Thanksgiving Day Beers

Here are our recommendations for beers for you to pair with your Thanksgiving Day feast.  Most are readily available in the DFW area.

Appetizer - Let's start out with something light, shall we?  You don't really want to fill up on beer before the gluttony begins do you?  Or do you? 
     - Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan Nut Brown Ale - Lightly hopped so as to not overpower your taste buds, malty, caramel and nutty.  Delightful.
     - Revolver Blood and Honey - A bit sweet and a bit citrusy this one will prep your taste buds for the savory delights to follow.

Main Course - I must admit that I often pair wine with turkey and a light, fruity Beaujolais Nouveau often fits the bill ("Gasp!  Did he say wine?!?  Hypocrite!") but there are a few beers that are perfect pairings with your feast.
     - La Socarrada Cervesa Artesanal De Xativa - La Socarrada may the be the finest beers that I have ever paired with roasted meats.  It is created as a winter ale and made with rosemary and rosemary honey, but lightly flavored and not overpowering in the least.  Superb with Turkey.
    - Saison DuPont - The classic Belgian farmhouse ale.  Perfectly balanced and stunningly complex flavors complements any food that you put in front of it.  The dry finish keeps your tongue prepped for your second and third rounds of feasting.
     - Chimay Grande Reserve - What?  You don't like Turkey and are serving Roast Beef?  Dandy. I promise you that you will never find a better beer to pair with beef than the Grande Reserve.  Dark, powerful, complex and stunningly delicious.  Look for the blue label.

Desert - There are two schools of thought with desert pairings:  Complement vs. contrast.  The bitterness of an IPA to cut through the sweetness vs. the that of a desert beer that mimics the flavors of the deserts.  As that desert is my favorite course, let's try several.
Contrast
     - Dogfish 60 minute IPA - Probably the classic example of an American IPA.  This is a powerfully hopped but balanced IPA contains a lot of citrusy character from the hops and will cut through all of that cloying sugar.
     - Lakewood Brewing Hop Trapp - Want to go local?  This IPA is a Belgian style IPA this doesn't have the face puckering power of many other IPA's.  The malty and yeasty background makes this one very complex, but delicious.
Complement
     - Southern Tier Pumking - This Imperial Pumpkin Ale really doesn't contain any pumpkins, but it is loaded with pumpkin spices and will complement that pumpkin pie perfectly.
     - Sam Adams Merry Maker - "This rich dark gingerbread stout entices with the aromas of the holidays.  The flavor of gingerbread comes alive, beginning with the smooth sweetness and heartiness of dark roasted malts and a touch of wheat.  But it’s the intensity and spices of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, & ginger that add a wicked kick for a jolly playful brew full of merry mischief."
     - Martin House There Will Be Stout - This thick, rich, chocolaty, malty delight will pair right along with Aunt Ethyl's chocolate cream pie.  Trust me on this one and go local.  On tap only so you will have to haul a growler with you, darn.

Enjoy your holidays and we will see you soon. - Bon

Revolver Brewery 1st Anniversary Party

REVOLVER BREWING LAPS THE SUN   We just passed our one-year anniversary and how best to mark the occasion?  Like, Party!  Our 1-year anniversary party is November 23rd.  That is the Saturday before Thanksgiving.   Let that sink in….this is the last chance for you, and possibly someone you have chosen to hang with, to relax and enjoy a nice Revolver beer while listening to live music prior to your kind, intelligent, lovely, and generally awesome family spending time  with you.  Let’s all give thanks. So, the Party.  It will run from noon to 4pm.  We will feature three bands: Shotgun  Friday (formerly known as Fish Fry Bingo), the Sean Russell Band and, get your Jazz hands ready…the 20 member Tarleton Jazz Ensemble.  Three different styles, all good in their own very special way.  We will be graced by the Piston Slingers hot rod club, who will have some fine classic cars  to ogle. As previously reported, our new limited release anniversary beer will be on tap.  It is known as MULLET CUTTER.  It is an English Style Double IPA.  We understand the Double IPA is a lifestyle choice…a beautiful one….so be proud.   In the spirit of the glorious Mullet we will have our often used hair professional, Cindy Beard, on site.  She will either give or remove mullets, gratis.  Irwin M. Fletcher, you choose. Now for the fine print.  Admission is $15, you get a special 1-yr anniversary logo’d beer glass, 5 beer tastings vs. the usual four (approx. 8oz each), three food vendors - Big Tony’s barbeque,  Yater’s Cater and More Puffcorn Please out of Fort Worth (the salted caramel puffcorn is crack).  A special anniversary shirt will be on sale. Let us not forget about this Saturday at the brewery.  The brewery tour will run as normal (noon-3pm) and will feature  the band Peace Tree.  Big Tony will be catering.  We will have Mullet Cuter on tap for those that cannot make the anniversary party (or if you just want to get a good start on the party). Revolver Brewing is located at: 5650 Matlock Road Granbury, TX 76049 http://goo.gl/maps/r1sBh

