Can the Thanksgiving turkey be happy when paired with a glass of beer? This coupling has been pushed hard in recent Novembers by beer drinkers tired of having to play second fiddle to wine sippers during the big feast.

I have made some forays in this mating game, some successful, some not. I plan to try again this year and will keep you posted on how things go.

Meanwhile the U.S.Craft Brewers  has matched beer styles with various holiday main courses. A traditional roast turkey, it says, goes well with a Vienna style lager, a smoked turkey yearns for a porter, and a Cajun bird needs the company of strong Scotch ale.

Anybody got a guess-who-is-coming-to-dinner story about  beer showing up at the Thanksgiving table?

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Never have I seen so many firkins in one place, dispensing so much delight. Thirty firkins, small kegs of naturally carbonated beer, were at the Wharf Rat on Pratt Street on Saturday afternoon pleasuring a gathering of The Chesapeake Bay Branch of the Society for the Preservation of Beers from the Wood. About 400 fans of cask-conditioned beer attended.

Traditionally, a firkin has been made of wood; nowadays some are made of metal. Regardless of the vessel, the yeast in the beer creates its own bubbles, or carbonation. A hand-operated pump moves the beer from the firkin to the glass. The result, according to its proponents, is a beer with delicate flavors, and less gas than colder, more carbonated brews.

Like some candidates for president, I have flip-flopped on firkins. I was against-em. Then I drank hand-pumped beers in Britain. Now I am for-em. I have become a believer in the big-tent outlook, welcoming many different kinds of beer, regardless of their country of origin, or their delivery system.

Saturday, two of my favorites were the Lancaster Rare Rooster, a Pennsylvania brew made with rye, and the Moorehouses Black Cat Bitter, and a beer from “across the pond.” Both these beers were refreshing, relatively low in alcohol, and yet carried plenty of flavor.

I also enjoyed ordering two locals, Oliver Hot Monkey Love and Clay Pipe Old Toad Scrotum. It is not every day you get to say, “Gimme some Toad!” After spending an afternoon in such good company, even the ride home on the Light Rail seemed pleasant.

Any other favorite firkin brews?

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Interesting piece in Friday’s Wall Street Journal  detailing the growth of the craft beers affiliated with SABMiller, Molson-Coors and Anheuser-Busch. It points out that the labels on the craft beers don’t necessarily disclose that the big brewers own them.

For me the key sentences explaining the growth of these brews are these two. “In the U.S., beer generally must be sold through distributors, and the big brewers have larger distribution networks than the independent brewers do. If a mass market brewer wants to add a new brew to its lineup, it can more easily attract an audience for it.”

Is this a step toward better beer? Do we think that for example Jacob Leinenkugel, owned by Miller, is really a craft beer? Or is it posing? Perhaps these big boys, with their distribution prowess, will bring more folks into the craft fold.

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I got an invitation in the mail the other day to a party that will be held on Halloween night in New Orleans celebrating Dixie Brewing Co.’s 100th anniversary and toasting the efforts to “rebuild and rebeer America.” Hurricane Katrina whacked the brewery that makes Dixie Beer, a brew that is the Natty Boh of New Orleans, in August 2005. Since then, its beers have been brewed at Minhas Craft Brewery in Monroe, Wis.

Joe Falcone, the beer manager of Wells Discount Liquors on York Road, told me that 10 years ago he used to “sell the heck” out of Dixie’s Blackened Voodoo beer at Halloween. “It was a dark beer, smooth, not bad,” Falcone said. Falcone said he hasn’t seen Dixie beers in Maryland for years. Now he says the big seller at Halloween is Rogue’s Dead Guy Pale Ale. “It has luminous paint on the label and if you set it next to a light, it will glow for hours,” he said.

Any other scary beers out there?

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Thanks to Mr. Pilsener for his post relaying an explanation from AllAboutBeer.com written by Dave Gausepohl on the origin of the term growler. The part that rings true to me is that dads and grandads used to growl when their offspring spilled the bucket of beer fetched from the local tavern. 

