Pubs

What: Andes Hotel First Annual Oktoberfest
Where: Andes Hotel Summer Shack, Andes NY
When: October 3, 2009
Time: 2 – 6pm
How Much: $20

Ed and Sally over at the Andes Hotel dropped me a line to annouce their first ever Oktoberfest. As the American Craft Beer Fest earlier in the summer was amazing, I’m expecting great things from this fest as well. This is the Andes Hotel last outdoor event of the season in the Summer Shack. They will be highlighting American craft brewed Octoberfest styles from all over. Butternuts will be bringing their amazing Harvest ale, and probably selling 750’s of said flavor. There will also be live music by George Kilby jr. & the Road Dogs (great Blues) and some very tasty german fare (ie. bratwurst, weisswurst, roasted pork & cabbage). $20 gets you a glass to taste all the beers available. Expect myself and Mrs. Ohabeer to be there early and pretty much spending the day eating and drinking in the fine Fall upstate NY weather.

What: FREAKTOBERFEST Boutique Beer & Music Festival
Where: Public Assembly (70 N 6th Street, Williamsburg, NY)
When: October 3, 2009
When: 2 pm – 9 pm
How much: General admission $20 / VIP tickets $75

Shmaltz Brewing Company, Bierkraft, Southpaw, Piquena, and BeertenderBrooklyn present the 2nd Annual FREAKTOBERFEST Boutique Beer & Music Festival happening on Saturday, October 3, 2009 at Public Assembly (70 N 6th Street, Williamsburg, NY). The event will take place from 2 pm – 9 pm. General admission is $20 (5 tasting tickets, access to live performances), and VIP tickets are $75 (unlimited tastings + access to VIP loft featuring rare and vintage beers).

A special session dubbed Geektoberfest will be held from 2 pm – 4 pm, which will include brewery owners pouring specialty beers and conducting educational tastings. Shmaltz Brewing will release a one of a kind beer called Geektoberfest exclusively at this event. Additional tasting tickets can be purchased onsite. For more detailed information and to purchase event tickets, please visit: www.freaktoberfest.com.

The 2nd Annual FREAKTOBERFEST will be MC’d by Donny Vomit, the Human Blockhead and current MC of the Coney Island Sideshow. Featured live performances by Stumblebum Brass Band, Sex Slaves, Workout and others TBA. Participating breweries include Shmaltz Brewing (HE’BREW Beer and Coney Island Craft Lagers(TM)), Lagunitas, Stone, Sixpoint, Bear Republic, Dogfish Head, Flying Dog, Speakeasy, Captain Lawrence, River Horse, Victory, Ithaca, Arcadia, Sly Fox, Harpoon, Smuttynose and many others soon to be announced. Burlesque and Go Go by Legs Malone, Bloody Belle, Lil Miss Lixx, and Rosie 151…

The upcoming 2nd Annual FREAKTOBERFEST marks the national launch of Coney Island Freaktoberfest(TM). Boiled and toiled in our stainless cauldrons with 6 malts, 6 hops, and 6.66% alc, Shmaltz’s bewitching Fall attraction serves up a tasty treat for Octoberfest through Halloween. 22 oz. bottles and a very limited supply of kegs will appear at specialty shops and select bars throughout NYC and nationwide starting now.

To view a list of all Freaktoberfest events happening across the country, please visit shmaltzbrewing.com.

My favorite alehouse in New York City – Blind Tiger Alehouse – is having another event that makes me regret ever leaving NYC in the first place. (Not that the OAB HQ in the mountains isn’t pleasant and all…)

Sierra Nevada @ Blind Tiger Alehouse NYC
Date: August 26, 2009
Time: 4pm
Location: Blind Tiger, 281 Bleecker St., NY, NY

The List:
Sierra Nevada Barrel Aged Scotch Ale (CASK)
Sierra Nevada Torpedo (CASK)
Sierra Nevada Vienna Lager
Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest
Sierra Nevada Brown
Sierra Nevada Belgian Triple
Sierra Nevada Double Debockel Doppelbock
Sierra Nevada Crystal Wheat
Sierra Nevada Stout
Sierra Nevada Blonde
Sierra Nevada Brown Saison
Sierra Nevada Vintage Bigfoot (2006)
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
Sierra Nevada Bitter
Sierra Nevada Porter
Sierra Nevada Kolsch
Sierra Nevada IPA
Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest
Sierra Nevada Celebration 2008
Sierra Nevada Anniversary
Sierra Nevada Summerfest
Sierra Nevada ESB
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (you know, we had to do it)

(If anyone happens to go to this, please drop back by Oh…a beer and leave a review in the comments.)

