Win Tickets to the Baltimore City Paper Brewfest April 14th!

Thanks to the courtesy and generosity of the Baltimore City Paper, we are able to offer two tickets to the City Paper Brew Fest on Saturday, April 14th, rain or shine 1-5 PM on the square at the foot of Broadway in Fells Point--yes, outside Max's Taphouse, Bertha's, Jimmy's Diner, and the rest.  Retail value:  $60. 

This year, the selection will be completely random among the entries, as in "a name picked at random from the brewing bucket".  The City Paper has asked me to select a winner by March 14th, to allow non-winners a chance to buy tickets at the $30 discounted rate before the price is raised to $35 on March 15th. Please leave a comment on this post which includes a valid registration or other indirect contact information that allows me to contact you if you are chosen a winner.  The winner will have to either pick up the tickets from me in person at another venue, or provide a postal mailing address.

Disclaimer:  Anyone I can identify as employees of the City Paper or participating breweries/distributors is ineligible, as is Drinky Crow.

Hoppy Leap Day!

Once every four years, we get a February 29th.  So what should you do for Leap Day besides have hoppy beers?  (Well, that or go to Lover's Leap or whatnot.....  I was joking about taking my wife to Jenny Jump Mountain in New Jersey. [see photo].....)

But there are a couple options for you today, starting with the debut at Alewife Baltimore of Stillwater's latest brew, Kopstootje, brewed in  conjunction with Lucas Bols and based on the dutch ritual of the Kopstootje, the unique Dutch centuries-long tradition of a beer and a shot of Bols Genever.  8 PM to 11 PM.

The Baltimore City Paper has a cover story in today's edition on bottle collectors--including beer bottles, naturally--who pursue their passion the hard way, by digging in former privy sites.  Check it out.for yourself by grabbing a copy from the ubiquitous yellow boxes, at your favorite bar or store that carries it, or here.

Meanwhile, peruse this list from Max's Taphouse.  Sprecher, like Leinenkugel's, hasn't gotten much attention in this market of late, but samples tried by this writer at a recent trade show show their offerings to be on par with the best of Sam Adams, Stone, New Belgium, or any other of the "big boy" craft brewers.  Meanwhile, Oskar Blues' new beer is a grandiosely-hopped version of their flagship Dale's:::

SPECIAL BREWERY RELEASE

WEDNESDAY FEB 29TH @5PM

SPRECHER BREWERY

We will have 9 Sprecher beers on draft and 1 bottled beer.

THE LINE UP ON DRAFT:

Mai Bock

Hefeweiss

Russian Imperial Stout

Double IPA

Special Amber

Black Bavarian

Piper Scotch Ale

Abbey Triple

Dopplebock

IN BOTTLES

Black IPA in 22oz Bottles

______________________________________-

SPECIAL KEG TAPPING:

WEDNESDAY FEB 29TH @6PM

OSKAR BLUES DEVIANT DALES

This is a special keg with a whole lot of hops....

The "Wild, Wild West" of the Beer Business

DCBeer.com has a brilliant write-up on the ugly, sordid underbelly of the beer and alcohol business--the slightly-shady-to-overtly-illegal wheeling and dealing between retailers, bars, distributors, salesmen, and breweries (in the latter case, more accurately corporations that happen to be in booze) in an effort to market particular brands of potables over another.

The craft beer side of the industry has been relatively immune from most of this activity, and that for several reasons:

• Craft beer fans tend to be fickle.  Programs like the ones described in the essay are designed to stimulate brand loyalty, something that is notoriously absent with many (most) craft beer fanatics, who are usually always on the prowl for the next new, exciting, or different beer or experiment.
• "Payola" takes money.  Even the biggest and best of the craft brewers--Anchor, Stone, New Belgium, Leinenkugel, etc.--are not raking in quite the quantity of dollars necessary to pay for such programs, nor are the profit margins as generous in craft beer as they are in corporate-industrial-scale production.
• Many (heck, most) craft brewers have nowhere near the production capability, or expansion plans, necessary to warrant such marketing measures.  Many micros have found themselves retreating from already-established markets as their products gain favor in their home turfs, and running up against production constraints.

