Archive for the ‘Out and About in the Burgh’ Category

January27

TDY Visits Enemy Territory

By: Mark Wanczak

When I typically suggest to friends that they should visit Northeast Ohio, I typically receive the response below:

Ohio

But after the Steelers were eliminated from the NFL playoffs, I thought that I had a shot to convince The Drunk Yinzer (TDY) to visit, since TDY wouldn’t have any sports to look forward to (before the NHL resolved the lockout). I was generally concerned that they would travel to Birmingham Bridge and plunge into the depths of Monongahela.

Who else can sympathize with TDY and their recent depression regarding Pittsburgh sports? A non-Pittsburgher! More specifically, a Cleveland sport fan.

Cleveland embraces mediocrity and celebrates .500 seasons. The Browns have never made it to the Super Bowl. The Indians haven’t won a World Series since 1948 (second longest drought behind the Cubs). And the Cavs? I’d rather not discuss the Cavs right now. To top it off, the last time the Browns were in the playoffs, the Browns lost three times to the same team in the same season (I think a first in NFL history).

How do Cleveland fans deal with mediocrity and depression? Beer. Lots of it.

Thankfully, Cleveland is a drinking town with a football problem and without the Browns in the playoffs, Cleveland refocuses on the drinking.

I decided to share my wisdom with TDY and take the risk to invite them for a weekend in Northeast Ohio.  To encourage TDY to leave the safety of western Pennsylvania, I shared that one of the best places for tacos in Cleveland was having their weekly taco special on Friday that weekend. In addition, I informed them that another area of Cleveland, Ohio City, was ranked one of the best bar-hopping areas in the world (yes, WORLD) by USA Today. On top of that, the Ohio City area is relatively safe and TDY wouldn’t have to worry about being run over by an inebriated Steeler player speeding down Carson Street. If all the above wasn’t enough for them, our mutual friend Hurricane Spurious (HS) was in Northeast Ohio for the holidays and our other mutual friend, who was our Goalie in intramural Futbol (GF), lives in Northeast Ohio.

Needless to say, TDY made the trip west to glorious northeast Ohio.

On Friday night, we headed to my favorite taco place, Sachsenheim Hall. Sachsenheim is located on the border of Cleveland and Parma and is a German beer hall that serves quality beers at reasonable prices with phenomenal tacos. Yes, it is a German beer hall AND it serves phenomenal tacos. It isn’t any different than ordering a salad in Pittsburgh and receiving French fries and steak on it.

At Sachsenheim, you can choose beef, ancho chicken sausage, habanera bacon, blackbean & corn, saxon sausage, chipotle chicken and bacon, Italian carnival, chorizo, and/or venison tacos. The tacos may include lettuce, tomato and/or sour cream. On a sidenote, Sachsenseim is the last stop in the annual Taco thon in Cleveland. For more information, search “taco thon” on facebook.

To start, TDY and HS each ordered a 1 liter stein to accompany their tacos. It was the first of many orders of beer and tacos for TDY and HS.

I ordered a ½ liter Hofbrau Dunkel to accompany my order of chorizo and venison tacos. The chorizo tacos had a nice kick to them and ended up being my favorite taco. The venison tacos were unique and included hearty pieces of venison. The venison tacos were my second favorite at Sachsenheim out of all the tacos I ordered.

On top of great beer and phenomenal tacos is the reasonable price. TDY, HS, and I all paid around $20 each for multiple tacos and beers.

After a successful night at Sachsenheim, HS, TDY and I geared up for Ohio City on Saturday night.  Before experiencing what USA Today considers one of the best bar hopping areas in the world, we had lunch/dinner at B-Spot.

B-Spot is a burger restaurant owned by Iron Chef (and Cleveland native) Michael Symon. While being predominantly known for their burgers, B-Spot has delicious Lola fries (fries with rosemary) and a decent beer selection. Of course the group started drinking. I had a GL Christmas Ale to accompany my Fat Doug (burger with coleslaw, pastrami, swiss cheese and mustard) and Lola fries. HS ordered a few beers to accompany his specialty burger that included pepperjack cheese and hot peppers. As I learned in college, HS has an iron stomach.

After departing B-Spot, the group headed over to GF’s house to watch some football and drink beer. The group enjoyed various beer (Schlitz, Killians, Miller Lite, etc.) at GF’s house that was leftover from GF’s holiday family party.

