Posts Tagged ‘Cask Ale’
The Friday Question
Friday, February 19th, 2010
Before I get on to the business of The Friday Question I would like to encourage you all to check out the new Oliver Ales facebook page that I set up recently and if you feel inclined please become a fan www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/oliver-ales/288496506028?ref=ts. I’ll be posting regular updates of brewery activities, releases etc so if you want to keep abreast of what’s new and where it’ll be pouring, join us. By way of some gentle encouragement there’s going to be a “prize” draw for fans only which may be of interest to some of you. Some time in the near future I’ll be receiving a bottle of the World’s Strongest Beer (at least for now), the 41% BrewDog “Sink The Bismarck” along with their 0.5% “Nanny State”. An interesting contrast I think you’ll agree! I’ll be getting together with avid local beer bloggers www.beerinbaltimore.blogspot.com , www.beerinbaltimore.com and www.baltimorebeer.blogspot.com to taste test and review these beers and I’ll be inviting one Oliver Ales fan, chosen at random, to join us and review the beers for my blog and facebook page. Check out the facebook page for details.
So, onto last weeks question. There are several sources of published data. For example online @ http://www.nickelinstitute.org/index.cfm/ci_id/12606.htm which gives the empty and full weights for a stainless steel kilderkin as being 51lb and 236lb respectively. The book “Cellarmanship” by Ivor Clissold gives the weights as 46lb and 226 lb for stainless steel and 32lb and 212lb for aluminium. Now, as you know, we here at Oliver’s don’t take these things lightly (ha,ha!), especially when there’s one of our cool new Hot Monkey Love t-shirts at stake so we weighed one and the result is ….. drum roll …..
The weight of a full Kilderkin is 220lb
Yep, 220lb so that makes Dan the winner and, for the first time ever the answer was spot on, congratulations Dan, let me buy you a beer as well when you come in to collect your prize. By-the-way, the empty weight of our kilderkins is 37lb if you’re interested.
So, this week’s question (sticking to a theme here) is how much would a Pin of Hot Monkey Love weigh? Said pin will be featured at our Cask Ale Festival to be held at The Pratt Street Ale House on March 20th (full details will be posted next week). The festival is going to be limited to 110 tickets but you can attend as our guest if you can answer the above question correctly. As usual please post your answer via the comment section below. In the event of tied winning entries, an overall winner will be made by a random draw from the correct entries. Good luck.
Please join us at Victoria Gastro pub on Monday evening for their beer club night where you can get a sneak preview of our Biere de Garde in cask. They’ll also be pouring The Bishop’s Indulgence, Strongman Pale Ale and Coventry Cream Ale. We’ll be there and if we’re feeling generous we might just buy you a beer!
Have a great weekend.
Cheers
Steve
Three Spires Ale
Thursday, February 18th, 2010
In homage to my hometown of Coventry comes “Three Spires Ale”, a golden ale @ 5% a.b.v. It is generously hopped with English First Gold, Kent Goldings and Fuggles. Although it is going to be served as a nitro pour as a replacement for the Blackfriar Stout I have racked a number of firkins as well and these will be distributed over the next 2 weeks. I’ll keep you posted as to where and when it will be available.
Cask conditioned "Three Spires Ale" coming soon
Winter wonderland Part 2.
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
No photos this time, just look at the pictures from the last WW post and add more snow! It was a hell of a walk to the Ale House from Fells Point. A lesson quickly learned was not to bother wearing my glasses, they were covered in snow in seconds, result zero visibility. There were a lot of city trucks out though, so some of the roads weren’t too bad. What I really love about the walk is the silence! With the exception of an occasional passing vehicle or other weary pedestrian and a distant siren, the only noise was the sound of my own labored breath and the snow beneath my boots. The city looks so serene under cover of snow, so calm, it’s hard to believe that this is Baltimore, with its triple digit homicide rate etc. The main difference between today’s journey and that of Saturday was the wind today! As I neared the Ale House strong gusts of wind would blow the freshly fallen snow along the street, almost like a creeping fog, causing a momentary whiteout. It felt as if I was breathing snow!
But here I am. Monday’s Irish Red fermentation is progressing well and needs a little aeration by rousing to keep those yeast cells dividing. Yesterday’s Three Spires Ale was a little on the warm side so I’m chilling it back a little but otherwise fermentation got off to a good start. If you haven’t read the previous post, the Three Spires is going to be a new nitro pour ale available at The Ale House in place of the Blackfriar Stout, which I’m retiring for the time being. It’s a hoppy little Golden Ale @ 5% a.b.v. which should fit nicely into our portfolio. I think it will be a great cask conditioned ale also so I’ll be filling a few firkins before the bulk of the brew goes to conditioning and subsequent nitrogenation. Speaking of firkins, we’ve just bought a few new ones to add to our stockpile to try and keep up the demand for cask conditioned ale, which is showing a healthy upward trend at the moment. That makes me a happy brewer.
