Troegs to Produce Another Interesting Scratch Beer

Are you one of the many out there fearing something odd is going to happen on Dec. 21? Well, it looks like Troegs might have you covered for the big day.

According to John Trogner's Twitter account, Troegs intends on adding a Russian Imperial Stout to it's fascinating list of Scratch brews. The tweet only says that it's nicknamed "Impending Descent" paying homage to the end of the Mayan calendar on the 21st. I'm not entirely sure if that's what the beer will end up being named.

Regardless, you now have reasons to celebrate the pending end of civilization as we know it, a massive shift in the earth's gravitational pull or whatever you think might happen by that date. Don't take my word for it. You can be the judge! I just think it means the Pittsburgh Pirates might provide us with a winning season very soon.

Brewing a huge Russian Imperial Stout nicknamed "?impending descent?" today to celebrate the end of the Mayan Calendar ..released 12.21.12
— john trogner (@jtroegs) November 6, 2012

Crowd Control in Craft Pubs?

You're sitting in your local craft beer pub around lunch time. So what? It's your day off. You see a couple wander in and sit their behinds down at a table to indulge in what they believe to be an amazing lunch experience.

You watch and eavesdrop on the encounter as the waiter/waitress walks over to say hello and ask for their drink orders. They aren't sure what they want at first. So, they squint at the board that lists all of the funky-named beers and try to decipher what's what in this unfamiliar land that they've wandered to.

The ever-so-creative beer board at Fat Head's Pittsburgh.

The male in the couple blurts out that he just wants a Coors Light draft, only to be told that the establishment only has it in bottle. The couple then looks bewildered. What was to be a glorious and relaxing lunch is now destroyed.

I'm sure you've noticed this if you frequent any bars featuring craft brews. This vivid, but entertaining memory  popped back into my head after reading a piece on such debacles via a beer blog through the Houston Press.

I'm sure there are some out there (people and establishments) that prefer these types just stay out of the craft pub and the tap lists certainly play a huge role in doing that in most cases.

I, for one, enjoy talking with someone that's curious about new and exotic beers and opening up an entire new world for them. That's how I see it. If you're willing and open, there's room for you in the craft beer movement. The article that inspired this post even gets to that same point towards the end, too.

It's one big learning experience for all of us that's meant to be enjoyed.

Full Pint Brewing Company: Growing Fast

I was privileged to spend a good portion of my day, yesterday at Full Pint Brewing in North Versailles. The brewery's Twitter account bio reads "Good people, good beer." In my opinion, this holds true.

I got to meet some of the brewers there as well as tasting some of the newer concoctions it has to offer. Over the last two years or so, Full Pint has gone from newcomer to a household name on the shelves at our local beer distributors.

Full Pint's current brew house

The brewery intends on releasing a new beer series entitled Beer Nerd Saison. I was fortunate enough to try the most recent batch, which was brewed with a helping of Elderflower. Expect to see this beer on local taps soon as mostly a draft-only release.

I was also lucky enough to try the recently released Night of the Living Stout by Full Pint, which features a strong, roasted malt presence with plenty of cocoa notes. That should be both bottle and draft.

Full Pint is also getting ready to expand. According to Jake Kristophel, the brewery is planning on adding to the current brew house and possibly adding more 30-barrel bright tanks. More Rumplepilsen and White Lightning for craft beer fans in this area can only be a good thing.

A new batch of Chinookie IPA being brewed.

Monday Rant: Pennsylvania - West vs. East

I think that if I can conclude one thing after my trip to the eastern part of Pennsylvania it's that we know how to drink beer in the western part and they know how to eat in the eastern part of the state.

My post last Wednesday described how the town of Gettysburg, its roads and its location were all conducive to great beer and food being all over the town's establishments.

What I proposed is true. There's food ranging from seafood from Maryland, cheesesteaks from Philadelphia and recipes from the Pennsylvania Dutch. There are also numerous craft breweries that have their product around Gettysburg as well. Troegs is just to the north, Roy Pitz out of Chambersburg and Lancaster Brewing isn't too far off either.

The problem is that it looks as if that side of the state hasn't yet caught up with the craft beer revolution that we are currently experiencing here around Pittsburgh. Not to say that our friends out east have no idea what craft beer is, but in the rural areas outside of Philadelphia it looks as if they're not yet ready for it.

This was evident to me by the lack of taps in a few of the restaurants I dined in this past weekend. Yes, of course some of those companies have a presence there. It's just when I head to the Dobbin House Tavern I expect a bigger selection of Troegs other than just the Pale Ale. I honestly expected to find Sunshine Pils all over the place since it's an excellent summer beer and it usually gets hot as hell east of the Blue Ridge.

