How far we've come, yet how close we are...

You know, I miss my Babcia. She passed away oh, about 10 years ago, and I still think of her and the times we shared. I inherited a lot from her and it amazes just me how deep that goes. For example, my great-grandfather (her father) loved to build and a house he built still stands going out of Mocanaqua towards Glen Lyon. It's the house beside the diving bell--it's hard to miss--it's the one with the plumb walls and level roof.

I used to sit in awe of the stories she told about how she had to pay kids in grade school to tell her what the teacher was saying--she only knew Polish and no English. Tales about their family constantly moving to find work--Mocanaqua, Gary Indiana, Kentucky, back to Mocanaqua. I miss those recollections.

I inherited her love for travel--going with her on Greyhound to visit my Aunt Charlotte and Uncle George in Michigan. Taking the Greyhound from Shickshinny to Wilkes-Barre for the Cherry Blossom Festival. Flagging down and riding the Greyhound (again!) to Bloomsburg for the Fair, then coming home by myself on said bus (at the ripe old age of 8) after getting separated from her for what seemed like the Fair, a perennial occurrence.

I inherited something else from her too. We both brought and I continue to bring growlers of beer for our fathers. Can you believe it? I remember her telling me how after a hard day in the mines, her father would give her a nickle to go to the beer garden and bring back a bucket of beer. I would imagine he felt out of place there, probably only knowing Polish, and probably too dog-tired to go himself. But at the same time knowing that he needed a beer to relax after the tenseness of working underground all day. These days, I do the same thing. I, being fortunate enough to usually have a couple of beers on draught, usually fill a gallon sun tea jug for when I go see my Dad (except during Lent). Right now, he's building a house and a gallon of whatever I happen to have, goes a long way to cool the frazzled nerves.

I didn't know my great-grandfather but I think I'd have loved him. Just like my Dad.

Free Meal at a nice Bar and Grill

Who says there's no such thing as a free beer? I don't know of any--I usually just borrow it for a while until I drain the brain if you know what I mean. Well, in this case the beer's not free but the food is (almost). The Arena Bar and Grill at 380 Coal St. in Wilkes-Barre PA has an excellent beer menu and serves fairly good pub grub. If you go and sign up for mailings, they'll periodically send you a postcard that you can bring in to save $10.00 on your next meal. It's not valid after Penguin games. They have a lot of imports and domestic microbrews on tap--I would say at least 20--and they change pretty often. This placed used to be the lamentable Black Rock Brewing Company (Brewpub).

Oh. I don't have any financial interest in the Arena Bar and Grill. I just like it. Check it out.

Head Topping

What do you call it when you pour your favorite beer into a glass and the head tops the rim and overflows down the side? Is there a word for that event? Depending on your general outlook on things this could be viewed as a happy or unfortunate occurrence. Happy since that image of a slightly overflowing beer is one of legend and also unfortunate as this equates to wasting.

Let's try out a couple for size. Wasteage? Sounds too toxic. Spillage? Seems too mundane--like the expense a bar might incur by too-hasty barmaids filling shot glasses. Rimming? Too much like child-birth. How about these: ``storming the Bastille'' or a ``bishop's defrockment''. In context: ``Joe, stop pouring otherwise you'll storm the Bastille.'' Or ``Sebastian, slow down or that bishop's gonna be defrocked!''

The ``bishop's defrockment'' is kindof a play on the opposite of the term ``a bishop'' which is what you would call a beer that was poured short and less than what you paid for. I hate getting a bishop when I'm out anywhere and I usually send it back to get topped as I'm paying for a full glass. If there's no line on the glass, I expect it no more than 1/2" from the rim say, on a pint glass. Am I being anal on this?

Guilty Pleasures

I admit it--I like Blue Moon Belgian White. It's a nice thirst quenching beer and I've found that people who wouldn't otherwise like a craft beer take a liking to it. While it's not a craft beer per se, it is in that Twilight Zone of beers that serves to get people out of the Miller Light conundrum (mine not theirs) and into a more flavorful beer. It reminds me of ummmm, Cheerios. Do you have any beer that you hate to admit you like?

Beat the high cost of Hops. Grow your own!

Here's a link to a place where you can order Hop rhizomes in many varieties. And it looks like ordering opens up March 20, 2008. I don't have any financial interest in this place, nor have I ever purchased anything from them before--it's just something that I found after doing some research.

I suspect that Hop will grow here where I am in NEPA as my father told me that some grew wild behind the farmhouse where he grew up. Further, I read somewhere that up-state New York was a huge producer of Hop at one time (1800s) before the industry moved out west.

