James a.k.a. Brew Dog James, one of the brewery founders rolled into Max’s Tap House in Baltimore on Wednesday evening. On tap was many of the Brew Dog beers, I personally recommend the 5 AM Saint, full of hops flavor but lower in the alcohol & the Tokyo, an oak aged stout at a whopping 18% abv. A slew of bottles were also available of which I had the Dogma which I was quite impressed.

The main attraction of the evening was the two beers that are unavailable in the US, Tactical Nuclear Penguin 32% abv & Sink the Bismark 41%. There was one bottle of each, one 330ml bottle of each for about 40 people. Each person was given just a taste of one beer after forming the “queue” or as I like to call it, a line. Now you were free to get back in line to try the other if you were so inclined and many people were.

My wonderful girlfriend shared her taste with me & I, my taste with her. My reaction was that each one of these beers had a big bold flavor; the Tactical Nuclear Penguin (TNP) is aged in whiskey barrels and that flavor was extremely evident, which I really like. The Sink the Bismark (STB) is billed as a quad IPA, the sip was the equivalent of drinking hop syrup. The hop flavor was intense, I have never had anything like it, my tongue tingled for a few minutes after the taste. I waited for the flavor to dissipate before I drank anything else or ate my tasty pork nachos.

So would I drink TNP or STB again? Sure if someone was buying for me. While these beers don’t retail in the US yet the cost alone would make these beers not worth it. The cost 35£ & 40£ not including shipping in Europe, now convert to US dollars and tax the shit out of it. I honestly find both of these beers to more of a marketing plow to promote the company than anything else. They have gotten a ton of press out of them and you know what? It’s marketing genius, create a buzz with a small batch beer that everyone wants. It’s elusive, it’s rare & it’s actually a decent drink.

Should you ever have the opportunity to try these on someone else’s dime I highly recommend it; its an experience. Will I ever buy these should they hit the states, no way in hell.

Check out BeerInBaltimore.com’s write up of the event.

Last night I was forced into an awkward situation where there was no quality beer options. I shouldn’t say forced but I will say awkward at least. I had the pleasure of attending the late holiday party of my former employer.

What made it so awkward you may be asking yourself, well I’ll tell you. First seeing large groups of people that you used to work with is always weird. I was never quite friends with most of these people, I have nothing against them but we were just coworkers.

Second, what do you talk about with old co-workers? Usually you talk about the company, which in this case hasn’t been doing so hot. I was also asked a slew of questions about my current job which was really awkward because my new job kicks the shit out of my old one. Everything about it is better, the hours, the pay, the fact that I have four Nugget Nectars sitting in the office fridge.

Third and finally was that I was there with my girlfriend who works at said anonymous company. Now this in and of itself is not very weird; being some place with your girlfriend. However the last time I saw most of these people I had a wife and the word divorce was not in my vocabulary.

The worst part of the evening was the beer selection. It was a tough call between Budweiser and Michelob Ultra but eventually I made the decision to go Ultra. I figure if I’m going to drink piss it may as well be low in calories. I had my choice of paying $4 for a small glass of beer or $8 for a pitcher. I opted for the pitcher to share my pain with the few people left in attendance that I know and like (or possibly dislike).

Now the thing I find puzzling is why not have a better beer choice? The event was held at a local hall, Martin’s East, where you can’t bring in your own drinks. There is no other choice than to pay for the beer that they serve so why not serve a higher quality beer with a better price point? Charge $6 for a glass, $12 to $14 for the pitcher and they would more than cover there costs. More importantly I would be happier and that is a very important thing.

Max’s had there annual Belgian Beer Fest last weekend starting on Friday a work day. Well I couldn’t miss the first day off this fantastic drinking extravaganza so I had to take the day. I’m certainly glad I went it was a fantastic day with great beer, food & people.

10:15 am – The cab arrives

Since I was going to spend the day drinking I thought it was best if I was not driving. Luckily Brad of BeerInBaltimore.com & another beer/Twitter enthusiast Chris live out in the county by me. We decided to share a cab downtown (thanks for setting that up Brad) and get a ride uptown with a significant other.

The roads where covered with ice but our Sedan driver didn’t seem to give a damn. The driver was a nice old man who had a heavy foot, foul mouth, laid back demeanor but aggression on the road and a good sense of humor; I liked him. On the drive we discussed the great (and not so great) breweries that have come and gone from Baltimore.

11:00 am – The doors open

When we arrived at Max’s there was a decent sized line to get in. The doors opened and there was mad rush by everyone to get a table for the day and get a few beers for the morning.

We hauled ass upstairs to the Mobtown Lounge dropped our stuff at the table closest to the upstairs bar and then headed down to the main bar where the cask beers were kept. There was a short wait to get the first round of beers but man was it worth it.

• Beer 1 – Brewers Art Green Peppercorn Triple Cask
• Beer 2 – Stillwater Artisanal Ales Stateside Saison Cask(New local brewer and absolutely amazing)
• Beer 3 – The Bruery Two Turtle Doves Cask

12:00 pm – Round 2

• Beer 4 – Cantillon Gueuze
• Beer 5 – Cantillon Iris
• Beer 6 – Cantillon Rose De Grambrinus

12:45 pm – Round 3 and lunch

• Beer 7 – Duvel Green

Lunch – Trappist Burger marinated in Westmalle Dubbel – with onions, sliced leeks, Chimay Grand reserve cheese, baby spinach, and an Orval ketchup. Served with Pomme Frites, twice fried served with a spicy Aioli Mayo. I would love to see Max’s Tap House keep this on the menu as a standard meal. The burger was amazing and the fries and spicy aioli mayo can rival most of the local restaurants in the area.

