Firkin Updates, and Max's website update

Last night had three firkins in the bar at Max's Taphouse: Troeg's Java Stout (if memory serves correctly), and one each of only five firkins each of Heavy Seas Below Decks aged in Cabernet Sauvignon and bourbon barrels.  The two Below Decks are almost opposites: the bourbon has to be the best of many such bourbon-aged non-stouts I have ever had, and the cabernet version comes off with a classic wine-like tartness reminiscent of somewhere between Belgian lambic funk and oak character.  I've not been smitten with Below Decks in the past, because I felt it lacked a certain depth and fullness; these projects demonstrate it's the perfect vehicle for experiments like this, because it's a more "blank palate" for such development than, say, a big, raisiny or brandy-like barleywine.

Friday at Alonso's:  Stillwater Stateside Saison firkin.

Thursday at Pratt Street Ale House: the debut of their "Channel Crossing" joint Stillwater/PSAH project, tapping at 6 PM.

Thursday at Metropolitan--some firkin TBA (well, if you go there, it'll say on their "coming firkins" menu board).  Also cask night (and Flying Dog Night) at Max's, and firkin night at the soon-to-relocate Frisco Grille in Columbia.

Incidentally, Max's has just dramatically revised and updated its website.  Now the beer list looks reasonably up to date.  And this just in via e-mail:

WEDNESDAYS MAY 19

TONIGHTS BREWERIES-5pm

 

DRAFTS

Victory Altbier

Victory Citra Pale

Victory St Boisterous

Victory Scarlet Fire

Victory Saaz Braumeister Pils

Vicotry Throwback Lager

Victory Storm King Stout (Cask)

Harpoon 100 Barrel Single Hop ESB

Harpoon Leviathan Imperial IPA

Harpoon UFO Raspberry

Crispin Cider

 

THURSDAY MAY 20-      5pm

 

DRAFTS

Flying Dog Barrel Aged Gonzo

Flying Dog Coffee Stout

Flying Dog Heller Hound Old Ale

Flying Dog Horn Dog (Nitro)

Flying Raging Bitch (Cask)

 

FRIDAY MAY 21      5pm

 

DRAFTS

The Bruery Hottenroth

The Bruery Hummulus Rice

The Bruery Seven Grain Saison

The Bruery Rugbrod

The Bruery Coton

The Bruery Orchard White

The Bruery Tade Winds Triple

The Bruery Trade Winds Triple (Cask)

Weyerbacher Verboten

Weyerbacher India

Great Divide Dunkel Weiss

Great Divide Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti

Oskar Blues Gubna (Cask)

Boulder Cold Hop (Nitro)

 

SATURDAY MAY 22----3pm

 

 DRAFTS

Stillwater Stateside Saison

Stillwater Cellar Door (Cask)

Stillwater Cellar Door dry hopped(cask)

Olivers Hot Monkey Love

Olivers Cherry Blossom

Olivers/ Stillwater Channel Crossing dry Hopped(Cask)

Evolution Haymaker

Evolution Summer Session

Evolution Lot #6 (Cask)

 

SUNDAY MAY 23-     3pm

 

DARFTS

Smuttynose Maibock

Smuttynose Rouge D Shire

Smuttynose Imperial Stout

Smuttynose Barleywine

Allagash Victor

Allagash Victoria

 

OTHER BEERS ON OR WAITING TO BE ON:

Southern Tier Gemini

Southern Tier Oak Aged Unearthly

Southern Tier 2XIPA

Unita Barleywine 2008

Avery Samuels

Schlafly Dry hopped APA

Schlafly Kolsch

North Coast Brother Theloinous

Anyone else want to check in with their firkin reports, or other special beer tappings?

So what potato salad goes with beer? And do we add eggs?

Here's another lovely little "food fight"--do hard-boiled eggs belong in potato salad or not?

