Patrick wanted to do a sessionable “table beer” with Orval yeast.  He’s a fan of that brewery’s “Petite Orval” which is the 3.5% abv drink of the brothers in Orval’s Abbey.  The beer we brewed is a bit stronger than your typical monk’s table beer to satisfy the American (and Maple Shade’ian) pallet, but it’s still a very sessionable 4.5% abv.  We’ve also added a twist by accenting the beer with fresh kumquats.  The tart citrusy character of this fruit really plays nicely with the citrus from the American hops and the fruit and spice of the Orval yeast strain.  Patrick did a great job with this recipe.  (This is his baby, all I did was help him adapt his vision to my system, then do all the heavy lifting along with Suz).

We’re going to celebrate the collaboration on Wednesday May 29th by tapping this collaboration (Petite Fortunella) along with four guest beers from Allagash.  (The list is below my signature).  We’ll be offering a sampler with four ounces each, of the Petite Fortunella and all of the guest beers.  Of course the Beer Lass and I will be around to share beers and conversation.  Who knows, maybe the lass will even whip up some of her famous frozen confections for you (made with kumquats of course).

See you then!

Chris

PETITE FORTUNELLA – Formulated by  Allagash brewer Patrick Chavanelle.  This Belgian table beer is sessionable yet complex and vibrant.  The spicy and fruity notes of Orval yeast are accented by the acidity and flavors of fresh Kumquats and finally tastefully accented by European and American hops.  4.3% abv

CURIEUX- Allagash’s first foray into barrel-aging in 2004. Belgian Tripel aged in Jim Beam Barrels for 8 weeks then blended with a
portion of fresh tripel. The resulting beer has notes of soft toasted coconut, vanilla and of course bourbon. 11% abv.

CONFLUENCE- A dry-hopped golden ale that incorporates both Allagash’s house yeast strain and the house brett. GABF Gold 2011 7.5%

FLUXUS 2012- Saison Wit Hybrid brewed with spelt and spiced with green and pink peppercorns. It was fermented with the same
strain of yeast that DeDolle (Belgium) uses. 8% abv.

BLACK- Belgian style stout brewed with a variety of specialty malts and a generous portion of dark caramelized candi sugar. The silky mouth feel is a great balance to the roasted character, coffee and dark chocolate notes expressed throughout this beer. 7.5%

Sampler with 4 oz each of the above beers for $10.

Our preliminary round will consist of three rounds of beer and brewing trivia in quizzo format.  First prize is a $50 gift card and a bottled reserve beer.  Second prize is a $20 gift card and bottled reserve beer and 3rd prize is a $10 gift card and a growler of your choice.  There’s no entry fee, just show up, drink some beers and make sure you’ve got your beer geek hat on!

See you then,

Chris

Here’s a list of politicians who have won presidential primaries via write-ins

(Stolen from Wikipedia);

• In 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt won the Democratic New Jersey presidential primary with 34,278 write-ins.

• In 1944, Thomas Dewey won the Republican Pennsylvania presidential primary with 146,706 write-ins. He also won the Oregon Republican presidential primary with 50,001 write-ins.

• In 1948, Harold Stassen won the Republican Pennsylvania presidential primary with 81,242 write-ins.

• In 1952, Robert Taft won the Republican Nebraska presidential primary with 79,357 write-ins.

• Also in 1952, Estes Kefauver won the Democratic Pennsylvania presidential primary with 93,160 write-ins.

• Also in 1952, Dwight Eisenhower won the Republican Massachusetts presidential primary with 254,898 write-ins.

• In 1956, Dwight Eisenhower won the Republican Massachusetts presidential primary with 51,951 write-ins.

• In 1960, Richard Nixon won the Republican Massachusetts presidential primary with 53,164 write-ins.

• Also in 1960, John F. Kennedy won the Democratic Pennsylvania presidential primary with 183,073 write-ins, and he won the Democratic Massachusetts presidential primary with 91,607 write-ins.

Some of those guys didn’t turn out so bad!  So vote for the underdog.  Write in Lappy (That’s Chris LaPierre officially) and Iron Hill!

