ManekiNeko

I had the good fortune to be sent to San Francisco on business during Toronado's barleywine festival (Toronado's is a beer bar in SF that outdoes BP, IMHO). While I'm still on the fence as to whether or not a barleywine festival is the best idea in the world, I've have enjoyed some pretty fantastic beers from breweries I've never heard of. Sometimes the names were better than the beers, but they were all pretty solid nonetheless.

Highlights:

Magnolia's Old Thunderpussy 2006

Snake River's Devil's Teat

Kona's Old Blowhole 2006

Glacier Brewhouse's Big Woody 2007

Alesmith's Old Numbskull

(above 5 chosen for entirely salacious reasons)

Russian River's Old Gubbillygotch 2006

Lost Abbey's Angel's Share (not a barleywine, but a very thick and delicious Belgian Quadrupel)

Cucupa's Barley Wine (best dang Mexican beer I ever had)

Uinta's Anniversary 2004 (I thought barleywine was illegal in Utah)

If in Toronado, make sure you go next door to enjoy the delicious sausages. Do strike up conversations with the locals sitting next to you, too.

is anyone else going to the brooklyn brewery dinner tonight at eatbar? politburo and i will be there and it would be cool to meet some other dr members...

I'll be there, with metaphorical bells on.

On a side note I had this great Belgian brown this last weekend at Monk's in Philly- Kwak. Anyone know where I can find that down here?

Kwak is rather well-distributed. I'd place a few dollars on Chevy Chase having it. Cleveland Park probably does, too.

Dean and Deluca sells the dried version. I wish I could find a cheaper source.

Wait awhile and Penzey's will make do on that (or you could mail order). They carry both Mexican and Turkish oregano.

My "chili" (and I'll concede to the purists on this) is entirely vegetarian, but that's cuz I feel chili should hurt upon entry and exit. Meat, with all its fatty goodness, tends to get in the way of the heat and the flavor of the peppers and spices. Plus I like beans, much to the chagrin of my wife.

How are their regular offerings these days? I used to love the place when they first opened (in Palo Alto), but since then I've found it less and less memorable...not sure if that's because of the beer, expansion, or me.

Noted at BP: Eggenberg "Natur" (unfiltered) in bottles. Apparently Eggenberg has a new distributor in the US who's working overtime to raise their visibility, including making Samichlaus available. Also spotted on BP's coming soon board: Bell's Hopslam on draft.

The regular offerings are what they are: perfectly fine and well-crafted lagers. I certainly feel that the Schwarzbier is the best of the bunch. None of the beers truly "wow" me, but that's not often the intent of German brewers anyways. Unless we're talking dopplebocks or rauchbiers, and even then they are still shooting for balance and drinkability (not to mention constant replication). I'm not gonna get mad at an apple for not being an orange, if you catch my drift.

Eggenberg is a solid brewery and their pils is an awesome summer quaffer. Wonderfully delicate.

Gordon Biersch (DC) released a Baltic Porter this week. Since last night's usual commitment was now free, I decided to try it while I had the chance. It's a lovely example of the style. Smooth roasty toasty malt with a nice chocolate backbone. A bulked up version of the Schwarzbier (easily the best of the regular offerings). 7.8% abv, so there's some heft to it.

Ferment Everything's "Curious George" Ale. Wow. It was just delicious.

It was purty darn good and delivered on the promised banana/clove mixed with grassy noble hoppiness. We might have to take up a collection to get FermentEverything some more CO2, though

Celebrities exist solely to amuse me. Sometimes the amusement I derive from their existence isn't what they intended me to enjoy. RR is a good example of this, though not as good as, say, Britbrit.

Poor triple spacing. I hope someone calls it in the morning.

If I recall isn't the iris the one whose yeast actually comes from the air and the dew settling at night? It's not for everyone- certainly not my favorite, but it's very very unique.

Lambic is the style that uses wild yeasts, and Cantillon is one of the most lauded Lambic producers (but by far less distributed in the US than the Lindemans/Liefmans duo).

Moving from the "Reef" thread to the Halls of Beerdom:

In addition to whatever floats in from the air (or drops from the rafters), there's also whatever microflora lives in the wooden vats used to hold the wort itself as well as the microflora that live in the wooden aging barrels. There was a fascinating (to me, anyways) article in Scientific American about 12 years ago on lambics that focused on the "crazy" fermentation process. There was this graph that depicting the rise in population of various strains of yeast (25+, I think) over the course of time. This only covered the 30 or so days of fermentation and not the year(s) that the beer might spend in the aging barrels. Lord knows what goes on there.

A German brewer would most likely plotz upon entering a brewery like Cantillon.

The Reef has no bottles, so yes

Holy Crap!

