Beer Tourism II

Today was another great day for beer.  The weather has been beautiful and cool; a nice breeze, great food, and delicious beer.  What more could you ask?  While today was good, let's start with last night.

Last night, we went to Monk's Cafe, which has exquisite food in addition to good beer.  The pulled pork sandwich was up to my southern standards, and I had this delectible brew pictured to the right.  It's the Blood Moon from Dogfish Head Brewing.  I had heard about Dogfish Head before heading east, and even tried one of their beers--thanks to John Adams.  Leading with an inciting nutty aroma, this beer draws you in.  The front end taste is woody and smoky followed by a full bodied middle.  The finish is clean and the consistency is full but not thick.  I really enjoyed this beer

 At lunch today, I hit a burger place near the hotel.  It was okay--kinda like five guys, but with a bar.  I ordered an Ommegang Witte and I was not disappointed.  It's a bright wheat beer perfect for midday.  Fresh, crisp, and light it won't way you down for the rest of the day.  However, it was not watery and did possess flavor.  

Tonight, we were walking back to the hotel.  It was so cool and breezy we stopped at an english style pub and sat outside.  As luck would have it, our water was from wales; so his accent really sold the ambiance.  I had the Double Chocolate Stout on Nitro pictured to the right.  Easily the second best beer I have had in Philly (the first was the Blood Moon).  Ironically it is from Wells and Young out of the U.K.  Here I am in the city where we threw off the yoke of English tyranny and the best pint of stout I can find is English.  It's too ironic even for hipsters.  Anyway, this beer is delicious.  It's a lot like guinness but not as heavy and with a dark chocolate finish.  There wasn't a sweetness to it; so it definitely led with a stout flavor.  The chocolate finish rounded off the beer nicely.

I have enjoyed my beer excursions here in Philly, but I have to say the best beers I have had are from out of town.  Philly's got a lot going for it, especially the food here.  But most of the local brews, while okay, I didn't feel were special enough to even picture here.  In other words, you can get a great pint in Philly, but it's likely to be from Delaware.

Beer Tourism Day One

So, I'm in Philadelphia supporting my wife.  She is a Staff Developer for A.V.I.D. and is leading a math strand of their summer institute.  Don't worry if you don't know what A.V.I.D. is or a staff developer or a math strand.  Those things have nothing to do with beer.  The important thing is that we left the kids with grandma in Columbus, OH; so I get to hang around, write music, see friends, and...wait for it...drink BEER.  

I hit up a brewery, a sports bar, and the hotel restaurant today and had four good beers.  Not bad ratio bay any means.

First up was the Barrel-Aged Bier de Garde from Nodding Head Brewing.  Don't let the little glass fool you, this was not a dainty beer. Since it was aged in Burgundy Barrels it had the aroma of wine.  The front end was sweet; the middle was bright and refreshing, and the end just a hint of bitterness to remind you that you're drinking beer.   It's a very good beer.



This is the Monkey Knife Fight also from Nodding Head.  It is a pale lager spiced with ginger and lemongrass.  I haven't had a beer like this before, and I'm not sure I would drink something like it on a regular basis.  However, it was an interesting flavor and on a warm to hot midday in a city I found it refreshing.

At the sport's bar I had the Yard's just off Walnut: a Belgian Brown collaboration between the Fieldhouse Sportsbar and Yard's Brewing.  I failed to take a picture of it, but it was a decent brown.  I plan to tour yard's before the week is out; so more about it later. In the evening, my wife and I hit the hotel restaurant, and I had this beer to the right.  It's a Lancaster Milk Stout.  I liked it, and I do believe my heart will always belong to stouts (or maybe I should say my liver). Anyway, it had a rich middle and very clean end.  The front end was maybe a little watery, which keeps it as just a good solid stout but not great like the Lugene Chocolate Milk Stout which I have written about before.

All in all, a fine day for beer tourism.  Tomorrow, I am headed up to NYC to see a friend.  I hope to find some tasty brews as well.  I'll let you know what I discover.

