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The Friday Question

Steve — Fri, 20 May 2011 18:29:57 +0000

You may have noticed that the Friday question took the week off last week, too much else going on with the whole brewing thing and setting up the Real Ale festival, but we’re back bigger, better, faster, stronger etc! Hope everybody’sbeen having a good time with American Craft Beer Week this week. Lots going on, in fact it’s starting to feel like a dress rehearsal for Baltimore Beer Week! Tonight sees our third new beer release this week with the “HoCo Summer Session” release party at T-Bonz. Don’t be fooled by the name though, this is in no way a session beer. This wheat ale, brewed especially for T-Bonz and Victoria Gastro Pub, is 7.5% abv and was brewed with agave and elderflowers, bittered with Sorachi Ace and Chinook and finished with Cascade. A few casks were also filled, dry hopped with Cascade and elderflowers. Check out Baltimore Beer Guy’s blog for more details of the brew day and tonight’s release.

Tomorrow we’ll be at Clyde’s Inaugral Craft Beer Tasting pouring 3 Lions Ale, Golden Glory (wheat ale with ginger, lemongrass and coriander) and Channel Crossing #4 and we’ll also be at Hudson Street Stackhouseat 6pm for a pint night featuring a firkin of 3 Lions Ale (dry hopped with Kent Goldings & Bramling Cross and with French Oak) and on draft Bishop’s Breakfast stout, Cherry Blossom Ale and Channel Crossing #4. We’ll be giving away some glassware (limited supply, come early), so come grab a pint or two and say hello!

So, in the last Friday Question I asked about a city/venue that the band I worked for played on our US tour. It was an impossible question I guess as I’m not even sure of the accuracy of the information in the tour itinerary (but hey, the tour manager was American so we trusted him!) Anyway, nobody got it, the answer is shown below

Baltimore to Toronto, Lee's palace was the venue.

This week I’ll return to the beer theme. An old advertising campaign boldly asserted that “Beer Is Best” and that it contained “yeast for vitality” and “sugar for energy”. What beneficial properties were assigned to malt and hops? On offer this week is a growler of Oliver Ale and a 750ml bottle of the excellent “Menagerie #5″ (an Imperial Russian Stout aged in bourbon barrels) from our friends at Evolution Craft brewing Co. (courtesy of their man Tommy, follow him on twitter @EvolutionTom) as always post your answer via the comment option, good luck.

Trust me, you want to win this!

The Real Ale Festival is almost here!

Steve — Wed, 11 May 2011 15:08:53 +0000

Where are you going to be on Saturday? I hope you’ll be enjoying some of the finest cask ales in the land with me at The Pratt Street Ale House. If you haven’t got a ticket yet, don’t delay, go to www.prattstreetalefest.com now. Purchase your ticket, print out the receipt and bring it along with photo ID on Saturday and you’re all set … cask ale nirvana is within your reach! Here’s a list of what we’ll be offering:

Stone Ruination IPA dry-hopped Amarillo,
Evolution Lot 6 Double IPA & a pin (5-gallon cask) of a one-off Bacon Porter (!)
Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale dry hopped with Cascade
                   Mamas Little Yella Pils w/ rosehips
                   Old Chub w/ coconut
Weyerbacher Blanche
Flying Fish Exit 4 w/ Centennial & Citra
                   Hopfish IPA dry hopped with centennial
Brewer’s Art Resurrection
Stillwater/Brewer’s Art Debutante
Stillwater Beaujolais cask Existent (only for VIP hour)
Troegs Javahead Stout (dry hopped with Columbus)
Great Divide Yeti
BrewDog Paradox Isle of Arran
Heavy Seas Loose Cannon Red, White & Birch (red oak/white oak/birch)
Stoudt’s Heifer-in-Wheat w/ kumquat
Yards Saison (dry hopped with Kent Goldings)
The Raven Lager
Flying Dog Gonzo on oak
                 Doggie Style Pale Ale double dry hopped with CTZ (Columbus, Tomahawk,Zeus) and Centennial
Breckenridge Summer Bright with Simcoe Hops
                       471 IPA w/ glacier
White Marsh Daily Crisis IPA, A10-Warthog Ale
Brewer’s Alley Oatmeal Stout [a blend of 2/3 Oatmeal Stout aged in a Woodford Reserve Bourbon barrel for 3 weeks & 1/3 "virgin" Oatmeal Stout]
DuClaw 2010 Devil’s Milk aged in Jack Daniels Whiskey Barrel
Dog Brewing Java Stout with French oak, cacao nibs, espresso beans & vanilla
Oliver Hot Monkey Love batch #2 2010 drawn directly from oak barrel (aged 10 months)
           Pagan Porter with vanilla
           Draft Punk Beaujolais cask w/ Juniper & honey (for VIP hour)
Oliver/Stillwater Channel Crossing #4 dry hopped w/ Tettnanger

I hope you’ll agree, this event is not to be missed.
There’ll be Designated Driver tix available at the door : $10 free soda with a 25% discount on food

The Friday Question

Steve — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:17:52 +0000

Oh crap, I’ve only just realised it’s Friday …. see, I wasn’t kidding when I said in the last post that the conventional week has fallen by the wayside … starting the brewing week on Sunday threw me out of sync! I’m just finishing brew # 6 this week so I’m feeling a little tired to say the least. I’m hoping that my soon to be born son, Jacob, doesn’t put in an appearance for at least a few more days as I need to get a 3 Lions brewed tomorrow and an Amber Ale on Sunday. I must confess that I haven’t had a chance to check the World Cup statistics to find out who has scored the quickest goal in the last week of play which was the Friday Question to be awarded today (http://www.prattstreetalehouse.com/2010/06/the-friday-question-41/). I’ll try and figure it out sometime over the weekend and announce the winner (or someone can do my homework for me and let me know!)

