2011 Vintage Beer Brunch, in pictures

Memphis Taproom's 2011 Vintage Beer Brunch

Salmon Roe

watercress, rye, brown butter, dill, chicken skin

Brasserie de la Senne X-Mas Zinnebir 2009

Fried Pie

Sour cherry, green apple, cherry smoked brie, strong-ale syrup

Allagash Odyssey 2010

Jumbo Lump Crab

Truffled asparagus, burnt grapefruit, bibb, pickled egg vinaigrette

Oud Beersel Oude Geuze Vieille 2005

Wild Maine Blueberry Bread Pudding

Grade B maple syrup, juniper whipped cream, Calva-blueberry preserves

't Smisje Calva Reserva 2010

Aged Cheese: Goat, Cow, Sheep

Cave-aged Intercourse, Lagrein, Fiore Sardo

Rosemary ash, herb salad, lard fried fig

Rodenbach Grand Cru 2008

Beer Garden

Sounds like Memphis is hiring. Who wants to slang dogs and cans?

A Beer Makes You Feel Good

True statement.

image source

A Beer & A Song

Hill Farmstead Edward on tap at Memphis Taproom

Radio Dept - Heaven's On Fire (Live at Kexp)


image credit: Dan Cassaro

Luna di Miele

I was married on October 16th. The next evening my wife (still feels novel to type that word) and I boarded a plane to Rome. We spent two weeks in Italy traveling by train and bus. We ate our way from Rome to Turin (where we somehow survived a seven hours long gorge-fest at Slow Food's Salone del Gusto); from Turin to Bologna; Bologna to Montella (including a marathon lunch prepared by Amanda's relatives); Montella to Abruzzo; and finally from Abruzzo back to Rome. We encountered so much good food/beer/wine/hospitality. Here are some pictures (food/beer/wine related) from our trip. Cheers!

Belated Weekend Review

Friday

Checked out Fork & Barrel.

Saturday

Got in some late season wiffle ball on a glorious Saturday afternoon then biked over to Johnny Brendas for their "Wet Hop Rodeo." Had a Weyerbacher Harvest Ale, a Brewworks Harvest Ale and a Troeg's Wet Hop. Then a drunk girl from the craft beer express knocked our outdoor table over (glasses and all). Check please!

Sunday

New Job Celebratory Brunch for the Wife at Amis - Buffala ricotta bruschetta, carbonara, raviolo all'uovo. Washed down with a Victory Yakima Glory (Black Double IPA). Not the best choice for a breakfast beer but tasty nonetheless. Then we accepted a random invitation to Mazowsze at the Kimmel, which was described to me as the Polish version of Riverdance - though that is a little unkind to Mazowsze. It was pretty amazing. The show featured colorful costumes, acrobatic dancing and an impressive 15-piece band that played selections of music representing the different regions of Poland . After that we went home and did laundry and cooked Spaghetti all'Amatriciana (because the pork jowl in the carbonara wasn't enough) with guanciale from La Quercia. Num nums.

Khyber Pass Pub Preview

Last night the brothers Egan were fortunate enough to score an invitation to a preview of the Khyber's newest, most southern-fried incarnation. Walking up 2nd St. we saw the old black and white Khyber signage being removed.

Upon entering the newly re-renamed Khyber Pass Pub it appears as though not much has changed. Still the same old beautiful bar with lots of great craft beer tap handles. It's a little cleaner and the bathrooms have (mercifully) been made over and now feature locks and functioning plumbing.

Really, it's when one turns the corner and enters the old performance space that the work that Steve Simons and co. put into the place becomes apparent. The long narrow room features banquettes on both sides and beadboard wainscotting. The formerly flyer'd over windows have been cleaned and the woodwork repainted. The new wood floors and the roughly finished tables looked fantastic in the dimly lit room. The space still feels a bit raw - the tin ceiling may yet get a paint job, some of the light fixtures were not installed - but overall it's remarkably inviting given its prior state. (Check out Mealticket's pictures from last night as they remembered to bring a camera that is not also a phone. Whoopsie Goldberg)

While perusing menus, we snacked on bacon fat popcorn with cajun spices. The glistening popped kernels packed some heat and were well salted. This brown bag snack might rival the truffled version from chef Mark McKinney's sister kitchen at the Royal Tavern.

