Posts Tagged ‘Voodoo Brewing’

August12

5th Annual Millvale Brew Fest Preview

By: Jake

Rain or shine get ready to drink some beer in Millvale!  Whether you kayak, bike, walk or drive over get ready for a fun time at the 5th Annual Millvale Brew Fest.  The park is a great location right along the Allegheny River and on the bike path.  Looks like this year has a lot of really great breweries participating.  Some are old friends while others are relatively new to the Pittsburgh beer scene.  TDY will unfortunately not be unable to attend this year, as we are out of town.  Below are the breweries committed with some notes on what we would like to try if we could.  We would love to get some feedback on the festival.  Take pics, write notes, do whatever but let us know what you thought of it.

All Saints Brewing – They had a really good Barleywine at Beer and Gear earlier this summer.

Beaver Brewing – All around great nano brewery.  Had an excellent time sampling their brews at OTB.  Try them all!

Church Brew Works

Dogfish Head

Duquesne Brewing

East End Brewing – Always put on a great beer festival showing.  Let us know if they pour anything special or new.

Erie Brewing

Full Pint

Heavy Seas

Iron City – I’m guessing they are promoting the Mango, mmm mmmmango!

Lancaster Brewing – Strawberry Wheat is nice and refreshing on a hot day, but the milk stout isn’t bad either.

Leisure Sports Brewing – A new nano out of Lower Burrell, excited to hear about what they pour!  Please give us feedback.

Main Street

Morgantown Brewing

Mountain State Brewing – Solid amber and IPA

Otter Creek

Penn Brewery – Try the imperial Pils, it was really enjoyed during their anniversary party.

Roy Pitz

Sixpoint – New to the Pittsburgh beer scene from Brooklyn NY.

Smuttynose

Stone

Stoudts

Straub

Troegs – Try any of the Scratch Series if available.  It’s there experimental beer series.

T.R.U.B. – Homebrew club from PGH.  Would also like feedback on what they are pouring.

Victory

Voodoo – You know we love their stuff.  Always a great time at any beer festival.  Try them all!  One of the top 3 breweries at Millvale this year.

Wolaver’s

Yards

Posted in: Brewfests, Out and About in the Burgh0 comments

June21

Beer and Gear 10 Review

By: Jake

Another great Beer and Gear weekend.  We camped the entire weekend at Ohiopyle and enjoyed the rain/storms we got Friday and Saturday night.  Friday night was a perfect night to sit along the banks of the Yough and watch kayakers head into the rapids at sunset with a few adult beverages.

Saturday started off with a nice hike and lunch at the Firefly.  They have some great wraps.  Next time you are in Ohiopyle check them out.  Finally it was 3:30pm and it was time to start drinking!  The line to get in went around the corner and onto the bridge into town.  Once the gates opened and a train rolled by the line moved pretty well.  Everyone was greeted at the front gate with a full pint glass.  It was a huge crowd again this year.  Some were speculating it was larger than last year’s.  I would have to agree.  Voodoo Brewing was kicked within 1 hour.  Sadly we were unable to make our way over before they ran out.  Congrats to them for another good showing.

Here are some highlights:

Blue Canoe

  • Beer on a Stick – If you like candied apples in liquid form, then this is the beer for you!
  • Worse Beer Here – Actually it was the best beer there!  A Belgian saison; perfectly crisp, spiced, refreshing tasty summer beer.

Mountain State

  • IPA – Amber in color with a great head.  Citrus notes are present, especially after the beer warms.  Not overly hoppy.

Fat Head’s

  • Stout – One of the few dark beers on hand.  Surprisingly was a favorite in the warm weather.

Erie Brewing

  • Railbender – pretty common, no surprises, but a good clean enjoyable beer.

Morgantown

  • Brown – middle of the road brown, nice caramel notes with a dark brown color.
  • Pale Ale – amber/copper in appearance, small head.  a slight whiff of hops hits the nose and palate on the first sip.  Nicely hopped pale ale with a clean finish.

Victory

  • Summer Love – decent clean beer, not a ton of flavor but tasted great when it got really hot out

All Saints Brewing

  • Barleywine – damn good barleywine.  not a favorite style of mine, but it was good especially as it warmed up.

The video below pretty much sums everything up.  It took us a few takes to let the trains go by.

So did you attend Beer and Gear?  If so what did you like?  Try something NEW?