A more interesting question, however, is why these practices are deemed illegal.

In a general philosophical sense, the concept of currying favor with retailers of your product via such "payola" is no different from a mega-retailer offering you a discount-club card membership, or Amazon's retailers offering free shipping, or McDonald's offering a toy with a Happy Meal, or even a bar offering a Happy Hour or Ladies' Night.  Or even the occasional complementary drink from a bartender at your regular pub.  The above practices, in a sense, are just as unethical and immoral as the practices being discussed in the article in DCBeer.  The fact that such "payola" is downright prevalent in the alcohol business bespeaks much more the profit margins and revenues involved in the alcohol business and the return on marketing from such practices (occasionally qualifying for the term "obscene").

They want your trade.  They're offering you incentives to do business with them.  You don't have to take them.  But you'd be a fool not to take advantage of such offers, if they are of use to you.  (As opposed to, say, the Turnip Twaddler that comes with the Ronco Tomato Musher.)


I am well aware of various philosophical arguments against such practices: small businesses can't afford to get on such a playing field; the rich get richer and small businesses suffer; etc.  But ultimately, this comes down to the micromanagement of business affairs by government regulation, in this case a holdover from the neo-Prohibitionist mindset that still pervades many corners of government today.  Government and regulatory bodies can certainly say "it's for your own good" as they are wont to do.  But such a mentality also implies that you, the consumer, can't be trusted to decide for yourself whether or not to go to a bar that happens to be liberally supplied with beer logo neon signs, or offers a premium football broadcast during Game Day, or  if a beer festival dominated by the wares of a single distributor is a good venue for your imbibing.

A great deal of both the production and the consumption of craft beer is, effectively,. a raised middle finger or exposed buttocks to the "North American Industrial Lager" industrial complex which is the biggest user of such tactics.  Independent consumers and music makers, working with Steve Jobs and the Internet, raised similar gestures to the formerly-equally-lucrative recorded-music industry and its "unethical" payola and marketing practices with self-produced music and grass-roots marketing; the net result is that the record-store industry has all but disappeared in the United States and elsewhere.  The craft beer enthusiast may dream of a day when the powerful beer-industry giants have been vanquished and we are all drinking excellent, flavorful beers brewed locally by scruffy local brewers and their helper elves and gnomes, all gathering to sing "Kumbayah" (or, more likely, "In Heaven There Is No Beer") at the Great American Beer Festival, but for now the best thing we can do as consumers is make informed choices, and choose accordingly.  And if that means Joe's Sports Bar presents the Bud Light Super Bowl Party, Jin's Bistro serves you Delirium Tremens from a pink-elephant-topped tap tower, and Jane's Bar seeks out the most ridiculously obscure beer to serve you, what does it matter to us?

The Only Excuse For Wanting to Reduce Beer Taxes is Corruption??

Reason.com's Jacob Sullum points out in a recent online essay that a reporter at Mother Jones, Tim Murphy, suggests that the only reason former Pennsylvania senator and current Presidential candidate Rick Santorum could have possibly supported a reduction in the Federal excise tax on beer is because of campaign donations from the alcohol industry:

From 1995 through 2006, Rick Santorum was one of the upper chamber's biggest beneficiaries of beer industry cash. Wholesalers, brewers, and their top executives filled Santorum's coffers with at least $80,000 in campaign donations. And they got their money's worth: Four times during his two Senate terms Santorum pushed to cut the beer excise tax [which had been doubled in 1990] by half, over the protests of economists and public health experts who say that a lower tax would lead to a loss of revenue and lives.

(Gotta love the "people will die" spin at the end.)