My favorite alehouse in New York City – Blind Tiger Alehouse – is having another event that makes me regret ever leaving NYC in the first place. (Not that the OAB HQ in the mountains isn’t pleasant and all…)

Sly Fox @ Blind Tiger Alehouse NYC
Date: August 19, 2009
Time: 4pm
Location: Blind Tiger, 281 Bleecker St., NY, NY

The List:
Sly Fox Helles Lager
Sly Fox Pikeland Pilsner
Sly Fox Phoenix Pale Ale
Sly Fox O’Reilly’s Stout
Sly Fox Saison Vos
Sly Fox Royal Weisse
Sly Fox 113 IPA
Sly Fox Incubus Triple
Sly Fox Ichor Quad
Sly Fox Odyssey Imperial IPA
Sly Fox Oatmeal Stout
Sly Fox Christmas Ale
Sly Fox Instigator Doppel Bock
Sly Fox Seamus Irish Red
Sly Fox Prometheus Porter
Sly Fox Gang Aft Agley Scotch Ale
Sly Fox Oktoberfest Lager
Sly Fox Grisette Farmhouse
Sly Fox Dunkel Weisse
Sly Fox Whitehorse Wit
Sly Fox Abbey Xtra
Sly Fox Hop Project WGV
Sly Fox Burn’s Scottish Export Ale (Cask)

(If anyone happens to go to this, please drop back by Oh…a beer and leave a review in the comments.)

My favorite alehouse in New York City – Blind Tiger Alehouse – is having another event that makes me regret ever leaving NYC in the first place. (Not that the OAB HQ in the mountains isn’t pleasant and all…)

Looks like fans of Boulder Beer have a massive reason to make this. The world premiere of Boulder Oak Aged Planet Porter!

Boulder Beer @ Blind Tiger Alehouse NYC
Date: August 12, 2009
Time: 4pm
Location: Blind Tiger, 281 Bleecker St., NY, NY

Boulder Oak Aged Planet Porter (World Premiere!!!)
Boulder Mojo IPA (Draught & Cask)
Boulder Hazed & Infused Pale Ale
Boulder Singletrack Copper Ale
Boulder Sweaty Betty Wheat
Boulder Never Summer Winter Ale
Boulder Flashback (30th Anniversary) India Brown Ale
Boulder Mojo Risin’ Imp. IPA
Boulder Sundance Amber
Boulder Buffalo Gold Ale

(If anyone happens to go to this, please drop back by Oh…a beer and leave a review in the comments.)

After starting out our Friday evening at the Northampton Brewery with a tasting of many beers, we (slightly) staggered out in search of some food to soak up the brews. On our scenic route side trip (read: getting lost) we came across edible Pioneer Valley a magazine focusing on locally produced food. This would be one of the guides we would use for the rest of the trip. An ad for Local Burger in Northampton made up our minds as to what dinner would be.

We are big fans of locally produced beef. Some of our best friends in the Catskills are beef farmers and there is truly nothing better than a great burger made with excellent beef. The Local Burger mission is to provide fresh, delicious, and well-priced food, while supporting the community through the use of local produce, products and services. Definitely an admirable mission. Mrs. Ohabeer went with a simple cheeseburger. I opted for the Westhampton Burger (all-natural Angus beef burger with bacon, cheddar cheese, bbq sauce, and ranch dressing). After having seen a basket on the tble next to me, I decided to get a side of onion rings as well. Unfortunately, drinks were only of the soft variety – and sadly I noticed only when leaving that we could have BYOB.

As to the burgers? Well, let me start by saying I have had very few burgers better than the ones I make at the OAB HQ. The burgers at Local Burger are good but not great. A little on the “eh” side when it came to flavor and actually a touch dry. I also felt the bacon on mine was a tad skimpy. On the other hand – see that picture on the right? The onion rings were excellent. Hot crispy oniony goodness served with a bit of spicy ketchup for dripping. I sort of wished I did not have to share with Mrs. Ohabeer. Thankfully, she left the majority for me. I do not think I would rush back to Local Burger, but at the same time if I wanted a decent burger, happened to be near Local Burger and it was open…sure why not.

