Heights Hops

Overrated! or, Beers I wouldn't buy

2009-06-25T20:55:00.003+01:00

How to say "Douchey Beer" in Dutch?

Here at HH, we've devoted an inordinate amount of time to beer that we think you should try. Past favorites at the OS Brewery to see cybertime on HH include the Anderson Valley Summer Solstice; Erdinger's Weizen; Boulevard's Brettanomyces IPA; Founders' Double IPA; and more. Yes, we're lucky in this world: there is no shortage of beer worth drinking. Problem is, too many beers NOT worth drinking have found their way into the collective consciousness. Head to any "hip" club on a Friday night and, chances are, you'll find the clientele swilling Heineken's tasteless lager. Hit the beach with the fam or friends and you'll stumble across countless coolers filled with Corona's trademark watery pale pils. Join co-workers for a happy hour after closing the Big Deal, and Mike from Accounting will, with an entirely unearned air of wisdom, ask his barkeep for a Blue Moon.

Give Corona, BM and Heineken some credit: they've been able to brand themselves in a way few other beers have done. We're to the point where Heineken really is synonymous with the club; where Corona is the beach; where BM is the corporate gathering. It's a damn shame that people with enough disposible income are throwing away their money on beer with roughly the same amount of "taste" as a big-box American-style pilsner, but it's also a testament to the ad campaigns waged on behalf of these beers. The beauty of a Heineken (for Heineken) is that it's practically the same beer as a Budweiser; yet, people at the club will, without batting an eye, spend three extra dollars for it.

But, wise readers may ask, won't people RECOGNIZE that Heineken has about the same effect on the palate as a Miller Lite? And, once this happens, won't they laugh at the notion of paying $8 for a bottle of it at Love or Felix or 18th Street Lounge? Well, this hasn't happened; Heineken is as popular as ever. It astounds me to think that, for the price a bro will pay for a single Heine, he could have an Allagash White AND a Brooklyn Choc Stout at my bar. Yes, part of the (absurd) cost of the Heineken is a reflection of the fact that you're also paying for the "privilege" of being in one of those clubs; it's still, IMHO, a huge rip-off, no matter which way you look at it. (Esp. considering you've already paid a cover AND possibly paid to have them look after your jacket or coat AND probably paid for the drinks of other eligible singles in the hopes of taking them home, so that by the time you get around to buying yourself a Heineken, you're $40 shorter and exponentially more frustrated with that bouncer who kept you in line so the three ladies behind you could get in. These are just a few of the reasons your faithful blogger doesn't go to clubs.)

It's unreasonable to think that someone who goes to Love or Felix or the Lounge would want to order an Allagash White; AW deserves a lovely tulip glass, a warm summer evening, and a relaxing conversation with a friend. Still, there are plenty of beers you could theoretically order for less than a Heineken, all of which are considerably tastier. Here are a few possibilities:

Brooklyn Lager. If you're craving that smooth, lager flavor, why not spring for a BKL? More complex than Heineken, bottles tend to sell for around $4. (Or, if not available, consider a Scrimshaw Pils or a Lagunitas Pils.)

What drinking a BKL says about you: You have at least a passing familiarity with good beer; you're probably an urbanite with a decent job; you appreciate a good lager. All good signals to the opposite sex.

GET SOME!

Bells Oberon. Bells has great name recognition for a microbrewery; Oberon, besides the Two-Hearted Pale, has the best track record of their beers for its distribution size. Lemony and sweet, and about $5 a bottle, it looks great on a patio or poolside.

What drinking an Oberon says about you: You're a summery person; you like the outdoors, or at least the idea of it; and you appreciate a GOOD wheat beer (NOT BLUE MOON). Again, all positive things. See where I'm going with this?

Sierra Nevada Pale. Sierra is pretty played out by this point, but at least it's not a Heineken.

What drinking a SNP says about you: You understand, at a minimum, that there are beers besides Heineken and Bud. This may or may not reflect a curiosity and/or worldliness that people tend to find intriguing and, if you're lucky, arousing.

Guinness. People rag on Guinness for being so popular, but really, it's deserved: Guinness is a dry, smooth, elegant beer with great roasted caramel and coal notes. A great breakfast beer, too. (For you college kids out there.)

What drinking a Guinness says about you: You appreciate a good, long pour, which may or may not reflect a patient character.

New Brew-Ku:

Saw some bro drinking
A Blue Moon. Hope he knows how
Lame he looks right now.

Till tomorrow, y'all.

HH

TRIVIA TONIGHT @ THE REEF

2009-06-24T23:03:00.002+01:00

COME TO TRIVIA TONIGHT AT THE REEF $4 BEERS $100 TO THE WINNING TEAM DO IT NOW.

Digital Frottage

2009-06-23T20:01:00.002+01:00

How can you not love this guy?

HH is pleased to announce new digital frotting with RakeBlog and WogeLife. JakeRake and web auteur Willie bring you their finest, including:

-snarky humor!
-short film presentations!
-DC food reviews!
-baseball-related observations!

...and more!

Faithful fans of HH can find these two scalliwags at Cherry Tree in Park Slope, and at the pirate bar in Silver Spring, respectively.

Coming up this week on HH:

Reviews of the Boulevard Saison; A review of Max's Rare Beer event; A review of Otter Creek's new IPA.

What the OS Brewers are listening to:

-New Mos Def
-New Dirty Projectors
-New Dinosaur Jr.

Namistay,

HH

Max's Taphouse Rare and Obscure Beer Event

2009-06-21T22:51:00.010+01:00

This coming Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, Max's in Baltimore will be pouring a whole slew of strange brews. Here's the current list:

Allagash Black
Allagash Confluence
Allagash Four
Allagash Hugh Malone
Allagash Interlude
Allash Mussette
Allagash Victor
Allagash Victoria
Avery 13
BFM Abbaye De Saint Bon Chien 2008
BFM Abbaye De Saint Bon Chien 2009
BFM La Cuvree
BFM La Mandragore
BFM La Meule (Cask)
BFM La Torpille
Birra Del Borgo Duchessic
Birra Del Borgo My Antonia
Birra Del Borgo 25 dodici
Birra Del Borgo Rubus /Lamboni
Brouwerij Contreras Valeir Extra
Brouwerij Contreras Valeir Blonde
Brouwerij Contreras Valeir Divers
Brouwerij De Dochter Van de Korenaar Embrasse
Brouwerij De Dochter Van de Korenaar Noblesse
Cantillon Gueuze
Cantillon Iris
Cantillon Rose De Grambrinus
Cassissona
Christoffel Nobel
Christoffel Bier
Christoffel Bok
De Proef Les Duex Brasseurs
De Ranke Noir Dottingnies
De Ranke XX Bitter
Ellezelloise Hercule Stout
Ellezelloise Quintine Blonde
Geants Gouyasse
Geants Urchon
Geants Goliath
Geants Saison Voisin
Grado Palto Kukumerla
Hitachino Classic
Hitachino Espresso Stout
Hitachino Ginger
Hitachino Red Rice
Hitachino XH
Hopfenstark Blanche de l'Emitage
Hopfenstark Ostalgia Blonde
Hopfenstark Postcolonial IPA
Hofsteffen Kuebelbier
Hofsteffen Honigs Bock
Huisbrouwerij Sint Canarus Potteloereke
Huisbrouwerij Sint Canarus Triple
JW Lees Harvest Ale 2008
Leifmans Oud Bruin
Nogne O Imperial Stout
Nogne O IPA
Harveistoun Ola Duhba 30 Year (Cask)
Harviestoun Old Duhba 40 Year (Cask)
Mahrs Der Weisse Bock
Piccolo Chiostro
Piccolo Nau Amore
Slaapmustke Triple Night Cap
Slaapmustke Dry Hopped Lager
Stone Russian Imperial Stout 2007
Weissenhoe Bonator
Wintercoat Oatmeal Stout

Should be a good time.

Bolting to NY for Beers/Los Janquis

2009-06-17T14:44:00.004+01:00

Your adventurous blogger has nothing to do for the next four hours, because he's headed to the Big Apple for a Yankees-Nats game (two teams he could care less about, but hey, it's beisbol) and (hopefully) a trip to the BK Brewery. All this before Fri morning, when he hightails it back to D.C. on account of more pressing responsibilities. Should be a nice little 2-day trip.

The original plan was to live-blog the next four hours, not because any of our readership particularly cares to hear my innermost thoughts, but because I need something to do to stave off the boredom. But then I realized having to go back and re-edit each post to gain the live-blog effect would get pretty wearisome after about half an hour. Therefore, I will be writing one single post for the duration of the trip. When I arrive in NY, up goes the post.

And so, without further ado...

9:49. Why do some breweries persist with twist-off tops? I understand why Bud/Miller etc do it, but Mad River? Peak Organic? Stone? Really? C'mon guys. Your beers are better than that. I know the screw-top is more user-friendly and all, but it's almost like a winery using plastic corks. Heck, even the OS Brewers employ regular tops on their bottles. Get with the times, man.

9:53 I can't get in contact with my contact. I lost his number somewhere back in a gchat conversation gone horribly awry. However will I navigate my way through the urban midtown canyons without a sherpa?

9:55 What's the most recent beer I had? Oh yeah. Dogfish 90. Meh. I need to get on my game.

9:59 Contact has been reached. The game is afoot.

10:00 On the BW Pkwy, about 1/3 of the way between DC and Bodymore, Murdaland. I have to say, even though it's about six months too late to be gushing over it, Merriweather Post Pavillion is such a good album, it's not even slightly amusing. And of course, my one chance to see them in concert...and I had to finish a seminar paper. Fml.

