Poor Kid Drinks a Good Beer
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I have not abandoned beer. However I may have (temporarily) abandoned this blog. School, work, and bills got the best of me. I do, heartily apologize but I will be back soon.
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Happy Holidays
Hope all you people out there have had a good (and minimal stress) holiday. I know that I can’t complain much.
I will be back in full force after I safely arrive back home from the wonderful state of Oklahoma on the 3rd. I may or may not be able to find time while I am traveling to find a good beer, but if I do rest assured I will let all of you know.
Until then. Happy holidays and an even better new year!
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Pre-Opening of The Holy GrAle
Some of the few perks of the local beer world is going to parties focused all around good beer. There is nothing better then good beer, good friends, and good conversation.
After the 2nd Annual Highlands Beer Festival was over and My Old Kentucky Homebrew Booth was safely packed away, I wandered over to the Louisville Beer Store’s newest endeavor, The Holy GrAle. Lori and Tyler have made quite a name for themselves as one of the few, the proud, and the best spots in town to hang and talk beer. I had even made a point to make the Louisville Beer Store the location of my last birthday bash.
The Holy GrAle is not truly open until Dec 14th, and I suggest that everyone makes a stop by to enjoy a good beer when it does, not to mention try the food. The pre-opening party gave me a beautiful glimpse into the future of the Louisville beer scene, and I must admit I had tears of joy.
I made my way in only to be engulfed in a scene out of a medieval cathedral, with stained glass windows, barrel end tables, and a comfy church pew. After a quick congratulations to Lori on how awesome the place looked, I turned to my friend Kelly and her husband Matt. We chatted about life, their new endeavor into parenthood, and of course good beer. I’d chosen a cold glass of freshly poured Beerhive Tripel by New Holland, which was sweet yet earthy, and very refreshing.
I didn’t stay long, just enough to drink my good beer and head off to home for some needed rest. However The Holy GrAle is going to be one of the best things to exist in the Highlands, and possibly Louisville. The building is swank, the people chill, and the beer good.
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2nd Annual Highlands Beer Festival
Every week or so, when this poor kid finds money and time to go grocery shopping, I make my way though Mid City Mall and into ValuMarket. The supposed mall isn’t what you think it is. There is one long hallway with a few interchanging offices, Baxter Avenue Theater in the rear, and a the Nearly New Thrift Store in the basement. So when I caught wind that there was going to be a beer festival inside the Mid City Mall, I was not only excited for the beer, but curious to see how the set up was going to work.
The 2nd Annual Highlands Beer Festival was Saturday December 4th, the same night at the Bardstown Road Aglow, and annual street festival showcasing all of the local stores, restruants, and the like for the holiday season. The beer festival boasted 500 different beers, and all you can drink for $30 at the door ($25 in advanced). Doors opened at 5pm and a flood of people came in, filling the hallway to the brim. Drinks were poured and Paul and I talked our lungs out about homebrewing and good beer.
We had set up the My Old Kentucky Homebrew booth in the most ideal spot ever. Right across from Fall City, Brownings, and Compass with Jobless Burring Co. We couldn’t have been surrounded by the local spirit any more. The festivities lasted until 9pm and though out the night friends stopped by the booth to chat about beer and sing the praises of homebrewing to anyone else who would listen.
After the clock struck 9, we closed up shop, and I proceeded to make a quick pass to all the booths that were still open. Chatted with Fall City and got myself a pint. Assisted a few drunken friends safely out the door and into a ride home. The I was off to Papa Lino’s for pizza with an old friend.
The festival itself seemed to be a big success. A great way to stay warm and out of the slush and snow. It can’t get better then a locally sponsored festival with lots of local beer.
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callmecurious asked: What beer would you recommend to a beer virgin?This is always a tough question to answer since everyones preference is unique. I suppose if you are an honest to god virgin, I mean never has the ancient concoction of wheat, hops, and yeast, ever to caress your lips, well, it just makes answering this all the more difficult.
