April 22nd, 2010 | permalink

Who Needs Dark Lord Day Golden Tickets?

Due to a family illness, it turns out that I will not be able to make the trip to the Three Floyds Dark Lord Day 2010 on Saturday, April 24 in Munster, Indiana. So, I am offering up my 2 golden tickets. The festival is free, what the tickets get you is the guarantee of being able to buy some of their Dark Lord Russian Stout at the festival. This is the one day a year that you can buy this beer. The tap list for the festival was just released and looks amazing, too.

There is a catch, I would like to be able to purchase the allotted share of one of the tickets, the other ticket’s allotment will go to contacts me first and agrees to the terms. Another catch, you will also have to pickup the tickets in Sandusky, OH since I am there right now. It is on the way to Indiana from Cleveland.

It is unfortunate that I cannot make it, but family is the most important thing that we have in life. I hope that someone else is able to take these tickets and enjoy the festival.

April 21st, 2010 | permalink

Win two tickets to Thirsty Dog Craft Beer Dinner at The House of Blues

Have you ever wanted to get the Rock Star treatment? Here is your chance. I have been given a couple of tickets to give away for the Thirsty Dog Brewing Co. Craft Beer Dinner at the House of Blues Cleveland on Tuesday, April 27th. Thirsty Dog is one of North East Ohio’s premiere breweries hailing from Akron, OH. The concept is unique, experience the House of Blues as if you were the artist. This is the first in their Craft Beer Dinner Series. Meet and greet at 5pm and dinner on stage starts at 6pm. The Price is $75 per person, but I am giving you the chance to win 2 tickets free of charge simply by commenting on this post.

Here is the lineup and menu…

A Special Cask Conditioned Meet & Greet Backstage Accompained by House Made Bavarian Pretzels & Mustard Seed Aioli

“Chicken & Waffles” – Confit Organic Bell & Evans Chicken Thighs, Roasted Corn Waffles and Cabbage Slaw, Truffled Honey Drizzle paired with Whippet Wheat

Coriander Crusted Diver Scallops, Micro Cilantro Nage Braised Baby Potatoes, and Root Vegetables paired with Hoppus Maximus

“3 Little Pigs” – Porter Brined and Double Roasted Pork Shoulder, Hickory Smoked Port Belly and Crispy Pancetta, Sauteed Dill Dumplings, Brussel Sprouts, and Spring Onions paired with Old Leghumper

Siberian Night Imperial Stout & Milk Chocolate Gelato, Pan Toasted Poundcake, Thirsty Dog “Raspberrys” paired with Siberian Night

Download the full House of Blues Thirsty Dog Beer Dinner Menu

All that you need to do to enter the contest is comment on this post. You must be 21 or over to win. In your comment, please include your name and email so that you may be notified. All entries are due by 11:59 pm Sunday, April 25th. A winner will be randomly selected by Random.org on Monday, April 26th.

Good luck to all! I hope to see you all at this unique dinner concept.

April 8th, 2010 | permalink

Baseball Beer

Above is the newest tap handle for The Greenhouse Tavern and Buckeye Brewing Co. that I designed. After the first design for Saison de Maison (pictured left), some people were offended by the nude female figure. So with this design, we opted for the nude male figure in the style of the old Chief Wahoo sign that stood at the top of Cleveland Municipal Stadium for years. It also ties in the likeness of one of the bartenders at GHT, Will Hollingsworth, who was up for an award as Metromix Cleveland’s Hottest Bartender.

The story of this series of tap handle logos is further explained on the Cleveland Magazine Blog in an entry written by Laura Taxel.

Baseball Beer is three-way blend and cask conditioned ale made up of Buckeye Aquarius, Buckeye Bling Bling and Saison de Maison. This beer will be released (on tap only) on Sunday, April 11 from 2pm – 11pm, the day before the Cleveland Indians home opener. It is part of the Pre-Opening Day festivities at The Greenhouse Tavern.

Also, congratulations are in order for Chef Jonathon Sawyer and the whole GHT crew as he was named one of Food & Wine Magazine’s Best New Chefs 2010. This is a truly great accomplishment and I think it is just the beginning for this great person and chef.

March 28th, 2010 | permalink

DORIS Day

Yesterday was an “open day” in our calendar and it just so happened to be DORIS Day at Hoppin Frog Brewery. So we took advantage and headed down to Akron to spend the day.

