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‘Pre’ Beer Week Kick Off at National Mechanics Beer Dinner with Flying Dog

Posted on 04 June 2010

I couldn’t think of a better way to ring in Philly Beer Week than to start if off at National Mechanics Bar and Restaurant Flying Dog Gonzo Beer Dinner.  Honestly, this event was crazy from beginning to end.  If you’ve never been to National Mechanics down on 22 S. 3rd St. in Philadelphia, I HIGHLY suggest you check these guys out.  Way way back in 1837 this place was originally a bank called Mechanics National Bank and then, believe it or not, a church and a few night clubs.  The best part is being able to sit down in a church pew, have dinner, and drink a few craft beers.  Also, the line up of draft beers they had was pretty good, nice selection.  And yes, for your friends who do not enjoy the craft beers, National Mechanics does have Miller Lite and others on tap.

Before I even get into the food and beer, I have to mention these two guys at the dinner last night.  One was dressed like Raoul Duke and the other like Dr. Gonzo.  For those fans of Flying Dog, I am sure  you know that understanding between Flying Dog and the artwork on the bottles.  If not, you have some research to do on the Flying Dog’s website.  Anyway, the guys were nuts. From going up on stage with the megaphone showing their one of a kind humor, they played the parts well and I’ve never met anyone that insane.

I am going to do my best to remember the beer and the food pairings since we all had some time to hang out, talk and drink a Firkin of Snake Bite before dinner started.

• The first part of a two course appetizer was Fried Plantain Chips with fresh guacamole, salsa fresca, and Shiitake mushroom tapenade.  It was paired with Flying Dog’s Tire Bite.  It was a killer appetizer, especially the mushrooms, and it paired really well with the Tire Bite.  Flying Dog Tire Bite is one of their lightest beers.  Very light in color and in flavor, but it had tartness towards the end.  This is a beer for one of those super hot days that when you want a beer, this is what you have.  It paired nicely with the Plantains and assortment of salsas.  I could also see this going well with fish and seafood.  HEY, as a matter of fact, guess what the second part of the course was…..Grilled colossal lemon shrimp and spicy tomato basil rice salad topped with micro greens.  This also paired very nicely with the Tire Bite.  Shrimp was cooked perfectly and the rice was awesome.
• The next course was  shredded roasted chicken on grilled naan bread with grated Canadian sharp cheddar.  This was paired with Doggie Style Pale Ale.  This was a very nice pairing.  The cheddar on the Naan Flatbread Sandwich had a nice mouthfeel with the Flying Dog Doggie Style.
• Third course was Filet Mignon skewers in a Thai peanut butter marinade with blue cheese cream and mini Yukon gold potatoes.  I could of sat there all night and ate them.  The flavor of the meat was so good and cooked just right.  This was paired with Raging Bitch Belgian-Style IPA.  Oh what a beer it was, it definitely is a Raging Bitch!  So many different things were going on in this beer I really couldn’t get a grip on it.  A must try for all you Hoppy Beer Lovers.  The beer paired very well with the Thai peanut butter and blue cheese cream, it seemed to tone down the beer just enough so you could pull out the flavor and enjoy it.
• The last course of the night at my table was dessert.  I’m not much of a dessert type of person but this may have changed my mind about that.  The dessert was Flying Dog’s Gonzo Porter Ice Cream and the drinks were the hard to get Flying Dog Coffee Porter and a shot of Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey.  These Stranahan Whiskey barrels are the ones used to age the Raging Bitch.  It was nice to try the whiskey that comes out of the barrels before they are used for aging Raging Bitch.  Everything paired together so well in this course it was an orgasm of flavors in my mouth.  Everyone started to get the awesome idea of taking the ice cream and putting it in the Coffee Porter.  That was a great mistake because it made everything come together even more that the orgasm became an orgy!

Overall the night was a blast, everyone there had a great time.  It was such an intimate setting with all the people from Flying Dog and Two Guys on Beer that you had the chance to walk around during the course of the night and ask questions about anything you wanted.  No one felt rushed and it was very nice casual night.  Again, I would highly recommend this place to anyone out there.  I am going to have to go back and check out the regular menu when Philly Beer Week is all said and done.

National Mechanics
22 South 3rd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 701-4883

Philly Beer Week is coming!!! 1000 EVENTS @ 195 VENUES!!!!

