Wherein I am disappointed, hear an ironic tale and ponder the absence of carrots.
I stopped in again today at the Craft Ale House on my way back from the Beer Yard, planning to, should management be agreeable, to grab a growler of Yards Brawler for New Year’s Eve enjoyment (this really is a beer that has captured my heart, as I have indicated in other posts and which I will prove on the morrow so do come back). CAH will be doing growlers but there was an issue with their glycol dispensing system yesterday and I needed find out whether that was fixed and if they were prepared to do so as of now.
Glycol was still not fixed (apparently that will happen today), but that was a secondary issue. Brawler kicked last night, the first keg to move on to its just reward in Limerick. “A couple of Beer Advocate guys came in early Monday and ordered pints of Brawler, so it was the first beer we ever sold here,” Gary Fry told me, “and they came back with some friends that night and they were to ones to kick the keg as well.”
Ironic, that (at least in the broad sense of the word), but there was even more. The beer which took over the Brawler tap? Philadelphia Brewing’s Rowhouse Red.
Irony indeed, or perhaps just synchronicity run rampant, beers from the city’s oldest and newest production breweries, once one and now two, the newest flowing where the oldest once poured, perhaps an unspoken message that old feuds and angry words can be washed away.
In any case, after I had finished the pint of Sly Fox Keller Pils which was also part of my reason for being there, I opted for a 10-ounce glass of Rowhouse because some folks have been talking about–I do not make this stuff up–tasting carrots in this beer (or being influenced to do so) and, it having proven to be my favorite of all the PBC beers, I wanted to see what that was all about.
Short answer: no.
There was a good sign at the CAH bar during my brief (20 minutes or so) visit as well: people were talking t one another, strangers falling into the easy pattern of exchanging opinions, slipping into the coversation next to them or across the bar. That’s a good sign of a good bar, the comfort level that becomes a part of the ambiance.
And I got, sort of, an answer about the two websites currently in play, per this request after yesterday’s post. Gary says he hopes to eventually make the original site THE site but opted for the Blogger site because a highly trained user of the internet said he could get the word out there about the beers on tap and the opening that way. We will see how that goes; said “highly trained user” is going to be the one to teach Gary how to do the job, so,,,, Well, we will just see how that goes.
I’ve posted a lot about CAH of late so let me point you toward, approvingly, to (despite my having questioned his taste buds above) what America’s Most Beloved Beer Writer (© Liquid Diet - the Blog, 2008 ) says in the small print at the end of this post.
In the blogosphere at least, all of us are working with personal experiences and the information provided us by the people whose efforts we struggle to cover. In may case, in particular, a lot of the more formal news and updates tends to ends up over here rather than as part of these ramblings, ’cause that’s what I’m paid to do.
I am complex. My mansion has many rooms.
I think a few of the rooms need to be cleaned.
That’s funny.
Methinks also that more than a few rooms need to be broomed and that PERHAPS the constant consumption of ales and lagers may have dulled the brain (it is “Rowhouse Red” afterall)as well as the palate to the point that it cannot recognize or even taste as simple a flavor as that of carrots. It was there, and obvious as all hell, too. I trust my undulled palate. And I do NOT think I was suceptible to suggestion, but rather I concurred with AMBBW that in fact that flavor was there in Rowhouse Red, as obvious as the beard on your jaw.
I do admire a man with convictions, I must admit, but one who misspells his own name? That’s a bit disturbing. Then again, a man who wrote “Roadhouse” Red (since fixed) has little ground on which to stand in such matters.
In any case, I shall continue to pursue the question with independent researchers. It’s the least I can do and I’m very good at doing the least.
[...] asked them—because this affront to my judgment, palate and general character (not to mention my beard, which is older than many of [...]
[...] In any case, I advise that you discount any rumors that this change was designed to hide the taste of carrots. [...]