Mothamorphosis

 

This coming Monday, the tap wall at the Moth will evolve into 37 taps of some of the finest brews around. Moth will launch “The Mothamorphosis,” an entirely new draught menu appearing overnight and available for one week only, starting Monday, Nov. 24 continuing through Sunday, Nov. 30.

 

Featuring some of Captain Keith’s and Matt Quenette’s favorite draft picks, here are a few highlights of what’s to come and that beer lovers will not want to miss:

 

·      Green Flash 11th Anniversary Double Dry Hopped West Coast IPA

·      Green Flash Silva Stout

·      Stone Farking Wheaton w00tstout

·      New Belgium Le Terroir

·      Firestone Walker Sucaba

·      Founders Backwoods Bastard

·      Karbach F.U.N. 007 Maker's Mark Barrel Aged Hellfighter

·      Boulevard Saison Brett

·      Dogfish Head Black and Blue

·      BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien 2012

·      Prairie Artisan Ales 'Merica

 

Also kicking off Nov. 24 is the annual Moth Cellar Release, which will continue through Jan. 1, 2014. Each year, Moth saves some of their favorite releases from throughout the year for a bottle bonanza as a way to celebrate the end of the year. There will be more than 40 different bottles released with limited availability. Highlights include:

 

·      (512) Bourbon Barrel Aged Double Pecan Porter

·      Firestone Walker Sucaba, Parabola, 16 and Double DBA

·      Boulevard Terra Incognita, Love Child #3 and BBQ

·      Avery Uncle Jacob's

·      Avery Odio Equum

·      Founders KBS and Devil Dancer

·      Brooklyn Black Ops 2009

·      Saint Arnold Bishop's Barrel #1

·      North Coast Old Rasputin XV

·      Lagunitas Gnarleywine 2011

 

The Meddlesome Moth is located at:

1621 Oak Lawn Ave.

 Dallas, TX 75207

www.mothinthe.net/‎

Deschutes Beer Dinner at the Saucer

Flying Saucer Addison to Host

Deschutes Brewery Beer Dinner

 

DALLAS, Nov. 15, 2013 — Flying Saucer Draught Emporium will host its last beer dinner of the year with Deschutes Brewery Tuesday, Dec. 19 at 7 p.m. at its location in Village on the Parkway at 14999 Montfort Drive in Addison.

The dinner will feature beers from Deschutes Brewery’s reserve series, paired with a four-course meal. The reserve series beers and food pairings for the evening are:

·         Mirror Pond Pale Ale, tawny-colored American pale ale with Cascade hops and Pale malt.

·         Black Butte XXIV, an American porter with dark chocolate nibs, deglet dates and mission figs.

o   Paired with fig, honey and blue cheese tartlet.

·         XXV Porter, a barrel-aged Imperial porter with a tart berry and chocolate aroma.

o   Paired with cold-smoked bay scallops, candied bacon, bourbon sauce and Southern grits.

·         Abyss Imperial Stout, an Imperial stout with hints of molasses, licorice and other alluring flavors.

o   Paired with boeuf bourguignon a l’abîme, caramelized onion and mushroom.

·         The Dissident Wild Ale, a sour-brown ale fermented in pinot and cabernet barrels for 18 months.   

o   Paired with Greek yogurt cheesecake and pomegranate-cherry compote.

 

The dinner is $65 per person, including tax and gratuity ($60 for UFO Club members). To purchase tickets, visit Flying Saucer Addison or call 972-991-7093.

Booze Themed Books

I saw several Christmas ales in the stores this week.  Damn, I loves me some Christmas ales.  How do you know which holiday and winter ales to try?  Of course you can read here to find out about a few of them, but there are literally hundreds and I am not sure that my liver would hold out long enough to try them all.  Sure, you can do internet research to find your choices, but I am going to recommend that you 'old school' it.  "Huh?" you say.  Books.  Faster and easier to thumb through a book than go through hundreds of internet sight being bombarded with annoying adds that slow your machine to a crawl. 

