National Lager Day

December 10th is National Lager Day, another one of the random "Hallmark holidays" for beer lovers. [1] I celebrated with a couple Yuengling Traditional Lagers at our favorite local restaurant, The Conewago Inn, or as my wife and I like to call it, "The Inn". If you ask me, there is nothing more "American" than enjoying a classic, time-tested Yuengling brew. In this area, a "Yuengling Lager" is such a standard that you don't have to ask for it by name; you simply ask for a "lager". I like that.

In honor of Lager Day, I'm going to share a few tidbits about the tour of Yuengling's Pottsville, PA brewery that my wife, Diana, treated me to as an anniversary gift one year. (Yes, I know - my wife rocks!)

Front of the brewery. That's Diana at the bottom left.

Established in 1829, Yuengling is America's oldest brewery. It is a 5th generation family-owned operation. The tour guide told us that the current owner, Dick Yuengling, is grooming his daughters to be the 6th generation of owners. Pretty cool stuff.

Here's a picture of the guy that writes this blog

Yuengling also has a brewery in Tampa, Florida (we didn't get a chance to tour the Tampa facility that day...). I'm fairly convinced that they opened the Tampa location for the older Pennsylvanians who retire to Florida or at least spend their winters there. Makes it easy to find their favorite lager. Okay, you got me; that's pure speculation on my part. At any rate, Yuengling is obviously doing something right, because they have continued to exhibit steady growth over the years.

Part of the bottling line

The brewery is in an old building that was obviously not set up with lean systems in mind. First of all, the brewery is situated in a multi-story building, so it is more difficult to complete the manufacturing process. Also, the building is old so things are much more "cramped". I suppose people must have been shorter and smaller back in the day, because it seems like old buildings are always so much more compact than the buildings of today.

Old buildings are often not without opulence.
Here's a stained glass ceiling in one area of the brewery.

It's amazing what you can do in a small space though, because Yuengling produces 2.5 million barrels [2] of beer annually. Google's conversion calculator tells me that's 630 million pints! But compared with the big boys of brewing like AB InBev's Anheuser Busch, Yuengling is tiny [3]. I'm having trouble finding production numbers for comparison at the moment, so I'll go the other way. Compared with many other microbreweries, Yuengling is big! Consider that Dogfish Head Craft Brewery only produces 75,000 barrels a year. Also consider that when Tröegs moved from Harrisburg to Hershey, they planned to double production to 60,000 barrels a year.

Kegs in the cellar / conditioning area

Wrapping up now, the coolest thing about Yuengling was that you could tell it was steeped in tradition and rich in history. The tasting room at the end of the tour had an awesome old bar. The cellar where they condition the beer still had evidence of the Prohibition years [4]. In fact, there were still portions of the brick wall that government officials had erected in an effort to keep people from accessing the cellar, thereby effectively eliminating any chance of making beer.

Yuengling tasting room bar
(Photo courtesy of http://goo.gl/Oz9F6)

I very much enjoyed taking it all in. If you live within a few hours driving distance of Pottsville, I highly recommend making the trip to Yuengling for a tour.

I hope that you enjoyed this National Lager Day by celebrating with your own favorite lager. Thanks for reading, and as always, prost!

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Footnotes:
[1] Wow, that opening line was extremely reminiscent of the beginning of my last post. I really gotta get a new hook...or blog more frequently than once a month!
[2] The unit "barrels" is abbreviated as "bbl", but I didn't use it here because I'm not sure how many people are familiar with that abbreviation. Also, I think it's silly that the abbreviation has two Bs. Here's an interesting article that tells where that second B comes from: http://goo.gl/kSLin.
[3] Even so, the Brewer's Association does not consider Yuengling to be a craft brewery because they do not meet the third of three criteria. A craft brewery must be 1) small, 2) independent, and 3) traditional. Even though Yuengling is not considered to be a craft brewery, they are a microbrewery.
[4] On December 5th, we just celebrated the 79th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition, aka Repeal Day.

