Archive for the ‘Brewery’ Category
The Friday Question
Friday, January 27th, 2012
Today was a special day in the brewery, the 19th anniversary of the very first Oliver’s brew day … let me say that again … NINETEEN years of Oliver Ales! I don’t know about you but I think that that is pretty amazing! That’s a lot of pints right there. I have had the honor of brewing Oliver Ales for the last 12 years (yeah, so my back hurts) so of course I couldn’t let this day pass without brewing something special to celebrate. “19″ is a big stout … if all goes well in fermentation it should weigh in at about 8.5% abv and I’m thinking about cold conditioning it with whole coffee beans (from our favorite local roaster Zeke’s of course). It will probably be released at the end of February. We’ll be doing some more bourbon barrel aging next week, this time Hot Monkey Love will be destined for the barrels which we’ll age for about 3 months.Yum!
So, last time out I asked how many different beers we brewed in 2011 for a growler of Oliver Ales and a bottle of the super rare BrewDog “Sunk Punk” (saw one at $50 on ebay earlier). It was a close run thing but only one can win and this time out it was Mr. Chris Sollitto with his guess of 40. The actual number was 39 by the way. Congratulations Chris.
This week I’ll keep you guessing numbers by asking how many pounds of grain total did we use in this weeks brews? We brewed four times, the first of which was a Blonde Ale, with a fairly low grain bill ( OG 1.043, 305lbs, to get you started) finishing with “19″ which had a massive grain bill (OG 1.080). Whoever gets closest will win something very special. I figure that as we’re celebrating the past, I’ll offer up something vintage so a bottle of Thomas Hardy’s Ale 1990 is up for grabs as well, of course, as a growler of Oliver Ale. I have to admit that I haven’t tried this vintage yet so I make no claims as to how it’s held up. As always, post your answer via the comment option and have a great weekend!
Win me!
The Goodbye To 2011 Friday Question
Friday, December 30th, 2011
Well here it is, the last Friday Question of 2011! It had been my intention to write a comprehensive “year in review” type piece but, to be honest, I just can’t be arsed (as we say in England). I’ve been up since 4.30 am and I’m having a hard time keeping my eyes open right now so I’ll make this brief. Before I get on to the nitty gritty of the Friday Question I want let you know what we’ll be up to in January. We’ll be starting the year in style thanks to our friends at Victoria Gastro Pub who are hosting an Oliver’s Pint Night on Monday 2nd January. We’ll be there with the Dawson’s Liquors crew and our Big D IPA with a limited glassware giveaway. As if that wasn’t reason enough to make sure you’re in HoCo that evening, we’ll have a veritable smorgasbord of beers on offer … are you ready for this line-up? We’ll have Winter’s Wolves Winter Ale (cask & draft) and Jacob’s Winter Celebration, William’s Winter Warmer, Hot Monkey Love, BW Rye #2, Draft Punk, Strongman Pale Ale single hop Sorachi Ace and Coventry Cream Ale. Outstanding, I hope you’ll agree?
Speaking of BW Rye, we’ll have the pleasure of the company of Dave & Mike of 3 Stars Brewing Company on January 13th for the next installment of the series. Feel free to drop by and say hello, there’s a good chance you’ll catch us at the bar at some point in the proceedings. On January 18th I’ll be handing over the brewery to Derek who will be brewing his first original brew. I have to admit I don’t know what it will be, not sure he does yet but again, drop by, bang on the glass and heckle (or kick back and join us for a beer when we get a chance to get out of the basement!) On the 20th I’ll be celebrating my birthday at Metropolitan with a few special brews, a beaujolais nouveau cask of Jacob’s Winter Celebration, bourbon barrel aged William’s Winter Warmer and rye barrel aged BW Rye#2. I hope that you’ll be able to join me … shenanigans will be had! Also on the brew schedule in January will be my Scottish Ale and the fifth installment of our collaborative series with Stillwater Ales, Channel Crossing.
So, last week I’d asked you to guess how many different beers I’d sampled from BrewDog in 2011. I’m pretty sure that you know by now that I’m a BrewDog fan … turns out I’ve had 35 different offerings from BrewDog or, if you count the different Paradox barrel versions as different beers (which, really, they are) then 40! You have all rather underestimated my determination to try every BrewDog beer, no one was close but Sandy was closest with his guess of 27, congratulations sir.
This week I offer up a growler of the Oliver Ale of your choice and a bottle of the rather rare BrewDog “Sunk Punk” . All you have to do is tell me how many different beers I brewed in 2011! Easy, eh? Get your thinking caps on and enter your answer via the comment option below. Good luck. see you in 2012. Happy New Year!
