The Local Tap – Stateline Liquors

It feels odd on the one hand to do a “Local Tap” segment on a liquor store, but on the other hand I felt it was time to give a tip of the hat to a place without which, this blog would simply not be possible.

Stateline liquors (Web : Facebook) has been run by the Murray family for over 30 years.  In that time they’ve built the store into one of the biggest liquor suppliers in the region.  While the store excels in all areas, of course it’s their beer selection that keeps me coming back.  Robert Murray is “the beer guy”, and he does everything he can to make sure his costumers have access to just about anything that is distributed into the state of Maryland. It’s almost impossible not to find something you didn’t know they carried every time you walk into the store.  Recently while talking with a fellow customer, I was shocked to find I was standing right across from a selection of beers from Evil Twin, a brewery that I’ve heard a lot about recently but wasn’t aware that it was available in our area.

But the store goes beyond the traditional paradigm of a liquor store.  The “champagne room” in the back houses a bar with a working set of taps.  Customers are encouraged to sample the beers to find one they’d like to purchase.  The bar also serves as the location for monthly beer tastings as well as a hangout for beer traders who come in and share beers they’ve received with Robert’s staff.  I think DoB co-found Chuck said it best, “Stateline is the only liquor store I know that people bring beer to.”

For a short time, Stateline was also offering growlers for sale from the back bar.  Sadly, it was discovered that this violated a Maryland “repackaging” law and had to be discontinued.  Hopefully one day they’ll get that straightened out, because I have a few growlers that are in need of a refill.

What makes Stateline extremely advantageous for me is that all beer is entered into the system down to the bottle/can unit, which means costumers are free to break any and all six-packs or four-packs of bottles or cans we wish.  I’m sure it’s not lost on my fellow bloggers the convenience of not having to buy a full six-pack  every time you want to review a beer.

But enough words, let’s take a tour….

The side shelves – beers from Europe (excluding common mainstream beer and beers from Belgium) including the Baltic States, Scandinavia and the Eastern Bloc countries continue off camera to the right.  Beers from Australia, New Zealand and Japan can be found on shelves which are off camera to the left.

 

Belgian Row – Beers from Great Britain run about four feet down the left hand shelves, then the rest of the run is all Belgian beers.  The coolers on the right house more mainstream foreign beers like Amstel, Hoegaarden, Guinness, etc

 

Another shot of Belgian row from the other end.

 

American Craft Beer – bombers on both sides with some specialty four-packs thrown in.  The coolers on the right house all American craft six-packs.  Down by the cart on the left are shelves set up for American craft beer in cans, and brewery sampler twelve-packs and cases.  On the other side of the shelves to the right are more beers along with a healthy selection of meads and ciders.

 

The Bar – Champagne on the left, glassware on the right and of course, beer on draft.

 

On This Memorial Day – a Word from My Editor

[Author's Edit:  My apologies to my "editor" for missing the dead line on this one.]

[Editor's Edit: Don't let it happen again stress boy or I'll have you picking up my poop....oh, wait....]

Hi, my name is Gryffon and I’m the Belgian Malinois that lives with Ed and Tracey. While I really have no true ties to the Dogs of Beer, Ed always jokes that I’m his editor.  Apparently, my duties in this job consist solely of laying next to him on the couch while he’s trying to write a post and knocking the laptop around with my “big ol’ head”.  He obviously doesn’t realize I’m just trying to help steady that flimsy thing.

Anyway when I woke up this morning I was shocked to find them not in their usual Monday morning routine (which usually consists of a lot of moaning and complaining), and found out that today was a day to honor all of the veterans who have served in the Armed Services.  Since Ed didn’t have an idea for a post (he’s lucky I’m not truly his editor – the lazy bum), I asked if he could type some words for me to honor my breed and their contributions to the Armed Forces.