Posted on 31 May 2010

May is coming close to the end and Philly Beer Week is getting closer.  Starting June 4th with Opening Tap Night at the Independence Visitor Center, some starting the night before, Philly is going to have 10 FULL Beer Days.  I can’t even begin list all of the events going on but, I can tell you Russian River will be in town at the Hulmeville Inn June 6th, shhhhhhhh!!!! (they will be else where too, just look around the site and you will find)  Also Firkins, special ales, limited ales, beer dinners, bar crawls, meet the brewer, and so much more to list your liver can’t even handle it.  For A LOT more info please visit the Philly Beer Week website.

Philadelphia will also be holding the International Great Beer Expo during Philly Beer Week.  Beers from Japan, Columbia, Scotland, Jamaica, Peru, Israel, Nicaragua, Spain, and of course Belgium and the United States will all be here.  Over 50 brewers and 100+ Beers will be on hand with a special designated bottle shop area for those rarities.  Tickets are still available for both sessions at the Great Beer Expo website.

Iron Abbey Beer Dinner featuring Unibroue

Posted on 20 May 2010

Last night I had the pleasure in joining Iron Abbey Gastro Pub with Unibroue Brewery for a fantastic beer dinner.  It was a paired 6 course dinner by Executive Chef Jonathan Lee of Iron Abbey and 6 tastings of Unibroue Beer presented by Jay Jones of Unibroue.  Let me tell you, if you haven’t been to one of the 14 Beer Dinners held at the Abbey, it is definitely worth checking out.  The menu presented by the Chef was paired wonderfully with the beers offered for the night.  Who would of ever guessed Chambly Noire- a dark roasted, smokey, chocolaty, spice flavored beer would pair well with a Tuna and Salmon Tartare served with Avocado cream and a Spicy Tomato Coulis???  I can tell you the table I was sitting with was quite surprised about the pairing, as was the whole room it seemed by the chatter you could hear.

Iron Abbey in itself is a pretty amazing place.  They offer 36 Taps of amazing beer, anyone at any given time, beer fan or not, can find something here that they are going to enjoy.  The menu seems to be outstanding as well, I didn’t get to try anything last night since the Beer Dinner was Prix Fixe and in a completely different room that I had no idea even existed.  The place itself was packed, Iron Abbey takes you out of Horsham and makes you feel as though you just traveled over to Europe for a few beers, too bad you have to leave at some point.  Overall, I would go back in a heartbeat if anyone asked to join them for a beer or two or three.

Now, let’s move onto the beer, shall we?  Unibroue is located in Chambly, Canada located about 19 miles east outside of Montreal.  It is the first type of brewery in North America to have bottle-refermented beers.  For 25 years, Unibroue has been harvesting it’s own yeast strands, which you can pick out easily when tasting their beers.  All of Unibroue’s beers have at least two, even up to four yeast strands for every brew.  Fresh yeast and pure sugar is added just before bottling which adds to the cloudy appearance, strong smell and that smooth welcoming mouthfeel.  Before serving your beer till the cork down to about the 5 o’clock position and spin the bottle 4-5 times.  This will loosen the yeast at the bottom of the bottle and evenly spread it throughout every pour.  Enjoy!

Here is the Beer Dinner that I got to enjoy with some little add on’s of my own.

First Course: Marinated Pork Tenderloin, Green Papaya and Oni on Slaw and Calavados Herb Sauce

Paired with Unibroue Ephemere- a White ale made with Granny Smith apple juice (NOT cider), nutmeg and cinnamon

The Pork Tenderloin was cooked well, nice and tender, not too overdone like most people like there pork.  The Green Papaya and Oni slaw was killer, it paired really well with the Ephemere.  The crispness and lightness of the beer paired well the whole dish.

Second Course: Tuna and Salmon Timbale Peppercorn, avocado cream and spicy tomato coulis

Paired with Unibroue Chambly Noire- a dark roasted, smokey, and chocolaty beer.  FYI….this beer is having a name change.  For proper French lingo they are going to be calling it Noire de Chambly.  So stock up on the old bottles before the name change, they may be worth something later on.

This is the course that blew us all away.  Having a dark roasted beer pair with a fresh fish dish.  It really changed my perspective on things.  The dish itself was awesome.  The avocado cream was super light but left a film of flavor on your tongue that the Chambly Noire took care of.  After every bite of food I found myself taking a little taste of beer to clean my palate.  It was a really fun dish to play around with.

Third Course: Seared Halibut, patty pan squash, parsnip and truffle puree, with potato and caviar sauce

Paired with Unibroue La Fin Du Monde- balanced flavor of malt, hops, and spice.  This is one of Unibroue’s number one sellers.