10:08 Last night's sleep was far too short. Worked until midnight, closed the place down with Larsonist and Crasher, tidied things up later, and moseyed on home round about three o'clock. Then: print bus tix, pack, shower, and wouldn't ya know it, it's after 4 by the time I hit the sack. Up again at 8:30 to catch the bus. So...4.5 hours of mediocre sleep. Here's hoping Kivett provides a couch to nap for a few hours this aft.

10:11 I've been informed by someone in the know that tonight's pre-game festivities will included dumplings, in honor of Chien-Ming Wang and his new son, JJ. JJ Wang dumplings! And bud light.

10:13 Let's go on a bud light tangent. I can't say I dislike bud light, even though I never drink it. It's one of those things where you're not really opposed to something, but for some inexplicable reason, you won't let yourself do it. I felt much the same way about Chipotle for a long time. I used to sate my Mexican urges with Qdoba, and would go out of my way to patronize that place, even if there was a Chipotle right around the corner. Why? I don't really know. Qdoba has much better queso and taco salads, but other than that, Chipotle is clearly the superior chain. Today, I go to Chipotle all the time. Will the same happen with bud light? Probably not. For one thing, I do drink bud, and bud is so close to bud light in taste, I already know what I'm missing even though I don't miss it at all. For another reason, I only drink bud at parties and sporting events. I so rarely attend either these days that the chance of an aberrational event (like me just spontaneously decided to go for it and move to bud light) is pretty low. So there you have it. Chipotle = delicious. Bud light = ignored.

10:18 There are, by some estimates, over fifteen thousand (!) established commecial microbreweries in the United States. That's gotta be some sort of record. Anyway, it makes me wonder: how many of those breweries are relevant to my life? What breweries are people "cumming" over these days, and which ones are only important to the few thousand people who live in that area? Are there "secret gems" hidden all around the country waiting to be discovered? People from SE Wisconsin to California know all about New Glarus, but nobody east of Chicago can drink it. Three Floyds is the jam in Indiana, but most Ohioans have never heard of it. What breweries are most relevant to you? Which breweries do you think of most when somebody asks you, "Hey beer snob, who makes good beer these days?"

10:25: Bear Republic. Stone. Avery. Oskar Blues. All kind of important, in their own way. All good names to see on a label.

10:26 Brooklyn Brewery. Troegs. Victory. Peak. Same--good beers you'd consider if you saw them on tap or in bottle.

10:27 Mad River.

10:28 Abita? Nah. Abita is pretty overrated. Who likes Turbodog? Not me. How about that purple haze? I'd rather have an Oxford Raspberry, thank you. Still, they're from Louisiana. That's gotta count for something?

"I got purp in the dutch; I got purp in the cup"
-Weezy F

10:29 Rochefort 6, 8, or 10? Everyone raves (and by everyone, I am including myself) about the 10; has anyone bothered to try the 6 or the 8? Prepare to be pleasantly surprised.

10:32 An hour into the trip, and the coffee is kicking in. Finished AnCo and started on Crystal Castles. Wishing I was curled up by the fire with a nice brew. Not really; wishing I was curled up in bed getting my solid 8 hours.

10:33 Shot out to Dreddy for his beer encouragement. If he ever wants to guest-post, we'll be right here.

10:41 Just thinking about the South Park episode "Go God Go" when Cartman freezes himself to get a Nintendo Wii. Played Wii last night after work. Bowling, then Mario III, then more Mario III, then Contra. Pretty much don't think I could survive without a wee bit o' Wii every once in awhile. I'll see if I can ferret one out in NY

10:43 Really dig Crystal Castles, but I guess Alice Glass is supposed to be a huge b***h at her shows? People with more social capital than me have attested to this online, but I have nothing to go on except hearsay. Even if this is true, I can forgive her--the music speaks for itself. Question: How would you pair beer and music? Larsonist might do a guest post on this topic in the near future, but for now, think about it. Would you pair a nice summery wheat with some Steely Dan? Would you mix a robust imperial porter with some Dethklok?

"Just think about it"
-Fred Durst

10:49 First beer I drink tonight: Brooklyn Local 2. I promise. A great beer, even for the hefty price (will probably be over 20$ in NY...what a preposterously expensive city.)

10:51 Wonder what Sampson is doing in Honduras. Climbing over Mayan ruins? Enjoying Asylum II? Scuba diving through the reefs? Probably all of the above. Wonder what Reid-O is doing. Sitting at his desk? Yes. Wonder what the OG is doing. Probably selling beer to people like you.

10:58 Tried to stream some good old Arrested over Hulu, but the bandwith wouldnt widen for me. How dare it!

11:00 Albums I won't be listening to this summer:

1. Green Day's new album
2. Eminem's new album
3. Rob Thomas's new album

11:02 Apparently there's actually a "best of" Vanilla Ice album. Hwhat, besides "Ice, Ice, Baby," could possibly be on it? Ninja Rap? That one awful slow jam that makes Dru Hill sound like The Coup? Anyone? Bueller?

11:06 One time, I went out for beer and ordered a bottle-conditioned dubbel, and the server poured the beer perfectly. I mean, just up until the very last second before the yeast would have spilled out. I drank the beer. Twas delicious. Then, sensing I had finished quaffing my brew, the
server returned...and poured the yeast into my glass. Don't get me wrong: I've had a yeast shot before (at De Koninck's Antwerp brewery, where it's actually CUSTOMARY to down a brettanomyces shot along with their smooth, sessionable brown brew). But if I hadn't had the yeast by that point, what makes you think I'd want it once you'd poured it out into my glass?

11:16 Oh good! We appear to be just minutes away from New Jersey. After we cross the bridge, it's only 90 short minutes until we arrive. Making great time on the roads. No traffic, no construction (fingers crossed.) Only things that would make this trip more pleasant? Arrested Development and 3 hours more sleep last night.

11:27 This is getting boring.

11:44 Stopped at a rest stop in Jersey. Wishing we'd just get into NY already.

12:12 Listening to Patton Oswalt..

12:22 Only an hour to go...

12:43 Olivia Judson is hot.

1:02 Into the homestretch. Exit 11 on the Turnpike is coming into focus.

1:10 We need to conserve cake and paper.

1:11 What kind of 'wich will I get? Pastrami/Rye? Sesame bagel/lox/cream cheese?

1:25: About to enter the Holland tunnel.

Signing off.

-HH

Ogden Street Brewers Gallimaufry/Brew-Kus

2009-06-11T19:03:00.003+01:00

Do you see what I see? Cause this is what I see.

Looking out my front door, beautiful Ogden lies before me. All sorts of characters here, hoo boy! Tall Reggie with the limp; That bald guy and his shifty hands; Old Lady who Always Asks for Change. Yup, the gang's all here. But wouldn't you know it? Things have quieted down around the neighborhood; your intrepid blogger remembers several years ago, when he first moved in...man, was the block hot in those days! The OS Brewers had to batten down the hatches back then. Bottling a cool new brew? Someone better post up at the window (gotta make sure the coast is clear.) Now? Hops and mulberries in the backyard, and a lot more peace and quiet out front. They say CoHi is changing. They're right. Soon, when the OS Community Brewpub opens for business, the Brewers will look back on those days and shake their heads. Think how bad it once was, We'll say. Think how far CoHi has come.

What we're working on:

1. Belgian-style Grand Cru. Needs to be bottled. We started this sucker with a dream, a promise, and the skeleton of a recipe from Papazian's HB v. III. Along the way, things got a little out of hand. OS Brewer Reid-O brought his coffee grinder down for kicks, and we had ourselves a little coriander party. Reid-O's grandfather donated a jug of organic honey (this s**t was the bees knees, son!) and we added an ounce at the beginning of the boiling for dryness, and again after the hopping for some sweetness. Yes, honey can be used for either purpose. You read that right. Also: some serious hopping went down. Fuggles, Challenger and Golden all entered the fray, in that order. This sweet-citrus-floral blonde brew is ready for bottles. First tasting when Sampson returns from his archaeological ambulating in Honduras.

WRONG CRU, Y'ALLS

2. Mulberry Ale. Needs to be brewed. We have about a pound of fresh organic mulberries from our backyard waiting to be pressed and added to the kettle. One potential snag brewers Sampson and Reid-O and advisor/guru/mentor Peter have touched on: at what point in the process do we add the fresh mulb juice? Could be added as early as with the malt; could be added along with the yeast...and anywhere in between. Reid-O and your humble brew-blogger seem to be of like mind: that our berries should be added right after the hops, as the wort cools and awaits its yeasty transformation (sounds kinda nasty, doesn't it?) If any wise fellow brewers out there have an opinion, we'd love to hear it.

3. Hops. Damn, these little guys are growing! We'll have full pics for you in the next couple of days, but suffice it say, they've come a looooooooong way since we planted them all of 10 weeks ago. From one little rhizome grow emperors and kings. Will they flower? Will they cone? A learned former brewmaster from Flying Dog enlightened us: The plants, he explained, produce a thin wax each night. As the wax burns off in the daytime heat, the plants know to grow up and out. And when the days begin to shorten and the wax no longer burns off, the plant takes this as a signal to grow buds. However, he cautioned, not every first-year hop plant produces cones. (Hops grow to maturity in 3 years; the first year, one can expect a 50% yield, if anything at all. The second year, this jumps to 75%. In the third year, a hop will produce, all else equal, as many cones as it ever will.) The consortium of OS Brewmeisters believes their hops will offer fragrant Cascade cones come September. (Insert generic "Audacity of our Hops" joke here).

4. Twitter. Follow us on Twitter. HeightsHops is what we're called, and there's a link in the sidebar. We'll be twittering all day and all night, bringing you up-to-the-minute info on DC brew news. Or, I guess you could just wait another 3 weeks for Greg Kitsock to put out yet another self-indulgent issue of Mid-Atlantic Brewing News. I mean, it's up to you. Heights Hops: Tweeting you into the Great Beery Beyond.