We tried a few things from the regular menu as well. The fried chicken was far and away the favorite. The salty, crispy skin concealed some incredibly moist, succulent meat, and the collard greens were a surprise hit with a generous amount of smokey bacon. We also tried the gumbo and the fried oysters, which were solid choices.

Needing something sweet to counter all the fried food, we tried three desserts: chocolate pecan bread pudding (a must-have), bourbon-maple creme brulee (as awesome as it sounds) and vegan red velvet cake (a little dry with overly sweet icing).

Some beer highlights from a really interesting and diverse list of taps:

• Ballast Point "Even Keel" - A generously hopped session ale. Maybe the most memorable beer of the night. Incredible grapefruit/citrus aroma, juicy and herbal (notes of hibiscus) and wonderfully refreshing.
• Two Brothers "Heavy Handed" - A delicious harvest ale. Hoppy, straw colored with a nice foamy head. A nice counterpoint to the spicy bacon-fat popped kernels.
• Dock Street "West of Center" - On hand pump. Due to the malt character of this dark brew we mistook this for a bitter; but according to Dock St. it is a ("Not-So") Pale Ale. Great beer for a blustery, rainy Monday.
• Philadelphia Brewing Co. "Harvest from the Hood" - Neither overly sweet nor hoppy. Well-balanced with a roasted malt character. Possibly the best beer PBC has ever put out.

Overall the Khyber felt like a comfortable extension of the Royal Tavern in appearance, food and vibe. We look forward to trying more of the menu and seeing how the beer program develops.

Thanks to the folks at the Khyber for hosting and treating us.

-------------------------

The Khyber Pass Pub

56 S. Second St.

Philadelphia, PA

baking with beer yeast

Martin Lersch at Khymos.org has a cool post on using hefeweizen yeast for bread-baking. It's inspiring me to get back to baking, now that fall is approaching. Martin found that beer yeast didn't change the flavor of the bread in any appreciable way. I think I'll try substituting some fermented beer for the liquid ratios in my next loaf -- I'm thinking rye bread made with our rye pale ale.

crawl before you walk

My friend Lou (not Barlow, see infra) and I are doing a little beer-focused bar crawl through Philly tomorrow. I may or may not send twitter updates. Keep an eye on the widget to your right. (Prediction: like this blog, updates will start off strong and then become sleepy.)

If all goes according to plan, we will find ourselves at Johnny Brenda's in time to enjoy the last of their Pils Picnic before heading upstairs for Wye Oak (below, covering the Kinks) and Lou Barlow.

Wye Oak covers The Kinks

Rumours and sundries

Amanda and I went to Girard Avenue's Kraftwork for lunch last monday. We happened to sit next to the owner, manager and head chef as they were discussing how to get a 2-bell review out of Laban. Judging on the quality grub we lunched upon I don't think that will be too difficult. The "BL...Trout" was awesome, 'specially if you love rainbow trouts like I do. The Lefthand Polestar Pilsner paired perfectly. ALLITERATION!

For Papa Egan's 65th we went whole hawg and got bbq pulled pork and chicken from Bebe's BBQ in the Italian Market. On Sunday, Austin and I waded through a sea of humanity (also known as the Italian Market Festival) to the 9th St. shop. While we were waiting for our 4 (!) pork shouders and 5 (!) whole chickens (way, way too much for a bunch of yanks but so damned good) we were treated to complimentary pork sandwiches and this delicious tidbit: Bebe's is getting in on the food truck game. They've purchased an old Tastykake truck and are in the process of tricking it out. No word yet on when/where it will be rolling.

Also, we've been steady brewing some damn good beer. We supplied some of our Pale Ale and our Coffee Stout for an event at a local urban farm. The brews went over pretty well and we're hoping to do a couple other parties or events this summer. Next up is a Thai-inspired wit beer. Its our first time adding spices and fruit to the mix. Hope it turns out!

New brew

Over to the right, we've added a section to the sidebar listing our current beer production. Chronicling our homebrewing was ostensibly the whole inspiration for this blog, but for some reason we haven't written about it much.

Anyway, on Sunday we brewed a 10-gallon batch of a "SMaSH" (single malt and single hop) beer, made with 20 lb. of Crisp Maris Otter 2-row pale malt and 6 ounces of Willamette hops. (Thanks to Suburban Brewing for the idea.) As always, ingredients were purchased from John Reynolds at Brew Your Own Beer.