Has anyone grown them successfully in NEPA and can you give some gotcha pointers?

S, how long until this gift drys up?

It's mostly never appropriate to quiz a gift-giver how much a certain gift cost them. Especially if it's you who received the gift. Closeness to the giver may make it possible to ask but be careful as the risk assumed is like reaching across a field of dead soldiers after you've had one too many. One slip and the wrath of the Hop Devil could come tumbling down upon thee--no matter the good intentions. Most gifts are a known entity. That is, you open it, you see it/feel it/taste it/touch it/sense it. You either love it or hate it, and that's that. If you want to know further about the gift you can look up the cost behind the giver's back (unless it's a hand-made one like my revered homebrew beer gifts--shameless plug inserted here). Over and done. Bye Bye Baby Bye Bye.

The reason I ask this is because my friend S gave me a magnificent gift for Christmas and I don't know when this gift is going to end. I'm lucky huh? A bottomless mug of beer if you will. But, why should I even care as long as it's a gift that keeps on giving? Well, for one I hope this gift never ends, but to receive the gift I need to be home when this gift arrives with a rap on my door around lunch-time, once a month. This gift requires me to sign, no not as in for-the-deaf but an actual signature proving that I am indeed the rightful recipient of said gift. How many gifts have you received that you have to sign for? I feel special. I am the recipient of a domestic microbrew beer of the month club if you haven't guessed it already.

I've decided not to ask S about the extent of this gift. She meant it to be a surprise on the day she gave it and then every month thereafter. That there's no stated end to this gift serves as a reminder of all that is good in the world and that maybe, just maybe, this gift goes on forever.

Lurch and Libation

Where I work, let's just say a major telecommunication equipment provider, there has been a recent push to develop employees' careers. This after decidedly negative survey results were returned to management from the perennial make-the-employee-think-we-care-and-thereby-make-them-feel-good employee engagement survey. What is possibly meant by engagement is best left to another discussion, but in any event one of the career development possibilities offered was to either give or attend so-called lunch and learn sessions. For the inebrated, a lunch and learn is a way to impart some wisdom from one person or many to another or many, over lunch (thereby not creating any expense for the employer), usually in a conference room. Everyone brings their own lunch but this is not mandatory. I bet many companies do this or variations on this theme. There's also a social aspect as we get to meet perhaps new people and network. The first thought that came to my mind when I heard this suggestion was, hmmm, can we bring beer and if so who is the designated driver who guides us safely as we lurch back to our cubicles after libation?

One Guy Brewing Grand Opening

Me, my brother John and Dad rushed over to the One Guy Brewing Company on 328 West Front St. in Berwick PA on Saturday January 26th to participate in the opening of a new brewery owned and operated solely by one guy, Guy Hagner. The name of the brewery is One Guy Brewing.

The brewery and taproom is located in a oldish brick building that was formerly a bakery (Vaughn's?). The taproom is oh about 16' by 32' or 40' and simply and tastefully decorated with various original and reproduction artwork adorning the walls. There's an especially nice, large, vintage Pabst Blue Ribbon metal sign gracing the white back wall. On the front wall to the right of the front door as you enter is the bar and behind the bar is what looks like an original sliding wooden door the type you might see in an old warehouse that's painted a nice blue (Prussian blue?) that leads to the brewery and kitchen. Oh, there are about 10 bar stools and a few tables and chairs arrayed around the room as well. There's warm wooden flooring spreading across at least half and perhaps all of the taproom--I didn't get an especially good look at the other side of the seating area due to the mass of beermanity present. I didn't have a chance to anything but peek behind the blue door to see what was back there. Maybe next time?

There were a good 30 people there when we arrived on the scene just before 1 p.m. and by 2 p.m. I would say the taproom was thick with beer bellies that made it difficult to get around...perhaps 75 people packed the place by the time the ceremonial first keg was tapped. Guy himself was helping out behind the bar along with a couple of friends and were they ever busy pouring their savory brew into glasses, shakers (pints), and growlers! Word to the wise: there are growlers available for takeout and while we were there, I saw a number of them being filled.

We stood at a bistro table in front of the PBR sign and enjoyed the company of Uncle Sam who was present to officiate at the opening. Uncle Sam (a.k.a. Terry) was of course dressed in his Red, White, and Blue finest including stars and stripes top hat. What a sight! As it turns out, Terry put in the suspended ceiling for Guy.