The Festive Friday Question
Friday, December 23rd, 2011
Wasn’t it about a month ago that I was putting together the last Festive Friday Question? Where the Hell did the year go? It’s been quite a year. Derek has joined me full time in the basement and we’ve brewed a lot of beer & had a lot of fun with it. We’ve brewed a lot of one-off/seasonal brews and, in my humble opinion, managed to be quite creative with them (God, I love the American craft brewing scene, so much innovation, so much great beer out there!) Batch #3500 came along and I’m kicking myself for not stashing away a sixtel of it to see in the New Year, oh well, live & learn. We have collaborated on a slew of brews with our friends Stillwater Ales, Brewer’s Art & 3 Stars Brewing Co. as well as brewing batches with Meridian Pint, Punks Backyard Grill and Dawsons Liquors and I’m happy to say that this will continue in the New Year. January will see the next batches of BW Rye and Channel Crossing and we’ll also be brewing with DC Brau! We’ll be starting off the year in style with a Beer Club/Big D pint night at Victoria Gastro Pub on January 2nd which will feature not only The Big D but also a pre-release of Jacob’s Winter Celebration, Winter’s Wolves Winter Ale (cask & draft), Strongman Pale Ale (single hop Sorachi Ace) and Draft Punk.
There will be more Big D pint nights in January at various locations such as Alewife & Max’s Taphouse … watch this space for details.
Following the success of our Beer Week joint beer dinner with Evolution we’re planning a series of quarterly events throughout 2012 and I’m excited to announce that the first will be on January 28th with Stillwater Ales. We’re in the process of finalising the menu/beer pairings and will post details soon.
So, let us get on to the business of the day … The Friday Question. Last week I asked the number of the bottle of Winter Migration (a limited run of 900) … the answer is … drum roll … 867 which makes Mat Amendt the winner, congratulations. This week I offer up a couple of very nice festive beers, BrewDog’s “Christmas Porter” and Bell’s “Christmas Ale” (pictured below) and a growler of Oliver Ale. The question is this … how many different BrewDog beers have I had the pleasure of drinking in 2011? Simple, eh? Submit your answer via the comment option before next Friday’s post and you could win these rare treats.
These tasty treats could be yours!
Have a wonderful Christmas (or whatever else you may celebrate!)
Cheers
The Friday Question
Friday, December 16th, 2011
It’s been a fun couple of weeks since my last post … lots of new brews happening and some excellent events. I hope you know by now that our latest collaboration with 3 Stars Brewing Co., “BW Rye #2″, an 8% abv rye porter, is now out and about! Truth be told we’re almost sold out of the draft at The Ale House though we still have a cask to tap in the near future. We distributed it to many fine establishments in the area though, so look out for it. Our friends at the wonderful Meridian Pint in DC are tapping both draft & cask next Tuesday (20th) along with a number of our recent seasonal brews that they’ve squirreled away and some killer brews from our good friends at Evolution … quite a pint night for sure … check out the flyer below.
Looks like a good place to be on Tuesday!
Also in the last week we’ve released our collaborationwith the crew from Dawson’s Liquors, The Big D. You may remember that we first brewed this for Baltimore Beer Week. We loved it and managed to secure enough hops for another batch so here it is again! It’s a bold IPA, 8% abv, brewed with a little orange blossom honey, orange and lemon peel and finished & dry hopped with a shit ton (honest, that’s the technical term) of Citra & Amarillo! We’ve had some special logo glassware made and the Dawson’s guys will be out and about for pint nights … we’ll post details of the whens and wheres as they’re confirmed!
Here at the Ale House we have a special cask on the beer engine right now, it’s dry hopped with Citra & Amarillo of course but also has lemon peel and grains of paradise added. It’s delicious, come and get a pint!
Also on tap now is our most recent collaboration with Stillwater Ales and The Brewer’s Art. Usually at this time of year I release Merry Ole Ale, an English spiced Christmas Ale. This year it seemed appropriate, in light of our joining forces with the Brewer’s Art to present the Holiday Beer Festival, to make it a joint effort. Steve, Brian and myself decided to retain my traditional malt/hop grist but ferment with Brewer’s Art yeast and replace the normal festive spices witha touch of fresh rosemary. It’s now on tap at The Ale House, both draft and cask (dry hopped with German Tettnanger), come try it!
