Archive for October, 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last but not least was Monk’s Cafe, Philadelphia’s most well-known Belgian taproom. At BeerAdvocate’s Return of the Belgian Beer Fest last year, we attended a presentation by Tom Peters, the co-owner, who is extremely knowledgeable about beer and food pairings. We were especially looking forward to this visit and while we were honestly a little disappointed at the beer menu compared to The Eulogy, the food more than made up for that. You’d never know we were disappointed looking at the list below, but this was without a doubt saving-the-best-for-last deal.

Our table was wobbly and needed constant attention by our party of beer lovers to prevent spillage, but no matter—food and beer prevail in the end. We had traditional Belgian mussels steamed with Monk’s Flemish Sour Ale (brewed specifically for them by Van Steenberge) for appetizers; Jason had rabbit prepared with Cantillon Gueze; and I had a filet with roquefort cheese and Trappiste Rochefort 10 cream sauce.

Here’s a list of the things we had there before some mean guy asked us to stop taking pictures of our food and the bottles:

La Binchoise Reserve (on-tap)
Kasteel Rouge (on-tap)
Lost Abbey Avant Garde
Lost Abbey Ten Commandments
t’Smijse BBBourgondier
Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux (1998 vintage)
De Proef Slaapmutske

Finally, we try not to express our personal opinions of specific beer very often, as we carry so many brands at Bruisin’ Ales and we technically can’t endorse any one product. But since we can’t get Lost Abbey in North Carolina, we’re going to stretch that rule a little: If you’ve lost your religion, try a Ten Commandments and you just might find it again. We love the brews by Tomme Arthur—it’s no secret—so if you ever happen upon one in a store or tavern, enjoy it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After an ambitious day of taking friends to see old sites, like Al Capone’s cell at Eastern State Penitentiary, the Rocky statue at the very awesome Philadelphia Art Museum, the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Ben Franklin’s Grave and the Betsy Ross House to name a few, we headed-up our second ambitious undertaking of the day with preparation courtesy of Geno’s Cheesesteaks: Visiting two Belgian beer bars in one evening.

The Eulogy is a tiny little place near the waterfront on Chestnut Street on the edge of Society Hill. The buildling housed the original Bailey, Banks & Biddle jeweler, which is a pretty famous store if you’re from the northeast. The tavern is lovely. It’s old, dark and creaky—pretty much everything a Belgian beer bar should be. The owner is Belgian, which always helps. We quickly ordered up a fantastic cheese plate with fruit and got to work with a crew of beer tasters and a patient waiter named Billy. Highlight of the beer menu? Not what you would expect. You might not be able to read it above, but the horizontal line at bottom of the menu picture reads: T&A TV Ad Beers (i.e. Water) We’ll serve you if you’ll pay $4 for ‘em.

Here is the list of the deliciousness shared there:

Blaugies La Moneuse
Weyerbacher Insanity
Fantome Chocolat
Three Floyd’s Alpha Klaus
Harviestoun’s Old Engine Oil Special Reserve
Dogfish Head Raison D’Extra
Pannepot (Belgian, not Danish export)
Cantillon Lou Pepe Kriek

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, here’s the basic round-up: Philly is a beer town. This is not new news, but it is unbelievable the array of beer available there. We’re not talking in the way like Portland, Ore. is influential with all its breweries, we’re saying the Philly folks just like to have good beer around, from all over the place. Sure, there’s no ABV cap in Pennsylvania, making some interesting beers show-up in stores like The Foodery, but outside of that beer-geek-ness, you can barely go anywhere without finding at least one good beer on a menu. And by good, we don’t mean decent—we mean good.

We were stood-up at Victory Brewing. Well, maybe. We also hit horrendous traffic on the Schuylkill Expressway, which if you’ve never driven on, it is hard to translate the amount of anxiety the road produces. We don’t know if we misunderstood our time, but we did not get the full tour, which was disappointing. However, the Victory Brewpub is a great stop. Yummy food—how about some Hop Devil Potato Soup? We had crazy delicious burgers along with glasses of both Hop Devil and Storm King on cask. (Incidentally, The New York Times says today that cask beer is coming back.) Too bad two weeks early for the Hop Wallop release.

The best thing we found at Victory was in the package store, where we bought a t-shirt that has B-E-E-R spelled out in the formation of Philadelphia’s famous LOVE sculpture, by Robert Indiana. We heart that shirt already.

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow we celebrate the Rogue in each of us! With one of the country’s most well-known brewmasters, John Maier, the Rogue Brewery has been brewing beer in the Pacific Northwest for nearly 20 years. He has brewed over 10,000 batches of beer since starting there in 1989, which equals nearly 30,000,000 pints. That’s a lot of beer, folks.

On the beer flight tomorrow:

Dead Guy Ale [6.5% abv]
“Dead Guy is a German-style Maibock made with Rogue’s proprietary PacMan ale yeast. It is deep honey in color with a malty aroma, rich hearty flavor and a well balanced finish. Dead Guy is created from Northwest Harrington, Klages, Maier Munich and Carastan malts, along with Perle and Saaz Hops.” Hey, did you know the dead guy glows in the dark? 

Juniper Pale Ale [5.3% abv]
This brew is the same recipe as the Rogue’s retired Yellow Snow winter recipe, a pale ale infused with whole juniper berries. 

Shakespeare Stout [6.0% abv]
“Rogue’s Shakespeare Stout is ebony in color, a rich creamy head and a mellow chocolate aftertaste. It is made from Northwest Harrington, Crystal, and Chocolate malts, roasted barley and rolled oats, along with Cascade hop … Based on Stuart Kallen’s book, The 50 Best Beers in the World, Shakespeare Stout was ranked the third best beer in the world and best American Beer.” 

Rogue Russian Imperial Stout [11.0% abv]
“Rogue Imperial Stout, considered the high end of stouts, is made of 2-row Great Western Harrington & Klages, Hugh Baird XLT-80, Black, Munich and Chocolate Malts; Willamette, Cascade and Chinook hops; rolled oats; and two secret ingredients. Unfiltered and unfined, Imperial Stout is best when aged for one year.” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For all of you who loved Sweetwater’s Donkey Punch at the Brewgrass Festival this year, now’s your chance to lay some down in the beer cellar. This beauty arrived this morning in big ol’ 750ml bottles with a gold foil top. Fancy! Donkey Punch is an American Barleywine, so if you’re into that style, this is one not to be missed. We have to thank Sweetwater for giving us the only stash of this fine brew outside the Atlanta area. Very limited!

From the bottle:

The biggest farm animal to come out of the Sweetwater Barn! We bucked up and threw everything, including the kitchen sinnk, into this jackass concoction. At 10% abv and over 90 IBU’s, you’ll know it when it hits you in the back of the head!