Blob's Park Revival!

I said after the first year or so of writing for Mid-Atlantic Brewing News that I was getting sick of writing obituaries for closing bars/breweries. Well, it is now my pleasure to revoke a recent one.

Folowing up on several rumors that had been floating about, it appears that Blob's Park, down near Jessup, is being rebuilt for a reopening! To quote an e-mail from a leader in the German-American folk-dancing community:

John's brother Max Eggerl is renovating and will manage the new
Blob's Park.  I talked with him at the Timonium Festival after
we performed.  He's quite positive about doing things differently
and getting better results.

The other Max mentioned has moved here from Bavaria and into
[former owner] Katherine's home. He'll be the acting chef living
on site and that should mean an expansion of both menu and hours
open. Those are big investment on the two Max's parts. We've gotten
used to higher admissions with dinner included at our many forays
into Baltimore's ethnic dance halls this year so we'll be ready for
whatever program keeps the place alive.

Once his plan is in effect it's up to those who have wept and
moaned about the closing to stop talking about the great loss
and to do something to support the new place. We'll hold parties
there every month and will support special events every way we can,
performing at Oktoberfests, teaching at band breaks, and always
dressed ethnic to add to the atmosphere.

There are photos of the extensive renovations up at the old website
and the new one.

Chesapeake Real Ale Festival Report

The quick and dirty first:

As far as I can tell, everything shown on the earlier list for casks at the Real Ale Fest showed up save for The Raven. (Brewer Steve Demczuk practically admitted at the Md. Oktoberfest a week earlier--and yeah, I have to post on that, don't I?--that he was simply running out of firkins, and might have to pass it up.)

Best beer of the day? Oh, PLEASE don't make me pick. It was a ludicrous embarrassment of riches, not a bad or even non-excellent beer to be had in the line-up. Of course, no doubt there was something that someone may not care for--say, if you're not a fan of extra-hoppy beers, or cider, or black/roasty beers--but so what? There was a mild, or an ESB, something to please just about anyone that cared about real ale.

Better yet, unlike previous years where runs on particularly rare or popular beers depleted supply quite early, almost every beer, even those in small pins, lasted almost to the end of the festival, when growler fills were available for $5 each--a bargain for every beer there. (Though, admittedly, only one growlerful at best remained of some beers.)

There are rumors floating about, however, that the festival may have to find a new home for 2009. More on that if and when it all transpires.

Great Beer Cheap!!!!!!!

Note: This is only posted as a service to my readers. I gain no financial benefit from this.

Wells Liquors (and if you don't know where/what that is, why are you reading this?) currently has on sale three large-bottle specials, typical of distributors looking to make some shelf space by discounting the last of the inventory:

Brewers Art Le Canard, the first bottled batch (750ml corked)
Southampton Tripel, Imperial Porter, and Pumpkin Ale (22-oz. bottles)
Flying Dog Wild Dog Colorado Saison (corked 750ml)

Several cases of each on hand. All are excellent beers, and VERY cheap relative to original prices ("so low, we can't even say it here!"). Stock up, but leave me a couple more, please. And there are, as always, a couple other "last of the batch" beers on sale, such as Lancaster's Rooster Rye.

UPDATE 25 Oct.: Only some Wild Dog and Southampton Pumpkin left......

Free Book Giveaway!

Courtesy of The Book Thing, I have two FREE copies of Charlie Papazian's "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing" to give away to any readers here.

Tell you what: I'll give them to the first two respondents who make the best case--in my arrogant, biased judgement, of course--why I should give them a copy of the book.

Fine Print: Both books are stamped inside the cover "Not for resale; THIS IS A FREE BOOK" and one copy has the trait common to most copies of this book, evidence of spilled beer wort. Books must be picked up from me in person at any reasonable location to be named, OR winner can pay for media postage or buy me a beer or two for the trouble.