Posted in: Brewfests, Out and About in the Burgh3 comments

May4

Run Forest Run

By: Jake

Well we are two weeks out from the Pittsburgh Marathon.  I’m getting pretty fired up about participating in the Half Marathon on Sunday May 15th.  Training has pushed on, through snow and cold to now, rain and warmish weather.  There have been some who have questioned if was still running and following the beer related training program.  The answer is yes.  Hal Higdon and his infamous wisdom is still guiding me towards the half.

Last time we spoke training included 3-4 miles plus a longer, 5 miler on weekends.  Now we are up to 5-6 miles a few days a week and 7-9 miles on weekends, in addition to cross training days.  Training has been solid and recently I deviated, a bit, to better fit my work and life schedule.  Over the past weekend I was able to run the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati with some college buddies.  And no I wasn’t the guy arrested for streaking.  The plan was for me to run hills in leg two of the relay for ~5 miles.  That plan lasted all of 5 miles.  It went so well that I decided to continue on with Joe, of Cork and Kegs (see picture below), for leg 3.  Leg 3 was another ~7.5 miles.  It was fine till the last 2 miles.  Then the legs started to suffer a little.  The highlight of the race was when a woman handing out beer decided to chase me down the course yelling, “I know you want a beer.  I’ll follow you till you take one.”  She was right, I did want a beer, just not at that moment.

Beer has been a part of my training since day 1. Like they say, play like you practice.  After some of the longer runs it has been a little more difficult to crack open a beer, but no one said this was going to be easy.  On certain occasions I felt the beer acted as a pain killer and aided in curing my shin splints.  I have no scientific data to support any of this.  At worse beer has a great placebo effect.  Here is a list of some of the beer that I have consumed over the past few weeks.

Erie Brewing Sampler (Mad Anthony, Misery Bay, Presque Isle Pilsner), Dark Horse Blueberry Stout, Red Stripe, Voodoo Cowbell, East End Gratitude on cask, Southern Tier Gemini, Southern Tier Porter, Home Brewed Confused Brown Ale, Home Brewed Marathon Pale Ale, Southern Tier Pale Ale, Southern Tier 422, Southern Tier IPA, Southern Tier Phin and Matt’s, Mt Carmel IPA, Mt Carmel Brown, Blue Mountain Full Nelson IPA, Blue Nelson Bourbon Barrel Stout, Iron City (for Pens game 1 & 2) and also included a Beaver Brewing tasting at OTB.

In addition to beer, music has helped push me on the long runs through Schenley, Boyce, Settler’s Cabin and along Grandview.  Recenty, Wolf Parade, Meeting of Important People, Modest Mouse, Steve Malkmus and Boat have been playing on the iPod.  The half marathon mix is being created as we speak.

Next running update will come after the half marathon.  Till then I still need help finding the perfect beer for after a race and more music for half marathon play list.  Any suggestions?

Posted in: Out and About in the Burgh0 comments

February19

Cook Forest n’at

By: Jake

Last weekend some of us were lucky enough to escape the city for a long weekend for fun in the snow covered woods.  The plan was to:

  1. Get outside as much as possible
  2. Enjoy a fire in the cabin
  3. Drink lots of good beer
  4. Test out the new Subaru in the snow

Friday morning saw temperatures in the single digits and wind chills below zero.  This was the perfect time for a short drive up to Tionesta for an amazing breakfast.  Last year we stumbled across T&K’s Dinor.  Breakfast is served all day.  This is also pirogie heaven.  For breakfast the hot sausage trash, basically a mixed grill of goodness, was enjoyed with a tall OJ.  A dozen kilbasa and potato pirogies were purchased for later use.

After that awesome breakfast a nice long cross country skiing adventure took place.  You can rent Ski’s at Cook Riverside Cabins.  In winter the Fire Tower road is closed for X-skiers to enjoy.  It was a nice ski to the Seneca Overlook and Fire Tower, didn’t see a single person.  The trail is groomed for x-skiing, in-case you were interested.

After the ski, it was time to open some brews.  Before the trip, a variety case was built which included, Molson Canadian, Yuengling, Voodoo Brown, Harpoon Winter Warmer, Penn St Nick Bock, Great Lakes Christmas, Ithaca Brown, Ithaca Spring Seasonal, Ithaca CascaZilla, Terrapin Hop Karma Brown and a special bottle of Troegs Flying Mouflan.