Having re-fuelled with meat and deep fried onion, we struck out to find a bar recommended by the bartender at Northampton Brewery. The Tunnel Bar is located under the old Union Street Station in a rail tunnel. It is – without a doubt – one of the most gorgeous bars I’ve visited. The photo above does absolutely no justice. Low dark curved ceiling with just the right lighting accent and a beautiful dark wood bar. They are not really a beer bar – specializing more in the cocktail realm – but they do carry a fair amount of brews. When we visited, they has a Harpoon Leviathan Imperial IPA and Harpoon Summer Ale on tap. Mrs. Ohabeer went with the Summer Ale; I chose the Leviathan IPA. I had been wanting to try the Leviathan series, but at $10 a four pack, it was out of my current beer buying price range. I may have to break that range restriction. The Leviathan IPA is a big cloudy hop bomb. Great flowery hop scent and massive hop taste. Just enough malt on the back end to keep the hop in check. At 10% ABV – and after the many samples at Northampton – this IPA was starting to kick my butt a little. Definitely a big beer. The Summer Ale is a very nice simple wheat beer with a solid light body. Mrs. Ohabeer liked it more than I did.

After the beer at the Tunnel – and a mental note to return the next evening for a cocktail – we realized the day (and the beer) was starting ot catch up to us. One more stop – we said – and then back to the hotel. Mrs. Ohabeer is currently working on her ice cream making skills. As such, any chance we have to go to artisanal ice cream shops can be written off as “research”. We had read about Herrell’s on the way in and decided to end the evening with a bit of frozen goodness.

Approaching the shop, we’re struck by the fact it is 10pm and there is a line out the door. THAT’S a good sign. I was glad for thewait as there was a fair amount of flavors to choose. I decided to go with the slightly odd sounding “Burnt Sugar & Butter”; Mrs. Ohabeer went with “Cinnamon & Nutmeg”. (It should be stated one of Mrs. Ohabeer’s best ice creams is a Vietnamese cinnamon ice cream.)

In our haste to escape Holyoke, we apparently headed east when we wanted to go west. Worse still – we were perhaps a half hour from Northampton via expressway, but we wanted to “experience” of traveling the country roads. Wrong direction and – admittedly beautiful – winding country roads added up to about three hours of wasted time. Time that should’ve been spent drinking and eating in Northampton.

Ah well…such are the pitfalls of spontaneous road tripping. (Of course, once we found a gas station with a map we sorted things out quickly. Yes – we should have gotten the map earlier…)

ANYWAY…finally pulled into Northampton, MA around 5pm. Found ourselves a Comfort Inn down the road in Hadley, cleaned up a bit and struck out for an evening on the town. First stop: Northampton Brewery. I am a fan of brewpubs. Always love the vibe and the crowd generally tends to be friendly. we always find ourselves striking up conversations with complete strangers. Thankfully – after the way our trip had started and getting lost – Northampton Brewery continued the tradition of friendly brewpubs.

While on the scenic route to Northampton from Holyoke via Ware (yes – those of you familiar will see our error), we had read about a burger place called Local Burger that did all local beef. So, we decided not to eat at Northampton Brewery and instead just go for a few beer flights. As luck would have it, there are exactly enough beers on the menu for two flights without duplication.

That’s my flight on the left; Mrs. Ohabeer’s on the right. I really hate taking photos in bars and restaurants – seriously don;t know how food bloggas do it – so these would bascially be the only flights we photographed all weekend. Turns out, I’d rather be drinking the beer than photographing it.

I also do not take massively detailed review notes. I’m there to be social, experience the pub and have (hopefully) some great craft beer. Hence the infrequent feature on OAB: Random Beers In Various Bars. I pretty much decided early on to use the Random Beers method for reviewing the many many road trip samplers.

NORTHAMPTON BREWERY FLIGHT
Four 6oz. glasses – personally that’s more than needed for a flight, but good when sharing.
Uncommon Ale
Northampton Pale Ale
Sand Shovel ESB
Imperial Stout
Nonotuck IPA
Weizenheimer
Weizen Berry
Wild Blue Funk

Uncommon Ale: Nice gold ale. Some what sweet. Wantsto be a honey amber but really does not make it. Doesn’t go big enough.

