We kicked the first Study in Hops firkin (dry hopped with 100% Cascade hops) last night.  The firkin dry-hopped with Centennial is on the engine now.

I just wrapped up my first month of the Siebel International Brewers Diploma program and am back to work in Maple Shade.  The last two weeks were definitely the most rigorous, covering yeast fermentation, quality control, and product stability.   Since I’ve been back many people seemed to be interested in the beer bars and breweries in Chicago so I figured I’d share a  bit on the blog.

When it came to beer bars I definitely had a few favorites.  Number one beer menu was Hopleaf. They had a great Belgian draft list, I was drinking Poperings Hommelbier and Cantillon Kriek, plus a well thought-out craft beer list that didn’t just have a bunch of outrageously hopped or extremely high alcohol beers.  A very close second was the Maproom, which also had a great Belgian draft and American craft beer list, the only problem is it gets really crowded.  One reason Hopleaf topped my list is that I had the privilege of eating their duck rueben sandwich.  Another favorite was Delilah’s.  It doesn’t have the same incredible beer list, but it is a punk rock bar that has a huge whiskey list and their own house whiskey.  When I went they were hosting a strong ale festival that consisted of English, American, and Belgian beers from different vintages.  The highlight of that festival was the Drie  Fonteinen Oude Gueze from 1985.  This Belgian brewery went out of business a while ago and was later revived again by different owners; however, the original house strain was not revived.  So it was cool not only to drink a beer that was made before I was born, but also with a now extinct yeast strain.

I was impressed with every brewpub I went to in Chicago.  The first I went to was Goose Island, conveniently across the street from school.  Their restaurant and menu is similar to Iron Hill and had a lot of different beers available.  I am a big fan of their Belgian style beers and highly recommend the Pere Jacques and Matilda.  Another favorite is the Bourbon County Stout, weighing in at 13% abv.  This beer usually ended my night of studying for our Friday tests.  Piece brewpub is known for their pizzas and award winning beer, but this is no deep dish Chicago pizza.  It’s quality thin crust pizza with a large variety of toppings.  Revolution Brewing Company opened a week before I began class and every beer on their list was fantastic.  Also their smokehouse burger is topped with pulled pork… genius.

Back in Philly I obviously have many similar options for beer bars and brewpubs, but there are two things that I found in Chicago that I will miss .  One is Binny’s, a chain of liquor stores that had the best selection of beer and most reasonable prices I have ever seen in a retail store. If you go to the one across the street from Siebel you’ll meet Adam who was the most knowledgeable liquor store employee I have ever encountered. The second thing I will miss is Italian beef.  This steak sandwich doesn’t need to be covered in cheese; all it needs is the au jus, giardiniera peppers, fries, and a root beer.  Go to the original Al’s Italian Beef.

Anyway, glad to be back and I will see you around the restaurant.

 - Jeff

This Sunday at 2 pm I’ll be tapping the first firkin in the Study in Hops series.  We’ll be starting with Cascade.    After that, the order will be as follows; Centennial, Chinook, Columbus and Amarillo.  I have no idea when each of these will kick or for how long the study will last.  That’s kind of up to you.  I will however keep the blog updated (up to the minute hopefully) and for those of you that are Twitter savvy, I’ll be sending out tweets every time a firkin switches.  My Twitter i.d. is IronHillNJ.  See you on Sunday for some lunch and a hoppy pint or two!

Cheers,

Chris

On Sunday March 28th  we’ll be tapping the first of 5 firkins of  Yakima Red, each dry-hopped with a different variety of American hops. Each firkin will be immediately followed by the next until we work our way through all five.  It will be a great opportunity to see exactly what each variety tastes like in a beer.

We were casking off our Yakima Red last week and I told Jeff to dry hop the firkins with whatever American variety he wanted.  He almost immediately replied “Can I do them all different?”  Thus was born the first anual Study in Hops.  Yakima Red by the way is nothing more than cask-conditioned, dry-hopped Irish Red.  Any cask beer at Iron Hill has a mother batch that we pull a few firkins from before filtering the rest, carbonating it in the tank and putting it on tap.  Usually though, we dry hop the firkins in a similar manner to what we do to the rest of the mother batch.  The Irish Red, however doesn’t get any dry hops.  It’s a balanced beer but definitely leans toward the malty side.  The Yakima however is all about hops, American hops, and lots of them.  We’re not trying to fool anyone by naming the beer something different, but once you add all of those American hops it becomes a new beer, and one you can not call an Irish Red by any stretch.  Hence the alias.

