For any of you who read this I am pleased to introduced the new and improved tastyCHOMP! You’ll now be able to find me at www.tastychomp.com.
The site was designed by my good pal Joe Hayden and will take the place of this blogspot site.
As you know, I’ll be traveling cross-country, sampling goodies from throughout the county. MegWhyte is keeping a blog about the trip called The Oregon Trail and I’ll be writing up my goodies at www.tastychomp.com, as well as an article here and there for Ale Street News and BeersofLegend.com.
Check up on us from time to time as I’m sure we’ll encounter some ridiculous things. I’ve already been to a Goat race and the best beer bar in the country so we’ll see how it goes!
Cheers and thanks for reading,
Justin
A list of places we plan on hitting up:
-New York
-Toronto, Canada
-Ann Arbor, MI
-Chicago, IL
-Milwaukee, WI
-St. Louis, MO
-Lexington, KY
-Memphis and Nashville, TN
-New Orleans, LA (We’ll be here for a week! Come Visit!)
-Houston, TX
-Austin, TX
-Big Bend National Park, TX
-Tucson, AZ
-Sand Diego, CA
-Las Vegas, NV
-San Francisco, CA
-Seattle, WA
-PORTLAND, OR!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Great Beer in Unlikely Places
Last week I ventured to the middle-of-nowhere Maine in search of good beer. Two gentlemen I met at the Bock Fest/Goat Race told me about a Belgian beer bar that I absolutely needed to try. Unfortunately, the bar was hiding in the woods in Lovell, Maine, home of little except for trees and well…more trees.
Normally when told of far-off places, I would scribble down the name and hope one day to try the place out. Something about these guys told me I should actively search this place out; the two were running around the festival with high-tech recording equipment documenting the Goat Race. After a few heats, I started chatting with the fellow holding the boom mic.
“Jonathan,” he told me when I inquired his name. “We’re filming for a website we just started called Beers of Legend.”
After chatting for a bit I told the BOL guys about my cross-country trip and they immediately started naming must-try bars and breweries. Since I was staying in Maine for a few days, the Belgian beer haven in Lovell would be perfect.
The bar is called Ebenezer’s Pub. You wouldn’t think anything of it from the outside but Ebenezer’s is considered the top Belgian beer bar in the country. Beer Advocate has crowned Ebenezer’s the best in 2007 and 2008 and after my experience there, I just might agree with them.
From the outside the bar isn’t pretty. It is next to a golf course and located on a small, gravel road. The owners, Chris and Jen, live in the adjacent house and although they weren’t there when I visited (I needed to get an interview with Chris for BOL) everyone I met had glowing compliments for them. I wouldn’t deny them either; Ebenezer’s Pub seems like a labor of love and no one except for the most faithful beer evangelists could keep a place like that running.
After introducing myself to Hanna—quite possibly the friendliest bartender I’ve ever met—I began to peruse the menu. Page after page was full of delicious, rare and hard-to-find brews. The 35-tap draft system was about 90% Belgian beer and the four-door fridge stocked everything from Trappist masterpieces to eclectic Belgian Gueuze. I cannot say how far my eyes popped out of their sockets but I probably studied the menu for a good twenty-minutes. Luckily, Hanna was more than willing to answer any questions.
I started the evening with a 2006 Cantillon Kriek. Cantillon is one of the most admired Gueuze/Lambic producers in Belgian and while some of the best bars in the country might have one Cantillon beer on tap, Ebenezer’s has six, not to mention about ten different varieties in bottles. The Kriek was a rosy creation the color of mashed berries, tart and dry as a desert. It was only a sample of what was in store.
Without going on and on about the delicious brews I tried—and there were many—I’ll skip straight to the claim to fame: De Struise Black Albert.
De Stuise is a small brewery started by two brothers in Belgium in 2003. The brewers have amassed many credentials in a short time and although the do not export much to the US, they decided to brew a specialty beer for Chris and Ebenezer’s in honor of a Belgian Beer Festival he invited them too. The result: Black Albert, a Belgian Royal Stout that some say is the best beer in America.
After the meal Hanna brought out two glasses of Black Albert and the appearance of the drink alone is enough to make a beer-lover’s eyes misty; Black Albert is darker than black, with a viscosity rivaled only by motor oil and a dense, tan head. The aroma is strong, with all the expected caramel and roasted espresso notes. The taste, however, is anything but ordinary. For all of its brawn, Black Albert is extremely light on the palate. The beer is incredibly smooth, with a pleasant tinge of alcohol and a toasted, slightly bitter aftertaste that refuses to quit. Without dragging on, it was a knock out.
