On the Rhine with The Brew Lounge, part 0.5

It will take some time to finally get into all that transpired from Amsterdam to Zurich. At least in the spirit of kicking things off (or procrastination, if you'd rather), here's a guide of where I'll take you over the coming weeks (probably months). The following list is the official itinerary for the cruise up the Rhine and Moselle rivers through Holland, Germany, Luxembourg, France, and Switzerland. Interlaced is Steve Beaumont's 'Beers on the Rhine' agenda. Prequel Days 1-3 How better to leave home before taking the train to PHL than to pay a 20 minute visit to TJs for a bon voyage beer? We even managed to squeeze in an informal tasting amongst five or so of us with my long-promised Maui CocoNut Porter that I brought back from Hawaii almost a year ago to the day. Changing trains in Philly at 30th Street Station gave us another opportunity for a birthday beer for me at Bridgewater's...and a light bite. After our red-eye flight to Amsterdam, we checked-in to our hotel, took a short nap, then set off to discover Amsterdam's canals, architecture, and pub culture over the next 48 hours. DAY 4: Amsterdam Welcome aboard after 48 hours of exploring everything that Amsterdam has to offer...well, not quite everything. DAY 5: Amsterdam In the morning, we took an excursion out to the country to visit the windmills, see a demonstration of manufacturing iconic wooden shoes, and stop at a cheese factory. After returning to Amsterdam, we headed out to Brouwerij 't IJ where Beaumont walked his beer group through a few beers and the planned itinerary for the following 11 days. DAY 6: Nijmegen We skipped the official walking tour and instead did a bit of our own instead. We walked around the Belvédère Castle and Tower and through De Hoge Veluwe National Park, saw local sites, and picked up some light snacks and beer from a grocery store for back on board. Speaking of on board, Beaumont conducted a pre-dinner tasting of Dutch Bok (Bock) beers. DAY 7: Bonn Again, we skipped the walking tour and I went for an early morning run through the city and along the river. The afternoon saw the Beaumont Beer Express head out for a few hours in Cologne, certainly one of the highlights, albeit too short, of the trip. Later, we drank a Liefmans Kriek in the room. An Orval too. Both purchased from the market in Nijmegen. Oh, and an Ithaca Brute and Tröegs Troegenator brought from home to be shared with new friends. DAY 8: Cochem We arrived in Cochem late after what felt like freshman-hazing on the river, where we got bumped back several places in line awaiting our turn for the locks. Here, we didn't do a whole lot save for a short walk around the quaint little town with (of course) a castle perched atop a large hill. Beaumont and the beer crew were picked up and driven to the Bitburger brewery; Patty and I took this opportunity for some down time. DAY 9: Bernkastel-Kues, Trier Trier was a nice excursion that strangely brought back zero recollection to my trip here in 1987. Nonetheless, back at the docking port of Bernkastel-Kues (one city on one side of the river, the other on the other side), Beaumont's beer group and I took a ferry ride to the Kloster Machern brewery and enjoyed a few beers on the site of a former abbey/monastery. DAY 10: Luxembourg Even the though this particular excursion was a bit of a bust in most our opinions, five of us beer volk broke off and found some champagne, mediocre beer, and prosciutto.....on a quiet Sunday morning in Luxembourg. Lovely, but a shame, because I understood that Mousel's Cantine would have been a fine sudsy stop. DAY 11: Rüdesheim – Rhine Gorge Stunning vistas of castles perched above the steep vine-covered slopes is how the tour company described this day of cruising the Rhine Gorge, beginning from Koblenz. A perfect day (albeit a bit chilly) for sitting on the deck, snapping pictures of castles and grapevines, and learning the legend of the Lorelei. It was a flashback to my trip here all the way back in 1987. On board, Beaumont conducted an Oktoberfest tasting of all six breweries that serve their beer at the annual festival. DAY 12: Heidelberg Heidelberg is one of Germany’s most beautiful towns. We participated in the official castle tour and then broke off to do a little shopping on our own before joining up with Beaumont and company at the Kulturbrauerei Heidelberg for an excellent tour and beers to sample. Steve wrote about it on his blog from the ship, check it out. DAY 13: Baden-Baden A 250-year-old casino was at the heart of the official tour excursion itinerary. Patty and I (and a new friend, Jerri) opted for the famous thermal hot springs and spa, then met up with Beaumont and the rest of the brew group at Amadeus Hausbrau in the heart of Baden-Baden. DAY 14: Kehl, Strasbourg We skipped the official walking tour of Strasbourg and instead did a walking tour with Beaumont to taste some beers represented at this year's Mondial de la Bière, which we missed by a mere day. Also, picked up some to-go beer from a decent bottle shop in the heart of lovely Strasbourg. DAY 15: Basel We took yet another pass on the guided tours which by this point we had grown fairly tired of (at least for the ones that we did join). Instead, we did something much more interesting and visited--wait for it--another brewery! This time it was Basel's Unser Bier, tucked away in a residential neighborhood south of downtown. It required two trolley rides to get there and the payoff was in the beer. DAY 16: Basel Disembark and onward to Zurich where we discovered its main train station has a bottle shop to rival many "normal" bottle shops, a Swiss/German brew house of questionable character, excellent Swiss chocolate, and pleasant walking around the visually appealing city of Zurich. These were a few things that filled our last day in Europe. Oh, and a 50-foot high glass-enclosed wine tower with "angels" flying around the tower to retrieve from the roughly 4,000 bottles within. You'll have to wait for the whole story! DAY 17: Zurich Flight home...because all good things must, as "they" say, eventually come to an end. And, if I ever manage through all of this material, here are just a few more topics that I've got in the works that you may eventually see one day. But, no promises. Providence for Beer; Meddlesome Moth surprise in Dallas; Sierra Nevada's 30th anniversary celebration; Pyramid's seasonal brews; and many more.