The first brew of the trip was a nice cold Voodoo Brown.  As the night went on and the fire started fading a few more brews when down with a warm dinner of kielbasa and pirogies.

Saturday morning brought more snow and great skiing conditions.  The Subaru handled the snow as if it wasn’t even there as we headed to Clear Creek State Park.  The skiing was a little sticky but was fun.

The highlight of the trip was waiting for us at the cabin, Troegs Flying Mouflan.  This beer was described on the bottle like this:  ”We classify this beer as pushing Nugget Nectar off the side of a cliff. It is bold and intense–think hops dipped in candied sugar and rolled in dark chocolate nibs. Over time, the Flying Mouflan transforms into lush raisin and chocolate overtones as the hops subside and the rich barley flavors come out in the beer.”

This was very accurate.  It was a hoppy brew at first with a slight follow up of sweetness.  I would describe the sweetness as carmel flavored.  The last taste was that of the chocolate.  It finished dry, but was very easy to drink.

We finished our stay with a hike through the Cathedral section of Cook Forest.  There are several trails in the region that pass through old growth forest.  A great hike in the snow!

It was a great weekend get away.  There is a small bottle shop in Clarion that was closed when we stopped by.  Other then that I suggest the Knotty Pine restaurant or bring your own brews.

Posted in: Beer Reviews, Road Trips0 comments

December10

What’s the best beer to have after a car accident?

By: Jake

Answer…….Voodoo Brewing Wynona’s Big Brown Ale

Thank you Voodoo for making a wonderfully delicious nut brown ale.  You are the only pain killer I need to block out the pain from my neck and back.

I do not advise anyone to try this at home.  Drive safe and make sure the people driving behind you stop when you do.

Now that I’m in the market for a new car, any suggestions?  What’s the biggest/bestest yinzer car?

Cheers!

Posted in: Out and About in the Burgh4 comments

October26

TDY Plays Cornhole

By: Jake

Summer might be over, but it’s never to late to play a little cornhole.  This was a quick game that mostly was about drinking a few Southern Tier’s Phin and Matt’s, Voodoo’s 4 Season IPA plus a few special guests.

In town visiting was our legal counsel, Joe. So if there are any questions or problems, I will need to speak with my attorney first.

While waiting for Tim, we played a few warm up games.  We were trying to hammer out our own personally unique style.  Some had the underhand frisbee thing going on.  Others used the rainbow technique.  And some still the boring underhand toss with no creativity.   Mark was the most creative while sipping on the last Voodoo Brown Ale.  He has this ballerina type toss that is money every time (B.S. -editor).

Finally Tim showed up, and yours truly was stuck on his team.  All I have to say about the game is that Tim carried our team to a 21-4 loss.  Mark and Joe almost had a whitewash.  Key word ALMOST.  The game took a positive turn when we cracked open the mystery beer of the night.  Southern Tier’s Iniquity Black Ale brought Tim and I back into the game and put an end to the whitewash, along with the penalty that ensues following a whitewash lost on Mt. Washington.

Voodoo has a brilliant idea on brewing IPAs.  Every season they change the recipe to their IPA to match the season.  The Voodoo 4 Season IPA was, what we believed to be, a summer style IPA.  The beer poured a copper/amber color with a little extra head.  While the extra can be a turn off to some, it provides a great opportunity to enjoy the aroma while waiting to take that first swig.  The aroma is full of Northwest hops; a piney, citrus smells rises to the nose.  This beer has great drinkability (TM).  The taste is rather malty for an IPA.  The hop bitterness eventually cuts through the malt and reminds you rather quickly this is a bitter IPA.  Another solid beer from our friends at Voodoo Brewing.

Southern Tier Phin and Matt’s Extraordinary Ale was my personal favorite.  Mainly because I dominated cornhole while sipping on a few of these brews.  This beer poured golden brown with a nice head and good lacing.  The aroma of crisp, fresh citrus hops fills the nose from start to finish.  This is a lighter beer and has a trace of bitterness.  It’s a great gateway beer to the pale ale style.

So the next time you are playing corn-hole or hanging out in a Pittsburgh basement try a Southern Tier Phin and Matt’s or a Voodoo 4 Season IPA or Southern Tier Iniquity Black Ale. Then invite us over for some cornhole.

