Sunday, June 20, 2010
First Explorations
Friday night I went down to a local beer bar in my new neighborhood, the Madrona Eatery and Ale House. It is only a few blocks walk from where I live so it will make a perfect local watering hole for me. You should know that the owners believe in being family friendly. During regular hours there are plenty of families with kids, they even provided toys. We went around 9:00 and there were no kids around, so plan accordingly.
The beer selection was pretty decent with around 20 beers on tap, mostly local selections. The food was better than average, but the service was slow. One complaint was with the hummus plate one of ordered. There was just one small sauce cup of hummus and a lot of garnish. I had a CDA and Pike's Wit. My one complaint is the Pike's had so much star anise flavor that it was more like a pale winter warmer than a refreshing summer beer.
Two things I did not like so much was even mostly empty the noise level was pretty loud. There are lots of hard surfaces and not much to absorb the sound. The other is the service seemed slow. Our beers had been poured a few minutes before the same server brought them to the table. None of these are fatal flaws, just things to be aware of.
Then on Saturday my brother and I went to the 2010 Washington Brewers Festival over in Saint Edwards State Park in Kenmore, WA.
The first thing we headed for was the W.A.B.L. tent to get the special beer, an Imperial Porter. It was not bad, but I have a pet peeve about the fact that an "imperial porter" is just a stout with a fancy name and don't like the marketing mumbo jumbo.
After that we headed to the cider and wine tent. We are both fans of cider and there should be plenty of them up here. I think there were seven cider mills, each with 2-3 selections. The one complaint is that the ciders were two tokens each. Back in Missouri, once you pay your way into a festival all of the samples are free. Here in Washington you have to present a token for each pour. You can purchase more tokens, but it is a more expensive deal than I am used to. My brother and I did taste different selections at each booth, so we did get to taste more than what we would have individually. Somehow I ended up with a token left over. I will say the festival is well run and planned. There were even several park and ride areas set up with shuttle busses to make it easier to get in and out of the park.
One thing I did really like was when I found out that Boulevard Brewing is now being distributed in the Seattle area at QFC Stores. Now I can get one of the best things from my old home in my new home.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Settling In
Well I got into Seattle a couple of days ago and I am trying to get a feel for my new home. The streets here are not laid out in a logical manner, at least not logical to me. However I can get from the house to Bellevue and back, and I can find I-90 which will get me to most everything else.
One of the first things I did was to go on the Beer Mapping Project to see what was close to my new place. Limiting the search to a five mile radius still turned up over 100 hits, one of which is right down the street a few blocks. Since my brother and sister-in-law are going to a Mariners game tonight I thought I would check it out and see. However it will have to be late as the reviews I have read all seem to indicate that the place is crawling with Yuppies and their spawn. Seems that the Madrona area of Seattle has been recently gentrified and the Yuppies seem to think that it is a great idea to bring the kiddies to a bar.
The one thing that I did do today was take a walk down to Lake Washington from the house. I am on 33rd, and the lake is around 40th. Sounds easy right? Well, most of those blocks are down hill at about a 45° angle. Steep enough that walking down was bothering my knees. The walk back took twice as long as the outbound trip. However if I am serious about changing my life and getting in better shape this is the sort of thing I need to be doing. I think in the future that I will walk to the library three days a week and down to the lake the other two.
One of the first things I did was to go on the Beer Mapping Project to see what was close to my new place. Limiting the search to a five mile radius still turned up over 100 hits, one of which is right down the street a few blocks. Since my brother and sister-in-law are going to a Mariners game tonight I thought I would check it out and see. However it will have to be late as the reviews I have read all seem to indicate that the place is crawling with Yuppies and their spawn. Seems that the Madrona area of Seattle has been recently gentrified and the Yuppies seem to think that it is a great idea to bring the kiddies to a bar.