My wife insists it's not potato salad without hard-boiled eggs. Myself, it all depends what the potato salad is with. I'm going to demand different potato salad with hamburgers, sausages, BBQ, or chicken as appropriate. I love that German-style hot potato salad with bacon bits, for example, with brats or ham. Burgers sort of demand the "classic" white potato salad with mayo. And I found that BBQ places in eastern North Carolina dole out a hot potato salad that actually looks like dirty half-mashed potatoes and is fairly bland by itself, but perfectly complements the mustardy coleslaw and vinegary BBQ.  And sometimes the chalkiness and slight sulfur components of hard-boiled eggs clashes with a good beer, sadly.

Hmmm............. I just now conjured up a possible potato salad recipe to go with grilled leg of lamb, involving redskin potatoes, mustard, mint, and a touch of horseradish, based on a pit lamb sandwich and a lamb kabob I had at the Sheep & Wool Festival a little while back. Now, if I just didn't have a vegetarian wife who thinks all mustard should be bright yellow and dislikes horseradish............

(photo from About-Recipes.com; tip o' the hat for original link to Instapundit.com)

Meanwhile, in the REST of Baltimore's bar world......

Lest those of us with discriminating tastes in beer forget about just how crazy and bizarre the rest of the alcohol business world is/can be, here's a fascinating nugget on the Baltimore Liquor Board's efforts to shut down one particular bar, from the Crime Beat blog of Peter Hermann at the Baltimore Sun:

To prove he's on the up-and-up, Jackson stopped by the The Baltimore Sun lobby on Tuesday to show me his lease and other documents. His occupany permit lists the old Club 410 as the new Klub Kidz, listed as a dance studio for children ages 4 to 16.

And so the first event he throws is a beer party for college graduates.

We can't make this stuff up, folks.

Another story from February on a different "trouble-making" bar downtown here. More such surrealism from yet another bar reported at Sam Sessa's Midnight Sun blog here.

Beer Bargain of the Day

An associate tipped me off to this special at Groupon, a website that offers discount coupons for businesses that advertise with it.

Today-only special for Baltimore: $20 worth of beer for $10 at Elliot's Pour House down in Highlandtown, a nice little corner neighborhood bar with a much-better-than-average beer selection.

Disclaimer: I make nothing from this deal, there are conditions and fine print (nothing objectionable, if you ask me), and I don't know how much spam signing up for Groupon is going to throw at you (probably a lot, if my history with other such coupon/offer sites is any indication)........

You have 14.5 hours to grab this as I type.

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu480890

Red Brick Station's Daily Crisis IPA at Fire Station 1 in Silver Spring

Hook & Ladder Brewing Co. had been involved with a project to install a functioning brewpub and/or production brewery in the old Silver Spring Fire Station, on Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring, across the street from the old Baltimore & Ohio railroad station (and MARC stop), since early 2007.  Apparently, the long-delayed restaurant is ready to open any day now--but NOT as a brewpub.  The partners in the Hook & Ladder Brewing Co. "had to pull out of the project," according to a post by Tim Carman at the Washington City Paper's "Young and Hungry" blog:

Hook & Ladder founder and brewmaster Rich Fleischer says the economy played a role in the brewery pulling out of the restaurant and brewpub. “It just didn’t make sense for us to continue on the project,” he says.

The restaurant is slated to open sometime in the next week, possibly as early as Friday, and on hand, according to Carman, will be one beer from another "fire station" brewery--Red Brick Station's Daily Crisis IPA, brewed at the "fire station" on The Avenue at White Marsh.

[Owner Jeremy] Gruber says the beer program will include 12 taps and 20 bottles and will venture beyond Hook & Ladder selections.  He plans to include Flying Dog, Magic Hat, Stella, Blue Moon, Sam Adams seasonal, and other options on draft; the bottle selection will mix familiar commercial lagers with offerings from Kona and Goose Island, among others. There will be no brewing on premise to start, but Gruber hasn’t ruled that out in the future.

