Mon, 27 June 2011

Draft Beer Update
Wow, 1/2 the line-up turned over since Saturday evening.

Stoudts Brotherly Suds 2 replaced Dock Street Pimp My Rye. Brotherly Suds is a now annual tradition; a bunch of local brewers get together to collaboratively brew a beer for Philly Beer Week. This year's Brotherly Suds, number 2, was brewed at Stoudts. It's a hoppy lager brewed with Schmidts yeast to give it some old school local flavor.

My taste buds seem to be extra perceptive of yeast flavors and this beer really takes me back. My thoughts on drinking this are "Wow... Schmidts... again... after all this time" accompanied by memories of high school (but beer and high school, how could that be?). While many people are loving on this beer, and I can appreciate how well it is made, my sense memory mostly gives me thoughts of "eeehouu Schmidts". So while I enjoyed it, it was a one and done beer for me. But I seem to be in the minority as the keg at Hop Angel kicked pretty quickly.

Nodding Head's Curt Decker thinks I'm full of it, and the heavy dose of hops couldn't possibly be bringing me back memories of any beer from back then. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Great Divide Rumble replaced Southern Tier 215. Rumble is an oaked IPA from Great Divide. Mmm sounds tasty.

Anchor Brekles Brown replaced Cigar City Maduro. I'm looking forward to trying this one. This might be the first post-Fritz Maytag beer from Anchor. Generally I'm not a big fan of brown ales, but this one looks to be hoppy, which are usually the types of brown ales that I like.

Philadelphia Walt Wit replaced Samuel Adams East-West Kolsch. Walt Wit is always a popular beer here, for good reason, and usually vanishes very quickly.

Dogfish Head Festina Peche replaced Southampton Biere de Mars. Festina Peche is a Berliner Weisse brewed with peaches, making for a sweet and sour beer. This is a very accessible version of a very niche style of beer (usually only Steve Hawk and I drink any Berliners that get tapped here). The peach and the sour are both very evident while being very well balanced. This is a rare crossover beer that really appeals to most everyone.

This Week at The Grey Lodge

Wednesday - Quizzo. This week's Quizmaster is Pete, who has an America! Quizzo planned in honor of July 4th. 8pm on our 2nd floor.

Friday - Funky First Friday with the Hop Angels, and the tapping of our first barrel of Sierra Nevada Exportation. The Hop Angels rock the Grey Lodge on the first Friday of every month with live funk music. It's an after work party, starting at 6pm. No cover.

We always tap an extra special beer for Funky First Friday. This month, it's Sierra Nevada Exportation. A bit of Exporter, the Baltic Porter that some friends and I had the great honor of brewing at Sierra Nevada last year, was sent to Russian River to be doused with wild yeast and aged for a year in old wine barrels. Well it's a year later and the beer, now christened Exportation, is ready to be tapped. We got three kegs; one is being tapped this weekend; one is being held for Groundhog Day 2012, and the other for Groundhog Day 2013. I had a couple pints of this already and it's pretty amazing right now. It will be interesting to see how it ages.