5. PA Brew-venture. A few OS Brewers are tentatively planning a pilgrammage to DE/PA. Among the holy sites on the itinerary: Dogfish Head; Troegs, Victory; Flying Fish; and Legacy. Interested? Done something similar and have some advice? Don't be afraid to twitter or comment on the blog. We want your help.

6. Finally, the OS Brewers want to advertise on your behalf. If you need a shot out on the blog for something local you've done, or want to do; or if you work for a bar or restaurant that needs to be heard; let us know. If the product is good, we'll rep you enthusiastically.

Another Brew-Ku

Going to a Nats
Game today; going to need
A stiff drink after.

What the OS Brewers are up to:
The OG is getting all marital and s**t
Reid-O is getting all operatic and s**t
Sampson is getting all anthropological and s**t
Bob is getting all national pastime and s**t

Till Friday, suckas.

HH

Barleywines: The Spiny Echidna of the Beer World

2009-06-10T17:53:00.011+01:00

Credit: Natalie Angiers, NYTimes

This spiny fella is an echidna, a reclusive animal that calls Papua New Guinea home. Here are some things you may not know about echidnas (I read this on the internet--DON'T dispute me):

1. Echidnas are monotremes--they poop, copulate, and birth with a single, all-purpose hole. Only three mammalian monotremes remain: both the long-snout (seen above) and short-snout echidna, and everyone's favorite evolutionary clusterf**k, the duck-billed platypus.

2. Echidnas are among the most reclusive animals on earth. They emerge only at night, and are too intelligent to fall for primitive human traps.

3. Echidnas are highly fecund: one echidna mentioned in the NYTimes article was giving birth at age forty-five. In human years, that's over one hundred and twenty years old!*

Many more echidna facts are out there, waiting to be discovered by you. Your blogger suggests hitting up the local libes**, or perhaps you'll want to stay at home and check out the wiki. In any case, it is comforting to be reminded that there are indeed things out there much uglier than me.

*I made this up
**This is what obnoxious girls in college used to call the library. Sometimes I, too, would call it the "libes," but as sardonically as possible.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF ECHIDNA; THE LONG SNOUT REMAINETH

But back to beer. There is a perfectly good reason for our venture into echidna country today: the reclusive, misunderstood barleywine is the beer world's echidna. (I think this is basically the title of the post but I wanted to reiterate.) Granted, barleywine=echidna is an odd analogy. Hopefully by the end of this post, you will agree. Or, at the least, you'll have been entertained. And if you're at the office today, bored out of your skull, that's something you can be thankful for.

Let's do an FAQ for Barleywines!

Q: WHAT IS A BARLEYWINE?
A: a barleywine is a style of beer originating near the end of the 19th century in Britain, and now more popular in the United States. In the U.S., the appellation is sometimes used interchangeably with imperial ambers, Old Ales, and Strong Ales, although there are small differences between the styles. (e.g. Bell's Third Coast is technically an Old Ale, but often marketed as a barleywine.) Barleywines are broadly characterized by [beer geek alert] an original gravity of at least 1.090, an abv of at least 8%, coloring units above 20 and, in the American style, a relatively high IBU count. In layman's, a barleywine is a relatively high-alcohol beer with noticeable hop and a color anywhere between ocher and black.

Q: IS A BARLEYWINE A WINE?
A: No. Barleywines are not wines. They are brewed with malted barley, just like any other beer. Barleywines probably got their name because their abv (alcohol by volume) is as high as that of your ordinary table wine.

Q: WHO INVENTED THE BARLEYWINE?
A: Nobody really "knows" who invented the style; like most beer styles, it probably evolved over time, in more than one place, until a brewer with enough clout finally decided to brew one and officially labeled it. Bass Brewing was the first high-profile brewery to sell a barleywine. They coined the term in 1900 with their "No. 1 Barley Wine." Most likely, they added extra malt and yeast to some existing variation of an amber ale, copper ale, brown ale or porter to achieve "barleywine" status.

Q: IS THE BARLEYWINE THE STRONGEST STYLE OF BEER?
A: By abv, no. Some Belgian and American-style quadruples, imperials, and strong ales have broken the 20% mark. To the palate, the barleywine tends to be assertive, even aggressive, with serious fruit and maltiness and, in the American version, some decent hop.

Q: WHAT ARE SOME BARLEYWINES OF NOTE?
A: In Britain, the Harvey&Son "Elizabethan" barleywine has come highly recommended by a number of OS groupies/brewers. For those willing to splurge a little, sample the Thos. Hardy barleywine, aged at least 20 years in bottle (British barleywines, with their low alpha content and high abv, are perfect for aging.) If it's a big, hoppy domestic barleywine you want, check out the Bell's beer mentioned above; the Rogue Old Crustacean; the Lagunities Gnarlywine; the Green Flash Barleywine; the Harpoon Barleywine; the Sierra Bigfoot (IMO the best American example of the style); or the Dogfish Olde School. Anchor, out of San Fran, makes the original "American-style" barleywine, the Old Foghorn; in your humble blogger's opinion, it may have been the first to the market, but isn't anything special.

Q: I LIVE IN DC. WHERE CAN I FIND A BARLEYWINE?
A: If you're out on the town, Paradiso in Georgetown has a great selection of barleywines. Shopping? Check out Rodmans on Wisc. Ave in Tenleytown, or Chevy Chase Liquors on Conn. Ave. just south of CC Circle. Willing to go a little farther afield? Well's in Baltimore has a great selection.

Q: WHEN SHOULD I DRINK A BARLEYWINE?
A: Barleywines tend to be very sweet, boozy, fruity, malty, and occasionally hoppy creatures; because of this, they do not easily pair with food. Try drinking a barleywine as an apertif, or as a bedtime beer, curled up in bed with a good book. Seasonally speaking, the high abv and malty tones make the barleywine a great cold-weather brew. (Some American barleywines, with their high hop resin content, can work in summer.)

Q: SO WHY, AGAIN, IS AN ECHIDNA LIKE A BARLEYWINE?
A: Barleywines are misunderstood, hard to find. They are a combination of so many competing influences; a barleywine can be mild or hoppy, light or thick, as bright as a big pale or as dark as a stout. Barleywines and echidnas are solitary things, rarely paired--an echidna craves privacy, and a barleywine should be enjoyed on its own, like a brandy. People know the word "echidna," but have no mental picture of what one really looks like; the same goes for a barleywine. (After this post, you should have an idea of what both look like.)

Hopefully I've managed to dispel all those pernicious rumors circulating about ye olde barleywine. You know--those rumors.

HH: Dropping b-wine knowledge all day, son.

Local Brew News
-The Reef (18th & Columbia NW) is starting Wednesday Trivia on the 24th. First prize? $100(!) in free drinks. Runners-up get $50. Plus drink specials, free shirts and glassware, etc. for certain lucky participants. Stop by and play trivia while enjoying a delicious beer on tap.

-Red Derby (14th & Spring NW) to open their rooftop bar later this summer. (Not new news, maybe, but you should get yourself on up there ASAP anyway. Great all-can selection, plus Patrick and Vicki are great bartenders.)

-New place opening at 14th and Newton NW next to the Allegro will apparently be some crazy high-concept restaurant where your waiters are "guides" who sherpa you (yes, Adi, I verbed 'sherpa,') between eating stations. Weird. But the OS Brewers, who live only feet away, will be sure to check it out.

-I think I speak for all of us salivating over the opening of ChurchKey (soon to be @14th & RI Ave, NW): JUST HAPPEN, ALREADY.

"Don't mind me/I wrote this rhyme lightly/Off 'a two or three Heinies/And boy, was they fine, G"
-Doom (an Olde School rhyme for an Olde School beer.)

-HH

Doing the Stemware Shuffle/Beer Haikus

2009-06-09T20:36:00.009+01:00

Gorgeous. Just gorgeous.

And she's not bad-looking, either. Today's topic of discussion isn't the Westvleteren 12 this woman is about to enjoy the s**t out of (we'll save that topic of conversation for the next time Sampson breaks one out); it's the glassware she's using. Or, more generally: why do different beers come in different glasses?

When I serve someone a scrumptious Belgian beer in the traditional Belgian tulip glass, I often get one of two reactions:

a. Ooohs and ahhhs

or

b. Something to the effect of, "Why do I need this thing? Can't I just drink from the bottle like normal?"

Before we're forced to confront the preponderance of tangential questions here (questions such as, 'Why is beer bottled, anyway? Can't we all just use cans?' and, 'Should people ever drink beer straight from the bottle?'), take a moment to consider the following: Nobody bats an eye if a red wine is served in a more rotund glass than a white wine, everybody knows that you wouldn't serve a scotch in a snifter, and if you ordered a nice blended whiskey on the rocks, of course it would come in a rocks glass. In short: to most drinkers, specialized glassware across the spectrum of spirits seems as natural as the grain itself. So why do people respond to the sight of a curvaceous tulip or a graceful hefe glass with bemused curiosity or mild skepticism?

IMHO, there is a subtle but unmistakable stigma attached to beer that survives even today. Namely: beer is inelegant. Wine, brandy, blended spirits; these drinks, which involve the fermenting of relatively more delicate inputs, and which can require years to develop fully in the barrel, have historically been the drinks of the upper class. Beer, which could be cheaply produced from hearty grain in a matter of days, was associated with the poorer masses. (There are, of course, exceptions. For instance, in countries along the European Wine Belt, where moderate climes allowed the grape vine to flourish, everyone from king to peon could appreciate a bottle of vino. And Bourbon, current cynosure of the whiskey world, is indelibly linked to the rural Appalachian farmers who first perfected the unique corn-rye mash.)