I've always liked the Reef, but I don't tend to go to Adams Morgan all that often since it's too much a schlep from anywhere. I'll have to make a change if this beer sticks around. If you don't know, seeing Cantillon anywhere is fairly rare. Seeing it on tap is something rarer. Word of caution: this beer is one that you'll either love or hate. It is a traditional lambic and not a sugarbomb like Lindemans or Liefmans. Expect intense sourness and your nostrils to be singed by vinegary overtones. And that's how it's supposed to taste

Reef's current beer list:

Cantillion Iris

5-7 PM dollar off, 10% off your tab with a zip code on your DL for the Adams Morgan area.

Is this on tap? Holy crap if so. One-step-removed-from-Holy crap if not.

LOL, this a true. I often complain about here big head when my wife is watching this show, as to distract from the fact that I am watching her cleavage.

Point out her crazy forced smile, too. I think her teef are bigger than her head. Besides, it'll pad a few months on to your wife catching on to what you're really looking at.

You might want to hide watching Nigella from her.

And they don't have to eat some animal's anus every week to get viewers...

I didn't realize there was a way to do semi- homemade anus. Did Knorr's come out with a new product?

I'm immediately struck by two thoughts:

"There's a sucker born every minute," and "this brings new meaning to the expression, 'Don't give me sh*t and call it chocolate.'"

I note I've never had the chocolate used by Noka and will trust the author's general assessment that it's pretty dang good since they also reference some brands I like.

That is what the Tallula web site states. Anyone here planning on going?

If it actually is the 6th, hell yes.

I believe the "Old Dominion Brewhouses" are co-branding arrangements rather than wholly-run ODBC operations.

You would be correct, sir. This is very similar to the Dogfish Head Alehouses. The people that run the ODBC tied houses also run the one in Dulles.

"ODB Beer Tower - Invite a friend, sit down, relax and enjoy 133 ounces of your favorite Old Dominion Draft. (Minimum of two people per order) "

 
Too bad you can't get Millenium poured into that....

As beer lovers, you have known for years that a glass of great beer can augment the dining experience just like a glass of fine wine can. Tonight's the night you can prove it to the non-believers in your life. Garrett Oliver, Brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewery & author of The Brewmaster's Table, joins Rustico & EatBar for a special night to celebrate & "discover the pleasures of real beer with real food." Chef Nathan Anda will present a special five-course menu paired with six vibrant selections from Garrett's portfolio.

Dangit!! Can't make it.

Mr. Oliver is not to be missed as he is a great speaker. The food lineup, at least the descriptions, blows the snot off of what was offered at RFD's awhile back. Granted, the cheese tasting was much less expensive, but still.

I just finished reading the NYTimes article on stovetop smokers and I was wondering if anyone here has used the Cameron smokers (or ones like them) referenced in the article. I can't cook outside due to the rules of my coop and this method seems like a lovely way to get some smoked foods back into the diet (not exactly true, I can always visit my brother in Stafford who has one of these babies).

Any way I could jerry-rig one of these?

Is that BP or the upstairs? I've never tried to order a cask beer from upstairs, although I imagine I probably could.

They don't break down the hours for each on the website. I'm not certain if you can get cask beer while the downstairs is closed. I have gotten some when I've eaten upstairs, but the biergarten was open already.

What time does BP open on Saturdays?

11:30 am.

And for all y'all that are wondering what this Fraoch stuff is, it's an ale flavored with heather instead of hops as a bittering/preserving agent. It's an historically accurate (well, as accurate as you can get for these sorts of things) reproduction of Pictish beer. Scotland is too dang cold for hops to grow and hops were too expensive (or Scots too dang cheap (or maybe they preferred not giving $$ to the Brits)). The end result is a wonderful mild ale with a hint of clover honey sweetness and a touch of grassy bitterness to it. All those who have been clamoring for a real bitter would probably enjoy this.

Info on the beer from the brewer's website:

http://www.fraoch.com/history.htm

(I would guess that hatcho miso has the most umami, as well?)

It's the Umamiest!

Well, assuming I'm correct about a dominant taste of miso being umami and that the darker/longer fermented misos have more umami-ness to them. Umami has only recently entered the Western lexicon, so I imagine a lot of us are still having problems wrapping our heads around it. Imagine if you didn't grow up with the concept or real exposure to "sugar/sweet"...

I agree that they have advantages over plastic, but when space is concerned they are a PITA.

Not if you keep them full of fermenting beer on a regular basis

Back on topic: I'm currently drinking water from the office cooler, but at about 6ish I predict that there will be some cask-conditioned Fraoch going into mah belly (unless BP's website is out-of-date).

Edit: Anyone caring to join me should look for the long-haired dude with Kermit the Frog shoes.

When the color gets darker, the taste gets more earthier, nuttier and fishier(?).

(It's a bit difficult for me to explain because I am not a native speaker. haha)

I believe that's because we haven't bothered to translate "umami" yet. The darker the miso, the... um... umami-er it is.

Umami is basically the sensation/taste of MSG, akin to salt being salty.

1. No tipping allowed. Don't know why, but that's the straight dope.

Perhaps they pay the servers a working (read: at least minimum) wage instead of the usual restaurant $2 and change?