 I am still partial to my explanation, that the empty pail “growled” when it traveled across the top of the bar.

 Next topic: outdoor beers. On a golden autumn afternoon, when I should have been handcuffed to my computer, I slipped out and had a beer, for research purposes, on the Baltimore waterfront. Sitting at the DuClaw Brewing Company on Bond Street, sipping their light, slightly fruity Bare Ass Blonde Ale, I thought of the words of that noted singer and philosopher, Otis Reading, who sang “Sittin’ on the dock of the bay, watching the tide roll away, sittin' on the dock of the bay, wastin' time.”

 I started making a list of good places to grab a good brew on a sunny day. DuClaw’s Bond Street location in midafternoon was an obvious starter. Others included the tables outside One World Café on University Parkway across the street from the Johns Hopkins stadium. Nothing like sipping a draft of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale while watching taut athletes run past you. My third is a table outside the Wharf Rat on Pratt Street -- a spot that can be noisy, thanks to the Pratt Street traffic, but festive.

What are some other favorite outdoor spots to grab a beer?

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Two interesting beer articles today.

Check out the piece in The Sun today by my colleague Sam Sessa detailing the demise of brewpubs in Baltimore, many pushed out by higher rents. Gone are the Baltimore Brewing Company, Sisson’s aka Ryleigh’s and most recently Capitol City in Harborplace.

Meanwhile a piece on the opinion page of today’s The New York Times by Brooklyn Beer’s Garrett Oliver argues that “today the United States has by far the most exciting beer culture in the world, and America’s 1,500 craft brewers are undaunted by the prospect of a juggernaut that would have 30 percent of the domestic market.” Oliver says craft brewers need not fear the proposed merger of Miller and Coors because the “age of American industrial brewing is over.”

What do we think? Is our glass of craft beer half empty or half full? Or is it that good beer can no longer be brewed in high-rent settings?

Posted by Rob Kasper at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

This is probably preaching to the converted, but there are two big beer events on the horizon. Tomorrow, Oct. 20, the Brewers Association of Maryland will put on its 6th annual Oktoberfest celebration at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium from noon until 8 p.m. Beers from 12 local breweries will be served. Tickets are $20 at the door.

The following Saturday, Oct. 27, the 4th Annual Chesapeake Real Ale Festival will be held from 1-6 p.m. at the Wharf Rat at Camden Yards, 206 W. Pratt St. Tickets are $35 at the door, $25 in advance, and can be ordered here. Dominic Cantalupo, president of the Chesapeake Bay branch of the Society for Preservation of Beers From the Wood, says approximately 22 breweries and about 30 firkins of real ale will be there.  Nice time of year to be a beer drinker.

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Brewer’s Art, the classy craft brewpub and restaurant on North Charles Street, is getting into the bottled beer business. They are putting their Green Peppercorn Triple in 750-milliliter bottles. It should be in selected area liquor stores by Halloween, selling at around $10 a bottle, said Brewer’s Art honcho Volker Stewart. It is being bottled at Sly Fox Brewery west of Philadelphia, and distributed by Sanders Distributing in Taneytown. Over the course of the next year, three other brews will be bottled, he said.

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Thanks for the good advice yesterday on where we can get our growlers filled. Glad to hear that DuClaw, Ellicott Mills and Red Brick Station are keeping the tradition alive. I have never come across a definitive explanation of how the growler got its name. The explanation that makes the most sense is that the beer-carrying vessels used to be metal buckets. When an empty bucket slid across the bar it made a growling noise. Any other theories?

'Tis the season to drink Oktoberfest beers, but what do we eat with them? The folks at Beck’s and Anheuser-Busch, which distributes Beck’s in the United States, have some suggestions. Pair the beer with bratwurst or sausage, hearty chili, pumpkin pie and raisin bread, says a Beck’s press release. Raisin bread?

A cookbook due to reach stores in January, Great Food, Great Beer from Anheuser-Busch, suggests serving braised beef short ribs, roasted vegetables or a skillet full of sausages and potatoes with the beer.

