Beer Madness Update: Troegs Makes the Finals!

The Washington Post has revealed its Beer Madness finalists: It comes down to Troegs Hopback v. Ommegang Hennepin. Last year Troegs made the Final Four but was shut out of the chamionship.

Spring Classes at Foster's

There are some cooking classes in the next few weeks at Foster's Homeware that will put a springtime spring in your step. We're looking forward to these:

Tonight, March 23 - Michael Solomonov of BROG favorite Zahav leads a culinary tour of Israel.

Wednesday, April 15 - Jesse Kimball of Memphis Taproom (Mal's new neighbor) demonstrates how to turn out gastropub fare at home. The three course menu will include beer pairings.

Saturday, May 2 - Brad Spence, chef de cuisine at Vetri, instructs on the dark arts of charcuterie: sausage and salumi (a subject near and dear to this Brogger's heart).

I'll have a scrappletini

Meal Ticket points us to Scrapplefest this Saturday, March 21 from 10am-4pm at the Reading Terminal Market.

First Beer Week, now this. I love this city, but it must be trying to kill me (with delicious pork).

Beer Week 09 is Over. Long live Beer Week.

Had to take a few days to decompress and assess after the whirlwind that was BW 09. In between hauling large pieces of furniture to Fishtown (thanks Jim and Tim) and giving myself a blister putting together Ikea furniture I managed to get to a few events and sample some amazing beers.

Sunday after moving a couple carloads to our new place on Memphis St., Amanda (along with Julie and Christy), Tim & I just made it to Memphis Taproom in time for the Vintage Beer Brunch, to which we had reservations. My physical exhaustion gave way to elation as each course trumped the previous (salmon terrine! shirred egg with short rib!). And the beer...Oh! the beer! ('04 flying dog imperial porter! rochefort old and new!). I think Tim is trying to cobble together a more coherent post on this event so I'll just leave it at that for now.

Also, made it to Caribou Cafe for a happy hour sampling of some Bieres de Garde as well as some tartines. We tried the Ambree from Brasserie La Choulette, which the menu described as being a classic representation of the style. It was malty sweet with hints of caramel and nuts; delicious, but I think I preferred Olivia's Gavroche.

They also had a couple beers from Brasserie du Mont Blanc. Neither the blanche nor the blonde from Mont Blanc were Bieres de Garde but I decided to try one anyway. I am glad I did. The blonde was delicious. Light in body and in color, it had the crispness of a helles or a pilsner. It was the surprise of the afternoon and a beer that I will definitely be seeking out this summer.

Let's see...what else? Oh, yea there were the random nights, after rearranging furniture for hours, that Amanda and I decided to hit our new local for dinner and their 'No Repeat Beer Week'. Really enjoyed the Fuller's they were pulling from the cask, as well as the Great Divide Wee Heavy. And Amanda had a chance to savor an Obamagang just before the last keg kicked.

See also: Tim's eloquent account of our harrowing journey into the belly of the Great Northbeast.

In short, it was a crazy 10 days. Im glad the moving is done. Sad that I have to wait 12 months til PBW 2010. But that sadness is tempered. For, in this Greene Countrie Towne of ours, every week is beer week.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Have a Guinness! Better yet, support your local brewers & publicans, and have a Sly Fox O'Reilly's Stout or a Victory Donnybrook.

Sláinte!

Blog Watch: The Atlantic Food Channel

The Atlantic magazine has launched a new Food Channel (to accompany its Politics and Business Channels).  Curated by senior editor and food critic Corby Kummer, it's packed full of excellent writing from the magazine's own staff as well as contributions from such luminaries as Alinea chef/owner Grant Achatz, health policy expert Ezekiel Emanuel (brother of Rahm) and rancher Bill Niman.  The Atlantic's food writing, like its politcal and cultural commentary, will be thought-provoking for sure.

Friday the Firkinteenth and Yards "Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em"

Yesterday was Friday the Firkinteenth at the Grey Lodge: every Friday the 13th, the Lodge lines up dozens of beers and pours cask ale until the firkins are empty.  Yesterday's Firkinteenth was extra special since it fell during Beer Week, and starting at 9:00 am they had about 30 firkins on hand.  I had taken the day off and took the El up to the Lodge where I met Mal, Amanda, Julie and Lee.  Over the course of the morning, we sampled almost everything tapped thus far:

• Arcadia Sky High Rye (my 2nd favorite - I love rye beers)
  
• Dark Horse Double Crooked Tree IPA (at 12% the strongest I tried, but it was like drinking syrup)
  
• Iron Hill (West Chester) Irish Red
  
• Sierra Nevada Stout (my favorite of the day - smooth, creamy and slightly sweet)
  
• Sly Fox Standard Ale
  
• Dock Street Hop Garden (which had bits of hop in it)
  
• Voodoo Wynona's Big Brown Ale
  

The atmosphere was great - even though the place was packed, the wait for beers wasn't too long and everyone was in a good mood.  Every time someone would walk into the bar, the place would erupt in a cheer (and conversely, people would get a good-natured "boooo" when they left -- it is Philly, after all).

The glorious Beer Week Hammer of Glory was in the house, and making the rounds for photos (we sadly forgot our cameras, but Mal got a pic of this guy on his camera phone).  There were plenty of local beer mavens in attendance, including Lew Bryson, William Reed and Brian O'Reilly.

We rolled out around 1pm, aiming to hop the free shuttle to the Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em smoked beer and barbeque event at Yards Brewing.  After waiting a while for the shuttle, we decided to hop the 66 bus and the El over to Yards.  Like the Grey Lodge, Yards was crowded but not oppressively so.  The new brewery is very impressive - high ceilings, huge spotless kettles and fermenters and at the rear, a giant tasting bar where they were pouring 18 smoked beers from various breweries.  Around the perimeter of the tasting room, local restaurants had set up tables offering smoked meat in all its glorious forms: ribs, brisket, pulled pork and so on.

Hungry from standing around drinking all morning, we hit the tables with gusto.  Victory's pulled pork was excellent and Tommy Gunn's wasn't too bad either (and their corn salad was good).  Some of the other tables weren't as well marked so I can't give props to whomever made the awesome ribs.  On the beer side, I tried offerings from Oskar Blues ("Smoke on the Water"), Sierra Nevada (Smoked Imperial Porter) and Sly Fox.  Stuffed and sated, we wound down the day at Mal and Amanda's place watching the replay of the World Series.

It was a really fun day and I'm already looking forward to the next Firkinteenth in November.