Blanca Olivieri reached out to me recently and recommended a few for you to peruse.

 

The Pocket Beer Guide by Stephen Beaumont and Tim Webb is the most extraordinary, comprehensive, and current guide to a variety of beers from around the world, from tradition favorites to exciting new discoveries! Experts Stephen Beaumont and Tim Webb provide tasting notes on an amazing selection of brews, complete with information on international breweries and each beer’s key characteristics.  Useful tips such as great places to drink the beers when you are in the relevant country are also included in this easy-to-tote essential guide.

 

The Complete Beer Course by Joshua Bernstein lends a helping hand to all beer drinkers confused by the dizzying array of available draft beers. This thoroughly up-to-date, comprehensive, and utterly witty beer course (the only one currently in print) demystifies the sudsy stuff and breaks down the elements that make a beer’s flavor spin into distinctively different and delicious directions. With this “boot camp for beer geeks,” you’ll go from novice to expert in just twelve easy-to-follow classes! So loosen your lips and try one beer after another, and another.  Sneak peek: http://www.scribd.com/doc/157501955/Complete-Beer-Course-Class-1

 

American Whiskey, Bourbon & Rye by Clay Risen, New York Times editor, is the only guide devoted solely to US-made whiskey, rye, and bourbon. Arranged as an A-to-Z directory by distillery and/or maker, it offers brief histories, ratings, and tasting notes for more than 200 types of American whiskey. Each main account includes the name and address of the maker along with vibrant color images of the bottles. Discerning drinkers will savor this one of a kind book!

 

World’s Best Ciders by Pete Brown and Bill Bradshaw gives you everything you need to know about the latest craft “hard cider” trend. Featuring in-depth explanations and tasting notes, it reveals all you need to know about the cider-making process, procedures, and breweries across the globe. Recipes for cider-based dishes and beautifully photographed images of cider centers around the world complete this phenomenal guide. Sneak peek: http://www.scribd.com/doc/160309477/World-s-Best-Ciders-Sampler

We hope that you’ll consider sharing these titles with your readers. If you need any further information, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

 

Best,

Blanca

Blanca Oliviery
Manager, Marketing & Publicity, Sterling

Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.A wholly owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble 
387 Park Avenue South
New York, New York  10016
Direct Line: (646) 688-2548
Main Phone: (212) 532-7160

boliviery@sterlingpublishing.com http://www.sterlingpublishing.com

Follow us: @SterlingBooks, @SterlingKids, @BlancaPR

NTX Beer Week - Friday, November 15th

It's Friday and you are out of excuses and almost out of time.  Here are our top 5 picks of today's events and remember, you can get all of this information and more at http://ntxbeerweek.com/.

1.  A Night of Romance - Texas Bourbon meets Texas Beer.  Jack will be tapping 5 Texas brews aged in bourbon barrels from Garrison Brothers Distillery. The brews are from 903 Brewing, Cedar Creek & Community. We're gonna blow your mind at Jack Mac's Swill and Grill in Dallas

2.  Ommegang Game of Thrones "Take the Black" Stout tapping.  Brewed specially for the HBO Series, Take the Black Stout will pair well with our Three Finger Hobbs Three Meat Stew, made in house from a special recipe from the Game of Thrones Cookbook. Stew available through Sunday or while it lasts at the Holy Grail Pub in Plano.

3.  Avery Blackout - Flight of Mephistopheles' 2012, Out of Bounds, Uncle Jacob's, Rumpkin, The Czar, 8pm at the Meddlsome Moth in Dallas.

4.  Meet Marin House brewer Cody Martin as he discusses the great beer he produces and the story of his brewery. They will also have their awesome "can" style glassware available, buy the beer, keep the glass at The Pour House in Fort Worth.

5.  Community Brewing Tap Takeover!  Brewery reps will be visiting with you as you enjoy their best beers and take home a Community glass. Mosaic IPA, Public Ale ESB and Inspiration Belgian Dark! Glasses at 7pm at the Dallas Beer Kitchen in Dallas.

Please your local brewery and beer slinger.

NTX Beer Week - Thursday, November 14

Surely by now you have been out to enjoy some of the special events and are thirsty for more.  Here are out top 5 picks for today's events.

