Tableside Taps

A new Washington D.C. bar is installing table side taps for the table goers to purchase beer from (I learned from this post, that cited this post).  I had seen this unique asset online that a bar was going to install in Atlanta, but now it is coming to D.C.

I think that table side taps would be a great idea- if used in a smart way.  The way that the taps work, is that the customer swipes a card next to the taps, and pours their beer.  The amount of beer and price is displayed next to the tap, letting the customer know how much the beer costs as well as the amount they pour.

I am not what beers will be poured through the taps, although the article mentioned that it wouldn't beer Schlitz.  (This is MY idea, not how the bar will work)-> I would love for a bar to have this system in place, with the ablility to "rent" the table for the night and have a selection of beers to be placed on the taps.  This way, you could get as good or as crappy a beer that you would like.  This way, the table could buy the beer by the cup, or buy the keg (1/6) before hand and just pour.  The cost to rent the table would give you a place to sit all night, as well as the bar gaining the upfront money to offset the cost of people not buying by the glass.  That is what my ideal would be for the bar.

Check out the post to see the awesome photos of the tables.

The Time Has Come

I have made a compromise.  I love city living.  Even though we didn't take complete advantage of the perks of the city, we have enjoyed the ability to get home at night and be able to walk to where ever we needed to go.  Italian food, mexican food, the grocery store during a blizzard, the park and a couple of great beer bars (as well as the most friendly bar I frequently went to) were all within a couple of block of our house.

But the time has come to make my fiancee happy (and a part of me happy as well).  We are buying a house in the county.  Not Baltimore County or even Carroll County, but in Pennsylvania.  I am lucky enough to still have my job in the city, and am close enough to commute to work, but there are some things that I will definitely miss.  Maybe #1 on the list is Pint Night at Max's Taphouse.  Not for the glassware (I have way too much as it is), but for the guys who I have gotten to know and the peacefulness of leaving life for a while and downing a pint.

#1a would be the great network of bloggers/twitterers that Baltimore has (Brad at BeerInBaltimore, Dan at BeersForDinner, Chuck at Belgian beer and travel, @CDoubleIPA, @jmooy, @plank10 and all the others that I didn't list).  I have loved walking into an event/random bar and seeing people I know.  The combination of knowledge and friendliness lead to great experiences throughout the past year on A Beer in Hand.  Meeting and being able to talk to some of the greatest beer minds in Baltimore couldn't have been done without this network.

#1b is the great friendships that I have gained going to McGovern's every Thursday.  From an awesome bartender in Marty (who works at the Baltimore Taphouse on the weekends) to the great crew who have welcomed us into their family, we are grateful for your friendships. (If you like boating, check out my friends blog here.)

I see moving as a challenge and adventure.  I now get to seek out new beer bars, and get to experience new atmospheres.  Hopefully, I will be able to find great new beers, as well as attend beer events that I did not know about previously.

So here is to my last week as a full-time city resident. (I may be living part-time in the city, but not sure yet.)  If you are around Wednesday, stop into Max's for a pint.

Session for the Session (#40)

The Session this month is hosted by Top Fermented, and they ask each blogger's own opinion of Session beers.

What is your definition of a session beer?... 

Is it merely enough for a beer to be low alcohol to be considered a session beer, or is there some other ineffable quality that a beer must hold in order to merit the term? And if so, what is that quality? Is it “drinkability”? Or something else?...


What are some of your favorite session beers? When and where do you drink them? If you’d like, drink one and review it.

If you go on Beer Advocate, Rate Beer or any other beer forum website, you will find posts that argue the correct definition of a "Session beer".  Does it have to be under 4%?  5%?  5.5%?  Each person has their own abv definition, but the one thing that remains true is that a session beer must be easy to drink and light in alcohol enough to drink for the entire night without falling out the back window (long story, involves Imperial IPAs- don't ask).

When I think of low abv, easy to drink beers- I think of my go to beer.  When heading out to a party, or just to hang at a friends house, I will pick up or know that there will be Yuengling Lager. 4.3%, smooth and not bad tasting makes it a great beer to drink all night.  (It doesn't hurt that it is cheap.) 

When thinking harder of sub-5% beers that were easy to drink, my mind takes me to Selin's Grove Brewing and their Shade Mountain Oatmeal Stout (the beer on the left in the picture).  When I first started drinking craft beers, I drank many stouts and loved oatmeal stouts.  I turned from the dark stuff in favor of IPAs (with no regrets) but do enjoy a stout every once in a while.  So while spending the afternoon at the brewpub with my brother, I decided to give the 4.6% stout a try.  It came out looking perfect, and a smile came across my face. The taste did not disappoint.

I could drink this beer all day and night.  It did not weigh me down, and it made me want more of it. 

To see my full account of my trip to the Selin's Grove Brewpub see this.

Why I love beer.

