That staff at Branch 27 sure is smart!

I just got home from a staff training at Branch 27, a new place opening up on West Chicago Avenue.  Years ago, a really good friend of mine and her future husband lived in a big-but-not-so-nice apartment just east of the corner of Chicago and Ashland.  There were no cell phones back then, and they didn't have a buzzer on their outside door where you could ring the bell and they would come down and let you in.  There was a phone booth right on the corner where the North Community Bank is now.  So when we would go over and visit them, what we would do is we would go to the phone booth and call the operator (there were human operator people back then, too).  We would place a collect call to them from "Bozo".  That way we didn't have to pay the quarter for the phone call.  Our friends would pick up the phone and the operator would say, "you have a collect call from Bozo".  Our friends would say, "Bozo?  I don't wanna talk to that clown!" and hang up.  Then they would know somebody was downstairs and come down and let us in.  

I think about that every time I am in that neighborhood, which is pretty much every day.  That area has changed SO MUCH in the last ten years, I can't even tell you.  I guess it is like Andersonville, and Wicker Park.  Nicer shops, better restaurants, better beer.  So, at 1371 West Chicago, there used to be a Branch of the Chicago Public Library.  The 27th branch.  Get it?  Branch 27!  They are going to have a rocking beer list featuring North Coast's Pranqster, Red Seal, Malheur 10, Chimay, Southern Tier Porter, Anchor Steam, Dogfish Head 90 minute, and lots of other excellent beers.  From the sound of the menu and the overall look of the place, I really believe it is going to be the hottest bar/restaurant in the neighborhood.  AND all the staff is very intelligent and good-looking.  Looks to me like they'll be open in a week or so.  So go!  P.S.  I think Ryan Seacrest should be given the title of President of Wasting Time in an Irritating Way.  

Magic Hat -- it's still craft beer, right?

I have a confession to make.  I forgot I am restricting beer intake to weekends.  I really did!  I forgot.  We went across the street to T's, the bar I used to manage, for turkey burgers -- they have awesome turkey burgers, regular burgers, good pasta dishes, good chicken tenders, their nachos are a little weird but not bad . . . . anyway, I forgot I'm not supposed to be drinking daily and I saw they recently brought in Magic Hat #9, so I ordered one.  I know, I know, I don't sell it.  I should have had a Stella or a Delirium.  But I was happy to see what I think of as a craft beer, so I wanted to support that -- because the beer selection at T's is not super imaginative these days.  

So:  Magic Hat.  Even though Magic Hat beers are widely distributed now, and by Chicago Beverage Systems here in the Chicago area, are they still considered craft beer?  I need to further peruse their web site.  I know they recently merged with another craft brewery, I believe it was Pyramid.  Which is strange, because we distribute Pyramid and not Magic Hat.  

Magic Hat #9 is what they call a "not quite pale ale".  They use my favorite hop -- cascade, but they use it pretty sparingly, to my taste.  #9 is lightly apricot flavored -- not sure if they use real apricot or not.  They don't play up the apricot in the marketing, probably afraid of the "fruit beer" stigma.  This is what I have said, each and every time I have tasted a beer from Magic Hat--I wish I liked this beer better.  I think I blogged some months ago about their winter seasonal -- Roxy Rolles.  I found it almost undrinkable.  #9, while not bad, is certainly not my favorite, and if I want to drink a beer that is the same idea but done much, much better, I will reach for a Dogfish Head Aprilhop -- which just came out a week or so ago!  When I can get my hands on one of those, I will blog about that!  

So I apologize to myself and to my Wii Fit for having a beer.  The Wii Fit was kind tonight, though.  I lost almost 3/4 of a pound.  Only 25 and 1/4 to go!!  

Thanks a lot, Wii Fit

So, yeah, the Wii Fit says I need to lose about 26 pounds.  Which is not really a surprise, I suppose.  I've been gaining and losing the same five to seven pounds for about a year now.  This is what happens when your favorite foods are beer, bread, and cheese!  Yesterday and today, I got on the Wii Fit and did some stuff.  It is very helpful.  It waves at you and reminds you to weigh yourself when you get on, it tells you where your center of balance is and when your legs are shaky.  It also tells you helpful facts like as you get older, your legs tend to get weaker and your sense of balance becomes more compromised.  Okay, helpful and EXTREMELY ANNOYING.  Oh well.  AND it makes a little "ooh!" noise when you get on.  Seriously?  