1.  Real Ale Mysterium Verum Tappings - 7pm, Brewmaster Erik Ogershok in house! Kraken (French oak aged Sisyphus(barleywine)) Morgul (Porter) Scots Gone Wild (American Wild) Empire (IPA) Bourbon Barrel Aged RAXV (15th anniversary Russian Imperial Stout) Benedictum (Flanders style) at Zio Carlo Magnolia Brewpub in Fort Worth.

2.  Peticolas Party - Come hang out with brewery owner Michael Peticolas as we enjoy: Velvet Hammer, Wintervention, Alfred Brown, Rye't On, 2012 Great Scot!, & Golden Opportunity at the Common Table in Dallas.

3.  Rogness Brewery Night at the World of Beer, SMU in Dallas.  Honestly, I am not super crazy about their beers, but I love saying Pflugerville.

4.  Rahr night at Banter! 2012 Winter Warmer on draft, Winter Warmer pint glasses and Winter Warmer Koozies. We will also be selling 8oz Rahr glasses with 4oz of 2012 Bourbon Barrel Winter Warmer in them, yes we have 2012 Bourbon Barrel Winter Warmer at Banter Bistro in Denton.

5.  Join us on Thursday November 14th for a very special Deschutes tap takeover. Featuring Hop Trip, Chasin' Freshies, and Fresh Squeezed, Jubelale. Their flagship beer, Black Butte XXV, a 25th anniversary beer aged in a bourbon barrel at the Mellow Mushroom in Southlake.

Please remember to support your local brewery and beer slingers.

NTX Beer Week - Wednesday, November 13

NTX Beer Week is barreling (heh heh heh) on and here are our top 5 picks for today's beer events:

1.  North Texas Craft Brewer's Free Tasting Event - Come visit the best craft beer shop in Texas from 5-8pm to try beers from every North Texas brewery for FREE! We will have representatives from all the local breweries on hand to sample their brews, giveaways, raffles and much more! Don't miss this one!  The Beer Snobs will be there and recommend that you make the drive to Lonestar Beverages in Carrollton.

2.  Beer Week Cellar Release - Come join us as we dig deep into the cellar for some Beer Week treats including: 2011 Avery Samael's, 2010 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, & more TBA at the Common Table in Dallas.

3.  Stone Brewing Special Tapping - Along with the Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale, we will be tapping the Stone Suede Imperial Porter, the Stone Double Bastard Ale, and the Stone Espresso Imperial Russian Stout. We will also have some special Stone vintage bottles available at Goodfriend Beer Garden and Burger House in Dallas.

4.  $3 select craft drafts all day to support NTX Beer Week at Pour House in Fort Worth.

5.  Real Ale Brewing Co. Pint night and special Firkin Tapping.  Real Ale Brewing Co. out of Austin will be doing a pint night and special firkin tapping at 7pm at the Oak Street Drafthouse in Denton.

Please support your local brewers and beer slingers.

NTX Beer Week - Tuesday, November 11

Here are our top 5 beer recommendations of special events for today around north Texas for NTX Beer Week.

1. Brooklyn Brewery Beer Dinner ($40) at the Rugby House Pub in Plano.

2.  406 Minutes of Dogfish Head IPA (60, 61, 75, 90 & 120 minute IPAs + glass) at the Meddlesome Moth

3.  Martin House Brewing tap takeover and meet the brewer at the Oak Street Drafthouse in Denton.

4.  Firestone Walker Velvet Merkin Party at the Common Table in Dallas - Velvet Merkin's Texas Debut. Meet Jeffers Richardson, Barrelmeister for Firestone Walker and a true craft beer pioneer. Enjoy several other rarely seen Firestone Walker brews. The first 150 will receive a commemorative merkin.

5.  Lakewood Brewing Tap Takeover & Wing Pairing with Lakewood brews paired with Jack's version of wings at Jack Mac's Swill and Grill in Dallas

Please support your local brewers and beer slingers.

NTX Beer Week - Monday, November 11th

Here are some of our recommendations of special events scheduled for today around north Texas for NTX Beer Week

1.  Oskar Blues 11th anniversary celebration at the Common Table.  As part of their Pour Man's dinners get 4 courses and Oskar Blues beers for only $29.00.

2.  Real Ale tap takeover at the Alamo Draft House in Dallas.

3.  Revolver Appreciation day at LUCK.

4.  Frankonia tap takeover at the Oak Street Drafthouse in Denton.

5.  Lakewood Brewing tap takeover at the Magnolia Motor Lodge in Fort Worth.

6.  Peticolas beer dinner at the Meddlesome Moth in Dallas.  7 beers, 6 courses.

7.  Rahr and Community Breweries special releases at the Flying Saucer in Addison.

8.  Cedar Creek Brewery tap takeover and pint night at the East Side Social Club in Denton.

Please go out and support your local breweries and beer slingers.

