Resurrection in Bottles Spotted.......

Wells on York Road got in their shipment--ten cases, 120 bottles--this morning.

They report Bond Distributing got 400 12-bottle cases, and they were sold in only two days to the various retail outlets.

Let the race begin!

Cheap Beer Challenge!!!!

Okay, folks--on orders from the bosses.........

I want nominations for the CHEAPEST craft beer one can find!

It HAS to be beer I would voluntarily pay for. Lower-echelon is OK (light Kolsch or pilsner), just as long as it's cheap!

Opening salvo: Tuesday 99 cent drafts at Red Brick Station in White Marsh!

Anyone else able to top (or update) this?

Christmas Beer Social at Max's on the 16th

Okay, seriously, is there anyone reading this blog that is unaware that Max's Taphouse in Fells Point holds a weekly Tuesday Night Beer Social?

Well, tomorrow's promises to be a doozy:

ON CASK:

Weyerbacher Winter

Heavy Seas Winter Storm

Whitemarsh Winter Sotice

DRAFTS:

Whitemarsh Winter Soltice

Southern Tier Chockalt

Troegs Mad Elf 2007

Troegs Mad Elf 2008

Samichlaus Helles

Scaldis Noel

Barbar Winter Bok

Seirra Nevada Celebration

Birra Natale

Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux

la Rulles Cuvee

Corsendonk Christmas

St Bernardus Christmas

BOTTLES:

Haandbryggeriet Nissefar

Del Ducato Krampus

Wintercoat Yule Ol

Ridgeway Crimanlly Bad Elf

Ridgeway Insanely Bad Elf

Anchor Christmas Ale

Mikkeller Not just Another Wit

Struise Tseejes

Thrieiz Noel

Geants Noel De Geants

De Ranke Pere Noel

Of the ones I've had so far, I can't help but sing the praises of the White Marsh Winter Solstice--a rich, chocolate-laden beer weighing in at a relatively modest 5.5%. It was spectacular at the Brewers Art Xmas Beer Tasting, handily the best of the bunch there (although that could well be influenced in part by the "newness" of the beer as opposed to old standbys like Heavy Seas Winter Storm, Victory Hop Wallop, Dogfish Head Chicory Stout, Weyerbacher Winter, etc.). The Anchor Our Special Ale 2008 (and you must be a beer snob if you refer to it by its proper name, instead of the "Christmas Ale") is also in fine form, as is the Wild Goose Snow Goose.

Waitaminute: Where's the Snow Goose up there, dammit?

Someone doesn't care for Beer Advocate..........

I normally try not to take sides in the wonderful "turf wars" of online beer reporting/rating/blogging. I have enough trouble keeping up with my own stuff to pay attention to the other stuff out there.

But on one of my online beer lists today, someone posted the following in reference to Beer Advocate and the related website:

With all due respect, the Alstroms are very bad for craft beer and, as
such, their website must be removed from any list of credible sources
of beery info.

Okay: HUH?

Discuss, if you care.

December Events--well, Dec. 11th Events, at Least.....

Still recovering from a night cold (my days are tolerable, my nights hell), but I have to report on three events happening simultaneously Thursday the 11th:

At Metropolitan in Federal Hill: a firkin of Troegs Hopback Amber, loaded with Liberty hops.

At The Wharf Rat-Fells Point, the monthly meeting of the SPBW. Show up, fill out a membership form and pay $10, and you get a year's membership. And beer that night--two firkins promised. (There is some unconfirmed scuttlebutt that, due to events related to the recent sale of the Wharf Rat brewpub downtown, that this could be the last SPBW gathering at this location. See it while you can. There may be a fire in the fireplace, to boot.)

At Max's Taphouse, a Stone Brewing "blowout" featuring twelve Stone beers, priced per glass and no cover:

Pale Ale, IPA, Ruination, Arrogant Bastard, Oak Arrogant Bastard, Smoked Porter, Imperial Stout, Double Bastard, 10th Anniversary, 11th Anniversary, 12th Anniversary, Levitation.

Hey, you want faster reporting, pay me enough to quit the day job. <:-)

Resurrection in Bottles Update......