Allow me to take an aside to plug The Book Thing in Waverly: to the bibliophile, it's like free cocaine is to an addict. Tens of thousands of free books, available every Saturday and Sunday, absolutely FREE. They accept donations of books and financial support (the latter through their website only), and volunteers sort books by general category. Free books for growing children and schoolkids. Free books on art, music, science, sociology, food, drink, sci-fi, history, travel, romance novels, crafts, car repair, biographies, classics, etc. Heck, take obsolete computer books and travel guides and burn them for heat all winter for all they care (and a few books are only good for that, sadly). And on Saturday mornings year-round, the Waverly Farmer's Market is a short two blocks to the north--so you can get food for the body AND the mind in one easy Saturday morning junket!

Quick October Updates

Yes, it's been a while. There's a joke that "starting a blog = doubling your workload for no additional pay." Paying work comes first.

So without further ado:

*Metropolitan Coffee House in Federal Hill reopens Wednesday, Oct. 15th at 7 AM. Rebuilt after the fire a while back.

*The firkin list for Saturday's Chesapeake Real Ale Festival at the Wharf Rat-Camden Yards:

Barley & Hops Big Ben Nut Brown
Brewers Alley Oatmeal Stout
Brewers Art Beacon Ale & Seven Beauties Rye
BW Beer Works The Raven
Cape Ann Brewing Pumpkin Stout
Clipper City Loose Cannon & Winter Storm
Dogfish Palo Santo
DuClaw Alchemy
Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter
Franklins Sierra Madre - American Pale
Growlers Nut Brown
Lancaster Celtic Rose
Old Dominion Unfiltered Dry Hopped Pale
Otter Creek World Tour "Otter Mon" Jamaican Stout
Red Brick Station Murphs Backdraft Porter
Reid's Orchard Hard Cider
Rock Bottom Bethesda ESB - Extra Scary Beer
Smuttynose Old Brown Dog
Troegs HopBack Amber
Victory Brewing ESB
Weyerbacher (Easton, Pa.) Old Heathen
Wharf Rat Dark Mild, Harvest Ale, Pin of 3 Lions
Wild Goose IPA
Yards (Phila.) General Washington Tavern Porter & Brawler, an English ruby mild

Ticket info: www.spbw.org/realale/ Ticket supplies ARE limited, and if they sell out you will be turned away. Bring growlers. Take mass transit or a taxi. Don't drink and drive.

*Latest Mid-Atlantic Brewing News (Oct-Nov) is on the streets. Go there for my column, as well as an article on Eastern Shore Brewing (to answer the one reader who commented by asking about that place).........

Max's German Fest, Part Zwei

Walked in at 1:30 pm. Already gone: Weltenburg's Hefeweizen Hell and Barbock Hell, and before my eyes someone kills off the Uerige Dopple Sticke firkin, with the Reissdorf Kolsch firkin dying minutes later. (As always, because of varying keg sizes, the speed with which a keg is kicked isn't necessarily reflective of a beer's popularity. >:-) )

Next to fall: Bahnhof Berliner-Style Weise, an odd duck as the lightest beer by far here @ 3.1%. Dang, that was next on my "to-do" list.

I'm sipping my way through the Schlenkera Rauchbiers after a stupendous Weltenburg Wintertraum. The Wurst Platter is back up to full strength after an emergency resupply. Highly recommended.

Max's German Fest, opening moments

Well, it's not the riot of the Belgian Fest, thankfully. I was #2 of three folks in "line" when the door opened at 11:05 am.

As advertised, 50 German drafts, 76 bottles on the menu. Notes on the blackboard: The following drafts did NOT make it in on time: Einbecker Schwarz, Weiheinstephaner Vitus and Korbian, making the presumptive draft list 47. Let's count:....................................................................... I'm counting 45 tap handles and one gravity-feed keg, and the spot where the Weiheinstephaner (I swear, that's a sobriety spelling test) duo is missing is conspicuous.

First beer for me to start: Grutbier in a bottle (see earlier post on why I love this one). I've noticed a price variation here; some retail outlets have this at $9 a bottle while it's here today at $6.

Bottle-sharing already with #3 In Line: Innstadt Dopplebock Extra 500ml flip-top, 7.2%: tasty interpretation, malty without being coyingly sweet like some.

Reissdorf Kolsch (gravity-feed/firkin, 4.8%)--bright as a polished bell, pale golden, nose of a heavier grain bill........ rich body..... this one's elusive. Great flavor compared to most pale lagers, and a rich mouthfeel without being too chewy or hoppy. Well-balanced, dry and almost woody finish.

