Smoked duck breast pizza while having some Frecon fun? Sounds like a Saturday night in Pottstown to me.

So I went out a couple of hours ago to restock the larder, the final stage of which brought me to the Sly Fox Tastin’ Room where I added cans of Grisette and Helles Lager to the haul. Can’t visit without a beer at the bar, of course, that would be a moral faux pas. I opted for Whitehorse Wit, a beer that has not been available for what seems like forever and was reminded what a great rendition it is.

They were nicely busy with both customers and preparations for tonight’s Frecon Cider Night which feature not only ciders from Frecon Farms but bluegrass music from local favorite HogMaw.* I also got a quick peek at the special menu for tonight and must admit that two items leaped out at me:

A Cheese plate selection–MISTY LOVELY (USA) “A perplexing raw goat’s milk cheese from Lancaster. Starts like a feta, but finishes like a cheddar”–and a special pizza–DUCK PIE “topped with fontina, sage-infused EVOO, house-smoked duck breast, and cherry sauce.”

I just might have to go back.

*Who knew there were people still using MySpace? For that matter, who knew there still was a MySpace? Or am I yet again revealing my disconnect from what passes for popular culture these days?

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One of our most successful craft brewers has a plan very different from most.

From today’s Craft Business Daily (I do write that line a lot, do I not?):

Clearly [Russian River] has plenty to do without ratcheting up production (which Natalie said should total less than 15,000 barrels this year, not up much from 2012). By now they’ve coined “The Russian River Model” for slow-growing breweries, and Vinnie is happy with that.

“This idea that if you’re not growing, you’re dying, we don’t buy into it,” he said. “We were out at New Glarus, and [co-founder] Dan Carey made a comment to us, ‘you really think more like winemakers than you do brewers.’ To me that’s a compliment. He was saying that from an operational and brewing standpoint. Look at all the hundreds of wineries around us – most buy 10 acres, put a 10,000-case winery on the property. And that’s it. They don’t have to keep growing every year. They find other ways to grow — in innovation, quality and pricing, so they can do what they need to do.”

Vinnie did say in another portion of the article that one of the things that does tempt him to by new equipment and expand is that he might then be able to brew “even better beer.” I’m not sure beer geekdom could handle that, actually.

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Posted in Breweries, Brewers, Different Strokes | 3 Comments

Here’s a fun fact from today’s Craft Business Daily…

Four of last year’s top 5 fastest-growing craft brewers were those whose primary package is cans.

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Posted in Breweries, Craft Beer, News | 3 Comments

Everybody has to be somewhere…

IMG_1072[1]…and this is where I shall be tonight. Phillies game? The Fall on Netflix, streaming via Roku? The first episode of Graceland, which I DVR-ed last night? Curl up with my  Kindle and a good book? Fall asleep and not awaken until His Canine Highness insists?

First I’ll have a gin & tonic or two on the back deck, then decide if dinner will be grilled pork loin with veggies and nan or a stir fry of pork, sweet peppers, broccoli, mushrooms and garlic (maybe over rice, maybe not). Many decisions. First G&T now in hand. Where this will lead, nobody knows.

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Sad news.

Sincere condolences to the Thursday Night Social Club, many of whose members have reportedly been diagnosed with Cenosillacaphobia. While no further information has been released, rumors say that Big Dan was Patient Zero in this epidemic. I’d put my money on Foley.

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A couple of beers I had this week.

For a variety of reasons, my Philly Beer Week participation this year was going to be minimal at best, but  a recent high blood pressure scare insured that and more..um, less. However, whil3e I may be drinking not nearly as much as I might’ve these days, I certainly haven’t gone cold turkey, especially not when I get an unexpected shot at two brand new beers well ahead of most of the crowd.

tworoadsaisonTwo Roads Worker’s Comp Saison was a gift from Mike Jones at the Beer Yard, who cornered me earlier in the week to ask about Two Roads, the new brewery in Connecticut. I went off on a riff about Phil Markowski, who’s the brewmaster there, and his book, Farmhouse Ales, and was rewarded with the bottle at left. If I’d expanded the info to include our local connection–both Scott Morrison and Brian O’Reilly worked for and learned from Phil back in the day–I might have scored a second one.