Northampton Pale Ale: Dark gold. Nice hop to malt balance. Solid bite on the back of the tongue. A crisp pale ale.

Sand Shovel ESB: It’s a nice reddish brown color with a malty hoppy scent. Not as bitter as I would like it to be. Just sort of there…until it warms a bit. Then it opens up nicely. Still not that bitter but gets a bit more caramely.

Imperial Stout: Mmmmm – big coffee raisin roasted malt goodness. Not incredibly thick but very delicious. This was the evening’s winner.

Nonotuck IPA: Definitely better than the Northampton Pale Ale. A bit of spiciness and a solid hop flavor. To this IPA’s credit, even hop-hating Mrs. Ohabeer was digging it.

Weizenheimer: This is an ok wheat. Fairly light with a bit of citrus in the aroma. Clearer than most wheats I like. Definitely an American wheat. Nice and clean.

Weizen Berry: The bartender confirms our suspicions: the berry here is extract. That makes this much like drinking a craft wheat downwind from an artificial flavor factory (to paraphrase Stephen Colbert). Not pleasant at all…

Wild Blue Funk: We got the final glass out of the keg and it showed. This had turned and turned badly. We ended up swapping it out for an Allagash (one of the guest beers not brewed in-house).

Allagash White: this is an OAB fave. A great yeasty wheaty white with a subtle spice.

After finishing the flights, we discovered they replaced the spent Wild Blue Funk with Maggie’s Wee Heavy Scottish Ale. As I usually cannot avoid a Scottish Ale, I decided to get a 12oz. glass to finish the night at Northamptom before heading to dinner.

Maggie’s Wee Heavy Scottish Ale: Beautiful dark brown ale. Big big malt with a ton of caramel. The big malt gets balanced with a slight hops edge in the after taste. This one made me quite buzzy, and yet I still had to sample one more thing…

Berkshire Mountain Distillers Ragged Mountain Rum:While aving the Wee Heavy, we asked the bartender if they carried any local spirits. She showed us a bottle of Berkshire Mountain Distillers Rum and we asked of a side neat. This is a beautiful rum. Light brown with a slightly oak scent. No alcohol harshness at all. Just a nice warm sweetness. We ended up bringing a botle back with us.

ROAD TRIP TOTALS
Beers Sampled: 13
Rum drank: 1
Towns visited: 3
Breweries visited: 2
Breweries open: 1

Next up: We slight sway out of the brewery and head out for local beer, a bar in a tunnel and the best.ice cream.evah.

Brennan’s Pub
173 High St
Holyoke, MA 01040

We decided to essentially start at the bottom of I-91 on the Yankee Brew News beer map. That meant Holyoke, MA. Specifically, we were headed for Paper City Brewing. Unfortunately – due to the spontaneous nature of this road trip – we did not do proper research into when the brewery would be open or even really where it was in town. (Well – we did have a street address.) Our journey took us into the High Street area of Holyoke. My mother always said if you do not have something nice to say – say nothing at all.

“Ahem…Nothing at all.”

Look – I know many urban breweries are pioneers. They spring up in industrial areas and often lead to a renaissance. I pray Paper City does this for Holyoke because there are some serious dodgy areas in route to the brewery – and I used to live in downtown Detroit. Sadly, we could not determine if the brewery was actually open – we arrived around noon – so we decided to bail and try to find a bit of food and drink.

Once again…“Nothing at all.” I mean REALLY?!?! Aren’t there a couple of colleges around this town? I know the economy has hit everyone hard, but DAMN! This was not a great start to our road trip.

Then – after turning back on to High St. to head for our car and get the hell out of Holyoke – we spotted Brennan’s Pub. While I found the Bud logos next to the clovers on an Irish pub sign a bit off-putting, I was encouraged by the Sierra Nevada and Guinness neon. At this point, we were more than hungry, thirsty and frazzled so we gave it a shot.

We are certainly glad we did. This is one of those great local Irish pubs where the folks are friendly, the pints are proper and the walls are filled with a variety of photos, beer mirrors, neon and ephemera. The menu is of the solid pub grub/sandwiches variety. The televisons were playing an array of sports and CNN coverage. We decided we couldn’t possibly do better from what we had seen of Holyoke.