First boot of beer ordered at noon, a litre boot of Spaten Oktoberfest......

Note: the sausages platter offers "Knockwurst, Bratwurst, Weisswurst, Bauernwurst, and Bierwurst", but they fell victim to the same fire at Binkert's, the sausage maker in Rosedale (the only German-style sausage maker in Maryland), as everyone else did, including the German Festival and Brewers' Art. The platter's still there, but not quite as impressive a line-up.

Weltenburg Hefeweizen Hell: 5.4%: hazy blond, weisse/wit nose, nice grassy and peppery dry hefe character.

Aktien Steingardener Dunkle Weisse (bottle): dark amber, bright, VERY sweet and rich, almost Bananas Foster with that underlying banana-clove atop a caramel malt palate.

Aktien Hefeweizen Anno 25 (bottle, 5.3%): pale golden, good head retention..... a rich, heavy, sweet body without being especially sweet in itself, a hint of citrus and wood tannin in finish.

Aktien Kaufbeurer Tänzelfestbier (bottle, 5.8%)--golden, terrific light malt nose....... a half-hour later, still trying to figure this one out. Zesty, citrus notes on the front of the sip, weizen flavor/body, powdery/yeasty, slightly spicy on the finish, but still too easy-drinking. This needs an ale yeast for complexity.

Okay, I didn't intend for this to become a one-brewery tasting, but with what's being shared amongst us, that's what it's turned into: Aktien Buronator Dopplebock (bottle, 7.5%): dark caramel color, bright, a hint of nut and fruit flavor amidst all the foamy sweet malt/bock character.

Japanese sake brewer produces cellulosic ethanol

Tip o' the hat to Instapundit and AutoblogGreen:

One of Japan's largest sake manufacturers, Gekkeikan, has announced the development of a new "super yeast" able to produce cellulosic ethanol from non-edible parts of plants, such as paddy straw and chaff. The super yeast that produces alcohol was created with genetic engineering, by integrating koji mold genes that produce cellulolytic enzymes into sake yeast. These enzymes become densely displayed on the surfaces of the yeast cells. Since this super yeast has the functions of the standard koji mold, it achieves one-step production of ethanol from pretreated cellulose. The company claims the whole process is completed with a new easier pre-treatment at high temperature and pressure, which saves energy and uses insignificant chemical components.

see here.

Debate? Have at it!

Six college presidents in Maryland are among more than 100 college and university presidents nationwide who have signed a statement calling for a public debate on rethinking the drinking age.

Naturally, the subject has gotten a lot of media attention in the past two days, burning up talk radio and online forums.

I say that rational debate and discussion is welcome and long overdue.

Unfortunately, we're guaranteed not to get rational debate.

Discussions on this topic inevitably descend into the emotional: on one hand, the MADD crowd insisting any change would bring carnage and "if it saves just one life it's worth it," while opponents of the 21 age can trot out reams of examples of things an 18-year-old can legally do besides drink a beer--more rational than "won't someone think of the children?", but not by much. And both sides of the discussion can pull out untold numbers of studies supposedly reinforcing their talking points (as long as one doesn't attempt truly critical analysis of the data, natch), with the seemingly inevitable shouting match following shortly.

I had to shake my head at the MADD-type that accused a university representative (U of Md.-College Park?) on WBAL-AM yesterday as being driven by financial incentives--i.e. the university stood to gain financially from on-campus alcohol sales.

Looking at Lew Bryson's excellent blog, especially his posts on this very subject, reveal that this movement is hardly new, just gaining some publicity.

Thoughts?

Max's German Beer Fest (Updated 8/15)

Okay, first off, MY bad. In my Mid-Atlantic Brewing News column, I inadvertently stated that the Max's German Beer Fest was Sept. 19-21. That was the weekend originally scheduled by beer manager Casey Hard and scribbled on my calendar, but somewhere along the line he changed it to Sept. 12-14th, as correctly noted in the MABN calendar.

So change your hotel reservations.