 A grilled brat, on dark rye, gets my vote for best food partner with an Oktoberfest. Any other favorite combos?

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While poking around in my basement, I spotted two old growlers, large glass vessels that hold the equivalent of a six-pack of draft beer. One growler, a dark brown number, was from the old Baltimore Brewing Company (BBC). The other, a glass jug, was from Sisson’s, Baltimore's first brewpub. They are leftovers from the days when you bought a growler full of beer from an establishment and from that point on, you simply carried the empty vessel back to the tap and paid for a refill. It was recycling at its beery best.

Once the BBC and Sisson’s closed, I had empty growlers and no tap to fill them. Albert Kirchmayr was in a similar situation, but he is putting his old growlers to good use. When, after a long day of making chocolate in his Timonium store, Kirchmayr arrives at his home in eastern Baltimore County, he grabs a couple of empty BBC growlers. He then hops on his bike and cycles about half a mile to the home of his neighbor Dave Schreiber. There Kirchmayr fills up the growlers from a keg that the two men have jointly purchased.The keg sits in a beer fridge that Schreiber, a professional woodworker, has modified for easy tapping. The growlers have a tight seal. Kirchmayr places his full growlers in the bicycle’s basket and pedals home.

Good beer and no carbon footprint. Give that man the Nobel Prize.

Question of the day: What are you doing with your old growlers?

Posted by Rob Kasper at 7:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
                    

Congrats to Hugh Sisson and the crew at Clipper City for snagging two medals, gold and a bronze, at this year’s Great American Beer Festival. The winners were announced Saturday night in Denver. BaltoMarzHon, the gold medal winner, was named the best Vienna Style Lager in the national competition. McHenry won a bronze in American Style lager. Well deserved. McHenry, Sisson reminds, is basically a take on the old National Premium recipe. Residing in the land of pleasant living gets even better.

 The only other Maryland brewery to medal in this year’s national competition -- the World Series of beer -- was Bethesda’s Rock Bottom Brewery. It picked up a gold for its 1065 Brown Bear Brown, a silver for its 1065 Firechief Ale, and a bronze for its 1065 Right on Rye. I have never tasted their stuff. Anybody out there have a read on them?

It is great fun, by the way, to prowl the Great American Beer Website. You can look winners up by state. Pennsylvania won a slew. Stoudts, Troegs and Victory all medaled. Victory’s Prima Pils, one of my favorites, picked up silver in the German Style Pilsner competition. The gold medal winner in that category was Pikeland Pils from Sly Fox Brewing in Royersford and Phoenixville, Pa., west of Philadelphia. Never had this pils either, but am gonna go looking for it. Anybody out there tasted it?

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Last Friday I heard an interesting story on Marketplace, broadcast on National Public Radio. The Marketplace reporter, Kate Golden, interviewed a bicycle mechanic in Oakland, Calif., who repairs bikes in exchange for beer.

That got me thinking of the jobs I have done for beer. The worst was helping a friend move a sofa bed down two flights of steps in a narrow Federal Hill house. The sofa bed got stuck in a stairwell. But after the sofa bed got “lubricated,” so did we.

Have you ever worked for beer?

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Quick note to say thanks for the big welcome. The people who keep track of such statistics tell me the number of comments and page views yesterday was impressive for a beginning blog. The reaction is a testimony, I think, to this community’s deep interest in good beer.

Bruce asked in his comment where he might find Oktoberfish from Flying Fish. The answer appears to be, who knows?

 The local distributor for the beer, Sanders Distributing, told me today it is sold out. The Wine Source in Hampden, which provided the beers for our tasting that picked the beer as a favorite, is also sold out. The store tried to reorder Oktoberfish from Sanders but was told the cupboard is bare. Bummer.

Has anybody out there had a sighting of Oktoberfish?  If so, please share the wealth by posting below.

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I stopped at The Brewer's Art not long ago for a benefit that raised $1,500 to fight Parkinson’s disease, the affliction that recently took the life of the noted British writer and world expert on beer, Michael Jackson. Joe Gold, a Baltimore-area beer savant who knew Jackson and who worked for a number of craft brewers, including Young’s Brewing in London, organized the benefit. He is now a commercial real estate analyst for Washington Savings Bank in Bowie.

