighthouse, where she lives in the attached brick building. I offered up a growler of Brian Sprague's Hellbender Porter (rapidly accepted and poured into shaker glasses), and we made the ascent up 76 spiral steps to the top. You can see the view to the left. It was awesome. We were about 70 feet above ground level.

About this time we were joined by two more of Dorothy and Mary's friends (sorry, ladies, I should've written your names down!), one of whom was from Bucks County. We talked home ("Oh, no, that's been torn down. Nope, sold. Oh, yeah, used to be there, but they closed.") as the sunset slowly faded, and then the timber doodles came out. I had read in A Sand County Almanac about the way woodcocks fly up in the twilight and then spiral downwards, crying out as they dropped, but I'd never seen it. Woodcocks spiraled down around the lighthouse, and I was enthralled. What a great moment. But we had to go down, it was getting dark. You can see the steps as we descended in the picture: that's Dorothy on the left and the two later-arriving friends to the right.

Afterwards, Dorothy and Mary and I finished off the porter and talked beer for a while, then I finally headed back. The park was closed, but Dorothy told me how to get out past the gates. I saw deer and coons as I drove slowly down the isle (it's not actually an island, but has been in the past at times). I grabbed some dinner, picked up Woody, and headed back to the brewpub, which I've already told you about here. And that was pretty much Saturday. Just a bit more happened on Sunday. Coming up soon.

"I get grassy notes..."

An arresting headline over at JoinTogether.org (I like to keep tabs on the anti-alcohol crowd):

"Medical Marijuana Breeds Pot Snobs"

The San Francisco Chronicle reported April 22 that some pot smokers sound more like wine lovers in describing various strains of weed. "I would describe this as grapey, candy-like, sweet, with a slight undertone of spice," said Oakland medical-marijuana dispensary CEO Stephen DeAngelo of a recent sample. "It is grapey, but I get flowers," added Rick Pfrommer, purchasing agent for the Harborside Health Center. "I would use the word pungent. It has a pungent funk undertone."

Harborside alone offers medical users 40 types of marijuana to choose from, crossbred from strains originating in Burma, India, Mexico and California. Websites like weedtracker.com offer product reviews and other information. Jorge Cervantes serves as the unofficial guru of marijuana "cannasseurs"; he judges different strains of the drug for High Times, which sponsors the annual Cannabis Cup.

"Some of the fragrances you should look for are sweet, spicy and musty," said Cervantes. "If it's sweet, what's it like? Is it like bubblegum? Is it like honey? ... Is it minty? What does that mean? Is it like a rose? Or a cherry?"

Sounds familiar, doesn't it? And here I thought weed was weed. Should have known better.