Eight Crazy Nights

OK, the holiday is over and everyone survived I assume. Family time can be so....interesting...is a word that comes to mind as "desciptive enough". Unfortunatley I was not able to be with my family, but I had a great time anyway. Some buddies of mine own a restaurant here in town. They closed it for the day and had friends and family over to the restaurant. It was a blast. We had a brined turkey, a fried turkey, a ham and a pot roast. If you are one of those people who is sick of hearing people rave about how good a fried turkey is, because you still have yet to eat one, let me ask you something: What in the hell are you waiting for? I was one of you at one time, but now I am that other guy. Fried turkeys are out of this world. They make every other turkey ashamed of themselves for even thinking of getting killed, gutted, plucked, roasted, carved and eaten. Non-fried turkeys are the dial-up internet connections of the poultry world. Get with the program people. Remember: If something makes a food less healthy, by definition it also makes it taste better. It's just that simple. Hamburger? Good. Bacon cheeseburger? Way better. Pickles? Who doesn't like pickles? But deep-fried pickle are outstanding. I think I have made my point here.

So in addition to Thanksgiving, we had that Discovery Channel viewing party on Sunday the 21st. Huge success. Yes, on a Sunday at 10:00 pm. You offer people rare and crazy Dogfish Head beer and they show up. Hey lonely people without any friends! I just gave you that advice for free. You're welcome. Get a bunch of crazy beers together and put the word out. All of a sudden you're popular. It's like magic, but not fake. So the show has already been moved to Monday nights at 10:00 after just two episodes. Remember what I said about sharks not being prime-time material back in the day? Well it looks like beer is poised to kick some shark ass. Unless those sharks have laser beams attached to their heads. Then beer would be in trouble, because who can deal with sharks with frickin' lasers? I mean, really? Plus, I discovered that the show where they drive trucks over a road of solid ice is on The History Channel, not Discovery. What is historical about trucks on ice? Stupid. I also pretty sure that Bear Grylls show is on History too. What a lame show. How am I expected, as a viewer, to believe that this guy is in actual danger when there is a f---ing camera crew following him? How stupid do they think we are? "OK, this is a real dangerous situation here. Except over there is Bill with the camera....And the director is on his cell phone. Sally is holding the microphone, drinking a latte from Starbucks. Oh, here comes the caterer. Thank god, because I am starving. Cut! Hey Bear! (If that is your real name there....ahem...Todd...cough!). Put down that slimy piece of animal shit and come have a falafel!" Really dangerous situation there. I am sure that falafel is going to be hot. Careful pal.

We are currently deep into our He'Brew Jewbilation event at Mall of GA. They have tapped 6 rare kegs over 6 consecutive days, and killed them in 1-3 days each so far. They only have 2 more to go, with # 7, the Jewbilation 14 getting tapped tonight. The whole thing starts up again at Crabapple, Kennesaw and Newnan on Wednesday of this week to coincide with Hanukkah. So go tell Veronica, have a happy, happy.....what, no Adam Sandler fans out there? The Hanukkah song? Tough crowd. So get your people together and check out these stores from December 1st through the 8th. There will some great beers that you will probably never see again. I have done my part. Now it's up to you to finish the job.

On Friday we are doing the Lenny's Mania (previously called Lenny's 3 Ways, but apparently some of you have dirty minds and were not entirely sure of what you were being invited to) at Canton. I will be up there if anybody wants to have a beer with me. You just might learn a little about beer packaging and serving methods and their impact on flavor. Tim (our guy in Canton) has some other specialty He'Brew beers to bust out, so like I have said in the past, please plan ahead. You forget about safe transportation, you just might wake up looking at the wrong kind of bars.

That's all for now. I am off to Charlotte today for some work stuff. I am also going to a Chimay beer dinner tonight, so that isn't going to suck. Pretty psyched about that as you can imagine. "Why, yes. You can just stand there and keep refilling this glass with Chimay all night. I thought you'd never ask." Take it easy folks. I will be back in touch soon.

Got Beer....Bitches

The keg of Dogfish Head Bitches Brew is en route to The Fred now. It will be getting tapped for the broadcast of Discovery Channel's new series, "Brew Masters". The show airs at 10:00 pm Sunday. The beer will be available at 8:00 pm. No earlier, no later.

I have hats and really cool key-chain bottle openers to give away. So try to stay a little bit sober this Sunday and come out to watch a great show and drink this rare and historic beer. See you there.

Trade In Your Birthday Suit For A Santa Suit (And Do Everyone A Favor)

The Discovery Channel, which used to be about nature and history and documentaries, has a new program debuting on Sunday. It is called Brew Masters and features Dogfish Head deity Sam Calagione. It follows him on his adventures in beer land, which are far more interesting than mine. Sam gets to brew crazy beers using unusual ingredients, and sometimes he does it in very unique surroundings. Long story short, this is not some boring old documentary following a guy around a brewery. Sam is no ordinary guy either. This is a new series of shows featuring this guy and his world. Beer world. On a major cable TV network. Sure, Discovery used to be a great place to watch wild animal shows and Hitler documentaries, but that was then. Now it is full of shows about trucks driving on ice, science dorks blowing stuff up, sharks, and some guy named Bear Grylls. Not be mistaken with Bare Girls, which, I would assume, is on Cinemax late at night. I do not have Showtime, Cinemax or HBO (death to Comcast!). My internet and digital cable are enough. If I need more channels, I am watching too much god-damned TV. End of story. Did I mention "Death to Comcast!"?