After leaving GF’s place, the group had at least two bars in mind for the night – Great Lakes Brewery and Market Garden Brewery. Great Lakes is, arguably, Cleveland’s most famous brewery.  TDY’s goal was to locate and purchase Blackout Stout ice cream. Unfortunately, Great Lakes was out of the ice cream but still had plenty of beer was ordered. The group enjoyed Cleveland Brown Ale (picture shown below), Commodore Perry IPA, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, the Great Lakes milk stout, and Eliot Ness.

After having our fill of GL brews, we headed to Market Garden Brewery located near the famous Westside Market (similar to the Strip District in Pittsburgh) and founded by (among others) a former brewmaster from Dogfish Head. Market Garden has a large upstairs area and an even bigger downstairs area which includes the brewery. The group headed downstairs and sipped on Festivus Ale, Old School American Lager, Boss Amber Lager, and the Trouble IPA while discussing the fermentation tanks and the corresponding lines (#nerds4life).

The last stop of the night was Nano Brew (coincidentally owned by the same owners as Market Garden). Nano Brew is a bar/bicycle repair shop with a decent selection of various microbrews (I’ve heard it has great food too). It is smaller than Market Garden and, accordingly, less crowded.  I cannot recall what was ordered but I remember drinking some 9-10% alcohol beer (perhaps Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout? North Coast Old Rasputin?). So the next time you are riding on the near west side and need to fix your bicycle, stop at Nano Brew for a beer and the appropriate tools.

Overall, I think TDY enjoyed their trip to the North Coast and appreciated the various microbrews in Ohio City. I suggested a return trip to visit Sterle’s (a Hungarian style restaurant), Happy Dog ($5 hot dogs with innumerable topping choices and polka happy hour) and/or Sokolowski’s (a Polish cafeteria-style restaurant) with trips to Willoughby Brewing, Rocky River Brewing, and Hopping Frog, among others.

 

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September28

The Brew Gentlemen Launch a Kickstarter, Pop-up Beer Garden Comes to Braddock

By: Mark Wanczak

Attention fans of Pittsburgh-brewed beer: Our friends The Brew Gentlemen have launched a Kickstarter to help fund brewery renovations and install a larger brewing system. The Braddock-based brewery started by CMU grads Asa Foster and Matt Katase recently partnered with award-winning chef Kevin Sousa and his new Magarac restaurant. We had a chance to meet and talk to Asa and Matt at this year’s Beer and Gear Festival and look forward to tasting their creations. Head over to their Kickstarter page and check out the goodies you get when you contribute.

In related news, Braddock will also be the site of Tapped: Braddock, the latest pop-up beer garden in Pittsburgh being held Saturday, October 6th. We love this pop-up beer garden trend and have attended a few of the previous events around town. Great food and beer to be had, so check out the Facebook page for more details.

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July11

Pop Up Beer Garden

By: Jake

This past Saturday there was another Pop Up Beer Garden party. Saturday’s location was 36th and Butler in Lawrenceville.  Great spot! The scene was awesome and free to get in. The set up was really cool.  As you walked up there was a table selling drink tickets and usually a worker or two to fill you in on how everything works. Basically everything was cash. Food you can pay for at the vendor’s table or truck. Alcohol was $5 a ticket and tickets were on sale at the front. Half the parking lot was under a tent with food and drink vendors underneath. There was also an eclectic arrangement of what appeared to be 1980′s K-Mart lawn furniture to sit an relax. From left to right inside there was; PGH Taco Truck, a bakery (sorry I forgot your name), Bar Marco, Wigle Whiskey, Full Pint Brewing, water/watermelon station and Franktuary food truck. In the back ground played some great summer time chill party music. Everyone had red solo cups in hand while munching on some food. It was a great vibe on a perfect summer evening.

PGH Taco Truck was serving up some delish tacos. They were sold out of everything except chicken and steak by the time we showed up. Both tasted great paired with a mixed drink from Eric himself at the Wigle Whiskey table. This was the first time I had met Eric and it was great talking with him. He was talking the time to talk to each person he made a drink for. Definitely a passionate, fun guy who loves what he does. I believe we were enjoying some Wigle Whiskey with a dash of ginger ale on ice. Bar Marco was grilling up some damn good looking and smelling burgers. If I had more room I would have tried one.

If you haven’t been to one yet, I highly recommend checking it out. Relaxing outside in a parking lot sitting on some comfy folding chairs sipping some local booze while munching on great local food can’t be beat in the summer. I had a blast and can’t wait to catch the next one.

 

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April30

Too Many Bottle Tuesdays : Pauwel Kwak

By: Tim McFarland

Brewery Bosteels Pauwel Kwak may be best known outside of it’s native Belgium as that beer with the crazy glass.  The glass is shaped like an hourglass or a yard glass but requires it’s own stand.  Belgian beer fans will know this as a unique beer that combines some swee, malty character with a slight hop bitterness not found in most Belgians.  The experience of drinking Kwak is immensely increased when using this unique glassware.