Thanks everyone!

Chris

Other reasons to head down to the Battle of the Brewers Cask Challenge

1. By crossing the Delaware Memorial Bridge you’ll be honoring soldiers from New Jersey and Delaware who lost their lives in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

2. You’ll get to try beers from all of the Iron Hills you never get to visit.

3. #2 will make you really happy that you live near Maple Shade.

4. You can visit State Line Liquors.  If you’re a beer geek (or wine or spirits geek for that matter) and you haven’t been here, you owe it to yourself to make a visit.  It’s Mecca.

5. If Maple Shade wins, you won’t have to travel so far next year when you want to try beers from all 9 Iron Hills in one spot!

The Line Up

Chestnut Hill – Nelson Muntz Ipa
Lancaster – Dark Ritual
Maple Shade – Full Nelson
Media – Saint Boomerang
North Wales – Happy Lumberjack
Phoenixville – Columbus IPA
West Chester – Black IPA

Wilmington – Hopdiculous

We decided to celebrate the Phillies’ home opener company-wide with the release of our Phightin’ Phils Pils.

What does a German Pilsner have to do with the Phillies?  Maybe its the fact that the first lager ever brewed in America was brewed in Philadelphia by a German?  Next time you’re in Northern Liberties check out the sign.  The sign itself might not be worth the trip, but the beer you drink at Standard Tap or Druid’s Keep afterward will be!

Maybe it’s the fact that the Philadelphia is known for kicking so much butt when it comes to brewing Pilsner.  Troeg’s, Sly Fox, Victory, Penn Brewery, Triumph and Stewarts have all taken medals at the Great American Beer Festival for their examples of the style.  How many cites do you know that lay claim to that many great Pilsners?

Or maybe it’s just the fact that there aren’t too many beers that are more enjoyable during baseball season.  Along with Wit, Hefe and Kolsch, Pilsner is a perfect acompanyment to a nice warm day.  I love Pilsners.  They’re often overlooked and underappreciated.  I think anyone that loves an IPA but can’t appreciate a pilsner is really missing out.  It’s nice to switch it up and enjoy the spicy/herbal character of a noble German hop variety instead of the citrusy / piney characters we’re so used to from American hops.  It’s also nice to let the hops play center stage in a crisp lager unadulterated by caramel malt sweetness or ale yeast fruitiness.  Then there’s the fact that pilsners take so much more skill and finesse to brew than do big burly IPAs.

I could go on and on, but at the end of the day, you’ll need to decide for yourself.  And you can do so this Friday.  We’re tapping Phightin’ Phils Pils at noon so you can sneak out of work early and get a good seat for the first pitch at 4:05 pm.  Of course we’ll have the game on all of our televisions and we’ll be featuring a menu of Phillies themed hot dogs.

I’m also tapping a single keg of Unassisted Tripel that I’ve been saving for four months.  Tripel is a style that ages nicely and I’m looking forward to tasting it and seeing how it’s developed.

See you Friday, I plan to be at the bar sniffing some Tettnang at 3:55 pm!

Prosit!

Chris

See you there!

Chris

Our anual celebration of barrel-aged beer is just over a week away!  5 Bourbon aged  beers and 5 wild beers aged in wine barrels.  Get your oak on!

The Grand Inquisitor
OG: 1.095 Color: 35 IBU: 75 Alc by Vol: 8.6%
Our Russian Imperial Stout aged in bourbon barrels. The complex malt character is balanced with distinct bourbon, wood and vanilla flavors. $6.50 / 12 oz glass

Bourbon Eisenhugel
OG: 1.102 Color: 20 IBU: 17 Alc by Vol: 10.7%%
Strong, dark Bavarian wheat ale, full of rich, malty, subtle fruity notes. Aged in a bourbon barrel for 9 months. $6.50 / 12 oz glass

Bourbon 2 Logan TJ
OG: 1.103Color: 18 IBU: 25 Alc by Vol: 9.7%
Full-bodied rich Colonial ale aged in bourbon barrels with whole vanilla beans. Intense caramel malt sweetness and aroma is balanced with bourbon and vanilla flavors. $6.50 / 12 oz glass