Visiting Dogfish Head on #StoutDay 2012

November 8th was International Stout Day, one of the many Hallmark holidays for beer lovers. You may recall that I posted about IPA Day in August, though I opted out for September's Sour Beer Day. I'm not sure if October had a special day since there's already a couple weeks devoted to the beer style and the festival, Oktoberfest. I have yet to find a calendar of all the "beer days", but when I do, you can be sure I'll share.

I'm not entirely sure why there seems to be such an explosion of popularity in these "beer days", but they are obviously designed by and for the craft beer enthusiast (CBE). I believe that "beer days" are partially driven by CBEs wanting to show off to their CBE-friends via their favorite social media platform (many in which Justin's Brew Review participates). Badges like the one pictured above from Untappd are doled out to CBEs who post them to their social media profiles, thereby instilling a sense of community among posting participants. But I believe that the explosion of popularity in "beer days" is also partially attributable to the explosion of popularity of craft beer itself. One article from June 18, 2012 says that "the total number of breweries in the United States now exceeds 2,000--more than at any time since the 19th century, let along the prohibition years of the 1930s". Another article from August 6, 2012 says that in the last year, 350 new breweries were opened. That's nearly one brewery for every day of the year! As the craft beer scene continues to increase in popularity, I believe we'll see a proliferation of complementary products and services, such as the "beer days".

At any rate, I wouldn't typically go out of my way to celebrate a "beer day" and technically didn't this time around either. We just happened to schedule a vacation with my in-laws to Lewes, Delaware that coincided with Stout Day. And of course Lewes is only a few miles away from Milton, which means a trip to the awesome Dogfish Head Craft Brewery! (You may recall that I posted about our last trip there in May.) My wife was kind enough to schedule the tour and tasting on Stout Day. (Yes, she rocks.) And the "off-center" geniuses at DFH decided to provide only stout samples that day, so we rocked out by tasting:

1. Bitches Brew
   (rated 100 overall by 620 on RateBeer users!)
2. Chicory Stout
   (rated 96 overall by 1,634 RateBeer users)
3. Palo Santo Marron
   (rated 99 overall by 1,682 RateBeer users!)
4. World Wide Stout (WWS, from 2011, 2010, 2009, and 2008)
   (rated 98 by the Bros. on BeerAdvocate and 100 overall by 1,898 RateBeer users!)

Judging by those ratings, craft beer lovers obviously love Dogfish Head! I thought that all four beers nailed the style, and I especially liked the notes of roasted coffee in the Chicory Stout. The coolest part, though, was the vertical tasting of WWS. I was able to taste how the beer changed over time. The older it was, the sweeter it got. My favorite of the WWS was the 2010; it had matured nicely without too much sweetness.

How did you celebrate Stout Day? Did you even know about it? What's your favorite stout at the moment? Let me know in the comments or catch me on FB, G+, or Twitter. Prost!

Yorktoberfest 2012 Video

Here's my video from Yorktoberfest 2012. More detailed post to follow.

Credits:

Cast -

• Justin Mann
• Man #1
• Man #2
• Man not Appearing in this Film
• Lots of extras
• Wik
• Als0 wik
• Als0 als0 wik
• Wi n0t trei a h0liday in Sweeden thi yer?
• See the l0veli lakes
• The W0nderful teleph0ne system
• And mani interesting furry animals
• Including the majestic m00se
• A M00se once bit my sister...

We apologize for the fault in the credits. Those who were responsible have been sacked.

• Cameo appearance by Will Ferrell (at marker 1:54)
• M00se Trained by Yutte Hermsgervordenbroti
• M00se Choreographed by Horst Prot III
• Miss Taylor's M00ses by Hengst Douglas-Home

We apologize again for the fault in the credits. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked have been sacked.

• Director - Justin Mann
• Writer - Justin Mann
• Producer - Justin Mann
• Music - the CD that happened to be playing when I recorded this (in between bands)
• Cinematography - Justin Mann
• Editing - Editing? We don't need no stinking editing. (Or at least, we didn't use no stinking editing.)
• Casting - Justin Mann
• Set Decoration - Yorktoberfest organizers (especially Matthew) and vendors
• Costume Design - GAP
• Makeup Department - Absolutely N/A
• Visual effects - Wee Wowem LLC
• Stunts - Evel Knievel and Robert Overcracker
• Transportation - my wife, Diana

Closing Thoughts:

Thank you, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Full credit to you for the crazy credits and M00se references.