If you follow us on facebook or twitter (and if not, why not?) you already know that we listen to a lot of Metal in the brewery, especially the Sword. As we were preparing for their awesome show at Rams Head Live last week I suggested that maybe we should brew a Winter Ale as a tribute to the band. They were cool with it so it is done! It’s in fermentation right now, “Winter’s Wolves” Winter Ale, chestnut brown in color, 7% abv, brewed with a little honey and Scottish Heather. We’ll be conditioning the brew with a little American White Oak and releasing it in January. Our good friend, Mr. J. Mooy (he of Dawson’s/The Big D brew) put together a tap logo for us which absolutely screams METAL! Check it out ….
Coming in January!
Also in January … my birthday! My creaking bones will be celebrating at Metropolitan Coffee House Friday January 20th with some special brews … we’ll have a one off Beaujolais Nouveau oak cask of Jacob’s Winter Celebration along with the draft of bourbon barrel aged William’s Winter Warmer and rye barrel aged BW Rye #2, both making their debut. I hope that you can join me in celebrating my surviving another year!
So, onto the Friday Question. Last time I’d asked how many songs were on my i-pod? The answer is … drum roll … 29233! There were some extremely close answers but only one can win and this week it was Nick … good job sir! A growler and a bottle of something are yours (not sure what that bottle will be, what do you give the man who has everything already?)
This week we have a nice prize lined up. As you no doubt know, I’m a big fan of Evolution Craft Brewing Co., especially their limited barrel aged releases, so this week I’m offering up a bottle of Fall Migration & Winter Migration. Both are limited releases. The Fall Migration is bottle is bottle 1207 of 1350. All I want to know is what number is the Winter Migration (of 900). Guess away and good luck. Submit your entry via the comment option.
Yes, you could win this deliciousness!
A Friday Question Review
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
While we’re waiting for the next Friday Question (coming this week, I promise) I’ll post a review from a previous winner, John T. John won a few weeks back and got a growler of William’s Winter Warmer and bottle of BrewDog’s “Hops Kill Nazis” for his trouble. As usua,l I invited John to submit a review of the beer for a blog post and he was kind enough to submit the following review of William’s Winter Warmer.
Williams Winter Warmer
A trip to Pratt Street Alehouse is like a trip to a classic 19th
century alehouse. If you overlook the flat screen TV’s, modern
plumbing, and recently bathed staff. The selection of beers is also
reminiscent of what we would see in that time. And for the tenth year
they are featuring a classic Winter Warmer.
William’s Winter Warmer is a classic strong ale that is perfect for
the season. This beer pours a very dark reddish brown with a tan head
that dissipates rather quickly with little to no lacing on glass. It
seems almost opaque, but held to a light the reddish brown goodness
can be seen. A lift to the nose and you will notice a very mild nose.
With the smell of malt, dark fruit, a little fruity ester and if you
try hard enough just a little wood.
Of course the fun really begins when you place your lips to the glass.
But before I jump into that, I must add some advice on ordering this.
Make it your second beer. But order this at the same time as your
first to let it warm up a bit. If you do this you will really be
pleased. This beer tends to fill out quite a bit as it warms up, when
cold it can be a little hallow. It has a very pleasant mild malty
sweetness, balanced by just the right amount of hops. The very light
carbonation, in my opinion, adds to the warming character. It feels
almost oily but still light with building stickiness. Hops are barely
present, really just enough to balance and provide a tiny bit of bite
on the finish. The taste also finishes with rich dark cherry, black
currant, and a slight hint of oak. The oak character shows up more as
tannins, than a woody or vanilla flavor. I don’t think I would have
attributed the tannin character to the oak if I hadn’t known it was
used to balance the 10% ABV. The dark fruit flavor seems to linger
for what feels like hours, or at least until your next sip.
I truly enjoyed William’s Winter Warmer, and look forward to next
year’s 11% ABV version. As I said earlier, give this time to get warm.
Your patience will be rewarded. And if you are are looking for another
local Strong Ale and happen to be in Frederick, MD during a new moon,
check out Brewer’s Alley New Moon Ale. Wish I could do a head to head
comparison of the two. It is wonderful that Baltimore has such great
beer brewed in our back yard. Cheers Steve!
-John T
Don’t forget, you can still enter the last Friday Question and win a growler fill of your choice and a bottle of something from the fridge. You can follow John on twitter @TheHopLocal
Cheers
The Friday Question
Friday, November 18th, 2011
The planets have aligned and the unthinkable has happened … I’ve managed to sit down and post a Friday Question for a second consecutive week! Sweet baby Jesus, miracles do happen! It’s been a busy, fun week. Despite our limited space down here we’ve managed to fill another barrel, this time, appropriately enough, a rye barrel with our recent collaboration with 3 Stars Brewing Company, BW Rye #2, a 7.8% rye porter. The regular draft and cask will be released in early December and the barrel will be aged for a couple of months at least.