Left unclear is whether the deal for Daily Crisis is a one-off temporary arrangement for the restaurant, or part of a longer-term beer supply strategy between two fire-station-themed beer-friendly restaurants. Restaurant management confirmed this morning that Daily Crisis would be a "permanent" addition to the line-up, but the only Red Brick Station beer in the house for the time being: "At this time we do not intend on carrying other White Marsh beers."

Now, for the bonus prize:  Does anyone remember yet a third fire-station-themed brewery/brewpub in Maryland?  Answer in the comments if you do!

Strong Beers in B The Freebie Paper

Steve Jones of Pratt Street Ale House alerts me that "b," the freebie tabloid doled out by the Baltimore Sun for those with attention deficit disorder, has a two-page centerfold spread on "Bully Brews," ultra-strong beers and the beer-strength war between Scotland's BrewDog and other breweries.

You can try to read it here, or go grab one out of the orange boxes scattered downtown.

Metropolitan's Beer Week schedule

From their latest e-mail bulletin (Y'all know where Metropolitan is in Federal Hill, right?):

Monday

Lindsay's Trivia of the Damned will feature tasty brews from Shmaltz Brewing Co., makers of He'Brew beers and Coney Island beers.

Tuesday

Harpoon IPA Pint Night in the Main Bar.  Come early and get a coveted Harpoon IPA pint glass, as well as other valuable trinkets.

Thursday

Firkin Thursday with Smuttynose IPA from Smuttynose Brewing in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Friday

Flying Dog Pint Night in the Main Bar.  Get a coveted Flying Dog pint glass.  Beer style to be determined at a later time by the capricious winds of chance.

Other events may be added at the spur of the moment.

The First Two Days of Max's Craft Beer Week

From their e-mail:

MAX'S 4TH ANNUAL AMERICAN CRAFT BEER WEEK FEST

MONDAY MAY 17's CRAFT LINE UP

TROEGS BREWERY AND OMMEGANG BREWERY

5pm- ' til ?, no entrance fee, in the main bar

ON DRAFT

Troegs Scratch #27

Troegs Scratch #29

Troegs Flying Mouflan

Ommegang Triple Perfection

ON CASK

Troegs Java Head

Plus a bunch of special bottles from each brewery

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

TUESDAY MAY 18's CRAFT LINE UP

HEAVY SEAS BREWERY AND BREWERS ART BREWERY

6pm 'til ?-no entrance fee, in the main bar

ON DRAFT

Heavy Seas Bourbon Barrel Below Dercks

Heavy Seas Cabernet Barrel Below Decks

Brewers Art Tiny Tim

Brewers Art Charm City Sour Cherry

Brewers Art Taurus 2

Brewers Art Ozzy

ON CASK

Heavy Seas Bourbon Barrel Below Decks

Heavy Seas Cabernet Barrel Below Decks

Plus a bunch of special bottles from each brewery

How to break a blogger

As do a lot of news reporters, bloggers, etc., I have "news feeds" set up through various online services.  They're designed to send me a link to anything that should be relevant to beer in, around, or from Baltimore.

My inbox is bursting with news stories about the Preakness and its drunken infield debauchery.  They're coming in like machine gun bullets.  One of the recent ones said something about someone getting a server to fill up a bucket for $10--a bucket swiped from the Mug Club stand.

I'll be so glad when this balderdash is over.

UPDATE: Apparently the "open bar with long lines and waits" strategy worked.  Preliminary reports indicate only 20 ejections, NO arrests, and no riots or other stupidity by sunset.

Beer Breakfast @ Mahaffey's Sunday

Yes, I'm late putting this up. My fault.

Pancakes & Beer Breakfast at Mahaffey's in Canton tomorrow, 10 AM - 2 PM.  No reservations needed.

And BTW, if they have any of it left, the cask Heavy Seas Bourbon-Barrel-Aged Below Decks is stupendous.