But I will be watching Brew Masters on Sunday night. Want to watch it with me? 'Cause there's a big slumber party at my house! Wrong. We are having a viewing party at The Fred. Here is the deal:

• The first episode centers on the brewing of a wacky stout of some sort. It was brewed to commemorate the 40-year anniversary of Miles Davis' Bitches Brew. Don't know who Miles Davis is? Then you no longer have to wonder if you are cool or not. (Hint: You're not, sorry.) The beer is inspired by the album and its groundbreaking fusion of jazz, rock & funk. The beer is a blend of mostly Imperial Stout blended with a honey beer flavored with gesho root. No, I do not have any idea what a gesho root is either, but thanks for asking. 
• We will kick off the evening around 7:30 or 8:00-ish with some Bitches Brew music to get everyone in the mood, followed by some educational beer programming on the TVs. Libations will be DFH Chateau Jaihu & Chicory Stout drafts, some Palo Santo Marron and Red & White bottles. We may, and I stress MAY, have a small keg of the Bitches Brew. It is leaving Delaware on a truck today that is supposed to arrive on Friday. If that happens, we will have the keg. If this truck (they make multiple stops, not straight from DE to ATL) shows up late Friday or on Saturday, no DFH Bitches draft. I understand that this is a deal breaker for many of you. I will try to notify you all here as soon as I find out the good news. No post between now and then, no Bitches Brew. but it isn't like The Fred isn't loaded down with special beer any way, so we won't cry if it doesn't show.
• At 10:00 we will watch the Brew Masters show on Discovery. Yes, 10:00 pm on a Sunday. Where did you expect a beer show on Discovery to debut? Friday at 8:00? That is prime time to watch trucks drive on ice! Or sharks. Do you want to watch a beer show in prime time some day? Then you should be sure to support this one, because this is your chance. Watch it. DVR is cheating. E-mail the station and tell then how much you like it. If they can milk extra ad dollars out of this thing by moving it to a better time slot, they will. What if Shark Week got replaced by Beer Week? Can you imagine that? This, readers, is where it starts. Sharks were not always prime time, and I am still baffled by the popularity of trucks on icy roads. I drove a Ford Escort on icy roads in Michigan for years and no one made a TV show about me. Now the pawn shop show, that I can watch. Quality programming there.
• Free stuff! A package from Milton, DE arrived at the office today. I am not there, so I have no idea what is in it. But whatever is in it will be for any attendees Sunday night. I will open it up around 9:00, but don't get too excited. I expect it to be bottle openers and stuff like that. Hats and t-shirts? Maybe. Depends how big the box is. It will not be full of free beer and locks of Sam Calagione's hair, so keep it in your pants beer geeks.

I have three more things for you before I go:

1. The first of the eight days of He'Brew craziness starts Wednesday at Mall of GA Taco Mac. Eight different beers tapped on eight different days. Read the last couple of posts for more details. Remember that these are small kegs and will not last more that a day or two. You can taste new batches of the last six recipes for He'Brew Jewbilation, their anniversary strong ale. These are made with the number of hops and malts that correspond to the year's anniversary, and are all different. Start on Wednesday with Jewbilation 8 (eight malts, eight hops, 8% ABV). On the seventh day you will get the new version, Jewbilation 14 (yes, 14 malts, hops & ABV). The eighth day will be Vertical Jewbilation, a blend of 8 through 14, barrel aged in sazerac barrels. Three more stores launch the same series December 1st: Crabapple, Newnan & Kennesaw.
2. Fred & Peter's All-Star Holiday Extravaganza beer dinner is selling fast. At last count there were 14 seats left out of 50. The event is Tuesday, December 7th at The Fred. I gave you a link to the menu last week. It looks pretty awesome if you ask me.
3. The Beer Connoisseur Magazine One-Year Anniversary Party is Wednesday, December 8th at Deckard's. Tickets are $40 each, and HERE IS A LINK to the info. There are certainly some bells & whistles for the price tag. We are simply the venue for this event, so you need to open this up to find out more and who to pay. They are looking for someone to don the Santa suit for their birthday event, so if you are jolly and feel like drinking beer through a fake beard, call the number for the BC mag people. They would love to have as many Santa's as possible I imagine. And if you want to wear your birthday suit to a Santa event, I think the people at Cinemax may want to do a show about you. 

That is all I have for this week kids. Hopefully I can get my new camera out of the box soon and take some more pictures for your entertainment. I don't have any beer trips planned until February though, so not much is happening for a while. We did something fun Monday night, but if you weren't there, you don't want to hear about it now. Have a good week and keep that going into the weekend. Peek here Friday or Saturday to see if we received the Bitches. Later bitches.