I would say for the first hour there wasn't a letup from the customers queuing up in front of the bar to sample the various brews, but eventually it slowed down enough for Guy and his friends to bring out the wooden keg. But before tapping the keg Guy thanked everyone for coming and made a point that it couldn't have been done without a lot of his friends. I didn't catch anyone's name or know anyone personally, but he listed various friends who: helped find equipment for the brewery, put up the suspended ceiling, plumbed the placed, and helped behind the bar. He thanked his mother and father who were there, his sister and brother-in-law to be who traveled in for the opening from Boston, and finally his family kids and wife. Then, Guy himself, holding the mallet pulled his arm back and thunked a mighty blow that drove the tap home into the barrel to a roar of approval. Quickly he filled glasses, steins, and pints and raised them to shouts of Prost!

One Guy Brewing (Guy) has about six or seven of their own beers on tap including: Beer Number One (the first beer he brewed and served out of a wooden cask--a firkin?), Berwick Lager (faintly reminiscent in the finish of Yuengling Lager to me, but not corny tasting), a wonderfully light, refreshing Pils, a Peach Wheat (sorrowfully, I didn't taste it), a Rauch Bock (regretably didn't get a chance to exploit this one either), and one or two other beers I didn't taste. One Guy Brewing seems to have a definite German influence in their beer selections. Each beer was unique in character, like the brewery--I'll try to review them all later when the excitement dissapates a little!

I will most definitely go there again to savor all of the beers and perhaps get a chance to talk to Guy. If you're in the area and want to have a great pint or two you should stop by. You'll also have the chance to see first-hand one guy's fulfilled dream.

Contact Details
Guy Hagner
One Guy Brewing Company
guyhagner@aol.com
570-709-1056

Chicago via Scranton

Went to the matinee showing of Chicago yesterday in Scranton at the Scranton Cultural Center with my friend Sylvia. It was a rousing performance and it played to a packed house. I never saw the movie so I didn't know what to expect (Sylvia had) but I was pleasantly surprised by the performance. If you haven't seen it, the dancing is wonderful, the songs strong, and the story and comedy just off-the-wall enough to keep you honed in. It always amazes me how well these artists perform and they NEVER make any mistakes. Afterwards we went searching for that Brazilian Steakhouse, couldn't find it and ended up at Coopers. Sylvia says that my car has an internal beer compas that always seems to point us there (much to her chagrin). We sat in the non-smoking bar and I decided on the Victory Hop Wallop which I had never had before. (They had Victory Hop Devil from their hand-pump but I haven't been a huge fan of it in the past since it's hoppy and those aren't my favorite beers.) Well, I'm here to tell you that even though Hop Wallop is supposedly more hoppy yet, it ended up being very good and went well with my side of steamed clams and lobster parmesan (both excellent). It arrived in a pint glass with a snow-white head, one and a half amputated fingers high. The color was tending towards a light amber and to my Polish nose could make out very little hop aroma. The taste though, what a wallop. Once I recovered from the first bonk, I tried a second sip and the thing that came though to me and probably best describes the flavor was a strong herbal taste sensation with just the right amount of effervescence. The first went down easy and the second even easier. If you've not been to Coopers you really don't know what you're missing. They have oh, about 20 different micros both import and domestic on draft and they claim 400 different bottles. It's worth the trip

At least my taste Buds still work

You know, I often think (I may already be stretching it a bit here) that I should start trying to review the beers I drink. Oh, I don't drink a lot of different beers, I'm somewhere between a teetotaler and beer snob and probably sample oh, 50 new beers a year, but I don't review any of them. Oh, I'm a Beer Advocate but I've only reviewed one beer in about two years. Why? I'm color blind and can't really tell colors. Everything looks piss yellow to me. No, not really, but I really can't tell the color of a beer that well. Perhaps it pshychological and I should just try to colorize the beer based on what my tastebuds tell me: a tart beer? Oh it's greenish. A spicy beer? Red of course. Banana? Yellow. Piss? Well you get the idea. I suppose I could make up for it with my Bard-like writing qualities but would a reader understand this? I guess I'd have to put a warning prologue on each of my reviews: Warning: This beer has been reviewed by a blind, eyeless, beggar from NEPA. You have been warned. Or maybe I need Gordy Laforge visor that will show me true colors. Does anybody else have this problem and how do you handle it?

The Goat's in the Details

Here are some details about my Christmas brew recipe that I promised to post:


Batch #2; October 27, 2007; "Lock, Bock & Barrel"; Lager Style
Ingredients
9# amber malt extract
1/2# chocolate malt
1/2# crystal malt
1/4 #black carafe #I malt
1.5 oz hallertauer hops for flavor
.5 oz hallertauer hops for aroma
.5 oz sweet orange peel
46 g Fermentis S-23 yeast


Boil
Two gallons Glen Summit Spring Water
Bring water to 70 deg. C
Steep all grains at 70 deg. C for 30 minutes
Sparge spent grains
Bring to boil, add amber malt and flavor hops
Boil for 45 minutes
Add orange peel and aroma hops
Boil for 15 minutes.


