Pawn the flat-screen and take out a payday loan: We're goin to Hooters!

Two things, certainly, have leaped out at us time and time again from highway billboards on this road trip: Hooter girls and their boobs!

And pawn shops, check cash'in shops, title shops, and payday loan shops.

Is this a great country or what?

Notes on Asheville, North Carolina

Preceding my visit I heard the following about Asheville, all of which turned out to be true or at least probably true:

“I was born and raised in Asheville. Went away for 20 years. When I came back this year it had all changed and I couldn't afford to live there any more.”

“People go there and fall in love with it. They move there and never leave.”

“San Francisco east. And hippies.”

“You could spend a week in Asheville easy. Sampling the beer.”

“They may have more lesbians per capita than anywhere else in the US.”

Here's my brief take on spending just a day wandering around the downtown area.

George Washington Vanderbilt II purchased 125,000 acres there in the late 1800s and played a huge role in its development. He hired Gifford Pinchot to manage the vast mountain forests. This was the first time in US history where forest was managed and not just clear-cut with no thought for the future. Later Pinchot went on to be friends with Teddy Roosevelt who appointed him the first chief of the US Forest Service. Later in life, Pinchot moved and designed and built an interesting home and landscaped grounds, Grey Towers west of Milford PA and later was elected governor of PA--twice in two non-consecutive terms. We visited Grey Towers earlier in July and that's a story unto itself.

But I diverge. For those who haven't been there I would describe Asheville in terms of being a combination of other places, making it unique in its own right.

I would say that it's one part Boulder Colorado due to the mountain splendor and the great beer. However, the mountains are all green in Asheville while in Boulder they're blue/grey rock.

There's a dash of New York city urban sophistication due to the restaurants, art galleries, cool old buildings (which the city elders have had the great sense to not tear down), and happening music scene in clubs and spontaneously in the streets and public spaces.

I'd mix in one part downtown Sedona due to the new-age vibe and incense and peppermint wafting from certain areas. However, in Asheville it's a bit more upscale where in Sedona it seems blatantly touristy.

Finally, I would mix in a bit of San Francisco due to the diverse people you meet there--the art movie theater--the music scene. And the hills.

It's a great town and I would most definitely recommend it to anyone for a visit--not just for the beer but the whole package. The streets are clean and nice and the people are uniformly friendly.

N.B. You will find other information on the Asheville beer scene from a Pennsultuckian's slant, over at Pubcrawlin.

French Broad Brewing

When I heard of French Broad Brewing of Asheville, I immediately imagined a french broad making french ales in her farmhouse! And maybe goat cheese.

Reality much more conventional however, is such that French Broad is a river in western NC that flows into Tennessee.

Sorry!

Musings on Ales and Hop Flavor and Aroma

Being from NEPA I regularly enjoy local brews like Weyerbacher Hops Infusion and Double Simcoe IPA; Victory Hop Devil, Hop Wallop> and the seasonal Yakima Twilight; Dogfish Head 60 and 90 minute I.P.A; Troegs Nugget Nectar and more recently Stoudt's American Pale Ale.

These beers are similar with respect to the intensity of hop-forward aroma and taste, and also similar to the west cost ``hoppy'' ales like Bear Republic's Racer 5, Lagunitas Hop Stupid, Stone, Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA, and other beers of that ilk.

But after visiting Barley's and Jack of the Wood in Asheville and Foothills Brewing in Winston-Salem, and trying some let's say mid-south or Appalachian or just simply North Carolina beers, I came to the realization that there's another different and excellent take on hoppy brews bearing a pale ale or india pale ale style.

I had Hoppyum IPA, Seeing Double IPA, and a Pilot Mountain Pale Ale at Foothills; Green Man IPA at Jack of the Wood; and French Broad Brewery's Rye Hopper and Pisgah Brewing Company's Organic Pale Ale at Barley's.

And later in Memphis I had a Yazoo Pale Ale and Schlafly Dry-Hopped APA from Nashville and St. Louis respectively. These were more hop-forward and in similar in intensity to east and west coast hoppy ales.

So basically, I book-ended a few North Carolina beers with beers from the mid-west and my familiar east and west coast hoppy beers.

What did I learn?
My totally non-scientific conclusion is that if you're coming from an east or west coast hoppy ale mindset, you will find some of these styles of beers from the North Carolina area of the country, different. Wow, big revelation, no?

These beers are great in their own right however and are not to be dismissed. What makes them great are the more subtle hop-forward aroma and flavor. This makes them highly sessionable as they don't have the ``burn'' of the more hop-forward beers which sometimes, a pint is all one can handle. The bitterness is there all right, giving them that fantastic dryness that is hard to beat when it's hot.

Bravo!

Foothills Brewing

I left City Beverage with a six-pack of local NC brews to take back to PA and mused on the great times and the host of new and interesting friends made at Foothills Brewing in Winston-Salem. You know, I have not yet happened upon, during this de Tour, a nicer bunch of fellow beer drinker lads and lasses! I feel blessed in this sense. Thank you!

