The American Craft Beer Festival

(L to R: Capt. Bryon, Rob (me), Liam straight from the Dirty Jerz, "Distinctive Shirt" Ken, Dave "check out my Shark Bite" Nicholson)

Ziggy Saki Ziggy Saki Hoy Hoy Hoy!!!

Three cheers for the American Craft Beer Festival in Boston!!! (aka the ACBF also how my alphabet came out later in the the eve...) What a great time! This is the kind of event I've been talking about. Good food, Great Beer and even better friends. Liam, Dave, Capt. Bryon and Ken were my beer bretheren and they did not disappoint. Nor did our female companions, Jen, April and Ashley, you guys were an absolute hoot. It was nice to hang out with a group that TRULY knows their beer and that knows how to have a good time. Capt. Bryon runs a beer blog called www.homebrewer.net and I would HIGHLY recommend checking his site out. He really knows his stuff. Ken, Liam and Dave all have highly refined palates though years of downing suds. Ken's got a real gift for describing the beers and had some great ideas for pairings. Although Dave's best comment of the night was "I just drink the stuff!".

And imbibe we did! The Festival boasted over 300 beers which, if you used the tiny 2oz. glass they give you as part of your $40 entrance fee, it would equate to over 50 beers during the course of the night or 4.68 GALLONS of beer and a quick trip to the emergency room. Thankfully for my sanity, my liver and most importantly my marriage, I had barely a fraction of that and enjoyed myself thoroughly!

As previously stated, there were over 300 beers and just as many flavor variations. There were some great beers, some beers I would file under "M" for "Meh" and others than can be categorized as DEAR LORD did you throw that up already?!? I wish I were kidding, there was one where we blamed Dave for "Verping" (Vomit+Burp=VERP) when in fact it was actually his pre-ingested beer. Holy Horrible... I still get shivers.

A kind of odd observation: the beer community in general seems to have an obsession with how much hop flavor you can pack into a beer. To be totally frank, the beers I found to be the best of the day were well balanced, had something different to them and in general were just interesting. I won't go into much as far as specific beers right now, but I will review a few of my favorites in the coming weeks. I've got more than enough reviews to go over about 2 a week for a while...

I have a few tips for you if you plan on attending either this event in Boston next year or if you plan to attend one of these events elsewhere:

1. EAT FIRST! Food in the festival is often EXPENSIVE. They've got you for three plus hours and its quite pricey. The Seaport district in Boston has a few cheap eat places. The Seaport Bar & Grill, The No Name and Salvatore's are three of my faves, plus historic South Boston (Southie) is really near by and I've got a few hangouts there as well.

2. AGUA! Every few beers or so, grab a quick slug of water. Most of these festivals have cup cleaning areas; Basically bug juice containers full of water... but it's water... drink up. It will not only keep you hydrated, but it helps to cleanse your palate for the next set of beers! Better to taste your beers without tasting all of them at once!

3. Meeting spots: Imperative, especially if you've got some thirsty cohorts with a wanderlust and the attention spans of hummingbirds... We did pretty well with doing our own thing and regrouping to hang out with "The Team". For the most part, we used "Distinctive shirt Ken" as our marker, but I would try this one - Meet by the door leading to the port-a-potties. You're all going to end up there anyway!

4. This one is of vital importance, not only to your well being but to your overall awesomeness. Two words... Pretzel... Necklace. Check out the picture above. Those things were lifesavers, conversation pieces and lady magnets. Dave and Ken, thanks for taking a little arts and crafts time to keep us well fed and dapperly attired! I'm sure that I'll be in more than one blog and a few family photo albums.

Gang, if you've not been to one of these events, you need to check it out. It's a great experience to talk to some brewers and hang out with other beer snobs and of course, try some of the best (and worst) beers in the country. If you are to consider yourself a true beer aficionado, you need to first approach these events respectfully... with all the dignity that a neckware made of bavarian bread products can provide you... But seriously, most of the brewers are actually AT this event and they take great pride in their work. Take your time, taste the beer, ENJOY it. Heaving is kind of a no no, but it happens at these events. If you're drinking for volume, there are happy hours everywhere serving Piels and Pabst and Schaefer. Barf elsewhere friend, you're among beer royalty. Respect.

