Pratt Street Ale House » the friday question

The Festive Friday Question

Steve — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:29:17 +0000

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

Steve — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:06:25 +0000

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!

The Friday Question

Steve — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 12:52:13 +0000

I hope you’re all aware that the Strongman Pale Ale single hop Sorachi Ace has returned to the taps of the Pratt Street Ale House. This batch is 8.3% abv and I managed to squeeze a little extra hop into it this time. It really has got wonderful, unique characteristics and if you haven’t tried it yet I urge you to do so soon, it won’t be around for long! I’ve sent some cask & draft out to some of the usual places (Max’s, ChurchKey, Meridian Pint, Punks Grill, Pizzeria Paradiso, T-Bonz, Big Hunt and Churchkey) so if you can’t get to the Ale House seek it out. Also coming soon will be the second batch of Draft Punk. The bulk of the batch is sitting on a couple of pounds of Cascade in conditioning tank. The rest is in cask, some dry hopped with Cascade, some with Citra. Casks will be distributed next week to ChurchKey, Frisco Taphouse, Meridian Pint, The Mount Airy Inn, Pizzeria Paradiso and Max’s. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough to save one for the Ale House so you’ll probably see me sipping a pint at one of the above fine establishments. Also back on tap at The Pratt Street Ale House is Bulldog Bitter, a classic English amber bitter, 4.3% abv brewed with English Maris Otter, Crystal 45, roasted barley and malted wheat and bittered & finished with Kent Goldings and Bramling Cross. … it’s an easy drinking delight, come get some. It will also be on the beer engine next week. Casks are already out and about and it will be featured at the wonderful Metropolitan Coffee House as their Thursday firkin soon.

Jacob’s Summer Celebration moved from fermentation to conditioning tank yesterday and is maturing on a bed of whole leaf Liberty (y’know, coz it’s being released on July 4th, Jacob’s birthday!) Casks are filled, again, all dry hopped with Liberty and a couple also have oak added. They’ll go into distribution on the 4th. The release at the Ale House on the 4th will feature both cask and draft and we’ll (hopefully) have some logo glassware for the event, watch for details soon.

We’re plotting another collaborative brew with one of our DC friends to celebrate DC beer week in August … can’t say too much about it yet but we should be hammering out the recipe details and announcing it officially next week. It also looks likely that we’ll have our friends from Meridian Pint in the brewery again soon, I’ll post more about that soon.

So, The Friday Question! A couple of weeks ago I told you that I’d be brewing batch# 3500. Needless to say I wanted to make this milestone brew something special … a never to be repeated one-off. I decided upon a red ale … I’m loathe to bandy around the term “Imperial” but you get the picture … a “big” Red Ale. Yesterday was brew day … I packed the mash tun with as much grain as I could squeeze in (for those interested, a base of English halcyon and Canadian Pale Ale malt, malted wheat, a little chocolate malt, crystal 45 and German melanoidin), packed the hop back with as much leaf Cascade & Mount Hood as possible and bittered with English Target and American Chinook. I also added some light brown sugar and Juniper berries to the boil and the brew will be dry hopped in tank with more Cascade and Mount Hood.

Not much chance of getting any more grain into this brew!

... or any more leaf hop in the hop back for that matter!

I’d asked what the original gravity of the brew would be? I received a lot of “near miss” answers but nobody nailed it. The brew came in at a very respectable 1.090 which makes Mike (who answered 1.089) and M. Batley (who answered 1.091) joint winners. Congratulations gentlemen, I’ll be in touch.

This week I’ll stick with batch #3500 and ask what is the combined weight of grain and hops that will have been used in this brew? As usual, please answer via the comment option below. The winner gets a growler of Oliver Ale and a bottle of something! By the way, in case you hadn’t already seen it on the Oliver Ales facebook page I’m running a sort of competition to design the tap logo for the brew (which will simply be know as 3500) … so, any budding designers who want to have a shot at it please email me your idea at steve.oliverale@gmail.com within the next two weeks and you’ll get to be the guest of honor at the beer release!