The Mother Jones piece starts out as a news piece but shifts halfway through into an op-ed essay slamming the alcohol industry and low taxes:

"The name of the game is to deflect attention at all costs from the fact that really we should be raising beer taxes and the most brilliant way to do that was devised by the beer industry by creating this 'roll back the beer tax' campaign," explains Michele Simon, president of the industry watchdog Eat Drink Politics. Santorum took up the industry's agenda in Congress. "He was just parroting what the beer industry had told him to say," Simon says.

[Emphasis added.]

According to public health researchers, when the beer industry saves money, the rest of society ends up picking up the tab.
Lowering the beer excise tax "would lead to an increase of sales of alcohol and an increase in drinking, and that would lead to an associated or proportionate increase in the health problems associated with alcohol," says Alex Wagenaar, an epidemiologist at the University of Florida who has studied the impact of the tax on public health. "It's chronic disease for people that drink heavily, it's also, just for people that occasionally drink more than a very small amount, [an] increased risk for car crashes, pedestrian injuries, fights and assaults and things like that."

 A rebuttal by Sullum:

It seems to me that "sin taxes" are fundamentally unjust because they punish the responsible majority for the misdeeds of a minority. If my own beer consumption does not impose costs on others, why should I have to pay a levy supposedly aimed at recouping those costs? In my view, Santorum took the wrong position because he called for cutting the beer tax in half, as opposed to eliminating it altogether. I realize Tim Murphy, Michele Simon, and Alex Wagenaar disagree. But the strength of their conviction does not transform an opinion into a fact.

I'd like to examine this presumption that the only rationale for proposing a reduction in taxes is because you're corruptly "on the take" from industry lobbyists and their campaign donations......

....  if this is the case, then what, pray tell, does this say about President Obama and his proposal yesterday to lower corporate income tax rates from 35% to 28%? 

A side note:  Judging from the comments left to this and other beer-industry-related essays at Reason, a disproportionately high percentage of Reason.com readers/commenters are craft beer enthusiasts and homebrewers.  I wonder if there's a general overlap with libertarian philosophies.
(Tip o' the hat: Lew Bryson.)

A Brewpub IN Oriole Park at Camden Yards?

A "press release" released yesterday announces a planned addition to the Baltimore craft beer scene:

Camden Yards is hoping for a home run off the field this season.

The stadium is building on the winning combination of beer and baseball by creating a brewpub and on-site brewery inside Camden Yards.

The new restaurant planned for Oriole Park at Camden Yards will be a family-friendly brewpub with a sports focus and will open around opening day this spring, says Delaware North Cos. Delaware North Cos. provides food, beverage and retail merchandise services at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

While the name and menu of the restaurant is still being determined, the brewpub plans to brew its own beer on-site and offer a traditional brewpub menu including burgers and sandwiches. The company cannot yet disclose the number of seats or square footage.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards hopes to become a year-round destination by creating concession areas that overlook the baseball field. In late December, the Stadium Authority requested $1.8 million from the state's Board of Public Works to renovate picnic-areas and create a year-round "park-like destination."

Delaware North Companies Cos., a hospitality and food service company headquartered in Buffalo, is receiving consulting on the restaurant from Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Inc. a corporation in Chicago that owns restaurants in Illinois, Nevada, Washington, D.C, Minneapolis and Arizona. It owns Bethesda French bistro Mon Ami Gabi.

The restaurant has started the hiring process and expects to employ between 30 and 50 employees at its location at 333 W. Pratt St. [the corner of the new building across Howard Street from the Convention Center].

More information as it becomes available.....

UPDATE:  Delaware North contacts thus far have "not been authorized to discuss" the matter, but there is speculation in some quarters that the "brewpub" in question would only be a craft beer bar and/or contract brew with other breweries.