The one thing that I did do today was take a walk down to Lake Washington from the house. I am on 33rd, and the lake is around 40th. Sounds easy right? Well, most of those blocks are down hill at about a 45° angle. Steep enough that walking down was bothering my knees. The walk back took twice as long as the outbound trip. However if I am serious about changing my life and getting in better shape this is the sort of thing I need to be doing. I think in the future that I will walk to the library three days a week and down to the lake the other two.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Notes From The Road
I left Kansas City for Seattle yesterday to start my new life. The first day my brother and I drove all the way to Boulder for the first day. Our first stop was Avery Taproom. We both had tasters of Ellie's Brown, Ballsmack!!! Baltic Porter, and Seventeena highly hopped black lager. Then he had a Out of Bounds Stout and I had a 2006 Samael's Barrel Aged. As always the beer was great, only complaint about it really is that it is very loud in there so it is hard to have a conversation.
After that we went to Efrains II just down the road from Avery. We both got the Efrain spicy, which is a chef's choice plate. It was quite good, but it was SPICY!. We had to give in and ask for a side of sour cream. It is a good place to eat though, it was busy and good prices.
Today we were trying to go to Medovina Colorado Honeywine, then to New Belgium on the way to Yellowstone. Well that did not work out quite right. First Medovina does not seem to have a tasting room of any sort. Then New Belgium seems to close their tasting room on Sunday and Monday. Why a major brewery that is a well known would not have hours on a weekend is beyond me. It is not like there are state laws at play as Avery is open both of those days. Finally we got all the way to Lander, WY and decided that we did not have time to see anything in the park today and the prices would be higher there. So we stopped for the evening here. The plan now is to get up early and get through the park and as far west as we can that night.
There is one bonus. It seems that Lander has a brewpub, so that is where we are going to go for dinner tonight. I will try to post something about that once we get back to the hotel.
After that we went to Efrains II just down the road from Avery. We both got the Efrain spicy, which is a chef's choice plate. It was quite good, but it was SPICY!. We had to give in and ask for a side of sour cream. It is a good place to eat though, it was busy and good prices.
Today we were trying to go to Medovina Colorado Honeywine, then to New Belgium on the way to Yellowstone. Well that did not work out quite right. First Medovina does not seem to have a tasting room of any sort. Then New Belgium seems to close their tasting room on Sunday and Monday. Why a major brewery that is a well known would not have hours on a weekend is beyond me. It is not like there are state laws at play as Avery is open both of those days. Finally we got all the way to Lander, WY and decided that we did not have time to see anything in the park today and the prices would be higher there. So we stopped for the evening here. The plan now is to get up early and get through the park and as far west as we can that night.
There is one bonus. It seems that Lander has a brewpub, so that is where we are going to go for dinner tonight. I will try to post something about that once we get back to the hotel.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
The Right Tool for the Job
I always knew that tasting beer in the right glass made a difference in how it tasted. However until tonight I never knew just how significant a difference there really was. This evening I was lucky enough to attend the Spiegelau Beer Glass Tasting at Boulevard Brewing here in Kansas City. The event consisted of tasting several beer in the standard Shaker Pint, along side the same beer in the correct glass.
The event got started with a everyone finding a seat and finding these five glasses on the table. The guy from Spiegelau talked for a while about the differences between the standard Shaker Pint and their glassware. Two of the points I think are most relevant are the relative amount of iron oxide in the source material and the smoothness of the glass surface. Typical glass has around 500 ppm of iron oxide in it. This is what is responsible for the greenish/bluish tint you see in window and auto glass when looking at the edge. The source material for Spiegelau has only around 80 ppm of iron oxide in it. This results in a much more true color of the beer in the glass, which you will see in some of the images below. The relative smoothness of the glass also keeps the carbon dioxide in solution rather than providing nucleation sites for the release of the gas from the beer. The result is the mouthfeel of the beer is much better with these glasses. Another point made is that some breweries are selling glassware made specifically for their beer. The problem being is that the glass is then not good for much else. I have a couple of the Sam Adams glasses and they are not good for serving other types of beer as the features they specifically designed for their product, work against other beers.