You many not be familiar with Malinois as we’re not the normal “seen walking down the street on the end of a leash” type breed, but you may have seen us none the less.  Next to German Shepherds we are the preferred breed for military and law enforcement use.  If you’ve ever seen a K-9 police unit and thought, “that’s a funny looking shepherd”, then chances are it was a Malinois (and we’re not funny looking, they are).

As a breed, we tend to be loyal, intelligent and protective; everything you’d want in a service dog.  We tend not to be overly aggressive, unless our partner gives us the word and then you don’t want to be the guy I have a hold of.  Ed’s played tug with me for the entire length of a 30 minute TV show without me letting go of the toy.  Imagine that hanging off your arm or leg.

We also make good security dogs.  Ed recently told Tracey that the local K-9 unit came to where he worked to do a demonstration.  The officers hid a cotton ball that had been stored with a bag of pot in a field the size of a regulation baseball diamond.  Ed says my breed mate didn’t take much more than a minute and a half to find it.  So think about that the next time you get the wild idea to bring home souvenirs from Amsterdam.  We’re also trained for explosives detection which is important to both our civil and military duties.

Many of my breed mates are trained over seas in France or Belgium, because of that many of them take their commands in French.  In fact, we are truly international dogs.  We’re currently the preferred dog for the Unit Oketz of the Israel Defense Forces as well as the Royal Australian Air Force.  And one breed mate, Cairo, was used during the assault that lead to the death of Osama bin Laden.  Where ever our troops are, we also follow.

Since I don’t want to tire Ed out typing (really, dude) and I’m beginning to feel the need to go into the kitchen and see what Tracey’s cooking, I think I’ll let some pictures tell the rest of the story of the brave K-9s who serve.

Going where we’re needed…

…ready to do our duty….

…together we stand…

…not realizing that some will return….

…and some will not…

…honoring all (four legged and two) who have sacrificed so much…

…so that most of the time I can do this.

A toast to all who’ve served, whether you know why or not!  We at the Dogs of Beer salute you!

Determining the Value of a Wine – to YOU.

It dawns on me that during my relatively short time as a blogger that I haven’t said anything about wine.  While on the surface this seems understandable as this is primarily a beer blog, it is none the less a shame because when I started this journey I started on the wine side of the road, forming a lot of the opinions I have on alcohol in general in that arena.

So with that in mind I’m going to share with you some thoughts on buying wine for the every day man (or woman) in the context of something you’re going to drink everyday, or at least with the thought that you’re going to drink it in the relatively near future.  I feel that this approach to wine is pretty solid in that it takes out all the factors brought in from the vintner and the seller and places the onus for determining the value of the wine on the only person in the equation that truly matters – you.  I also feel the system is easy enough for anyone to master because it focuses on price which is a common denominator for any wine, although ironically I will state that of all the factors that can be used to judge the quality of a wine, price in reality is probably the least important.

The first thing I tell people when they start down a wine journey is that they must build themselves a working wine knowledge.  Most people sigh and look defeated at this point, believing that what I’m asking them to do is lock themselves in dark, hidden room in some library with the arduous task of memorizing topographical maps and meteorically trends of every grape growing region in Napa and France.  Yeah, forget that.  That stuff isn’t important.  Well actually it is very, very important if you’re growing the wine (which, you’re not) and important if you’re trying to convince someone to buy the wine (which again, you’re not).  But for you the buyer?  Nope.

Huh? What? Ah…no…There’s no need to be this guy.

Instead what I would want people to do is simply drink wine, but pay attention.  Do you like certain wines?  Can you tell me in ten words or less why you like that particular wine over another?  Can you give me one or two examples of wine you drink that fall into that description?  People again feel daunted at this task when first purposed because they believe they need to learn some arcane, coded “wine speak” that would put the secret language of the Masons to shame.  You don’t. Again, leave all that nonsense for the growers and the sellers.

