Maple Shade » Uncategorized

Thanks for Coming!

Chris — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:20:52 +0000

Our first year anniversary / mug club renewal party was a huge success. Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate with us. Check out the ice sculpture! That was done by Richard Glodowski, one of our very own chefs. He’s got his own ice sculpting business. Check out the photo gallery on his site, there’s some really impressive work showcased. We always knew he was talented in the kitchen, but wow! Below the ice sculpture pics, I’m also posting some photos of happy guests and staff at the party. Check them out.

Thanks again for coming,

Chris

Founders Kevin and Mark, with Brewers Chris and Jeff. Photo courtesy of Jeff Linkous of Beer Stained Letter.

Mug club members get their shot in front of the sculpture.

Mark and Kevin cutting the cake. I was waiting for them to feed it to each other.

That’s me! Tapping a pin of Bourbon Quadfather

Asst General Manager Pim loves the camera.

MMMMMM Beer!

Cheers!

Chris — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:53:29 +0000

Just wanted to remind everyone that tomorrow is our one year anniversary party! Hard to believe it, time flies.

We’ll have some very special beers on tap from 1-5 pm. Below is a list. Hopefully you’ll be here to celebrate with me and the rest of the crew.

Cheers,

Chris

Dark Situation (Cask Conditioned)
We set a couple of firkins of this aside after The Situation’s release party and this is the last one left. It’s a blend of The Situation (golden barleywine) and Russian Imperial Stout. The result is a complex marriage of rich, sweet specialty malt character and lots of American hop bitterness and aroma to balance it. 9.8% abv

Christmas in July
When the holidays were in full swing we filled a used bourbon barrel with our Winter Warmer (a strong dark ale finished with winter spices). It’s been sitting in there soaking up bourbony deliciousness since then. Jeff is kegging it off as we speak. 7.2% abv

Vintage English Strong Ale
Bold, rich, dark and malty, brewed with molasses and demerara sugar. 7.2% abv

Flemish Red Ale
Deep red to brown in color, this beer starts off malty, with a bit of caramel character and subtle chocolate notes, then finishes with a refreshing tartness. 5.0% abv

LIMITED TAPPING!!! Bourbon Quadfather
This one will be tapped at 3 pm, and probably gone by 3:15.
Our dark Belgian Strong Ale aged in a used bourbon barrel for four months. Strong, complex malt flavors and yeast fruitiness are complimented by distinct bourbon and vanilla notes, served on nitrogen. 10.2% abv

My anniversary present!

Chris — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:36:38 +0000

As I’ve mentioned earlier, you folks have been drinking enough beer here in Maple Shade for me to convince my bosses to give me another tank. We just installed it last week and the next day we brewed up our Anniversary Ale for our one year anniversary party on July 24th. I shot a bunch of video of the install for anyone who’s wondering how we get something that big into the brewery. For most of you these clips will be as boring as watching yeast multiply. But for those of you that have a fetish for heavy equipment and construction, just click on the pictures below. I’m pretty excited to have this fermenter, now I get to make more of those beers that take up a lot of time in the tank. I haven’t been able to do many specialty lagers in the ‘Shade. I just couldn’t tie a tank up for that long. Also, as luck would have it, my only gold medal winning beers are both styles that tie tanks up for as long as 60 days! That’s why you haven’t seen any of The Cannibal or my Saison yet. That, my friends, has been remedied. We brewed The Cannibal a couple of weeks ago, and the Saison last week! Look for those in a month or two.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Cheers,

Chris

Germany 4, England 1

Chris — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:23:38 +0000

I’m not predicting the outcome of Sunday’s match. I’m just looking at our beer list. I just adjusted our beer sign wall and realized that our beer list was looking particularly teutonic. Not planned per se, just had a bunch of serendipitous occurences that lead to us having four German seasonals on tap. Paul, our brewer in Lancaster, sent me an e-mail last month letting me know he had a culture of Düsseldorf yeast if I wanted it. I couldn’t resist the temptation to brew an Altbier. It’s one of my favorite styles and I think it’s hugely under represented in the US. Then I figured since we had the yeast in house I should put it to use in a Kölsch. Of course its summertime, so I’ve got a Hefe on tap. Then there’s that keg of German Pilsner I’d been saving for our beer dinner that’s now free to put on tap. So we’re looking at a lot of German selections. German beer, by the way, is one of the reasons I love being a beer lover in the Philadelphia area. The east coast has always been ahead of the rest of the country in lager brewing. Even brewing hubs such as California and Colorado tend to stick to their IPAs, Porters, Hefes, and more recently Belgians. Philly had Dock Street brewing lagers 24 years ago, when it was nearly unheard of in a brewpub. Stoudt’s made their name with traditional German beers, and we’ve also got breweries such as Troeg’s and Sly Fox turning out some world class German styles. Maybe the fact that America’s first lager was brewed right in Northern Liberties may have something to do with all of that. The Pils may not make it ’till Sunday, but by then we’ll still have 3 German brews on tap. And don’t worry England fans, Pig Iron Porter is on tap year round.

Batch #100 Release tomorrow

Chris — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:21:46 +0000

Join me in a celebration of me brewing and you drinking 100 batches of beer in Maple Shade. Our hundreth batch will hit the taps at 5:30 tomorrow and I’ll be there drinking one. See you here!