Upcoming Events

Mark your calendars, create a reminder, whatever:

Society for Preservation of Beers from the Wood's Chesapeake Bay Branch marks its 15th anniversary on Saturday the 25th at noon at the Wharf Rat, 801 S. Ann Street, Baltimore.  They convene at Frisco Taphouse in Columbia on March 8th, and are planning a "Stout Day" on St. Patrick's Day at the Pratt Street Ale House, for those tired of Guinness, green beer, and shamrocks and leprechauns. 

City Paper's 16th Annual BrewFest: Saturday, April 14th, 1-5 PM at Broadway Square in Fells Point, this year expanded to include the parking lot between the Square and the Broadway Market, with 72 beers promised. Two DJ's this year, one just for music, and one in the new portion for karaoke.  Tickets $ 30 until March 14th, they go to $35 March 15th until sell-out (and they're surprisingly good at selling out every year).  Tickets on sale at the City Paper office on Park Avenue or via Missiontix.com (possible service fees apply).

Spring Real Ale Fest at Pratt Street Ale House: April 28th.

For those that like brewing for a good cause, the next charity-fundraiser Chilibrew chili cookoff and homebrew contest will be held at the Baltimore Free Farm, 3510 Ash Street (Hampden), April 22nd, 1-5 PM.  Details at www.baltibrew.org  So start up your brewing kettles!

Support Wanted for Md. Farm Breweries

Below is a plea from one of this blog's regular readers:

I'm a regular reader of your blog and was hoping you could help me get the word out about a bill that is heading to the state Senate and House next week that will create a Class 8 Farm Brewery License.  This will allow farms to inexpensively get the right permits to begin brewing on their farm.  This bill is similar to what was previously passed to support the Maryland wine industry but this bill focuses on the production, sale, and storage of beer.

I am a hop grower with a farm in Carroll County Maryland.  I am a member of the board of the North East Hop Alliance and our expanding Maryland Chapter (Maryland Hop Growers Association) has many members who have serious plans to brew on farm.

If you think touring a vineyard just before picking season with a glass of wine is cool, wait until you are walking through Maryland's hop yards and barley fields in late August with an ice cold IPA.  

Please ask your readers to support our farms and support beer by writing to their state senator and state delegate.  

To find your state senator and delegate go here and enter your address:  http://mdelect.net/

House bill:   HB 1126 - Class 8 Farm Brewing License 

http://mlis.state.md.us/2012rs/billfile/hb1126.htm 

Senate bill:  SB 579 - Class 8 Farm Brewing License

http://mlis.state.md.us/2012rs/billfile/SB0579.htm

Thanks for your support,

Brad Humbert

Interesting stat from Belgian Fest, Day One

Casey Hard, Max's cellarmaster, Saturday morning:  "We only kicked about thirty kegs yesterday [Friday], but we went through ten times more bottles than last year's Friday."

A session beer at a Belgian Fest?

de la Sene Taeas Boulba blonde IPA 4.5%:  Man, we need more of these today.  A rich, dry, grassy and hoppy beer, bold with the hops and yeast but only 4.5%.  Session mania!

T' Gaverhopke Koerseklakske 5.5% witboer with Brett:  lightest beer so far in color, initially very simple in the sips, but after swishing quite complex in mouthfeel and flavor.  Another commendable "session beer" in character--decide whether you want a referesher or a break, and drink this one.

Saint Helene Mistinguett 6.5%: yet another tasty respite from the heaviness of most export Belgians,  Light and crisp, no-nonsense goodness.

Okay, who the ^(#@ walked in wearing a boatload of scented body wash?  Throw the bastard out, dammit.

Another "sessionable" beer here:  de la Senne Taras Boulba 4.5%; another nice "light" beer in that regard....

de Glazen Toren Cuvee Angelui  whisky/pinot 8.0%: a sour-beer nose, a well-balanced whisky-and-wine palate.  Amber and bright, smoky/acidic nose, threatens a very tart beer but delivers balance.

A Chorus of Shouts...

...  mostly "Boos" or something to that harrassing effect.

Allegedly someone just ordered a Miller Lite.