The Strongman Pale Ale is on tap now so when the snow stops and the pub can open again come stop by for a pint. I think you’ll like it. We should hopefully be open tomorrow, Thursday.
Stay safe and warm
Steve
The Friday Question
Friday, January 29th, 2010
The time has finally come to reveal the winner of the Tactical Nuclear Penguin. There was an incredible spread of answers, from 9 pounds sterling at the lower end to over 60 at the other. A couple of answers were pretty close but one was the clear winner. The correct answer was …. bagpipe flourish & drum roll ….
If you can’t quite make that out apologies for the poor picture quality (you’d think i-phone could do better) but the answer is 17.32. By my reckoning, that makes “Red Rob” the winner with the answer of 18.86. Congratulations sir, I will be in touch to arrange collection of your prize. For those of you who may be interested, to have it shipped directly from BrewDog to the Ale House would have been 40 pounds! I had asked my Mother to ship it to me by the quickest method regardless of cost (within reason) but she, of course, being my Mother ignored this and just sent it regular parcel air mail. She didn’t even put a “fragile” sticker on it! Clearly no respect for beer there, even though her son has been a brewer for 16 years.
So, as you may know, on Tuesday @ 6pm we will launch our latest seasonal beer, The Bishop’s Indulgence, at The Cask Ale Social at the Pratt Street Ale House. As well as having the beer on tap and on cask (aged on a little American Oak) we will have a glass ended firkin of Best Bitter dry hopped with Maryland Chinook on gravity pour in the lounge so you can see how yeast settles in the cask. The Bishop’s Indulgence will be available in 10 oz snifters for $3 and our other cask beers will be priced at $3/pint. We’ll also have an informal discussion of cask ale brewing and handling so if you have any questions about cask ale come along, have a beer and we’ll do our best to answer them. You may have read in the previous posts about the Bishop’s Indulgence that it is an 8% a.b.v. stout brewed with cocoa nibs and vanilla beans. This week’s question is simple. How many vanilla beans did I use making this brew? I want the number of vanilla beans not the weight of beans and it includes any beans that may have been used in casks. As usual, answers via the comment section please, one answer per person only. The closest answer to the correct number wins and in the event of a tie the answer posted first takes it. The prize will be a growler of The Bishop’s Indulgence. Good luck.
For those of you in the DC area, look out for the Blonde Ale dry hopped with Chinook and Dark Horse mild @ RFD and Best Bitter and Dark Horse at ChurchKey. Next week we’ll also be sending casks out to both Pizzeria Paradiso locations and more to ChurchKey. Also mark your calendar for the Strong Beer Tasting at The Brickskeller on Tues 9th February where we’ll have our last sixtel of ’09 Hot Monkey Love. Commonwealth Gastro Pub will be hosting an Oliver Ale Beer Dinner on March 2nd (t.b.c.), more details to follow.
Have a great weekend.
Cheers
Steve
New on cask
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Now on the Brewer’s Choice beer engine is the Blonde Ale, dry hopped with Chinook (grown, hand-picked and air dried in Frederick County). There’s only one pin available so get it while you can.
Dry Hopped Blonde Ale now on cask.
Remember on Tuesday 2nd February @ 6pm we will be releasing our latest seasonal offering, The Bishop’s Indulgence, an 8% stout brewed with cocoa nibs and vanilla beans (see the blog archive for details of the brew). As well as having a kilderkin of The Bishop’s Indulgence aged on American Oak on the beer engine, we will have a glass ended firkin of Best Bitter dry hopped with Maryland Chinook on gravity pour in the lounge for a more “interactive” cask ale drinking experience . I’ll be on hand to talk about cask ale brewing and handling and, as Tuesday night is cask ale appreciation night at The Pratt Street Ale House, cask pints will be just $3 (with the exception of The Bishop’s Indulgence, which will be $3 for a 10 oz snifter).
Cheers
Steve
The Friday Question
Friday, January 15th, 2010
First off, before I get on to the Friday Question I just want you cask ale lovers out there know that the Scottish Ale is now the Brewer’s Choice beer engine at The Pratt Street Ale House, it’s big and bold, full of malt character with an underlying sweetness and hints of smoke and peat and is a little over 7% a.b.v.
