Posts Tagged ‘Real Ale Festival’
The Real Ale Festival is almost here!
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
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
Saturday, April 9th, 2011
It’s been quite a week, that’s for sure! Opening day at Camden Yards is always a “special” time for the brewery … A keg poppin’ good time at The Ale House of course translates into a frantic brew week down in the basement. I’m happy to announce the addition of Derek as assistant brewer, who, although new to game, has “got stuck in” and proven invaluable this week. We’re putting out a lot of beer at the moment. I had scheduled six brews but my baby boy got sick and I had to cancel one of those. Still, 5 brews this week, 5 next, 5 the week after …. you get the picture …. busy times! I also had the pleasure of hosting an Oliver Ales pint night at The Falls in Mt. Washington at which we tapped their first ever cask, 3 Lions Ale aged with French Oak. The cask kicked in timely fashion. There’s still a little of the Cherry Blossom Ale, Sorachi Ace Strongman and Biere de Garde left on tap so stop by for a pint if you get a chance, it’s a great place. Next week, Wednesday to be precise, I’ll be at Meridian Pint for the Baltimore Tap takeover with our friends Stillwater Ales and The Brewer’s Art. Here’s the provisional beer list:
Casks:
MP2: Le Revelateur w/ Vanilla & Cacao
Oliver / Stillwater Channel Crossing #3
Oliver Jacob’s Winter Celebration in Beaujolais Nouveau
Brewer’s Art Drafts:
Bière De Mars
Débutante (Collaboration w/ Stillwater)
Green Peppercorn Tripel
Ozzy
Resurrection
Sour Cherry Ale
Oliver Drafts:
18 Smoke Porter
Bière De Garde
Bishop’s Breakfast
Channel Crossing #3 (Collaboration w/ Stillwater)
Cherry Blossom Ale
Cream Ale
Hot Monkey Love
Le Revelateur
Strongman Sorachi Ace
Sweet & Sour Cherry (Collaboration w/ Brewer’s Art)
Stillwater Drafts:
25 to 1
Cellar Door
Existent
Quite an impressive line-up, I hope you’ll agree! Join us if you can.
OK, last week I asked what was first brewed in Britain in 1879? Some creative and amusing answers but the answer according to my source is that on the 19th April 1879, lager beer was first brewed in Britain by William Younger & Co. (Edinburgh). Rick Z. was first off the mark with lager but Jonathan chimed in with the brewery name so you both win a growler of Oliver Ale, congratulations gentlemen!
I hope by now that you are aware of the forthcoming Real Ale Festival to be held at The Ale House on May 14th. You can buy tickets at www.prattstreetalefest.com. There’s going to be a huge amount of wonderful beer there from your favorite local and national breweries and you know there’ll be some amazing rare treats that you’re not likely to see again. So this week I’m offering V.I.P. admission for two to the festival and all you have to do to participate is leave a comment via the option below and I’ll hold a draw next Friday to choose the winner. Sound good? Then get to it.
Cheers
Steve
Real Ale Festival Updates
Thursday, September 30th, 2010
Have you bought your ticket yet? If not don’t delay, the festival will be awesome. Tickets are available at http://www.spbw.org/realale/index.php. Here are a few of the flavors that have just been confirmed .. DuClaw are sending Double Dry hopped Venom Pale Ale-5.6% and Sawtooth(Wit) with Red Clover added to the cask-4.8% … Stone are sending Smoked Porter with vanilla … BrewDog Dogma and Paradox (Isle Of Arran) … Heavy Seas will be supplying firkins of Loose cannon with fresh local hops and a one off Pale Ale with birch! Tasty treats for sure! Plenty more to come. Checkout the design for our limited edition t-shirts that Pratt Street Ale House’s very own Shanti Rittgers designed for the event, pretty cool eh?