#IPADay and Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

Today is IPA Day, which means you should stop reading for a minute and go crack open a bottle of hoppy, craft-brewed India Pale Ale. Why are you still sitting there? Go on - git! I'll wait...

Alright, now that you've got a brew in-hand, let's figure out what this #IPADay thing is. (Hint: it has nothing to do with Apple's tablet. Someone just decided to capitalize the "D" too.) From ipaday.org:

Founded in 2011 by beer evangelists and social media personalities Ashley Routson and Ryan Ross, IPA Day is a universal movement created to unite the voices of craft beer enthusiasts, bloggers, and brewers worldwide, using social media as the common arena for connecting the conversation together.

IPA Day is not the brainchild of a corporate marketing machine, nor is it meant to serve any particular beer brand. IPA Day is opportunity for all breweries, bloggers, businesses and consumers to connect and share their love of craft beer. It is an opportunity for the entire craft beer culture to combine forces and advocate craft beer through increased education and global awareness.

Getting involved is easy; the only requirements are an appreciation for great beer and the will to spread the word. Anyone can participate by enjoying IPA with friends, making some noise online with the #IPADay hashtag, and showing the world that craft beer is more than a trend.

Sounds like something I can get behind! So to celebrate, I raise a glass of Dogfish Head's illustrious 120 Minute IPA. Prost!

WOW!

I picked up this bottle during a recent trip to Lewes, Delaware, which is only a few minutes away from the DFH brewery in Milton. As you can imagine, being so close necessitated a visit. (If you missed my blog post about the brewery tour, you can read it here.) Unfortunately, when I got there, the brewery did not have any 120 Minute. I had wanted to try the oft-discussed, highly-sought beer for such a long time, but I had never been able to get my hands on any. I thought for sure I would be able to get it straight from the source. Alas and alack, such was not the case. It appeared I was going to be leaving a sad and empty-handed fellow, but thankfully, I found a few single bottles in a beer-liquor-wine shop in Lewes! At $8.99 for a 12-ouncer, it was a steal. It is not uncommon for the highly-demanded beer to command a price of $13+. I bought two: one to enjoy in the near future and one to age for a few years. The near future has come and gone, so here are my tasting notes:

Appearance: A deep, hazy orange with a thin cream-colored head. Look at those hop particles floating around in my glass. Makes my mouth water just watching.

Smell: You can tell there's a high alcohol content to this one, but it's not knock-you-off-your-feet overwhelming. Noticeably sweet smell mixed in there, too. Actually, it reminds me of DFH's Burton Baton (which I haven't formally reviewed yet - stay tuned).

Taste: WOW! I have never had anything like this! It's beyond great. Extremely smooth. You know that it has a high alcohol content (18% ABV!) from the first sip, but it's amazing how well the beer hides it with the sweetness. Fizzy yet smooth...soooo smooth! Is that scotch? Wishing I had bought a third and fourth bottle. Now my mouth is tingling from the hops, yet it is offset by the slight numbing effect setting in from the alcohol. It's amazing to me that this isn't more hoppy-tasting; 120 IBUs is nothing to sneeze at! I mean, it's boiled for a full two hours while being continuously hopped, dry-hopped daily in the fermenter for a month, and aged for another month on whole-leaf hops. It's a hophead's dream-come-true! But the 18% ABV isn't extremely evident either. It's as though DFH found the perfect mix of hops and alcohol: both very high and balanced. I'm impressed.

Mouthfeel: It doesn't get any smoother than this. Full-bodied fizziness to be enjoyed.

Overall: Impressive. This beer lives up to the hype. The only downside in my view is the availability factor. Rock on, Dogfish Head. You know what's up.

1770 BeerAdvocate users rate it an overall 87/100.

1980 RateBeer users rate it an overall 99/100 and a 97/100 for the style.

Clearly, people like this brew.

Justin's Brew Review gives it an A+.

Clearly, Justin likes this brew.

Do you? Let me know in the comments, or hit me up on Facebook, Google+, and/or Twitter. Also, let me know how you're celebrating #IPADay. Cheers to beers!

