American Craft Beer Fest...

Did you get to the American Craft Beer Fest at the World Trade Center in Boston last weekend? I was pretty impressed with the size of the crowd and the well-planned logistics of getting everyone in the building. I was less impressed with the huge set-up given to "Michelob Brewing Company" and Here's to Beer as you entered the festival. Why not throw up a huge neon sign that said Anheuser Busch sponsored this event. But then again I have a hang up with AB, to each their own...I guess you have to pay the bills and if people really want to drink that stuff with all the other amazing options available to them, let them, it only makes the other lines shorter. Speaking of that, the lines were significantly longer than those at the Cyclorama, especially for the great breweries, but I didn't mind too much...it really was kind of awesome to see so many people drinking great beer.

The list was pretty impressive--0ver 300 beers and 75 brewers. There were so many great options and the hall was so large I barely made my way through the whole place in three hours...in the past, I would loop around the cyclorama several times. Just curious, did anyone figure out the IBUs on Garrett Oliver's shirt...that thing was badass, I loved it.

Bottomline I had a great time, but I have two major complaints. The food was awful. I needed my Belgian waffle fix and I was so upset to discover I would not be getting one. Moreover, the Sunset Grill catering at previous festivals provided much better options and quality, the food available this time was less than desirable. It was also a bit concerning that you had to stand in line for water, at least I didn't notice water stations elsewhere. I gather the World Trade Center would not allow outside catering, but I would rather have the Sunset Grill at the Cyclorama than crappy concession food at a nicer venue. Did I mention I wanted my Belgian waffle, I was Jonesing for that waffle by the end of the night.

The second complaint is the portopotties...are you kidding me...wtf! The event was at the World Trade Center. I could not believe I was forced to piss in a johnny on the spot while indoors. After two previous sessions, the whole area reeked of urine and I pretty much had to avoid the right side of the hall after 8pm. The lines had diminished a bit and I was talking to Tod Mott at the Portsmouth booth, but I just could not stand the smell.

Ok I am done bitching, overall the event was fantastic, choices, choices, and more choices. The most exciting part was discovering a few breweries I had never heard of.

Jack Daniel Plainview's Vanilla Porter Milkshake...

Ok, so you would have to have seen There Will Be Blood to understand why we called our last homebrew such a mouthful of a name. Well, it really isn't a homebrew, we created it at Barleycorn's Craftbrew On Premises facility. For all you Massachusetts locals, Barleycorn's is in Natick and you really have to make a visit--Dan Eng has a great facility and really knows his stuff. I go with my buddies from work...for those who don't homebrew, it is a great night out and perfect for a birthday or special occasion. You brew the beer there, leave it to ferment, and then come back to bottle it...without having to worry about cleaning up the mess. This is the seventh beer we created at Barleycorn's and they just seem to be getting better and better each time.

Let me explain the name. Daniel Plainview, a cut throat oil man, is the main character in the film and he tells another character that he "drinks his milkshake," that is he steals the oil on his property with a well adjacent to his land. I think the rest of the name is pretty self explanatory.

We wanted to make an imperial porter with oak and vanilla notes. We were inspired by Daryl, one of Dan's assistants, who let us taste his version of a juiced-up porter during our last bottling. I admit we made several shortcuts in creating it, but the end result was really very good. Rather than purchasing an oak barrel, we bought a bag of Jack Daniels Oak BBQ chips (actual JD barrels chopped up into pieces). We took several handfuls of the chips and popped them into a tupperware container and marinated them in about 8 shots of Jack Daniels for about 2 weeks. I shook up the container every night to really get the chips saturated all over. I then purchased a bottle of Trader Joes Pure Bourbon Vanilla Extract and put that in with the JD and the chips for an additional week. We added lots of malt extract and a couple of pounds of pure cane sugar to give the yeast a little extra something to munch on. We added the saturated oak chips during the last couple of weeks of a five week fermentation to let the flavors infuse into the beer.

In the end, we ended up with a yield of twelve 22oz bombers (the name of my fantasy baseball team by the way) at a cost of about $2.90 per bottle. Not bad considering the cost of beer these days and that this one weighed in at a robust 8.0% abv. This beer pours the color of oil with a massive head and has pleasant whiskey, oak, and vanilla notes and a silky smooth mouthfeel. It is excessively drinkable for the alcohol level and works out well as a slow sipper throughout the night.

"I want the beer...I will not backslide."

A whole lot of nonsense...

Ok, I have held back as long as I could. These Coors Light ads are killing me so I want some good answers for what all or one of these inane phrases mean. I know you can come up with some funny responses.

