It’s competition time again. Every year we enter the Great American Beer Festival. It’s the largest beer festival and commercial beer competition in the United States and MAN is it a good time. More about the GABF another time…although you should click through to the link there’s a pretty cool little video there called GABF in a minute. Anyway, there’s another big comp every two years called the World Beer Cup. As the name implies it’s an international competition. I’m always stoked about WBC ’cause we get to go head to head with european brewers and we get to see how the european judges rank our products. This is a pretty big deal to us especially since Bob B. from Delaware county Pennsylvania and Head Brewer of Iron Hill Media actually beat out the largest and oldest producers of true Lambic beer a few years ago at this very event! Nice! It’s not that I’m a super nationalistic guy or anything, I just like it when we measure up…or frankly, plain old beat, the world class producers of our favorite styles in blind professional judging. If you’ve seen the movie Bottle Shock imagine Bob is the blonde kid whose dad’s Chardonnay beat the French, except that Bob is the kid and his dad rolled into one. O.K. so that was a little off of the story. Oh, that’s a photo of the award for our Abbey Dubbel a few years back for WBC. Beat the Trappists! I say “bring it” to the monks.
As usual we have an intense and exhaustive program for deciding which of our beers will be heading to the comp. I think some of the toughest competition for an award is actually on OUR table. Lots of great beers never get entered ’cause we can only enter one per style. We taste each style that we’ve brewed blind in a head to head competition to pick an entrant. This year Russian Imperial Stout was a really stiff category. There were at least 3 different versions and all of them were world class. No suprise, Bob’s Russian won the day. Nice work! That guy is a machine
Our beers are on their way to Chicago and we will be joining them shortly. Good luck to everyone.
It’s time for everyone to be Irish! Come and celebrate the Patron Saint of Ireland with us this Wednesday. We will have a ceremonial tapping of our World Famous Irish Dry Stout. Come in for fresh pints of this Irish wonder…or for a little Irish Red Ale. No green river or green beer here, just the real live authentic Irish experience. Erin go beer!
Had dinner at the Southwark last night. It was my favorite kind of meal. Lots of great localbeer, a bit of wine, bacon as an entree and good company. Southwark has an old school feel to it. In addition to the local beer selection they stock TONS of Gin and Burbon. I’ve got a soft spot for drinks that look like a Manhattan.
The evening started out with a couple of pints at the now completed Yards Brewing Company tasting room. Get on over there to Delaware Ave and see the place if you are anywhere downtown. I’m stoked ’cause Yards is right across the street from Penns Landing which means I’ve got a place to have a real beer before or after riverside shows. Nice. Old School Victory employee Bill Heaton happened to be in town too and it was a pleasure to share a pint with him. He and his wife now own a small brewpub in Western Mass called the Pittsfield Brew Works.
Happy hour finished and we trucked it down the Southwark. A few times a year a large group of local brewers get together for one reason or another. there actually used to be a regular ‘Rubber Boots Society’ meeting at a bar in Fairmont called Bridgid’s. This convo was a little less formal: new Presidend and CEO of Hop Union was in town and had been tasked to buy us dinner. Super nice! There’s always a little business at these gatherings, but mostly we exchanged beers, adolescent jokes, and stories of late nights, early mornings and lately KIDS! Seems like everyone around has progeny anymore. I really thought we were in for a long night of consumption but I had knee surgery last week and I just ran out of steam when my belly filled up. Long story short, it was great to see everyone, and get thyself to the Southwark!
Have I got something cool to tell you about! Check it out, we are going to team up with the Chester County Historical Society to offer a series of beer appreciation classes. I case you have no idea who they are the CCCH is a killer museum right across the street from us. They have a room that is just the right size for this kind of get together. Here’s the skinny:
Join us for a fun and educational series of classes with an emphasis on tasting beer . Each evening will start with reception including light snacks and a beer provided by Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant, followed by a tutored tasting of four beers related to the topic of the day. Your guide through the world of beer is renowned local brewer and beer expert Larry Horwitz. All classes are held at the Chester County Historical Society. Must be 21 with I.D. to participate. Classes are $49.95 each but we encourage you to purchase the entire series in advance for $109.95 for a substantial discount. Classes are as follows:
- The Armchair Beer Tour of Belgium Tuesday April 27, 2010 6:30p.m.-9:00p.m. There are almost as many beer styles as there are breweries in the tiny country of Belgium. Sample beers influenced by monks, wild yeast and ingredients, and centuries of truly individual beer culture. Brewers call Belgium the Disneyland of beer. Come see why!
- Bread in a Glass: World Class Wheat Beers Tuesday July 20, 2010 6:30p.m.-9:00p.m. Come enjoy a sampling of beers that draw unique character from, or whose primary ingredient is wheat. From a beer Napoleon called ‘The Champagne of the north’ to the rich, strong, rummy, Wheat Bock of Munich we will drink our way through excellent examples of Bread In a Glass.
- I can’t believe That’s Beer! Blurring the line between grape and grain. Tuesday September 28, 2010 6:30p.m.-9:00p.m. Wild Fermentations, barrel aging and the use of fruit herbs and spices give many modern artisanal malt beverages complex flavors and aromas that meet or exceed the profile of event he finest wines.
Call or Visit us at Iron Hill Brewery in West Chester to purchase tickets. 610-738-9600
Classes will be Held at:
Chester County Historical Society
225 North High Street
West Chester, PA 19380-2691
610.692.4800 (Voice)
610.692.4357 (Fax
Hey Gang, today is our first mug club party of the year. We are starting around two, so come on by for some Mug Love. Malthra the destroyer is now on tap, we’ll have food, super secret 3 liters, prizes, and general brewery love for all of you. If it’s time for your renewal this is a great chance to get in and get it finished quickly as I’ll have a few folks here set up to get you processed quickly. See you there!
Hey gang, just a friendly reminder that we are hosting a mug club party next Saturday. For lots of you it’s renewal time so this is a great excuse to swing on in and check out the cool beers we’ve got on tap, get the new mug, drink some beer-you-can’t-get beer and maybe win a little raffle action. I’ll be here drinking er, working so come say hi!
You should be too. What a great time. We get together as a group of brewers often… But it’s usually work instead of social. This is much better! Thanks Tom and Peggy for the hospitality. Eat the seed flatbread. If you don’t like it you are wrong, lol!
Just a heads up, we will be featured at event tonight at Earth Bread + Brewery in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. A beer from each restaurant will be on tap. It is unusual for us to do an offsite event at another establishment, but the proprietor, Tom Baker, is a long time brewer friend and he has been asking us to do this for a while. If available, please come out and join us from 6 until 11. Apparently, the keg that kicks first, that brewer will be declared King of the Hill. Website link is http://www.earthbreadbrewery.com/
Oh yeah! We are a go for Saturday irreguardless of the weather. The flags have been hung, the beers are lined up and ready to rock. A couple of things: as of this posting it still hasn’t snowed here, and we’re just going to cross our fingers and see what comes. If you come out, there’ll be plenty of room to enjoy the KILLER LINEUP! One sad note, the Cambridge folk won’t be able to attend, but we’ve got Super Secret Beer keeping the list well over 30 beers. Let it Snow! (Oh, and SEPTA should be running no matter what…so keep that in mind) Cheers.
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