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Tour

DFH's $30,001 Steampunk Treehouse

Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, Delaware. My wife and I, along with our dog, made the trip down to the Delaware beaches. Incidentally, if you're looking for a good place to stay in Lewes, we highly recommend the Lazy L at Willow Creek, a very dog-friendly bed & breakfast.

Before I talk about my experience at the Dogfish Head (DFH) facility, I should tell you about my preconceived notions. I have always viewed DFH as a tree-hugging, peace-loving, far-out-there kind of brewery. Their slogan proves my prejudicial bent: "Off-centered stuff for off-centered people". Also, the names of some of their beers are pretty inaccessible: Raison D'Etre, Palo Santo Marron, Burton Baton, Festina Peche, Chateau Jiahu, Namaste, Sah'Tea, and Ta Henket, to name a few. I am not against things that are "different", and I certainly don't mind creativity. Yet, DFH just didn't seem to be up my alley.

Of course, none of this would keep me from taking a brewery tour! I always find it fascinating to hear about the history of a brewery, see the operations, watch the bottles go clinking down the line, and of course, sample the wares. And I have to admit that by the end of the tour, I realized that DFH was not as inaccessible as I had once thought.

Sam Calagione: the man, the myth, the legend. (Nice looking beer!)

Sam Calagione, founder and President of DFH, was an English major (like yours truly!) and, according to the DFH website, is the "brainchild behind all the wacky things that happen at Dogfish Head" [1]. The tour guide said that Sam decided to open DFH in Delaware because 1) his wife grew up there and 2) at that time, there were no DE breweries [2], so he could help to shape the beer laws. Sam must have done a pretty good job shaping the DE beer laws, because I'm happy to report that I was able to pick up some beers tax-free and in stores that sell wine, spirits, and beer all in one place [3].

Some of the original beer-making equipment

One of the stories our tour guide told us was about payday beer. As with all production ventures, things inevitably go wrong sometimes. So there are some batches of beer that just aren't, let's say, optimal. But it's still beer, so why let it go to waste, right? That's what the DFH employees thought too! So they would go in search of the "bad" beer and take it home with them. This became such a popular pastime that Sam implemented the payday beer. Now, employees are afforded the opportunity to specify which one of a few beers they would like to have, and it is delivered to them along with their paycheck every other week. I can imagine that DFH employees have a lot of friends wanting to visit every couple of weeks. Also, just think of how many disgruntled employees would change their tune if they got payday beer (hint to corporate America).

Another story that our tour guide told us was about the treehouse in front of the DFH brewery (pictured at the top). The Steampunk Treehouse was first exhibited at the 2007 Burning Man festival in Nevada and now permanently resides at DFH. (Read more here.) Sam bought it at an auction for $1, but it cost another $30,000 to ship and install. So the deal was a bit more than Sam "bargained" for (insert canned laughter here), but it yields a sweet first impression for DFH visitors.

"Where's the tap on this thing?"

The namesake of one of DFH's brews, Palo Santo, is actually a type of wood that only grows in one place on earth: Paraguay. Palo Santo, meaning holy wood, is used to condition DFH's brown ale and gives it a caramel vanilla flavor (mmm!). Interestingly, this wood is so tough that even a bullet doesn't damage it. As a matter of fact, the large tank pictured above is made of Palo Santo wood, and the craftsmen went through  seventeen diamond-tipped saw blades to make it. I cannot imagine enduring such a painstaking effort. But at least the beer is good!

A note about the 60 Minute, 90 Minute, and 120 Minute IPAs that DFH makes. Hops are added for flavor and are typically introduced to the beer at the beginning and end of the brewing process. Our tour guide told us that, one day, Sam was watching a cooking show. The chef was adding pepper to the recipe all throughout the cooking process because adding it all at one time would ruin the flavor. This "aha!" moment led to Sam's "Sir Hops Alot" contraption. Basically, he rigged a vibrating base to shake hops down into a bucket with holes in it. As "Sir Hops Alot" continued its vibrating endeavors, the hops would find their way out of the bucket and into the brew. (They have since refined the machinery, but this basic innovation got the job done!) This led to a continuous hopping process, thereby exponentially increasing the robust flavor of the beer. The 90 Minute, for example, is continuously hopped in this manner for 90 minutes. Genius!