"Tastes as cold as the Rockies"
"The World's Most Refreshing Beer"
"Cold. Down. Easy."

And what is the deal with those absolutely ridiculous labels that turn blue when they are the right temperature. Are you kidding me...what are we 4 years old...are these colorforms, where are the crayons? Does this gimmick actually sell beer?

Ok, I am done now--I feel a little bit better getting that off my chest.

What is your favorite local beer...

What is your favorite local beer? I am talking about something that is made pretty close to where you live that you drink on a regular basis. No need to wax poetic on it (but feel free to do so if you'd like).

I absolutely love Smuttynose IPA and Ipswich IPA. Post a quick comment and share your favorites.

Nothing better than real ale...

There is just about nothing better than a great pint of real ale. Pair that up with some good friends, Redbones pulled pork, and an Anna's burrito as a nightcap and you have the recipe for a fantastic Wednesday night. Yes a Wednesday night--when you love good beer you make these kinds of sacrifices!

I am describing my first visit to the New England Real Ale Exhibition (NERAX), sponsored by the Cask-Conditioned Ale Support Campaign (CASC)--that is a pintful of acronyms. It really is kind of ridiculous that it is my first visit to this annual beer festival.

The night certainly started off on the wrong foot. We queued up in the will call line at 6:00pm as advised on the NERAX website. We were the lucky ones, the line outside for those without tickets went around the block. Unfortunately we were not let into the event until around 6:40pm or so. As one of my friends said, "we are getting too old to stand around in lines like this," especially on a Wednesday night.

Although the delay was frustrating it was well worth the wait--plus you have to cut the folks at CASC some slack, it is an all volunteer organization that does a fantastic job advocating and promoting real ale. Once inside I was impressed with the operation--virtually no lines and no waiting and I was glad to see that the smallish space (Dilboy Post in Davis Square, Somerville) held the presumably capacity crowd very well--no pretensions here, this is your typical VFW/Elks/Knights of Columbus type of room.

The beer was fantastic. For starters, when you know you can get Fullers London Porter, London Pride, and 1845 on cask, you are in for a great night. They spread 80 different firkins over the four day festival (they publish a list of most of the breweries on their website, but you don't know what you are going to get each night until you show up). While I was happy with the selection, I am guessing that Wednesday night might have been the weakest of the four--I know I would have reserved the best stuff for Friday night. It was a 50/50 split of American and UK brews (including beers from England, Scotland, and Wales). The Allagash Dubbel and Allagash Black were two of the American highlights.

Bottom line, I will certainly be attending the festival next year, perhaps I will try the marathon Saturday session from 12:00-7:00pm. I hope to see you at next year's NERAX.

Leave it to the Onion...

You have to love the Onion. Check out this link and insert a picture of yourself in place of the second guy. Ok, so maybe you don't make your own beer that often, but are you the neighbor that doesn't stop talking about. I am guilty as charged.

http://www.theonion.com/content/amvo/beer_production_threatened_by?utm_source=onion_rss_daily

The Imperial Southern Tier...

Have you tried any of the beers in the Southern Tier Brewing Company's Imperial series? Why not? For me it all started with the Unearthly Imperial IPA. Extreme does not always mean good, however Southern Tier does a great job with these beers.

Unearthly is an insane 11% with 153 IBUs. I give this beer a whopping 4.7 out of 5. It is loaded with floral, citrus and spicy hop flavors and is remarkably drinkable for such an intense offering. This is not a one dimensional hop head beer. Somehow a caramel malt sweetness helps balance it a bit and the mild burn from the alcohol really makes this beer more complex than I expected.

On the opposite end of the spectrum the Imperial Choklat, which also weighs in at 11% abv may just be the ultimate dessert beer. It is brewed with tons of cocoa and delivers and incredible chocoholic experience. It smells absolutely amazing and gets better and better with each sip. Choklat just may be a failsafe cure for the doldrums of winter.

Other beers in the series include: Imperial Punkin, one of the best pumpkin beers I have tried; Imperial Oat, an excellent oatmeal stout; and Imperial Hoppe--weighing in at 10% abv and 83 IBUs. I also have Imperial Big Red and Imperial Jah-va cellaring right now. The Jah-va is an Imperial Coffee Stout brewed with Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee--12% abv and 125 IBUs. I don't drink coffee, but I am so looking forward to cracking this bad boy. I think I will let it sit for at least a couple of months to let it mellow out.

Bottom line, if you see any of these Imperial beers, pick them up, they may not be around forever. Extreme can be a good thing, a very good thing.