Yeast rehydration
Boil 10 oz. Glen Summit Sprint water
Cool to 26 deg. C
Add two packets yeast
Stir every three minutes for 30 minutes


Primary Fermentation
Add three gal. Glen Summit Spring water to fermentation vessel
Transfer wort to fermentation vessel
Cool wort to 70 deg F.
Take and record original gravity (1.076)
Add yeast cream
Stir for two minutes
Airlock and place in refrigerator


Maintain 40 deg. F for two weeks
Transfer to airlocked secondary fermentation vessel
Take and record final gravity (1.026)


Diacetyl Rest
Move to room temperature for 24 hours ((11/10/2007) 62 deg F.)


Lagering
Move back to refrigerator and begin lagering
Gradually lower temperature from 41 deg. F (11/11/2007) to 30 deg. F
Maintain at 30 deg. F for 37 days


Bottling
Transfer to bottling vessel with 5 oz. of priming sugar
Transfer to bottles (12/18/2007) and cap
Condition at room temperature for six days
Transfer back to refrigerator until Christmas


Notes
I used twice the dosage of yeast since I was not able to maintain 53-59 deg F. fermentation temperatures in my refrigerator. My primary fermentation was about 40 deg. F. but there was still very good yeast activity at this temperature by visual observation. I basically winged it on this one as it was my first try at a lager. I read up as much as I could before-hand to achieve at least some level of drinkability!


I ended up only labeling a few with front and neck labels as I was having a hard time getting the labels to stick (see other posts). In the future I'm going to experiment before-hand to find the best in terms of ease of labeling, and ease of removal afterwards.


I think my F.G. was probably a bit lower than 1.026 as I didn't take my final reading just before bottling. Next time!


Tasting Notes
Medium brown in color, thin head, minimal lacing. Very little hop essence or flavor in the mouth. Very rounded, full, mouthfeel and it tasted almost wine-like. Gave to my brothers/uncles/father for Christmas gifts. Some of their comments: ``What was the alcohol content in that?'' and ``That was strong!'' and ``That was the best beer I've ever tasted.'' (after drinking a couple). I liked it but wished for a bit more hop flavor althought what I produced was probably fairly accurate for this style. It all went. Prost!

My take on cellaring

Problem: I don't really have enough space to brew as comfortably as I'd like. I do have the pharaoh of a spare refigerator to lager, the kitchen sink, etc., but wouldn't it be nice if I had my own dedicated, home brewery? Solution: I have been thinking of digging down another level in my basement--a cellar if you will, below the grade of the basement floor. Why? Well, for one, it would be a nice cool temperature down there where I can cellar beer the old-fashioned way. Two: it would give me space where I could keep all of my brewing stuff and not clutter up my bar area. Three: it could serve as armegeddon sheltering for when the nasty germs/evil terrorists/government comes a calling. It would have a hidden trap door and a ladder to climb down, to save space of course. I'd make it oh, 8x8 or 10x10. I'd have to put some supports to hold up the slab overhead but that should be a piece of cake. You know, I do have mining in my blood--I was wondering when it was going to manifest itself and it looks like it has. I would have to run some electricity down there. If I located it properly relative to the other facilities in the basement, I could put in a nice deep sink and pump the drain output up to the basement draining system--perhaps into the bar sink drain. Imminently doable. And as has been uttered before: ``Make it so number one.''

Christmas Beer Labels

By popular demand, here's the labels we came up with for our 2007 limited edition Christmas beer. It took a while to come up with something clean looking that would evoke the spirit of the Beer. There's at least two things going on in this label and perhaps more. If you find a third after quaffing your third, let me know. If you find just the first and 2nd meanings, then let me know, too. As I said, I had a difficult time getting these to stick.

Eastern PA. Beer Heaven?

Here's a fine article by Eric Asimov on extreme beers. His panel has some good things to say about Weyerbacher and their Double Simcoe I.P.A. Weyerbacher is a great brewery located in Easton and they make some of my favorite beers. Victory of Downingtown PA is mentioned for their Hop Wallop beer.

And here's another with a local slant on the Belgium styles and some places to go to have one (or two) with some good food. Specifically, Monk's Cafe in Philadelphia is mentioned.