From DFH's Rehobeth brewpub

And now for the sampling! During the tour, DFH was licensed to provide 12 ounces of beer to visitors for free. DFH decided to split that 12 ounces into four 3-ounce samples. I was privileged to try Festina Peche (peach-flavored, not a favorite of mine), 60 Minute IPA (an excellent IPA), Burton Baton (wow! amazing imperial IPA!), and Palo Santo Marron (a wonderful brown ale). Later on, we also visited DFH's brewpub in Rehobeth. There I sampled five brews:

1. Sah' Tea -- Wow, spices galore! It's like Chai tea in a beer. I think you would have to be in the right mindset to drink this and maybe only one at a time. Very unique. I'm impressed.
2. Indian Brown Ale -- Hits the style on the nose! Has a little extra spice, hence the "Indian", I suppose.
3. Aprihop -- Lighter than I expected. A good apricot flavor. Easy to drink and refreshing at the same time.
4. Midas Touch -- From the taste, this is what I would call a "normal" beer. However, it is slightly differentiated by the higher alcohol content (9%) and extra "bite".
5. Tweason'ale -- Pretty good. I couldn't identify what "extra" flavor I was picking up on in this beer, but after reading  the notes on BeerAdvocate, I believe it was the sorghum and molasses.

I walked away with a four-pack of Burton Baton, one 750-ml bottle of Urkontinent (the DFH-Google(!) collaboration brew), and two pints of the extremely-hard-to-come-by 120 Minute (I paid $9 per pint, but it's not unheard of to pay $13 or more for a pint!).

If you are planning on taking a DFH brewery tour (and you should), make sure you reserve a spot in advance. You can do so on DFH's website.

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Footnotes:
[1] One of Sam's "wacky" ideas was to brew a naturally-green beer using Spirulina (seaweed) in an attempt to thwart the obviously-evil plot to cheapen his beer by using green dye for St. Paddy's day. (Read DFH's take on it, and check it out on BeerAdvocate.)
[2] According to BeerMe.com, there are still only eleven DE breweries currently in operation with one in the works.
[3] Don't even get me started on the odd setup we have in Pennsylvania! But please feel free to visit Lew Bryson's blog "Why the PLCB should be abolished" at http://noplcb.blogspot.com/.

Yorktoberfest 2011 Follow-up

Here's a follow-up to my "live" post from Yorktoberfest.  I said I was aiming to try all the varieties of craft beer at the festival...and I was close.  Looking back, I only missed one - Tröegs JavaHead Stout - which I already know is an enjoyable brew.

I took my pint glass from tent to tent, and the barkeeps faithfully filled it up.  Each 2 to 3 oz sample provided just enough to fill up the bottom of the glass and for me to savor the flavor.

Here's a comprehensive list of the beers they proffered and some quick tasting notes*:

1. Tröegs JavaHead Stout
2. Tröegs HopBack -- "hoppy"!
3. Tröegs Dead Reckoning Porter -- amazing! not as smooth as a typical porter; it has a bit of a bite
4. Stoudt's Scarlet Lady Ale -- surprisingly not as complex as other ales
5. Stoudt's Oktoberfest -- strong-ish and fizzy
6. Stoudt's Heifer-in-Wheat -- clever name, great taste (banana!)
7. Stoudt's Gold Lager -- classic golden liquid
8. Springhouse Brewery Seven Gates Pale Ale -- bitter aftertaste
9. Spoetzl Brewery Shiner Bock -- not as dark as I expected
10. Spaten Dunkel -- smooth, almost like you're not drinking anything; would make a good session beer except for the 5.5% ABV
11. Sixpoint Vienna Pale Ale -- the right amount of hoppiness, just the way a beer should taste!
12. Sixpoint Brownstone -- similar to a porter but has more of a mild, nutty flavor
13. Rogue Dad's Little Helper -- a black IPA (mmm!) strong on the hops!
14. Magic Hat Circus Boy -- a good summer brew, light and refreshing
15. Lancaster Brewing Company Shoo-Fly Porter -- smooth; light flavor of shoo-fly (my favorite pie!)
16. Hauser Estates Jack's Hard Cider -- "local Adams County apples put to good use", said the vendor
17. Dogfish Head Festina Pêche -- love Dogfish Head, didn't love this brew (tart, juicy)
18. Anheuser-Busch, Inc. Shock Top -- an always enjoyable summer beer