On to this week’s question and you’ve got to be quick off the mark this time, entries are accepted only until 10am on Sunday (ie kick off of the England match.) The question is, of course, this What is the final score of the England v. Germany game AND which player scores first? O.K. all of you couch sports pundits, have at it! The winner gets a few brews from the winning country and will be entered into the grand draw to win a replica jersey!

Here’s something that you don’t see everyday … an England World Cup supporting ice cream van! What I’d give to drive to work in one of these on Sunday!! I’ve already proposed importing one to use as the brewery truck for beer festivals and promotions but it seems to have fallen on deaf ears! Can you imagine, Oliver Ales and ice-cream cones at all future beer festivals, Brew @ The Zoo would be awesome!

a sweet ride (excuse the pun!)

They make ‘em with 3 different chimes … check out the videos @ http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Whitby-Morrison/151564315831?ref=ts. How awesome is that?

The Channel Crossing, update.

Steve — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:52:27 +0000

As already reported here ( http://www.prattstreetalehouse.com/2010/04/channel-crossing-series-vol-1/) and at the Beer In Baltimore blog ( http://beerinbaltimore.com/?p=3262 ) we’re working on an interesting little project with Brian of Stillwater Artisinal Ales which we’re calling the Cross Channel Series. Working with elements from the brewing styles that represent us ie English and Belgian Ales respectively, we’ve come up with a hybrid Biere de Garde of sorts. This seems to have raised a few eyebrows. England and Belgium both have disparate brewing traditions steeped in their own unique history despite their essential geographical proximity (you can board the Eurostar in London, travel under the Channel and be in the heart of Brussels in under 2 hours)! Nonetheless, these days I find the blurring of stylistic beer guidelines to be a wonderfully positive development, with exciting collaborations between breweries becoming a frequent occurrence. How can you not love things like “bashah” the “black Belgian style double India Pale Ale” created by the collaboration of Scotland’s BrewDog and West Coast legends Stone? Collaborating with Brian happened very naturally and seemed like a forgone conclusion from the first time we met and discussed our respective brewing philosophies! It took little more than a few e-mails to develop the recipe. Using Brian’s saison yeast was a must of course for the “style” that we wanted to brew, but using it for the first time in open fermentation adds a little twist to the process. It’s exciting, I think, for both of us to be brewing something where you don’t necessarily have a fixed idea of exactly how the beer is going to turn out. There are many variables that add to the complexity of the process … using the saison yeast in open fermentation is something of an unknown for us, using a malt grist mix of English malts and Franco-Belges Pilsen malt and hopping with a mix of classic English hops and Czech Saaz adds a twist. We adjusted the mash temperature to alter the fermentability of the wort a little with a view to finishing with slightly more sweetness in keeping with an English yeast fermentation than the drier saison style. We intend filling as many casks as we can get hold of. Some will be on French Oak, some with American White Oak. Some will be dry hopped with the same hop mix as used in the brew, others dry hopped with a single hop from the varieties that we used (ie Kent Goldings, Bramling Cross and Czech Saaz respectively). Brian also has ideas for adding herbs/spices to cask so there will be a plentiful array of firkins available that offer unique variations of the style. Despite the gruelling 21 hour double brew day that was required to produce the 14 barrels of Cross Channel Ale, my first brewing collaboration is proving to be an exciting journey into the unknown! I can’t wait to see how it finishes!

My Monkey’s Got Wood … on Thursday!

Steve — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 20:52:22 +0000

O.K. folks, Thursday is the day. The t-shirts for “My Monkey’s Got Wood” will be in tomorrow so if you want one and a beer come along on Thursday. “My Monkey’s Got Wood” will on special between 5pm and 7pm, $3 for a 10 oz snifter.We have a very limited supply of the t-shirts so don’t miss out (only 27 will be available for sale). We’ll be on hand for a while so if you want to talk beer we’ll be happy to listen and answer any questions you have. If you purchase a Monkey Wood batch #1 t-shirt you’ll automatically be entered into the draw for the My Monkey’s Got Wood batch #2 release in November. That will get you a free batch # 2 t-shirt available at the release and you will be the guest of honor that pours the first snifter of batch #2 (which of course you get to drink for free!) and we’ll even throw in dinner for you and a guest. Sound good, well then get yourself down to the Pratt Street Ale House on Thursday from 5pm.

Speaking of wood, if you’re out and about tonight, The Judge’s Bench (http://judgesbenchpub.com/) will be entertaining the fine folks of the SPBW with a firkin (gravity pour) of 3 Lions aged with American Oak so come along and enjoy a beer and good company.