 

A Cold Kwak on a Snowy Pittsburgh Afternoon

Pauwel Kwak (8.1% Alcohol)

Appearance :  The head is impressive helped by the unique shape of the glass, clings all along to the glass.  Color is a deep orange-brown.

Aroma:  Slightly sweet aroma with notes of caramel.

Taste :   Slight citrus and banana flavors with a decidedly sweet finish.  The initial taste is not overwhelming in any flavor.

Mouthfeel :  Somewhat thick but good amount of carbonation does lighten this beer in the mouth.

Overall :  If you get the chance to try this beer at a reasonable price and in the correct glass, seize the opportunity.  However, there is nothing that makes this beer really stand out.  It lacks the depth of flavor profile that you would find in a great Belgian Dubbel or Quadrupel.  It lacks the malt character and bitterness to be a Belgian Pale.  Overall, It’s a beer that can’t really decide what it wants to be.

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March16

St. Patrick’s Day

By: Jake

It’s that time of year again…St Patrick’s Day.  With the awesome weather and March 17th falling on a Saturday this year’s St Patrick’s Day could be epic.  We at TDY plan to follow our annual St Patrick’s Day tradition.

8am Piper’s – Southside

  • Here we meet up for a hearty breakfast of boxty, whiskey/good beer (not green triple hopped shamrock beer) and some soccer.  We’ll spend a few hours here till we need to get out and stretch the legs.  If you have never been, then you need to stop by Piper’s and enjoy some of their fine whiskey, scotch, craft beer (both on tap and cask) and great food.  It is a warm friendly environment with great service and very knowledgeable bartenders.  Plus you may just run into all 3 members of TDY.

Next…??? – Southside

  • The middle part of the day is a grab bag.  In past years we have stopped at Fat Heads, Smokin Joes, The Library and a few places I can’t remember.  Some more food will follow with more beer (again not green triple hopped shamrock beer).  Let’s not forget the Pens play at 1pm tomorrow too.  So this bar will have to have good TV setup to watch the game.

The Claddagh – Southside

  • We always make our way to the Claddagh to hang out and listen to Irish music while enjoying some Guinness or Harp.  They have a nice tent outside and are usually pretty packed.  So get there early, anticipate long lines for beer (which tend to move pretty well) and longer lines for the restroom.

 

A few tricks of the trade to prepare for St Patrick’s Day.

  1. Eat a good dinner Friday night.
  2. Hydrate Friday night and before drinking Saturday.
  3. Draw straws for a DD or just walk or use public transportation.
  4. Make sure you are stocked up on hangover remedies.  For example; Advil, Pedialyte, Gatorade, peanut butter, beer, Super Troopers, cold left over pizza, Coke, fried chicken, pennies, brussel sprouts, etc…
  5. Eat a good breakfast
  6. Wear green or a Steelers jersey…Pens jersey will do also.
  7. Drink a little booze Friday night, no wine though.  Wine = bad news bears
  8. Limit your intake of green beer.  Do you REALLY know how they make green beer?
  9. Double check your hangover supplies again. For example; chocolate, Spaceballs, Snatch, favorite terrible towel, pepto, delivery numbers for Chinese, TP, three 2.5 gal jugs of water, fire wood, Shawn of the Dead, etc…
  10. No matter what you think, there are no Leprechauns hiding gold on the hillside up Mt Washington.

Lastly, be safe and enjoy.

Slainte!

 

 

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March7

2009 House Red Wine Review

By: Jake

House Red Wine 2009

  • 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 4% Malbec, 4% Syrah and 2% Petit Verdot
  • Produced and bottled by The Magnificent Wine Company, Walla Walla Washington USA

Here is a great example of a solid red table wine that is less that $15.  I have seen it on sale a few places around town for even less.  The wine was paired with a pasta and red sauce.  Not a fancy dinner by any means.  More like it’s Tuesday night and I don’t feel like cooking type of dinner.

The grapes come from the Columbia Valley, WA.  The website notes that the success with vinifera grapes is due in large measure to the state’s unique geography.  The vineyards are planeted on the east side of the mountains to protect the plants from the very wet climate of the NW.  Here the plants only see 6-8 inches of rain per year.  Having less rain allows the vineyard managers to control vine vigor to promote full grape development.

