Posts Tagged ‘Friday Question’
To Infinium & Beyond … and The Friday Question
Friday, January 21st, 2011
Firstly a huge shout out to Bruce and his staff at the wonderful Metropolitan for hosting my cask night/birthday celebrations last night … it was a wonderful evening with many (and I mean many) fine beers and food (Young’s Double Chocolate Stout cheesecake … sublime!) Bruce was kind enough to allow us to hold an impromtu beer tasting of various intersting/rare beers. There’s been a lot of hype about the first two we tried, Bell’s Hopslam and Boston Beer Co/ Weihenstephan’s Infinium. Bell’s products are not, unfortunately, distributed in Maryland but the recent release of Hopslam has seemingly generated quite a frenzy among our more fortunate friends in D.C. I was sceptical that a $25 six pack could justify the hype. Infinium was launched recently to much fanfare, at least from its makers ,with promotional video and talk of the development of new brewing techniques. The beer however seems to have garnered only a luke warm reaction among beer writers and drinkers alike. I picked up some Hopslam on a recent trip to D.C. and , after settling in with a snifter of Jacob’s Winter Celebration aged in a Beaujolais Nouveau cask and a pint of Godgifu (the featured firkin) we popped the cap on one. I have to say that Hopslam is a wonderful beer, big and bold with a wonderful assertive but well balanced hop character …. simply fantastic. Bruce kindly provided the “champagne beers” and we sampled the Infinium alongside Brouwerij Bosteels Deus. Sorry Boston Beer Co. but there was no competition here … Deus was marvelous and left Infinium in the shade. Bruce also generously added a Sam Smiths Yorkshire Stingo to the mix, hands down one of my favorite beers. Local beer afficianado Nick provided some beers collected on his recent travels, all excellent, including samples from Pretty Things, Firestone Walker and more Bells …. a wonderful evening of great beer with good friends. Thanks to everybody who came out (and helped kick the cask in timely fashion)!
OK, onto the business of the Friday Question. Last week I asked how much a 10 gallon oak cask of Channel Crossing #3 weighs and a few of you were close. Mike was closest with his guess of 129 lbs, the actual weight being 131. Congratulations sir, you win some tasty brews! The Channel Crossing will be released at Max’s Belgian Beer Festival February 18th and at ChurchKey in D.C. on the 20th (as part of an Olivers/Stillwater triple release event).
I have one bottle of Hopslam left so that’ll be part of this week’s prize and I’ll see if I can find something else interesting to throw in. The question is this … in a couple of weeks I’ll be brewing a version of Strongman Pale Ale with Sorachi Ace hops (11.6% alpha acid) … what weight of hops will I be using?
The Friday Question
Saturday, January 15th, 2011
O.K., O.K. , I know that Friday has come and gone and this is really the Saturday Question but last week was “something else” and by the time I finally got out of the brewery I was fit for nothing, let alone sitting in front of the computer posting on the blog. I’m not too proud to admit that I was in bed at 8pm! I brewed 4 times last week, moved 8 batches to conditioning or carbonation, washed a shit load of kegs and casks (and yes, that is the technical term) and kegged 4 or 5 batches (I lost count). This morning I still had to keg and move 13 kegs to the Ale House keg room …it was that sort of week! Also squeezed in a cask pint night at the Pug in D.C. The fine folks at the Pug will be putting a cask on each Thursday so please go out and support them … drink it dry and keep the cask night alive. Next week I’ll be sending a Blonde Ale dry hopped with Bramling Cross. I’ll try my best to make sure it’s a different cask every week and will include the new seasonals whenever possible. It’s a great little bar, if you haven’t been there, go check it out.
This coming Tuesday I’ll be at The Meridian Pint for the launch of “Meridian”, a one-off batch brewed especially for them. It will be available as a draft and series of casks, each with a different spin. It’s a 6.4% abv dark rye ale, generously hopped and dry hopped with Bramling Cross. I’ll be there for the launch at 7pm and it will be available at Meridian Pint and The Ale House only for a limited time.
