Hundred Acre Wood

"If you have no honey in your pot, have some in your mouth" Benjamin Franklin

This blog is called PhilaBeer and what better way to start it off then with an ode to our boy Bennie Franklin. See even Big Ben knows that the best way to consume honey is to drink it! Anyway, let's focus on the beer. I was at Theresa's in Wayne a few weeks ago for my friend Eleni's Birthday (she's great) and her bass playing boyfriend who can't be mentioned because of legal purposes, and he told me that I have to try Biere de Miel. BDM comes to us from Brasserie DuPont in Belgium. It's simply classified as an ale flavored with honey. It pours a hazy orange hue with nice foam that slowly dissipates as you consume. Given it's rich character and alcohol content, this beer is quite smooth. The honey is far from prominent but does just enough to balance out this beer. If I were a marketing executive for Miller or Bud, I would classify this beer as having "supreme drinkability". I would highly recommend all beer geeks to get there light beer drinking friends to give this one a shot, it might turn some of them over from the dark side.

Man Law: Fruit and Beer can make sense

Confucius, Plato, Aristotle, Ommegang Brewery. What do these four have in common??? Nothing at all. The first three spent decades preaching bullshit and the fourth decided to honor them by creating a fantastic libation. Ommegang Three Philosophers is classified as a Belgian Quadruple ale brewed with cherries. Pours a dark mahogany brown with decent lacing that slowly dissipates. At 9.8 ABV one would think this would put you on your ass, but the hints of cherry and molasses have a calming effect that keeps this beer drinkable. A spicy Belgian yeast smell is pretty evident and this is followed by a bready malt aroma. I am thoroughly impressed with this beer. It's one of those beers that makes you understand how important balance is and that fruit and beer can co-exist.

Hopped Nostalgia

Beer can be nostalgic. Every so often I will enter a Blog that introduces the lighter side of beer. I was thinking about some of the great times I have had over the last couple years and I can always remember everybody slinging brew. If you're a beer lover, you automatically get excited around Easter when the weather gets warm and bars start to carry Hefeweizens and Belgian Wits. From that first sip, I begin to think about baseball and backyard BBQ's. Everytime I have a Stout or Winter Ale, I think about holiday parties and going snowboarding with my friends. It's funny how a simple drink of barley, hops, yeast and water can evoke so many memories. For some people, it can evoke periods when they were fighting, partying the living shit out of themselves, or having emotionless sex (you guys know who you are). If I show you a beer, you can tell me about a memory. So if you read this, and you better, think of all the good times you've had with our good friend beer and tune in until next time.........

Hanz, Booby, Baby, I'm your white knight!

Schneider Weisse. Ladies and Gents here is a true Hefeweizen. I say that because when you see this beer, it doesn't look like your typical American Hefeweizen. It pours a cloudy brown with a big boisterous head. Scents of banana and mild clove. Flavors are very complex for a hefe, and one could argue that this is really a dunkel disguised as a hefe. It's incredibly smooth and very easy to drink. Easily one of the three of four best hefeweizen's in the world. At 5.4% ABV this is a mild one and with all that flavor, it would be easy to down a couple. This offering comes to us from G. Schneider & Sohn......a Bavarian brewery company founded in 1872.

Brooklyn's in da House

After spending a few hours with my nephew Lucas Jeffrey Whittle and my sister's pitbull Hank Ricardo Whittle, I decided to venture down to Wegmans to pick up a nice brew. Fortunately for us who live in the Wegmans area, we are able to pick up world class beer at a great price. Garrett Oliver, the owner of Brooklyn Brewery, has been a vocal and public figure in the beer scene for quite some time. Mr. Oliver believes beer pairs better with food then wine and has spent the last couple years trying to prove it. One of Brooklyn's Big Bottle offering's is the BROOKLYN LOCAL #1. LOCAL #1 can be classified as a Belgian Strong Pale Ale brewed with German malts and hops, and first-pressing Demerara cane sugar from Mauritius. Garrett Oliver calls this beer "A strong Saison". Pours a slightly cloudy yellow color with a tall head that hangs around for a while and leaves plenty of lacing on the glass. The aroma reminds me of a witbier - banana, clove, spice, and citrus. The flavor is very nice. Has a very nice spice character to go along with the citrus and clove flavors. Yeasty flavors are nice. The body is medium and it is quite refreshing at 9% ABV. Nice brew! I think this beer would be an excellent beer to serve to all your wine drinking friends. In fact I think it's very similar to a dry white wine. Until next time......

Mmmmm Malt..

Today we are going to discuss one of Ayinger's best brews. Continue to read this Blog and I am sure you will hear much more about Ayinger and the magic they create in bavaria. I went to Theresa's in Wayne and decided I wanted something that I could sink my teeth into. I decided to take a swing at the Celebrator Doppelbock, Ayinger's Doppelbock offering. Doppelbock's generally have a very full-bodied flavor and are darker than their little Bock brothers and sisters and a higher level of alcohol too. They range in color from dark amber to nearly black, and dark versions often have slight chocolate or roasted characters. Dark and intense looking of a mahogany colour, a big frothy tan head lays on top that literally sticks around as long as the beer is there. Malt, Malt, and more Malt!! I feel like I should be wearing some Lederhosen and eating pretzels. Right away you get hints of chocolate and smoke and this beer is smooth! I suggest eating some red meat and gouda with this brew. It also comes with a plastic goat toy which is always nice!

From Russia With Love

Russian River. If you're a beer geek then those two words speak volumes. I was invited to a bonfire at my buddies house and decided I wanted to bring something special. I stopped at the Foodery in NoLibs and to my surprise they had Russian River!! For you people who don't know what this beer is all about, let me educate you. Russian River is a small brew pub in Santa Rosa, California who only releases a small amount of beers outside of the brewery each year. Philadelphia is the only city on the east coast who recieves bottles of this beer! Big ups to Philly! They have been around for about 10 years and continue to walk the fine line when it comes to experimenting with the possibilities of beer. I have read countless articles about Russian River's "Barrel Aged" beers and wanted to give it a shot. When I say barrel aged, well, the damn beer is aged in a barrel!! Similar to wine, whiskey or bourbon, these beers are aged for a certain period of time to achieve maximum flavor. Back to my experience.....seeing this beer in the case was like Indiana Jones finding the Holy Grail. I picked up three bottles and went to my buddies crib to see Cliff Lee throw some scoreless innings. The three I chose were Temptation and 2 bottles of Damnation. Let's start with Temptation......A blonde ale fermented with a special strain of yeast, then aged in French oak chardonnay barrels. Flavors of wine and oak absorb into the brew throughout twelve months of aging. During this aging process, a secondary fermentation occurs using a yeast strain disliked by most brewers and winemakers called Brettanomyces. I have to say that I wasn't a fan. I'm not really a fan of chardonnay and this beer really tasted like chardonnay!! I am glad I decided to try this one though, it was too intriguing to pass up. Next up to bat was Damnation. Damnation is classified as a Belgian Strong Pale Ale. I tend to like Pale Ale's, so I was excited to pop this one open. It's a bit of a paradox, as it's crisp and creamier all in the same bout. I had a lot of floral taste, with a nice helping of the Belgian yeast's spicy nature and definitely a lot of fruit in there, like plum, pear, apple, and orange rind. The taste is sort-of like an apple juice, in a weird way. Ummm, again, not a big fan. I thought it was much to sweet and at 7.75 ABV, I was expecting a little more bite. This blog should serve as a lesson and in the words of Flava Flav...don't believe the hype!!