Beer Review - Warlock

Southern Tier Brewing Company Warlock Imperial Stout - 8.5% ABV

In honor of International Stout Day and in the spirit if the holiday season we loaded up on a several seasonal stouts that seemed as if they would be interesting and hopefully delicious.  The first that we tried was Warlock by the Southern Tier Brewing Company out of Lakewood, New York.

 

Southern Tier Brewing has only recently come to Texas and Warlock is the second of their beers that we have tasted.  Their Pumpking beer was our first try and it was delightful ... full flavored and quite enjoyable.  Southern Tier began production in 2002 using old equipment purchased from the defunct Old Saddleback Brewery from Massachusetts.  Phineas DeMink (yeah, sounds like an alias to me, too) and Allen “Skip” Yahn wanted to brew small batch beers using old regional brewing traditions.  Now that their beers are available in 30 states with production growing at an amazing rate I guess the 'small batch' aspect has kind of become a joke.

Warlock is another of their Blackwater Series line of high gravity, intensely flavored beers.  It is described as an Imperial Stout brewed with Pumpkins.  The beer pours out as black as my ex's heart with a brownish/tan head that did not persist.  The smell is amazing ... pumpkin pie, malts and spices.  The beer is surprising light on the tongue with moderate carbonation with a smooth mouth feel. The flavor immediately envelops your tongue and is amazingly complex.  The four malts that they use along with the pumpkin used in the brewing process (pumpkin is often used as a malt substitute in pumpkin beers) make for a malty explosion.  If you are a malt lover this is your beer.  Coffee and dark chocolate are fighting for dominance at the beginning of the sip as well.  The slight sweetness along with the pumpkin spices follow making the flavor even more interesting.  The lingering taste on your tongue is not easily identifiable but I would not surprised to find that they had added anise or licorice to the brew. 

This is a really superb beer.  We served the beer with roasted pork which paired with the beer magnificently.  Stellar.

Southern Tier Brewing Company
2072 Stoneman Circle
Lakewood, NY 14750
www.stbcbeer.com/‎

North Texas Beer Week

Starting this Saturday (November 9th) north Texas celebrates all things beer.  Special events, rare tapping, giveaways abound throughout Dallas, Fort Worth and Denton.  Local beers will be emphasized but there will also be events featuring prominent national brews as well as international.  So do your liver exercises and get ready for a week of wonder.  Go to:

http://www.ntxbeerweek.com/

For a full calendar of events and remember to support your beer monger.

Beer Review - Martin House There Will Be Stout

Martin House Brewing Company "There Will Be Stout" - 6.5% ABV

Have you tried any of the Martin House beers from Fort Worth yet?  There Will Be Stout is my first Martin House beer and I have only one comment ... "What in the hell took me so long"? 

Have you seen these kids?  Mother Goose!  I have underwear older than these Martins.  They shouldn't have been able to develop a palate to appreciate full flavored, full bodied beer at their age..  They shouldn't have been able to, but they did.  Anna and Cody Martin along with Dave Wedemeier founded Martin House in late 2011 with the credo of fellowship and good times.  As with most of your better brewers they started making beer in their garage and have grown as their beer becomes more popular and sales increase.  The passion that they have for brewing is evident in the beer.

There Will be Stout is described as a 'pretzel stout' made with 6 pound of pretzels added to each barrel of brew.   Let me tell you what else it is, it's a malt bomb with a face full of flavor.  The chocolate malted and roasted barley help in giving it a chocolaty, coffee taste that compliments the thick, yeasty texture provided by the pretzel.  It is thick, black and chewy.  I am tempted to drop some vanilla ice cream in this one to make a beer float.  The salt from the pretzels is barely recognizable in the background but does add some interest. 

Whereas they call this a stout (the dryness that you would normally find in a stout has been replaced by sweetness) I would be more tempted to place this in the Porter category based on taste and not the brewing process.  Nonetheless it is quite magnificent and we enjoyed it so much that it is now in our top 10 favorite beers produced in north Texas..... nah, make that in the top 5.  You can only find this on tap around the DFW area but find it you should.

Martin House Brewing Company
220 S. Sylvania Ave.
Suite 209
Fort Worth, Texas 76111
http://martinhousebrewing.com/