SAVOR Recap

Sixty eight craft breweries offered their swill to a sold out crowd last night at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. Given a program and a two ounce tasting glass we were on a mission to sip as many of the 136 flavors as possible. We hit almost 30 (28 to be exact), which is pathetic but we look forward to doing better next year.

Savor: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience was everything promised and much improved over last year. The 2008 version had three events over 1.5 days in a smaller venue. While there were significantly more people this year the Building Museum is built for these types of shows. There were 15 of four brewers each and the Supporters Circle in the middle of the room. Oh, there was food too.

From the 28 we tried below are the highlights.

The Good
Ulinta, XVI Barley Wine - we don't appreciate this specialty enough
Ska, Milk Stout - reminds us of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Boulevard, Saison - mmm mmm good
Odell, Woodcut No. 2 - would travel to find this brew

The Bad
Schmaltz, Coney Island Albino Python - brewed with fennel, gross
Coronado, Orange Pale Ale - no orange flavor at all

The Forgettable
Star Hill, The Love - there is no love
Hwiner Brau, Kolsch - Miller Lite?
Arcadia, Cocoa-Loco Triple Chocolate Milk Stout - eh

Cheers!

coney island albino python tastes like ass.

odell needs to distribute to the mid-atlantic just for the woodcut.

Ska milk stout is yummy.

Nude beach: great name. no flavor.

We are at savor. 30 minutes in and we hit 9 brews. ulnita is very good.

It's All About Priorities

According to UPI and the Latin American Herald Tribune, a funeral home in Bogota failed to deliver the casket to the cemetery while the family waited....and waited....and waited. Relatives could only wonder what happened to their beloved Tito Vasquez.

Of course, the delay was due to the driver's need to stop and have a few cold ones. Said article, the driver "stopped for a beer and failed to deliver a body to the cemetery while the family waited." The family waited at the cemetery "for several hours"while the driver, the hearse, and Mr. Vazquez were boozing it up in a local hotel parking lot.

Cheers!

Pre-SAVOR Party at Cap City

If you can't wait for the SAVOR event this Saturday we have a little something that might ease your pain.

Take your SAVOR ticket to Cap City Brewing's downtown location for a pre-party on the 29th. From 7:00-10:00p you will enjoy appetizers and 10 different Cap City brews including Capitol Kolsch, Amber Waves Ale, Pale Rider Ale, and Organic Saison.

All this for flashing your SAVOR ticket. That's right, no additional cost. Don't believe us? Check it out for yourself at the Cap City Brewsletter.


Brewsletter.....that's awful.

You Don't Drink the Can - You Drink the Beer

The big brewers often rely on big marketing to sell there ware. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Any company needs to promote its product. Frankly, we can admit one guilty pleasure is a good Bud Light commercial. Today, we focus on MillerCoors and their efforts to increase market share by spending $100 million (and that's just for Miller Lite) on marketing rather than product improvement. Please, just stick with the Swedish Bikini Team.

Miller Uses Hops. Yep, just like every other beer, Miller Lite uses hops. You've seen the commercials: "How does Miller Lite get all that great pilsner taste? We add the hops not once, not twice, but three times during the brewing process." How you can add hops 3 times and get zero flavor is a discussion for another day.

Cold Beer Labels. Miller Lite's equally weak cousin, Coors Light, offers a labeling system that actually tells the consumer when the beer is cold - just by looking at it. Open the fridge and check the label on your Coors Light. Don't bother wasting all that energy extending your arm into the fridge and touching the bottle. If the label is blue the beer is cold...and your wife is pregnant.

Bottle Caps Keep Air Out. The engineers at MillerCoors have for years struggled with keeping their beer fresh. Recently, they discovered "taste protector caps" that actually keeps air out and the beer in. It gives you all the protection you need, which is probably why your wife is pregnant.


Footnote: According to the Wall Street Journal, we can thank advertising companies Bogle Bartle Hegarty and Interpublic Group's DraftFCB.

DC Beer Week, Sort of

May 26, 2009 - June 1, 2009, is unofficially beer week in Washington, DC. We say "unofficially" because the Mayor and DC Council are too busy negotiating the use of baseball tickets to focus on important things like beer or crime (but not because the Washington Post declared it the unofficial beer week). So, what's going on in DC this week? Below are the highlights.

May 26, 2009 - Brasserie Beck is serving a four-course meal featuring various French micro brews.

May 27, 2009 - Hawk 'n Dove is hosting a Capitol Hill Craft Beer Bar Tour

May 28, 2009 - Sierra Nevada Artisan Ale Experience at Stoney's Bar and Grill

May 29, 2009 - Lupulin Slam at RFD

May 30, 2009 - One word: SAVOR

June 1, 2009 - Finish the week with Greg Koch of Stone Brewing Company at the Brickskeller.

A more complete list of events can be found here.

The 5-0: ROGUE

We are regular consumers of the Newport Oregon brewers' Dead Guy Ale and we recently stumbled upon Dry Hopped St. Rogue Red. Rogue combined the two pillars of slacktivism - beer and television - when they crafted Captain Sig's Northwestern Ale in honor of the wildly cool Hansen brothers (Sig, Edgar, and Norman). You might have seen the brothers on Discovery's version of a wild west gold rush - Deadliest Catch.