In my experience for beer virgins, or at least people who claim to “not like beer”, I try to recommend something light but complex. A Saison or a Wheat Beer might be a good option. The color and mouth feel aren’t daunting, the flavors tend to be light with stubble complexities in the yeast. If you are going for something a little darker, try a English Style Brown. This style is abundant and almost every local brewery keeps this style on tap, so it makes a great introduction into your local beer scene. If you are one of those crazy virgins who wants to jump head first into the exotic, try a Framboise Lambic, or a raspberry farmhouse ale.
Some beers to try:
Saison DuPont
Wittekerke
Serria Nevada Tumbler Autumn Ale
Lindemans Frambroise Lambic -
Samuel Smith - India Ale
It’s that time of the year again. School mid terms are looming overhead for all the students in the world, while the market is already flooding the shelves with gift sets and nic nacks. Today was only one of my mid terms. A very long multiple choice test on the basics of sociology. I managed to make it though the test with enough time to get home by 2pm.
I arrived home only to realize that I was hungry and more importantly, thirsty. So my roommate Terry and I made a quick trip to ValuMarket. Of course I cannot help but browse though the pretty amazing beer selection and subsequently the shelves of beer and glassware sets for the upcoming holidays. Terry and I left the store with a bag of saffron rice, black beans, and a Samuel Smith sampler pack with a brand new shiny glass.
Obviously, we can see how my budget is divided. Anyway, I digress. Terry and I went home to cook up some rice and beans, and of course drink some beer. The first of the sampler pack was the Samuel Smith India Ale. As I poured this simpthele IPA into my brand spakin new glass, and immediately noticed the aroma. A very light clean aroma of hops, with subtle spice and citrus. It made me think of how I should be eating a fresh summer salad instead of the four dollars worth of rice and beans.
The color was a clear amber with swift moving bubbles rushing to the top. Top that off with a light tan head with strong retention sticking to the sides. Tasting it reminded me of that salad I was craving. A very dry malt flavor with perfect notes of spicey hops. Perhaps I should start budgeting much better with my grocery shopping. A salad would have been much better, although more expensive, then simple rice and beans, but there is no way in hell I’d budget out any beer.
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LAGERS - Newest Member
After attending a few meetings and events hosted by the Louisville Area Grain Extract Research Society, aka The LAGERS, I made myself an official member. $10 well spent if you ask me.
Last Monday’s meeting was all about a very interesting brewing technique called ‘Brew in a Bag’. This method was developed and found predominantly in Australia, where the sparging process is not needed. To sum it up, the process is a very large scale steep. A very large portion of grain is placed in an equally large nylon bag and steeped in a very large brew kettle. The temperature can be controlled for acid rest and the like. When the mash time is up, the bag of grain is simply lifted out of the kettle and the boil began. This particular method seems to be the most convenient in very cramped spaces, but the loss of efficiency is one reason to keep with the traditional method using more pieces of equipment.
At this very same meeting, Joel the master brewer at BBC Taproom, announced that last year’s s barley wine produced more wort then they could ferment. Lucky I got my LAGERS membership which got me a buckets worth of professionally mashed wort to play with. Five and a half gallons to be exact. Not to mention a discount at My Old Kentucky Homebrew and Liquor Barn for supplies.
So with my new LAGERS membership perks I rushed home to make a Citra hopped IPA. And if you are a home brewer, or beer lover in the Louisville Area, I recommend joining. If you aren’t a Louisville local don’t fret. There are plenty of homebrew clubs out there in the world (ie. FOSSILS or BOCK). I highly recommend finding on in your area.
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Cafe Amsterdam - Anchorage AK
I don’t normally focus on locations, restaurants, or bars. Do not misunderstand me, I do enjoy a few choice bars, but I am not your average bar hopper or into the club scene. I enjoy more of the slower paced, relaxed scenes. I’m not into shots, bombs, or really any hard liquor besides some really good bourbon. I am one of those people, who truly enjoy beer. So when my friend Rob mentioned a place called Cafe Amsterdam, as something he thought I would really enjoy, I was nervous about the typical, overwhelming and crowded bar scene.