Cheers

The Friday Question

Steve — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 03:26:15 +0000

That was a brutal week! As I’m sure you noticed, it was damn hot! We brewed 5 times and the mercury was definitely rising in the brewhouse. I ended the week brewing Bulldog Bitter, a 4.3% abv classic English ale brewed with Maris Otter, crystal 45, roasted barley and malted wheat and generously hopped with Kent Goldings and Bramling Cross. It will be featured on cask and draft at The Ale House. Batch # 2 of Strongman Pale Ale (single hop Sorachi Ace) is currently in conditioning (bright tank) prior to carbonation. Casks (dry hopped with Sorachi Ace) will be distributed next week. Casks are limited of course, expect to see them at ChuchKey, Meridian Pint and one or two other outlets. Next week I’ll be brewing “Jacob’s Summer Celebration” for release on Jacob’s birthday, July 4th. If you want to attach a “style” to the brew I guess it would be classed as an Imperial Amber ale … ie amber, strong (8.8%) and generously hopped. You may recall that the specifics of the brew were determined by Jacob’s birth weight, 8lb 13oz, hence 8.8% abv, with 8lb 13oz of bittering hops and 8lb 13oz of finishing hops. The hop grist is split equally between English and American varieties (reflecting his parentage) and, being as the little scamp was born on July 4th, Liberty is used for dry hopping. Also on the brew schedule next week is a second batch of Draft Punk. I’ll be tweaking the recipe a little, a touch more Chinook here, a dash more Cascade there and I’ll be dry hopping casks with Citra and some with Cascade. As with the first batch, a limited number of casks and sixtels will be distributed to a few select outlets (details as ever will be posted on the Oliver ales Facebook page) but the bulk will of course be divided between the Ale House and Punks Backyard Grill.
So, The Friday Question … Last week I asked you to guess the price
per pint of an Apricot Ale that I brewed with the Firkin Brewery back
in England in the 90′s. The answer was £1.80 which makes Mark the winner with his guess of £1.82 congratulations sir, you win some delicious Porter. This week I’ll be offering another growler of Oliver Ales of course and I’m sure we can find a bottle or two of something interesting as well. The Question will run for a little longer than usual as I won’t know the answer until about June 15th when we brew batch #3500 which is going to be an “imperial” red ale with juniper. The question is this. What will be the Original Gravity of batch #3500? (for example 3 Lions Ale is 1.075) Good luck and, as per usual, please post your answer via the comment option. Have a great weekend.

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 Friday Question

Steve — Sat, 07 May 2011 03:34:42 +0000

I’m going to keep this post short and sweet. In my last post I detailed our activities for the month but a quick addition is that of a pint night at The Hudson St. StackHouse on Saturday 21st May at 6pm. We’ll be there with a cask of 3 Lions Ale, dry hopped with Kent Goldings & Bramling Cross and aged with French Oak (and a few drafts to boot). If you haven’t been to the Stackhouse yet come and check it out, it’s a great place, good beer list (and they’re adding more draft lines soon) and good food and friendly staff.
So, last week I asked how many Paul Weller tracks (including the Jam) are on my I-pod? For those who thought it would include the Style Council also, NO! They suck! There are a total of 248 songs on there, 108 of the Jam and 140 of Mr. Weller. Again, I realise that it looks like the fix is in but … Dave of Punks Grill wins it with his guess of 258. Congratulations sir, you win a growler of Oliver Ale and a bottle or two of something from BrewDog (when it finally arrives).
This week I’m (sort of) sticking with a musical theme. After abandoning my PhD in Biochemistry I worked for my friend’s band for a couple of years. In 1993 we toured the US for 3 weeks. On Sunday July 25th we played the 8 x 10 in good ol’ B’more and, after a restful night at the Quality Inn on Russel Street we drove (according to my tour itinerary) 501 miles to …. Which city and what venue did we play there? As always a growler of Oliver Ale is up for grabs as well as a six pack of Bell’s Two Hearted Ale …. Sound tempting? Well, get your slide rule, compass and map out and get to it (or alternatively log on to this new fangled inter web thing and let that do all of the work)

The Friday Question

Steve — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 21:59:04 +0000

A little over a year ago I sat in Max’s enjoying a beer with Brian Strumke, discussing a possible collaboration with his soon to be brewing venture, Stillwater Ales. A little time passed, Brian launched his Stateside Saison to much critical acclaim and exploded onto the local (and soon national) craft brewing scene. After the dust had settled a little we exchanged some e-mails and planned a series of collaborative brews, the Channel Crossing series, taking elements from both English and Belgian styles to create something (hopefully) unique that captures the essence of both. We brewed Channel Crossing #1 on 4/27/2010 and yesterday, a little short of a year later we brewed Channel Crossing #4. CC#4 is an Anglo-Belge take on an ESB, based largely on Oliver’s ESB but substituting Belgian Dark Candi Syrup, biscuit malt and Special B for the our normal English chocolate and crystal malts. It is fermenting with a Belgian yeast strain kindly provided by our friends at The Brewer’s Art (as used in their Proletary Ale). The “ESB” will be 6.7% abv and will debut at The Real Ale Festival at The Pratt Street Ale House on May 14th.

Brian pitching yeast into the CC#4 wort.

Lots of other new stuff on the horizon as well. On Monday I will have been gainfully employed as a brewer for 17 back breaking years and to celebrate I will be releasing “17″. I went back to my roots for this one … it’s an English session bitter, 3.8% abv brewed with Marris Otter malt with a touch of caramalt and malted wheat from maltsters extraordinaire, Thomas Fawcett & Sons of Castleford. It’s generously hopped with Kent Goldings and Bramling Cross and is an easy drinking delight! I’ll be having a couple of pints after my brew day on monday (3pm), come join me for a pint (which, by the way is only $3). Tomorrow I’ll be transferring Golden Glory to maturation tank. It’s a golden wheat ale brewed with root ginger, coriander and lemongrass and will be available late next week. Next week I’ll also be brewing a couple of one-off brews specifically for local watering holes. On Tuesday I play host to Dave from Punk’s Grill in Annapolis to brew an IPA for them (code name “Draft Punk”) … we’ll be using a lot of Cascade & Chinook and aiming for an abv in the mid 6%s. On Wednesday Chris of T-Bonz and Jason of Victoria Gastro Pub to brew a wheat ale (codename “HoCo Rising”) with agave and Elderflowers. Both brews should be available at their respective locations during American Craft Beer Week (and a limited supply will be on tap at The Pratt Street Ale House).