The example I’ve actually used a number of times when talking with people usually unfolds like this:

Me: “Do you like red or white wines?”
Them: “White.”
Me: “Do you like Chardonnay?”
Them: “I love chardonnay!”
Me: “Do you like it when your Chardonnay tastes like crisp green apples or like buttery vanilla?”
Them: “Oh buttery.  I love J. Lohr’s Chardonnay!”

Hopefully at this point a light bulb goes off over their head.  Most people do know exactly what they like, they either haven’t taken the time to really figure out how to describe it, or worse yet been lead to believe that their way of describing it isn’t “technical enough”.  Again, rubbish.  The conversation above is all you need in any five star restaurant with a wine guy who knows his cellar to pare the type of wine you’d be most interested in having with your lobster down from 60 bottles to maybe 4.  And we didn’t have to break out the decoder rings.

Once you have your own working wine knowledge (and again, chances are you already have it more than you think) we can put it to use.  As I said above, price can be a poor factor in judging the quality of a wine.  So many elements influence what a vintner needs to sell his wine for in any particular vintage to make the profit margin he needs to hit, that it’s quite possible that he could be asking $25 one year for a bottle of wine that the previous vintage was only $20 AND – the $25 dollar bottle not really be any better than the $20.  But price is important to you, unless you’re lucky enough (unlike me) to not be concerned about how much you’re plunking down for a bottle of the grape.

There is only one rule I want you to really try to follow when you’re in a situation of tasting a wine – do it blind to price.  Do every thing you can NOT to know how much someone wants for the bottle you’re tasting until after you tasted it.  I realize in some cases this can be almost impossible, but try as much as you can.  Then it’s simply a matter of tasting the wine.

If there’s a guy there telling you all about how it was grown on the north side of the mountain, 23% of this grape, yada yada – nod your head like you’re hanging on his every word, but ignore him.  Focus only the wine. And once you’ve tasted it and “analyzed” it as much as possible ask yourself one simple question, “How much would I be willing to pay for this bottle of wine and not feel that I paid to much.”  Look back at that sentence.  Those “I”s are bolded for a reason.  This is your judgment on the value of the wine.  Not the vintner’s.  Not the seller’s.  Not the guy standing next to you trying the same wine.  It’s yours, you own it.  So what does this tell you?  Let’s look at two different scenarios.

You’re at a wine tasting and a gentleman in a suit just poured you a glass of wine.  After tasting the wine you decide that if you had paid $15 dollars in a store for it you’d believe you’d have gotten good value for your dollar.  After a little back and forth the gentleman tells you that it’s a $30 bottle of wine.  Walk away.  Unabashedly.  Unashamedly.  If the wine is twice what you think it’s worth to you, nothing else matters.  And don’t let anyone tell you that your palate isn’t “sophisticated enough” to appreciate a high dollar bottle of wine.  That elitist bull crap is one of the main foundations of what’s wrong with some sectors of the wine world today.

Oh I’m not going to lie.  There is a certain knack to tasting a high dollar bottle of wine that’s meant to be laid down and aged for 10-15 years after you buy it.  You have to pick through the tannins and decide how it’s going to taste after it ages.  But that’s not the wine were talking about here.  Most wine produced is made to be drunk within a year or two after purchase, and if you’re anything like me the life expectancy of a bottle of wine in my house can be measured in days, not years.

So, scenario number two.  You’re at my house and I pour you a glass of wine.  By the end of the night you believe that again, the wine (to you) is drinking like a $15 dollar bottle.  During the course of the evening you learn that I picked it up at the local wholesale warehouse for $8.  Go buy some.  Heck, go buy a case.  Hell, go buy a case and then invite me over to help you drink it.  I cannot over state how many well knowledged wine people out there play in the $10 and under price range.  Finding an $8 bottle of wine that drinks like a $20 bottle should be considered a constant goal for the every day wine person.  There are more of them out there than you think, and they are worth seeking out.  As an example I point you over to Roberta at Homemade Delish, who agrees with me that Apothic Red (which I get at BJ’s for $9.99) drinks pretty damn well.