Dogfish and Dragon's Milk with a side of Jesus

 So, I'm on sabbatical.  I had the intention of blogging more, but I've been writing music instead.  I haven't even made it to my watering hole.  Despite that failure, I have gotten to try some really great beers.  Even better they were gifts from friends.

The first picture is the Palo Santo Marron from Dogfish Head in MD.  It is a delicious brown with complex vanilla and caramel flavors.  It starts with a great aroma and finishes with a clean aftertaste.  The amazing thing about this beer is that it is 12% ABV but full of flavor.  Some high alcohol beers just taste like rubbing alcohol.  Not so with this rich brew.  In fact, I didn't realize it was a high ABV beer until I finished it and read the label.  One of Resurrection House alumni, who just got his first gig after seminary back here in Omaha, brought this to me.  It was a gift from his dad because I had turned him onto Stone Brewing's Russian Imperial Stout.  One of the things I most value about the Beer community is the sharing that goes on.  YUM!

Anyway, this is the Dragon's Milk Ale aged in oak barrels from New Holland Brewing company.  This one is also high in alcohol, but it is very full of flavor.  The primary notes are dark chocolate and coffee.  It's kind of like a beer version of a mocha latte.  My good friend Joel Pakan, one half Tangled Blue brought it to me when they were in town for a gig last week.  We had a cook out and split this amongst ten people or so at the end of the evening.

There is a richness to community, a deepening of connection and compassion.  Somehow raising a glass allows us to tap into this sense of community.  Maybe that's why Jesus started a radical table ministry in his day? Just maybe?

Sabbatical Preparations

I am 8 days away from sabbatical and decided to do a little prep work for it at my watering hole.  I have actually been here several times recently, but I haven't had a chance to blog about it.  One of my intentions on Sabbatical is to write more in this blog; therefore, why not start today?

For no particular reason I decided to have a German beer day.  If you are into flavor, you can't go wrong with German beer, especially if it's made by monks (please note my professional bias in that last statement).

Today I had the Ayinger Maibock and the Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier Dunkel.  Okay so Franziskaner is made by Spaten and not technically monks, but it still holds the tradition.  Also, I'm Irish so I'm not going to let the truth get in the way of a good story.  Both were delicious, however I prefer the Franziskaner.  It is a tad bit darker, creamier, and with more flavor.  The Germans have realized that flavor is more important than just hop level and a high ABV.  So you really can't go wrong with either of these beers.

More importantly, I had a great conversation with my barkeep Alex.  See, he's a Boston Red Sox fan, and I am Yankees fan.  There are two reason why we are able to maintain a really positive bar tender-customer relationship: Boston fans and Yankee fans know they don't exist without each other, and, more to the point, we both love really quality beer.  In an earlier post, I wrote about a good brew's ability to create community.  Therefore, I would like to posit today that if beer can bring a Red Sox fan and a Yankees fan together, does it have the power to bring Michigan and Ohio State fans together.  I believe it does, and that it is a sign of the kingdom of God erupting into and reconciling the world.  You should probably note my professional bias again on that last sentence.

Look forward to more posts on great beers here while I'm on sabbatical.

Green Flash Double Stout

Tonight I has the Green Flash Double Stout and it is perfect for this cold rainy day in Omaha.  The aroma isn't very strong but it starts with a rich dark taste.  The finish is clean with a just light bitterness to it.

I am preaching this week on grief and that in grief God acts, especially the act of the Resurrection.  So a heavy subject needs a heavy beer.

Matt's Burning Rosids and the art of Community

So on March 6th, I had this beer almost pictured here:

It was so delicious I almost forgot to take a picture of it.  I also didn't know what to write about it.  Words just seemed to fail to describe the complexity of this beer.  Every sip was literally a different delicious developed flavor, but everything was in balance as well.  

This beer is the Matt's Burning Rosid's from Stone Brewing.  They brewed it in honor of one of their brewers that died and it was his recipe.  It is a Imperial Cherrywood Smoked Saison--told you it was complex.  Anyway, you should definitely check out the story behind this beer on Stone's website--AFTER you finish reading this post!