The fellow seems to have retreated, so I can't confirm.......

Max's Belgian 2012, Round Two

Alvinne Oak-aged Melchoir Calvados 11.0%:: golden and bright,  (hell, is this the right beer?),  tart and cider-like, substantial bitterness--not sure if that's the wood or something else.Order this if you're a sour beer fanatic.

de Dochter van de Korenaar Peat Oak Embrasse (and my spell-checker has just exploded) (9.0% dark ale):  This beer is all peat.  It is as over-the-top as Schlenkerla Rauchbier is "bacon beer"--the phrase that comes to mind is "drowning in a peat bog".  And I've house-sat for an Irish-Amewrican who fancied throwing an occasional hunk of peat in his fireplace, just for the aroma. Gawd almighty, I'm choking on this, and I thought I liked smoke in my beer!

Mort Subite Blanche:  After the last beer, this is a fruit punch, or a fruit cocktail!  Pale and fruity!

Alvinne Morpheus Wild w/ Blue Boskoop grapes aged in.....  5.2%  Brown, bright,

St Helene Mistinguett 6.5% blonde: hazy tripel color, sort of what I guess I imagined New Belgian Fat Tire to taste like when  I first had it in 1993-94...  but tweaked for improvement.  It's lackluster for this festival, but this would rock at your West Virginia ski resort or at the ballpark.. 

St Helene La Grognarde 5.5% Bitter:: pale, bright straw color, a good session bitter with a light Belgian touch.

The Craziness begins

Max's opened their eighth annual Belgian Beer Fest in the usual fashion, delaying a minute or so while they string a ceremonial red ribbon across the doorway at the last second.

A lot of the barstools were already occupied by invited guests and Belgian beer business folk as the doors opened, but it appears most of them wisely made way for more determined customers.

The new "write your orders on a postcard" scheme seems to be working quite well.  Less confusion, more order.

I start with an old favorite, de Glazen Toren Canaster, being pumped from a wooden cask this time, so this abides by my SPBW membership.....  a nice, tasty "Scottish" ale, malty but with just that bit of bite, seemingly half Belgian yeast and half red ale character.  A little flat, but the wood shows more plainly that way.  8.5^, the only true Belgian on cask at opening (also on engines:  Flying Dog Raging Bitch and Wildemann, and Olivers/3 Stars BW Rye #3, a rye saison).

de Landtscheer Malheur 12 Bourbon (10%):: So Belgium' gotten on the bourbon-barrel-aging schtick.  Interesting.  This dark ale presents a curious approach--not a stout, but a dark red ale, made a bit darker no doubt by the barrel.  Perhaps the closest to an actual bourbon whiskey flavor I've seen from a bourbon-barrel/whatever beer--a hint of sour mash in the flavor.

Scheldebrouwerij Oesterstout: A bit porter-colored, but not holding that against it--decadently malty nose, like a Baltic porter. Rich, sweet, creamy, chalky, tastes much lighter than 8.5%, might be the best damn oyster stout I've ever had even if it's a little thin on the black for a stout.

Dupont Monks Stout  :  A very distinct high roast character, extra roast barley to an almost burnt coffee, in the palate and nose, but finishing quite clean and dry..

The first two giveaway glasses just disappeared.

Silly Engjein Noel 9% tripel: ljight golden, very chalky/mineral laden, with almost a lot of syrupy character.  There's something I'm not keen with about this beer, but I'm having trouble placing it.  A sweet hay and lemongrass character to this--bring on the Thai or light seafood.

Dupont Floret Blanche:  Classic witbier crossed with Belgium.

Slaapmutske Hop Collection Kent Goulding II (10%): Bright, polished copper, looks like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (or maybe Dale's Pale Ale)...... oh, wow.  It takes three sips for this to get justice.  The alcohol strength partially masks a robust hop flavor, and it ultimately comes off as candied hops.... What would be the essential English character gets lost in the strength and sweetness.