This is a 2009 vintage.  The plants budded a little later than normal.  This did not affect the grapes due to the long hot summer that followed.  This kind of summer weather allowed the grapes to have accelerated growth.  Due to the accelerated growth the grapes were harvested prior to a fall October frost.

This wine has a great balance of traditional red wine grapes.  Combined with the summer weather these grapes provide a fruit flavor of cherry and strawberry.  Yet the wine had a long lingering fruit finish with a dry finish.  I would compare this to a Pinot Noir.  Very fruitful, yet finishes a little dry.  This is  not sweet wine by any stretch.  Lastly, the legs on this wine were awesome.

Give the wine a try and pair it with lasagna, pizza, grilled salmon or even roasted root vegetables.

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January9

The Love of Beer

By: Jake

The Love of Beer is an intimate portrayal of craft beer’s female forerunners.  Staying true to cinema vierte, these women tell their stories in their own words and through their own actions.

The Love of Beer from Lingering Illocutions on Vimeo.

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December27

What are you drinking?

By: Jake

With the Holiday season in full swing what are you drinking?  Do your tastes change with the seasons?  IPA, Pales, Lagers, Stouts, Porters…what?

Personally I’ll drink anything anytime, but something seems so right about drinking a hearty brown, stout, porter or holiday spice beer this time of year.  It seems like there hasn’t been a lot of dark beers on tap to start winter.  Luckily more and more are showing up in bars around town.   Below are a few beers you can find on tap at some local watering holes.  Give them a try and let us know what you think.

Rogue Shakespeare Stout – Newport, OR

  • Ebony in color with a rich creamy head, earthy flavor and a mellow, chocolate finish.

 

Great Divide Yeti – Denver, CO

  • A subtle oak and vanilla character with an intense chocolate, roasted coffee malt flavor and hugely assertive hop profile.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dark Horse Oatmeal Stout – Marshall, MI
  • This beer is full bodied with hints of chocolate, roasted barley, coffee flavors and a nice creamy head.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
East End Snow Melt – Pittsburgh, PA
  •  A rich malty, deep ruby-red winter ale with a touch of brown sugar.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Troegs Mad Elf – Hershey, PA
  • The combination of Cherries, Honey, and Chocolate Malts delivers gentle fruits and subtle spices. Fermented and aged with a unique yeast, this ruby red beer has significant warming strength.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sixpoint Diesel Stout – Broklyn, NY
  • Deep roasted flavor and toffee sweetness with cleansing citrus and grassy hop bitterness.

Posted in: Beer Reviews, Out and About in the Burgh2 comments

October20

Green’s Discovery Amber Ale Review

By: Jake

TDY’s gluten-free expert, Jason, recently sampled Green’s Discovery Amber Ale while on vacation.

Green’s Discovery is an amber ale, as it states on its label, brewed with the gluten-free grains millet, buckwheat, rice and sorghum instead of barley.  This beer is very different to the other gluten-free beers I have tried (Redbridge and Bard’s Tale).  First off, it has a very dark, amber color, which is unusual to the light color of most GF beers.  Another difference is the large amount of foam present when poured since I have barely noticed any foam with other GF beers.  This beer has a very distinct smell, kind of a fruity smell, almost wine-like.  The taste is similar to the smell, very sweet with some cherry flavor balanced by a decent bitterness from the hops.  There was not much body to this beer, but that’s very similar to other GF beers and it was very easy to drink. Overall, Discovery is definitely the best gluten-free beer I’ve had and I would recommend it to anyone, celiac or not.

Look for more gluten-free reviews from Jason in the future. Let us know you thoughts on gluten-free beers.  We are always looking for new beers to try. What are some gluten-free beers you’ve had?

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September26

Big Pour 5 Review

By: Tim McFarland

It’s been a few weeks since Big Pour 5 and now that the dust has settled it’s time to reflect.  Big Pour has come a long way since it’s beginnings 5 years ago.  Unfortunately, TDY has not been there from the start.   However, we did get several opportunities to talk to 5 year participants.  The one common theme was just how massive Big Pour has become.  The sheer number of beer and food vendors was pretty incredible.  By my count, 43 breweries were represented; making for some great selection of beers.   The food vendors covered a wide range from perennial favorite Point Brugge to newcomers BRGR and Pino’s Contemporary Italian (out of this world vegetarian pasta fagioli).  TDY can definitely attest to the growing smoothness of the Big Pour ticket purchasing experience.   There have been some debacles in the past and last year was a positive nightmare, but Showclix ran a very smooth operation this year.  I was in and had tickets in about 10 minutes.  Now to the important part, let’s talk beer!