After a few more samples, Hanna introduced us to Frank, the bar manager, who gave us a tour of the place. After questioning him about some of his favorite brews, Frank agreed to show us Chris and Jen’s basement, a frigid, stone room that doubled as the beer cellar.
Although the bar itself was impressive, the cellar was like walking into a Smithsonian-museum of fine beer. Wall to wall were stacked kegs of the finest American brews, crowded next to storied Belgians. Shelves were stocked with cases of hard-to-find Americans, sometimes with several cases from different years.
Frank showed us some of his favorite stashes while I stumbled around bewildered, dumbstruck by the rarity of some of the bottles before me. Despite the reverence Frank held for the beers, I had to laugh when I saw the modest futon he sleeps in after working late shifts. On the floor next to his makeshift bed were a few half emptied chalices of delicious Belgian brews.
“I should really clean that up,” Frank said as I motioned to his collection of nightcaps.
After the tour we bid farewell and made our way back to civilization. Hanna promised Chris would get in touch with me for the interview when he could; he is currently opening up a Belgian café in Brunswick, Maine with the De Struise brewers. The place will be a fully functioning brewpub with a selection akin to Ebenezer’s but with the added bonus of fresh De Struise brewed beer.
The lure of the Pannepot café was almost enough to keep me on the East Coast for a while but I figure I can find some more gems hidden throughout the country. As I digested my mussels and savored the last sips of Black Albert, I made a mental note to follow up on any out of the way suggestions. You never know where some of the best beer in the country will show up.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Beers of the North Country
Over the past several days I’ve been relaxing up in Maine, figuring out the cross-country trip and hitting up some breweries. Recently, I’ve stopped in at the Portsmouth Brewery and Restaurant in New Hampshire, Gritty McDuff’s Brewpub and the Allagash Brewery in Portland, Maine.
All of them were great, but Allagash was the only one of the bunch that only brews beer. If you have never tried any of the brews Rob Todd makes at Allagash, please rush out now and buy a bottle. The small brewery—with 18 employees and distributing in 18 states—creates fine Belgian style ales. Best known for their White Ale, a Belgian style wheat beer, Allagash makes some truly delicious and surprising brews.
When I went to the brewery I was fortunate enough to pick up a bottle of Gargamel, a supremely limited edition sour ale. Gargamel came out yesterday and despite people driving up from all over (our tour guide told us about a fellow who left NYC at midnight the night before the beer’s release) the brewery had a strict two-beer limit.
After our urging, our tour guide popped open two bottles of Gargamel for the group to try. The beer is wrapped in paper and carefully labeled. It pours a rosy-red and has a strong raspberry nose. A truly beautiful beer, Gargamel is absolutely delicious! Tart and refreshing, Gargamel has the piquant bite of a perfectly balanced sour ale. If you get the chance, try it immediately. If you can’t find a bottle, pick up any Allagash brew (I’m partial to the Dubbel) and enjoy the complex, Belgian flavors straight out of Maine.
Kentucky Derby? I'll watch the Goat Race!
As I drove towards Phoenixville, Pennsylvania there was a constant drizzle of rain dampening my hopes about the Sly Fox Bock Fest and Goat Race. I have never been to a goat race before, but I assumed it was an outdoor affair and worried the event would be canceled.
My fears were washed away once I tried to enter the Sly Fox Brewhouse and Eatery; the parking lot was packed to capacity and cops in ponchos were turning people away.
Despite the weather, there were hundreds of individuals walking the grounds with pints in hand. Once I saw a dozen goats wandering around and chomping at stray bundles of grass, I knew I was in the right place.
The Sly Fox Brewhouse was established in 1995 and their beers have won numerous awards and medals since. Sly Fox is still a small-scale craft brewery, distributing only Pennsylvania and its neighboring States. In 2002, Brian O’Reilly became Master Brewer at Sly Fox and founded the annual Bock Fest and Goat race at the Phoenixville Brewery.
“The first year he did this there were about twenty people and a few goats,” a Pennsylvania-native and former Tröegs brewer told me. Seven years later, there has been a visible spike in attendance. I was standing in a rainy parking lot surrounded by over fifteen hundred goat race-loving, polka-dancing bock enthusiasts. When he was not announcing the goat races, Brian O’Reilly was swamped with questions and congratulations from friends and fans.