Van Steenberge Gulden Draak 9000 Quad  (10.5%): Okay, it's Gulden Draak.  If you're here, you've had this.  Not that I've had regular GD for a short enough time ago that I can tell it from what's in my glass.....  Sweet enough to indue diabetic attacks, as with regular GD.....

Max's Belgian preview

85 people in line at 10 AM, an hour before opening.  The first chap showed up at 6:47 AM, he says.

In an eminently wise move, Max's personnel went out at 9:50 AM with a cart full of menus, postcards, and pens--the procedure is now to write your orders, checking off glass, sample, or bottle.

Transit Options for Max's Belgian Fest 2012

It's not the "Snowmageddon" of two years ago--in fact, we barely recognize what snow is anymore around here, and I haven't even seen any TV-weather-forecast-induced supermarket panic buying sprees yet this winter--but transit remains an excellent option for two reasons this (and every) year for the Max's Belgian Fest, now in its eighth year.

New this time around is the FREE (for riders) Charm City Circulator Green Route, directly connecting the Baltimore Metro's Shot Tower stop with Fells Point.  Study the route map.

MTA Maryland's web site.  Bus Routes 11 and 10 are the closest to Max's, with 21 and 13 being of some use.  Other routes are on this map.  A day pass at $3.50 is just a little more than two trips on the bus or subway, and makes handy insurance if you need to be flexible in your times.  Be aware that if you stay until last call, your options are severely reduced.  Metro stops running at midnight, for all practical purposes, and "night owl" bus service is few and far between.

Special Offer for Beer in Baltimore Readers Going to Max's Belgian Fest

Shhh.......  don't tell anyone.....

But if you spot me at Max's Belgian Fest starting tomorrow, I expect to show up with a box of excess Belgian beer glasses, plus a few other glasses as well.

Come up to me, say the magic words "Please with a kriek on top?" and you may choose a glass from my stash.  One per person, please, while supplies last.

SPBW 15th Anniversary Events

The 15th anniversary of the Chesapeake Bay Branch of the Society for Preservation of Beers from the Wood is fast approaching, and here's a preview of upcoming events for those who might not have joined of late, from Branch president Rick Bloemke:

This Thursday February 9th we will convene upstairs at Metropolitan in Federal Hill for a very special cask of J.W. Lee’s Vintage Harvest Ale. Brewed only once a year for release on December 1 of each year, Harvest Ale is brewed to celebrate the first brew from each years first harvest of barley and hops. An English barley wine at around 11.5% ABV, Harvest Ale has both fruit and malt characteristics with a smooth, dry, hoppy finish. We will convene at 7:00 p.m. but I encourage you to come early to taste the cask and get a seat at the bar. Note, please bring your $10.00 dues for 2012 to the meeting! Metropolitan Coffeehouse & Wine Bar, 902 N. Charles St, Baltimore MD 21230


Saturday February 25th marks the 15th Anniversary of the Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the SPBW, and we would like to invite all past and present members to join our host Jen Oliver at The Wharf Rat, 801 S. Ann in Fells Point at “high noon” as we give a tip of the cap and tip a pint to the organization and all its members over the years.

Thursday, March 8th we get back to our regularly scheduled events calendar with the monthly beer social to be held at Frisco Taphouse & Brewery at 6695 Dobbin Rd.in Columbia, MD.

Hold St. Patrick’s Day open as we are plotting an alternative to the usual Canton/Federal Hill drunk-fests with “Stout Day”; on Saturday, March 17th at Pratt Street Ale House featuring cask, pin and draught stouts from around Baltimore and the world.

Tentative date for the 2012 Spring Ale Festival is Saturday, April 21st. We are checking for conflicting events in the larger beer community-if you know of events that conflict with those dates please let us know.