Worker’s Comp is a well-made example of the style with all the traditional spicy, fruity notes and solid grain background. At 4.8%, it’s easy drinking and was a perfect aperitif sitting on the back deck, but perhaps not the attention-getter you might expect from a master of the style.

The other beer that arrive out of the blue was the first in a new collaborative limited edition series being done at 16 Mile Brewing with Copper Dragon Brewery from Yorkshire, England. It’s called the Heraldry Series and is “based on bringing English history to life in a pint,” according to sales & marketing guy Claus Hagelman. The idea is to chose famous moments in English history and find a way to bring those elements to life with the ingredients used. The Battle Of Waterloo Brew is a strong English Ale (8.1%) brewed with English malts, North German hops. Belgian Yeast and aged on Toasted French Oak spires soaked in Napoleon Brandy for five weeks. Complex indeed, and a pleasant companion while whiling away the evening with a good book.

16milewaterloobrewMonk’s Cafe’s ubiquitous Tom Peters was down in Georgetown, Del. to help with the making of Battle of Waterloo and that raises a question: would it be easier to name the places Peters has not visited as guest brewer of late or the ones he has? He was part of the brewing of Manneken Penn for Philly Beer Week at Brasserie de la Senne with Weyerbacher’s Chris Wilson earlier this year, part of a group brew at Tired Hands with Jean Broillet IV a while back and was one of the creators of another PBW beer,Dock Street Trappiste Pale, along with the aforementioned Morrison and Home Sweet Homebrew’s George Hummel. A keg of Battle will be tapped at Monk’s at noon this Sunday if you want to give it a try.

By the way, I am currently scheduled to visit 16 Mile my ownself in October to collaborate in the brewing of an Oyster Stout as part of their ongoing Collaboration Brews for a Good Cause series.

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Posted in Beer Styles, Breweries, Brewers, Brewpubs, Collaborations, Philly Beer Week, Publicans | Leave a comment

Weyerbacher and Tröegs, sittin’ in a tree…

The annual “Brewvitational” results are in this morning’s Inquirer, a nice read to get you prepared for Philly Beer Week which begins on the morrow. Weyerbacher and Tröegs, both of which seem to have been on a roll for months now, kept up the pace, the former’s Riserva took top honors as best new beer and the latter’s Sunshine Pils won in the other medal category, Pilsners.

The results and commentary and video of the judging are spread all over the place, so rather than linking you directly to the newspapers site, I’m sending you to The Brew Lounge where Bryan Kolesar has it all broken down into eight separate links, each one clearly identified. That boy’s anal retentiveness is a real local beer geek’s treasure, it is.

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Posted in Brewvitational 2013, Philly Beer Week | 1 Comment

Stuff I find on the internets when I am desperately avoiding writing for money because that is just so crass.

Crossing Broad is a whacked-out Philly sports blog wherein you are likely to find almost any damned insight imaginable on topics you would never consider discussing in a million years, but I thought you fine and refined folks who will surely never wander on your own into the dark underbrush where such lack of discretion lurks would nonetheless find this post, which concludes with some deep but not quite unconditional love for The Mad Elf and an entirely reasonable disdain for what I call “seasonal release creep.” to be of some interest.

Or not.

Also, Mad Elf crash?

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“If it was bad enough for him, you know it’s bad enough for me…”

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The news isn’t here, it’s over there.

As is my wont now and then, I have posted some recent news in the local beer world that is of interest to me and, I hope, to you, at the Beer Yard site. As most of you should know by now, maintaining the news and beer lists for the region’s best beer retailer contributes to my meager income.

This story shows that others share my “best beer retailer” opinion and also contains a link to all the winners in the Philly Beer Scene voting who were honored at the annual bash last Wednesday night.

This story links to a long and informative piece about craft brewing growth in New Jersey, as complete a look at the burgeoning scene as I’ve seen to date. Well worth reading.

And finally, this story shows another step the clever folks at Weyerbacher Brewing have taken to make themselves a valued and recognizable part of the Easton community.

Go here to get the Beer Yard news archives which provide at least an outline of the local (and sometimes national) craft beer scene going all the way back to July 2001.

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Posted in Beer History, Beer Industry, Beer Is Good, Beer Yard, Good Old Days | Leave a comment