Changes to Capitol City Brewing

The Washington Post's Greg Kitsock (also Mid-Atlantic Brewing News' editor) reports on changes coming to the Capitol City Brewing Co. chain, which has evolved so far from its origins as a brewpub that it's somewhat hard to quantify what they really are anymore.  Among the latest news:

The opening of a new company-owned restaurant, 901, which will feature four of its own house beers brewed for them at the chain's Shirlington brewery;  not listed on their website yet, plus guest beers:

901 Lager is a clean, smooth amber lager, no rough edges, a gateway to the craft beer universe for the cocktail crowd. A Belgian-style pale ale is more interesting, with a yeasty character and notes of citrus, banana and pear. The IPA has a dry, lingering, tropical fruit flavor; if you like Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA, you’ll recognize the hops, a variety called Citra. The oatmeal stout goes down smoothly with lots of bittersweet chocolate and a hint of burnt molasses.

The company is proceeding with plans to close its location in the Post Office building across the street from Washington Union Station on July 18th, but all is not lost for thirsty commuters and Amtrak riders:

Capitol City, says [Capitol City brewer Travis] Tedrow, will move across the street to Union Station, with a tentative reopening set for October in the space formerly occupied by the restaurant, America. But no beer will be made there. The Capitol Hill site’s nine 15-barrel fermenters will be shipped to the company’s Shirlington location to augment production there. (The rest of the equipment, including the brewhouse, will be sold or scrapped.)

Opportunity may knock for any further local brewery start-ups.............

Finally, read the article for news of a Cap City bar coming to a fitness gym.  Or maybe it's a fitness gym coming to a Cap City bar.  Either way, you may be able to work off your beer gut.

(All of this comes after the weekend that news broke that Phillips Seafood, a pioneering restaurant at Baltimore's Harborplace and a one-time neighbor of Capitol City's erstwhile Baltimore branch/outlet, would be closing this fall.)

Press Releases We Never Finished Reading, #4

Seriously, I don't have any idea how I get on these lists.  I actually stopped at the fifth word, but forced myself to keep reading just to see where this went.....  and the typo didn't help matters....

Just like bombshell Kim Kardashian, [bar name] in Las Vegas always likes to go big.  In honor of the beauty's recent engagement, [bar name] created a stunning replica of Kim's 20-plus-carat engagment ring, made completely out of ice and weighing over 500....

But they're not doing a "Hon"-ey beer, darn it........

Heavy Seas Beer has graphically weighed in with a commentary of sorts on the recent controversies swirling around Cafe Hon owner Denise Whiting and the "Honfest" this weekend in Hampden:

If you're on Facebook, they're having a contest to name it.

Real Ale Thursday

In addition to the usual "3M" cask ale specials on most Thursdays--specials at Mahaffey's, Max's Taphouse, and Metropolitan in Baltimore--this upcoming Thursday, the9th, brings the Society for Preservation of Beers from the Wood to Columbia and Frisco Tap House for their monthly meeting/gathering.  "Expect to knock back pints of Harvestoun Old Engine Oil and Heavy Seas Plank 1 (Rum Barrel Aged) on cask...and a little treat for you as well, Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen on clad (gravity poured wooden cask)."  This is in addition to the bar's typical 50 beers on tap.........

June Mid-Atlantic Brewing News is out

Cover stories/theme of the new D.C. breweries. 
Go get it at your favorite good-beer outlet.

DuClaw Announces Homebrew Contest Winner, and Another Competition to Pick a Charity

From the DuClaw e-mail:

Our H.E.R.O. ["Honest, Excellent. Robust. Original."] home brewing competition has come to an end and we have a winner! Ladies and gentleman, your H.E.R.O. is...

Peanut Butter Porter brewed by Tony Huckestein.

Tony’s Peanut Butter Porter will be produced by our brewery as a limited edition run of 22oz bottles and will be available everywhere that our beer is sold. And, in the spirit of being a hero, we are donating EVERY SINGLE PENNY from the sale of H.E.R.O. 22oz bombers to charity.

That’s where all of you come in, and all you have to do is point us in the right direction. Email the story of an organization or individual in need of a hero to hero@duclaw.com and we will donate ALL of the proceeds from this promotion to one of the causes that you recommend. Hero-up, and send us your stories!

For more information on the top 3 finishers in the H.E.R.O. home brew competition, or how you can help us help someone in need, check out Dave’s blog.

The charity outreach and contest concept sound terrific.  As for the beer, I'll reserve comment until I taste it--it sounds way too much like the cliche of a homebrewer desperate to brew a "different" beer by any means still drinkable.  (Of course, mass-market beer slaves devotees will say the same about many of our favorite fruit, spice, coffee, smoked, etc. beers.......)

First Friday Firkin at Phoenix Emporium in Ellicott City

Yet another old-guard place we don't mention often enough here, at 8049 Main Street, across the street from both the Ellicott City B&O Station Museum and the tiny but excellent Carpe Vinum liquor/beer store:

Phoenix Emporium
Ellicott City ~ First Fridays ~ June 3rd
Live Music
Evening shopping & dining ~ most shops open until 9 or later!
Sales & Specials throughout town


First Friday Firkin
Join us at the Phoenix this Friday as we tap our most exclusive firkin to date, Heavy Seas Plank 1. Unveiled in March at the Extreme Beer Fest in Boston, Plank 1 is an 8% ABV Olde Style English Ale aged on roasted poplar. Heavy Seas Beer (Clipper City Brewing Company - Baltimore, MD) is the first brewery to use this new species of wood for aging beer and has created an entirely new genre for wood-aged beer. This special brew is available in extremely limited quantities and the Phoenix was chosen to showcase one of the few available firkins.

Firkin Thursday

Metropolitan in Federal Hill, starting @ 6 PM:

The cask tonight is Single Hop Centennial Imperial IPA from Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, Maryland.  Single Hop Centennial is a 10% Imperial IPA, but is oh-so-smooth and decepetive as to its devilish alcohol content.  Be careful.

Max's, Fells Point, starting @ 5 PM:

THURSDAY'S CASKS

Wadworth Bishop Tipple

Weyerbacher Blanche

Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout

Wells Bombardier

Stillwater Cellar Door

Special cask Pricing Thursday Only

Maryland Wine Week, June 3-12

Okay, so it isn't beer.  But it IS local, it IS alcoholic, it IS good (or at least can be), and a lot of readers of this blog are also wine enthusiasts as well.  And they shamelessly admit that they stole the idea from were inspired in part by Baltimore Beer Week.  So.....

Welcome to Maryland Wine Week.

Where Have All the Meads and Honey Ales Gone?

Now THIS is an ingredient price spike:

The National Honey Board reports that a pound of honey now costs $5.22, up from $3.78 in 2005.

I remember picking up my first five-gallon, 60-pound bucket of wildflower honey from an apiary in 1994 or so for about $50.  Same thing from the same apiary today: $240.  Heather honey from Scotland, arguably the "champagne" of honeys for fermentation, used to be £5.00 a pound in bulk years ago, and oddly the prices in Europe have held steady by comparison with here.