Bawlmer Beers now on sale

Bawlmer Beers brewery owner John O'Melia confirmed that the first shipments of his initial batches of beer have rolled out to a few local outlets: "Off the top of my head:  Grand Cru, Mount Washington Tavern, Pickles Pub, North Charles Wine Shop, Mays Chapel Wine & Spirits, Mt Washington Liquors, and Eddie's of Roland Park."  Remember, folks, for the time being it's only showing up in bottles.

I passed samples around a panel of tasters the other day; it's likely to be a polarizing beer at first, because some folks seem to love it while others turned up their noses at it.  The Formstone Ale and Amber's Ale, Hon definitely do not fit most folks' preconceptions of an American Brown Ale or an amber, respectively, and that will delight those looking for something new or different, and turn off those who expect predictability based on style names.

(photo by author, courtesy Mid-Atlantic Brewing News)

Upcoming Events (Updated X2)

Thursday (tomorrow): SPBW meets up at Mahaffey's in Canton.  Firkins TBA.  Note that Thursdays also bring Mahaffey's "$5 Seafood Extravaganza… Steamed Shrimp, Calamari, Mussels or Crab Cake Sliders."  Plus it's Firkin Thursday at Metropolitan: "Join us Thursday as we tap a delicious cask of Allagash Tripel from
Allagash Brewing Co. in Portland, Maine. Tripel is a 9.0% Belgian-style Tripel that is golden-hued with a deep and complex palate that is highly anticipated on cask."

Next week: American Craft Beer Week May 17-23.  Among scheduled events: Heavy Seas Below Decks aged in wooden barrels at Max's for the Tuesday night beer social, plus no doubt plenty more TBA from various beer bars.

UPDATE: Max's schedule:

BREWERY NIGHT LINE UP:
Monday 17-Troeg's/Ommegang
Tuesday 18-Heavy Seas/Brewers Art
Wednesday 19-Harpoon/Victory
Thursday 20-Flying Dog
Friday 21-The Bruery/Lagunitas/Oskar Blues/Boulder/Great Divide/Weyerbacher
Saturday 22-Stillwater Ales/Oliver's/Evolution
Sunday 23-Smuttynose/Allagash

THE DRAFT BEERS LIST 90% DONE.As always beers may change due to things beyond our control
Allagash Victor
Allagash White
Allagash Victoria
Avery Samuels
Boulder Cold Hop (Nitro)
Brewers Art Charm City Sour Cherry
Brewers Art Ozzy
Brewers Art Tiny Tim
Brewers Art Taurus
The Bruery Cotton
The Bruery Hottenroth
The Bruery Hummulus Rice
The Bruery Seven Grain Saison
The Bruery Trade Winds Triple
The Bruery Orchard White
The Bruery Rugbrod
Crispin Cider
Evolution Haymaker
Evolution Summer Session
Flying Dog Barrel Aged Gonzo
Flying Dog Coffee Stout
Flying Dog Heller Hound Old Ale
Flying Dog Horn Dog (Nitro)
Great Divide Dunkel Weiss
Harpoon Leviathan Imperial IPA
Harpoon Raspberry UFO
Harpoon 100 Barrel Single Hop ESB
Heavy Seas Barrel Aged Below Decks
Hebrew Rejewvenator 2008
North Coast Brother Thelonious
Oliver's Cherry Blossom
Oliver's Hot Money Love
Ommegang Triple Perfection
Schlafly Dry Hopped APA
Schlafly Kolsch
Smuttynose Barleywine
Smuttynose Hanami
Smuttynose Imperial Stout
Smuttynose Maibock
Smuttynose Rouge
Southern Tier 2xipa
Southern Tier Oak Unearthly
Southern Tier Pale
Stillwater Cellar Door
Stillwater Stateside Saison
The Bruery Trade Winds Triple
Troegs Special
Troegs Special
Uinta Barleywine 2008
Victory Altbier
Victory Citra
Victory Saaz Braumeister Pils
Victory St Boisterous
Victory Throwback lager
Weyerbacher India

Plus a bunch of special kegs---------------

CASKS

The Bruery Trade Winds Triple
Victory Storm King Stout
Troegs Java Head
Stillwater Cellar Door
Stillwater/Oliver's Collaboration
Oskar Blues Gubna
Heavy Seas Bourbon Barrel Aged Below Decks
Flying Dog Raging B*tch
Evolution Lot #6

Plus a few others....

Tasting Notes: Porterhouse Oyster Stout (Ireland)

330ml bottle: Pours with rich head, medium head retention.  Colour is deep dark brown, more porter than stout, bright.  Nose is that rich, earthy, seabreeze-scented aroma classic to oyster stouts, but what others may discern as herbal, probably grassy.  A lighter-bodied mouthfeel, fairly dry, but with a lot of herbal complexity at work in the flavour, as well as a mineraly character, reminiscent of the minerals in sea salt.  The roast adds a note of smoke in the finish.