First stop, Hoppin Frog Brewery, Rate Beer’s 2010 24th Best Brewery in the World. I had never been before and thought we had arrived at the wrong location. It is in a sort of industrial park that looks more like a storage facility location. After walking into the door marked “Hoppin Frog”, I was thrust straight into the brewery, tanks and fermenters all around. It was a strange yet awesome experience to walk into ground zero of the Hoppin Frog operation and be greeted by their Owner/Brewmaster, Fred Karm. He took me over to the single refrigerator that he was selling beer out of and explained all that was available. It was very cool to make my purchase directly from the man who brewed the beer. While there to pick up the D.O.R.I.S. The Destroyer Double Imperial Stout, I also picked up a Barrel Aged B.O.R.I.S. Oatmeal Imperial Stout, Smashin’ Berry and Smashin’ Berry Dark Ale. The latter two are not available elsewhere.

View non-flash version of the photo set.

After hitting Hoppin Frog, we had to get lunch. We headed downtown and decided upon Bricco. We have yet to go to Bricco here in Cleveland so this was a first for us. For 2:00 on a Saturday afternoon the place was relatively empty. It was fine by us. The kids ate well (plain cheese pizza) and the food was good. The cheese on the pizza was very good, I really wish that the pork was ready for the Cuban sandwich that was on the menu. (How can the pork not be done at 2 on a Saturday if it is on the lunch menu?)

After lunch we stopped at the Akron Art Museum. Since we are members at the Cleveland Museum of Art, we got in free. They have a reciprocal deal between the museums but we did not realize this until we asked. The museum is beautiful and they have a nice collection. Currently, there is an exhibit running called Pattern ID. Very cool designery exhibit with contemporary artists.

Last but not least, we stopped into Revival on E. Market. Have been past this place many times but never stopped in. This little boutique shop sells a lot of vintage clothing, Akron themed clothing and accessories. Cool t-shirts and clothes with shockingly low prices on most items.

We were going to grab a coffee at Angel Falls and maybe a cone for the kids at Mary Coyle, but we were all exhausted so we decided to head back north. Thanks for the great day, AK-Rowdy.

March 17th, 2010 | permalink

I got a Golden Ticket…

Today was a huge day for beer and I am not talking about St. Patrick’s Day. I am referring to Warehouse Beverage getting Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout in and Three Floyds releasing their Golden Tickets for Dark Lord Day. I was fortunate enough to get both.

First up, the KBS. This was my first experience with this beer. It is a very limited release. The beer itself is an Oak Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout brewed with chocolate and coffee. That is a mouthful. Now I see what all of the fuss is about on KBS. Sweet, chocolaty, smokey, oak, bourbon with some heat and a short, dry finish. It mixes all of my favorite qualities in an imperial stout. Tastes like it already has some age on it. Smooth. I also heard from Erich at La Cave du Vin who told me they have a keg that they will most likely tap this weekend. Stay tuned.

The second incredible beer related item of the day was the release of the Three Floyds Golden Tickets for Dark Lord Day. The word of the sale came from their twitter account. I was able to get in as soon as I got the twitter update and purchase two tickets before the system crashed due to demand. Twitter was on fire with the news of the tickets release and in Chicago, the event had two trending topics on twitter. 55 minutes later, the tickets were all gone.

The Dark Lord Day event is held on April 24 and is free to enter, but the tickets are to purchase the beer. This is the only day that you can purchase this Russian Imperial Stout. Three Floyds doesn’t even distribute to Ohio, so I may have to pick up a couple other items when I make the trip to their brewery in Indiana. It is just south of Chicago, so my other ticket will be going to my brother in-law, Marc, who lives in Chicago with Erika’s sister, Brittany. He just has to put me up for the night.

March 14th, 2010 | permalink

Buckeye Beer Engine

A true beer treasure on the west side of Cleveland is the Buckeye Beer Engine. This is the brew pub of the Buckeye Brewing Company located in Lakewood, Ohio. The Beer Engine has an amazing lineup of craft beers in bottles, on draught and two beers on cask. The beer list is always changing based upon limited releases and seasonal brews.

I met my friend, Matt Kromer, at the Beer Engine for lunch today. Beers tasted on draught were:

Buckeye – Aquarius Double IPA
Bells – Java Imperial Stout
Ithaca – Cold Front Belgian-style Amber Ale

I also filled my growler with Buckeye Beaucoup D’Houblon Belgian IPA for $11. Good beer at a good price.

Mark your calendars now for 420 Hopfest which is held on and around April 20th annually. If you are a hop-head this event is a must.