Quick News Update

As the Beer In Baltimore World HQs enters Day Seven of it Collossal-Verizon-[Bleep]-Up-Of-Asinine-Magnitude-imposed Internet and Phone Blackout, supplemented by the Great Dell AC Laptop Adapter Burn-Out, we have a few quick updates, as long as the computers at the Pikesville Library co-operates (and I have to go out of Baltimore City to find a library computer with an up-to-date-enough browser to handle the blog!):

*Max's Taphouse tonight: Tuesday Beer Social featuring new beers from Oliver Brewing/Pratt Street Ale House.
*The latest Mid-Atlantic Brewing News is out.
*Hellas in Millersville/Anne Arundel is holding a New Belgian Beer Dinner tomorrow night, the 8th:

Reception Course: Pita Crisps with Tzatziki Dip paired with "Prickly Passion Saison".

Second Course: Chesapeake Peel-n-Eat Shrimp paired with "Fat Tire Amber Ale".
Third Course: Crab Cake Benedict paired with "Trippel Belgian Style Ale".
Fourth Course: Delmonico Steak with Sherry Cream paired with "Ranger IPA".
Dessert Course: Chocolate Coconut Bread Pudding paired with "1554 Enlightened Black Ale".
Reception Course begins at 5pm. The cost of the dinner is $45 (includes tax and gratuity), reservations MUST be made ahead of time. You can either contact Mike Stavlas by phone or email at 410.733.1009 or mstavlas@verizon.net. 

*Did y'all catch the recent articles in the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun on legislation to allow greater growler sales?
*Could this be the last year for SAVOR, the high-price craft-beer Bacchanal, in Washington D.C. (June 8-9 this year)?
*According to a rogue Facebook post, a certain new beer venue somewhere between Inner Harbor and Fells Point has sneaked open in a "soft" opening, a week prior to their official opening........

Max's 8th Belgian Beer Fest, Feb. 17-19th: 200 drafts, 275 bottles promised

Yeah, we all know the drill by now.  Cash in your sick days, book a room or crash space nearby, download tasting notes from the websites in advance, come in on Friday with a multi-page checklist.....

This is the latest dispatch of a draft list from Max's cellar-maniac Casey Hard, with what spelling errors I can catch for now corrected:

BELGIAN BEERS ON DRAFT 90% DONE:

Abbey Des Rocs Grand Cru

Achilles Serafijn Grand Cru

Achouffee Chouffe Biere Du Soleil

Achouffe La Chouffe

Achouffe Mc Chouffe

Alvinne Gaspar

Alvinne Kerasus

Alvinne Morpheus Wild Undressed

Alvinne Morpheus Wild Undressed Monbazillac

Alvinne Morpheus Wild Undressed w/ Blue Boskoop Grapes aged in Bourgogne wine barrels