Can you translate this thought process to beer? Theoretically, yes.  But the dollar swing between six packs of beer is in most cases only a couple of bucks, and so it loses a little of its usefulness when you’re comparing two six packs that are $2 apart, verses bottles of wine that can be $10, $20 or even $50 dollars apart..  Happily, I don’t remember running into any $40 dollar six packs.

Anyway, that’s a few thoughts on approaching wine for the every day buyer. It does require a little more engagement from the drinker then just deciding if one “likes it”.  But in the end I think the process can really work to ensure that someone is getting what they believe is value for their money.   If you take only one thing from this post then let it be this, a wine’s value is truly assessed by only one person – you.  It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks it’s worth, or what wine gibberish they use to try to convince you that it’s worth its price tag.

Time for another beer glass of wine.

Five Television Shows I Watch and What I’d Drink With Them

I’m stuck with a dead laptop at home this week, so I’m relegated to dredging up some drafts I’ve had laying around that I can shine up and post at lunch during work.  Of course, there’s probably a reason why some of them have been banished to the depths of my draft folder all this time.   Here’s an amazingly innovative (boring) and unique (done to death) topic on TV shows I like to watch!  Don’t kick yourself because you didn’t think of it first guys, we can’t ALL be on the cutting edge.

To keep anyone from reading this and getting all grumpy….be warned, beyond this sentence, there be… SPOILERS!

GAME OF THRONES

The Best Thing About It: Peter Dinklage’s character Tyrion (for which Peter won Best Supporting actor at both the Emmy’s and the Golden Globes) is possibly one of the best characters on TV right now.

The Quickie:  When the king of the Seven Kingdoms dies in a hunting accident, claimants to the throne start coming out of the woodwork.  Prince Joffery takes the throne believing himself to be the rightful successor, but in reality he’s not the king’s son, but the son of his mother the queen and her brother – yep, I’m not going to lie (I’m lying) this show is deep with wholesome family values.  As war breaks out across the kingdoms everyone turns a blind eye to a greater problem – winter is coming, someone has stolen the dragons, it appears the White Walkers are on the move again after thousands of years, and everyone seems to have forgotten about the naked man they tied behind a horse in episode 6.

Why I Watch:  Smartly written and beautifully filmed.  The story constantly takes twists you would not expect.

Example: Producers would not consider going forward with the show unless they were able to get veteran actor Sean Bean to agree to play Ned Stark, friend of and later Hand of the King.  Most shows would have been thrill to have an actor of Bean’s caliber on the show for it’s entire run.  But instead the producers hired Bean to play a character who is beheaded by Joffery ¾ of the way into season 1.

How It Has Impacted My Life:  Composer Ramin Djawadi’s (Iron Man, Person of Interest) theme constantly gets stuck in my head and I routinely finding myself rooting for wolves.

What I Would Drink With It:  As a good amount of action takes place in the North, or is geared around the coming of Winter, any Winter Warmer or Winter style ale should do.  Or find one of these:

Disclaimer: The above labels are not real.  Any time wasted by you looking for these beers is strictly a sign of wishful thinking.

THE WALKING DEAD

The Best Thing About It: Zombies!

The Quickie:  Sheriff Rick Grimes wakes up in the hospital after being shot to  discover the horror of not only having to remove his own catheter, but that the dead are returning as flesh-eating zombies.   Soon he finds himself leading a small group of survivors who don’t like or trust each other.   And to make matters worse, the zombies are not always the most dangerous things in this new world.

Why I Watch: Did I mention zombies?  Do I really have to say anything else?  Plus you never know who’s going to get eaten next.

Example:  Rick’s partner Shane and a farmer’s son Otis sneak into town for some supplies.  When they get hopelessly over run by “walkers”, Shane shoots Otis in the leg in a classic example of “I don’t have to out run the bear, I just have to out run you.”