Real Ale Festival News
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
I’m very pleased to announce that due to the overwhelming demand for tickets to this coming Saturday’s Real Ale Festival at The Pratt Street Ale House, a further 25 have been made available. They are available through advance purchase ($35) through www.spbw.org . A limited number of tickets may be available on the door ($40) on a first come first serve basis. The beer line-up is as follows:
Oliver Ales : Hot Monkey Love
Oliver Ales : Oak Aged 3 Lions
Oliver Ales : Mocha Java Porter
The Brewer’s Art : Resurrection Ale infused with blackberries
Flying Dog : Gonzo Imperial Porter
Pub Dog : Golden Belgian Ale
Stillwater Artisinal Ales : Stateside Saison
Arcadia : Angler’s Ale dry hopped with Goldings
Arcadia : I.P.A. dry hopped with Cascade
Weyerbacher : Hops Infusion
and providing the container is cleared by customs in time a cask from Craigmill (Scotland).
The festival runs from noon through 5 pm and as always sampling is unlimited (until the casks are empty).
Hope to see you all on Saturday.
March Madness – Firkin Style (revisited)
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
Russian nesting dolls, cask style!
The hits just keep on coming. To add to the already busy cask festival friendly March our friends at Yards Brewery are also holding an event. Check out the details @ http://yardsbrewing.com/events_real-ale-invitational.asp . A good time guaranteed. We’ll also have some information regarding developments for our own festival on the 20th in the next couple of days. Also, as already posted by Tom @ http://www.yoursforgoodfermentables.com/2010/03/national-cask-ale-week-in-us.html March 29th sees the start of National Cask Ale Week in the U.K. Being a Brit and an advocate of cask ale I could not let this event pass without some celebration at The Pratt Street Ale House so for the duration of cask ale week (March 29th – April 5th) all of our 3 cask ales will be offered at the special price of $3/pint between 5pm and close. Also on Friday 2nd April we will have the famous glass-head firkin on the bar serving $2 pints, oh yeah!
Real Ale Festival Tickets Now On Sale
Saturday, February 27th, 2010
O.K. folks, the tickets for the Real Ale Festival are now on sale. To purchase them follow this link
http://www.spbw.org/springraf/
Remember tickets are strictly limited to 110 so get ‘em quick, it’s going to be a blast!
Real Ale. From this ....
to this ....
to this! Fresh and delicious!
March madness, Firkin Style
Friday, February 26th, 2010
As I’m sure you know by now, I consider a good pint of cask conditioned ale to be the Nectar of the Gods. It’s with great pleasure therefore that I’ve seen how the March calendar is shaping up in terms of cask events. As well as all of the usual cask nights at various bars in the region there are also 3 cask festivals on the horizon. The first is to be held at The General Sutter Inn in Lititz, Pa on March 12th through the 14th. Paul Pendyck of UK Brewing is running the festival in conjunction with Alex Hall, veteran organizer of many such festivals so a well organized festival with an interesting line-up of beers is guaranteed. Check out www.gotham-imbiber.com for details. The following week (March 20th) we will be holding the Real Ale Festival at The Pratt Street Ale House in conjunction with the folks of the SPBW. Tickets will be priced @ $35 for unlimited sampling and will be limited to 110 tickets only. The event will run from noon until 5pm and will be located throughout the first floor of The Ale House. As well as our own Hot Monkey Love, Oak Aged 3 Lions and Mocha Java Porter there will be casks from Arcadia (Anglers Ale w/ Goldings and IPA w/ Cascade), Weyerbacher (Hops Infusion)and casks from Stillwater, The Brewer’s Art and Flying Dog and one other to be confirmed. Tickets will be on sale through the SPBW website in the next couple of days. The weekend after that will be the Heavy Seas Real Ale Festival We really are spoiled for choice with cask conditioned ale right now, a very pleasant situation to be in!
