Flagship February daily feature - Lancaster Milk Stout

This marks halfway through Flagship February. Surprised by any of my picks thus far? Hoping to see any still pop up in the next 14 I have to feature after today?

Not many breweries can stake a claim to a well-made milk stout as one of their longtime flagships. Lancaster Brewing has a long history in the city and for almost 15 years have had a location on the outskirts of Harrisburg as well. As with my Manayunk feature yesterday, I need to fess up to not having been to LBC in over two years. Been to the first two versions of LBC, but not yet to the new Taproom at all. Another bit of negligence that needs fixing.

Wish the Amish Four Grain Ale had survived as an LBC flagship, or at least seasonal, but alas we still have the Hop Hog and the Milk Stout as year-rounds amongst solid seasonals such as Jump Seat Black Lager and the Lancaster Kölsch.

Now go click the picture below for a full feature on Lancaster's Milk Stout.

If you're just jumping in during the middle of this and want to know what this is all about, link back here to see the Flagship February overview as well as an ongoing list of all beers I'm featuring during the month of February.

Disclosure: For this project, I solely created the list of 28 beers featured here on The Brew Lounge. I was in contact with each brewery and neither required nor requested complimentary samples. I purchased today's Lancaster beer at retail.

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© Bryan J. Kolesar and The Brew Lounge, 2019. All content is owned and uniquely created by Bryan J. Kolesar. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from Kolesar is strictly prohibited. Excerpts, images, and links may be used with advance permission granted and only provided that full and clear credit is given to Bryan J. Kolesar and The Brew Lounge with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Contact Kolesar at TheBrewLounge@gmail.com

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Philly Beer Week Collaboration Raffle at McGillin's Olde Ale House

Pictures from the Philly Beer Week Collaboration at McGillin's

De Proef has brewed four Brewmaster's Collaboration Series beers in the past, one each with Tomme Arthur (Port), Jason Perkins (Allagash), John Mallett (Bell's), and Brian "Spike" Buckowski (Terrapin). For the 2011 version, Philly Beer Week Executive Director Don Russell took an idea to Alan Shapiro of SBS-Imports (the annual liaison between the brewery and the American brewers) and the planning of a PBW collaboration beer took off.

According to Russell, it only took a few beers worth of discussion with Alan and then pulling Tom Peters into the conversation to get the ball rolling on this very exciting idea for publicity and fundraising.

It's hard to tell if Mr. Curtin likes this idea or not, but I for one think it one of PBW's more ingenious ideas.

The idea seems to be a win for everyone. ~ De Proef is associated with the original and, arguably, most successful Beer Week ~ a local brewer gets his name attached to the beer and nationwide attention ~ a local beer drinker gets a free vacation and the chance to rub mash paddles with brewing celebrities (or do a lot of grunt work) ~ PBW raises money for its coffers ~ a good reason for a pre-PBW party in November at McGillin's.

Okay, so everything above was written prior to the PBW bash last night at McGillin's. We now know that the winning brewer was Brian O'Reilly from Sly Fox and he'll be accompanied to Belgium in February by Jason Kramer to brew their concept of a porter with Dirk Naudts of the famed De Proef Brouwerij near the town of Gent.

The crowd was almost wall-to-wall in the upstairs room of McGillin's last night and they came from near and far to party and for a chance to win the trip to Belgium.

Brewers were there. Owners, too. Reps, distributors, homebrewers, fans, and other hoperati were as well. "Regulars" from Hulmeville to Grey Lodge to Teresa's Next Door descended upon the historic McGillin's. An early estimate shows close to 1,000 ballots in the ballot box. Final counts and total dollars raised will be available by the end of the week.

Everyone was there, well, except for not only the winning brewer but the winning entrant too, which made for a bit of an anticlimatic ending to the event. Apparently Kramer submitted his absentee ballot via the mail and the system certainly worked out for him.
If you'd like to see a 4 minute clip of the drawing and announcement, check out the video and just picture the joy on Kramer's and O'Reilly's faces.

The competition was formidable amongst the eligible brewers listed below: - Ben Potts (Dock Street) - Bob Barrar (Iron Hill-Media) - Bill Covaleski (Victory) - Bill Moore (Lancaster) - Brett Kintzer (Stoudt’s) - Brian O’Reilly (Sly Fox) - Casey Hughes (Flying Fish) - Chris Wilson (Weyerbacher) - Doug Marchakitus (Manayunk) - Gordon Grubb (Nodding Head) - Jon Carpenter (Dogfish Head) - Rob Pfeiffer (Twin Lakes) - Tom Kehoe (Yards)

Special Events at Teresa's Next Door and Special Beer from Lancaster Brewing

The Session this month deals with distance travelled to drink good beer. This is not an entry on that subject...I may or may not get around to actually contributing on this topic this month, but that will be keeping with my past trend. I'll have to see how the rest of the day goes. In the meantime, the subject has reminded me just how good my local beer scene is here in Southeastern Pennsylvania, whether for homegrown beer or for worldly beer selection. Teresa's Next Door, for example, is not usually more than 20 minutes from my home. But, in less time, I can be to Sly Fox, Victory, Iron Hill, TJs, The Drafting Room, the Flying Pig, or a dozen other quality beer bars/takeout. So, I get to Teresa's Next Door much less frequently than I would like. (I know, things are tough in Bryan's world!) Last night, Patty and I popped in on TND for their promotional night with Lancaster Brewing Company from---wait for it---Lancaster, PA. Brewer Christian Heim made the trip in to discuss the Hefeweizen, Triple, and Milk Stout that they were pouring from sixtels. The last time I saw Christian, he was onboard an Amtrak train with Woody Chandler heading westward after a PBW night in Philly. Christian made it out of Lancaster this time without Woody, very clever (and wise?) of him...something about a moving project. Even more intriguing, though, was a fresh firkin of Hop Hog IPA sitting atop the far end of the bar and a 10-year-old sixtel of Old Sourpuss, something that has whiled its time away aging (or whatever you call it after 10 years!) at Lancaster Brewing. The rising and falling temperatures in the attic have not been too unkind to this beer, though I'd be interested to know what it tasted like 7-10 years ago. Whatever remains of it apparently makes random appearances when the occasion calls for it. I found the Old Sourpuss to be a slightly tart, not too difficult to drink, lambic-oriented beer. The smell was more striking than the taste, with apple- and vinegar-like aromas in a not off-putting display. The flavor, though, was much more subdued than the aroma would have suggested, but to me that made it only more drinkable in that regard. Here comes the special part of the evening: The food. I've been to TND enough times to say that I'm not a stranger. It's these sorts of events, though, that I haven't typically taken in. Come to think of it, the last "event" at TND that I attended might well have been the Breakfast with KBS...in 2008. I make a habit of popping in for a quick beer or two from their always stellar draft and bottle list whenever I'm in the area. And, even though I've eaten enough off of the menu as well, I wasn't aware that Andy and company put so much thought into food and beer pairings during these special events, too (see the list pictured above). Take, for example, the picture below. Ordering the Milk Cheeks, I sure got my barley fill for the evening...but, wow!...this was one of the most memorable dishes I've had since...ah, it's not worth trying to compare. The substantial dish of barley, wild mushrooms (have I mentioned my love of these earthy delights?), broth, tender and meaty pork made for a dish that paired well with the Milk Stout as they suggested. But, it also played nicely with the IPA. I didn't consider pairing it with the Old Sourpuss and that's probably okay, ha.