Original gravity was 1.055 and we are expecting final gravity of 1.013 for 5.6% ABV. I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up higher since we were a little short in our pre-boil volume. We are using White Labs 007 Dry English Ale yeast (reusing the yeast cake from our previous brew), pitched at 64°F. Ambient temperature in my basement is closer to 60°F, so it should be a clean tasting beer without many fruity esters.

We plan to keg and force carbonate this beer, which should be ready for drinking around April 10.

When things should work but don't work

That's the work of ... the PLCB.*

I don't have a lot to say about the Memphis Taproom/Local 44/Resurrection Ale House raids, that hasn't already been said. You should read what Joe Sixpack said here, what Lew Bryson said here and what Bryan Kolesar said here. And, of course, I can't forget the estimable Mr. Jack Curtin's Liquid Diet post on the topic.

So in case all, like, 19 of you haven't heard about this already -- check out those links above, and revel in the glory of Pennsylvania's Kafka-esque bureaucracy.

If you read this Brog you know that we are big fans of what Brendan & Leigh are doing at their bars. Although we don't know Brendan & Leigh except as satisfied customers of their fine establishments, we wish them the best.

* Apologies to the Evens

Pinocchio's Beer Garden

Our friend Geoff sends word of a new bottle shop in Media, PA, boasting over 500 varieties of beer. Pinocchio's Beer Garden boasts labels such as Abita, Affligem, Allagash and Avery -- and that's just the A's!

Located on Baltimore Pike in Media, it's on my way home from work and dangerously close to Zac's Hamburgers. Looking forward to checking it out.

Pinocchio's Beer Garden

131 E. Baltimore Pike

Media, PA 19063

610-566-7767

Catching up

Autumnal hiatus turned into winter break. It's snowed a bunch of times since we posted anything here.

We've been thinking that the tag line above --on the brewing, drinking and culture of beer-- is too limiting for the things we want to talk about. Not just beer, but food, wine, pop culture, music and so on. So we're working on some changes that will hopefully open things up a bit creatively, and get us posting more than once a quarter. More to come on that soon. We've also added comment moderation because we've been getting some spam.

That said, we've been brewing some pretty great beer recently. We brewed a Belgian dubbel in October that was ready for Christmas, but tasted pretty rough -- lots of alcohol heat without much body. It's smoothed out nicely in the last few weeks as the malt has come forward. It should taste even better in another month or two.

Our last beer was a rye IPA, pictured above. We clogged up our plate chiller on brew day and I was afraid the resulting emergency measures would compromise the beer. But it turned out great, with a huge nose from being dry-hopped with several ounces of Amarillo.

My one problem with both of these beers is lack of body, which I think is due to not hitting the right mash temperatures. I'd been using a cheap remote thermometer, and it's probably just not accurate enough for brewing. So that should be an easy fix.

We'll be drinking the dubbel and rye on Sunday, as we get together with friends to play music in the afternoon before cooking up some great food and retiring to watch the Superbowl. This has become a bit of a tradition the last few years and we'll document the proceedings here.

Here's to a new year of brewing, drinking and eating well.

Sláinte!

...and we're back.

We're working on a few backlogged reports from summer travels, tastings, meals and brew sessions. In the meantime, check out this very interesting Meal Ticket article explaining Chimay's relative scarcity on local taps.

Where have all the Cinq Cents drafts gone?

A First Look at the Swift Half

This past Friday Amanda and I met our friend Bekah at her new apartment which is just a hop, skip and a jump away from the new Piazza at Schmidt's. The Piazza is pretty impressive and worth a post of its own at some point. The developer claims inspiration from Rome's Piazza Navona, but its best not to compare the two. Granted I haven't been back to the Eternal City in a few years but I think its safe to say there isn't a permanent jumbotron broadcasting sporting events in Navona. What Schmidt's does have in common with its Old World brethren is that its a great public space. There are interesting shops, art galleries and some intriguing new entries in Philadelphia's restaurant world.

Amanda, Bekah and I walked the few hundred steps to The Swift Half, which is a pub run by the same folks behind The Good Dog in Center City. The name refers to the last half a drink you say you're going to have on your way home (which, more often than not, turns into a bender). The space is handsomely appointed with a faux-tin drop ceiling above the bar and comfortable booths lining one side of the dining room. The beer list is similar to Good Dog's: American Craft Beer.