The stated goal is 50 draft beers and 75 or more bottled German beers available. An UPDATED list of drafts and bottles from Casey, about 90% confirmed with more possibly to come:

DRAFT:

Aecht Schlenkerla Helles

Aecht Schlenkerla Maerzen

Aecht Schlenkerla Weizen

Aecht Schlenkerla Urbock

Allgauer Bueble

Allaguer Teutsch Pils

Ayinger Celebrator

Ayinger Oktoberfest

Bahnof Berliner Weisse

Bitburger Pils

Einbecker Schwartzbier

Einbecker Ur Bock Dunkel

Erdinger Kristall Weizen

Erdinger Oktoberfest Weizen

Erdinger Weiss dark

Franziskaner Hefeweizen

Franziskaner Dunkel Weisse

Hacker Pschorr Oktoberfest

Klsoterbrauerie Ettal Curator

Klsoterbrauerie Dunkel

Konings Ludwig Hefeweizen

Kulmbacher EKU PIls

Kulmbacher Monschrof Kellerbrau

Paulaner Hefeweizen

Paulaner Oktoberfest

Reissdorf Kolsch(Gravity Feed)

Schnieder Brookylner Hopfen Weisse

Schnieder Weisse

Schnieder Aventinus

Schneider Aventinus Eisbock

Spaten Lager

Spaten Oktoberfest

Uerige Dopplesticke (Gravity Feed)

Warsteiner Dunkel

Warsteiner Pils

Warsteiner Oktoberfest

Weihenstephaner Oktoberfest

Weltenburg Barbock Dunkel

Weltenburg Barbock Hell

Weltenburg Hefeweizen Hell

Weltenburg Wintertraum

Wurzbuger Pils

Krostizer Schwarzbier

BOTTLED:

Aktien Buronator Dopplebock

Aktien Hefeweizen Anno 25

Aktien Jubilaums Pils

Aktien St Blasius Weizenbock

Aktien Steingadner Dunkel Weisse

Aktien Kaufbeuner Tanzelfestbier

Allgauer Buble

Allaguer Bayrisch Hell

Allaguer Cambonator Dopplebock

Allgauer Furstadt Hefewezen

Allaguer Tuetsch Pils

Augustinerbrau Dark

Augustinerbrau Light

Ayinger Altbairisch

Ayinger Jahrhundert

Ayinger Oktoberfest

Ayinger Ur Weisse

Ayinger Brauweiise

DAB

Einbecker brauherren Pils

Einbecker mai Ur Bock

Erdinger Weissebier

Grutbier

Hansa

Hacker Pschorr Munich Gold

Hacker Pschorr Weisse

Hacker Pschorr Weisse Dark

Innstadt Bock Weisse

Innstadt Dopplebock

Innstadt Edelsud

Innstadt Innsaade

Innstadt Neues Helles

Innstadt Passauer Weisse

Julius Echter Hefeweizen

Julius Echter Hefeweizen Dunkel

Klsoterbrauerie Etaller Kloster Edel Hell

Kulmbacher Eisbock

Kulmbacher Kapuziner Weisse

Kulmbacher Monchschof Schwartzbier

Mahrs Der Weisse Bock

Mahrs Leicht

Mahrs Pilsner

Mahrs Unquespundet lager

Moosbacher Kellerbier

Moosbacher Lager

Moosbacher Schwatz Weisse

Moosbacher Wheat Beer

Paulaner Salvator

Pinkus Hefeweizen

Pinkus Munster Alt

Pinkus Ur Pils

Schnieder Aventinus 2004

Schnieder Aventrius 2001

Schnieder Avenitnus 2002

Schnieder Aventinus 2003

Schnieder Weisen Edel Weisse

Spezial Rauchbier

Tucher Hefewezen Hell

Tucher Dopplebock

Uerige Classic Alt

Uerige Dopplesticke

Warsteiner Radler

Weltenburg Anno 1050

Weltenburg Asam Bock

Weltenburg Hefeweizen Dunkel

Weltenburg Urtyp Hell

The formula is the same as the outrageously successful Belgian and American Craft Brew fests also hosted by Max's: bar open 11 AM to 2 AM each day; no admission, cash bar with sample (small wine) glasses, regular servings, and liter steins and boots available, along with German food menu.