Event Reminders & Updates!

Here is a boatload of special events to clue you all in on, plus an update on the Lenny's 3 Ways that has been getting moved around. Got it pinned down finally. Here it comes:


There is a bountiful harvest of events on Friday, November 12th (tomorrow!). If you need detailed info on any of these events, try checking an older post. I can't keep repeating myself all of the time. Plus, based on your choice of on-line reading, you are clearly above average intelligence. Be sure when reading old posts to check more recent ones for accurate dates. I promise to get better at getting these dates solid earlier and keeping them that way. Fall is crazy, so give me a break.


The Kennesaw store's three-year anniversary is Friday. They will have a ton of good beers (see last post), including a cask of Terrapin Moo-Hoo. If you missed the Moo-Hoo cask at The Fred last week, don't make that same mistake again. This beer is selling, according to Spike (Terrapin brew master), faster than a cow with its tail on fire. It's that good. I will be there, for whatever that's worth. 


Also on Friday there is a crazy wooden keg of Schneider Edel-Weiss at Deckard's. It gets tapped with some contraption that I have never seen before. People, I have been in and around the beer business for 20 years, and I have never seen anything like this before. Want a unique beer experience? This is it. Here is their description and invite:


"Many years ago, the beer brewed for Octoberfest was not necessarily the standard marzen style lager beer associated with the event today. At this time, there were many styles of beer brewed there. The festival was in October rather than September, and it was often quite cold out, making necessary richer and stronger beers. Thus, Schneider's Wiesen Edel-Weisse was made to be warming. It was quite full bodied, as the malt contained a fair amount of unfermentable sugar. In order to balance such a beer, it had to be brewed with more hops for balance, resulting in more noticeable hop character than is usually found in hefe weizens. In celebration of fall we will be tapping a wooden cask of this delicious October wheat beer. Make plans to join us for this amazing beer on cask! Tapping will be at 6:00pm sharp this Friday."


The Fred is tapping a cask of Lagunitas Barrel-Aged Cappuccino Stout for Friday. See, this is what happens when events stack up on top of each other. I can't be at more than one place at a time, and I would have spread these out if I could have. Not for your benefit, but mine. Sorry. That's not true. I know plenty of you are going to have a hard time deciding where to go on Friday. I love you all very much, you crazy beer drinkers you!


What about the chance to meet Shmaltz founder Jeremy Cowan at Metropolis on Friday? He will have some of the advance copies of his book, "Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah" and will sign them if you can manage to get one. There will be kegs of Jewbilation 13 from last year (and these age really well!) and the debut of Jewbilation 14 (14 malts, 14 hops, 14% ABV). Jeremy is a very interesting guy, and our local Shmaltz guy, Darren, is great too. All of these events are awesome! Aarrgghh!


Our original store at Virginia-Highland has just recently brought in a bunch of rare large bottles that you may have not seen before. There are some Allagash, Avery and Lagunitas specialties if you are interested. They're not cheap, but hey, you're worth it. Call them if you want specific details. Ask for Alex or Andrew.


So that's just one day. Wow. You have your assignments. Godspeed, beer drinkers.


The Lenny's 3 Ways in Canton has been OFFICIALLY scheduled for Friday, December 3rd. We will have He'Brew Lenny's RIPA on draft, and in a firkin with a gravity tap, and in a cask-conditioned keg through a beer engine. Ever wonder how the same beer tastes with different serving methods? Show up on the 3rd and wonder no more. We will be un-fogging the foggiest minds, then re-fogging them with great beers. There will also be '08 & '09 He'Brew Rejewvenator on draft, plus big bottles of that Jewbilation 14 I mentioned earlier. This is going to be a great event for lovers of strong/hoppy beers. Like lighter beer? Stay home.


If you or someone you know lives in the Charlotte area, we are hosting a holiday beer tasting on Wednesday, December 1st at our South Park store. If anyone is interested in going, they should call the store and ask for Mrs. Garrison. Or Towelie. But not Kenny, he is either dead or about to die. But seriously, Charlotte Magazine is putting on this event, and people can pay through:


http://www.charlottemagazine.com/Charlotte-Magazine/Promotion-and-Events/Holiday-Beer-Tasting/index.php 


There will be eight holiday/winter beers to sample, and brewers will be on hand to talk about their beers and beer in general. Light apps will be provided, and the cost is $30.00. It will be a great chance for people in that area to meet like-minded folks and talk beer with the professionals.


Lastly, the Third Annual All-Star Holiday Extravaganza beer dinner is scheduled for Tuesday, December 7th at The Fred. The menu and payment link should be up at www.tacomac.com today. If you have always wanted to attend one of these events but have not, this is the one you want. We will feature six different holiday/winter beers with our new chef's expert food pairings. Reception starts at 6:30 with a home-made eggnog spiked with Rogue Hazelnut Spiced Rum. Beer and food follow at 7:00. 


That is all I have for now. Enjoy your weekend. It isn't like I didn't give you enough to do. Look for me at the Falcons game tonight. I will be the guy that looks like me drinking beer. See you around.