Living Social

I have to say, I have really become accustomed to the Living Social: Beer application available through Facebook.com and LivingSocial.com. It's a pretty cool place to enter in all of the beers you may have sampled over the years and post a simple review, flag your favorites, and check out photos of different containers, etc. It is a more organized version of something I was trying to do myself a couple of years ago through Flickr.com. I like LS:Beer for it's ease of use. I know there are several other review sites--and they have their positives as well as their negatives--but LS:Beer just plugs into my toolkit seamlessly. I suggest you check it out.

http://beer.livingsocial.com

'Tis the start of the season

And on with the fall beer festival season!

Today, in Bel Air, Maryland, DuClaw is holding their real ale festival. There is a limited number of tickets available for those who didn't buy them ahead of time.

Real ale is defined as a beer brewed from traditional ingredients (malted barley, hops water, and yeast), matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide. Typically the beer is served by hand-pump or dispensed by gravity, where the cask is above ground and is tapped at the bottom. Some really extraordinary beer is made and served this way.

Unfortunately, we won't be able to attend, but I would love to hear from some folks who do! Just drop us a line by clicking contact at the right hand side of our page.

Saranac Brewery's New Blog

The Matt brothers at Saranac Brewery just turned on a redesigned blog. It has some pretty spiffy information regarding the history of the brewery and events that are going on in, and around, Utica, NY. Go ahead and check it out by following the link on the right-hand side of the page, under "Blogs We Like."

Well, it's no bumper crop

Last year, I decided to venture out and buy some hops rhizomes from Maryland Homebrew. The varieties I bought were Cascade and Hallertau. I planted them in large planters around Mother's Day, and let them run wild.

Well, they didn't run that wild.

Both popped up out of the soil, but didn't grow beyond 12 inches tall. I cut them back in mid-September, and covered them with spent grain.

This spring I noticed my Cascade planter shooting up like crazy! Well, wouldn't you know, it has grown about 10 feet tall on a trellis I built. Wouldn't you guess the Hallertau wasn't as fortunate: I decided to dump it in the back of our back yard.

Tonight I harvested my Cascade cones--they feel papery to the touch, and have a fantastic aroma of spicy grapefruit! Below you will find pictures of my "first harvest."

P.S. That Hallertau plant I pitched in the back, back yard--I think it rooted itself in some of my grass clippings and wild flowers and has simply exploded behind our bird feeders. Perhaps I will be harvesting some Noble hops in September...

Ah, The Brewer's Art

So, we went out to dinner recently to The Brewer's Art, located in downtown Baltimore. It has stood as one of our absolute favorite restaurants to visit whenever there is a performance we're going to attend or if we're celebrating a special occasion.

Why would the place be called The Brewer's Art unless they (you guessed it) brewed their own beer!

With my appetizer, I enjoyed a great beer they call Twelve Labors, in honor of their 12h anniversary, as well as the 12 labors of Hercules. From what I was able to tell, TL is a very tasty, savory potion, made from an interesting mix of wheat, some coriander, some generous hopping that offered a citrus kick, and the herbaceous/floral notes I believe provided by the yeast. I heartily recommend this beer to anyone who can get there in time. It's a limited seasonal, and once gone, I'm sure it's gone.

The beer selected to accompany my entree was their Beacon Ale. Unfortunately, it didn't have enough complexity to cut through the TL. However, I am confident, on its own, it is a wonderful session beer!

I can't tell you how much I missed this place--it had been a good 2+ years since we last visited. I hope we don't wait another 2 years to go back.

Special Offer

To everyone out there on the Etherwebs:

I received an email from the publisher of The Beer Guide, Savory House Press, stating if you order the book through their website, you'll get a dollar off the cover price! It's all ready a great value at $9.95, but to get it for $8.95 is simply icing on the cake.

I forgot to mention in my review that the bulk of the entries from RateBeer.com are from average people--not everyone who writes these reviews and rates these beers are BJCP certified.

Again, for those of you who are on the run often, or go exploring to new beer/wine/liquor stores, and encounter a lot of bottles that you may have questions about, this is a sweet book to have on-hand.

Here is the link right to the product page: The Beer Guide @ Savory House Press.