3:00 pm – Round 4

• Beer 8 – Stillwater Artisanal Ales Stateside Saison (so good I had it twice)

4:00 pm – Round 5

• Beer 9 – De Regenboog Guido

5:00 pm – Round 6

• Beer 10 – De Proef Van Twee

Another year another great Belgian Beer Fest. I got to drink many great beers, eat great food and meet some great people. Anyone who likes good beer is alright in my book. My only complaint about the day was I couldn’t try more beers than I did; I can’t wait until next year.

If you want to see them perform live skip to about 1 minute in to the video.

With the bad weather fast approaching I thought it only best that I be fully stocked with tasty beer on the off chance that I can’t leave my house ever again. I highly doubt that will happen but with Baltimorons lacking driving skills when there is no snow I’m not taking any chances with them in the snow.

Luckily for the residents near White Marsh Honey Go Wines has been having an ongoing beer sale, all mixed 6 packs are 30% off. This includes bottles of all sizes and I have been more then happy to take advantage of this stellar sale.

Below is the list of excellent beers that I have my choice of this weekend. I just hope that I don’t run out of good food because drinking some of these beers while eating Ramen Noodles would be a damn shame.

The Kit comes with all the ingredients that are needed to make your first batch of beer. In the case of Mr. Beer, this is one step cleaner, a flavor booster pack, an alcohol booster and flavor extract. The default flavor is West Coast Pale Ale but if you want different flavors many more can be ordered off the net or from the Mr. Beer web site.

I had purchased a Mr. Beer kit one night while it was being sold by the great discount site Woot. I waited about a week and my kit arrived in the mail, I opened it and found that I was missing the instructions. Honestly I’m not sure if this was a glitch on Mr. Beer’s part or if it was on Woot’s part. Regardless the instructions were easily found in PDF format online. I read the instructions, bought the few items that I needed that I didn’t own which were metal cooking utensils. I owned wood utensils which can contain bacteria that will ruin the beer.

Did I make the beer right away? No I actually tossed the kit in the corner and promptly forgot about it. It wasn’t until I made plans with my friend Chris, an experienced home brewer, to brew together that I remembered I owned the kit and decided to make it. I thought it would be nice to have something to compare the real home brew to.

Here is were I’d like to say that I’m glad I used the Mr. Beer kit, but I can’t, the beer tasted like shit. I’m not saying all Mr. Beer tastes like shit, I’m saying that the West Coast Pale Ale tastes like shit. I’d read online that other flavor kits were much better and people had recommended brewing something other then the West Coast Pale Ale. I guess I’ll never know, I was so disappointed in the results that I threw the kit in the trash.

I still have 6 bottles left of the West Coast Pale Ale, I’m going to let them age a bit and see if it gets better but I’m not holding my breath. Would I brew another Mr. Beer kit? No I wouldn’t but I am also starting to brew “real” home brews. However if you choose to try a Mr. Beer kit I strongly recommend upgrading to a premium kit.

BeersForDinner.com is home of Baltimore native and beer lover, Dan Blake (that’s me). I am also known around the web as DesignByBlake. By day I am a lowly mannered Web Production Specialist at an internationally rated web agency. By night I am an advocate for delicious craft beers & tasty imports (this means not Heineken)

My History With Beer

I’m ashamed to admit that my beer history starts with 40oz bottles of cheap watery beer and canned products that ended in the words ICE. I believed that the point of drinking was to get fall down drunk and I had my share of party fouls.

The Introduction to Craft Beer

I’m not sure at what point I started quality beer but I do know that introduction was slow. I think the first decent beer I had was J.W. Dundee Honey Brown, not the best beer but no word light or ice in the title. Slowly but surely I tried better and better beers; a Sam Adams here or a Degroen’s (the now defunct Baltimore Brewing Company) there. Eventually I found myself choosing beers based on style or brewery, not just label of alcohol content.

Home Brewing

So now I am taking a stab at home brewing and trying to bring my love of beer to the next level. I figure that if I start to brew good beer, dare I hope great, that I will have great beer to enjoy. Regardless of the results home brewing beer will give me a greater appreciation for the many delicious beers that I enjoy.

Mustache Growing

A while back I saw a painting of Rollie Fingers, the handle bar mustached relief pitcher for the Athletics, Padres & Brewers. It was at that point I thought that every man at one point in his life should grow a mustache. So I decided to grow one, I thought I would let it grow until my girlfriend made me shave it. She never asked me to but eventually I did give it a little trim.

So that is the pretty much it, I like beer, I’m starting to home brew & I have a mustache. Future blog posts will be about various aspects of beer enjoyment, anything from beer styles, proper glasses and new releases. I will also document my adventures in home brewing, both successes and failures. On rare occasions I will talk about the mustache a.k.a. “Sweetness”.