The menu is, for the most part, typical pub fare. The three of us decided to share a few dishes to maximize our sampling potential. Our first course was the the combo plate, which consists of any 4 selections from the cheese and charcuterie sections of the menu. It comes with cornichons, mustard, pickled beets, candied almonds and olives. We chose the molinari salami, the duck prosciutto, keen's farmhouse cheddar and the moliterno sardo bianco. Both meats and cheeses were great. The duck prosciutto was tasty. The color of the meat itself was darker but the flavors were remarkably faithful to the real thing, with only a hint of gami-ness that suggested "fowl-play". Waka waka.

We were a little underwhelmed by the portion size of this combo plate, however. For $17 we expected a healthier serving of cheese and meat. Also, the olives were oddly terrible. They seemed to be half frozen and I could barely break through the oddly fluorescent green skin with my chompers.

The burger was ordered medium but came closer to well. It was tasty though (topped with our choice of provolone) and still juicy, despite the overcooking. The fries were a disappointing pile of soggy ends. I suspect we got the bottom of the basket. Good Dog's fries are also similarly greasy and broken down into tiny bits, not sure why this is or how the kitchen can rectify the situation.

The fish and chips was our favorite dish of the night. The batter was cooked to a delicious, well-done crisp hiding the tender, flaky morsels of fish inside. Doused with malt vinegar and ketchup this is pub fare at its finest.

The chips (nee fries) were of the same ilk as the soggy pile that accompanied the burger. That didn't stop us from finishing most of them though!

As for beers I had a Flying Dog Doggystyle IPA and a Sly Fox Dax Maibock. Both beers held up well with the food. The IPA being of the milder, less smack-you-in-your-face-with-the-hops variety. Not too familiar with the maibock style but the Sly Fox Dax was very quaffable indeed.

Service at The Swift Half was pretty great overall. None of the condescension you get at other gastropubs in the city.

I'm sure The Swift Half will iron out the inconsistencies in the kitchen, and when they do I will be back.

Now boarding: Catalan Express

What happened to May?  Birthdays, Mother's Day, weddings, graduations, Memorial Day cookouts, and lots of post-lawn-mowing Kenzinger...  

And now it's June.  Your Broggers will try to be more attentive this month.

On a recent day off from work, I spent the afternoon in Center City.  I decided to have lunch at Amada, where the "Catalan Express" is one of the best deals around -- a soup and salad or sandwich for $12.50.  Not to mention that Amada has a good draft list.  Their rotating seasonal beer was the Duck-Rabbit Brewery's Brown Ale: yes please.  After a few sips I ordered the Salmorejo soup (Cordoban gazpacho with Serrano ham, olive & egg) and the Skirt Steak Pepito sandwich.  I noticed chef/owner José Garces at the other end of the bar, eating lunch and holding court with the afternoon staff.

Duck-Rabbit Brown Ale, framed by  Amada's artful plate storage

The beer was light-bodied for a brown ale, but just heavy and malty enough for the chilly weather outside.  Very nice.  Duck-Rabbit, from North Carolina, is relatively new to the Philadelphia area and I'll be on the lookout for more of their offerings.

Salmarejo: Cordoban gazpacho, Serrano ham, olive & egg

The day was really too cold for gazpacho, but as I came in near the end of lunch service, they were out of the heartier white bean stew.  Despite the chill, the gazpacho was really delicious, and the shmear of fruit (strawberry purée?) added a nice sweet contrast.   

Skirt Steak Pepito: Caramelized onions, Cabrales, sliced tomato & olive oil

Where the soup was better suited for warmer weather, the sandwich totally hit the spot: hearty and full of big, bold flavors.  The classic combination of beef, caramelized onions and blue cheese (queso de Cabrales), served piping hot on a crusty baguette, was the very definition of upscale comfort food.  The fries were great too, dusted with paprika and drizzled with a tangy aioli.  

The Catalan Express runs weekdays from 11:30am to 2:30pm.  