The Anatomy of a beer festival
Monday, October 19th, 2009
Baltimore Beer Week is over. The dust has settled (or should I try a more beer-centric analogy …. perhaps “the lacing is on the glass”) and we have a few moments of quiet reflection before going about our business. Our business of course is making beer so not much change really except maybe I can get a bit of sleep and spend some time with my son! I have to admit that the 10 days of Baltimore Beer Week were filled with contradictions for me. Much of this has to do with unrelated influences but, nothing exists in an isolated state, so the rigors of daily life imposed themselves on occasion and made for a very tense and stressful time! Without doubt though the Beer Week was a joyous celebration of all things beer. The scope of events was mind boggling and certainly required some careful planning in order to maximize the number of events that one could attend. In terms of scale there is little that could come close to the Oktoberfest at the fairgrounds but most important for me was the 6th Annual Chesapeake Real Ale Festival. This event is close to my heart for a number of reasons. I have a personal involvement with the event as I have been fortunate enough to work with the wonderful people of the SPBW (big shout out to Dominic and Alan) for these last 6 years as the host brewer. Also cask conditioned ale is the cornerstone of my brewing history. The first 6 years of my brewing career were spent with the Firkin Brewery, brewing nothing but cask conditioned ale. I had not even touched a keg until I started brewing for Oliver’s. So, for me, cask conditioned ale is the norm rather than some sort of niche product. You may have noticed that cask conditioned ale is often referred to as “Real Ale” and there is good reason for this. It is ale in it’s most natural form. It has a purity, if you like, untouched by the processing techniques of the modern brewery. The cask is filled directly from the fermenting vessel with the addition of finings (to aid yeast flocculation and ultimately it’s removal from the beer that is served at the bar) and is designed to mature in the cellar. Secondary fermentation in the cask produces a low level of carbonation. The beer is then ready to be vented, tapped and served. Cask ales are not designed to be aged excessively, in fact the opposite is true. Whilst some of the “bigger” beers benefit from aging (for example, our Hot Monkey Love had been in cask for 8 months prior to the festival) most ales should be used within about 4 weeks of the fill date.
So, onto the Real Ale Festival …. preparation started in earnest several months ago when Alan Moore of the SPBW began the laborious task of contacting brewers, distributors and sales reps to gain commitments to supply casks to the festival. Over time a list grew and we knew that this was going to be a very special festival. The placement of the event as one of the closing highlights of the first ever Baltimore Beer Week helped push this celebration of cask ale to an unprecedented scale! Clearly we were going to need more casks than ever before. Fortunately people such as Erin Tyler of Legends Ltd exist and was on board early to help arrange for us to ship empty casks to the Boulder Brewery, Weyerbacher, The Bruery and Lagunitas so that we were able to offer the festival goer a more diverse range of cask ale than ever before. Of course this whole process is never as straightforward as it sounds and the possibility of some no shows sent us scrambling around for more casks (and a big shout out to Casey at Max’s and Clipper City for helping out here!) For whatever reasons casks we had hoped to get from Lagunitas, Magic Hat and Evolution did not happen but we still managed to present the best line-up of cask beer that I have seen for a very long time. Needless to say we had various other logistical issues to deal with from making sure that we had enough tapping equipment, planning where we would put all of these casks to ensure that everybody attending would have the best possible festival experience and so on. Obviously this is still a learning experience and some issues that we hadn’t foreseen will be addressed next year, most notably bathroom facilities to deal with the increased number of attendees. Set up of the actual festival is made easier by the army of volunteers supplied by the SPBW who hauled all of the casks from the basement and placed them all per our set-up plan. Assistant brewer Justin oversaw this part of the deal and I returned later that night (2.30am to be precise) to deal with the task of venting and tapping the 39 casks we had distributed throughout the Ale House.
Just finding storage space for all of the casks was a challenge
It turns out that venting and tapping that many casks is quite an undertaking and I didn’t leave the Ale House until 6.30am. It felt like managed to get to bed just in time to get up and go back to work! I’ll have to plan this one a bit better next year. Of course, the proper stillaging, venting and tapping of the casks is of paramount importance to quality of the product. We wanted to ensure that all of the beer was presented in the correct way so that the beer had time for the yeast to settle and excess carbonation to vent. Tapping can sometime be hazardous as a few casks were excessively lively and in one case there was so much pressure that the tap was blown from my hand and I was left wearing a few pints of pale ale! Not fun.
the lounge area. Mmm .... Hot Monkey Love
side patio
side patio
upstairs bar area
upstairs bar
upstairs function room
Once the final beer line-up was in place Alan made laminated signs for each one and Sarah our events coordinator printed out a list of all of the beers with room for the discerning beer fan to make notes and we even provided pencils … that’s how much we love you guys! The event was staffed by volunteers who did a wonderful job, cheerful and enthusiastic one and all! The Ale House provided a special festival menu for the day, as the weather negated the possibility of using the outside grill that we have used in previous years. Speaking of the weather, the cold rain didn’t seem to dampen anybody’s spirits. The outside areas were well covered and I hardly even noticed the rain (but hey, I’m English so I’m used to it!)