Bavik Petrus Winter

Bavik Wittekerke Winter

Blaugies Darbyste

Blaugies La Moneuse Saison

Blaugies La Moneuse Special Winter

Blaugies Saison De Epeature

Bosteels Pauwel Kawk

Brugse Zot Blonde

Brugse Zot Dubbel Bruin

Cazeau Saison

Cazeau Tournay Black

Chimay Cinq Cents

De Dochter Van De Korenaar Belle Fluer

De Dochter Van De Korenaar Peat Oak Aged Embrasse

De Dolle Boskuen

De Dolle Dulle Teve

De Glazen Toren Canaster

De Glazen Toren Jan De Lichte

De Glazen Toren Ondinke

De Glazen Toren Saison De Epre Mere

De Glazen Toren Cuvee Angelquie Aged in Whiskey/Pinot Noir barrels

De La Senne Taras Boulba

De La Senne Zinnebier

De Landtsheer Malheur 10

De Landtsheer Malheur 12

De Landtsheer Malheur 12 aged in Bourbon barrels

De Proef Draeckenier

De Proef Flemish Primtive

De Proef KO

De Ranke Pere Noel

De Ranke Saison De Dottignies

Deca Westoek X

Dubussion Scladis Cuvee Des Trolls

Dubussion Scaldis Triple Blonde

Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux

Dupont Foret Blanche

Dupont La Biere De Beloeil

Dupont Moinette Blonde

Dupont Monks Stout

Dupont Posca Rustica

Dupont Redor Pils

Dupont Saison

Duvel Single

Ellezelloise Hercule Stout

Ellezelloise Quintine Blonde

Geants Gouyasse

Geants Noel De Geants

Hof Ten Dormaal Blonde

Hof Ten Dormaal White Gold

Hofbrouwerijke Hofblues

Huyghe Delirium Tremens

Huyghe Delirium Nocturnem

Huyghe Delirium Noel

Jandrian Jandrenouille IV Saison

Jandrian Jandrenouille V Cense

Jandrian Jandrenouille VI Wheat

Kerkom Bink Bloesom

Kerkom Bink Blonde

Kerkom Bink Triple

La Rulles Grand 10

La Rulles Triple

La Rulles Cuvee

Lefebvre Hopus

Leroy Christmas

Liefmans Oud Bruin

Musketeers Troubadour Magma Special Cascade Edition

Musketeers Trounadour Special

Noel De Silenrieux

Palm Ale

Rodenbach Grand Cru

Roman Ename Cuvee

Saint Helene La Grognarde

Saint Helene Mistinguett

Scheldebrouwerij De Zeezupier

Scheldebrouwerij Lamme Goedzak

Scheldebrouwerij Oesterstout

Scheldebrouwerij Hop Ruiter

Silly Enghien Noel

Sint Canarus Triple

Slaapmutske Dry Hop Lager

Slaapmutske Hop Collection East Kent

Slaapmutske Triple Night cap

St Bernardus Christmas

St Feuillien Speciale

St Feuillen Blonde

Stillwater/Struise Outblack

Stillwater Jaded

Stillwater of Love & Regret

Stillwater Rule of Thirds

Strubbe Ichtegems Grand Cru

Strubbe Keyte Dubbel Triple

Struise Pannepot Grand Reserva

Struise Pannepot Reserva

Struise Svea IPA

Struise Tsjeeses

Struise Tsjeeses Reserva

T' Gaverhopke Extra

T' Gaverhopke Koerseklakske

T' Gaverhopke Singing Blonde

Tilquin Gueuze

Van Steenberge Boucanier Christmas

Van Steenberge De Garre Triple

Van Steenberge Ertvelds Wit

Van Steenberge Gulden Draak 9000 Quad

Van Steenberge Monk's Cafe Flemish Sour

 

Plus a bunch more.....................................................................................

"Zink Empire" expanding to Canton with Canton Beer Exchange

Posting from laptop at library because Verizon screwed up my phone and internet, and had to go to SIX libraries to find one open, and I have a funeral to attend in a half-hour, so I'm just gonna copy/paste from Midnight Sun's Erik Maza:

Canton's getting another beer bar and restaurant this fall. Called Canton Beer Exchange, it will feature a novel concept where draft beer prices change according to consumption.

Consulting for the bar, which takes over at 2522 Fait Ave. from Lager's Pub, is a familiar face: Jason Zink. 

Until now, Zink had mostly worked out of Federal Hill. He owns No Idea Tavern and until June, Don't Know Tavern, which he sold to pay off legal bills stemming from a labor lawsuit brought on by former employees.

The bar is planning on installing between 24 and 40 draftlines, with a focus on Mid-Atlantic beers, especially Maryland beers. Zink promises there will be Stillwater Ales and Oliver Breweries in addition to the more well-known Flying Dog and Heavy Seas. The bar will also carry cask-conditioned ales.
The Exchange, which Zink has already dubbed a hashtagable 'CBX,' will also have a dinner menu that he describes as "family-friendly."

All of that is still a long way off. Though the new bar got its liquor license last week, it will need a full face-lift and construction is still two months off.

More at the link.