O’Reilly was constantly busy, and with good reason. Besides the athletic goats, the plump knockwursts and the Oompah band, the Bock Fest displayed five deliciously authentic German-style brews. Sly Fox Helles, Weisse, Pils, Slacker Bock and—the star of the evening—Maibock were generously being poured to the beer loving throngs.
The Sly Fox brews are straightforward interpretations of these styles. The Helles pours light gold with clean, crisp flavors; the Pils is a bone dry beer, well-balanced but with enough bite to snap you into attention; the Slacker bock is no loafer, with a dark amber-brown hue and a complex, malty body.
Despite the abundance of good beers available in the tents, the beer everyone was waiting for was the Maibock. The spring beer is brewed every year at Sly Fox but is not poured until after the goat race. The winning goat lends his or her name to Maibock and the goat’s racer gets to tap the first firkin of the stuff.
This year’s lucky goat was a small black specimen with a white tuft on his head named Dax. Easily winning all of his heats, Dax’s victory meant the Maibock could start flowing into the empty glasses of the thirsty Sly Fox enthusiasts. O’Reilly and Dax’s racer Karl Lorah quickly rationed the first keg as Fest-goers lined up to sample the fresh Dax Maibock and congratulate the winning critter.
The unveiling of the Maibock is a much-anticipated event in Sly Fox country. The beer is a quintessential Maibock, brimming with the clean and sprightly flavors of spring. Pouring a deep orange-amber with a voluminous white head, Dax Maibock is malty with a sweet nose and full of enough flavor to please the most discriminating bock fan.
Despite the finish of this year’s goat racing, the crowds lingered and drank down the rest of the German offerings. As goats with names like Baby Brie, Darwin and Mr. Stupid shuffled around looking for post race snacks, beer fans clinked glasses and looked forward to the rain-free, sunny days of summer. The rain continued steadily, but the fresh Maibock seemed to keep everyone in high-spirits.
“They’re not playing baseball in this rain,” exclaimed O’Reilly, referring to the postponed Phillies’ game, “but we’re racing goats!”
After a few hours at the Sly Fox Bock Fest and Goat Race, I seriously considered advocating goat racing as America’s new pastime. Fortunately, I was handed another Maibock before I got too lost in my thoughts and wandered off in search of another wurst.
My fears were washed away once I tried to enter the Sly Fox Brewhouse and Eatery; the parking lot was packed to capacity and cops in ponchos were turning people away.
Despite the weather, there were hundreds of individuals walking the grounds with pints in hand. Once I saw a dozen goats wandering around and chomping at stray bundles of grass, I knew I was in the right place.
The Sly Fox Brewhouse was established in 1995 and their beers have won numerous awards and medals since. Sly Fox is still a small-scale craft brewery, distributing only Pennsylvania and its neighboring States. In 2002, Brian O’Reilly became Master Brewer at Sly Fox and founded the annual Bock Fest and Goat race at the Phoenixville Brewery.
“The first year he did this there were about twenty people and a few goats,” a Pennsylvania-native and former Tröegs brewer told me. Seven years later, there has been a visible spike in attendance. I was standing in a rainy parking lot surrounded by over fifteen hundred goat race-loving, polka-dancing bock enthusiasts. When he was not announcing the goat races, Brian O’Reilly was swamped with questions and congratulations from friends and fans.
O’Reilly was constantly busy, and with good reason. Besides the athletic goats, the plump knockwursts and the Oompah band, the Bock Fest displayed five deliciously authentic German-style brews. Sly Fox Helles, Weisse, Pils, Slacker Bock and—the star of the evening—Maibock were generously being poured to the beer loving throngs.
The Sly Fox brews are straightforward interpretations of these styles. The Helles pours light gold with clean, crisp flavors; the Pils is a bone dry beer, well-balanced but with enough bite to snap you into attention; the Slacker bock is no loafer, with a dark amber-brown hue and a complex, malty body.
Despite the abundance of good beers available in the tents, the beer everyone was waiting for was the Maibock. The spring beer is brewed every year at Sly Fox but is not poured until after the goat race. The winning goat lends his or her name to Maibock and the goat’s racer gets to tap the first firkin of the stuff.
This year’s lucky goat was a small black specimen with a white tuft on his head named Dax. Easily winning all of his heats, Dax’s victory meant the Maibock could start flowing into the empty glasses of the thirsty Sly Fox enthusiasts. O’Reilly and Dax’s racer Karl Lorah quickly rationed the first keg as Fest-goers lined up to sample the fresh Dax Maibock and congratulate the winning critter.