Today's City Paper carried ads for the new bottled Resurrection, with a release date of the 10th.......

Anyone seen the bottles for sale anywhere?

NOTE: Photo below uploaded strictly for "parking" purposes, not related.

Second Chance for Last Chance?

[Sorry for the lag in reporting, folks--I've been under the weather with a touch of flu for the past week. More updates to follow tonight--I hope.]

From Columbia, Md., we get this report from central Maryland's intrepid Paul Milligan:

The Second Chance Saloon opened Friday in Columbia's Oakland Mills Village Center, where the Last Chance Saloon once was. I spoke to some friends who went there Saturday night.
They said that the menu and beer selection are currently limited, and that the service was slow; however, they thought that each of those things could be because they had just opened the day before.

They've got a limited web site at
http://www.2ndchancesaloon.com/

Thanks for the update, Paul!

The Owl Bar

The Baltimore Sun's Sam Sessa ("Midnight Sun") has a post on the wonderful place all of us beer geeks keep passing up in order to go across the street to the Brewers' Art:

The Owl Bar. In the former Hotel Belvedere at Chase and Charles Streets.

Yes, the bar, as well as the lobby you pass through to get there, is a freakin' time capsule, although the beer selection now reflects modern drinking sensibilities, with a good selection of micros. If you haven't been there, you must go. Now. Before someone manages to turn it into a modern nightclub or a sushi bar. Dress properly; I feel out of place in sneakers there. Bonus points for a fedora and trenchcoat. And check out what may be one of the last phone booths in Baltimore while you're there, before the phone companies render the last of Superman's changing rooms to the history bins.

(For any phone historians keeping track, I believe Baltimore's last actual free-standing phone booth--a three-sided box with a door or one in a past life, not a phone stand or kiosk--sits on the south side of Wilkens Avenue just west of Hilton Avenue, outside St. Agnes Hospital. I'd welcome reports of any others in the region; the last one in the metropolitan DC region, in Clarendon, Va., was removed earlier this year.)

Resurrection in Bottles at last!

Volker Stewart of the Brewer's Art had asked me to keep the details on this quiet for a while to save potential embarrassment, because thay had production/distribution delays, but seeing as the Baltimore City Paper has started running ads for the stuff..........

The bar's trademark and flagship elixir, Resurrection Ale, will debut in 750-ml bottles on December 16th at the "usual" retail and bar locations around the area. It's being brewed and bottled, along with its siblings Le Canard and Ozzy, at Sly Fox in Phoenixville, Pa. I'll be surprised if there aren't "sneak previews" at some venues before the 16th, particularly the Brewers Art holiday beer tasting on Dec. 6th (though opening bottles of that stuff where the draft is made seems to be totally missing the point!).

So You Have To Drink Before Eating Turkey?

I heard several media reports (radio, Baltimore Sun, et al) reporting--for the first time that I've ever heard it--that the day before Thanksgiving is either THE busiest/biggest drinking day of the year or one of the top drinking days.

HUH?!?!?!?

Excuse me, but: wotthehell? How come nobody gave ME this memo?

You can't be serious. Bigger than Christmas? Bigger than New Year's Eve? Bigger than Stupor Bowl Sunday? Bigger than Amateur Drunken Irish Idiot Day, or the day of the parade for that occasion?

Sorry, folks, I need convincing. Methinks the news media was the victim of yet another scare-mongering press release from Mothers Against All Drinking--err, Against Drunk Driving.

Although, truth be told, in my driving on Turkey Day, I was positively stunned at the number of liquor stores I saw open late into the night in southern Maryland. And I did speak with a relative who is better in touch with a younger demographic than I am. She said, "Makes sense..... you have a whole bunch of young people,freshly 21, home from college or wherever else for the holiday, in town early on Wednesday night, nothing to do but go out with their high school buddies and catch up. And, you know, some people just may need a couple drinks to be able to deal with their parents or other relatives...."

Okay, maybe if we count drinking at home. But out at bars?

Any others out there that can come up with statistics--or the MADD press release? Tom? Lew? Greg? Anyone?

Online search uncovers a debate last year on the topic.

Thoughts?