Beer, To Go....and go, and go....

thebeergeek.com - Beer and Travel, two words that just go together. I caught these two recently on an episode of Beer School talking about their Year in Beer. I was impressed with their ambition for finding great beer and putting together a nice site to showcase their travels. I still haven't waded through all of it, but it certainly looks promising. Maybe I'll cross paths with Chris and Meredith during GABF. Seems like just another stop for this tireless duo.

Jet Rock, Chickie's & Pete's, Beer at PHL

This probably falls just somewhere north of "who cares", but in the spirit of reporting news, the Terminal C Jet Rock Bar & Grill at Philadelphia International Airport is closing as of today. It's being replaced by Chickie's & Pete's. (The Terminal B location will remain). So, while the food is improving, the beer selection is declining. I knew something was off earlier this week when I ordered an Anchor (sorry, sir), then a Sierra Nevada (not that either), then had to "settle" for drinking local with a Victory Hop Devil. I didn't have much luck on the food side of the menu either as many food items were not available. The bartender informed me that they weren't restocking inventory as the days passed leading up to closing. For those of you not familiar with "Chickie's", it's a locally grown small chain of seafood/sports pubs (esp. crabs & fries) across the Philadelphia region. It's original location is just around the corner from another little establishment that you're probably all familiar with, the Grey Lodge Pub in the Mayfair/Wissinoming area of the city. They've grown slowly over the years to locations in the Sports Complex, the suburbs, and now the airport. They appear to becoming as synonymous with Philadelphia as Pat's, Geno's, and the Liberty Bell. On a slightly related note, only about half of the micro/craft taps were flowing at the Independence pub (not to be confused with Independence Brew Pub in Center City), located in the "mall" between Terminals B & C. Hopefully, this was just an off day and they will continue to be an airport oasis for Troegs, Yards (maybe?), Lancaster, Victory, and other local faves. PHL has always been known as a decent airport when it comes to beer selection. These two places are the primary reason.

East End Brewing, Pittsburgh, PA

This story is long overdue, but, too important to pass up.

It was a beautiful day if not a tad cold in "dahn-tahn" Pittsburgh, PA. I just got some great news and I was ready to go back to Southeastern, PA. Of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see what East End Brewing had to offer. Especially since it was Thursday and Scott opens up for growler hours from 5:00-7:00.

Now I used to live in Pittsburgh, but, it has been a long time and had no idea where this place was located. Google maps helped me out a bit and before I knew it I was looking at a very unassuming facade. Some might think, "this is it?". I was thinking, "This is IT!". Hey, I like informal places ;-) Two cars out front and uh...where's the front door?

Oh there it is. The one with the sticky note that says "Come on in!". Now that is informal. In a way I felt like I was at a dance club in Pittsburgh's Strip District or perhaps in Buffalo, NY. Basically it seemed like an old building that was re-purposed into industrial park like spaces. Not too different from Tom Baker's old place in Ocean, NJ.

Inside there's a long dark hallway leading back to the brewery. If you look at the picture on the front page of his website you'll see basically the same tanks, taps and well Scott Smith himself. I kinda milled around while he was talking to somebody and introduced myself as that guy from The Brew Lounge that emailed him and he asked what I might like to taste. There were five options that night. Fortunately I wrote them down.

• Black Strap Stout
• American Wheat #7
• East End Witte
  
• Fat Gary Ale
• Big Hop IPA
  

All of them were very tasty. The Fat Gary is a solid session beer. The Witte needed a little more time to mellow out and lose a bit of the nose, but, it tasted great. The Big Hop was obviously for those of you our there who enjoy a ridiculous amount of hops. Don't miss it. I don't remember it being noticeably out of balance, but, I don't usually care about that anyway. Black Strap Stout is well just plain delicious. Reminded me somewhat of Perkuno's Hammer from Heavyweight. American Wheat #7 was delicious, if not a bit cold, but, hey its winter and the keg was on the concrete floor. Nice hit of hops with enough malt to keep it grounded.