The first beer we sampled in these glasses was Boulevard Pilsner. These two glasses were poured from the same bottle at the same time. If you notice the color of the beer in the Shaker Pint looks ever so slightly green compared to the Tall Pilsner glass. You will also notice that the shape of the Shaker does not support the thick head that is in the Tall Pilsner either. Smelling the beer in each glass showed a difference as well. The beer in the shaker pint had a faint grainy quality and some small amount of hops. The beer in the pilsner glass however had a much richer grain aroma, I could detect the malt and a slight bit of green apple from lingering diacytl. But the real difference was in the hop aroma. The hops in the pilsner glass were very floral and had a discernible Noble Hop character with some spiciness. There was a difference in flavor as well. The beer in the shaker pint tasted somewhat flat and was warmed by the thick glass absorbing all of the cold from the beer. The pilsner glass on the other hand is quite thin so it does not suck the cold from the beer as quickly. Also the carbonation came out in your mouth so the beer was quite spritzy on the tongue and the carbonation carried the hop aroma into the nose and brought out the flavor more. The difference was really amazing.
Next up was the Unfiltered Wheat. I had to contain myself when the woman next to me started asking if there were any lemon slices available, but I digress. Once more you can see there is a decidedly greenish tint to the beer in the shaker pint as compared to the Wheat Beer glass. The differences in the head retention are there as well. There was a similar difference in the aroma of the beers, with the Wheat Beer glass giving a lot more of the subtle notes than the shaker did. The Wheat Beer glass also preserved the carbonation so it would come out on the tongue and enhance the beer flavor and aroma in the mouth.
When we poured the Boulevard Pale Ale the color difference was not as pronounced, but this is mainly due to the darker color of the beer. There was more of a difference to the naked eye than in this photo, but if you look carefully you will see the greenish tinge is still there. The glass that was used here was what Spiegelau calls a "Lager" glass, the rep said it was for non-pilsner lagers, pale ales, and IPAs. This is probably the glass that most resembles the traditional shaker pint, but that is just superficial. The differences in the aroma and flavor are quite distinct. You will also notice the lacing on the shaker pint from where the head rose up as the carbon dioxide came out of solution, but then collapsed fairly quickly as well. The color of the beer in the Lager glass was also much more ruby than the brown of the shaker pint.
Sixth Glass is really where the differences in glassware came into full focus. The photo does not due justice to the color of the beer, but the beer in the shaker pint was brown, almost the color of a brown ale, while in the Tulip glass it was a deep ruby color with copper highlights. Sixth Glass is a fairly carbonated Belgian style quad so the difference in the head is not as large as the other beers, plus I think the hop oils from the other beers were taking up some of the nucleation sites at this point despite rinsing after each beer. The aroma was also an incredible difference. In the shaker pint the beer smelled of faint alcohol, a little caramel and faint hops. In the Tulip glass the alcohol was warm and there were notes of caramel and dried fruit along with the floral hops and biscuity malt. The flavor was much better too since there was plenty of carbonation to carry flavors and aroma around the mouth and sinuses. Plus the shape of the glass puts your nose right into the heart of the aroma as you take a sip. Honestly Sixth Glass was not a favorite beer of mine, but this presentation gave me a new appreciation for it.
At the end I went back and tried the dregs of the prior beers that were waiting in the Spiegelau glasses. They all were still carbonated and nice to drink. They had warmed a bit, but not nearly as much as the beers that were poured into the shaker pint. The best part of the event is that we got to keep our sampling glasses from Spiegelau. A quick word about them, they are owned by the Riedel people and have been in business for a very long time as a family firm. The glasses are intended for the commercial market so they are dishwasher safe and fairly robust for the thin glass would lead you to think. They also were selling glasses at a discount at the event. But since you had to order, then wait 30 days for delivery and then pick them up at the brewery I figured I would spend more getting them sent to me than if I ordered them directly from Amazon. If you get the chance to do something like this I highly recommend that you do. I plan on running this demo for a few friends in the near future to get them to upgrade their glassware.
