bravo iron horse…bravo.

From the website of the Iron Horse Taproom in Washington DC:

Iron Horse Taproom’s SAVOR Week Experiment

If you pay any attention at all to craft beer news, you’ve been aware that DC has slowly and steadily been making a name for itself in the craft beer world. There’s a long and rich history of beer in this town. That history spans from George Washington’s personal beer recipe to the welcome addition of four new local breweries this year. With SAVOR quickly approaching, we have a chance to show the rest of the country our deep appreciation for craft beer.

An unfortunate side effect of the creativity involved in making great beers is the occasional cycle of one-upmanship and the inherent snobbery that goes along with that. Whose beer has the most IBU’s? Whose is the strongest? Have you ever heard of the type of hops used in this dubbelhefepaleweizenbock? Can you even stand the taste of it? Of course you can’t, but it’s cute that you tried to drink it.

The other side of this coin is the beer drinker who has their brand and refuses to branch out and try anything other their standard light beer. They defend the bland, tasteless, bubbly substance that they gulp down by the gallon as if it were a friend or a family member. We see it happen every weekend. A customer will walk in, ignore 18 of the great beers we have on and order the cheapest, lightest beer we have.

Some high-minded craft beer consumers refuse to drink anything that’s even near the edge of mainstream. Some light beer drinker refuse to expand their horizons by trying anything that has taste. Neither of these mindsets is acceptable.

We’re going to do an experiment at the Iron Horse Tap Room for the week leading up to SAVOR. Of the twenty beers we offer on our main draft lines, eighteen of them will be priced $5 ($4 during happy hour!) and two of them will be priced at $8 a pint. Those two will be Miller Light and Bud Light. The rest will be a mix of great American craft beer. It’s an opportunity for some to get off their high horse and for others to get out of their rut. If you really really really want your crappy light beer, you’re going to have to pay a craft premium for it. On the other side, your search for the next ultra-small batch Belgian tripel (at an obnoxiously high price point) will just have to wait a bit longer, Poindexter.

Everything goes back to normal on Sunday, June 4th. Cheap beers will be cheap, good beers will be moderately priced, and expensive beers will be expensive, but for a few days we’ll hopefully have created a safe place for people to try something new. No matter your beer preference, I hope you’ll stop by and enjoy a pint or two!

Cheers,

Daniel

General Manager

Iron Horse Tap Room

’nuff said.

cult of banality.

Having come through April Fools season without a scratch, I was highly entertained to read about an April Fools joke that backfired on an Arizona brewpub. Apparently the bar staff thought that it would be funny to put a facebook post stating that they have Pliny the Elder (or Younger) on tap. For those of you not in the know; Pliny the Elder and Younger are two beers made by Russian River Brewing with the former held to a lofty position of “best IPA ever” by many beer geeks. The bar was beset with bad press and angry customers when the truth came out – keep in mind that Pliny has no distribution at all in the state of Arizona. You can read the sordid tale HERE.

This story serves to illustrate one of my biggest pet peeves with the American craft brew scene – beers that whip people into a frenzy based on their hype and rating on sites like Beer Advocate. I have had Pliny and it is a great beer but so is Blind Pig IPA, Russian River’s house IPA, which gets lost in the shouting for Pliny. The truth of the matter is that no beer is so much better than others that you would drive 4 states away or wait in line for 8 hours to get – you are buying into the hype and cache surrounding these beers. Some beer releases have been turned into all day events like Kate the Great Day in Portsmouth NH, which is the one day of the year that they release their famed Imperial Stout; Tod Mott is a great brewer and KTG is a great beer but would I take a day off from work and wait in line for 8 hours to get some…not really. Although at the above link I am psyched to find out that the event now generates charity dollars too.