For American Craft Beer Week, I just wanted to state the reasons that I love beer. It has now become a large part of my life and my thinking. Not the alcoholic, “I need a beer right now!” taking over my thinking, but rather simple thoughts about what beer would taste good with lunch, or what new beer is coming out that I look forward to.

The Session series of blogs, and the bloggers who write them, has made me think of beer in a new light. One of the main things that I love about beer is the Beer Culture. Last night was Oliver/Stillwater collaboration release. Just walking into the bar, I knew that I would see some people I know, be able to have conversations with new people and have a great time. Which it was. It also helps that their collaboration beers were awesome.

Walk into a small town brewpub, and whether or not they have great beers, you will almost always find the nicest people in town. Almost always a friendly conversation awaits. It seems that it doesn’t matter if you were a regular there or not.

Another thing that I love about beer is the select distribution. Many beer geeks hate that they cannot get beer from every brewery. Releases of beers like Dark Lord, Pliny the Younger/Elder, Kate the Great or any other great seasonal release are dreamed about by people who live in areas that are not served by the distributors of these beers. I do not mind not getting these beers at my local. Yes, I would love to try them, but what I love even more is when traveling, being able to stop into the local beer bar and pop open a beer that I have been hoping to get. It gives trips a little more special meaning.

And finally, I love the taste, feel and smell of beer. When opening a new beer, I try not to have expectations. I never want to be disappointed, but it happens. I want to be able to think of the beer to the style, but I don’t want to be locked into the mindset. I want each beer to be themselves. When drinking a beer for the first time, it is a great feeling. You are tasting and smelling that the brewers are proud of (usually). In some beers, you can taste the passion and intensity in the brew.

These are some of the reasons why I love beer.

What's new at Max's?

I have just decided to look at Max's website and noticed that it is a new one.  Sleek and smooth, much more info and updated than the last one.  I am glad that they are looking to improve everything else now that the tap lines are new.

The Session #39, Collaborations

For this episode of The Session, Mario Rubio over at The Hop Press, asked about Collaboration beers and said for us:

Feel free to have fun with the topic. Drink a collaborative beer. Who’s brewed some of your favorite collaborations? Who have been some of your favorite collaborators? Who would you like to see in a future collaboration?

This is one area that I struggle with.  I can only think of a couple collaborations that stick out in my head.  Maybe I shy away from them, or just don't think much of it when I drink them.  Are all Mikkeller beers considered collaborations?  What about the Rogue John-John, a collaboration between brewer and distiller?  Can a food and beer pairing be a collaboration?  Who knows.

I will talk about beer and a tri-collaboration that I realized this year was delicious and want to try again next year.  Stone (the master collaborator), Jolly Pumpkin and Nogne O have been having a collaborative effort for a Special Holiday Ale for the past two years.  I have just grabbed my first this year, and am looking to find last year's.  The beer uses ingredients from all three brewers, and each brewer takes a turn producing a beer.

This is what I posted on that beer-experience:

 

The three brewers are taking turns brewing this beer. 

This is the second release of Special Holiday Ale, which was first brewed in San Diego in 2008.  Each brew is following the same recipe, including Michigan chestnuts, white sage from southern California and Norwegian juniper berries, but differences in brewing and aging practices produce different beers.  Cheers to being different! Ska!

The beer pours a deep mahogany, small head that disappears quickly.  The smell is dominated by the sage and juniper, but I could smell a hint of the chestnuts.  On the first sip, I could get the sage (the minty taste was first thing I noticed) and juniper upfront, and the chestnuts came about as the beer warmed a bit.  The malt is hidden by the spices, but is still present (I was tasting a sweetness that I figured was from the malt).  The alcohol is also well hidden, as I expected more from a 8.5% beer.

The Special Holiday Ale was silky smooth in my mouth.  It is a little thinker than I would like, but very very smooth.  I would love to have this beer again, it was a spice bomb, yet very drinkable.

 

This beer really opened my eyes to something that I will look forward to.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, and sometimes still get the taste in my mouth.  Unlike other more heralded collaborations- specifically Life and Limb/Limb and Life- this beer had no external expectations to live up to.  And what came out of it was a very memorable experience.  I am not saying that Life and Limb wasn't a very good beer- it was.  But the crazyness over the beer was much more than the taste of the beer.  

For me, I am looking for a good beer.  If it is a collaboration, I think the benefit is that you are able to taste something from a brewery that it wouldn't normally brew, a style that it doesn't specialize in or sometimes something crazy.  I cannot wait for the next collaboration, just as I cannot wait for the next new beer from any other brewery.  I like to see experimentation, the good and the bad. 

Homebrewing on Good Eats

One of my favorite shows on television is Good Eats, which airs on the Food Network.  I enjoy it because the host, Alton Brown, explains why you should do what you do when cooking.  I came across this episode today, and thought it was a very basic approach to homebrewing.