The event got started with a everyone finding a seat and finding these five glasses on the table. The guy from Spiegelau talked for a while about the differences between the standard Shaker Pint and their glassware. Two of the points I think are most relevant are the relative amount of iron oxide in the source material and the smoothness of the glass surface. Typical glass has around 500 ppm of iron oxide in it. This is what is responsible for the greenish/bluish tint you see in window and auto glass when looking at the edge. The source material for Spiegelau has only around 80 ppm of iron oxide in it. This results in a much more true color of the beer in the glass, which you will see in some of the images below. The relative smoothness of the glass also keeps the carbon dioxide in solution rather than providing nucleation sites for the release of the gas from the beer. The result is the mouthfeel of the beer is much better with these glasses. Another point made is that some breweries are selling glassware made specifically for their beer. The problem being is that the glass is then not good for much else. I have a couple of the Sam Adams glasses and they are not good for serving other types of beer as the features they specifically designed for their product, work against other beers.
The first beer we sampled in these glasses was Boulevard Pilsner. These two glasses were poured from the same bottle at the same time. If you notice the color of the beer in the Shaker Pint looks ever so slightly green compared to the Tall Pilsner glass. You will also notice that the shape of the Shaker does not support the thick head that is in the Tall Pilsner either. Smelling the beer in each glass showed a difference as well. The beer in the shaker pint had a faint grainy quality and some small amount of hops. The beer in the pilsner glass however had a much richer grain aroma, I could detect the malt and a slight bit of green apple from lingering diacytl. But the real difference was in the hop aroma. The hops in the pilsner glass were very floral and had a discernible Noble Hop character with some spiciness. There was a difference in flavor as well. The beer in the shaker pint tasted somewhat flat and was warmed by the thick glass absorbing all of the cold from the beer. The pilsner glass on the other hand is quite thin so it does not suck the cold from the beer as quickly. Also the carbonation came out in your mouth so the beer was quite spritzy on the tongue and the carbonation carried the hop aroma into the nose and brought out the flavor more. The difference was really amazing.
Next up was the Unfiltered Wheat. I had to contain myself when the woman next to me started asking if there were any lemon slices available, but I digress. Once more you can see there is a decidedly greenish tint to the beer in the shaker pint as compared to the Wheat Beer glass. The differences in the head retention are there as well. There was a similar difference in the aroma of the beers, with the Wheat Beer glass giving a lot more of the subtle notes than the shaker did. The Wheat Beer glass also preserved the carbonation so it would come out on the tongue and enhance the beer flavor and aroma in the mouth.
When we poured the Boulevard Pale Ale the color difference was not as pronounced, but this is mainly due to the darker color of the beer. There was more of a difference to the naked eye than in this photo, but if you look carefully you will see the greenish tinge is still there. The glass that was used here was what Spiegelau calls a "Lager" glass, the rep said it was for non-pilsner lagers, pale ales, and IPAs. This is probably the glass that most resembles the traditional shaker pint, but that is just superficial. The differences in the aroma and flavor are quite distinct. You will also notice the lacing on the shaker pint from where the head rose up as the carbon dioxide came out of solution, but then collapsed fairly quickly as well. The color of the beer in the Lager glass was also much more ruby than the brown of the shaker pint.
Sixth Glass is really where the differences in glassware came into full focus. The photo does not due justice to the color of the beer, but the beer in the shaker pint was brown, almost the color of a brown ale, while in the Tulip glass it was a deep ruby color with copper highlights. Sixth Glass is a fairly carbonated Belgian style quad so the difference in the head is not as large as the other beers, plus I think the hop oils from the other beers were taking up some of the nucleation sites at this point despite rinsing after each beer. The aroma was also an incredible difference. In the shaker pint the beer smelled of faint alcohol, a little caramel and faint hops. In the Tulip glass the alcohol was warm and there were notes of caramel and dried fruit along with the floral hops and biscuity malt. The flavor was much better too since there was plenty of carbonation to carry flavors and aroma around the mouth and sinuses. Plus the shape of the glass puts your nose right into the heart of the aroma as you take a sip. Honestly Sixth Glass was not a favorite beer of mine, but this presentation gave me a new appreciation for it.