I will blog about beer, don't worry.  Another tasty, tasty beer I sampled at the Beverage Testing Institute on Friday was the ROGUE ALES BRUTAL BITTER (and I don't have a picture because I don't have a camera phone right now, remember?)  I really liked it, though, I gave it a high score in the blind taste testing.  It has a soft cornflower orange gold color, and a nose of candied orange slices and grapefruit.  Lots of alpha essence hoppy flavor, pretty citrusy, more orange on the palate with some burnt butter and clover honey.  Fairly light hop finish.  Well balanced and very drinkable. I would say I wish I had one now, but the Wii Fit would probably tell me that having a beer every night will not help me reach my fitness goals.  I'll do what I usually do when trying to lose a few pounds -- try to limit the delicious beer intake and restrict it to weekends.  

And the picture?  We just got this Rodney White print framed.  It looks fantastic in the living room.  You can't really read it in the picture, but print reads THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SMALL CHANGE.  That's for sure.  We'll see you tomorrow, Wii Fit.  

Oscar, Oscar . . . what goes with Oscar? De Glazen Toren!

Oh, I love the Oscars.  We were supposed to go to a fancy Oscar party, but for various reasons that I won't go into here, we aren't.  So RIGHT NOW I am in my usual at-home outfit of a comfy t-shirt and sweat pants, the Oscars are on my not-big-enough-for-my-taste-but-still-pretty-big screen TV, I have had a little dinner but will soon break out some really delicious cheese, and I am enjoying a ONDINEKE TRIPLE, from what is becoming one of my new favorite breweries, De Glazen Toren.  Brewery De Glazen Toren is a fairly new brewery.  Jef Van Den Steen and Dirk De Pauw met in 1988 in a town called Erpe-Mere.  They became buddies, started home-brewing together, eventually went to brewing school together, and finally started their brewery on November 11th, 2004.  This, the Ondineke, just happened to be in our sample area.  It is their triple style, I've had their saison before, both spicy and fruity and highly carbonated and stinking delicious.  On the shelf, their beers, in 25 ounce bottles, are wrapped in paper, but don't let that scare you away from trying them.  Creamy, golden, and 8.5 %, a lovely elegant beer for a lovely elegant evening, even in sweatpants.  I love the Oscars.  I never miss them, and frankly, my favorite place to watch them has always been my living room.  Congratulations Hugh Jackman -- if the broadcast thus far is any indication, you are going to kick some serious booty as host of tonight's festivities!  Bravo!  

Beverage Testing Institute - beers I would not normally try. AND -- CASK ALPHA KING!!

Friday was a lovely day.  In the afternoon, the kind and generous Chadd Wolff of the Beverage Testing Institute invited me to participate on the tasting panel for British, Irish ales and I.P.A.'s -- which, coincidentally, are some of my favorite beer styles!!  It is an interesting process.  Each panelist receives flights of beer which are labeled by number.  You look, smell and taste each beer, and do a little description and commentary.  Gerald, the moderator, then takes comments on each beer from each of us, and summarizes them.  This information is then used for the buyer's guide in ALL ABOUT BEER magazine -- to which everyone should subscribe.  

I tasted several beers which I would never, ever buy and some which are not even available in Chicago, so I would not have had a chance to taste them.  Here's a couple of commentaries from that day.  

Michelob Brewing Co. Michelob Craft Brewed Pale Ale.  I couldn't believe when I found out what this was!!  But it was really good--like I would drink this willingly!  It was a lovely copper color, good head retention, nice carbonation.  A sweet orange/grapefruit rind with some alcohol nose was followed up by tropical fruit and burnt toast on the palate.  The dry, bitter finish lingered, not much sweetness.  Not bad at all!  No one was more surprised than I, but this happens to me when I do blind tastings.  

Another beer I really liked -- Samuel Adams Irish Red!!  Deep garnet reddish-brown color, a metallic, aluminum-foil nose.  Bright, effervescent citrusy mouthfeel, some citrus, roasted nuts, toasted marshmallow and cocoa on the palate (see?  I need practice but I am getting better at the whole describing-flavor thing!!)  Well-balanced, short finish.  

Of course, I don't have a camera on my phone right now -- I have to get my new phone with the camera in it up and running.  So I don't have pictures of the labels of the BTI beers.  Go to the grocery store, they probably have them there.  

Then, Friday night, we went to In Fine Spirits, in my neighborhood on Clark Street.  They had Alpha King on cask!!  Wahoo!  And really delicious cheese, bread and white bean dip.  I was extremely happy.  As far as creature comforts, for me, beer, cheese and bread is about as good as it gets.   If you are in Andersonville and you can't get into Hopleaf because it's too busy and too loud and you don't want to wait, go for the lovely walk a few blocks north and go to In Fine Spirits.  Fantastic food, a decent beer selection, and tons and tons of wines and cocktails.  