How It Has Impacted My Life:

My Plan: Get to a Walmart with a Liquor Store Next Door.

What I Would Drink With It: Either Three Floyds’ Zombie Dust or Hop Zombie from Epic Beer in New Zealand.

THE BIG BANG THEORY

The Best Thing About It: Intelligent “nerdy” humor.

The Quickie:  Four brilliant Caltech scientists fumble their way through everyday ordinary life.  While one of them (Leonard) tries to have a normal relationship with the woman who lives across the hall he must put up with the fact they all live outside of the normal world.

Why I Watch:  I get all the “nerd” jokes: comic books, sci-fi, science stuff.  Yeah, I was one of those guys (except on the opposite end of the IQ scale).  Plus I’m not going to lie (this time I’m not lying) Kaley Cuoco is just a cutie.

Example:  This cracks me up every time I see it.

Click for YouTube video

How It Has Impacted My Life: Yelling “Bazinga” whenever someone takes something stupid I say at face value, knowing way to much about Schrödinger’s cat, and confirming my opinion that yes, Aquaman does indeed “suck”.

What I’d Drink With It:  With much of the humor laced with matters of science and space I’d recommend either a Singularity Russian Imperial Stout from Driftwood Brewing, Dark Matter from Hoyne Brewing or The Physics by Brewdog.

DOCTOR WHO

The Best Thing About It: Just about everything – but at the moment, Matt Smith.

The Quickie:  A 1000+ year-old Time Lord travels through time and space in a time machine that’s stuck in the shape of a 1960s English police box.

Why I Watch: It seems like I’ve always been watching it.  The franchise will be celebrating it’s 50th year anniversary in 2013 and I hopped on sometime in the early 70s.  Because I was greatly into the show in its US hay day of the 80′s I went to a few conventions and really formed a bond to the show’s past, which stays with me to this day.

Example:  I’ve personally met Patrick Troughton, John Pertwee and Colin Baker; all of which have played the Doctor.  I’ve also met companions John Levene, Louise Jameson, Lalla Ward, Sarah Sutton, Mark Strickson, Janet Fielding, Nicola Bryant, Carol Ann Ford, and Bonnie Langford; along with Anthony Ainley who played the Doctor’s archenemy, The Master.

How It Has Impacted My Life:  Thinking “Would you like a Jelly Baby?” is a great pick up line, believing that bow ties are indeed cool, and answering “spoilers!” when my manager asks me how I’m going to get my report done in time for European submission.  And most importantly – giving me something else to be besides a Star Trek nerd.

What I Would Drink With It: Anything, but I wish they actually made this….

But you can get the T-Shirt!

ONCE UPON A TIME

The Best Thing About It: Jennifer Morrison (House, Star Trek)

The Quickie:  The Evil Queen from the fairy tales casts a curse on everyone, trapping well-known fairy tale characters in this world in a town called Storybrooke.  As the fairy tale characters go about their normal lives, one boy tries to convince his mother that she’s the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, and as such is the only one who can break the Queen’s curse.

Why I Watch:  Creative retelling of well known fairy tale characters.   The weaving of the stories in the fairy tale world and the real world are very well done. 

Example:  The Evil Queen convinces a man named Jefferson to use his magic hat to take her to Wonderland despite his reluctance to go and leave his daughter home alone.  Once there, the evil queen rescues her father, who the Queen of Hearts had imprisoned.  But that causes a problem.  As Jefferson had cautioned earlier, since two people entered Wonderland, only two people can leave.  The queen returns to the fairy tale world with her father, leaving Jefferson to be captured by the Queen of Hearts.  When the Queen asks him how he got to Wonderland, she commands him to make another magic hat.  The last scene is Jefferson in a room full of hundreds of hats, slowly going mad trying to create another one with the magic to return him to his world and his daughter.