Also, I did some digging into why York's own LiquidHero and Mudhook breweries were not represented at Yorktoberfest, much to my (and I'm sure others') chagrin.  The organizers of Yorktoberfest were not immediately available for comment, but it was rumored that the "big boy" distributors may have pulled rank over the newbies and blocked them from the event (politics, ugh).  LiquidHero was undeterred.  A representative commented, "we supported this fest and we also made alot of new friends this weekend from people coming over to our brewery after this beerfest...we love the revs and we love york county...and we are here to stay".  That's the spirit, fellas!  You truly are our LiquidHero!  Prost!

* BeerAdvocate.com recommends not reviewing beers at fests for a variety of reasons: "small sample sizes...loud environments, slew of smells, and tasting of numerous beer styles back-to-back. [...] Doing so does a disservice to the brewer and could mislead others." (Source: http://beeradvocate.com/articles/637)

Yorktoberfest 2011

I'm coming to you "live" from the 1st Annual Yorktoberfest in York, Pennsylvania!  The event is being held at Sovereign Bank Stadium, home of the York Revolution baseball team.  Let me tell you - it is a blast!  There are lots of people here enjoying vendors, music, food, Pennsylvania wines, and best of all, craft beers from the region.  There are brews here from Tröegs, Lancaster Brewing Company, Magic Hat, Shock Top, Stoudt's, Sixpoint, Rogue, Dogfish Head, and Spaten.  I'm aiming to try them all!  As part of the beer pass, I received a free pint glass and access to limitless samples of great craft brew.  If you're in the area, you should stop by - the festivities are going on till 5 today.  If you can't make it today, you can stop back tomorrow between noon and 5.

I was looking for beers from York's own Mudhook and LiquidHero breweries, but to no avail.  Both of these breweries are very new to York, and I think it's very exciting that York is being infused with some beer culture.  But I'm very disappointed that they are not represented here.  Why would the very city's own breweries not be represented?  Regardless, I love that the "craft brew scene" seems to be gaining momentum in South Central PA, just as it is everywhere in the US right now.  I'm hoping that it lasts! (Relevant side note: DRAFT magazine has indicated that there are plans to open 600 brand new craft breweries in the US by 2013!)

This is the first blog post I'm publishing via my smartphone, so please forgive me if there are any issues - I just wanted to post this "live" in order to bring you the breaking beer news here in York, PA.  I'm going to attempt to attach photos. (Edit: After publishing this post, I found that all the pictures were at the top. I've since edited them using my PC so that they are now in-line with the text.)

For more info, check out www.yorktoberfest.com. Prost!

The glass is half full, my friend.

Summer Brews - featuring Leinenkugel's

Looking for some good "summer brews"? Leinenkugel's has a summer sampler case with four different flavors:

1. Classic Amber
2. Sunset Wheat
3. Honey Weiss
4. Summer Shandy

While they are all tasty, the "most unique flavor" award goes to Summer Shandy.  Why?  It's got lemonade in it!  Thanks to it being a wheat beer, the Shandy has a low bitterness factor (IBU = 13.5).  Combine that with the lemonade, and man!  Talk about a doubly-refreshing beer!

As far as other brands go, I always recommend Tröegs. They have a good, thirst-quenching beer formally called Sunshine Pils, but commonly and affectionately known as Sunny Pils.

As far as other types of beers go, you can't go wrong with a wheat beer (often combined with a fruit flavor), Belgian, weiss or witbier (white), or any "brisk" lager (mmm, Yuengling!).

There are a number of other "summer brews" that I hope to try before the season is out, including: Magic Hat's Wacko, Lancaster Brew Company's Strawberry Wheat, and Dogfish Head's Festina Peche.  Let me know if you've tried any of these or if you have other suggestions!

Cheers to beers!