March 13th, 2010 | permalink

Cleveland Craft Beer Meetup

Thanks to all that showed for my first attempt to organize a craft beer meetup in Cleveland. It was a good showing, 15 people, for short notice of the get together. It was nice to see some friends that I have not seen in a while and meet people that I have only spoke with through Twitter. The event was held at RateBeer’s 25th Best Beer Bar 2010, La Cave du Vin. Erich Lasher and crew treated us to a great evening of great beer. He also gave us the option of what to put up on draught as one of them opened up.

After my delivery of 33 Beers beer journals arrived earlier in the day, I decided to give one away to the 3rd person that showed. Congrats @buildingjason.

Here are some of the beers that I tasted…

New Holland, Pilgrim’s Dole – Wheat Wine
New Holland, Charkoota Rye – Smoked Doppelbock Lager
Southern Tier, Back Burner – Imperial Barley Wine Style Ale
*North Coast Brewing Co, Old Rasputin – Russian Imperial Stout on NITRO

*Best beer of the night, silky smooth and the nitro did not hurt.

There are are already plans in the works for the next meetup, which will be held at the Buckeye Beer Engine on Sunday, March 28 at 2pm. I will not be able to make that one, but there are also rumblings of another one coming up April 11. If you would like to be aware of future Cleveland craft beer meetups, contact me or join the Facebook Group.

March 2nd, 2010 | permalink

Stone Brewing Co. Beer Dinner at Lolita

I had been hearing about the Stone Brewing Co. Beer Dinner at Michael Symon’s Lolita for a little while and after running into Rick from Cavalier Distributing at Warehouse Beverage last week, I finally made the decision to attend. So I asked my new beer friend, Jeff, from Kalman & Pabst to see if he wanted to join me, and he was happy to.

Jeff and I sat at a table for 6. We were joined by two couples Marty and Annie, Doug and Lynn. Very interesting people and conversations. Marty is a bartender at the Grog Shop, I will be hitting him up for some drinks at the Yeasayer show in a few weeks. His girlfriend, Annie, is a bartender at Lolita. Doug and Lynn own and operate a business in the Cleveland area and are also Slow Foods members. They actually sat right behind us at the Terra Madre Bastille Day celebration at The Greenhouse Tavern last year.

A lot of local beer aficionados were in attendance including Fathead‘s General Manager Ted Lipovan, Chef Derek Wilson and Brewmaster Matt Cole. I also got to meet Kelly and Wes who up until now I have only talked to online.

I am a huge Stone fan and even got founder Greg Koch‘s autograph last year at Cleveland Beer Week’s Brewzilla. Stone Brewing Co.’s Michael Saklad, Aaron Tyrell, Jay Ashmore were on hand to guide the tastings that were paired with great food from Lolita. Little known fact delivered to us from Michael Saklad, Bashah, the collaboration brew with BrewDog in Scotland, stands for “Black As Sin, Hoppy As Hell”, it also refers to soccer houligans. It was a great meal and great pairings topped off with a 2006 Stone Imperial Russian Stout. Delicious. See the parings below…

First Course
Bar snacks
Stone Pale Ale

Second Course
Seafood Soup, lemongrass, tomato, ginger
Stone Vertical Epic 07.07.07

Third Course
Grilled Roasted Poblano Sausage, mixed lettuces, pickled red onion, orange vinaigrette
Stone IPA

Fourth Course
Seared Duck Breast, savoy cabbage, duck confit, dried cherry port sauce
Stone Arrogant Bastard

Fifth Course
Braised Lamb Breast, barley, killbuck valley mushrooms, garlic
Stone Brew Dog Bashah

Sixth Course
Chocolate Chipotle Brownie, Russian Imperial Stout ice cream, chocolate covered espresso beans
Stone Imperial Russian Stout 2006 Vintage

October 25th, 2009 | permalink

Cleveland Beer Week: BREWzilla

Cleveland Beer Week 2009 ended last night with BREWzilla. I had been looking forward to this event for quite some time and it was finally here. I was unable to attend any of the other events during the week, so this was to be my night out for Beer Week. I ordered the tickets for Matt and me early in the week. We purchased the regular tickets, not the Brewer’s Circle tickets that got you in an hour earlier with more drink/food tickets. I am glad I did not spend the extra money on them because there was no real benefit. The beer tickets supplied were plenty, some exhibitors did not even take your tickets and the food did not look like the greatest so I did not partake in the food.