How It Has Impacted My Life: Replacing Fox’s “Animation Domination” in my Sunday night TV line-up.   I didn’t think anything would ever do that.  But let’s face it, The Simpson’s have been running on empty for awhile (except for the opening sequences), and the Cleveland show is hit or miss.

What I Would Drink With It: Suntory Brewing’s Snow White from Japan, Mad Hatter IPA from New Holland Brewing, or Jamieson’s Raspberry Ale from Australian whose ad, much like this show, had a different take on the Snow White story:

No, as a matter of fact Disney was NOT happy.

Time for another beer…..

Drinking Socially – For One Year.

In all the rigga-ma-roll that’s been going on lately I totally missed a post I intended to do which was one for my one year anniversary on Untappd.  For those of you who aren’t using Untappd you can find a basic break down here.  I’m not going to do any big intro, but I will say that one thing that’s scary about Untappd is that it will show you exactly how much you’re drinking.  So don’t be timid.  Let’s run it down by the numbers.

3 – May 3rd, 2011.  I joined Untappd.  My first check-in was Gordon Biersch’s Maibock.  I liked this beer, although everything I’ve had from them since hasn’t been as good.

18 – My largest number of check-ins for a single beer, Guinness.  I did it of course over Saint Patty’s Day weekend.  It could have been higher.  I built a wall that weekend out of the empties, ~30 in all, but got lazy about checking them in.  It’s a tradition I do every year, but I think I’m done.  I’m not as young as I used to be.

1 – Places I hold the top number of check-ins.  Apparently I’m the only person who’s ever used Untappd at Cantwell’s Tavern.  My 3 check-in’s are the highest for that bar.

83 – Badges earned.  Untappd awards badges for beers you drink, venues you check-in to and occasional special badges.  The badge I’m most proud of – I’ve been thinking about this for the past couple of days and to be honest, I can’t pick one .   But I do lean towards the “venue” badges because it tells me I’m getting out in the world with my fellow craft beer lovers.  The badge I’m least proud of – “All American”.  I had to choke down a bunch of swill beer for that one.  Badge that keeps eluding me – “Brew Crawl”.  You have to check-in a beer at three different bars in one night.  I don’t bar hop much, and when I have I have either forgotten to check in a beer at one of the places, or Foursquare doesn’t denote one of the places as a “bar”.

382 – Unique check-ins.  In one year I’ve checked in 382 unique beers.  At my current pace (which I will not be keeping up over the summer) I should have my “Legen…..(wait for it)……dary” badge (500 unique beers) by September.  I should probably have something special, but not sure what yet.

1 – Beers on my wish list.  Victory’s Old Horizontal.  Victory decided not to brew it this year because of their lack of capacity.  It’s a constant reminder how much I hate them right now, LOL.  But they’re opening a new brewery so I can think of no better beer to test the equipment out with then Old Horizontal.  Just sayin’.

20 – Beer style with the highest number of check-ins, Double IPA.  I was actually surprised when I saw this because I can name three to four other beer styles that I like more.  But as a wise football coach said one day, “You are what your record says you are!”

Top Drinkers at Two Stones Pub

77 – Most check-ins at a venue.  I’m currently second at Two Stones Pub for the most check-ins.  I was first for a long time, until some guy named Paul W ousted me.  He currently has me by one check in.

196 – Friends on Untappd.  Like Facebook, Untappd allows you to “friend” people.  This give you the ability to see and comment on what their drinking, thus bringing the “social” into “drinking socially”.  Like friends on Facebook, mine on Untappt can be broken down into groups.  Some are people I’ll never meet, people who I friended or they friended me because we saw each other on other friend’s friends list (that’s a lot of “friend” in one sentence).  Some I’ve been lucky enough to meet in my travels over the past year, people like Trisha, Brandon, Dana and Jay.  Others are fellow bloggers such as John (Beer Review), Megan (Meganvsbeer), Patrick (Beer Delaware), Michelle (Stouts and Stilettos), Logan (Blog About Beer), Zack (Beer Is My Church) and G-Lo (It’s Just the Booze Dancing).