All in all, a good stout, but if you go into this expecting an American-style heavyweight imperial stout, you'll be disappointed.  The brewery's website lists it as 4.8%.  (Interestingly, the brewery's website also proclaims it as "Ireland's Largest Genuine Irish Brewery"--a pot shot at multinational Diageo?  I enjoyed this paragraph from the website:

You may be very excited to know that The Porterhouse uses a traditional true top fermentation Bi strain Yorkshire stone squar yeast or, alternatively, your eyes may start to glaze over at this point. It's highly flocculent and comes from the Old Romsey brewery in Kent by way of the East Riding Brewery. Are you still there? Nearly finished. The lager strain is a Saccharomyces uvarum and it, too, is pretty darn flocculent. It gives great natural clarity, reducing the need for filtration. Weiss yeast is used for wheat beer and this explains the banana scent. It has nothing to do with Brendan Dobbin's greenhouse.

It's a good beer, but I think we can do it better here without the freight surcharge.

New Belgian "Brasserie" Coming to Hampden

The Hampden neighborhood has long had an active nightlife scene, but has also lacked any really good beer bar for most of that time.  Baltimore resident Paul Kopchinski intends to change that with his opening of Baltimore's first Belgian-themed "brasserie," De Kleine Duivel ("The Little Devil"), at 3520 Chestnut Avenue, the former Nutty Pub just south of "The Avenue" (36th St.).  Renovations are under way as this is written, with a late June opening projected.  Plans call for 10-12 drafts and 30 or so bottled beers to be offered (all Belgian imports and not "Belgian-style") along with "boutique wines & spirits, and a select menu of classic Flemish-French dishes, all served in an Art Nouveau-inspired setting."


Website (so far only a placeholder) here; interior renovation photo from the bar's Facebook page.

Sante: An Epicurean Adventure at AVAM June 13th

Much more at the link here:

Please join us on Sunday, June 13 for Sante - An Epicurean Adventure at the American Visionary Art Museum on Key Highway! This event is a fundraiser for the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland.

This is unlike any other wine tasting event. Not only will there be tremendous wines from around the world there will also be craft beers from brewers throughout the US and Europe. Additionally there will be great food from some of the best restaurants in Baltimore.

This will be an educational experience as well in that chefs and vintners will talk to attendees about properly pairing wines and beers with food.

Honorary Chairs of Sante are Nelson Carey, Sommeleir / Owner of Grand Cru, Brendan Dorr, Head Bartender at B & O American Brasserie, Jerry Pellegrino, Chef / Owner of Corks, and Hugh Sisson, Managing Partner of Clipper City Brewing Company.

Restaurants involved include Corks, Crush, B & O American Brasserie, Linwoods, The Wine Market, Neopol Savory & Smokery, Milan, Bluehill Tavern, Clementine, R A Sushi Bar, and Parfections Gourmet Chocolates.

The main event begins at 3 p.m., and tickets cost $75. Designated drivers tickets cost $40. There is a "Premium Tasting" at 2:00 featuring foods not available at the main event, as well as a discussion with Laura Forster, aka "The Wine Coach." The Premium Tasting costs $100 per person.

The funds raised go to support research into diseases of the kidney and urinary tract systems, and to help patients dealing with these conditions. Right now over 1300 Marylanders are waiting for a kidney transplant. Please, PLEASE become an organ donor. You have the power to save multiple lives, and your organs aren't doing any good when they're underground.

Jenn & I hope to see you @ Sante on 6/13!!

 I second the organ-donation cause.  My parents were both organ donors, and my license is so marked.  My own schedule is a bit up in the air, but I hope to make it there..........

More Places Should Do This

In checking out The Station Taproom in Downingtown, Pa. (as it turns out, they're only across the street from the SEPTA/Amtrak Downingtown passenger rail station, not actually *in* it as I'd hoped--though Downingtown has little more than a bus-stop shelter as its "station," as its PRR depot was demolished in the 1990s), I found their Facebook page.

They have a chalkboard menu of what's on tap.

Rather than type in changes to the chalkboard, they just take a picture of said chalkboard and post that.

That's a HECK of a lot more useful than just posting a picture of a glass of beer, if you ask me.

Flying Dog Rhymes-With-Witch Session at Alonso's Tonight UPDATED

At the Flying Dog "B*tch Session" at Alonso's in Roland Park tonight:

Firkin:  Gonzo Imperial Porter 7.8%
Draft:
Raging B*tch Belgian-Style IPA 8.3%
Woody Creek White Belgian Wit 4.8%
Wild Dog Coffee Stout 8%
Hellen Hound Old Ale, "a new one-off brew. You'll have to try it to see what it's like.?? abv."

You know, at first, the resolution on the picture was bad enough that I thought it read "77% abv".  That would have been "Typo of the Year"--or a new entry in the beer strength war...............

Oh, by the way?  The Old Ale was stupendous.  Reminiscent of North Coast Brewing's Old Stock Ale annual seasonal, with a hint more body and sweetness/caramel.  That had better not be a one-off. . . .

Why I'm Not a CAMRA Member

Why don't I belong to the Campaign for Real Ale?

Well, first off, I'm a member of the Chesapeake Bay Branch of the Society for Preservation of Beers from the Wood instead.  (They meet next Thursday at Mahaffey's in Canton, by the way.)