This brew comes in a wonderful 22 oz. bottle that would be great for swinging about in a pub brawl (after you drink the beer). Upon pouring, the head is a thick light-nut color that starts quickly but takes its time breaking down. If you look closely you can actually see the rough waters of the Bearing Sea.

The brew itself is a semi-opaque copper color. It has a flowery hop scent with maybe a hint of citrus. Take a swig and the flavor kind of punches you in the teeth. Northwestern Ale has a good, but not overpowering bitterness, solid malty flavor, and the typical Rogue finish. This brew actually makes you cooler just by drinking it.

There's a Deadliest Catch marathon this weekend on Discovery. So, find yourself a few bottles of Northwestern Ale, turn on the tele, and pretend you're a man just like Sig.

Beer Massacre

Leflore County Sheriff, Curnutt reported that a group of men went to a home and reported that their car had run out of gas. The good samaritan residents drove the men back to their car but the residents noticed a case of beer missing from their own car. A melee ensued and a man from the first group pulled out a chain saw and cut another man's arm.

The Sheriff's Office released this composite sketch of the offender:

Drinking Poorhouse Porter @ Franklins; reading up on 2010 Mustang, Camaro, & Charger. Life is good.

Second Class Citizens Sit in Fenway's Cheap Seats

That's how it must feel anyway. Having spent much of our entire sporting lives in the cheap seats, we find this story particularly disturbing.

Today's Boston Globe explains that fans in the grandstand can only get up, disturb everybody around them, and wait in a very long concession line to purchase their beer. However, the beer vendors are selling their goods in just about every other part of Fenway. According to the article, "[b]eer vendors at Fenway Park can ply their trade in the field boxes, the dugout seats, and up in the pavilions, areas where customers pay more for their tickets. Fans elsewhere have to fetch their own."

The article goes on to note that this is not the case at other Major League Baseball stadiums or at Gillette Stadium. Part of the problem is that the Boston Liqour Licensing Board is not interested in expanding seat side vending at the park. The other problem is the Red Sox - who fear that increased vending in the cheap seats would add to congestion in the aisles. The article quotes team spokeswoman Susan Goodenow as saying, "fans don't mind getting up" to waste 2o minutes standing in line for a beer. Of course they don't, their Red Sox fans.

The liquor authority sums it up thusly: "It's elitist."

And yes, that is a picture of one of New York's finest selling beer in the cheap seats of Yankee Stadium.

Pour Some Out for the Homies - AFL Style

Today a memorial is being held for the Honorable Jack Kemp at Washington, DC's National Cathedral. The All-Pro quarterback led the Buffalo Bills to two American Football League titles (1964-1965); the only Championship seasons in Bills history. Kemp was a nine term Congressman, Secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and a Vice Presidential candidate.

Robert L. Woodson, Sr. of the Washington Times eloquently expresses what Kemp truly meant to politics. Mr. Woodson writes:

"'If I had served my God with half the zeal that I served my king, I would not have been left sad and lonely in my old age.'"

"Such was the lament of the former archbishop of Canterbury in the play "Becket" when he was deposed by King Henry II and replaced by the king's carousing friend, Thomas Becket. And this should be the lament of the Republican Party for its failure to be faithful to the transcendent principles and practices laid down by the likes of Jack Kemp and George Kettle, both recently deceased."

Of course, the people of Western New York have always loved Mr. Kemp for both his football and political contributions. He's been a beloved figure there for years. Jack Kemp, Tim Russert - part of the very small brotherhood to make Buffalo feel like true players on the national stages.

The Buffalo Bills have officially retired only Jim Kelly's #12. It's not too late to retire #15.

We Don't Give a Phuk

Marani Brands, Inc. announced today that it reached an agreement to be the exclusive importer and distributor of the uniquely named Phuket Beer. Since we don't know the first thing about Phuket Beer, we'll quote the article:

"Phuket Beer was founded on the tropical island of Phuket in the southern region of Thailand. The lager has gained a distinct image as a lifestyle-brand product representing the carefree and laid back nature of living on an exotic tropical island. ...Phuket Beer is an all-natural beer with no additives or preservatives and produced in small batches to ensure the highest quality, freshness, and consistency."

Phuket Beer does not remind us of a tropical island but it does remind us of Lethal Weapon 2.

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Riggs: This Stinks.

Martin: I don't give a phuk, Riggs. That's why I don't have an ulcer, because I know when to say "I don't give a phuk." And Riggs.

Riggs: What?

Martin: You know what that says?

Riggs: Yeah, same thing as that. But I don't give a phuk.

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Special thanks to IMDB.

They said It Couldn't be Done

It's just under a month and our baby rhizomes are showing some greenage. The "hard freeze" announced by the weather predicters in early April never arrived. Since then our region of the country has had an abundance of rain with just enough sun scattered about for good measure. We are hoping that plentiful rain is the magic ingredient if only because it helps us bear the miserable weather pattern we're stuck in.

Really, after planting we have put forth very little effort on this project. All the credit goes to mother nature. We didn't even have the decency to toss in some Miracle Grow. So far it's better to be lucky than good. If mother nature turns our expirement into a couple of towering hop vines we might start recycling.

Cheers!