Bourbon Cherry Iron Fish
OG: 1.077 Color: 22 IBU: 50 Alc by Vol: 8.2%
Brewed in collaboration with Casey Hughes of Flying Fish Brewery.  An Imperial Black Belgian IPA.  Loads of American hop bitterness, aroma and flavor mingling with fruity and spicy characters from Fish’s house Belgian yeast and all balanced by a touch of roast.  Aged in a used Bourbon barrel on 40 pounds of sour cherries for four months. 9.5%
$7.25 / 10 oz glass

Bourbon Imperial Pumpkin Ale
OG: 1.094 Color: 14 IBU: 28 Alc by Vol: 9.5%
Our Great Imperial Pumpkin Ale—an amber, Belgian style pumpkin ale brewed with roasted pumpkins and finished with pumpkin pie spices—aged in bourbon barrels with whole vanilla beans. $6.50 / 12 ounce glass

Wild Quadfather
OG: 1.102 Color: 18 IBU: 50 Alc by Vol: 10.5%
Our strongest Belgian ale with hints of dark, dried fruit hiding a warming alcohol content, aged in a Cabernet barrel for 9 months with wild yeasts, lending a refreshing tartness and drier finish $7.00 / 12 oz glass

The Chief
OG: 1.083 Color: 17 IBU: 34  Alc by Vol: 9.5%
Mahogany colored blend of Belgian abbey ales aged in a used Madeira barrel.  Notes of Madeira, wood and wild yeast characters from the barrel mingle with specialty malt and Belgian yeast characters. $6.50 / 12 oz glass

Wine Barrel Wee Heavy                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Strong Scotch Ale fermented in stainless then aged in a freshly emptied Pinot Noir barrel and spiked with Brett L.  Malt complexity mingles with a touch of spiciness and pie cherry aroma from the Brett and a warming alcohol character.  This is the last keg of last two year’s B,B&B popular favorite of the wild ales 11.0%
$6.50 / 12 oz glass

Saison Wood A classic Belgian-style farmhouse ale, unfiltered, bright and light-bodied.  Fermented with the earthy, fruity and spicy DuPont strain, then spiked with Brett B and finished in oak.  7.3% $6.50 / 12 ounce

Oud Bruin
OG: 1.054 Color: 16 IBU: 20 Alc by Vol: 5.0%
A deep red, Flemish Brown ale. Starts off malty with a bit of caramel character. Finishes with a refreshing tartness.
$6.50 / 12 oz glass

Wild Taster $10.00
Bourbon Taster $10.00

Happy Valentine’s everyone!

Chris

Cheers,

Chris

You may remember Iron Fish, our latest mash-up.  This year’s collab is a little more straight forward.  Just a regular old American IPA except this one is made with three different varieties of experimental hops.  Casey’s hop provider gave him some new hybrids to play around with (so new they don’t have names yet).  He can’t really just experiement with any of his established beers at Fish, but I’m in a brewpub, so I can do whatever I want!  Plus you guys always support it when I play around with new hops.  So Casey brought them here and spent a day brewing with me.  I have to say I like these new hops and where this beer is going.

Anyhow, we’re tapping Jersey’s Finest at 6 pm on Wed January 23rd (provided we’re not in a Cuban jail by then).  We’re also tapping a keg of Exit 16, a firkin of S-641 (a blend of our Abbey Dubbel and Fish’s Hopfish, dry hopped then cask-conditioned) and the world premier of the Brett-spiked, Bourbon-barrel-aged, Sour Cherry Iron Fish.

Casey and crew will be here to shake hands, talk beer, and maybe show you some photos of the week in the Keys. 

We’ve also invited Senator Donald Norcross to come and celebrate the new beer-friendly legislation he sponsored and worked with us to get passed.  He’ll be pouring the first pint and then hanging out to chat for a bit.  If you see him, please thank him for his continued support of craft beer and it’s culture in our state.

See you then!

Chris