All 3 TDY in attendance

There is one very simple truth that I realized at Big Pour: the amount of “new” beer available is becoming somewhat more limited.  This is one of the unforeseen circumstances of writing about beer and thus trying any new beer we can get our hands.  (Although, this is hardly a job hazard!)  There are a few new entries as always but this is one of the first beer festivals that I felt I was struggling to try all new and different brews.  This doesn’t mean that Big Pour was full of sub-par beer.  Big Pour is and will continue to be the penultimate Western PA beer festival for the wide variety of beer and fun vibe/unique character that is present.  There were many good surprises:

Helltown Brewing Co. out of Mt. Pleasant, PA was a great surprise, especially being the first stop at the festival.  We had noticed a few of their beers popping up around town at the usual spots such as Piper’s, D’s, Bocktown, Smokin Joe’s etc.  We got to try the IPA at Piper’s Pub just days before Big Pour and were pleasantly surprised.

Helltown IPA – This is just a well balanced IPA, great when you want a classic bitter flavor without going completely over the top in IBU’s.  The beer is crisp and clean in the mouth with some notes of citrus at the beginning and the bitterness shows up in the middle of the taste and accelerates to the finish.  Yet the aftertaste often left from aggressively overhopped beers is not present.  Helltown also manages to avoid the sweet, overly malt-ridden base that many East Coast IPAs fall into.

Helltown also makes a tasty brown ale : Mischievous.  An interesting interpretation of a traditional English brown ale, there is an additional fruity sweetness on top of the traditional brown base to really make it stand out.

East End brought a Honey Heather on Cask.  This delightful beer was light but with just a dab of sweetness from the honey that brings out the wheat characteristics in the malt.  This was a nice surprise.  Trying the Honey Heather on Cask leet more of the flavor come out but I’d like to try this one carbonated.  I have a feeling this would be a great late summer beer.

East End’s special Big Pour Brew was the  Nunkin Ale.  I guess you can describe this as a pumpkin-style beer.  All of the spices you know and love in a pumpkin beer were present but no pumpkins of any kind were harmed during the brewing process.  You don’t even miss them!  This is genius!  Scott was able to replicate the taste without using any costly pumpkins.  I love this idea!

Founders Brewing Co. featured a limited tapping of their Backstage Brown.  This is the beer that may give Helltown’s IPA a challenge for “Best Beer Here”.  Notes of chocolate and roast malts combined with a creamy head and overall smoothness.  It reminds us of Voodoo’s Wynona Brown Ale but slightly more intense flavors particulary the rich creamy chocolate flavor.

Enjoying Big Pour or is she holding Jake upright?

Bullfrom Brewery from Williamsport, PA brought several beers and it was refreshing to see another new, small brewery in attendance.  Our favorite of their four offerings was the Mondocalypso Belgianish IPA.  Overall light and crisp with a slight bitterness on the tip of the tongue that gains momentum throughout the taste.  The finish is nicely balanced with just the right amount of bitterness but is not overly dry.

It was great to see Voodoo Brewery back in attendance.  They brought their usual selection of Wynona Brown, White Magick of the Sun, Pilzilla, and Four Seasons IPA.  All great offerings.  Their feature was a new version of the IPA.  Maybe not quite as bitter as I would like it and the aftertaste ended a tad sweet for an IPA.  Overall, the new IPA has real potential.

Relatively new to the Burgh, Six Point Brewing Co.  , Brooklyn, NY brought some fantastic beers including one of my new favorie IPAs : Bengali Tiger.  The Bengali Tiger challenges the idea that really excellent IPAs can’t come from the East Coast (except Dogfish).  The bitterness is balanced with nicely but the malt in no way overpowers the what an IPA should be all about : HOPS!

Six Point was also pouring Righteous Ale.  Srighteous has a refeshing, crisp taste with a touch of sweet malt that you crave when the weather starts getting a little colder.  Not as smooth, the rye gives this beer a certain edge.  We highly recommend trying any of Six Points offerings if you are lucky to find them out and about in the city.

 

Always a welcoming sign....

There were, of course, many other breweries in attendance with many quality brews, too many to name.  Southern Tier brought many quality brews including our pick for best pumpkin beer : Pumking.  Unibroue, New Holland,  and Dark Horse also brought their “A” game to the festival.

The fact that one post can’t fit in all of the craft  brewed goodness proves the success of Big Pour 5.  The festival highlights a mixture of local beer and food that can’t be found together at any other event.  The place can get a bit rowdy towards the end of the session, but this is a small inconvenience compared to the overall value.  We are anxiously awaiting next year’s improvements and look forward to the future of Big Pour.

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