Mr. Alan Hew, member of the SPBW or English Country Gentleman ... you decide?
Bad weather can't keep people away from good beer!
under the tent on the side patio
side patio
Current president of the SPBW Alan Moore (left) and former president Dominic Cantalupo without whom these events wouldn't take place
Erin of Legends Ltd (supplier of many of the great beers present) and some brewer guy!
Alexander D.Mitchell lV (Correspondent for The Mid Atlantic Brewing News)(left) and Justin Dvorkin (Co-owner, Pratt St. Ale House)
the aftermath
So that’s it. The Real Ale Festival has come and gone for the 6th year. Bigger and better than ever before with more beer from more breweries than ever. More people than I could possibly mention were involved in making this event such a success. You know who you are. Thank you. Here’s to next year!
Cheers
Steve
Real Ale Festival Update
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
Preparations for the Real Ale Festival are going well. It looks as if the weather isn’t going to co-operate this year but the side patio will be tented in preparation for rain. This year will also be the first year that we will be using the first floor bar and library room for firkins to help ease congestion …. it’s going to be a busy one …. advance sales have already hit the 400 mark! Firkins are being delivered daily. There are some real treats for you this year such as the Stone Oak Aged Arrogant Bastard (well named considering the hoops they made us jump through to get it here!) and excellent selections from Flying Dog, Clipper City, Du Claw, Troegs, Lancaster and many more. I will post a full list after tomorrow’s delivery. Our cask room is fit to burst with all the additional firkins crammed into it!
Got Firkins?
This really is going to be an incredible festival and testament to the popularity of cask conditioned beer. If you haven’t already got a ticket, get one NOW!
mid-week round-up
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
Firstly, a shout out to Mr. Alexander D. Mitchell IV, venerable scribe for the Mid-Atlantic Brewing News, author of the beerinbaltimore.blogspot.com and (obviously) beer enthusiast extraordinaire for his “Best Drinking Blog” award from The City Paper. Congratulations Sandy, for some well deserved recognition!
I spoke with Mike @ The Judge’s Bench earlier who informed me that the Dark Horse Ale is currently on tap and selling well and once that kicks it will be replaced by the 3 Lions Ale. Can’t wait to get over there for a pint! Look out for the Irish Red going on tap at NcNevin’s in Canton any day now. It’s a cool bar, well worth checking out. Our Vanilla Pagan Porter will be the featured cask @ The Metropolitan Coffee House soon, again if you’ve never been there, check it out! Cask nights are every Thursday from 6pm at the upstairs bar. Also check out Dego Dames in Little Italy and Sonoma’s in Columbia who will have Ironman Pale Ale on tap any time now.
Things are coming together for The Chesapeake Real Ale Festival (www.spbw.org/realale). We’ve shipped a number of firkins out west so (God willing that the breweries can turn them around in time for delivery to the festival) expect casks from Stone, The Bruery, Lagunitas, Weyerbacher and The Boulder Brewery. We will of course be featuring casks from all your favorite local (Brewer’s Art, Clipper City, DuClaw etc.) and regional (Troegs, Lancaster, Dogfish Head and more) breweries. This year’s festival will be bigger and better than ever and will likely feature 35+ casks throughout the whole of the Pratt Street Ale House including the upstairs bar and function room for the first time. Tickets are available now, $35 in advance/ $45 on the door through the spbw website and will be available for sale at the Ale House later this week. I’m particularly excited that we’ll be offering a very special pre-release of “Hot Monkey Love” and “My Monkey’s Got Wood” (an Oak aged version). Both casks have been aging since April and will weigh in around the 10% abv mark. Only 2 casks of each of these exist so get it while you can!
We’re likely to be experimenting with some bourbon barrel aged 3 Lions in the near future. It’s been a long time since I’ve used bourbon barrels, 2002 I think so it’s an exciting prospect. I’m going to put a batch of 3 Lions in 4 bourbon barrels, stick ‘em in a darkened corner of the basement and then release one every 3 months. Hopefully we can make a bit of an event for each release … should be an interesting experiment in barrel aging!
right, I’d better get back to kegging the Coventry Cream Ale….
Cheers
Steve