Posted in: Out and About in the Burgh0 comments

September13

That was AWESOME! Big Pour 4 Review

By: Jake

Wow!  What a great time!  The Big Pour Four knocked it out of the ballpark further then Sidney Crosby ever could.  This was TDY’s first trip to the Big Pour since moving back to town.  Mixed emotions confronted us leading up to Saturday.  All the hype surrounding the event got us excited, and it seemed liked the rest of Pittsburgh was along for the ride.  At the same time we hoped it wouldn’t be overly hyped, feature wicked long lines, or be too unorganized.

From the very start on August 2nd I had a good feeling about the Big Pour, even if it didn’t start out so smoothly.  After failing to get through, on-line or on any of my thousands of phone calls, I almost caved.  I had almost given up, but decided to try one more time……..ring ring ring ring “Hi This is ShowClicks can I help you?”  Oh YEAH!!!  My name was placed on a waiting list as it was received and waited to hear back all evening.  While dinner was on the grill and I was drinking a Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA the phone rang.  Yep we got tickets!!!

Let’s fast forward now to the fun part, follow TDY’s path through the big pour.  You really couldn’t have asked for much better weather.  The line to get in was long, but the doors opened around 11:30am and things moved really well.  The first room had a nice mix of food and beer.  This trend followed suit throughout the festival.  Among our first beers were:

  • New Holland Poet Oatmeal Stout, Mad Hatter IPA
  • Furthermore Knot Stock – a wonderful pale ale that is light and crisp but really gives a kick in the teeth with black pepper flavor, Fatty Boombalatty
  • Anderson Valley Hop Ottin’ IPA
  • Erie FallenBock, excellent fall beer!, Heritage Alt Beer.
  • North Country Red, try it on Cask next time you are out

One of the highlights out of this group was talking to Joel from New Holland while pairing the Poet with brownies from Artspace and Coffeehouse.  We also caught up with the Should I Drink That guys.  They were serving brews from Erie Brewing including a dark German Alt Bier, Heritage.  In addition to serving for Erie and giving away occasional prizes, they came prepared for a podcast direct from Big Pour 4.  Allegro Hearth Bakery also had amazing baked goods there.  All of this was just in the first room: an excellent start to the festival!

The Belgian Beer Cafe was our next stop where the Beer Nutz fellas were pouring Unibroue’s Maudite and Ephemere. Ephemere is certainly an interesting beer brewed withe the juices from green apples.  It’s not too fruity but light and drinkable with a nice balance of sweet and tart flavors.  The Belgian Cafe was also serving New Holland Golden Cap Saison, Furthermore Make Weight, and Victory Golden Monkey Trippel. We also stopped to check out the kegerator art.  I really liked the one with the beer cans trying to break out of jail.  I will never look at the Allegheny County Jail the same.  Weyerbacher Brewing brought an awesome Double Simcoe IPA at 9%.  This beer was hoppy without the overly sweet malty or high alcohol taste that usually accompanies this style.  The Point Brugge fries were perfectly salted for beer consumption and served with flavored mayonnaise!  The band was also situated in this area.  They sounded great without being over powering, allowing for great conversation with friends and other beer lovers!  Next to the band we sampled:

  • Southern Tier 2XIPA, PumKING one of my new and only favorite Pumpkin beers.  Southern Tier is one of my favorite breweries of 2010, great showing again at the Pour!
  • Stone Levitation
  • Bell’s…..they really didn’t bring their A game at all…
  • Yard’s IPA and Brawler

After some wonderful Bocktown sausage meatballs, we had an amazing bowl of stew from Piper’s!  I could eat at Piper’s every meal of every day for a long long time.  Now that we got a little food in, time for more beer.  Voodoo Brewing was excellent again!  They stole the show for us at the Ohiopyle Beer and Gear Fest and had another strong showing at the Big Pour.  The Love Child is a very complex fruit beer but not too sweet, and it was on tap this time too.  Their Wynona’s Big Brown Ale is one of the top 3 brown ale’s I’ve ever had (No, New Castle is not in the top 3).  They are a great group of guys too.  Other beers back in this corner of the warehouse:

  • Thirsty Dog Old Leghumper – - I just can never pass this one up.  Smooth and drinkable with nice hints of chocolate and roast malts.
  • Sprague Farm; best dressed award goes to Sprague Farm for the kilt, and kick ass mustache…….he is also in charge of the hop farm
  • Mountain State Brewing; another fine showing with the solid Amber and IPA
  • Penn;  Penn Octoberfest coming very very very soon

TDY hit the two hour mark and nature called quickly.  On the way out we stopped at East End Brewing.  On cask we had the Homewood Reserve.  We can’t say enough about East End.  They always have a great showing at beer festivals and are really pushing Pittsburgh’s craft beer movement forward.  The Homewood Reserve reminded us of the cask Blackstrap stout at the Penn beer fest, but with a more bourbon taste.  Very smooth and strong with a complex flavor profile of alcohol and roasted malts.