For the record, numerous beers from these companies are present in bottle. I'm just disappointed in the lack of tap presence.

Aside from that, another thing I've learned is that if they don't have a wide as selection of beer as we do here, they sure as hell know how to eat better than us. After having a cheesesteak made the right way out there, I'll be damned if I ever get one in Pittsburgh again. A cheesesteak with the cheese melted on the grill with the meat as it cooks will always overcome the overrated Primanti's Pittsburgher sandwich.

Where the hell else can you find Shepherd's Pie Potato Skins?

We can't forget about the Dutch cooking either. Where around here can you find anything that resembles the Game Pie or spoon bread at the Farnsworth House Inn? While eating breakfast at the local diner, I ordered pancakes with chocolate and peanut butter chips one morning and cheese danish the next. If you order a danish at Eat n' Park or another similar place around here, the odds are that you're getting an Entenmann's picked up at your local super market.

Why Dogfish Head is Great For Craft Beer

While writing yesterday's beer review of Dogfish Head's Indian Brown Ale, which is a cross between an American Brown Ale, India Pale Ale and a Scottish Ale, I couldn't help but think of Dogfish owner Sam Calagione going off on a set of beer geeks on a Beer Advocate thread a few months ago.

Dogfish Head takes some heat in the court of public opinion due to the fact that it gets fairly liberal in terms of combing different styles of beer into one finalized product. In my opinion, the brewery's finest hour was the release of Noble Rot, a combination of wine and beer, as a full-bottle production this past January.

I think the thing that was closest to that type was Dogfish Head's Midas Touch, which was brewed with ingredients found in ancient bowls in the tomb of what's supposed to be King Midas. What about Raison D'Etre? It's brewed with beet sugar for God sake.

How can you criticize any craft brewer, even if you don't approve of a particular beer? Craft brewers put more heart into their final product than any of the American majors do. This post is also inspired by the comment I received on my review of Blue Moon Summer Honey Wheat by founder, Keith Villa.

When I've written something about your everyday craft brewer's beer on here and they've found the post concerning them, I've received an email asking if they can send me some of their beers to try for free. It doesn't end like that when it comes to the American majors. God only knows if that was really Villa or some Public Relations intern just getting the company's two cents out there on everything that mentions Blue Moon's name.

If you're going to say something bad about any brewer, it should be the big-time American companies that continue to ram down your throats a product that has been watered-down by more and more by the year and only worries about profits and its public image. A craft brewer only worries about the product it puts on taps across his or her distribution area.

Monday Rant: Everything Tastes Odd From a Can

My apologies for the redundancy of the last two Monday Rants folks, but a few issues related to Miller Lite have just blown my mind. Last week I explained the stupidity of getting excited over the new release of Miller 64, this week it's the hilarity concerning Miller's new punch top can.

A punch top can. What a revelation to the beer industry. Now, frat boys across college campuses from here to the Pacific Ocean can now easily puncture the new perforated beer cans for a "smoother pour." Am I insane or is this "innovation" nothing but an easily shotgun-able beer?

How many more people are going to flock to crappy beer like sheep because the major American beer companies keep adding silly things to their cans and bottles? I'm so excited that your can or bottle turns blue when it's cold enough. Don't you realize that a good percentage of the beer's flavor is lost when you drink it extremely cold? At least let it get a bit closer to room temperature.

Hooray! Your favorite beer company crafted a bottle with scientific grooves in the stem to make your beer more fizzy! I prefer a natural head on my beer, not one with artificial help.

Now we have an easily-punched can that enables your beer to be poured smoother. Being a craft beer follower, I'm glad that craft breweries don't advertise the container its beer is being served in, but advertising the actual product it makes.

Why would you even want the beer to come out of the can easier and with increased speed? Can't you consume your beer at the normal consumption rate like the rest of the human race? Isn't the whole point of trying new beers to actually savor every drop and actually taste the concoction?

Good Lord, what's so great about a can anyways? Everything that's in a can just tastes odd from a can. At least pour it into a glass to relieve your tongue of the aluminum beating it's about to go through.

 

Beer and Stereotypes

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

No thanks. 

Came across an entertaining link by A Good Beer Blog about a new fad in the southwest United States. Apparently there's been a rising number of what can be referred to as beer burglaries in the region.

You can find the answer to this question in the blog post I linked and in the article that's linked in the same post, but I ask you what almost all of these burglaries have in common? If you answered with "beer," then you win a cookie. If you answered bad beer, then you've earned yourself another one.

According to that blog post and the article within, most of these burglaries have involved Budweiser and Bud Lite. Also noted is the irony that what some refer to as fancy beer is mostly left on the shelves when these events occur. The article says that in El Paso, 2,876 of these crimes were reported last year. Looks like it has caught on.