Speaking of barrels, we have once again acquired a couple of freshly drained Beaujolais Nouveau 4 gallon oak casks from the wonderful Bruce at Metropolitan. One of these will find itself home to Jacob’s Winter Celebration and back at Metropolitan for my birthday shenanigans on January 20th, the other will be home to My Minkey’s Got Wood (Ooh la la edition) for future release at Metro.
Ooh la la
We’re also conditioning the Big D IPA at the moment, casks are filled and ready to go and we’ll announce the release date soon. The guys from Dawson’s Liquors, with whom we created this brew, will be out and about hosting some pint nights with limited souvenir glassware giveaways … full details coming soon. Speaking of souvenir glassware, we have some pretty cool glassware for the Hot Monkey Love release (pictured) . You can get your paws on one of these super limited glasses at the Pratt Street Ale House on November 30th (5 -7pm) and The Big Hunt in D.C. on December 1st (6 – 8pm).
Coming soon.
So, onto the business of the Friday Question. Lat week I asked the following …… to whom and on what date is the following quote attributed? “Press on. Make sure that the beer – four pints a week – goes to the troops under the fire of the enemy before any of the parties in the rear gets a drop”
The answer is of course the one and only Sir Winston Churchill on 11/20/1944. The correct answers were pooled and a winner drawn by my lovely wife and that winner is Mr. Scott Scharf, congratulations Scott, you win a growler fill of your choice and a bottle of BrewDog Abstrakt 07.
This week I’m returning to an old favorite (to see if any of you have been paying attention) … music. You know the score, when we get into the brewery in the morning the lights go on and then the i-pod. Sadly my i-pod is almost full, only 6.9 GB left. Apparently we’ve got 81.7 days of tunes available to us now … how many songs are on the i-pod now? Submit your answer via the comment option below, good luck. The lucky winner gets a growler fill of their choice at The Ale House and a bottle of something interesting from my fridge!
Cheers!
The Friday Question
Friday, November 11th, 2011
It’s been a long time since I rock ‘n’ rolled! It’s been a long time since I’ve posted on the blog as well so it seems appropriate that on a day as unique as 11/11/11 I finally remember to set another Friday Question. Of course, and more importantly, it is also Veterans Day. Again I shall raise a glass to our servicemen everywhere and give thanks to their valor and, in particular, my son Jacob’s Great Grandfather, Chester Abucevicz, who served his country in the Second World War. Should you wish to make a charitable donation to a veterans group I include this link.
By now I hope that you’re aware of our staggering range of seasonal beers on offer at The Pratt Street Ale House. We have Meridian #4 (4.5% amber bitter), The Darkness (7.6% black wheat ale), The Bishop’s Indulgence (8% stout brewed with cacao nibs & vanilla beans), S.O.B. (9% “smoked Belgian Porter” brewed with Stillwater Ales & The Brewer’s Art), Smoke Break (5.7% smoked chipotle porter) and William’s Winter Warmer (10% strong ale). As if that wasn’t enough, we have 3 more in the works, namely Hot Monkey Love, The Big D IPA (brewed for Dawson’s Liquors) and BW Rye#2 rye porter (brewed with our friends at 3 Stars Brewing Company). These delicious ales will all be appearing on tap at the end of November/early December. We will be celebrating the release of Hot Monkey Love (10% abv) with events at the Pratt Street Ale House on Wednesday 30th November at 5pm with draft and an oak barrel (My Monkey’s Got Wood) with Elderflowers and at The Big Hunt in D.C. on Thursday 1st December at 6pm with draft and a pin of My Monkey’s Got Wood. We’ll have souvenir glassware at both events, don’t miss out.
So, many moons ago, when I posted the last Friday Question, I asked how many casks we’d filled in August? The answer was 47 which makes John T. the winner. Congratulations sir, you win a growler fill of your choice at The Ale House and a bottle from the brewery fridge stash! Sorry about the delay in posting the result. This week’s question is quite easy (thanks to the power of google) so I expect many correct answers, and I shall enter all into a draw to win a growler fill and a few bottles from our collection … the question is this … to whom and on what date is the following quote attributed? “Press on. Make sure that the beer – four pints a week – goes to the troops under the fire of the enemy before any of the parties in the rear gets a drop”
Post your answer via the comment option below, good luck.
By the way, we now have William’s Winter Warmer t-shirts available at The Ale House (pictured), come get one, William thinks they’re pretty cool!