I frequently talk to beer drinkers that have some incredible tales to tell: driving 24 hours to get rare beers, sleeping out to be first in line to buy a beer, stalking a certain booth at the GABF just to get a 2 oz. pour of a special release beer etc. Yet if you ask most of them if they have had all the beers from breweries in their own state or city…the answer is usually “no”.  I think that the American craft beer scene needs a double pint of reality and perspective – there are 1500 small breweries out there and most make delicious, clean and well crafted beer; they just do not have any beers that have been raised to a mythical status, like some with facebook, twitter and other websites abuzz with how cool these beers are. Unfortunately the second truth is that some small breweries put out a good beer but then two years later it isn’t so great with the sad truth being most beer geeks couldn’t tell if a beer is oxidized or packed with diacetyl anyways. Just drink the beer that you like and don’t buy into the hype.
<I would like to note that I have met Vinnie from Russian River Brewing a few times and he is a nice guy who doesn’t pay attention to all the hype – he just shows up and brews>

omega man.

Waiting for my train at Back Bay station, I am struck by the yawning chasm of difference between my dinner at one of Boston’s trendiest steak houses and the condition of the station that sees thousands of commuters a day. I am always surprised at the dizzying lack of pride and work ethic in public jobs here vs. Japan. Back Bay station is littered with trash, both on the tracks and on the ground beyond. Walking from the stairs to the more well lit areas demands that you circumnavigate islands of litter punctuated by strange puddles of pooling liquids whose source is not readily apparent. It smells of cooking sausage, diesel fumes and a sickly sweet aroma that I can’t quite put my finger on. Boston’s meager 700,000 person population cannot hold a candle to Tokyo yet that other city is worlds away in cleanliness – almost like watching a sci-fi movie with it’s sparkling white vision of the future. Being a dutiful employee of a company with managers and all the trimmings, the only question that comes to mind is; “who oversees the clean up and how can they keep their job?” Surely they must have meetings and reviews and goals….hopefully they did not get a yearly bonus.

beer from berkshire.

I like local beer; I mean really…who doesn’t?

One day in 1994, as I had just moved to western Mass, two guys named Gary and Chris started a brewery. Their idea was to become western Mass’s local beer brewery and they had no aspirations of becoming the next Sam Adams or Sierra Nevada – they just wanted to live and work in western Mass and brew great beer. I have admired the job that they have been doing ever since. As with many small breweries in the U.S. they focused on ales, which are quicker and thereby cheaper to make. Their flagship, Steel Rail Pale Ale, is a very nice balance of malt and hop flavors; hitting all the right notes for a beer that started in the lush green valleys of western Mass. I quickly became a ardent supporter of their cause, not only because of the great beer but because I liked their sensibility of wanting to make something well but not drive for expansion the way that some companies do. The difference from wanting to be a small, local artisan brewery, supplying their friends and community with tasty beer – as opposed to wanting to dominate the national craft beer scene – can most assuredly be tasted in the brews that they release.

Today, after returning from the Natick farmer’s market, I thought that I would try the seasonal beer from Berkshire Brewing – a Czech Pilsner. For a brewery that focused on ales for many years, these guys can sure put out a tasty lager! This dark straw pilsner has a great malt flavor from Czech floor malted barley (nice touch!) and is hopped with Czech Saaz hops using a steady and experienced hand. The clean fermentation profile is so refreshing, I accidentally drank the whole 22oz. bottle while writing this and watching my week old daughter take a nap (argh, now daddy needs a nap!). As I have always expected from BBC, this beer is delicious and well made – Gary and Chris (and gang!) have put out another local Massachusetts beer that underscores the skill and craftsmanship that many breweries in this state have to offer. Kudos! If you are new to BBC’s beers then pick up some Steel Rail P.A (their flagship), Lost Sailor IPA and for a great treat try their Coffee House Porter – which is my favorite coffee beer of all time (yeah…I said it). If you happen to be in South Deerfield, MA on a saturday; they have one tour at 1PM.

the beer of summer.

