Bradford on Beer
Boylan Bridge
Posted August 14, 2009 1 Comment | Post a Comment
I used to use this phrase “peak pub moment” to describe that ineffable zone that can surround a location, an amount of time, a group of people and a beer. I distinctly remember one of the earliest of these, a Sunday afternoon at Wynkoop Brewery in Denver that reminded me of how delicious life can be.
I recalledof that moment last night while sitting on the patio at Boylan Bridge Brewpub, with our events guy Ola Nilbrink, watching the reflection of the setting sun on the Raleigh skyline, with my hands around a pint of wonderful porter.
Ola and I had just come from Poole’s Downtown Diner where we had donated a hefty chunk of the net proceeds from the World Beer Festival – Raleigh to David Dias and the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, our partner in the event. They were hosting a reception at Poole’s, which is quite a treat for beer lovers.
First, Poole’s had draught Fuller’s London Pride, apparently one of the few handles in the area. A nice, comfortable English ale, with a floral finish. Then they had a list of exotic big bottle beers. I couldn’t resist splitting a Brooklyn Local #1 and North Coast Le Merle Saison with a couple of attendees. Both beers are Belgian in orientation pouring golden with creamy heads and excellent spicy finishes.
In other words, by the time Ola and I had arrived at Boylan’s, a spontaneous decision, we’d already sampled some extraordinary beers. Boylan’s was ready for the challenge. We started with their cask pale ale which was very refreshing although a little cool, watching the setting suns reflection move up the sides of the downtown buildings. Owner Andrew Leager joined Ola and me, even giving us a tour of his cabinet shop underneath the brewpub.
We followed the cask ale with the porter and brewer Mark Fesche joined us. Now Mark uses classic English grains, hops and yeast. However, I couldn’t get over how spicy the beer was. It deviated from a traditional porter in a very pleasant way. Instead of such a noticeable toastiness of the roasted malts, both Ola and I found a highly refreshing spiciness in the finish. And the three of us got into a debate. Brewer vs. Beer Lovers about using a name. What a surprise.
So, when is a porter a porter? Does it make a difference if the name isn’t spot on? How much latitude should brewers have? How picky should beer geeks be? When does the interests of the less-than-geeky customer get considered? At the end of the day, what is the “give-a-shit” factor, especially since the beer tasted really, really good.
Cask Rauch
Posted August 13, 2009 2 Comments | Post a Comment
Last night our local brewery, Triangle Brewing Co., tapped a cask of their rauch beer at Tyler’s, our local multi-tap bar. A few of the local beer glitterati were there, but mostly it was just a couple All About Beer Magazine staff people and Andy from Triangle. In other words, a great conversation opportunity.
Despite my messing with everyone, there actually weren’t any celery flavors in the beer, although it became an intriguing idea. Triangle’s rauch on cask is a very soft beer, with hints of smoke that slowly emerge with each sip. No, smack-you-in-the-face with German sausage flavor. I was alone in sensing a slight bubblegum, minty finish. It’s hard to tease out the cask effects, but I can imagine under pressure it will have a sharper feel and finish from the carbonation than the cask poured. I had no problem hanging out enjoying a few pints, except for the seemingly obligatory argument about health care reform.
I left Tylers and swung by another local watering hole, The Federal, looking for a couple of friends. The Fed has a certain quality covered in a favorite book of mine, Tender Bar, a must-read for any who love bar communities. Of course, one of my friends was there and two others showed up in a matter of minutes. The bar side of the Fed was dominated by this group each of whom may be there four out of five nights. After about an hour, I’d gotten caught up on a few love-life changes, learned a thing or two about what I needed to do with my vegetable garden, sorted out a staff problem at the office, picked up a great tip on a music CD to buy, a concert to avoid, and had a lovely conversation about Brittany vs. Paris (places not people!).
Oh, and two Bell’s Two Hearteds.
As for my blog, I realized recently I’m facing an issue with this thing. I went to see Julie and Julia and watched a well-executed, but very painful portrait of a narcissistic blogger. The same day I received a comic strip about blogging which included the sorts of things that I’ve said in “my blog.” Also I discover a new beer blogger almost every day, including one who was quitting because he didn’t like beer having become his life. Some of my buttons are getting pushed. Add to that my daughter’s prophetic observation on learning I had both a Facebook page and a blog site: “But Da-a-a-d, you don’t know how to chat!” and you can see the challenge.
Recently I found myself sitting in front of the piano, for the millionth time, trying to figure out how to go about learning to play the damn thing. I can practice scales, triads, even read and memorize songs, but I can’t seem to get into the swing of learning and playing. Yes, I’ve tried lessons. The last teacher ended up smacking the back of my head trying to teach me back beat.
The analogy with learning beer is there. I drink it. I love it. I haven’t learned how to “do” it. Frankly, I don’t know what I’m getting at. After six or eight months of business overload, perhaps I can get back to learning to “do” beer.