Scott is definitely enthusiastic. I guess you have to be when you run a brewing business by yourself in a freezing cold warehouse atmosphere with concrete floors and icicles hanging from your nose...ok..ok, it wasn't that bad. Scott, does have some volunteers. The place is definitely charming in that manly kind of work your butt off way...heheh. Ever since Bryan brought East End to my attention and I checked out his site, I have been interested in meeting the one man machine behind the scenes.

My time was running short. I had over three hours to drive and as much as I wanted to stay, really need to get on the turnpike. So I asked Scott to pack up two bottles of The Ugly American and two of the 2006 Gratitude. One each for Bryan and I. I also took a growler of Fat Gary's Brown Ale. (after quick trip to a ATM I was all set)

What a truly great guy who brews very good beer. Pittsburgh is lucky to have a brewer like Scott. I hope to be back soon. In the meantime I'll have to find somebody to share those two big bombers with. Did I mention that all this beer is brewed in an environmentally sustainable way.

Thanks Scott. BTW, next time I'm coming in the summer!

Another Successful Trip to San Francisco

Good business was done, new friends were made, and tasty treats made their way home with me. Definitely some winners in this batch. Perhaps none more so than Alaskan Smoked Porter, Moylan's Hopsickle, and Firestone Walker's 10th Anniversary.

And to make matters even better, 10 bombers and 4 cans of beer travelled through checked baggage, the TSA, and baggage handlers with no casualties to report!

Air Travel with Beer

After this morning's unfortunate turn of events in today's world of terrorism, it appears that bringing beer on to an airplane will be practically impossible. Like nail clippers, this may last for a little while. The two alternatives, as of this morning, are to A) safely wrap and check into stowed baggage....and pray(!) ; or B) send home through a private courier. Will have to keep my eye on further developments as my next San Francisco trip is less than two weeks away and I have several ideas of what to bring home with me. Should be interesting......

Beer Travels: Traveling Friends from California

Well, like you couldn't have guessed it. A few "friends" from California joined me for my long flight home on Friday. They were almost consumed in the SFO airport during my 4 hour delay. But, fortuitously, my gate was positioned between the Gordon Biersch and the Anchor restaurant/bar locations. And, for a bit of caffeine, the always impressive Peet's Coffee was across the way. Anyway, my traveling friends from California included: the venerable Bear Republic's Racer IPA; the always creative Anderson Valley's Brother David's Double and Triple; and the "new-to-The Brew Lounge" Marin Brewing's Breakfast Stout and Blueberry Ale. Can't wait to pour one of these bad boys. Oh, and if you're interested, they are all 22oz. "bombers" and were purchased from The Jug Shop on Pacific & Polk (at the end of my 9-mile run)....taxi, please!

Airports and Good Beer

Is good beer getting better to find nowadays or what?! First it's good beer bars, then good beer restaurants, then good beer at sporting arenas. Now, better beer is showing up at your neighborhood airport. Seriously!

This may surprise some of you that do not have the opportunity to pass through airports. Or, those of you who don't have the time to search it out as you are passing through to your flight. But, others of you know exactly what I am talking about.

Take for example our trip this last weekend from Philadelphia to Detroit to Madison. Then, home from Madison to Minneapolis to Philadelphia. I have listed below a sampling of the beer that I found in Detroit, Madison, and Minneapolis.

You may agree that Madison may be the most surprising. Not because they have two bars with nice brew selections, but because they probably have the highest brewpub per airport capita rate....at an airport with only 10 gates!

Detroit, MI (DTW) - "Tailpipe Taproom" (near Gates A71-A78) Widmer Hefeweizen; Sam Adams Boston Lager; Fosters; Labatt Blue; Budweiser; Bud Light; Miller Lite - "Max & Erma's" (near Gate A29) Leinenkugel's Summer Wheat; Warsteiner; Molson Canadian; Sam Adams Summer Ale; Sam Adams Boston Lager; Miller Lite - "Slapshotz" (near Gate A21) Sam Adams Boston Lager; Guinness; Fosters; Heineken; Labatt Blue; Budweiser; Bud Light; Miller Lite

Madison, WI (MSN) - "Würst" (near Gate A5) Hacker Pschorr Weisse; Great Dane Pils; Beck's; Beck's Dark; Sam Adams Light; Amstel Light; Capital Winter Skal; St. Pauli Girl; Leinenkugel's Wheat; Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss; Sam Adams Boston Lager; Budweiser - "Great Dane Brewpub" (near Gate A4) Landmark Lite; Devil's Lake Red Lager; Emerald Isle Stout; Black Earth Porter; Old Glory American Pale Ale; Belgian Dubbel

Minneapolis, MN (MSP) - "Axel's Bonfire" (in Main Terminal) Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss; Sam Adams Boston Lager; Bonfire Lager (exclusively brewed by Auguste Schell); Bass; Budweiser; Bud Light - "TGIFriday's" (near Gates C9-C12) Stella Artois; Blue Moon; Sam Adams Boston Lager; Summit Extra Pale Ale; Heineken; Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss; Budweiser; Bud Light; Miller Lite

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