"Meridian" release party 7pm Tuesday 18th @ Meridian Pint
On to the business of the Friday Question. Last week I asked for the bottle number of an ’89 Thomas Hardy Ale for a chance to join me for a vertical tasting of Thomas Hardy Ale. The bottle number is pictured below which makes our local roving beer reporter Brad the winner with his guess of 13777, congratulations sir!
This week the prize (pictured below) has been provided by the generous donations of Brandon and Trevor.
Win me!
What I want to know is this … a 10 gallon Oak barrel will be filled with Channel Crossing #3 next week … how much will it weigh? Post your answer via the comment section below, good luck.
The Friday Question (Goodbye 2010!)
Friday, December 31st, 2010
You’ll excuse me, I’m sure, for keeping this post to a minimum … many of you will be out celebrating and seeing in the New Year … we’ve enjoyed a small family gathering and Kelly and I are going to pop open a bottle of Moet and then retire for the evening. As usual I’ve got to be in the brewery at 5.30am so I’m not going to see midnight. I’ll post a full “year in review” and Friday Question sometime over the weekend but I wanted to at least announce the winner of last week’s “beer for a year” question. I dutifully wrote the name of each entrant on a post-it note and folded it into a square so each was of equal size (and, by-the-way, everybody got the correct answer this time!) I placed the names in a suitable receptacle (ie a box that housed my now, sadly, empty bottle of 16 year old Lagavulin) and handed it over to William. William, it has to be said, took the job of picking the winner very seriously. He shook the box for several minutes, stirred the contents for so long that I feared that friction would cause it to burst into flames but eventually pulled one paper square out. The name of the person on that piece of paper is …. cue drum roll and tremulous oscar night feeling …. MOIRA. Congratulations young lady, you win a growler of Oliver Ale every month for a year.
Happy New Year
Cheers
Steve
The Friday Question
Friday, June 18th, 2010
USA score, but they don't!
We had a nice crowd for the USA game this morning and what a game it was! After being totally outclassed by Slovenia in early play, team USA showed real grit and determination and came from behind to level the score …. and then the unthinkable happened, USA score a third only to have it disallowed by the referee! In all my years of watching football I have seen many mind-boggling decisions called by officials and this one is right up there with the craziest of them … what the referee saw to disallow Edu’s strike is a mystery … daylight robbery, no less!
The winner of last week’s Friday Question won’t be known until next week of course, as I asked what will be the fastest goal scored in this week’s play. This week’s question will of course stay with the World Cup theme and is this …. what will be the total number of goals scored in all matches between June 25th and July 1st? The winner gets a $30 tab @ The Pratt Street Ale House during the Final on July 11th (2.30pm kick-off) and will be entered into the winner’s draw to win a team jersey. Good luck.
the friday question
Friday, September 4th, 2009
I was surprised that we didn’t have a few more guesses for last weeks question as a simple guess could have netted you a $25 gift certificate to the Pratt Street Ale House! Oh well, I guess that must mean that the recession is over! Anyway, last Friday the 3 firkins and pin of ale at the cask night at the General Sutter Inn, Lititz kicked in 2 hours and 49 minutes, i.e. at 7.49pm, making Mr. Brandon Miller-Milhouse the winner with his guess of 8.44pm. Congratulations Brandon! Shoot me an e-mail and we’ll arrange getting your prize to you.
This weeks question comes in 2 parts, the 2nd part will be next weeks question. At stake this time are a pair of tickets to the Brewer’s Association Oktoberfest at the Timonium Fairgrounds on October 11th (that’s a $50 value y’all!) So, here we go …
I took part in my first brew for Oliver’s on 11/30/1999, brew gyle 1658. what beer was being brewed that day, was it …
a) Pagan Porter b) Old Habit c) Ironman Pale ale or d)Irish Red Ale ????
Good luck. Enter via the comment section below.
Thanks go out to “What’s Happening” magazine who recently published “Nightcrawler”s Best Baltimore Beers” top ten, which featured 4 Oliver brews, namely Pagan Porter, E.S.B., Blackfriar Stout and Bishop’s Breakfast. Cheers!
