Beer Notes

-- Happy Birthday to Clipper City Brewing which turned 14 Tuesday!

-- Some more talk of bar guides and best bars. The two notables of late, Baltimore Magazine's and CityPaper's BaltiManual(.com) which generously links to BBG at A Beer In Hand and BeerInBaltimore.com. And, also at Midnight Sun where I set into a mild rant about where I found fault in Baltimore Magazine's otherwise worthy compilation. Look for something like that from Baltimore Beer Guy in the near future so I, too, can take abuse for omissions.

-- So I aired my grievances with Baltimore Magazine but I also need to find a place to link to their 'On The Town' blog which makes occasional mention of this city's fine beer culture.

-- Once again another fine discussion at Alexander Mitchell's Beer In Baltimore asking what new beers do we want (Russian River!) but also leading us into the ethics of new beers potentially crowding and casting aside other solid options in the endless war for shelf (and tap) space. I'm perpetually trying new beers so I probably side more on the aggressive bring new beers in side but I also really, really appreciate many of the already established breweries and gradually do find myself drinking more and more of their offerings.

-- So Yeah Dood in its endless quest to explain the science of beer that forever eludes me (I swung heavily to my right brain in the middle of high school, drove myself crazy micromanaging details fantasy baseball and Sim City and swore that off in the name of sanity ... anyway) writes up the process of Mashing.

I have barely started this, and I have already determined that this will be at least a four part post. Mashing is that big, and that important. It takes into account understandings of botany, chemistry, thermodynamics… a lot of science. Which is actually pretty funny considering that at its core, mashing is putting hot water on crushed grain and waiting.

-- All of Pratt Street Ale House's winter seasonals are now on tap. The hits keep coming as they'll be brewing their seasonals for Jan/Feb like the Scottish Ale called The Darkness, a new stout as well as classics like the Strongman Pale Ale and possibly the Peeping Tom Porter.

-- Thanks to Twitter I've now discovered the Mechanicsville Craft Beer Examiner written by Brian Allshouse. That'll be linked here shortly.

-- I haven't linked to 600block.com, but maybe I should?

-- A link to the Stillpoint Farm website that is producing Maryland-grown Cascade (and chinook and fuggles and northern brewer and nugget and saaz) hops that Clipper City will be using for special casked beers starting this month (Dec. 18th at The Judges Bench in Ellicott City for the first example, be there!). And check this out: 'coming in 2010, Milkhouse Brewery will offer handcrafted farmhouse ales made in small batches from hops and grains grown on the farm. Check back in the coming months for our grand opening'.

-- Everything you wanted to know about firkin dimensions from Yours For Good Fermentables' Tom Cizauskas as part of a series on cask ale called 'Fubbing at the Tut'.

-- A Southern Inspired joint called Langermann's is opening soon, and will have eight taps, mostly generic stuff but they'll have a Loose Cannon tap (and PBR, ha!) plus more exotic bottles like Fischer Amber and Dixie's Blackened Voodoo.

-- Some interesting Latin beers at Talara (warning, loud music in 3 ... 2... )

-- Via Midnight Sun, Woody's Rum Bar above Slainte is temporarily Woody's Winter Lounge with new furniture and whatnot.

-- San Francisco Brewery 21st Ammendment's Monk's Blood Belgian dubbel style beer has hit Max's and DC, I'm sure it'll find its way to other bars and bottle shops in the area soon.

-- New Troegs' beers on the horizon to be released Dec. 16th: Gold (two year old tripel aged in oak w/brett) and Red (Mad Elf aged in bourbon barrels)

-- Out of DC, clever can-only beer joint Red Derby is hosting what should be an interesting beer tasting Thursday led by beerspotter Orr Shtuhl. Someone should open something like that in Baltimore.

-- The Washington Post's 'Going Out Guide' conjures up a list of best beer selections and mentions Columbia's Frisco Grille. Nice!

-- SAVOR, a massive beer + fine food event in Washington D.C. has been set for June 5th at the National Building Museum. Count on most of the beer glitterati (I mean that nicely) being in town, sort of a Great American Beer Fest of the summer and without awards.

-- Thanks for the links, Urban Revival and Husky Runner.