2 – Number of beers I hold the greatest number of check-ins for.  You wouldn’t think it would be possible with all the beer drinkers out there that you could hold the greatest number of check-ins for a beer, but someone has to.  I currently hold the most check-ins for Blithering Idiot (14) and Milwaukee’s Best Ice (17).  Yeah the second one I’m not to proud of but like I said, this app will tell you things about your drinking that you may not want to know.

500 – Total beers checked in.  As I type this I’ve checked in to 500 beers in Untappd.  Some badges require you have to check-in multiples of one beer, and even so you’re allowed to check-in a specific beer as many times as you want.  Although I have 382 unique check-ins, I’ve checked in 500 total beers.  If we assume $6 a beer that’s $3000 in beer.  Some people may cringe at that, but hey I know people who spend WAY more than that on their hobbies!

Time for another beer…..and another year of drinking socially….

Brew Review – Rogue’s Dead Guy Ale

Rogue’s Dead Guy Ale

Ah, Halloween.  It means different things to different people.  For some, Samhain is the time when the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead “slips” allowing one to cross into the other.  For those of the Celtic tradition, it’s the beginning of a New Year.  For others, it’s a time to let your your inner kid shine, turning the front yard into a cemetery and firing up the fog machines.  Some enjoy scanning the channels hoping to find some horror movie to watch; either one they haven’t seen before or an old favorite.  And of course there those that simply see Halloween as a chance to “bribe” the neighborhood kids into leaving their property alone for another year.  Then there are people like me who take a little bit from all those outlooks and wrap them up into one fun time of the year.

When I was married, the ex and I would throw the big Halloween party every year, The Danse Macabre.  Every year we’d invite our friends to come dressed along some particular theme, favorite TV star, sci-fi, favorite dead person (a popular one that we ended up sticking with).  Being a beer nerd, I always looked for “Halloween” related beers to serve.  Brews like Wytchwood’s Hobgoblin, Delirium Tremens and Moorhouse’s Black Cat, were regular guests at my party.  So you can imagine my joy when one day I stumbled upon Rogue’s Dead Guy Ale, the next “beer that I drink a lot of” that I’d like to talk about.

THEM: If you look at the specs on the website you’ll find them a little different from the information I’m about to give you.  Apparently the beer has been “tweeked” over the years and no one has bothered to update them.  This information comes from Rogue’s brew master John Mair from an episode of  “The Jamil Show” on The Brewing Network.  The grain bill for this German maibock is a mixture 2-row (67%) , Maier Munich (23%) and Carastan (10%) ; and hopped to 40IBUs with Perle.  There is an addition of Sterling (replacing Saaz) in the whirlpool at the end of the boil.  The starting gravity targets at 1.065 (16 Plato) and is then fermented to 6.6% ABV with their Pacman yeast.

ME: Dead Guy Ale pours orange in color with a tinge of honey and a medium head that dissipates into an island of thin lace on the top.  There is no way to describe the nose except for malt and caramel.  No hops, no tropical fruit, no pine; just an aroma that reminds you of a freshly unwrapped candy bar on Halloween night.  The flavor is inline with the aroma; malt, caramel, hints of toffee with some possible honey dancing around in there.  The middle is creamy without a bite from the carbonation to interrupt the smooth confection like flavors.  The end follows the same formula, enough clean bitter to give the beer some balance, but not take it away from what has already been presented in the profile – malty goodness.

If you lean towards the malt side of the beer flavor profile, then this is a beer you definitely want to check out.  Depending on how roguish you feel Dead Guy comes in a variety of sizes from a 12oz bottle, 22oz bomber and a 64oz growler (the latter of which is commonly available in my neck of the woods).  Also of interest, bottles labeled around the Halloween time frame every year will glow in the dark, allowing you to find your beer no matter how dark your dungeon or crypt is.  Very considerate I’d say.