William's Winter Warmer t-shirts now available
Homebrew Competition Results
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011
Apologies, this post is a little overdue, it’s been a hectic few weeks … relentless brew schedule, sick baby etc! Derek and I judged the homebrew competition a few weeks ago and although we didn’t receive as many entries as I would have liked (we had 12) the overall quality was high, we were impressed. Of the 12, 6 were serious contenders but it eventually came down to 2. At this point we were pretty torn between the 2 but our decision was made for us. Unfortunately one of the two finalists in consideration came with no information at all … no brew sheet, no contact info … nothing! I reached out via the blog and brewery facebook & twitter accounts to track the mystery brewer down, but to no avail, so the decision was made and the winners are Russ & Jeff with their smoked chipotle porter which we will be brewing tomorrow. I should point out that the mystery brewer has now been identified as Brian with his rye saison but unfortunately too late for this competition. We liked the beer though so we’ve communicated with Brian so that if our schedule allows we’d like to get him in to brew it in the Spring. We’re excited about the brew day. Justin, co-owner of the Pratt St. Ale House, is smoking the jalapenos today and we’ll be using Briess Cherry Wood smoked malt which has the most amazing aroma (think BBQ sauce) … we think this will be a great addition to the taps for Baltimore Beer Week. Look out for it!
Hey Homebrewer, what’s your name?
Monday, September 5th, 2011
So, on Friday afternoon we judged the homebrew competition. There were some great entries … it was a difficult job. We narrowed the field to two but have been hampered in our final decision by the fact that one of the entries was unmarked … 3 plain 12 oz bottles were submitted (via Marylad Home Brew) in a BluePoint “Hoptical Illusion” six pack! If the brewer of these is out there please contact me by the end of business on Wednesday … I have some questions for you and then we can make our final decision.
Cheers!
The Friday Question Updated
Friday, August 26th, 2011
Well, it’s certainly turning out to be quite a week. Needless to say it’s been a busy one, six brews (presuming I get through tomorrow’s brew day), an earthquake and now a hurricane on the way! Talk about career firsts! Being in the basement is starting to get a bit scary! I was filling casks of My Monkey’s Got Wood when the earthquake rolled through … I saw the ground rise just slightly, felt it beneath my feet and the vessels around me shook … quite amazing!
Regrettably there are no new brews on the immediate horizon as we’ve been frantically brewing to keep our regular products on tap. I’m pleased to announce though that we’re keeping Draft Punk on tap for the foreseeable future and, in fact, it just took a silver medal and topped the IPA category in the Brewer’s Association of Maryland’s Governor’s Cup competition. I’ll post the full Governor’s Cup results in a separate post after they’re officially announced this week. If you’re interested, we have one sixtel of “Strong Punk”, a blend of Strongman Pale Ale (Sorachi Ace) and Draft Punk on tap at the Ale House … I have to say, it’s pretty damn tasty! Over the course of the next two weeks we’ll be brewing some new seasonal ales though they won’t see the light of day until Baltimore Beer Week. The entries for the homebrew competition are all in now. Judging will take place next week and of course the winner will be invited to join us to brew his/her beer’s brew day for release at Oktoberfest. We’ve got a couple of collaboration’s planned for BBW release as well … details will follow soon. BBW is shaping up nicely. We’ll be hosting a beer release at The Ale House directly following the Opening Tap event and on Tuesday 11th October we’re hosting a beer dinner with our good friends from Evolution Brewing Co. Plans are well underway for the 8th Chesapeake Real Ale Festival, which, I think I can safely say, will be bigger and better than ever! Speaking of Real Ale Festivals we will, of course, be participating in the DuClaw Festival next month with a firkin of batch #3500 (9.2% red ale brewed with juniper berries) we’ve stashed away for just such an occasion as well as dry hopped Cask Punk. I’ve just purchased a shiny new beer engine which will make it’s debut at the festival. Later in the month we’ll be at the Union Mills Festival where we’ll be pouring only cask ales.
So, onto the Friday Question. Last week I asked what percentage of the grist of BW Rye was the rye. There was quite a spread of answers but most were way too high! Rye is one of those ingredients best approached with caution … use too much and it can cause complications in the mash tun (“gumming” it up, I think you could say). I prefer to keep the percentage around 10% and this particular brew came in at 10.4% which makes Trevor the winner. Congratulations young man, you win a growler of Oliver Ale and a bottle of your choice from the goodies in the brewery fridge. Oops, apparently I can’t read my own writing, I actually used 11.4% which makes Steve Judge the actual winner, my apologies. I will of course award the prize to both Trevor & Steve.
This week I want to know … how many casks (kils/pins/firkins) did we fill in August? Simple, eh? May I remind you that we’ve only got a 7 bbl system!
Have at it! Good Luck.