I was able to sample some things that I have never had before and had to stop myself from trying things that I have had before. Some of the beers that I sampled are as follows. Magic Hat: Roxy Rolles, Sierra Nevada: Chico Estate Ale, Ommegang: Abbey Ale, Indigo Imp: Winter Solstice, Thirsty Dog: Siberian Night, Fat Heads: Shock the Monkey, Southern Tier: Hop Sun, Brooklyn: Local 2, Hoppin Frog: Hopmaster’s Abbey Belgian Double IPA, Ithaca: Cascazilla, Stone: Old Guardian Barley Wine Ale, Stone: Smoked Porter, New Holland: Dragon’s Milk, Erie: Railbender Ale, Allagash: Tripel. The best beers that I tried on the day were Avery: Hog Heaven, The Brew Kettle: Old 21 IPA and Victory: Yakima Twilight (available Nov. 1).

Matt and I had a great time, wandering around trying all of the beers. It was nice to run into Kelly and Jose, Brad and Kristy, and Mel and hlivkopj (that is one strange username). I was also happy to get to meet Greg Koch, co-founder of Stone Brewing Co. I heard that the event did sellout, over 800 people.

The venue was excellent. The Arcade in Downtown Cleveland provided a great atmosphere and backdrop to the event. The tasting stations ran two floors and there was plenty of room to maneuver around to get from station to station. There was a silent auction with some very nice items available. One of the most impressive items was the Stone Epic Series from 2003-2009 which was won by Mel and hlivkopj. I know that the winning bid was not cheap.

I would say the the first year of Cleveland Beer Week was a great success and I look forward to many more years to come.

More photos on Flickr.

**Thanks, Jessica, for being our Designated Driver for the night!

April 19th, 2009 | permalink

Beer Wars, the Movie

Thursday night, April 16 at 8pm EST there was a one-night event at theaters all across the country. The Documentary, Beer Wars, was screened. After the film completed there was a live panel discussion moderated by Ben Stein. I personally had been looking forward to seeing this documentary, so I got my tickets early and could not wait to see it. They were only showing the film in three theaters in the Cleveland area and luckily one of the theaters was right down the road at Severance Town Center in Cleveland Heights. It did not look as though this location was as popular as the west side location as I found other twitterers were there as well as local brewers. We had about eight people at our theater.

Anat Baron who had spent some time in the industry working For Mike’s Hard Lemonade brand, has been working on this Documentary since 2005. Among the people featured in the film were Stone Brewery’s Greg Koch and Dogfish Head Brewery’s Sam Caglione, two of my favorite brewers. They also were on the live panel after the screening.

The Documentary was very informative. It basically focused on the craft breweries and how they struggle to get their product to market. Not only do they have to compete against the big three “behemoths” of the industry (Anheuser Busch, Miller and Coors which now is more like InBev and MillerCoors) but they also have to fight against laws, state and federal, that make it difficult to get to market.You would probably be surprised that the beer you thought was an independent craft beer is actually brewed by one of the big brewers. Blue Moon? Yeah, that belongs to MillerCoors. Hoegaarden… Leffe? Yeah, those are InBev. And what may have started off as an independent either gets bought up by the big boys, they rush a cheaper knock-off to market, or the get bullied around by lawsuits.

I learned about the “three tier system” that was put in place after prohibition that was supposed to protect against monopolies but now it basically protects them. Basically, the three tier system separates the brewery from the consumer by adding the distribution tier and the retail tier. Each of these tiers presents hurdles to the small guy, the craft brewer. First, they have to get to market. Getting on the distribution trucks is already a fight because the the distributors have special interests in carrying the Budweisers and Millers of the industry. The second battler comes once the product gets to market. The placement on the shelves and in the coolers is a battle that craft breweries will probably never win. The big boys get prime placement and even get their representatives into the stores to help arrange the shelves. A lot of this battle is fought through marketing. Commercials, give-aways, event sponsorship (even presidential debates). This is not the battle the craft beer industry wants to fight.

One of my favorite quotes from the film…

“Almost all of our beer knowledge comes from Budweiser, Miller and Coors; it’s as if all we knew about food comes from McDonalds”.

~ Jim Koch, Samuel Adams

So where does the Beer Wars go from here? It goes to the beer drinking public. If we truly do “vote with our wallet” we can inact change that the industry is forced to make changes. If the demand by the public is for more flavor and less homogenous beer, the distributors will make the change as well. But how much change is needed? Do we want our craft breweries to become part of the establishment? That was one of the key questions brought up in the live panel discussion.