Time for another beer.

The Local Tap – Argilla Brewing, Visit #2

The Board at Argilla

Last Friday the Delaware Craft Beer and Wine Lovers group met at the newest, and smallest, brewpub in Delaware – Argilla Brewing (Web : Facebook : Twitter).  Steve Powell opened the brewery in March as part of Pietro’s pizza’s new location on Kirkwood Highway.  This was Tracey and I’s second visit to the brewery, just about a month from our first visit.

It was really good!

First, let’s get a few comments about the food out of the way.  On our first stop here we found the pizza good, although our in-house pizza reviewer (my daughter) thought it was light on toppings.  Not the case this time!  Our “Kennett” pizza ( fresh mushrooms, onions and roasted red peppers) came out hot, crisp and covered with toppings.  The combo was excellent with a nice tasting sauce and plenty of cheese.  The chipolte stout BBQ wings we ordered had a great flavor and mild heat.   But I’m going to be honest, any comment I make on the food is irrelevant.  Why?  Because by 7:30 the place was packed.  I’m mean seriously packed.   Obviously someone out there thinks this place is plating up killer food and apparently I’m the last one in Delaware to find out.  So let’s get to the beer (which after all is what I pay myself to do).

The first thing on the board that grabbed my attention was a Belgian bitter (5.8% ABV).  The beer was well balanced with both the Belgian and bitter influences apparent.  To be honest I didn’t take a lot of notes on it as I was content at the moment to just sit there and enjoy it.

Argilla’s 1.5 barrel brew system

The next beer was Gleason’s Cream Ale (4.5% ABV) which I had on my first visit.  As I said then, I’m usually not a fan of nitro for anything other than stouts, but it really does marry well with a Cream Ale.  The reduced carbonation gives the beer a mouth feel deserved of the description “cream”.  This is a beer you could drink a lot of, which I believe is what the guys at Argilla were shooting for.

Next was the Amber (5.0% ABV), which had the malt profile you’d want in an Amber with just enough bitter on the back end to balance it out.  Argilla toasts some of the grains in their pizza ovens for this beer, giving a nice tie in between the beer and food sides of the the business.  It rocked with the pizza.  Although I really enjoy the Cream Ale, I’d have to say that this is my favorite beer Argilla is producing right now.

Future beer in the waiting.

Finally I had the Citizen Pale Ale which, with notes of grapefruit and spice that make me think of cascade or columbus hops, is about as defining example of an American style pale ale as one could ask for. Another solid beer.

A quick poll around the group came to the same conclusion.  Everyone seemed be enjoying the beers, finding more than one on the board that they liked.  Argilla does have commercial guest taps (again solid beers in the 5-6% range, nothing huge) for those who prefer them.  But as I glanced around the bar it seem that the majority of  people were drinking those produced in house.  Another nice testament to a brewery.

It’s become to easy in the current craft beer market with it’s trend towards 8+% ABV beers with a myriad of flavors running around in your glass to forget that there is a lot of room between the 5%ABV megaswill and a well crafted 6.0% beer for a brewer to focus on, and indeed shine (and I’m as guilty as the next person in that regard).  At the moment, that’s where Argilla seems comfortable playing.  Their beers are clean, on point as far as style and accessible, which is all anyone can ask.  These are beers that will fit in well with a meal out with friends or family, without being to heavy or distracting.

This is the part where I’m supposed to encourage you give them a try, but by the look of the crowd on Friday it appears that you already have.  I will encourage you then to keep supporting Argilla Brewing, they’re representing the craft beer scene in Delaware well.

[NOTE - Steve Powell contacted me after learning we were coming.  Sadly he wasn't going to be there that night but offered that his manager would be more than happy to take us back and show us their brewing set up.  But since the place was so busy, I decided not to pull anyone away from doing their jobs.  But I thank Steve for the consideration.  Hopefully next time!]