Second, I investigated a bit into the societies a while back, and to sum up what an English real ale buff said to me about CAMRA: "CAMRA has evolved into a political action group, trying to implement change, occasionally by brute force if need be.  SPBW just go and drink the beer and smiles."

But if I ever still entertained any thoughts of joining CAMRA, this blogpost by Pete Brown (referred to me by Tom Cizauskas) would put me off of it once and for all.

Read the utterly appalling story.  Go on, I'll wait.  I can't sum it up in one paragraph or quote.

If I ever actually experienced this degree of behaviour from fellow real ale enthusiasts, I'm not sure whether I would openly tell these w*nkers over the microphone to "sod off" (or much more colourful variations on the theme), find some cans of Bud Dry or Natural Light and spray them with them, throw bottles at them, or renounce all beer forever and go back to drinking craft teas and mineral water exclusively.

CAMRA in the U.K. is developing, or has developed, a serious image problem, the exact same problem that beset "trainspotters" years ago (as lampooned in everything from Monty Python's Flying Circus' famous "Camel Spotter" sketch to the movie "Trainspotting", and which led many rail enthusiasts like me to loudly elaborate on the difference between enthusiasm versus the Asperger's Syndrome that afflicts the worst spotters).  That image problem still besets most political-action groups today: the cause of the enthusiasm may be noble, but the extreme actions or words of a few do almost-irreparable harm to the cause as a whole, casting bad karma over the initial cause.

Don't believe me?  How about the fact that CAMRA has inspired its own occasional cartoon series in Britain's Viz Magazine (a British version of Mad Magazine, if you will): The Real Ale Twats (each link a separate example)?  How about the images of American "Tea Party" protesters as neo-KKK racists, or leftist protesters as socialists or anarchists?

Until, or unless, CAMRA addresses such boorish and regrettable behavior amongst its membership, I want no part of it.  I would not blame a pub or brewery owner one iota if he responded to such behaviour by  cutting off real ale to them.  "Oh, yer have a CAMRA membership card?  50p more for putting up wit' yer!"

The worst part?  I'm a railway enthusiast--enough so to be "part owner" of THREE of those Deltic diesel locomotives mentioned in the actually-not-hypothetical tape title Pete mentioned............  and a couple of other Deltic enthusiasts in my e-circle DO talk about meeting up at the Sheffield Tap.............. [*cringe*]

(Deltic Diesel Real Ale logo from the Cottage Brewing Co. of Lovington, Somerset--not really Deltic turf, but I'm not complaining about an all-real-ale brewery run by obvious rail enthusiasts!  And as a probably unnecessary disclaimer, the DPS co-sponsors an annual Real Ale Festival with over 150 (!!!) real ales at its Barrow Hill Roundhouse locomotive centre...... if you're over there, it's coming up 21st/22nd May, noon-11pm both days........)


(And to my British readers: Good luck with that election............)

Beer Review: MateVeza Black Lager

Yes, I love a good unorthodox-ingredient beer.  So let's celebrate that so-called Mexican holiday (just the Southwestern excuse for St. Pat's Day bacchanalia, right?) with a South-American-styled beer.

MateVeza is a California-based beer company, apparently contracting through the well-regarded Mendocino Brewing Co.in Ukiah, California.  The concept is a different form of "buzz beer," as those who are fans of "The Drew Carey Show" (where the characters dreamed up a beer with coffee in it so the caffeine would counteract the effects of alcohol--supposedly) will remember.  In this case, the active ingredient is Yerba Mate, a South American species of holly that is a source of caffeine and is traditionally brewed as an herbal tea, drunk--as with coffee and tea--as a stimulant.

MateVeza has brewed three beers so far: an Organic Golden Ale, an Organic IPA, and this apparently brand new Black Lager. The "cheat sheet" enclosed with my sample says 5.2%, 25 IBU's, and 60mg of caffeine per 22-ounce bottle, about the same as a half cup of coffee per 12-ounce serving.

And how is the beer?  Black lager, a traditional German style, isn't my first choice--I kind of wish they'd sent the IPA--but the lager's lighter in hops, so I'll see what yerba mate tastes like.  (The agents were kind enough--no, smart enough--to include a sample of the dried leaves used in the brew.)  The black lager--think a Guinness stout with CO2 and clean lager yeast instead of nitro cream and ale yeast--may be 5.2% but tastes lighter; a good black roast barley flavor is topped off with a strong herbal flavor, akin to green tea, hay grass, a light touch of thyme and rosemary, and more fresh-mown hay.  (The yerba mate sample smells exactly like a fresh hay loft.)  The contrast between the malt and roast body and the lingering grassy/herbal finish is intriguing, to say the least.  Sure, I'd have it again.  Caffeine rush?  I'm the wrong person to ask on that--I can go to sleep after a cup of strong coffee.

(Photos to follow soon.  And no, I don't think this is in the Maryland market--yet.)

Non-Beer Activity For Today

Today, as suggested by over a week of advertising at various bars, I shall go down to the Inner Harbor, set afloat several jars of Hellman's, then shoot them with a BB rifle until they slide under the water.

They've been telling me to "Sink-o the Mayo"............