I am, like most beer lovers, a great admirer of seasonal brews. A lot of seasons I tend to pick a beer that I feel fits with the weather, or my mood and use it as an quaffable bass line to support other beers that I love. This spring for example, I could not get enough Sam Adams Noble Pils and even stockpiled it in my basement. This summer though the beer that fits with my life is hands down, Great Divide’s Colette.

I stumbled upon this gem of a Saison while making my way through the 15 or so varieties of Great Divide’s brews at my local beer store. This has been a theme with me over the last year; I pick a brewery I admire and proceed to work my way through their beers or at least the beers that are available to me (hear that Deschutes!! start selling on the east coast!!). The first brewery that I picked was Sierra Nevada and I was happy to try a lot of their beers; delighted that they don’t just make IPAs and Pale Ales and I now count their barley wine and stout among my favorites of those Americanized styles.
In the midst of drinking all that I could find from Great Divide, I stumbled upon Colette and I knew that I had found my summer beer. This tasty Saison is true to its roots in that hazy Wallonian farmhouse style with spicy hop and fermentation notes, a good helping of tart pucker and refreshing wheat backbone. I think where the brewers of GD made their mark with this beer is with the addition of rice. In today’s climate of fervent craft beer fundamentalism, rice is given a bad rap as a cheap grain only used by large mega-breweries. While the large breweries have used rice to lighten their beers to appeal to a wider market; rice is still a brewing grain with an ancient tradition. In Colette, the rice serves to lighten the beer’s hefty 7.3% ABV and allows the spicy fruit character to sing. This is truly a beer that enjoys the sunshine, green grass and a good chair.

caveman comes out.

After 6 very full days of taking care of our newborn and my vegetarian wife (more like she feeds the baby and I feed her)…tonight, daddy needed some grill lines. While buying a few odds and ends for the house, I spied a package of buffalo chicken sausages by a brand called Alfresco. Dumb name albeit these lean chicken and hot sauce links were in a natural pork casing and had the moist, spicy interior and grilled “snap” that I was craving. After vege pizzas, lentil soup and cereal for a few days, I am not ashamed to say that I needed some fire and meat – after all, the Maillard Reaction makes life worth living.

plus one.

Grabbing just a quick moment to write a post. We have added a member to our family; our new daughter Lula. She arrived in July 29th and has kept us very busy since then. I should get my bearings soon to post more about beer and food – but for now the three of us are having a blast!

always bet on black.

This weekend was busy with pre-baby tasks; but also included a trip to Julios liquors to stock up on beers that have been on my radar for a while. The work went as planned and when it came time for a beer break I found myself reaching for dark beers despite the 90F+ temp outside. First up was a beer that a workmate of mine has been raving about. It seems that in his hometown of Quebec there is a brewer that puts out a great oatmeal stout.
It was a really nice example of the style – thick body and head thanks to the oats, dark malts coupled with a nice amount of caramel malts giving the stout a complex malt range. The alcohol was noticeable but nicely balanced with a dark malt and mineral finish. It seems Remy was right – St. Ambroise oatmeal stout is world class.

My second dark beer of the day was another canned gem from 21st Amendment in San Fran. “Back in Black” is their black IPA – now apparently called a cascadian dark ale amongst the beer geek crowd.
This was a pretty good black ale; a good marriage of caramel and dark malt flavors and the resinous goodness of American hops. It is nice to see an IPA using some classic Columbus and Centennial hops. The only negative was a hint of acetic; I have another can so I can retest this one and see if it is a packaging issue or just a small flaw. All and all, a really solid beer.

sitting in weirdness.

Let me start this post by stating that I love my new iPhone and my other Apple brand gear. However, it seems that my phone has a small screen aberation-not sure what it is but it looks like a small split or crack in the display. After watching this buzzing hive of Wednesday night activity, at 5 minutes past closing, I find out that the crack was really something wrong with my expensive and hi-tech screen protector. Great, I am now one of those crazy tech wielding old people bothering the young hipsters. It turns out, the weirdness is me.