So, onto the Friday Question. Last week I’d asked how many times I’d brewed so far this year. It was a tricky one and you needed to take account of the fact that my recent vacation took out 2+ weeks of brewing (as I couldn’t brew during the week before my vacation as I wasn’t going to be there to process the brews)! Also we’ve had a little down time due to mechanical problems, mostly with the glycol system. That being said, as of last Friday I had put through 56 brews, not bad going I’d say! That makes Mr Mooy this week’s winner as he hit the nail on the head, congratulations sir, you win a growler of Oliver Ale and a few bottles of delicious Founders beers. This week another growler of Oliver Ale and a bottle of something tasty is on offer to the person who can tell me how many songs are on my i-pod (which is a constant companion during our brew days). You may recall I’ve asked this question before … I’ve added more songs of course but at least you have a starting point (if you can be bothered to dig through the blog archives!). As usual please post you

The Friday Question

Steve — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 19:57:02 +0000

Brew day 5 of 6 today … busy, busy week and I don’t think it’s going to change any time too soon. Derek starts his brewhouse training next week and when he’s ready we’ll be stepping up to a 7 -8 brew week schedule … exciting times for sure … we’ll be squeezing in as many one off brews as we can get on tap. Speaking of one-offs I’ll be posting about the Fall Homebrew competition next week so look out for it. I saw last year’s winner, Judy, on the MPT documentary “Brewed On The Bay” last night so let that be a lesson to you … fame, if not fortune, could be yours! Judy, by the way, ruled with her “High Tea” bitter infused with black tea!

I have to say a huge thank you to the folks of Meridian Pint in D.C. for hosting the Baltimore tap takover this past Wednesday, it was a truly awesome event. It was great to see so many folks there enjoying what I’d consider to be an embarrasment of riches from The Brewer’s Art, Stillwater Ales and of course Olivers. Here’s a couple of photos courtesy of Alexander D. Mitchell IV, Mid-Atlantic Brewing News

Brian (Stillwater), Steve (Brewer's Art) and myself enjoying the calm before the storm!

Tapping "Jacob's Winter Celebration" aged in a beaujolais nouveau cask for 4 months. Sam Fitz, beer director of Meridian Pint, lends a hand!

OK, on to the Friday Question though it wasn’t a question … the Friday draw I should say! Each response was assigned a number, the numbered tickets placed in a pitcher and assistant brewer Derek pulled out the winning ticket which belonged to Mr. Tim Hoffman, congratulations sir. Full disclosure … Tim is an owner of The Falls in Mt. Washington, my local as it happens. A happy coincidence I assure you … there is no corruption in the corridors of ~~power~~ Oliver Breweries. This week I’m offering up a growler of Oliver Ales and a couple of bottles of Founders Ales. All I want to know is, how many times have I brewed this year thus far (and remember, I’ve actually had a vacation, albeit a short one)! Answers via the comment option, good luck.

The Friday Question

Steve — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 16:55:46 +0000

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

The Friday Question

Steve — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:47:48 +0000

Today is brew day 5 of this week and I’m not too proud to say I’m hurting and wishing I was 20 years younger! More of the same next week, the brewing schedule is pretty relentless at the moment but I have appointed a part time assistant to start Monday so there’s a glimmer of hope for my aching back. Of course Monday is opening Day at Camden Yards with all of the “fun & frolics” that ensues. Make sure you stop by for a beer before the game.

Don’t forget, Thursday 7th April is our Pint Night at The Falls in Mt. Washington featuring their first ever cask (3 Lions Ale with French Oak) as well as Sorachi Ace Strongman, Biere de Garde and Cherry Blossom Ale on draft. I’ll be tapping the cask at 5.30pm. Early birds will have a chance to grab a souvenir pint glass and I’ll be holding a free draw to win tickets to the Spring Real Ale Festival (draw at 6.30).

So, onto The Friday Question … oh, yee of little faith. Some of your estimates of the aerobic bacterial count in the Strongman sample I had analysed were, frankly, disturbing (and I’m especially pointing a finger at you Mr. Mooy!) Now I know that this basement is a crazy place to undertake open fermentation but c’mon, I’d like you to think that I know what I’m doing! So you may consider it to be the Miracle On Pratt Street but the actual answer was 0. Yep, that’s right … zero, zip, zilch! That makes Scott the winner with his guess of 8 … your faith will be rewarded with a growler of Oliver Ale!

This week I’ll return to my book of beer trivia to ask … what was first brewed in Britain in 1879? Easy really so have at it. Answer via the comment option and a growler of Oliver Ale could be yours.

Cheers

Steve