The proliferation of American microbreweries in the last twenty-five years and the increasing amount of shelf space devoted to Belgian craft brews have undermined this stigma to a certain degree, and many spirit enthusiasts have finally begun to give beer its due. But glassware is one area in which the bias survives: beer, it seems many Americans still believe, is meant to be quaffed from the bottle. This is too bad. Consuming wine or whiskey straight from the bottle is more than simply gauche; it is undeniably evocative of the drunk, or wino, who pollutes public spaces. Your faithful blogger does not wish to imply that drinking beer from the bottle equates to alcoholism; in fact, if anything, the opposite is true. In America, beer is the one spirit today in which the implicit association between stemware and measured drinking is absent. Instead, casually swigging your brew from the bottle invites connotations of "Joe-sixpack"-ness, that regular, everyman kind of putative authenticity that one expects to find in a room full of la-z-boys and a flat screen with the game on. Far from drunks in a public square, American men and women who drink from the bottle are seen as straight shooters and hard workers who just want to pull up at the bar and have a few after a long day.

There are all sorts of historical. socioeconomic, and cultural considerations at stake here--considerations I would love to tackle, but not today in this post. I heartily encourage anyone with even a passing interest in this subject matter to pick up World Guide to Beer by the late, great Beer Hunter, Michael Jackson. For now, your humble blogger offers his readers a short tutorial on the mysterious world of beer glassware.

Pilsner Glass

A pilsner glass is what it sounds like: a glass meant to house a pilsner. Pilsners are lagers, and to a degree, the pilsner-style glass--slender, short, with barely curved or completely straight sides, and with either a thick glass base or a punctuated stem--can be used with most any lighter lager, and with some darker lagers as well. Pilsners succeed when served cold; the purpose is to gently refresh the palate, rather than to challenge it. As such, the Czechs and Germans who brewed the first pilsners did not require a glass built to enhance its aromatic or aesthetic potential: a simple, unassuming, utilitarian vessel did the trick nicely. The pilsner glass is, along with the pint glass, the most common form of beer glassware you'll find.

Pint Glass
The pint is the most common American beer glass. I stress American, of course, because not every beer culture relies so heavily upon the pint: in Belgium, for instance, it's as hard to find a pint at the neighborhood pub as it is to find a tulip glass at an American dive. The pint's legacy comes from Britain, where that country's classically smooth, mild, flat, low-alcohol styles of beer settle leisurely into the wide, accommodating glass. Unlike pilsners, British beers, which are fermented at room temperature, don't need to be consumed just above the freezing point; the original stouts, porters, ambers, bitters and pales simply needed a spacious place to laze, and where better than in a pint? After conquering the U.K., the quintessentially British glass made its way Stateside, where it was enthusiastically adopted by the colonists. The rest, as they say, is history.

Today, the old British styles live on through their more progressive and inventive American incarnations. The old IPA has been modernized, updated with more hop and carbonation and experimented on by breweries from Maine to Oregon and everywhere between. But the pint, relic from the old country, is still the preferred vessel. Use a pint with a British, Irish, or American-style ale of any color and body, and with lighter Scottish-style ales.

Wheat Glass

As was discussed in the most recent post, there a few different basic kinds of wheat beers. All weissbiers and hefeweizens, however, come in roughly the same kind of tall glass, thinly bowed near the bottom and voluminous at the rim. More so with wheat beers than any other, the foamy head is of paramount importance: a wide top allows the brew, cloudy with coriander and wheat sediment, to effervesce. In philosophical opposition to the layered British ale and its unobtrusive glassware, a bright, vibrant Germanic wheat beer is entitled to percolation. The uneven shape and rounded head offer the perfect opportunity. Moreover, the sedimentation (spent wheat from the brewing process) and its beguiling aroma act as the cherry atop this summery sundae, foaming up and over the rim in a joyous act of liberation. Wheat glasses allow their contents to breathe and mix; like the summer, it is a beer naturally in flux, wishing to be out and about, and to enjoy the weather. Appreciate this fact as you savor your next weissbier or hefeweizen.

Use the wheat glass with any hefeweizen or weissbier. You can even use one with a Belgian wit, but a tulip glass is equally apposite. Make sure to pour the beer in a way that disinters the sediment: hold the glass over the bottle, then flip, so that the lip of the bottle rests downward against the floor of the glass. Slowly remove the bottle, swirling against the sides of the glass as you bring it up. You'll end up with an exuberant head, crowned by an appealingly fresh froth of golden wheat.

Belgian/Tulip Glass

For many people I know, the most striking kind of beer glass is the tulip, or Belgian, style. Over the centuries, Belgian brewers evolved their strains of yeast to produce aromatically complex beers; the tulip glass's narrow top contains the bouquet, allowing it to emerge gradually as the glass is emptied. As the Germans fashioned their wheat glass with the purpose of inviting exposure, the Belgians seemed to understand that their beers were delicate mosaics. Their glasses function as puzzle boxes; beneath a frothy lid lies an enticing jumble of gustatory and olfactory suggestions. Meanwhile, the bulbous midsection traps the beer, offering the taster a hint of things to come.

[Chalices, like the one in the picture at the beginning of this post, are also common in Belgium, as they serve most of the same functions as a tulip. All Trappistes serve their beers in a tulip (Westmalle), chalice (Rochefort, Chimay, Achel, Westvleteren), or--in the case of Koeningshoeven and Orval--a sort of chalice-tulip hybrid, where the glass is slighly concave below the rim.]

Most any Belgian ale, from the airy blonde to the daunting quad, can and should be served in a tulip glass. There are several other non-Belgian styles which may be presented in a tulip. Heavily perfumed Scottish ales, high in residual sugars and complicated malts, practically beg for a tulip (or, in a pinch, a wine glass); as do barleywines (which are grossly misunderstand and will get a whole post to themselves sometime soon) and dark, sweet bocks.

Beer Haikus

Ogden Street Brewery invites you to put the left side of your brain to use. Give us a snappy brew-ku and we'll publish it. Who knows...your original work might even end up on the label of an OS brew...

"Hop to it"
By BB

Oh hey. I see y'all
Sproutin' y'alls leafy little shoots.
Mind if I touch one?

Tomorrow: a beer gets a review. And some other stuff happens. Don't miss it.

Stay safe, y'alls.

-HH

Early Morning Hungover Shlemiel/Review: Erdinger Weissbier

2009-06-08T12:20:00.003+01:00

Pretty much like this, except my thong is black

Welp, last night involved another delicious/productive trip to Rustico (all thanks to J/P for their company and the whole footing the tab thing), followed by a stop at The Guards, where we managed to make contact with the elusive M. and her stylish coif, currently tending the down bar. Not regretting the decision to pay her a visit or anything, but Georgetown always gives me the creeps--it was this OS Brewer's first trip there in almost two years. (Then again, Sunday evening is probably the best time for the Georgetown-averse among us to visit the neighborhood.)

The Guards is one of those old-school watering holes where it feels like everyone at the bar should be old and gin-blossomed and practically brimming with acerbic wisdom, and true to form, we were the youngest customers by a good twenty years. The bar was beautiful, but in that stern, puritan way, where everything was weathered wood with about twenty coats of dark lacquer and it reminded me of the hull of a ship. (For a second, I pretended we were in the Pequod, but then I remembered this was Georgetown, and wherever would we find a Queequeg?) Back in reality, your adventurous blogger and his cohorts--another OS Brewer and his sister--sprang for a couple of neat Jamesons with a Bud back and a top-shelf glass of dark tequila and shot the s**t with M. It was the first bottle of Anheuser-Busch beer I'd had in months, and it tasted like rice water.

It was fully dark out when we left, and in retrospect, probably time for us to head home. Instead? A trip to The Reef for supplemental libations, including the estimable Erdingerweiss, to be reviewed later in this post.

There are not enough good things that can be said about The Reef on a Sunday night. Sunday may be my favorite bar night to begin with, because the noisome weekend crowds have evaporated, and because it generally marks the end of my own work week, a welcome moment of calm before academic/professional responsibilities return to roil the waters. All this aside, The Reef on a Sunday night offers three additional delights:

1. Zach

2. Fish Tacos (which can be consumed on any night, but taste a little sweeter on Sunday)

3. Guest appearances by The Mad Rapper, The Russian, DJ Larsonist, Poquito Foot, P. T. Shoes, Smasher Crapadopolous, Nic Jones (who?), and more.

LOS MARISCOS DE LOS DIOSES

Enough superb Rustico 'za (this time with duck confit, cracklins, vinaigrette and sweet onion) prevented a trip down Fish Taco Lane, but rest assured your faithful blogger will visit that location later this week. Zach was clean-shaven and convivial, and the rest of the crew were in/drinking good spirits. As usual, I was feeling a little hungry-like-the-wolf, and some butts were playfully smacked. Top Chef was on the television, though Zach and I agreed the evening would have been better with some Zep.

The problem with nights like last night is that it's very difficult to draw the line between "enough" and "one too many." Zach is remarkably good at prodding his guests into having "just one more," and with that in mind, this author definitely crossed the line. Being totally soused is something I no longer enjoy, and I try to drink very responsibly, but every once in awhile...well, you get the idea. I'm not talking lampshade on my head or clothes strewn about the house, or that night in college when I woke up with half a puddle of processed Popov vodka soaked into my bedsheet and french fries ground into the carpet, but I've got a pretty wicked headache right now, and it's not going away any time soon.

The lessons:

a. Enjoy your brew.

b. Know when to stop.

c. Moralizing bloggers are sweet.