Here's to Pa Conway

Late every winter, Great Lakes Brewing Co. makes a smooth, malty, toasty, easy-drinking Irish-style red ale called Conway's Irish Ale.  It is named after Patrick "Pa" Conway, a Cleveland police officer for twenty-five years and, it so happens, the grandfather of Pat and Dan Conway, the proprietors of Great Lakes Brewing.  If he was half as much of a charmer as Pat Conway (the grandson), I bet he would have been an awesome character to have a beer or four with. Like all Great Lakes seasonal and/or special release beers, it is in LIMITED SUPPLY and is DELICIOUS.  So, whenever I see some around our warehouse, I snap some up for samples and squirrel a few away to bring home to (professionally) sample for myself (I can't sell something that I haven't tasted and can't properly describe, n'est ce pas?).  I also was lucky enough to get my hands on a Conway's Irish Ale T-shirt a couple of years ago, a reward for doing something at work, I've forgotten what.  I love the picture of Grandpa Conway, same as on the label, but it's a beige T-shirt and I rarely wear beige.  It washes me out.  AAAAAAAANYWAY -- the beer is really good, as I said, it is very easy to drink.  It is the sort of beer that you drink one, and then you want another one, and then another one, and maybe one more.  6.5% ABV, you can have a few, it won't kill you.  Also, it pairs well with everything from corned beef (or turkey pastrami, a personal favorite) to potato soup (which we had for dinner tonight).  I just sent some to Lush on Roscoe -- 2232 West.  You can get it there.  Go now, it goes fast!  I am hoping we will have enough Conway's Irish Ale to last through St. Pat's!  

ALPHA KING! enough said.

Some days, you just need a no-bullshit, hoppy but well balanced, super fresh 'cause it's brewed 45 minutes away, FREAKING DELICIOUS beer.  That's what I needed tonight.  

I am resisting the urge to blog about American Idol, lest anyone who reads my blog think that all I do is drink beer and watch reality TV.  Although that pretty much is all I do, when I am not spreading the beer joy in greater Chicagoland during the day.  I will say this:  Simon is usually right.  He certainly is more cruel than he needs to be, but he's usually right.  

Alpha King is one of my absolute favorite beers.  It is, of course everyone knows, brewed by the great people at Three Floyds brewery -- their flagship beer.  Alpha King is named for the Alpha essences in the hop plant -- the stuff that provides all the delicious bitterness.  How awesome is it that, no matter what the economy is doing, for the bargain price of about $10.00 a six-pack, you can get one of the best beers in the world.  Go, go now to your local beer emporium, get some Alpha King.  Do it!  

Jason! You're stupid! You made a terrible mistake and I WILL NOT FEEL SORRY FOR YOU WHEN YOU ARE STUCK WITH A STUPID GIRL when this is all over!

Oh,  Jason, Jason, Jason. Really?  Sending Jillian home and leaving Molly and Melissa?  REALLY?  All right.  I will not feel sorry for you.  You could have had a smart, effervescent girl with a good head on her shoulders and some imagination and sensibility, but instead, you want one of the girls who, after six weeks, gush all over you like a four-year-old girl would over a Christmas pony.  All right.  Looks like Deanna comes back in two weeks, then you'll have a mess on your hands.  I long suspected you are a nice guy, but you lack confidence and you like stupid girls.  

So, in mourning, I am drinking a PETRUS OUD BRUIN, or Old Brown.  Old because it ages in oak casks for 24 months.  Petrus is named after Sint Petrus -- Saint Peter.  I have high hopes that the good saint is handing out goblets of this at the gates of heaven.  Like other Belgian "Ouds", it has a somewhat spicy and acidy nose, and a nice balance of sweet and sourness.  Greg Hall says "Sour is the new hoppy" -- meaning the sour qualities commonly found in some Belgian beers could be the new hot trend among American craft brewers, much like excessive hop bitterness became all the rage a few years ago.  I hope so.  These beers are complex and delicious, thirst-quenching and thought-provoking.   So if you are alternately disgusted, disappointed and ambivalent about your evening's reality TV choices, try a thoughtful, fancy beer.  

Amazing Race, Three Philosophers and some sausage

Tonight was the season premiere of my favorite reality show, The Amazing Race.  They were in the Alps!  It was beautiful!  Except the hillbilly couple husband is already verbally abusing his wife.  There's always somebody in every season who is really unpleasant to his or her partner.  I am always amazed at the lack of respect shown sometimes in these relationships.  And they're on TV!!  Do they not know they're on TV, and everyone in America can see them not being nice to each other?  I don't get it.  Anyway, his wife does move mighty slow, which begs the question we ask whenever we watch ANY reality show:  DON'T PEOPLE WATCH THESE SHOWS BEFORE THEY GO ON THEM?????  Anyway, Phil (the host) learned a little sign language, it was very sweet, I won't tell you who won and lost the first leg of the race in case you watch it.   Which you should.  It's a good show.