Wow! A whole section of the beer cooler devoted to NC brews. H, J, and M were not joshing when they said they had the best selection around. AND, mix and match to fill a six-pack. You like that? You like that?? I know I do. Egggggggggssssssaaaaaaaaaaaalentttttttttt!

The Hoppiest Fellow on Earth and his wife were kind to give me directions to City Beverage which were spot on. Rain? Not a problem. I'm floating on a velvet sea of beer foam!

Met the brewmaster Jamie, the nicest fellow--props to you and your guys on your World Beer Cup medal for Sexual Chocolate Imperial Porter. M and J implore me to backtrack east and visit Natty Greene's in Greensboro before I had west again; Jamie advises if you must do one place in Asheville make it Barley's and the Green Man; Hoppiest Fellow's wife says Bluegrass if you make it to Kentucky and the Mellow Mushroom in Asheville is good too. When do I have to be back at work? Next year?

Is it raining outside? Who knows, but the taps are raining beer in here!

Did you say you home brewed? These immortal words ushered a new era of north-south beer relations and it was with these words that I introduced myself to M and J at the bar and we proceeded to spend the next two hours ruminating over beers drank and yet to be drank--barleywines and double I.P.As a favorite of M, the merits of floral and herbal hops, home brewing, beer visits, tours, crawls and such.



Through the front doors awaits a spacious (30' x 30') dining room with a wood floor. The original wall to the left is brick. Straight through the dining room to the back though awaits the real treasure: A high trussed-ceiling taproom with what must be a 40' bar running down almost the entire length of the left wall with the brewery beyond that behind glass windows. There must be space for at least 20 beer drinking stools at the bar. The bar-top is constructed of laminated maple strips and must be 30 inches wide and sports a large Chicago-style bar rail. The back bar is impressive: a lower section of storage spans the length of the bar; at bar-height three wide sections delineated by square columns constructed of what looks to be cherry house deep shelves for glassware and liquor, also spanning the length of the bar. An impressive mirror dominates the center section of the back bar etched with Foothills Brewing. AND, crowing each end section and extending to the ceiling are wine lattice with storage for perhaps 300 wine bottles. WoW!

The Foothills Brewing building was at one time a Plymouth car dealership. After that a garage and a night club just prior to being converted to a brewery.

The day began overcast with scattered beer showers and stayed that way most of the day across North Carolina.

Blue Mountain Brewery

After crossing the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains on I64, we got off the highway and traveled south on I51 to the Blue Mountain Brewery.

The three year old brewery is located in a nondescript building sitting up off of the road on the left as you travel the winding and rolling valley.

Immediately striking is what must be an acre or two of Cascade and Centennial hops growing around the brewery. This is no conversation planting however--there's enough here for three batches according to the bar keep. The Cascade vines are only a year old and are pruned to have only one vine--the base of the plants are bushy and evidence of pinching off of the other vines. It is a constant fight in growing season as trailers come off seeming every day. We usually leave three or four vines and spread them across the trellis to travel vertically. The Centennial hops to the south of the brewery are productive and in their third or fourth growing season. As a matter of fact, the brewery is hosting a hop-picking party Monday August 2. Food and cold beer for of-age volunteers who can give a couple hours picking. Sounds like a party to me! Oh. And you can't beat the aroma of fresh hops too!

There's a wonderful porch and patio outside the brewery to the west and south overlooking the hop fields. The patio was packed when we got there about 7.

Inside, the bar is set to the left side of the front door and is a linear affair along the wall. A beautiful oak bar top and chicago bar rail completes the scene nicely. Behind the bar is a low back bar with windows over it looking out to a row of fermenters or serving tanks in the brewery. The tanks are nice to gaze upon while enjoying a cool beer but a bit boring as they don't talk and tell the happy stories of beers offered to the interesting people who've drank them.

To the right of the front door is a large dining/beer garden are with clusters of small tables and a couple large tables with benches for beer garden drinking German style. On the right end-wall is a nice stone fireplace.

Blue Mountain Brewery's Rockfish Wheat is the 2010 World Beer Cup silver medal winner in the American-Style Wheat Beer category. This category had 16 entries so it wasn't a gimme! The beer's name is an homage to the valley in which this brewery sits--the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west and another lower range a few miles off to the east.

The beer was served with a citrus wedge and mighty tasty. One of the best wheat beers we've ever had for certain!

There were a number of their other beers on draught too but we had places to go and things to do and had to cut it short at just one. The brewery bottles six-packs of their beers for sale at the brewery too. That's just great.

N.B. A $4.00 pint costs $4.36 which includes sales tax. :O(

Dry, dry dry

The Potomac and Shenandoah rivers near Harpers Ferry were mighty low. They don't appear dissimilar to a rocky, arid, lunar landscape. There were cars parked along the road along the river, and tubers, rafters, and such at pulloffs. I can't imagine there being enough water to enjoy these activities.

After this, we passed over the Appalachian Trail on I64 towards Afton Virginia on the way to Blue Mountain Brewery. Passing through at about 7 pm with evening daylight playing on the mountains, the blue tint was unmistakable. I always thought NEPA had the prettiest scenery but this area gives us a run for the money.

