Holy Thursday: From the Source

"Where is thine ale concocted from?"

You know what? For being "snobby" "geeky" and "bratty" about my beer and the vessels in which I consume it out of over the last few years, I have also become lazy in a few aspects. Lazy in what department? That would be getting my beer in growlers.

I have three growlers on my current premises. That only gets me beer from two establishments - Blue Dust and East End Brewing. I have two growlers from East End. That's actually pretty sad for someone that prides himself on trying a lot of different styles and brews as well as boasting about the local beer around Pittsburgh.

I mean just think about what I've been missing here. Roundabout Brewery just opened up in Lawrenceville. Full Pint and Rivertowne are just a 20 minute drive or so from where I am. All three of which fill growlers. Yea, I can find some of their brews on draft at some pub around the city, but there's just something about going to the source and bringing a fresh growler back to enjoy in the comfort of home.

Here's to getting out there and exploring more than I used to.

Monday Rant: Fragile Standards

I made one of the more ironic discoveries during my craft beer travels last Friday when I ventured to the new digs of East End Brewing Company. I was craving a growler of Monkey Boy Hefeweizen. I also had heard a lot about the currently tapped Chocolate Covered Cherry Stout. So, I picked up a growler of that as well.

After I made the purchase of the aforementioned growlers, I stumbled across the ironic discovery on my way out. On the rack of East End memorabilia was a card labeled "Fancy Schmancy Glass - $5.) I looked up at the rows of glasses and was excited to see East End Brewing branded snifters. Pardon me if my classification is wrong, but it's definitely a cross between a snifter and a tulip. Still, that's far from the point.

It was ironic to me being that the craft beer community has been engulfed in the Dogfish/Sierra Nevada wine and IPA glass controversy. To me, this cleverly-named piece of glassware was a microcosm of the happenings of the past week. It's called a fancy schmancy glass. So, the namesake could be poking fun at the way some of us beer drinkers are about our glassware. It also could not be the reason it's named as such. That's why I thought it was both brilliant and ironic. That and five dollars for a good glass is a bargain. I instantly bought it.

I'll be damned if I didn't drink both the hefeweizen and the stout out of it. I did and it was wonderful. I plan on probably drinking all kinds of styles out of this glass down the road because it really doesn't matter.

I've fallen in love with this glass just as I fell in love with the Libby craft brew set my girlfriend got me for a Christmas gift one year. For me, the fun and enjoyment of different types of craft beer is drinking it the way you want to. There isn't any set standard. I've drank IPA's and fruit beers from a tulip. Pilsners and dunkels from a flute glass. You can bet the farm that I'm going to drink all kinds of different styles from my new East End fancy schmancy glass because the brewer probably intended all of his brews to be drank from it. Now, that's a great standard to drink by.