At the end I went back and tried the dregs of the prior beers that were waiting in the Spiegelau glasses. They all were still carbonated and nice to drink. They had warmed a bit, but not nearly as much as the beers that were poured into the shaker pint. The best part of the event is that we got to keep our sampling glasses from Spiegelau. A quick word about them, they are owned by the Riedel people and have been in business for a very long time as a family firm. The glasses are intended for the commercial market so they are dishwasher safe and fairly robust for the thin glass would lead you to think. They also were selling glasses at a discount at the event. But since you had to order, then wait 30 days for delivery and then pick them up at the brewery I figured I would spend more getting them sent to me than if I ordered them directly from Amazon. If you get the chance to do something like this I highly recommend that you do. I plan on running this demo for a few friends in the near future to get them to upgrade their glassware.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Stupidity For The Sake of Sales
Normally I don't get my shorts in a bunch over the sort of stupidity that goes under the guise of "healthy eating". Granted most Americans, the Flatlander included, eat too much red meat and are too fat. However most of this reporting is designed to make people feel bad about themselves and thus pump money into the diet and fitness industry when most people could just stand to walk more. Just look at what a mind fuck it has done to our teenage girls. However this is a direct shot at the craft brew industry by an idiot know-nothing.
An online article in Men's Health magazine made the flabbergasting statement that America has a drinking problem. Now Carry Nation may agree at first, but this fool thinks that we drink too much period and alcohol is irrelevant. The article in question lists the 20 Worst Things To Drink, and Craft Beer is on the list. What do they use as an example of "craft beer"? Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot. A really good barleywine, but hardly an example of a typical Craft Beer. They also have these little comparisons of what the drink in question is equal too. In the case of Bigfoot the comparison is an entire twelve pack of Michelob Ultra. You mean 132 oz. of vile tasting yellow fizzy pisswater is better for your health than one 12 oz. bottle of Bigfoot? Really? Michelob Ultra? A beer so disgusting that they are having to introduce flavors like Lime Cactus and Pomegranate Raspberry to trick people into buying the swill.
I have news for the mush-head that wrote this. People who drink craft beer do it because they enjoy the flavor of the product. If getting drunk were the point we would not spend as much on a six pack as a case of MegaSwill would cost. Also we do not drink nearly the same amount that the Joe Six-Pack types do. Have you ever been to a beer festival and seen the guys that are just pounding down as many samples as they can? That is not us, we are the ones that open the guide when we get it and see which breweries are there, and what their listed selections are. We then will either take one of two tacks. First is to try and taste all of our favorites, or more commonly, to try and taste those beers that are hard to come by in our area or are out of the ordinary. We appreciate quality over quantity and are willing to pay for the difference.
Another thing Mr. Snob, if it were not for Craft Beer and all of its fans, there would be no local, artisanal food production in this country today. Craft Brewers were the first into that market space and they still are the best transition into that world for most people. So go check your mascara and do some basic research before you open your metrosexual mouth.
An online article in Men's Health magazine made the flabbergasting statement that America has a drinking problem. Now Carry Nation may agree at first, but this fool thinks that we drink too much period and alcohol is irrelevant. The article in question lists the 20 Worst Things To Drink, and Craft Beer is on the list. What do they use as an example of "craft beer"? Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot. A really good barleywine, but hardly an example of a typical Craft Beer. They also have these little comparisons of what the drink in question is equal too. In the case of Bigfoot the comparison is an entire twelve pack of Michelob Ultra. You mean 132 oz. of vile tasting yellow fizzy pisswater is better for your health than one 12 oz. bottle of Bigfoot? Really? Michelob Ultra? A beer so disgusting that they are having to introduce flavors like Lime Cactus and Pomegranate Raspberry to trick people into buying the swill.