Maryland deTours

Frederick Maryland is home to Flying Dog and Brewer's Alley Restaurant and Brewery.

Frederick is an old colonial town and one of its claims to fame is for being the burial place of Francis Scott Key. The confederate troops also marched through here on their way to Gettysburg.

Flying Dog was a near miss except for a photo at the brewery. That's enough to make any `ol dog bark, eh? I'm presuming there's a hidden grain elevator in there.

There was a small patch of hops growing on a side patio--not nearly enough for even a 5-gallon batch but hey, it's a conversation starter for sure.

We met a woman leaving for the day and we learned tours are on Saturday--but no tasting afterward. Flying Dog is unsure of the legality of having tastings as there is no specific state law in Maryland that allows or prohibits doing so. She said that sometime soon there would be word one way or another on the policy. Call the brewery for details before you take this deTour.

Brewer's Alley

Brewer's Alley has an entrance on an alley but that's the only connection with there ever having been an alley-way in Frederick with a cluster of breweries along it.

This fine old building housing the brewery/restaurant was the city hall for a while and then an opera house.
















This archway beckons as the entrance to beervana.












Inside the tap room, wonderful coffered-marble ceilings supported by massive columns, reach almost to the heavens. I mistook the building for an old bank before I knew better!

The bar is a very well maintained U-shaped design--legs of the U are about 12 feet long and the base of the U is about 20-25 feet long. The bar top of oak is crowned with a slick bull-nose bar rail detail. The back bar is a stubby peninsula containing liquor and such. Taps are arrayed on the back of the front bar--a set on each side of the U.

The brewery is to the left as you walk into the tap room. There was brewing activity when I was in but I took a vow of silence on what was in the works.

Everything on draught save for an Old Dominion Root Beer and a cider, seemed to be Brewer's Alley own beers.

I chose the India Pale Ale which was the silver medal winner in the English-Style India Pale Ale Category for 2010. I can see why it won a silver medal as it's very English: proper, polite, and dry-humored.

There was a Resinator beer on cask coming in at a strong 9.8% ABV, and it resonated all right, just not at my frequency which tuned to try other beers this day.

This place is easily within driving distance of NEPA so it wouldn't be bad for a day trip.

Catoctin Valley

The section of i15 that passes near the Catoctin valley is as gorgeous as when the same highway passes north of Billtown (Williamsport). Once the Catoctin valley extends north beyond the Virginia border it becomes the Middletown valley but historically even this section has been called the Catoctin valley.

Troegenator

well.

here we are.

It's a beeeee-you-teeee-full day in PA and we're in Pennsylvania's capital, Harrisburg (don't hold governmental corruption against the brewery, please[!]), and home to Troegs brewery and their magnificent Troegenator® Double Bock, the gold medal winner in the German style bock category of the 2010 World Beer Cup.

the last time i had this great brew was out of a bottle.

in the winter.

cooled in the snow.

in the middle of an engine swap of BroJ's Focus.

Good then on draught in a pint. Better now.

Best part of every day.

Beer de Tour

This is the day we hit the road to sample World Beer Cup brews and world famous barbecue.

Disconnected points shall be reachable by transporter. Or just imagined.


View Larger Map

Hey Tazio, what's in the Beer Meister?

weeeeelllll, let's see....

Verrastro's had a wonderful selection of beers in the cooler--the likes of which I haven't seen here in a long time. Props fellows.

Even with so many choices, selection came quickly with two Pennsylvania ales that have not yet graced the Beer Meister's icy environs.

First came Weyerbacher Verboten Belgian-style Pale Ale. Pleasantly different and simply wonderful tasting and refreshing--a perfect summer beer to me buds. Zeer goed!

The second sixtel came from Stoudt's, to my understanding, represented in this cooler for the first time.

Their flagship brew: American Pale Ale. This is a swirling cascade of 4.8% ABV summertime fun. Very session-able in a very colony sort of way, really. Eggggggggggggsalenttttttttttt!

N.B.: A stop at Stoudt's in Adamstown is a must if you're in the neighborhood, although it's been a while since I've been there.

N.B.^2: Ruminating on the pleasures of the walk-in cooler in the summer engages the mind with thoughts of a perfect escape: A night spent in the beer cooler with a parka and tap. Glassware? Definitely not necessary on this primitive adventure!

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Traffic nightmares on I81 we can all believe in.

Slimey the Imposter

Zymurgy detailed a Russian River Brewing Company Pliny the Elder clone recipe this month.

Quite a complex hop bill for this one even before substitution.

Props to Vinnie Cilurzo for the recipe.

Will be firing up the brew house later today and in honor of Pliny, will be closely observing the new brew kettle for a Vesuvian eruption. If I'm found buried in malt, you'll know what happened.

Epic!

The End of History

Kudos to Brewdog for pushing the limits of acceptability.

$765 a bottle beer (Sadly, 700 out of my price range.)

I wouldn't have held back and used stuffed squirrels, though.