This course had a lot going on in general, then add in the truffles and caviar along and you had a whole bunch of flavors coming together.  Luckily, you were able to taste the La Fin Du Monde through all of this.  This was another one of those pairings that surprised me, everything came together and worked out nicely.

Fourth Course: Filet of Elk Loin, braised leeks, and Asian pear compote

Paired with Unibroue Maudite- big malty beer that has a good spice note counterbalanced with a nice crisp hop finish

This was a winner in my book.  The Elk was done rare, for some it was a little too rare.  It’s one of those meats that if it gets cooked over a certain point, the flavor and texture go downhill pretty quickly.  As for the braised leeks and Asian Pear compote, the flavors of those were spot on.  There was nothing on that dish that I didn’t like, you can even ask the people around me.  As fast as they put that plate in front of me, it had no chance of hanging around.  Oh yea, how could I forget, the beer did pair well with this.  How could malty beer NOT pair well with a game meat and braised leeks.  It’s complex flavors really stood out well with the dish.

Fifth Course: Southern Style Strawberry and Raspberry Short Cake made with Sweet Biscuits

Paired with Unibroue Terrible- a deep, rich well balanced beer with hints of cherry and fig complemented by Madeira Wine notes

Everyone’s favorite, dessert!  I was kinda bumming because I knew it was all going to be coming to a quick end soon.  But, the dessert was pretty tasty.  Nice fluffy Short Cake and the sweet, tart berries made for a great pairing.  Again, another dark beer pairing with fruit, but the fig and cherry flavor played a nice part in this one.  Not too sweet of a beer, more of an alcohol flavor due to the big 10.5%ABV

Sixth Course: Aged ash covered Chevre with house made marmalade and rosemary crostini

Paired with Unibroue Quelque Chose- a beer only made every four years meant to be served WARM.  Complex aromatics and a deep mahogany color.

This one the one I was waiting for the whole night, Unibroue Quelque Chose.  A beer served warm in a cordial glass.  I did not know what to expect from this one and it was something completely different than what I ever had tasted beer wise.  The flavors of this beer were strong with cherries and wine notes.  It was warmed just right and seemed to have a cider/champagne bubbly feel in the mouth.  This cleaned the palate well with the cheese course and the 10.5%ABV was hardly even noticeable.  Go find yourself a few bottles of this one, have one now and save the rest for later.  You WILL NOT see this one around till 2014 and only 6100 cases are out there this time due to Kriek Cherry shortages.  Get it before it’s gone if it isn’t already.  This one can age for sometime.

I want to thank Diana Vilares from Iron Abbey for inviting me to this great dinner and hanging out with me during it.  ALSO, to the table, you guys were awesome, I look forward in joining you for the next beer dinner I attend in the future.

Churchill’s Renaissance Contest

Posted on 01 March 2010

One of San Diego County’s BEST beer bars is having a party this Saturday 3/6 to officially celebrate the relaunch of their new 50 tap system! They are going to have some fantastic beers on tap and cask all day Saturday. Ivan, Churchill’s Publican, also collaborated with Tomme Arthur of Port/Lost Abbey on a new beer specifically for this occasion, “Churchill’s Finest Hour.”

We’ll be there and we hope you will too. As a little added motivation (50 taps wasn’t motivation enough?) we’ll be giving away a very special prize to 1 lucky winner who comes by the pub on Saturday:

- 1 bottle of Churchill’s Finest Hour (limited release, $25 bottle)
and
- 1 commemorative t-shirt

How do you enter to win such an awesome prize?

There’s 2 easy ways to enter. Just take a photo of the festivities and either:

- Tweet the photo and reference @taphunter in the tweet. Make sure you’re also following @taphunter!
or
- Upload the photo to our Facebook fan page. Here’s a direct link to upload the photo: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/photoselect.php?oid=81655936610

That’s it! We’ll announce the winner on Sunday 3/7 on both Facebook and Twitter.

Hidden Craft Beer Gems – Counterpoint

Posted on 14 February 2010

Counterpoint - A place for people

Counterpoint is a place for people. Now that’s no revelation, it’s their tag line and says so right on their menu. But unlike many places that claim their “local” focus, you really understand what this means when you spend just a few minutes at Counterpoint.

Patrons get a personal welcome when they arrive; owner Cam Fomby or one of his great staff is dedicated to giving every visitor an “out from behind the bar” welcome and a personalized recommendation on their drink choices. Not sure what brew you’d like tonight? No problem, they’ll gladly take you through their offerings and recommend something that fits what you’re in the mood for. (more…)