What the OS Brewers are listening to:
Q-Tip--The Renaissance
Fever Ray--Fever Ray
Japandroids--Japandroids

Review: Erdinger Weissbier

Froth and mountains inclus
Ah, summer. The wonderful thing about beer is that there is a style for all seasons: Fall gets a crisp, smoky rauchbier or a dark, nutty porter; Winter calls for the comfort of a big stout; Spring awakens us with the revitalizing aroma of a saison; and summer...well, summer is the season of the wheat beer.

There are three general groups into which a wheat beer may fall:

1. Witbier--generally filtered

2. Weissbier--filtered or partially-filtered

3. Hefeweizen--unfiltered

There are German witbiers, but Belgium does the style best: for a delicious, summery jump into the witbier universe, pick up an Avery White Rascal, a North Coast Pranqster, or a Corsendonk Blonde.

Hefeweizens are produced all over the States, with Brooklyn Brewery, Harpoon, and Leinenkugel all offering admirable examples, but German breweries still own the genre--Schneider, Paulaner, and Pinkus are easy to find and perfect for an evening al fresco. Readers should note that the wheat sediment can easily cloud the beer (and the drinker's stomach), leading to a bloat-y feeling after just a few brews. (Your correspondent remembers a day in Munich's Englischergarten when, after just two Hefes and a plump Bratwurst dressed in kraut, it felt as though his pantseams would cleave in twain.)

This brings us to weissbiers. While this blogger generally prefers the delicate citrus of a wit, Erdinger's entry had him doing a double-take. (For the record, Beer Advocate kinda stomped on this brew. Just goes to show ya...don't trust the old guys.)

The nose is full of banana, followed by some light citrus and wheat (duh). Probably the most enjoyable stage of the experience (not necessarily a bad thing.)

The beer has a strong mouthfeel despite its light, golden body. Again, banana leads the way. There was a brief but tantalizing moment when this reviewer swore he detected some clove as well. Some lemon. Again. lots of wheat with some faint hints of honey. One drawback: the beer was overcarbonated, leading to displeasing pricks of CO2 bubbles on the tongue. Hopefully future kegs/batches avoid this problem. Finishes strong, with more lasting banana and wheat.

It's been argued, not without merit, that it's harder to fashion a complex weissbier than, for instance, a dubbel or a pale. That being said, the Erdinger, with a few stumbles, provided a pleasantly diverse assortment of flavors. I wouldn't cross oceans or cities for this beer, but if your local pub has it on tap, I recommend you set aside a sunny afternoon to enjoy one.

Final review: ***1/2

Tomorrow: super sexy glassware and another summer beer review!

--HH

No More .Blogspot, Hooray!

2009-06-04T20:32:00.001+01:00

For your convenience, Heights Hops can now be found at www.HeightsHops.com. Should save you a second or two as you navigate to your source for everything beer.

Beer Snob Rant / Boulevard Brewing

2009-06-04T20:11:00.007+01:00

I’m not exactly sure the moment I became a beer snob, or what that really means, but the signs are pervasive and I have difficulty hiding it. I have no problem telling the smug, self-righteous med student that Sam Adams is, in fact, one of the most overrated beverage producers on this planet, and that Blue Moon is possibly the worst wheat beer I have ever allowed to contribute, ever so little, to my eventual drunkenness. Don’t get me wrong, I got no problem with killing a 12-pack of Natty Boh or throwing in $2 for anything in a can at the Red Derby, I just hate the schmuck who is outraged that the bar only carries the king of beers and he can’t ride his goddamn silver-bullet-sh*t-train

To be fair, I spent the first seven years of my drinking career consuming the same crappy light American lager that they label 500 different ways; all pretty much tasteless, but easy as hell to drink and cheap. Wheat beers were my first excursion, also subtle in flavor, easy to drink, but just a bit tastier. Being in the Midwest at the time, that beer of course was Boulevard Wheat (on their web they claim it to be “the best-selling craft beer in the Midwest.” Perhaps they are defining the Midwest as Kansas and Missouri, but maybe not). It pales in comparison to its east-coast equivalent, Allagash White, a far more complex and spicy beer, but it is nonetheless worth trying.

On my final visit to St. Louis, hopefully ever, I stumbled upon an entire new line of beers from Boulevard called the “Smokestack Series.” I didn’t think much of it, as I was more impressed with the store’s Belgian collection, until I noticed a Smokestack Series Saison-Brett. I fell in love with Brettanomyces yeast while drinking lambics and geuzes on a recent trip to Belgium (along with BB), and subsequently when I discovered American Wild Pale Ales such as Allagash’s Confluence and Gargamel and Victory’s Wild Devil (all very good but Gargamel is the best. Too bad you can only buy it at the brewery). I was impressed that Boulevard was using Brett in their beer, and I decided to bring back all six Smokestack Series beers for a HH review. They include: Double-Wide IPA, Imperial Stout, Long Strange Tripel, The Sixth Glass Quadrupel, Saison, and Saison-Brett. Boulevard doesn’t make it to the right side of the Mississippi, so HH is here to let you know what you’re missing. Reviews to come (as soon as the OSB brewers have time to kill six 750s)…

Exotic Beers and the People who Seek Them

2009-06-04T19:33:00.005+01:00

(Insert Witty Caption)

Heck, that's not a bad idea. Email or post your caption. Best caption, as judged by the OS Brewers, wins a beer on us. Want a free OSB Winter Ale? How about a succulent, wet-hopped IPA? Or perhaps a roasty porter is more up your alley? Caption away and win the prize--just like the New Yorker!

Okay, on to more germane matters. As you can see, this lucky lady is about to enjoy Belfast Brewery's Lobster Ale. Your faithful blogger had the pleasure of partaking in this Maine mead last October, at the Maine Brewers' Fest in bustling Portland, ME. Beer Advocate gave this rare gem (I defy you to find it outside the Northeast for anything less than a huge premium) a B/B-. What do they know? (Well, a lot, actually.) You'll never believe it, but this thing really does taste like a steaming hunk of king crustacean dipped in butter. Rumor has it that one of the OS Brewers still has a bottle sitting in his legendary Beer Fridge (better drink that beer up before it goes bad, bud!)

HUGE TANGENT: We should (and will) devote an entire post to the proper aging of beers, but for now, a primer. Two quick-and-dirty rules:

1) The darker the color -->better for aging
2) The higher the ABV-->better for aging

Got a robust Belgian dubbel or a big imperial stout? Put it away for a year or two (if you have the willpower to do so), and wait for some seriously sexy results. Want to hang on to that tasty Lagunitas Pils? Don't do it for long, or you'll be left out. A skunky Lagunitas? Well, that's a bitter pils to swallow.

Back on more familiar footing, let's talk for a moment about beers like the Belfast Lobster Ale. There are niche beers aplenty, and more coming all the time. It isn't necessarily that the style of the beer is so novel--the Belfast Lobster ale, after all, is simply that: an ale, with ale yeast that flocculates top-wise, fairly pale grains, and a reasonable amount of hops. The only thing that makes a "Lobster Ale" a "Lobster Ale," aside from the label and the attestations of the Belfast people, are the adjuncts thrown in by the brewers. Adjuncts get a bad name from beers like Bud, which uses rice(!) to get that "authentic" pilsner taste, but IMHO, variety is the spice of life. Beers are more intrinsically fascinating than wines because almost all wine that "anyone" (read: wine snobs) cares about is made by fermenting some kind of grape. What if beer could only be made with a certain kind of grain and hop? Yeah, that would suck, wouldn't it?

By adding a little more coriander and some dried citrus rind, we go from your run-of-the-mill Blue Moon to a wonderfully lemony Allagash White. (I honest to God wish that people would stop drooling over BM. It's an unimpressive wheat beer that even its own brewers say you need an orange to enjoy. If a beer requires you to add fruit to improve it, what does that say about the beer? Does a restaurant other than the gimmicky, overpriced Melting Pot sell you uncooked food and tell you to add the finishing touches yourself? What if I sold you a brand-new car and, as you were driving off the lot of my dealership, I plucked a longish hair from my car-dealer mustache and yelled to you, "Hey, by the way, you'll need to buy a new transmission and muffler if you REALLY want that baby to purr! How angry would you be? I, for one, would be angry. For the same reason, I implore you to stop buying this bulls**t "Bud Lime/Miller Chill stuff. "Look at me!" You're saying every time you drink it. "I'm a real man because I drink my beer with fruit!)

YOU ARE THE DEVIL

Anyhoo, the point your humble blogger was trying to make: If you keep the fundamentals (water+hops+malt+yeast) but improvise a little on top, you can get some really wonderful stuff. Here are a few niche beers of note:

Dieu du Ciel Hibiscus

A really fragrant, floral (well it should be, considering it's brewed with Hibiscus petals) brew. BA gives it a B+, and I'm roughly inclined to agree. The only place in DC that has it to my knowledge is the Brickskeller (22 and P NW).

Dogfish Head Chicory Stout

The chicory is mitigated somewhat by the hops and the coffee (this bad boy has quite a bit of caffeine in it.) Not bitter, though, because of choco esters that come through from the malt. Certainly worth a try if you can find it around here.

Sea Dog Blueberry Wheat

I have to be honest: I don't even think this is a good beer. But girls are always asking for a "fruity" beer, and if they're unwilling to pay $15 dollars for a genuine lambic, this is what I sell them. The blueberry is cloying and the hops evidently took a week off. Nevertheless, this is the kind of envelope-pushing you just won't see in any other type of spirit. It's not that SD Blueberry fails, but that they're trying. Mmhmm. At HH, you get points for trying.