I have news for the mush-head that wrote this. People who drink craft beer do it because they enjoy the flavor of the product. If getting drunk were the point we would not spend as much on a six pack as a case of MegaSwill would cost. Also we do not drink nearly the same amount that the Joe Six-Pack types do. Have you ever been to a beer festival and seen the guys that are just pounding down as many samples as they can? That is not us, we are the ones that open the guide when we get it and see which breweries are there, and what their listed selections are. We then will either take one of two tacks. First is to try and taste all of our favorites, or more commonly, to try and taste those beers that are hard to come by in our area or are out of the ordinary. We appreciate quality over quantity and are willing to pay for the difference.
Another thing Mr. Snob, if it were not for Craft Beer and all of its fans, there would be no local, artisanal food production in this country today. Craft Brewers were the first into that market space and they still are the best transition into that world for most people. So go check your mascara and do some basic research before you open your metrosexual mouth.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Farewell Tour Part One
Last night a group of my Scouter friends had a good-bye party for me at Waldo Pizza, one of the better local pizza joints in town. What was nice about it for me is that I was not there as a Scout Leader. Several of the kids in the Scout group for the last several years or so have been employees there and we have a tendency to have meetings there. The only problem is that they have a really good beer list, they even have a Cicerone on staff. So I go to this place fairly often, they have a killer beer list and I can't have any because I am working. Last night I was not so I had a few of the more interesting things on the list.
I must admit that I was not there to taste beer so these impressions are not as sharp as a beer review should be.
First up was the 1809 Berliner Weisse which is a German import beer. The alcohol was a bit high for the style at around 5%, and the beer was not as tart as I would expect. Adding any syrup to it would have turned it into a fruity cocktail, I had mine straight. It was nicely tart with some good cider-like qualities to it. I think this would be a great introduction to the world of sour beers for newbies.
The second beer I had was the Jolly Pumpkin Bam Bière, which Waldo listed as a Saison. This is a beer that I have heard a lot about and was looking forward to trying when I reviewed the beer list the day before (is that too beer geek?). I know that Jolly Pumpkin make farm house style ales. I guess so they can dispense with traditional styles. It had the nice crispness and fruity notes that I would expect, but there was a fair amount of funk as well. Now I like funk, I drink Rodenbach and have George Clinton on my iPod, but in this case I thought it was a bit out of style and swamped the more delicate flavors of the beer. I like this beer, I am just not sure it should be called a saison.
The group also bought me a cake and gave me a card that everyone signed. Some people I had not seen for years showed up as well. It is nice to know that some of these people came out to see me off. What was interesting was one of the guys I have known for a while seemed to be getting a bit emotional and gave me a couple of "man hugs". I was quite touched by the whole thing.
Next up: The Oklahoma Run
I must admit that I was not there to taste beer so these impressions are not as sharp as a beer review should be.
First up was the 1809 Berliner Weisse which is a German import beer. The alcohol was a bit high for the style at around 5%, and the beer was not as tart as I would expect. Adding any syrup to it would have turned it into a fruity cocktail, I had mine straight. It was nicely tart with some good cider-like qualities to it. I think this would be a great introduction to the world of sour beers for newbies.
The second beer I had was the Jolly Pumpkin Bam Bière, which Waldo listed as a Saison. This is a beer that I have heard a lot about and was looking forward to trying when I reviewed the beer list the day before (is that too beer geek?). I know that Jolly Pumpkin make farm house style ales. I guess so they can dispense with traditional styles. It had the nice crispness and fruity notes that I would expect, but there was a fair amount of funk as well. Now I like funk, I drink Rodenbach and have George Clinton on my iPod, but in this case I thought it was a bit out of style and swamped the more delicate flavors of the beer. I like this beer, I am just not sure it should be called a saison.
The group also bought me a cake and gave me a card that everyone signed. Some people I had not seen for years showed up as well. It is nice to know that some of these people came out to see me off. What was interesting was one of the guys I have known for a while seemed to be getting a bit emotional and gave me a couple of "man hugs". I was quite touched by the whole thing.
Next up: The Oklahoma Run
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