O.K., on to last weeks question, what is the weight of hops used in producing the Strongman Pale Ale? Well Mr. Sandy Mitchell’s “price is right strategy” paid off this time as the actual weight of hops used is a little more than all of the guesses at 14lbs. For those of you interested the hop additions are as follows: start of boil… 5 lbs First Gold, after 1 hour of boil 1 lb Kent Goldings, after 1 hour and 50 minutes 1 lb Kent Goldings. In the hop percolator 3 lbs Kent Goldings and 2 lbs Bramling Cross and last but not least 2 lbs of Kent Goldings for dry hopping in conditioning. Congratulations Sandy.
As you know, this weeks prize is something a bit special, a bottle of the super rare and super expensive Tactical Nuclear Penguin, BrewDog’s “strongest beer in the world” monster. Because of the nature of this prize I’m going to let this Question stand for 2 weeks, the winner will be announced on Friday 29th January. As usual, answers must be posted via the comment section below, one answer per person only please and the closest guess to the actual answer wins it! In the event of a tie the answer posted first gets it, judges decision is final etc. Oh yeah and you have to be able to come and pick the prize up, o.k. So, the question …. this beer is well travelled. Firstly from Scotland to my parents’ house in Tamworth, Staffordshire, England. My mother then dispatched the 2 bottles to me courtesy of the Royal Mail. She posted it on 6th January and it arrived on 13th January. What I want to know is how much did it cost my Mum to ship these 2 bottles from England to Baltimore? Good luck, one of those bottles could be yours!
The Cask Ale Social/ Bishop’s Indulgence Release
Monday, January 11th, 2010
Mark your calendars for a special event at The Pratt Street Ale House. On Tuesday 2nd February @ 6pm we will launch our new seasonal, The Bishop’s Indulgence, an 8% a.b.v. chocolate stout and will be holding an informal discussion of cask ale brewing and handling featuring a glass ended firkin of Best Bitter.
As you can see above, although the view through the firkin is impressive (who are those ruggedly handsome brewers?), when it is filled with beer you’ll be able to see the way that the finings in the cask promote the flocculation of the yeast, forming a sediment at the bottom of the cask. You’ll be able to draw your own pint straight from the cask. I’ll be talking about cask ale preparation and handling and we’ll have the various tools of the trade on display for you to look at and we’ll be on hand to answer any questions that you might have. The event will be pay as you go and of course Tuesday night is cask appreciation night at The Ale House so our cask beer is only $3/pint. For the Bishop’s Indulgence, $3 will get you a 10oz serving in a snifter. But wait, there’s more. If you choose to pay $4 for your first beer you get to keep a souvenir Oliver Ale pint glass!
Bishop’s Indulgence will be available on both cask and regular tap. The cask is aged on Oak with vanilla and is the only Oak Aged cask of this beer that I prepared.
Please come out and support the brewery and our love of cask conditioned ales, it’ll be a fun evening and, who knows, you may learn something!
Cheers
Steve
Scottish Ale on cask
Thursday, January 7th, 2010
Don’t forget the Scottish Ale makes its debut on cask @ Metropolitan Coffee House in Federal Hill tonight. 6pm, upstairs bar.
New on cask
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010
Yeah, it’s cold, damn cold outside. Pretty cold inside too …. 48F in the brewery office this morning! But, y’know what, I’m not going to worry about it now because I’ve got a snifter of Oak Aged William’s Winter Warmer which is providing a warmth you can’t get from BGE, oh yeah! It’s on the Brewer’s Choice beer engine right now so come on down and try one. You know that it makes sense!
The Peeping Tom
Monday, December 28th, 2009
I’m brewing the Peeping Tom Porter today. It’s a great session ale, about 4.5% abv, reasonably light in body but full of wonderful dark malt flavors, very drinkable, especially on cask. Speaking of which it will likely make its cask debut at Bertha’s in Fells Point on January 14th. Bertha’s are going to have a monthly cask (pin) 0n the bar for the first Thursday of every month. Now you eagle-eyed detectives out there will have noticed that the 14th is the second Thursday but Bertha’s will be closed for some refurbishments briefly in early January, hence the 2nd Thursday slot. Thereafter cask night will be the first Thursday of every month. We’ll be supplying as many interesting casks as possible including most of our seasonals. February’s cask will likely be the Bishop’s Indulgence.
Speaking of cask ale, the very last cask of Merry Ole Ale is on the beer engine at Max’s Taphouse now. ChurchKey has the Dark Horse dark mild on one of its beer engines. If you find yourself in that part of D.C. stop by for a pint, it’s a wonderful session ale and you couldn’t want for a nicer environment in which to drink it!