The unveiling of the Maibock is a much-anticipated event in Sly Fox country. The beer is a quintessential Maibock, brimming with the clean and sprightly flavors of spring. Pouring a deep orange-amber with a voluminous white head, Dax Maibock is malty with a sweet nose and full of enough flavor to please the most discriminating bock fan.
Despite the finish of this year’s goat racing, the crowds lingered and drank down the rest of the German offerings. As goats with names like Baby Brie, Darwin and Mr. Stupid shuffled around looking for post race snacks, beer fans clinked glasses and looked forward to the rain-free, sunny days of summer. The rain continued steadily, but the fresh Maibock seemed to keep everyone in high-spirits.
“They’re not playing baseball in this rain,” exclaimed O’Reilly, referring to the postponed Phillies’ game, “but we’re racing goats!”
After a few hours at the Sly Fox Bock Fest and Goat Race, I seriously considered advocating goat racing as America’s new pastime. Fortunately, I was handed another Maibock before I got too lost in my thoughts and wandered off in search of another wurst.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
At least the beer is good…
Before hitting the road on my way to Oregon I stopped by CitiField, the new home of my Mets, to personally sample the new beer selection. I’ve written earlier about the “Taste of the City” area behind center field—the Danny Meyer created food Mecca for baseball fans with a palate—and I decided to get out there and try the goods for myself.
Although this wasn’t my first trip to CitiField, it was the first time I got to the ballpark early enough to check out the new digs. After an initial tour, I made my way to center field for some specially made Brooklyn brews.
Beer #1: Blanche De Queens
Location: Box Frites
Created to complement a crispy pile of Belgian style frites, this witbier is great way to start a ballgame. There is nothing out of the ordinary about this wit—cloudy with your typical citrus, coriander and spice flavors are there—but everything comes together in a deliciously balanced, tart and refreshing brew.
Beer #2: Shackmeister Ale
Location: Shack Shake (both the CitiField and NYC locations)
This amber, American style pale confused me at first; I was expecting a huge flavor bomb to go with the famous burgers but was left baffled after a few sips. Once I took a bite of my Shack Shake burger, however, I understood completely: this beer is supposed to be second fiddle.
Shackmeister is a strong hoppy smelling brew, but has an almost thin mouth feel. The thinness doesn’t carry over to the flavor since this bubbly beverage is balanced and full bodied. The direct, subtle flavors perfectly cut through the rich, juicy meat and allow you to enjoy each burger as if you bit into it the first time. I especially loved the way the beer cleansed my palate after chomping on the crispy, burnt edges of my patty.
Beer #3: Sabroso Ale
Location: El Verano Taqueria
I’d tasted this brew at a previous game at CitiField and was blow away by how bold it was. The beer pours a dark golden-bronze with a fluffy white head that even the CitiField wind can’t blow away. Full of aromatic hops, the brew is sharp and has a pleasant, lingering bite.
I snacked on some elote corn (corn on the cob rubbed with a thick mayo, queso blanco and chile) and the Sabroso did a great job of keeping the heat at bay. This would be my go to beer at CitiField if it weren’t for the final beer I tried.
Beer #4: Blue Smoke Ale
Location: Blue Smoke (both Citifield and NYC location)
After researching a bit it seems that Blue Smoke Ale is a combination of two Brooklyn beers. Whatever it may be, the beer is the heaviest of the specialty brews available and sports a deep reddish-hued and stark white head. The brew is also has the biggest balls of the available Brooklyn beers which probably has to do with standing up to the spicy-tang of the Blue Smoke barbecue sauce.
The brew has a smooth, full body with a vibrant carbonation. I enjoyed it with an underwhelming pulled pork sandwich (I should have gotten the ribs) and can only imagine how good this beer is when paired with a heaping plate of bbq. This beer is by far my favorite offering at “Taste of the City”.
Manifest Destiny
Keep your eyes out for a brand new tastyCHOMP website! I’ve retired from my job as a waiter and will be hitting the road seeking some of the country’s most delicious brews and chomps!
I’m going to be moving to Portland, Oregon so while I’m fulfilling my Manifest Destiny I will be writing a few articles for Ale Street news (more info on that to come!) and possibly conducting a few interviews. The new site should be ready to go within a week so keep checking back for updates!
Cheers!
I’m going to be moving to Portland, Oregon so while I’m fulfilling my Manifest Destiny I will be writing a few articles for Ale Street news (more info on that to come!) and possibly conducting a few interviews. The new site should be ready to go within a week so keep checking back for updates!
Cheers!
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