My spin on this is a controversy that's been going on for years and most likely won't ever be answered. Are there stereotypes when it comes to the beer we drink.

Take me for example. In his early twenties, fascinated by the craft beer craze and is pretty stuck up about it. I'm sure some would classify me as a "beer geek." Does the fact that these burglaries took place in the Southwest affirm theories that people in rural areas drink crappier beer as opposed to us that live in more urban areas with much better beer selections where ever we go?

I think it's an interesting question to ponder. I've always been one that's believed stereotypes exist because different people have actually done some of the alleged things. Now, I also don't believe that a specific stereotype applies to an entire demographic either, to be fair.

In my opinion, we grow up in certain areas and we become attuned to doing certain things. They become habitual. As I mentioned earlier, I believe the reasoning that most craft beer is not the chosen beer of whomever is stealing Budweiser is because they grew up around it somehow.

I also think that location has something to do with it as well. Just take a ride a few miles north of Pittsburgh. There are some bars I've come across that perceive the finest craft beer as being whatever Sam Adams seasonal is out. With that said, I'm still curious about what everyone else has to say about this.

The Infamous Blue-Eyed Blueberry Blonde Ale Still Exists

I've always let it be known about my obsession with the Blue-Eyed Blueberry Blonde Ale I drank two years ago while on a trip to Buffalo. The place I had it was Pearl Street Grill and Brewery, a six floor bar and restaurant that brewed all of its beer in-house just outside of Buffalo's HSBC Arena. I honestly can't stop thinking and talking about it.

Pearl Street's Beer Profiles

A few weeks ago I wrote a decently long piece on my fascination with blueberry ales, with an emphasis on the aforementioned craft brew. While writing that, I looked on Pearl Street's website for a description and couldn't find any trace of the beer. I also referenced this supposed fact in my Beer Rankings update last week.

Since it's getting to that time of the year in which it usually comes out, I took one last look and was relieved to find it still in existence. It was just well hidden. It's also evident that the brew is part of a special release series the brewery has.

I've also taken a screen cap of the beer's profile, but it can be found if you click on "St. Pearlie Girl Persuasions." Once the button is clicked, the beer lists under the Persuasion series appears. I simply took the Persuasion label as a single beer. Oh how wrong I was.

The good news is that one of my all-time favorite beers still exists. The next step is finding out an easier way to get it instead of driving all of the way to Buffalo again. I'm definitely open for suggestions.

This was me for a bit there.

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Beer Rankings Updated

The Beer Rankings are officially updated. Highlights of my revisions include:

• The complete list has expanded from 20 beers to 24 beers.
• East End's Monkey Boy has cracked the top-10.
• The infamous and flirtatious Blueberry Blonde that I encountered at Pearl Street Grill and Brewery in Buffalo has taken a big hit as it doesn't appear that it's made by its brewer anymore.
• The very popular seasonal, Troegs Nugget Nectar is now ranked on the list.
• As I've been reintroduced to Oatmeal Stouts, I've added my first of the type to the rankings.
• Plus, two more brews are included.

You can find the Beer Rankings in the main tool bar up above or by clicking right here.

Apparently North Country Brewing Has Beer on Cask

I've made it known that Blue Dust in Homestead is my favorite brew pub to frequent due to its 26 beers on-tap, but before I had Blue Dust I had North Country Brewing Company in Slippery Rock.

North Country was the first time I had craft beer when I turned legal age and it opened up an entirely different world for me. It's also the primary source for my love affair with fruit beer. Last week I stopped in once again with a friend and noticed something that I hadn't before, even though it's most likely been there the entire time.

Apparently North Country has a cask system. Now, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here. It's just a single cask, but at least it's there. I'm a newbie when it comes to cask beer, but I know enough about it being live beer at it's best to realize it's worth a drink whenever you get a chance to snag a glass.

This isn't my first rodeo when it comes to cask beer. Just check out one of the most-read posts in the young history of this blog, it's just my second.

I really didn't have a single idea of what cask beer was before I tried it a month back. To make a long story short, I loved it.

Case-in-point, the actual news here is that North Country Brewing does have a cask system. I wouldn't have even noticed it except for the fact that I was on the bar stool directly in front of it. It almost looks as if it's out of use. There wasn't even anything on the tap list that said anything was on it (FYI Squirrel Nut Brown was the beer on cask). If I was North Country I'd be promoting the hell out of it up there.

I know that North Country has that smaller bar upstairs and the split-open kegs in the bathroom that are urinals that everyone loves, but this cask system is one of the lesser-known gems in this place.

According to Pittsburgh's favorite craft beer writer at Craft Pittsburgh, North Country isn't the only place to sample their brand of beer beer on cask.

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