EPIC FAIL: Rogue Chipotle Ale

Then there's Rogue's Chipotle Ale, which Beer Advocate gave an INCONCEIVABLE B+, proving once and for all that you really can't trust them all that often. I happen to know a certain bar in the District which ordered a huge number of kegs of this stuff last summer, and ended up selling most of them back to a perplexed distributor. This crap tastes like if you bought peppers, left them in the sun for three days, added the fermented essence to a bathtub of tepid water and threw in a little cardamom for kicks. It wouldn't (and didn't!) sell if it was ringed with gold and came with a free ticket to the Caribbean. DON'T BUY THIS BEER

What the OS Brewers are listening to right now:
Animal Collective all the time
That Say Anything song about the girl touching herself
Insane Clown Posse
Howard Stern on Sirius101/102

"Omar Listening"
-Omar

HH

Beer Review: De Dolle Boskeun

2009-06-03T03:54:00.009+01:00

Ever since I laid eyes on De Dolle's mascot (that plump little brouwer watching over their flagship Oerbier) I've been smitten. The De Dolle brouwers prove you don't have to be a monk to make world-class Belgian beer (and, if anyone wasn't already aware, Adam Avery is making a strong case that Belgian citizenship is no longer a requirement either). You know what, hell...I'll just go ahead and speak blasphemy by saying I like De Dolle's beers better than those of any other Belgian brewery, trappists included. Even if their Arabier does taste kinda like blood.

(Full disclosure/nota bene: my palate has tasted not of the esteemed Westvleteren 12--and so, for the purposes of this blog, I will give it and my fellow OSBers the benefit of the doubt and cap my ratings at ****1/2)

I've decided to drink the last of their beers that I've yet to try, the Boskeun.* The Boskeun is their Speciaal Paasbier, an Easter seasonal. Notice the Easter bunny (Boskeun translates to "rabbit of the wood") on the label. That means I'm a month or two behind schedule. I'm hoping a cantata ("Es ist euch gut, dass ich hingehe") Bach wrote for the fourth Sunday after Easter will fix this.

Poured into a Koningshoeven goblet (thanks due to Sampson for the OSB's diverse and plentiful glassware), the Boskeun gives way to a healthy, frothy head. More restrained, however, in this regard than some of the other De Dolle beers. The Oerbier, in particular, puffs up a lopsided head that looks at first like it might just walk right out of your glass. I generally let an Oerbier sort of do its thing for 15 minutes or so before risking a sip.

The even froth recedes in short order, leaving a pockmarked moonscape. I count about eleven rings, varying in size (but about an inch in diameter on average), holding firm amidst the regolith. Inside each bright white ring the bubbles remain quite active. Outside the rings, the head has settled down completely.

Faint nose is of Belgian yeast. Tastes like another good one. This isn't as distinctive as their Oerbier or Arabier. More of a traditional strong Belgian pale. But I like the relatively low level of carbonation for a beer of this kind; it lets the beer linger on the roof of your mouth. Just barely to the sweet side of bitter -- a welcome tension between the two. The alcohol is detectable, but perfectly content to share, and mostly concede my palate's attention. Not terribly complex, but little bit of a honeyed, lemony, cantaloupe feel with a dollop of Grand Marnier. Dries out somewhat at the finish, leaving a lingering tartness.

Verdict: ***. Not a standout (at least not this year's), but a good strong Belgian pale ale.

Purchased: Wells Discount Liquors, Baltimore, MD; $7.99 (11.6 oz)

ABV: 10%

*At least, of their regularly produced brews (the others being their Export Stout, Oerbier, Arabier, Stille Nacht, and Dulle Teve (a.k.a. "Mad Bitch")). I've heard talk of a De Dolle Cosmos Porter released in very limited quantities, keg only, several months ago.

Beer Gallimaufry: Sixtel Love/So 'Boam/Rustico/Flying Dog Musings

2009-06-02T04:52:00.007+01:00

St. Jeroboam's Day started clear and warm. 2 OS Brewers made their way to Devines to purchase a sixtel of Yuengling Lager--great for a summer day--and the Brooklyn Pilsner, which started with the characteristic bite ("Oh crap," I remarked to a fellow brewer, "I hope this s**t doesn't end up tasting like Pilsner Urquell") but got better as the keg progressed.

(Yes, we had two lagers, but sometimes you just feel like a lager. And while I'm on the subject, if you can, head over to The Reef at 18th and Columbia NW and grab a cold pint of the North Coast Scrimshaw--perfect after a hard day at the office. The Scrimshaw has the most expressive flavor profile for any pilsner I've ever encountered: blueberries, malt, oats, cream, and more--the kind of thing you'd expect from an expertly brewed IPA or a delicate pale. Really, it's the kind of pilsner that makes you want a pilsner. And I don't mean Czechvar or Bud Light.)

I wasn't a huge sixtel fan before Jeroboam's Day, but consider me a convert. Light enough to carry, able to hold plenty of beer, it's the perfect addition to a backyard BBQ or company picnic. Devines at 14th and Irving has sixtels of the Yuengling and the Brooklyn Pilsner (not in the same class as the aforementioned Scrimshaw, but a formidable domestic pils nonetheless), as well as selections from Oskar Blues, Avery, and other worthy brewhouses.

Ogden Brewers' Day Trip to Rustico

If you haven't gotten to Rustico, you haven't lived. Two OS Brewers and Ray-Ray, another Ogden inhabitant, beer lover, and Mets fan (we forgive you, buddy) made the drive to Alexandria the other day. Our original plan was to attend a dinner hosted by Adam Avery, but instead of the ordering the tickets immediately, the brewers took a detour and scored some PHOnomenal Viet cuisine at Pho14 (Park @14th, NW. Your faithful blogger recommends the #16, a savory medley of steaming broth, paper-thin beef, fluffy noodles, crunchy bean sprouts, and all the accouterments: onion, mint, lime, hoisin, and that staple of SE Asian cuisine, sriracha. Grab a regular--plenty large enough--for only 8 bucks. Seriously. Go now.) Our hunger sated, we PHOned (get it?) Rustico for tix, only to find we'd just missed the last of 'em. Sigh.

Instead of giving up, we made the most of the night by driving down anyway. The dining room was closed to us because of the dinner, but the bar, with its' limited menu, was open. Business was brisk for a weeknight. We grabbed three chairs and dove in.

I'm doing this brew bar a disservice by not giving it a full review. While Sampson snacked happily on deviled eggs (devilishly good), Ray-Ray and I went for the house special: the pizza. I had the standard margherita, Ray-Ray the sausage. Both came piping hot. Ray-Ray reported the sausage to be sweet and smoky. On my pie, the mozzarella was creamily sublime, melted clear into the sauce, which was not too garlicky and peppered with welcome chunks of fresh tomato. The crust was crispy, appropriately garnished with basil. Pairing the 'za with a 't Smisje Plus to moderate the lacticity of the cheese with some punchy hop had this reviewer in Brew Heaven and begging for more (although, with a $13 price tag, this incredible quaff doesn't come cheap.) Other highlights on tap: Southern Tier's Cuvee 2, a dark, complex, malty puzzle with teasing hints of poultry (sounds worse than it tastes) and anise; the Wild Devil, a version of Victory's famous IPA brewed with Brettanomyces; and another 't Smisje beer, the Dubbel, which does its style proud with lovely notes of candied malt, caramel and chocolate. In short: visit Rustico NOW.

Abbreviated Final Review: ****

A 'Boam for Home

HH reported on Friday that the jeroboam of Augustijn Blonde/Pilsner mix would be popped on Sunday. Sure enough, at around 5PM, EST, the cork came out. Sixteen glasses later, partygoers marveled at the smooth finish, apple-y and peachy notes, and light complexion. I don't know if you can find this elusive beer in the usual Belgian 11.2oz size, but if so, you should snap some up while you can. (If size matters, you can always spring for the 'Boam like we did. Go to Devinos at U and 18th and talk to Bill.)

Abbreviated Final Review: ***1/2

Flying Dog Miscellany

Full disclosure: I'm not a huge FD fan. I think their Gonzo Porter is good. I think their Old Scratch Amber is decent. I think their IPA is hit-or-miss, and I think their Double is too big. As for the rest of their lineup? Don't get me started.

FD had two tastings in the area over the weekend in honor of SAVOR. (which yours truly missed out on because of work. Gah.) People seem to like this s**t. A lot. A tasting at The Reef brought out a huge crowd; same for a similar event at the Brickskeller. I have to believe alot of the FD love is because the brewery is just up the road in Frederick. But here's my problem: if Washingtonians want to rally around a local brewer with potential and pizazz, why not Clipper City? Their work is better, top-to-bottom. And you can really taste the difference. Really. Do the experiment: drive up 270 to Fred and visit FD by morning, then zip on over to Balto in the afternoon for a tour of the Clip City facilities. If you STILL think FD is better than CC, argue your case. I'll hear you out, but it had better be a damn good argument.

One good thing about FD: apparently they have a huge hedge of hops growing outside their brewery during the summer. Are our little guys jealous? I doubt it. They're doing just fine.

What the OS Brewers will be watching this week:
Man V. Wild feat. Will Ferrell
Any and all O's and Brewers games
Supernews on Current
Anything you can think of that we missed

Stay sexy, D.C.

--HH

Baltimore's Crown Jewel/Size Matters

2009-05-29T20:42:00.005+01:00

While 1/4 of OSB's staff will be working tonight, and another 1/4 will be out on the town, the remaining half will be at Camden for the debut of Baltimore's newest superstar (Baltimore superstar = oxymoron? You be the judge.) Matt Wieters will assume his rightful place behind the plate tonight, as Chad Moeller has been designated for assignment and Gregg Zaun becomes Wieter's backup and mentor. (Only in baseball can your understudy be your mentor.)

HH wishes best of luck to Wieters, and to the Orioles, who could not be happier to have their stud catcher on board: the last time the Birds had a winning season, the Macarena was en vogue, Monica Lewinsky jokes were novel, and Apple's new gadget was a sleek, user-friendly affair called the "iMac."