The last few beers were:

  • Founders Backstage Series Double Barrel Bourbon IPA; awesome mix, great taste, hoppy with a little bourbon after taste, one of the top beers of the festival
  • Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale
  • Troegs Porter
  • Roy Pitz Hefe
  • New Holland Brother Jacob Dunkel, Imperial Mad Hatter.

Time ran out before we could try all the amazing food, but it all smelled great!  Hats off to everyone involved with the Big Pour 4.  And we were glad to meet a lot of great people.  Tim from Craft Pittsburgh was there and it was great to hear about his big plans for spreading the passion and excitement about the craft beer movement in PGH.  We have been to tons beer festivals all over the country and this one was AWESOME.  Someone asked this weekend why we still go and if we get the same energy at every festival.  The answer is, oh yeah!  The atmosphere is excellent, you get to try rare/festival only beers and can shoot the breeze with other beer lovers.  We leave you with our top beers in no particular order.  What were your top beers?  Have any good pics?  What was your favorite kegerator?  Did you win a kegerator?  Keep checking YouTube for our videos from the Big Pour.

  • Founders Backstage Series Double Barrel Bourbon IPA
  • Voodoo Wynona’s Big Brown Ale
  • Voodoo Love Child
  • East End Homewood Reserve
  • Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA
  • New Holland Poet
  • Southern Tier PumKing
  • Furthermore Knot Stock

Posted in: Brewfests, Out and About in the Burgh0 comments

September10

Big Pour and Irish Festival : A Weekend Full of Beer!

By: Tim McFarland

First of all, this weekend is the 4th annual Big Pour, the most highly touted beer festival in the Pittsburgh area.  Chances are good that you probably didn’t get a ticket.  Have no fear, TDY will be in attendance for the 12-3 PM session tomorrow and will give yinz the scoop on the Big Pour.  We are definitely a little bit worried about the number of people that might be in attendance (see long lines as in Brew at the Zoo).  However, we are absolutely excited about the brewers and some of their offerings.

Joel Armato from New Holland gave TDY the scoop on a couple of rare brews that they are bringing: Oak Aged Mad Hatter and Brother Jacob Belgian Dubbel.  East End is also making a special brew, a tart Berliner Weisse, just for the Big Pour.  Mountain State Brewing Co. was a nice surprise at the Ohiopyle Beer and Gear festival earlier this summer.  Try their Seneca IPA.  Voodoo was also at Beer and Gear and really stole the show.  We are excited to see if they bring either the Pilzilla (Imperial Pilsner) or the wild and fruity Love Child.  Unibroue, Stone, and Bell’s are three other breweries that don’t make many Pittsburgh area appearances but will be at the Big Pour.  I’m specifically looking for Bell’s to bring one of their great IPAs, and I will be pretty thrilled with anything that Stone and Unibroue bring to the event.  Want to plan out your strategy? See the layout for Big Pour!

If you can’t wait for Big Pour or can’t get tickets, there are several pre big pour events going on tonight!  Sarah and I will be at the Harris Grill enjoying samplings of Furthermore, Erie, Troegs, and Oskar Blues from 5-7 PM.  Blue Dust in Homestead will have a huge collection including Stone, East End, and Dogfishhead tonight starting at 7 PM.  The Sharp Edge Emporium will have the same basic lineup as the Harris Grill from 8-10 PM tonight.

After Big Pour, TDY will be heading out to Homestead for the 20th Annual Pittsburgh Irish Festival.  In addition to great food and beer, there will be traditional Irish music, dancing, and some contemporary Irish bands including Gaelic Storm at 10 PM.  We challenge you to listen to their version of Nancy Whiskey and Johnny Jump-Up and not quaff a pint of Guinness.  Big Pour + Irish Festival = Amazing Beer-Fueled Saturday

Check back early next week for lots of videos, pictures, and our thoughts on all the beer.

Posted in: Out and About in the Burgh2 comments

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