Earlier this week it dawned on me what to write about this beer in particular and beer in general.  I was talking with one of my interns, Alyse, who has a passion for coffee.  She is not a mere caffeine addict.  No, she knows techniques and processes to draw out and develop complex flavors in a cup a coffee.  It dawned on me that her feelings about coffee mimic mine about beer.  I have written here before how I would be just fine if beer didn't have alcohol nor calories but could keep the complex flavors.  Also, I have ranted about trends in beer, specifically the Let's-Throw-As-Many-Hops-In-A-Beer-And-Call-It-An-IPA trend where the art is sacrificed for flash.  Furthermore, I believe sharing a pint with friends and family is indeed sacred.  It builds community and bonds of shared experience.  To take those ideas a step further, or rather to explore why beer has this quality let me hypothesize that the care, patience, and skill it takes to brew a quality beer or a kick ass cup of coffee infuse the conversation shared over a glass or a cup.  This infusion deepens the conversation and builds community.  

It's not unlike the communion at church (note the similarity in communion and community), maybe that's why Jesus spawned a radical table ministry.  When we gather around simple things like water, malt, barley, and hops or coffee beans, or bread and wine that have been shown much care and attention, then the bonds between us become more cared for and more intentional.  

In Christianity we speak of God as a Trinity of three in one.  Essentially we say that we know God as a community, not as individuals but in relationship.  Things that bind us in relationship can bind us in God, can cause us to be caught up in the glory and expanse of God.  Therefore in the immortal words of Martin Luther, "I drink this beer to the glory of God."

Go forth my friends and raise a pint (responsibly, of course).

In Preparation for Lent

In honor of my article for the upcoming Lent edition of The Nebraska Episcopalian on the veracity of the so called Beer Fast, I am having a Doppelbock by Hoffbrau.  The article is below:

Ask a Priest

“Is the lenten beer fast real, or just a myth?”

With lent fast approaching (no pun intended) I was once again questioned at my local watering hole if the so called “Beer Fast” was legit. There is a legend that monks in Germany developed Doppelbock (a type of strong beer) to subsist solely upon during the season of Lent.  They would not eat, read chew, any food during lent but would consume, possibly, four doppelbocks a day as their only source of calories and nutrients.  Doppelbock was first brewed by the Paulaner Monks at  Neudeck ob der Au outside Munich, Germany in the 1600s.  They had copious amounts of grain and for seasons of fasting such as lent they would use their grain to brew Doppelbock instead of baking bread.  While Doppelbock is quite stronger than your typical American Lager (i.e. Miller Lite) it is also loaded with nutrients and vitamins.   Consequently, this beer became known as “Liquid Bread”, it is also known as “Fastenbier” or Lent Beer. 

It appears the concept of observing the lenten fast by only drinking beer is a real thing.  How strictly or piously the monks went about their fast, one can only guess.  This concept was tested in 2011 by Iowa journalist and homebrewer J. Wilson.  He drank four doppelbocks a day during the week and five on the weekends.  He reports that after initial bouts with hunger he began to experience a sharp level of clarity and a heightened awareness of the difference between needs and wants.  You can read his article here.

While the lenten beer fast can be a tool for spiritual development, let me offer a word of caution.  Not all fasts are suitable for all people.  Just as an anorexic should not fast from food, and alcoholic should not embark on a beer fast.  There are two keys with fasting, during lent or any other time: discipline and motivation.  It’s the discipline not the chemistry that heightens focus.  While there are a host of nutrients and vitamins in a well brewed Doppelbock, it is not a magical elixir; rather, the intentional practice of self denial leads to less distractions which leads to greater focus.  Motivation matters a great deal as well.  If your motivation is simply to drink beer than that is all you will get out of the experience.  However, if you are seeking to grow closer to God, to become aware of how little you actually need and how much God provides, then subsiding on a just a few beers a day may assist in that effort.  Therefore, no matter which fast you choose this Lent, seek more of God and less of this world.