Show me what you got

Ah, remember the days when your bottle of rot-gut or vino came in a "fifth?" Well it still can, and often does. But with a proliferation of foreign spirits overtaking the American liquor market--and in honor of OSB's celebration of May 31st, A.K.A. Jeroboam's Day--HH is bringing you, the reader, a refresher on bottle sizes. These sizes apply not only to wine and spirits, but to beer as well. All sizes are based on the metric scale (I'm as patriotic as the next guy, but times have changed, and the 'fifth'--a fifth of a US Gallon--is no longer the standard.) For a more in-depth assay of volumes, consult the wiki.

Demi 375ml./2 glasses
"Demi" is the French word for "half." A demi is a half-bottle.

Standard 750ml./4 glasses
The "Standard" amount for a bottle.

Magnum 1500ml./8 glasses
Twice a standard. Frequently used for Champagne.

Jeroboam 3000ml./16 glasses
Four times a standard.

Franzia 4000ml./21 glasses
Admit it: you wanted to know how many glasses you could get out of a box.

Methuselah 6000ml./32 glasses
Generally speaking, the largest bottle today's consumer will ever find.

Salmanazar 9000ml./48 glasses
All further sizes are named after biblical kings

Balthazar 12000ml./64 glasses

Melchior 18000ml./96 glasses

Melchizedek 30000ml./192 glasses
(The largest bottle ever sold commercially)

While our 'Boam of Augustijn Tripel (review coming on Monday) and its sixteen cool glasses pale in comparison to the Methuselah or the Balthazar, we're quite proud of it nonetheless. And if the ambitious reader wishes to get his/her hands on a 'Boam of their own, they can skip on down to Devino's at U and 18th and talk to Bill.

Happy Weekend. Posts resume on Monday.

-HH

Cheap beer!

2009-05-28T20:37:00.002+01:00

Here at HH we sure do love our expensive beer... but we like to pay as little for it as possible. There is almost always a beer bargain available in this city to the savvy shopper. I recently stumbled upon The Duck-Rabbit's milk stout for $7.99 a six pack at Magruder's in Chevy-Chase. This is a steal for this great beer (review, perhaps??), which normally runs at $9.99-$10.99 a sixer. The selection at Magruder's isn't amazing, but it is pretty damn good, and occasionally you can find a great bargain...especially if you are in the market for cases. Eggenberg Hopfen Konig Pils for $22.99 a case, what??

While you are up in the north part of town, you owe it to yourself to swing by Rodman's on Wisconsin. Consistently the best deals in the city. Not sure what is on sale currently, but there is always a bargain to be found (ie: $6.99 Two Hearted...mmmmm...Two Hearted)

OG over and out, gonna try to keep y'all posted on sweet deals as best I can.

Restaurant Review: Black Squirrel

2009-05-27T19:55:00.006+01:00

(Photo courtesy of DCist)

A weekend evening out in Adams Morgan is usually a tedious affair. Cheap liquor, an abundance of Bros, too many people who think it's okay to wear sunglasses at night, and a stifling police presence create shitstorm conditions. Best to hunker down somewhere safe, nurse a few drinks, and try not to make eye contact--or, if you've been around D.C. long enough, to find a new spot altogether.

It's become almost cliche to shit-talk AMo, but it's so easy, I figure I might as well hate along with everyone else. The Strip is a godawful place to be on a Friday or Saturday night. Unfortunately, when else are government employees/lobbyists/politicos/hill grunts/lawyers/etc going to hit the bars? D.C. is a decidedly staid city, and the people who work shitty/frustrating/stressful jobs get only two nights (or sometimes just one) a week to let loose. And where does all that stress/cash funnel into? You guessed it. It's probably a combination of the density of watering holes, proximity to downtown, and access to public transportation that makes a weekend trip to AMo so desirable to these people. In any case, they won't find me drinking with them.

But hold on; if the Strip is so bad on the weekends, what about the rest of the week? Glad you asked. There are a number of decent joints on 18th street that are worth a visit. During the week, many of these places offer deals and specials meant to entice the very same people who have seen the place on a Friday or Saturday and probably do not wish to return.

The Black Squirrel is just such a bar.

Heights Hops recommends Tuesday night for a trip to the Squirrel. Two reasons why:

1. Scotty works on Tuesday nights. Give Scotty your business. Dude knows his beer and can pour one perfectly. (Side note: a couple of the Ogden Street Brewers went to Paradiso in Georgetown about a month ago and were treated to a shameful sight: the bartender had no idea how to pour a bottle-fermented beer, and a perfectly delicious Westmalle Double was ruined with yeast sediment. Let that be a lesson to you: don't go to Paradiso on a Tuesday night, and always leave a centimeter at the bottom of a bottle-fermented beer. Ugh.)

2. App special. Like I said, the Squirrel is overrun with Bros on a typical weekend night. In order to do some REAL business, they keep people coming during the week with half-priced appetizers.

The Black Squirrel is one of those AMo bars that is easy to miss; it's tucked into your standard four-story row house, next to Amsterdam Falafel. The place used to be a Red Sox bar called Muttly's, and though the Boston paraphernalia is gone, the walls are tastefully lined with framed SI covers and other subtle homages to sport. Sleek HD televisions bookend the bar. There are a dozen tables and a couple of cozy booths, and the wood bar is long enough to seat fifteen comfortably. The lighting is restrained; bathrooms are clean. It is, in short, a perfectly tidy little place.

Oh, and that food. I don't know how chef Gene Sohn does it (probably his experience at Saveur and Marcel), but I doubt much else along 18th street (Reef and Orleans might take umbrage with this) comes close. This reviewer suggests pairing the plump, crispy calamari, accompanied by a tangy red pepper aioli, with the sweet grilled cheese-and-bacon sandwich and the hearty tomato soup. Or indulge in a crock of the mac-n-cheese with bechamel. Other favorites--full price entrees, but worth every penny: Hereford Filet with herb butter, Free-range buttermilk fried chicken, and the House bratwurst, which--coming from a Wisconsin kid--ain't half bad.

But what good would the food be without beer? The Squirrel has the standard dozen or so taps. Nothing on tap tends to stand out (you'll find all the usual suspects, random light lagers/Guinness etc, though the Squirrel does have it's own White beer. Not bad.) The real treat are the bottles: about fifty in all, divided helpfully into domestic and imported, and further classified by style. You'll find the full range of Unibroue beers (OSB favorites from Canada), along with familiar names like Ommegang, Stone, and Rogue stateside, and Chimay, Baltica, and Weihenstephan from overseas. Nothing on the list could be considered rare or eclectic, and the Squirrel tends to oversell certain styles while neglecting others (too many lagers, lacking in more compelling niche styles like Saisons, Barleywines and the like). But the collection as a whole serves as an efficient and worthy crossection of reputable domestic microbrews and foreign standards.

Finally, if you're not into beer, then you shouldn't be reading this blog. But, on the off-chance somebody like that stumbles across this review and needs another reason for visiting the Squirrel, there's always the absinthe (several different bottles) and the "Lambicane," a drink the owners advertise as being the strongest on the strip. A nice idea in theory, but I'm not sure overworked hill people need another incentive to get f***ed up in AMo on a Friday night.

Overall: A great place to kick back and enjoy a decent brew with some excellent food. Bring a friend or a date.

Final Rating: ***1/2

Generic Mid-Atlantic Brewing Rant/The Audacity of our Hops/Review: Founder's DubTrub

2009-05-26T21:17:00.008+01:00

Yup, I know, I copped the heading from the actual shit (which I may, fingers crossed, be sampling on Thursday in honor of R.M.'s birthday festivities. If this happens, best believe the review will knock the socks off the fawning, stick-up-their-ass write-up in Mid-Atlantic Brewing back in January.)

A word about Mid-Atlantic Brewing: those guys are painfully old. Forget the fact that beer nerds tend to be a naturally occlusive bunch--even yours truly, Beer Populist and Ogden Street Die-hard, will gently turn his nose up to the n00b who wanders into the middle of a beer conversation and talks about how Magic Hat #9 blew his mind--but on the real, those dudes think it's still 1980, when Anchor Steam was cutting edge, and new beer either sank or swam based on the self-gratifying bulls**t opining of a small cabal of carbuncular brew-geeks. Well, those guys are now about thirty years older, fifty pounds heavier, and just as obstinate.

These are the guys who show up in droves to tastings at RFD or Rustico and hijack the proceedings. These are the guys who won't talk to you unless your name ends with "Oliver" or "Calagione," despite the fact that they think Sierra Torpedo is "cutting-edge." (Citra Hops = Biggest. Letdown. Ever.) These are the guys who spend half their lives in bars and don't know how to tip. These are the guys who think they've "earned" the right to tell you what to drink, even though half of them probably don't even homebrew. You want REAL beer knowledge? It's out there, buddy; and it's not in the hands of those old farts.

Come to us. H.H. will drop serious brew knowledge whenever, wherever. And we promise to never, ever, ever, condescend.

Time Lapse Hoptimology

Ogden Street Brewery Hops, aged 4 weeks

...And again, aged 6 weeks
...And again, aged 8 weeks (late-May)

Look at the little guys go!

We've had a fairly wet spring here in the District, and no doubt all that water has helped our hops skyward. The second plant from the left, in particular, has become more intrepid than the others; notice the offshoots right around deck-level. Sampson explains: when the plant can no longer grow upward as rapidly due to space constraints, it knows to splice itself, so it can grow horizontally. Smart plants, no?