To all my friends, old and new that made this day a true success; THANK YOU. I really had a great time. To all the Brewers, THANK YOU for all the excellent beer. Even the bad ones have a story. To my wife, who wanted to attend this event but let me go because of some baby sitting issues. It was her fathers' day gift to me: THANKS A TON, LADY! You'll be here next year... I guarantee it!

All told, successful day. I'm ALREADY looking forward to next year!!

To Great buds and Great Suds!

Prost!!

Rob

The Dirty Ho

So many great things in life happen by asking the question "what if". What if I rub these two sticks together... FIRE!! What if I combine a Tiger and a Lion together? LIGER... Awesome. Such is the question often times when wine makers taste the fruits of their labor and decide... you know what would make this taste better? A different wine! This has happened more and more often with brewers as they've found that a beer that might be average, combined with another beer that is slightly average can actually make a pretty decent beer. The most recent example I can think of the is Rasberry UFO from Harpoon. At an event of theirs about two years ago, (prior to the official release) one of the marketing guys we were hanging out with during the day came up to me and said... "Dude, if you don't like the raspberry beer, try THIS". Offically, about a year and a half ago they took the two beers, the UFO (Unfiltered offering)and the Raspberry Hefeweisen and combined them together to make a beer that I think pairs well with food around the holidays, the Raspberry UFO.

Unofficially this is the case with a lovely little drink affectionately called "the dirty ho". It's an invention thanks to the Sunset Grill & Tap in Allston, MA. I've never been, but they boast the largest beer menus in Boston and one of the hottest pepper sauces on record... what could be bad about that?! My friends Mark & Shaina introduced me to the concept last night and at first, I thought they were going to bastardize one of my favorite beers by mixing it one of my LEAST favorites. Hoegaarden on it's own is a great beer particularly for summer. It's got a lemony zip, it's light, refreshing and just a fine example of a Belgian Witbier. The beer they mixed it with is Lindeman's Framboise Lambic. On it's own it is overpowering with it's cavity creating sweetness and it is a beer I know from experience not one to be had on its own. At first I was honestly not thrilled at the prospect. In general, I hate truly fruity beers as they tend to be syrupy, weird tasting and generally nasty principally due to the use of extract instead of real fruit. A hint of fruit is one thing... a slap in the face is quite another! The way this drink was prepared made the difference. Pour the entire 12 oz Hoegaarden into a true pint glass. (12 oz into a 16 oz glass... do the math!). Pour Carefully as you don't want too much head. (no joke necessary... too easy). Add about 2-3 oz of Lambic, stir sip & voila, a easy, cheap & LEGAL way to get a dirty ho into your house! The taste is hard to describe, but suffice it to say, it tastes better than cheap perfume and shame. There's a hint of Raspberry, but with the acidity and light herb flavor of the Hoegaarten. This is a recipe also reminicint of a drink I had at a Pub in London in the late 90s. 1 oz of Black Currant Liqueur, 1 whole Guinness. It's a pretty good concoction, plus a blood red head on your beer is kind of a cool touch!

Well, I've made up for some lost time on my posts! Next blog, Dogfishhead's Raison D'etre!

REMINDER: Get your tickets for the American Craft Brewers fest in Boston! I'll be there with several of my brew loving friends!

Slainte!

Rob

A Goy and his beer...

How do brewkateers!?!

It's been a few weeks since I posted a blog as sadly legitimate employment has kept me rather busy! I have, however run into a number of beers and some music in the mean time that I think you need to hear.

I'm dedicating this post to my good friend Matt, who, not only adopted a puppy this week (Ms. Roxxee Ketchup), but ALSO found out that his wife is pregnant!! Way to go boyo!! Congratulations!