However when Rob mentioned that the beer list at this supposed cafe was longer than their menu, I was highly intrigued. My mother agreed with Rob, and raved about how much she thinks I would like it. So my partner and I, accompanied by my Rob and my Mother, took a visit to Cafe Amsterdam.
Like almost everything in Anchorage, Cafe Amsterdam was located in a small strip mall near Northern Lights district. The doors open up into a make shift garden patio complete with plants and umbrellas, right next to the bar, complete with a rotating tap and plenty of them.
We all sat down in the quaint patio and opened up a menu to see a very sort menu of food with something for everyone. Not to many choices as far as food went, but the beer menu was great. Three pages long, categorized by origin. I chose a simple grilled cheese sandwich and a Zatec Bright Lager. While the food and beer were great, the best part of Cafe Amsterdam was their staff.
I looked around the walls to see a pleura of photographs and beer related literature, including a photo of our server with the famed Michael Jackson (No, not the pop star, the beer writer). Our server was a robust man, with a curled gray mustache, with a very robust knowledge of beer to boot. As a matter of fact everyone there seemed to know a lot about beer. Rob made a point of informing our wait staff about my homebrewing experience and knowledge of beer, which struck up some good conversation. The server was a professional brewer who retired to live in the lovely state of Alaska, but once a beer person, always a beer person, and he was drawn to what he loves.
While the look of the place, and some of the patrons reminded me of the older and sophisticated feel of Sergio’s back home, the overall atmosphere of the experience and conversation reminded me of much more of the Louisville Beer Store. Cafe Amsterdam even had some of events set up, such as beer tasting 101 and and beer dinners, and continue to have updated events, beer blogs, and of course, good beer and good conversation.
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It Came From The Cellar Homebrew Competition
Louisville Craft Beer Week has been upon us and damn am I tired. I’d like to have been able to particpate more in all of the wonderful festivities, but sadly with school and everything else, I’ve been limited.
The one event that I was able to make and help out with, was the It Came From the Cellar competition. Every home brewer out there has a beer or two that they have been aging. Perhaps it was one of those concoctions that turned out wrong, so you sent it away in hopes that it would change its dreadfully ways. Or maybe it was simply a style that needed time to grow into a fabulous beer. Either way a home brewer can find something to put in this particular competition that they wouldn’t normally put in any other one.
The event itself was hosted at the BBC Taproom, and sponsored in part by My Old Kentucky Homebrew and some of the lovely folks from LAGERS. I was woken up early by Paul asking me to run some last minute errands to get things ready, stickers, labels, paper and the like. I lugged the cumbersome box of entries, as well as snacks, over to the BBC Taproom around 6 and haphazardly placed it all into the awesome walk in freezer in the brewery. The event did not officially start until 7:30pm, so Rob poured me a Hell for Certain as I sat in the corner reading statistics about youth delinquency in Chicago.
7:30 came and it was time for me to pour the beers and pass them out to all of our lovely judges. 25 beers in total, divided into three categories. As lame as it sounds, there were Light, Dark, and Specialty Beers. We all know beer is way more complex then that, but for this event which was meant to be more fun then serious, it worked out well enough.
Each round was totaled up and the winners of each were re poured and deliberated about in full. Its strange, in such a small and close knit community, the judges could all quickly figure out who made each beer, but did their best to not say a single thing about it making it as objective as possible. After the winner was chosen, then the names came out and laughter ensued as to their unique tell tale styles. The overall winner will be announced at Volksfest, the last day of Louisville Craft Beer Week, so I really shouldn’t tell you but…no I won’t do it. You’ll just have to attend Volksfest to find out for yourself.
I learned a few things today. How to be a better steward at beer events was one. More importantly was how much I love the beer community. The more I am around the LAGERS and other brewers, I find that everyone is very loving about beer and each other. Not a single bad word was ever spoken about anyones beers, only simple loving critiques. Despite whatever drama these people may have personally, it is always pushed to the side when it comes to beer.
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About that…
I need to apologize for the lack of posts. I have left the tap dry and been neglecting my duties as a beer snob. School has started so my time is very scarce, but that is no excuse.
However I will be bringing this back up to speed here very soon.
In the mean time, keep drinking good beer.
Cheers!