So far, the only pests I've personally encountered were a couple of daring ladybugs making their rounds on a mid-level leaf. (I say 'pests' because ladybugs do eat leaves, but not hop leaves. They must have gotten lost on the way to the mulberry tree.) Some of the plants have the characteristic tripartite leaf shape (think the Canadian Maple leaf, but with more scooped edges and less pronounced tips), but one of the vines has leaves with a more classic, almost chevron-like shape to them. These rounded, arrow-tip-shaped leaves are cupped near the base, and on a recent inspection, I found the two buggers holed up there. Snug as bugs in a rug, er, leaf.

One last note: OSB's next project is a mulberry-wheat ale, with all-organic mulberries plucked right in the Brouwerij's backyard (shot out to Reese.) Possible live-blogging of the brewing process, plus specs, coming your way soon enough.

What the OS Brewers are doing right now:
MLB '09 The Show for PS3.
Sampson can't wait for the Matt Wieters Show to hit Camden Yards
Bob can't thank Yovani Gallardo enough
Tim can't believe David Ortiz has one home run all year

Review: Founder's Double Trouble

Everyone basically jumped on the Founder's bandwagon when they hit the District this year. This sort of thing seems to happen about once every six months: some hotshot microbrewery from Michigan or Colorado or Louisiana finally makes it to the East Coast and everyone blows their load (except the Mid-Atlantic Brewing people, who automatically disdain the new beer because it wasn't around during the Carter Administration.) Last year it was Green Flash/Mad River etc. This year so far, it's Blue Point/Kona/Duck-Rabbit, and Founder's is the latest in this line.

Let Heights Hops be the first to say that, unlike some of these other arrivistes, Founders is the real deal. Their porter is the creamiest, caramel-est, nuttiest, chocotastic-est delight this side of the Harpoon Leviathan series. Their Cerise is a Belgian-style dream in the vein of a sweeter Oude Beersel Kriek. And their big, progressive scotch-style brew, quite frankly, mops the floor with a more traditional submission like Skullsplitter.

Therefore, I had relatively high hopes for their Double Trouble, a Double IPA supposedly in the mold of the Great Divide Hercules or the Steelhead 2xPale.

Review:

Nose: Many West-Coast style IPAs tend to be robust, floral and citrusy, while their Midwestern and East-Coast contemporaries are more restrained. Double Trouble, which comes from Michigan, splits the difference. Mild, fragrant, and malty, with tantalizing notes of grapefruit, lime and kiwi.

Body: Deeper and richer in color than your typical Pale. I wanted to call it burnt orange, but really, it's almost beige.

Palate: The bottle advertises, shamelessly, 86 Bittering Units. They were not kidding. Bitter at the front, but in that indefinably appealing way that Hop Head Red or Hercules manages to overwhelm with hoppiness while not giving away too much of its hand. Juicy, wet hoppiness remains midway. Accompanied by ascorbic notes, lemon, spice and pine.

Finish: The mouth feels wet from the hoppiness at the end. It is not an entirely pleasant feeling, however. One wishes the slickness of the conclusion could be tempered.

Overall: I had higher hopes for this beer. Still, if you're an IPA person, it's worth a buy. At 9.4% ABV, anyway, you'll feel exponentially better about your purchase with each brew quaffed.

Final Rating: **1/2

Here's Hop-ing for the best/Review: Anderson Valley Summer Solstice (Cerveza Crema)

2009-05-25T19:23:00.005+01:00

Ogden Street Hops, circa approx. early April

The Ogden Street Brewery is currently nurturing four lovely vines of genuine Cascade Hops. Rhizomes courtesy of Tim and his connects. In the six weeks since this pic was taken, the plants have grown over eight feet. (Pics to be provided in an upcoming post.)

If all goes well, sometime around September, we'll have a bunch of these:

We have a few things going for us (info from Sampson):

1. Hops flourish between 35 and 50 degrees latitude. This is true irrespective of the hemisphere. Some top hop spots are Chile, China, South Africa, Australia, Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium, and America. Washington, DC: 38 degrees north latitude. Prime hop territory, son.

2. Overused hop-growing regions suffer from an abundance of pests. Luckily, hop predators attack only hops. This means that growing hops in a new area guarantees at least a few initial successful growing seasons.

3. Humulus lupulus ("ground wolf," in Latin) is an apposite moniker for the hop plant; the root system of an adult plant is infamously extensive. Ogden Street Brewery has provided its quartet of sapling vines with a capacious plot in which to spread out. (ours have already snuffed out the lives of interloping weeds and clovers in the Official OSB planter's box.) Miracle Gro also available. Thanks, Home Depot at R.I. Ave. and 10th, NE!

4. Cascade hops enjoy the climate synonymous with their name: long, mild, wet springs, followed by warm summers. Can the D.C. area hook it up? We think it can. (If only the humidity weren't so f***ing oppressive.)

One of the definitive tutorials on hop-growing history can be found in the late, great, Beer Hunter's tome on Belgian beers. Michael Jackson's book has helpful graphs and maps--great for a cartographile like me--as well as pictures of hop vines and cones. (And really, who doesn't love pictures of old, British, gin-blossomed men holding handfuls of hop cones?)

What the OS Brewers are listening to right now:
Classified--"Boycott in the Industry"
Phoenix--"Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix"
Murs--"Murs 3:16"

Review of Anderson Valley's Summer Solstice (Cerveza Crema)

Who knew: Anderson Valley's brewers have a sense of humor. The ursine imprint on every AV bottle has been replaced with the apochryphal "bear-moose," which I guess fits into the same mold as the Jackalope and the Hodag. Oh, and the bear-moose wears sunglasses. But that makes sense; they're always tending to one vine or another in Anderson Valley.

Nose: Vanilla, cream (duh), cinnamon, nutmeg. An aromatic slam-dunk.

Body: Rouge--calls to mind a darker Van Honsebrouck Kasteel.

Palate: More of the same: soft vanilla notes, with some serious nutmeg in the middle. Earthy, gentle, smooth mouthfeel.

Finish: Lingering creaminess.

Overall: An excellent summer beer. Go and buy a six-pack today. (And do it at Devines @ 14th and Irving, NW, or their sister joint, Devinos, at 18th and U, NW. They deserve your business. And finally, if you see the dude who purchases beer for Pete's Pizza behind the CoHi metro--a bomb ass slice, btw, though haters and New Yorkers say you can't find a good slice in the District--give him the finger. Hi, Hater!)

Final Rating: ***1/2

About Beer Ratings

2009-05-24T21:19:00.002+01:00

Auxiliary post re: ratings:

It occurs to me that it would be helpful to contextualize the rating system. Y'know, so you don't see "**1/2" and wonder what, exactly, that means.

(All ratings reflect the palate and nose of the reviewer only. Qualms? Feel free to comment.)

* = Don't bother.
Generic example: Any Leinenkugel's niche brand;

*1/2 = Redeeming qualities, but generally disappointing.
Example: Abita Turbo Dog; Legacy Hoptimus Prime

** = Serviceable.
Example: Anderson Valley Winter Solstice; Fat Tire

**1/2 = Worth a try.
Example: Chimay Tripel; Flag Porter

*** = Successful.
Examples: Dogfish 90; De Koninck; Smuttynose IPA

***1/2 = Noteworthy.
Example: Mad River Steelhead Double IPA; Ayinger Celebrator; Unibroue Maudite

**** = Masterful.
Example: North Coast Brother Thelonious; Brooklyn Local 2; Chimay Blue

****1/2 = Exemplary
Example: Rochefort 10; New Glarus Raspberry

***** = Westvleteren 12
Example: Westvletern 12

Cheeba's Winter Ale/LHBS Rant

2009-05-24T20:21:00.005+01:00

Ogden Street Brewery created a Winter Ale back in December. Yes, December. Aged five months and ready for consumption, here are the quick specs:

OG: 1.06
FG: 1.018
Hops: Hallertauer 1oz, Challenger 1oz
Malt: 3.5lbs of Generic Choco Shit from LHBS

A bit about LHBS: as anyone who frequents Local Home Brewing in Arlington/Seven Corners can tell you, the guy who runs that place is a. full of himself, and b. pretty knowledgeable (so long as you don't get him talking about himself.) Standard conversation between Dude and Me:

Me: Hey man, just drank a Peak Organic IPA yesterday. Pretty dope beer, huh?
Him: Yeah I'm tight with all those guys, since from about five years ago.
Me: That's weird, cause they've only been in the D.C. market for 18 months, and I'm friends with the rep, and he doesn't know you.
Him: Oh, you must be confused, cause I'm totally friends with those guys. By the way, would you like to spend another fifty dollars on a pouch of sanitizer and some bottles?

LHBS is pretty much the only place around that will sell us brewing necessities, so we can't afford to piss the guy off (yeah, yeah, there's some mystical place in Columbia but who wants to drive 45 minutes out of the District?) Nevertheless, I guarantee this won't be the first post on the subject. Why can't a decent, modest guy/gal open up a good homebrewing store somewhere in the city? Are there barriers to entry? Let me answer my own question by saying, No, there aren't. D.C. is just waiting for the right person to do it. Will YOU answer the call?

Anyway, the Ogden Winter Ale has been renamed the Cheeba Ale in honor of the housecat. Cheeba, you sly kitty...

Profile (courtesy of Reid-O and yours truly):
Nose: Apples, crabapples, a hint of peach.
Body: Coppery, somewhat cloudy. Ochre-tinged under lights.
Taste: Blossomy at the front, slightly astringent midway. Distinctive apple notes.
Finish: Lingering oaty, creamy notes. Pear blossom. Stone fruit.

Final Review: **1/2

Welcome

2009-05-13T16:42:00.003+01:00

Like the title says, welcome to our beery nook. Stay tuned for daily beer reviews, bar reviews, restaurant reviews, news from the beer world, tips on home-brewing, and innovative food-beer pairings. Heights Hops: your resource for living the good life in the District.