First and foremost in my mind is a beer that upon initial inspection seemed to be a kind of gimmickey brew, but I decided to give it a go anyway. Cutsie packaging and a bold statement of being the "Chosen Beer" made me an instant skeptic. Oy Vey!! I'm schvitzing here! He'Brew's Genesis Ale by the Shmaltz Brewing Company was more than a surprise. It is a remarkably well balanced beer in the fact that it's not too heavy, not too light, the right balance between sweet, nutty malt and a light hop finish. The deep amber hue was pleasing to the eye, however the head left a bit to be desired as its small overly uniform bubbles fizzled out a bit quickly. I'll chalk it up to environmental differences between NY and MA! In all, this was a most refreshing beer and frankly, I was a bit disappointed that I didn't trust the beer enough to buy a full sixer of it. Lesson learned!

In pairing this with food, I tried to think of a traditional Jewish meal. It's only fitting given the back story of Owner/Proprietor/Brewer, Jeremy Cowan and of course the theme of the beer. Now, as a "Goyam"(someone who is not of the Jewish faith), I can't say that I'm familiar with anything outside of the Traditional Sader or Matzoa ball soup. Not to say that the Genesis Ale won't go well with Hebrew Nationals (no ifs ands or butts har t har har)... It was an excellent pairing and a personal favorite, by the way, as that was the meal I had with this beer! However, fear not those of you who are not among the chosen people! The internet has come to our rescue! The recipe listed below is going to go extraordinarily well with this beer.

Lamb Shanks with Portobello Mushrooms and Dried Cranberries.
http://homecooking.about.com/od/lambrecipes/r/bllamb13.htm

This meal is going to match well in the fact that A. it's down home food for a down home beer. B. It's Kosher (I think...) And C. The pairing is such that it matches the sweetness of a well carmelized crust and rarely cooked lamb shank, the meatiness of not only the Lamb, but the portobellos. In addition, this beer trends towards the sweet side and I think the dried cranberries will balance that off well with a bit of tartness.

I think a sign of care in a brewery is oddly enough the care that they take in their website and by extension, their client relationships (aka you and me!). This is a site built for Beer Geeks and is, as an added bonus, a thoroughly entertaining site. The funniest part for me is that they're in their 13th year of brewing and to celebrate, they're having a Bar Mitzvah. Hilarous. The description of the beer on the website, might as well be a recipe. They give you the type of grain they use, the hops, (which I'll have to try the Warrior hops... I've never used those in my own personal brews). I was really impressed with the site and the beer and frankly I'm excited to see what their newest offer, the "Rejewvenator" has to offer. It's a belgian style ale with pomegranite... interesting! All in all Mr. Cowan, you've exceeded the hype. A hearty McGoy cheer to your brew. L'Chaim!

http://www.shmaltz.com/


ON TO THE MUSIC:
Dave Matthews Band: Whiskey River and the Groo Grux King

I'm going to start out with a disclaimer. My wife exceeds my fandom 10fold, however, I am a DMB fan... have been since highschool. Saw them at Fenway, saw them both times in Hartford when the riot police showed up firing rubber bullets (Riot at a Dave Concert? Really?!) I've put in my time and I'd see them again in a second... great show and definitely worth the ticket price. I still enjoy their music and it always reminds me of summer. But I digress! I can say honestly that there are 3 to 4 decent songs on Whiskey River. Those songs that are good are REALLY good. The others, frankly are filler in my opinion, perhaps they'll grow on me in time but for now... Eh... As always, well executed from a technical standpoint. Interesting musically, but not overly moving. The album all told is over produced and is at times a bit too much. The better tunes are stripped down, change tempo and theme as any good "Jam Band" does. They SING to you, they make you feel and dance. What would a hippie dance to, besides... well everything? For me, those songs on the album are "Funny the way it is", "Why I am" and "Alligator Pie (Cockadile)"

There's a banjo in several of the songs, however I don't think it's Bela Fleck... he might have added more to it... but he might also have overcomplicated some already decent songs. Favorite on the album is a song that reminds me of the second song on the first Rusted Root album. "Alligator Pie" is a chugging Louisiana style Cajun butt kicker. It's a great driving song, but I do have to watch the gas pedal!

As always, DMB has put together an okay album, I'll listen to selected tracks, but it will never be Remember Two Things or Under the Table and Dreaming. As Primus says, "they can't all be Zingers".

Good luck, good Pickin' good brewin'

Rob Anderson