I'm trying hard to withhold judgement about the upcoming Varga Bar that will be opening in the former Azul Cantina spot. After all, it will have Victory Brewing's root beer on hand pump (Root beer. On. Hand. Pump.), as well as 22 beers on tap - eschewing the Coors/Miller/Bud triangle for "hard to find" American craft brews. Sounds fantastic. The menu - described as something called "comfort food", topping out at $22 - isnt quite as exciting but looks to be at least solid.

I guess the thing that troubles me is the driving theme behind the operation: it is a bar designed around the pinup girl artwork of Joaquin Alberto Vargas y Chavez. I realize they're from different eras but theres something vaguely 1990s/swing dancing/Reel Big Fish about the fashioning of a gastropub around Vargas' purdy lady drawings.

Like I said, I'm not trying to judge (I guess I am...a little). But if I see one Vince Vaughan or Jon Favreau silk-shirt-wearing wannabe I'll head elsewhere. After I finish my root beer of course.

Gland Slam

Tonight I paired homemade pizza (potato & margherita; dough courtesy Sarcone's) and a Kenzinger with the Phils 7-1 victory over the Nati'nals. Beer, pizza and 7 Philadelphia runs make for a most pleasant fake summer evening in '09.

Also, got to enjoy a Kenzinger (or two) at the homerun derby/game against the Nats on Monday. One of the best games I've seen in person. Ra-oooooooooooooooooool!!!

Travelbrog: New York & Atlanta

Last weekend HM and I celebrated our anniversary in New York.  Lunch at Per Se was phenomenal and filling, though beerless (I had hoped to try the Blue Apron Ale by Brooklyn Brewery but decided to let the sommelier choose a few wines for us).  I may write about it another time, but suffice to say it was superb in every way.

After a long walk around Central Park that afternoon, we ate dinner at the Fatty Crab in the West Village.  It's a tiny Malaysian-inspired place with a small but thoughtful beer list.  At the bartender's recommendation, I had the Pork Slap Pale Ale from Butternuts Beer & Ale in Garrattsville, NY.  It went well with our shared appetizer of steamed buns (pork for me, veggie for HM), and with the spicy eggplant and sepia entrée.  Butternuts is one of the few microbreweries to use cans instead of bottles (along with Sly Fox and Oskar Blues).  Too bad they don't distribute to Pennsylvania - I'd like to try their other brews.

On Thursday, I had a quick trip to Atlanta for work.  I stayed in the Buckhead neighborhood and had a great dinner at Holeman & Finch Public House.  It's a hip little restaurant with a serious commitment to meat and charcuterie, as well as a decent beer list.  Naturally, I loved it.  

Photo: Eat It, Atlanta

With rustic-modern decor and mostly young, tattooed (and very knowledgeable) waitstaff, H&F would fit right into the Philly beer bar scene.  The draft list included import staples like Guinness, one local brew (Terrapin Rye Pale Ale) and surprisingly, two Philly-area beers: Victory Prima Pils and Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA.  They were out of Terrapin, so I settled on a bottle of Shipyard Brewery's Old Thumper from Portland, Maine.

From left: lonzino, smoked lardo, bresaola

The menu was a collection of appetizer-size plates, with a few larger dishes meant for sharing.  To start, I sampled three of H&F's charcuterie offerings: bresaola (cured beef shoulder eye of round), lonzino (cured pork loin) and smoked lardo (pork fatback, cured and smoked).  The bresaola and lonzino were good but on the dry side, both enhanced by the house-made spicy mustard.  The lardo, however, was simply sublime.  I think it might be the best lardo I've ever had -- slightly sweet, meltingly fatty and a hint of smoke that lingered on the palate.  

Pork belly confit, because the lardo and lonzino just weren't enough...

I followed up with pork belly confit, served with collard greens and chow-chow.  I'd never heard of chow-chow before -- it's a Southern condiment, a sweet relish of pickled vegetables.  This one was slightly spicy as well, and the sweet and spice helped to cut the fattiness of the pork belly.  The confit was delicious, with a crispy exterior and rich, yielding interior. 

The cheese stands alone...  except for the bread, horseradish and honey

The cheese board was my final course: Humboldt Fog, an English farmhouse cheddar and a semi-soft cow's milk cheese whose name escapes me, all served with nice crusty bread, spicy horseradish and a dish of honey.  A satisfying end to a very good meal.  I highly recommend Holeman & Finch to anyone visiting Atlanta.