Look out for our beers springing up on tap at bars in the area but don’t forget, if we’re not on tap at a bar near you, ask ‘em to put us on …. contact the brewery or FP Winner Distributors for details.
Well, the brewing week is almost over. Today’s Irish Red is in fermenting vessel now and I have to move an Old Habit to carbonation tank and rack a Best Bitter and then the weekend begins … sigh! I believe that our E.S.B. is on cask at Max’s now so I think that will be an appropriate port of call on the way home (or maybe on the way to The Wharf Rat for pizza!) Have a safe weekend.
Cheers
Steve
the friday question
Friday, August 7th, 2009
Firstly, a big thanks to all those who went along to the Firkin night at the Metropolitan Coffee House yesterday for our Chelsea Best Bitter. I’m proud to say that the firkin kicked in record time, an hour better than the previous record I’m informed. Speaking of the Chelsea Best that leads me nicely to the answer to last week’s question. The Ale House sold 912 pints of Chelsea Best over the course of the 2 day celebration of the Chelsea vs AC Milan game, so, congratulations to Sam, who guessed 724 and wins a growler of Oliver Ale for getting closest!
So, the results are in for the Champion American Beer at the Great British Beer Festival. Congratulations go to the Cambridge Brewing Co. and there “YouEnjoyMyStout” . That leads me to this weeks Friday question … a particular company supplied firkins from 26 U.S. breweries to this years’ GBBF. What is the total number of firkins that they shipped? As usual please post your answer via the comment option below and you good win something!
Things seem to be hotting up for the Baltimore Beer Week this coming October and I’ve heard lots of talk of events being planned and hopefully some more details will appear on the official website (www.baltimorebeerweek.com) in the near future. I can tell you that we will be participating in meet the brewery pint nights at Metropolitan Coffee House (Federal Hill) on Wed. October 14th and Bertha’s (Fells Point) on Thurs. October 15th. More Oliver events will be announced soon.
Cheers
Steve
The Friday Question
Friday, July 17th, 2009
No winners for last week’s question I’m sorry to say though as a consolation prize Mr. Scott Scharf and Mr. Denny Mezan are welcome to drop by the Pratt Street Ale House any day while I’m in the brewery and I’ll buy you a beer! The answer to last weeks question is …. drum roll… the Ironman Pale Ale is brewed with 6lb and 5 ounces of hops.
So, on to this weeks question…. The 3 Lions Ale is one of our flagship beers and is soon to be the center of a cool event at the Ale House (see future posts for details). 3 Lions is a strong brown ale with an original gravity of 1075. It is a grain only brew, no sugars added, brewed with pale ale malts, dark crystal malt, chocolate and black malt and malted wheat. The question is this ….
what is the total weight of malt (+/- 20lbs) used to produce a 7 barrel batch of this delicious ale?
Good luck and have a good weekend.
Cheers
Steve
Brew news and other things
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
So today we’re brewing another Ironman Pale Ale, there are some thirsty people out there apparently! Speaking of the Ironman, you’ve only got one more day to post an answer to last weeks Friday question so c’mon people, there’s a prize to be won!
Tonight at The Metropolitan Coffee House on S. Charles St. the featured cask at the upstairs bar will be our Nut Brown Ale so go drink some beer! Normally you’d find me propping up the bar, especially when one of our beers is on cask but tonight the Beautiful Game (that’s soccer to you) beckons me to Lancaster, Pa instead. London’s Crystal Palace F.C. are on a short promotional tour and are playing the Harrisburg City Islanders tonight so I thought I’d better get some soccer fan practise in ahead of next week’s massive Chelsea vs AC Milan game in Baltimore. To get me in the mood I’ve just sampled the Chelsea Best Bitter from the conditioning tank … delicious, a perfect session beer for the discerning soccer fan. It’ll be going on tap on Thursday and will be available at a promotional price on game day. Come check it out!
Cheers
Steve