Imperial Pumpkin Ale on tap now (9.2% abv). Also nitrogenated Porter.

Can you think of a more appropriate time to release a 9.2% abv pumpkin beer than on Mischief Night?  That’s when we’ll roll out our Imperial Pumpkin Ale.  This is a little like the famed “Ichabod” that Larry likes to make.  Mine isn’t done with a Belgian yeast though and I’ve added a bit of molasses to the brew along with the Belgian candi sugar.  It’s rich, warming and pumpkiny!  It will be on tap tomorrow at 5:00 pm.  Enjoy!  Also look forward to the bourbon barrel aged version of this beer in a couple of months.

Cheers,

Chris

P.S. Speaking of the Great Pumpkin… A couple of years ago Tomme Arthur of Port Brewing / Lost Abbey did a blog post involving trick or treating, beer and the Peanuts.  It cracked me up.

Just wanted to thank Flying Fish for Saturday’s event.  It was a great time and of course the beer was fantastic.  (Exit 4 kicked in 14 minutes!) Thanks also to everyone who came out, both our regular guests, brewers, beer writers and Flying Fish fans.  Lots of fun.

Cheers,

Chris

10/24 1-5 pm. Flying Fish will be here with the very last of the gold medal winning Exit 4 plus other Flying Fish and Iron Hill reserves.

Flying Fish brewery is throwing Iron Hill a “Welcome to New Jersey” party…. right in our own restaurant.  As companies, we both have the same mission, to build craft beer culture in this area. We thought we’d put our heads (and beers) together for a special event to do just that.  Craft brewer’s aren’t competetive with each other the way some errrr bigger more cut-throat beer companies are.  We’ve got four percent of the market . Rather than fight each other over the small percentage left by the mega-swill conglomerates, we prefer to work together to educate the unfortunate 96% about how wonderful beer can be.  So we trade information, lend out equipment, share ingredients in a pinch and do events together.  (Plus Casey’s a friend and we’ll take any excuse to get together and start drinking beers early in the day.) A week from this Saturday (10 / 24) Flying Fish will be welcoming us to the neighborhood by bringing some of their more sought after creations into our restaurant for a special gathering.  We’ll reciprocate by putting some of our reserve stash on tap for the afternoon.  Of course brewers from both breweries will be around to give tours, chat and of course drink beers with you.  The beers will be tapped at 1:00 pm and stay on until (a) 5:00, (b) they run out or (c) Casey says something stupid and falls down.  We’ll be offering a sampler of all six of the guest and reserve beers for $8 for as long as all of the beers are available. Or if you already know your favorite you can just stick with full glasses. See you there!

The Beers…  Flying Fish; Exit 4 (this is the last keg of the recent GABF gold medal winner), Belgian Imperial Mild, Grand Cru.  Iron Hill; Brett Barrel Aged Quadruppel, Totally Inappropriate, vintage Golden Barleywine.

I can’t think of a style of beer that we do at Iron Hill that makes people ask “When is the ….coming out?” more than our Pumpkin Ale.  People love it, and why wouldn’t they?  It’s pumpkin pie in a glass!  I always tell people its how you’d do Thanksgiving with a broken jaw.  (of course you can enjoy this beer without a broken jaw)  A lot of people will tell you that pumpkin ales are all about the spice, and a lot of breweries don’t even use pumpkins in their pumpkin beers.  I’ve heard a lot of people say that the actual pumpkins don’t do anything for the flavor of the beer.  Sometimes I wonder if that’s true, until smell the restaurant when they’re cooking.  I have to get in here super early to roast the pumpkins.  I’ve got to be out of the kitchen and have it cleaned up by the time the chefs get in to start cooking you guys lunch!  Usually I get in here so early the cleaning crew is still wrapping up from the night before.  Last year when I was roasting the pumpkins one of the cleaners came up to me and said “Wow! what are you cooking us?  It smells great!”.  It does smell great and no one can tell me that none of those great roasted flavors and aromas don’t make it into the beer.  So I continue to roast, it’s worth missing out on a couple of hours of sleep.  This year we took 200 pounds of long-necked pumpkins, roasted them until they were golden brown and added them to the mash.  Then we added pumpkin pie spices and whole vanilla beans to the boil.  This year we also made an  9% abv Imperial Pumpkin Ale with a little bit of Molasses and Belgian candi sugar.  (That one will be on tap a couple of weeks after the regular pumkin ale).  I joked about calling this one “Cindarella’s Carriage” but was told no guy would go anywhere near a beer with that name.  Anyhow the Pumpkin Ale will go on tap tonight at 5:30 pm.  I’ll be tapping an actual pumpkin full of the beer for our mug club members to drink out of and Chef Steve will be putting out a spread of pumpkin and fall themed nibbles for mug clubbers.  We did this last year in West Chester and it was a great time.  Everyone attending will be able to participate in the judging of our staff pumpkin carving competition.  The most skilled pumpkin carver will win a sixtel of the pumpkin ale to take home.  I’m always amazed at how talented a lot of our staff is at carving pumpkins!  Anyhow, hope to see you next Wednesday.  Get your pumpkin on!

Cheers,

Chris

Pumpkin ale release Wed 10/14. Come drink from the pumpkin and judge our staff pumpkin carving contest. 5:30 pm.

Caprice is on tap. American-Belgo style. Pilsner malt, Orval yeast, hopped with Cascade and Amarillo 33 IBUs 5.4% abv.

I popped into Monk’s Cafe for a beer a couple of months ago.  (What self-respecting brewer doesn’t?)  A beer I hadn’t heard of before caught my eye.  It was called Estivale, from La Rulles brewery.  The menu had a simple description; 5.2% abv, Pilsner malt, Orval yeast and hopped with Warrior, Amarillo and Cascade.  I fell in love with this beer.  It was dry, refreshing and lively.  The American hops worked really well with the yeast’s esters and phenols.  American-Belgo beers are the new thing these days and I’ve had a lot of them, but I don’t think I’ve ever come across one where the marriage of yeast and hops is as complete as it is in Estivale.  You really do have trouble telling what flavors are coming from which.  Caprice is my tribute to this beer.  Simple description; 5.4% abv,  Pilsner malt, Orval yeast and dry hopped with Cascade and Amarillo hops.  Enjoy.

At 5:30 I’ll be pulling our first ever pint of cask conditioned beer (English Session Ale) then sitting down to drink it! Please join me.