A highlight of the evening came when Gold wielded a giant 9-liter bottle of St Feuillien Belgian Triple. Gold said he had snagged the rare bottle about 5 years ago from Joe Falcone at Wells Liquors and had been waiting for the right occasion to uncork it. Gold lifted the massive vessel and poured glasses for the gathering. At the stroke of 9, glasses were raised as part of a nationwide toast to the memory of Jackson. Gold described the beer as having “a mellow palate” with “hints of honey.”

Gold’s Timonium neighbors, Tom McGrain and Paul Simoes, were also there. They said that lately Gold had been acquainting them with the world of fine beers. Using a description they knew would get a rise out of their neighbor, they compared the St. Feuillien Belgian Triple to Miller High Life, the champagne of bottled beers.

Along with other big mugs on the Baltimore beer scene such as Volker Stewart of the Brewer’s Art and Kasey Hard of Max’s on Broadway, Gold told tales of his encounters with Jackson. During one of Jackson’s visits to Baltimore, Gold took him to O’Brady’s Crab House on the 3400 block of S. Hanover St. for jumbo steamed crabs and bottles of Guinness Stout.

Question: Where would you have taken Michael Jackson for beer?

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Greetings, fellow beer lovers. This is my mission: to drink good beer, to spread the word, and to spark interesting and entertaining discussion about the beer-drinking life.

I am one of those people who get paid to eat and drink. I have been doing it for a while. When I asked Paul McCardell, one of The Sun’s Cracker Jack librarians, to find my earliest writing about beer, he pulled a clip from 1984. Back then I had lots of hair and one small child. Now I have as little hair as Cal Ripken, and my kids, two guys in their 20s, are grown and mostly gone. But as offspring do, they return home occasionally to drink their dad’s beer. One, who lives in Anniston, Ala., and works for a newspaper (you would think he would know better), loves craft beer, especially Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA. The other, who works at a financial consulting firm near Washington, prefers Yuengling lager.

My wife rarely drinks beer. The other night when I gave her samples of three Imperial Pilsners I was reviewing for today's newspaper -- Sam Adams, Dogfish Head and Rogue --- she sipped all three and said, “Yuck.” So it goes on the homefront.

Like most residents of this town, I am fiercely local. Yet I do recognize that there is good beer beyond Baltimore. When I venture out of town to attend food conferences, family gatherings, or a college-scouting trip (thank the Lord those days are over), I make it a point to sample the local suds. I have fond memories of a microbrew festival in Portland, Ore., a beer-making class at Anchor Steam in San Francisco, and sipping Otter Creek ales in Middlebury, Vt. Recently I discovered there is good beer in the Kansas City airport; a bar in the Southwest and Delta terminal sells Boulevard, a local favorite. The bar, however, closes at 6 p.m. I know because I got turned away, thirsty, at 6:02. I suppose my writing on this blog will be quick and dirty as opposed to complex and geeky. Just for the record, I am not now, nor have I ever been, a beer geek.

Now on to the beer...

One of the first places I stopped in my role as a beer blogger was Todd Carpenter’s backyard in Catonsville. Every fall for the past 17 years, he and his home-brewing buddy, Chris Ricketts, have a Saturday afternoon Oktoberfest party. About 100 folks drop in and sample the beers that Carpenter and Ricketts have brewed.

“It is a guy’s kind of party, not very organized,” Carpenter told me. "We invite people -- if they come, fine; if not, it means more beer for us." This year, he said, he was inspired to name his beers in honor of Beatles songs. There was Penny Lane Lager, Please, Please Me American Pale Ale, Let It Be Brown Ale, and Octopus’s Porter. I had a Penny Lane lager; it was crisp, refreshing with an unusual hint of sweetness.

These guys make good beer and know how to have a good time. Question of the day: What are you drinking that you are liking?

Posted by Rob Kasper at 6:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (64)