Back to the Study.  Each firkin got 120 grams of a different variety of American hops; Cascade, Chinook, Centennial, Columbus and Amarillo.  Once I tap the first one I’ll do my best to ensure that the next firkin is always on deck and ready for the current one to kick.  That way when one kicks we’ll switch right over to the next variety.  If you’re lucky enough to be in the restaurant when that happens you may be able to get two different varieties in front of you at once and compare them side-by-side.  If not, you’ll just have to come in the next day and compare from memory.

This idea is not a new one.  It smacks of the now-retired Sly Fox IPA project.  That was something I thorougly enjoyed as a beer drinker and considered a part of my education as a brewer.  I’m excited to do something similar here.  I’ll give you specifics on what time we’ll be tapping that first firkin and on what variety it will be, closer to the 28th.

Cheers,

Chris

ANSWER: envy

Friends don’t let friends drink green beer.  There’s nothing Irish about it.  Save the green for your clothes and put something Irish in your belly.  Guinness is a great beer and it’s the benchmark that we micro brewers shoot for when we formulate our Stout recipes.  But when you’re out, consider drinking one of the great local (O’Reilly’s or Donnybrook) dry stouts out there…  or in here!  They’re going to be much fresher, and they’re local so they haven’t been shipped halfway around the world.  In that sense you’ll still be drinking a green beer!

Happy St. Pat’s!

Chris

I’ve got a St. Patrick’s Day tradition that I started in West Chester.  Every year when I brew my Wee Heavy Scotch Ale, I save one firken of it to put on the beer engine for the following year’s St. Patrick’s Day.  We’ll start pouring the McMaster today at 5 pm. 

Slainte!

Chris

NOTE:  This event will occur in our North Wales location, not Maple Shade. 

This Friday at 5 PM Head Brewer Vince DeRosiers will be tapping at least 9 barrel-aged beers from various Iron Hills.  Most Bourbon, some wine,  most of them are very rarely served, all of them are delicious and none of them will be in Maple Shade.  They’ll all be in North Wales.  I know North Wales is a little bit of a jaunt from south Jersey, but I’m sure the trip will be worth it.  Hope to see you there!  Just don’t come here (Maple Shade that is) cause the beer won’t be here.  Neither will I.  I’ll be in North Wales, with the barrel aged beer…

Cheers,

Chris

Last Saturday Rosemarie Certo of Dock Street brewing company hosted a very special reunion of former employees of the original 18th & Cherry Dock Street Brewery & Restaurant.  The event centered around the homecoming of one of Dock Streets favorite sons Victor Novak.  Victor left his assistant brewer job at Dock Street over a decade ago to be back with his family and loved ones in California.  Although this meant I was one step closer to getting a spot in the brewery, I was sad to see him go.  Fortunately Victor and I have stayed in touch and I see him about once a year at the GABF, Craft Brewer’s Conference or just when he decides to visit us in Philly.  Victor isn’t the only one I’ve stayed in touch with.  Even without the help of Facebook I’ve managed to remain close friends with many of the people I worked with on 18th street.  Some of them I only see once every couple of years.  But despite the time apart it only takes a few minutes and less than half a beer before it feels like we hadn’t been apart for more than a couple of days.  My experience at Dock Street was a special time and place in my life.  It’s where I learned to make beer under my boss and mentor Eric Savage, its where I made a lot of my best friends to this day, and to a large extent its where I developed into the person I am today.  At the reunion one of my good friends and former co-workers mentioned that she still tells  people “Dock Street is where I grew up”.  I have to say my experience was much the same.  Of course I developed during the four years I spent at college just before my Dock Street experience but I can’t say I was the Chris I know today.  College Chris was a good guy, but I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to have a beer with him today.  Dock Street Chris was pretty cool if I say so myself.  Anyone who works in the hospitality industry knows how tight-knit it is .  It’s not only your job but a huge part of your social network if not the majority of it.  Restaurant workers spend alot of time together outside of work.  The time I spent with the people I worked with then taught me a lot about what type of people I wanted to surround myself with and what type of person I wanted to be myself.  I have to thank Rosemarie for giving us all an excuse and opportunity to get back together for a night to look over our old photo albums (remember those?) share some old stories and create some new ones.  I also have to thank Rosemarie for the experience I had in her restaurant more than a decade ago.