It’s Dubbel Season! Yeah, baby. Yeah! If you haven’t noticed we’ve changed our house beer line-up. We’ve done a bunch of magic, but the single biggest sucess has been the addition of a full time Belgian House beer that changes with the seasons. Everyone is really getting down on Wit Bier right now and starting Friday at 5:00p.m. we will be serving Abbey Dubbel. This is the same Dubbel that we won a Bronze at the World Beer Cup for in 2006. Come on by and grab a goblet full with us. Doug thinks we will be wearing Monk robes. I think he might be right! Free tasters for everyone, Belgian Candi sugar and monkish cheese to snack on.
For those of you who were unaware I was recently married. Hit that link if you need the details. Anyway, we didn’t have friends or family at the actual wedding so we decided to have a reception here in the great state of Pennsylvania! Now, we are both brewers so it seems logical that we’d serve our beer at our wedding, right? I’ve got to tell you that when we would ask about this at what we’ll call the ‘Usual Wedding Outlets’ folks looked at us like we had three heads!!! I even offered to give one location the beer and BUY IT BACK AT FULL PRICE! Anyway, Brian O at the Sly Fox had a flash of genius and suggested we call our other friends Ed and Carol Stoudt of The Black Angus Restaurant and Stoudt’s Brewery. They’ve got a real live Bavarian style beer hall. Thankfully they didn’t hesitate and said they’d be happy to have our group at their place. Problem solved!
Last Saturday September 13, 2008 we threw down old school style and had family, friends, brewer friends, and LOTS of beer. The reception was killer except that my knee gave out right before the whole thing got started. That left me gimping around the dance floor like a Real Live Old Dude. The only thing that saved me was Whit…she basically let me lean on her all night long. She rocks, doesn’t she? All of the usual suspects came out to celebrate bringing gifts of beer, beer related goodies, stuff for the kitchen (like I need another meal), and a few really wacky things. Apparently when I wasn’t looking my wife registered for Grits. She is from Virginia so she’s into those southern things…Tracey and Patrick brought us a beautifully gift wrapped box of them right to the recieving line. I just about fell over laughing. Rick and Nat Hoffman of Stewart’s wrapped their gift in a malt bag (nice work). Bob Barrar brought Brian Finn as his date. They make a cute couple and Bob wore pants. I was touched. Really. We showed the Official Cheesy Wedding video, and by the end there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. My Dad played rock and roll music, and my beautiful wife sang to me. If you’re interested there is a beer menu from the event at the bottom of the page. All and all we had a blast. Third party reviews of the evening can be had at Lew’s site , over at Jack’s Blog, and of course from the Beer Lass. They all recount shenanigans that decorum prohibits me from listing here. The list of people to thank is way too long, but I’d just like to say that we couldn’t have pulled of such a great party without the help of all of our family and friends. Cheers to you all.
Here’s some extra fun stuff: #1 check out the favor we gave everyone! That picture up top is the label on our wedding beer. We call it the “Band Photo”. Notice how we are both looking in opposite directions? Now that’s art, don’t you think? Here’s a photo of me and my lovely bride filling the bottles by hand just 15 short hours before the reception. No ‘gushers’ on our tables for sure.
Here are a couple of late night photos you might be interested in. (Thanks Nat) We did ‘break the (plastic) glass’ in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn…and then my drunkish friends thought it would be a great idea to hoist up my chair while singing ‘Harry and Shela, Harry and Shela…’ They just about dropped me on my head, but in the end it was a sweet gesture and I’m touched.
Thanks again to everyone who came!
Hey gang. FYI Chris LaPerrier is hosting a beer dinner on Saturday September 20th 2008 at 7:00pm at Iron Hill West Chester. Check out the Oktoberfest Bier Dinner Menu. Looks good!!
Last Friday was our GABF Pre-game! I am sooooo stoked about this year. Doug and I have been strategizing for months now. For those of you who aren’t aware we take the Great American Beer Festival very seriously around here. We were Large Brewpub of the year in 2006 and have won awards every year since we started entering in 1996 (Knock on Wood) and we work very hard to stay ahead of that game. Now, there are people out there who don’t like the GABF as an indicator of quality. I agree to a certain extent…the comp tends to favor smaller brewers who make tons of brands. But hey, THAT’s US! Yeah. The winners at GABF are always brewers of high quality beer….at least the beer that’s on the table for the particular judging sessions in Denver. In the interest of full disclosure I routinely judge at the GABF. THAT is an experience, let me tell you. It’s really insightful to pick the minds of other brewers and allied trade members. Style is a moving target, especially here in the U.S. where beer is changing in fast and exciting ways. Michael Jackson was once quoted saying that the U.S. is the best place in the world to drink beer. I’ve got to agree, and the GABF will show you why. I’ll put up a full post about the actual Fest later. Today let’s talk about the PRE-GAME!
Over the years we’ve developed a program for getting the best of IHB’s beers to Denver. We use refrigerated freight, we schedule brews months in advance, we bottle condition some products and not others…and lots of other stuff that would bore you to death. At the end of all the prep we have a blind tasting to pick which beer will go. Just to give you an example, we all brew Ironbound American Pale Ale. We are only allowed to enter this category once so that means we have to taste all seven and pick the best. I hear it said over and over in our group that some of the toughest competition for a GABF medal is on the chopping block of this panel. I think that’s so true. We brew a TON of great beer and this year the Ironbound panel was a great example. The at the top is of this year’s flight and I’ve got to tell you that is was a fight to pick which was the best. What a great problem to have!
We also invited some outside judges to be on our panel this year including Jason Harris from Keystone Homebrew, George Hummel from Home Sweet Homebrew, the Brew Loungeguys, and famed beer writer and blogernaught Lew Bryson. Jack Curtin couldn’t make it…be we did invite him (lest he carp about being left out!). We drank our way through something like 10 flights of 8 or so beers each. It is a chore, but one that’s not too hard to get done. In the end we picked a bang up panel of superb beers for the Fest, and we will eagerly await the professional judges results. Thanks again to the guest judges for their help and good luck to all of you other brewers out there involved in the GABF! Here we go…
Oh, and just for fun, here’s a photo of Vince D. (IHB Media) with his ‘Poker Face’ on….fight the fight, baby!
Last night was the Small Plates beer and food “tasting”. I’m still full!!! So much for small plates. I just about needed a stretcher to get out the door. Well, I’m sure that the next small plate dinner will actually have smaller plates…but no one seemed to complain too much. If you’re interested in the menu look here. It was killer. I think the smaller size is actually better (sorry to those of you who didn’t get tickets, but we will be doing this size dinner again in the near future, so keep your eyes peeled!) The beer and food pairings were great and there were lots of new people in for the event who’d never attended a beer dinner! The usual suspects turned up (Jason Harris from Keystone) and there was even room for Doug ‘my assistant’ Marchakitus and Erin Link. Erin is off to be married this weekend, so If you see her be sure and say hi and good luck. here’s a picture of my favorite plate of the evening…smoked duck paired with our Abbey Double. mmmm…I love duck fat!
Tonight is our annual G.A.B.F. roundtable. We’ll be picking beers to send to Denver for the comp this year. It has been said that some of the best compeition for G.A.B.F. medals is on this panel. I agree and I’m looking forward to seeing what the other IHB brewers are bringing. Story on the whole thing next week.
Don’t forget that tonight is First Friday. Doug-e-fresh just tapped up a 1/6 barrel of Flemish Red ale….It’ll be on sale at 5:00pm. Come early if you want a beer!