Staff Field Trip #2

Chris — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:39:35 +0000

Once a quarter or so Greg (our GM and designated driver) and I take a hand selected group of our staff out for a couple of beers to show our appreciation for what they’ve done for us over the past few months. They’re often winners of performance contests we have in the restaurant, individuals who have gotten great feedback from our guests, or who have otherwise really excelled at their job. Of course these field trips are always to places that have strong beer culture. In addition to being a reward, its also meant to be an educational experience. The first trip we took was to a few of my favorite beer destinations in Philadelphia (Tria, Monk’s and Good Dog). The last one we did was a trip out to Victory Brewing Company. Our staff has all had a tour of our brewery (some of them give tours) and have passed a test on the brewing process. But I thought it would be fun for them to see how a bigger, more production-oriented brewery did things. We had a great tour then sat down in Victory’s restaurant for some German cuisine. On the way back to Maple Shade, we stopped by Varga bar and Swift Half for some quick nightcaps before crossing the bridge. We plan to take our next field trip to Triumph up in Princeton. I’ll put up some pictures of that one in a few months!

Monky Business Recap

Chris — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 22:06:50 +0000

Thanks to all of you that came out for Monky Business, our most recent mug club event. Lots of people showed up to drink our 8 Abbey style beers we had on tap, then stuck around to watch the Flyer’s game. (What a great way to follow up a great beer event.) As a matter of fact the game was going on while I was up on the bar getting ready for the raffle so I was able to let myself believe that people were cheering for me instead of what was going on on the big TV behind me! Of course the raffle was something to cheer about, we sent lots of happy people home with shirts, hats, glassware, and gift cards. The grand prize was a dinner for two to our August beer dinner. In addition to the complimentary dinner the lucky couple won’t have to make reservations. That’s almost a prize in itself as these things usually sell out in just over a day. Another highlight was the Jereboam of Oud Bruin that I brewed over four years ago. There was only enough for a few ounces each but man has it aged nicely. Thanks again for coming out and I look forward to sharing a beer with you at our one year anniversary party. (more on that later!)

Chris

Get into some Monky Business!

Chris — Mon, 17 May 2010 21:16:00 +0000

Not this kind…

This kind!

This Saturday, May 22nd between 1:00 and 5:00 pm we’ll be putting every Abbey style beer we’ve ever served in Maple Shade on tap! That’s 8 styles in all including some rare barrel-aged and Brett variations. If you want to try all of them we’ll be offering a sampler with four ounces each of seven of the styles. One of the styles is a very limited release and will only be available briefly. At 3:00 pm we’ll be tapping a single pin of our Bourbon-aged Quadfather. Below is a complete list with descriptions. See you Saturday!

Chris

Abbey Single

OG: 1.038 Color: 16 IBU: 15 ABV: 3.9%

Monk’s table beer. Light to medium bodied chestnut colored ale balancing specialty malts with the fruity and spicy notes of Westmalle yeast.

Abbey Dubbel

OG: 1.075 Color: 16 IBU: 25 ABV: 7.3%

Brewed in the style of a Belgian Trappist, it has a distinct aroma of plum and pear. The flavor has the sweetness of dark Belgian candi sugar paired with nuances of fruit and spice.

Belgian Tripel

OG: 1.083 Color: 4 IBU: 25 ABV: 9.0%

Traditional high gravity Belgian-style golden ale, complex aroma and flavor of plums, spice and bananas with a refreshing balanced bitterness.

American Tripel

OG: 1.083 Color: 4 IBU: 40 ABV: 9.0%

Belgian yeast marries with American hops for a nose and palate full of fruity characters.

Brett Tripel

OG: 1.083 Color: 4 IBU: 35 ABV: 9.0%

Our Tripel that has undergone a secondary fermentation in wood spiked with Brettanomyces L. The Brett adds sour notes and complex leathery, earthy and barnyard characters.

The Quadfather

OG: 1.099 Color: 18 IBU: 50 ABV: 9.5%

A truly full-bodied beer, Quadrupel is rich, malty and very complex. Deep brown in color, this beer uses Belgian Abbey yeast, dark candi sugar and a huge assortment of specialty malts, providing layers of complex fruity aromas and flavors with a warming alcohol finish.

Bourbon Quad limited (one pin) serving at 3:00 pm

OG: 1.099 Color: 18 IBU: 50 ABV: 10.5%

The Quadfather aged in a used Four Roses Bourbon barrel. The bourbon and oak notes add yet another layer to this already complex elixir.

Brett Quad

OG: 1.099 Color: 18 IBU: 50 ABV: 9.5%

The Quadfather after a secondary fermentation in wood spiked with Brettanomyces L. The Brett adds a hint of sourness and a spicy funkiness.

Iron Hill Turns 100!

Chris — Fri, 14 May 2010 20:10:56 +0000

Iron Hill Turns 100….. (batches of beer out)

This is why I'm a brewer and not a caligrapher

This morning Jeff and I brewed Iron Hill, Maple Shade’s 100th batch of beer. We’re pretty excited, I don’t know if any of our locations have hit batch number 100 in such a short period of time. You guys drink a lot of beer! We thought since we were celebrating our hundreth batch, we’d make a 100-themed beer. So it doesn’t really fit into a style, the recipe all revolved around a number. Here it is;

100# Pilsner Malt

100# 2-Row Harrington

100# Maris Otter

100# Munich Malt

100# Vienna Malt

100# Carahelles

100# Malted Rye

100# Malted Wheat

100# Corn

100% Centennial hops (100 BU’s worth in the boil and 100 ounces for finishing hops)

Boiled at 100 degrees Celcius (actually that’s all of our beers, but hey…)

Should be out in around 3 weeks. I’ll let you know when for sure!

Cheers,

Chris

Maple Shade » Uncategorized

Thanks for Coming!

My anniversary present!

Germany 4, England 1

Batch #100 Release tomorrow

Staff Field Trip #2

Monky Business Recap

Get into some Monky Business!

Iron Hill Turns 100!

More video from the Big Brew Day