I had a fancy beer tonight, happily paired with some awesome food.  We watched Top Chef, from last week (yes, we do watch a lot of reality TV in our home, so what?) and afterward I wanted some sort of interesting dinner.  And as luck would have it, we had some turkey sausage in the freezer, which we grilled up with some mushrooms and vidalia onions!  My favorite!!  And some olive oil pasta-roni and vegetables.  It was fantastic!  But enough about the food.  I paired all this with THREE PHILOSOPHERS, from Brewery Ommegang.  Really good.  Brewery Ommegang is in Cooperstown, New York, but is known for brewing excellent, authentic, Belgian-style ales.  Three Philosophers is a quadrupel, a blend of a malty Belgian-style ale with a Kriek -- Cherry Lambic style.  It was rich, and good, and a little sweet but balanced with some great acidity; it went really well with the sausage and mushrooms and onions.   

I had a really lovely Valentine's day weekend.  I love to be home, cook some food, have a couple of great beers, maybe go to Target . . . It's a great life.  Happy Valentine's Day, and President's Day too, everybody!  

I have a Tiger in my tank

I do.  I had a Tiger beer tonight at House of Kobe in Schererville, Indiana.  Now you may well be wondering, where the hell is Schererville?  And why would I want to go there when there are so many fantastic restaurants close to my happy home in Andersonville, Chicago, Illinois?  Well, Schererville is out on south 41, just about to where, when driving out that way, I start thinking, jeez, this is really far.  If you drive that way about two more hours, you would be in Terre Haute.  But we went there tonight because my mother turned 70 years old today, and this is where she wanted to go.  They do the cook-at-the-grill-in-the-table thing with the juggling of the knives and flipping of the eggs and mushrooms and forks and so on.  I felt a little ripped-off, as I thought, when I went to Benihana as a youngster, that the table chef guy was tossing around a pretty serious cleaver-type knife.  The guy tonight was juggling a fork and spatula.  Seriously?  A spatula??  Entertaining, but lacking that little extra edge of drama that one pays for in these kinds of places.  Anyway, as you can see, the Tiger beer was a pretty basic Asian lager.  I haven't read up on it, so I actually am not sure if it is brewed in Asia at all.  It had really no head retention to speak of, which was exacerbated by the beer sitting right next to the hot grill all night.  On the positive side, it wasn't too adjunct-y, it didn't taste like corn, and it didn't taste like wet cardboard.  And I got the 18-ouncer and they gave me a little, tiny, 8-ounce (I think) glass to drink it from, so it seemed like I had two and a half small beers instead of just one big one.  The food was pretty good.  I didn't ask the spatula-juggling table chef how much MSG he sprinkled on everything,  so we'll have to wait and see how much water I retain in my sleep tonight.  And, they had peppermint ice cream for dessert!  That was a highlight.  Tomorrow (really today, as it is 1:42 a.m.) is St. Valentime's Day.  I hope everyone who reads this, and their loved ones, have a very happy day.  Have a classic Valentine's combination, like a chocolate stout and a raspberry lambic!  With some chocolate cake!  Crap.  Now I want chocolate cake.  

I had a Sam Adams White Ale at the T-Rex bar

We also had some frozen Mojitos which were delicious but caused brain freeze.  Also, every twenty minutes, there was a meteor shower.  It was a very dependable universe.  

A Raglan Road Gallery

In the immortal words of Whitney Houston, I don't know why I like it, I just do.  

The First, First Thursday

So excited!!  We did the first of a new series of tasting events tonight at LUSH Wine and Spirits, 1257 South Halsted -- the ONLY place I buy beer, wine and liquor (really!)  

Since it's the first Thursday of the month -- we're gonna call it FIRST THURSDAY, and, yes, every first Thursday of the month, we're gonna taste out some fantastic beers.  Maybe sometimes we'll also have some cheese, or some music, or something in addition to lots of excellent beer, but we'll always have beer.  Just like we'll always have Paris.  

Tonight we tasted beers with big flavors -- Unibroue La Fin Du Monde and Quatre Centiem, Duchesse De Bourgogne, Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron, Three Floyds Alpha Klaus, Great Lakes Imperial Dortmunder and Blackout Stout!  Lots o' flavor and plenty of ABV for a cold winter's night!!

So, if anyone has anything they'd like to sample on a Thursday, let the good people of LUSH know, they will tell me, and then we'll all have some beer.  

Dinner and Beers at Jiko Restaurant at Animal Kingdom!

I know, you are all waiting in eager anticipation for pictures of Raglan Road . . . and they are coming!  These are pictures from Jiko, the fancy-schmancy restaurant at Animal Kingdom Lodge.  We had many awesome beers, and really delicious food.  The ostrich was outstanding!  And there ARE pictures from the T-Rex restaurant, we just have to get those loaded onto the computer as well.  Patience!!!!