We settled in and ordered opur first beer of the trip: Berkshire Brewing Steel Rail. It’s a clean crisp extra pale ale with a nice slightly barley malt edge and good hoppiness. Running 5.3% ABV, it’s a great bar session beer and went well with our lunch. Brennan’s served it in 14 oz. pints very cold. We would discover through the course of the road trip almost every bar had Steel Rail on tap. It became the fall back if look for a simple light bodied beer.

As for the food, I had a Mexsteak sandwich. Essentially a kicked up cheesesteak with big fresh jalapenos and a nicely spicy chipotle sauce. Mrs. Ohabeer had some sort of wrap with a ton of sour cream, but I was enjoying the Mexsteak too much to care about her lunch. Oh yes – and the lunch with curly fries only cost $5. Gotta love a good pub grub bargain!

We decided to have a second round after lunch choosing to try the two Wachusett beers they had in bottles. The Wachusett Blueberry Ale was a simple pale ale with a subtle blueberry scent but not much in the way of blueberry flavor. Mrs. Ohabeer thought is was ok, but not really all that impressive. We also got a bottle of the Wachusett Green Monsta Ale. This is a nice big pale ale with a bunch of hops. As is usually the case, Mres. Ohabeer thought it too hoppy. I thought it was quite nice. Not really a hop bomb, but definitely hoppier than your usual pale. A nice flowery scent with a good malt balance. I could easily see this as a favorite session if available anywhere near me.

While at Brennan’s, we discovered Paper City does a Friday evening open house/tasting starting at 6pm. Unfortunately it was only 2pm and really we could not take hanging out in Holyoke for another 4 hours. So with the Wachusetts finished, we paid the bill – thanked the bartender – and headed out for far greener and hopefully more fruitful pastures.

We now know if heading into Holyoke on a Friday, get there around 3pm. Head over to Brennan’s for a bit of afternoon snack and beer. Then drive – do not walk – over to Paper City for their Friday night open house.

Beers Sampled: 3
Towns visited: 1
Breweries visited: 1
Breweries open: 0

Up next: We’re off to Northampton as soon as we point the car in the right direction.

My favorite alehouse in New York City – Blind Tiger Alehouse – is having another event that makes me regret ever leaving NYC in the first place. (Not that the OAB HQ in the mountains isn’t pleasant and all…)

Two Brothers @ Blind Tiger
Date: July 29, 2009
Time: 4pm
Location: Blind Tiger, 281 Bleecker St., NY, NY

Two Brothers Outlaw IPA
Two Brothers Oh Brother Triple
Two Brothers Northwind Russian Imperial Stout
Two Brothers Domaine DuPage Biere de Garde
Two Brothers Bitter End Pale Ale
Two Brothers Ebel’s Weiss Beer
Two Brothers Prairie Path Belgian Pale Ale
Two Brothers Heavy Handed IPA
Two Brothers Dog Days Lager
Two Brothers Cane And Ebel Rye Beer
Two Brothers Bare Tree 2008 (Wheat Wine)
Two Brothers Red Eye Coffee Porter
Two Brothers White Rye Ale
Two Brothers Flemish Ale
Two Brothers Philospher’s Stone Saison
Two Brothers Hop Juice Imperial IPA
Two Brothers Cane And Ebel (Gravity Keg)
Two Brothers Oak Aged Imp Stout NW (Gravity Keg)

(If anyone happens to go to this, please drop back by Oh…a beer and leave a review in the comments.)

My favorite alehouse in New York City – Blind Tiger Alehouse – is having another event that makes me regret ever leaving NYC in the first place. (Not that the OAB HQ in the mountains isn’t pleasant and all…)

From the Blind Tiger newsletter:

As you might of heard around the ol’Tiger, Christmas in July is at hand. For you new-comers, this is a celebration of the winter holidays in true Blind Tiger fashion – BEER!!! What sounds better than enjoying all those big chewy spicy holiday brews in the middle of the summer? What is so great about the holidays in the winter, anyway? Now there are no heavy jackets to lug around; angry shoppers with their angry children bumping in to you; unwanted relatives – sucking every nickel out of you for gifts; sitting at home alone with a plastic tree wondering where it all went wrong and how you could – Uh, sorry about that… Lets talk about holiday beer!!!

This Wednesday July 22nd at 4:00PM, the Blind Tiger will be rolling out some of the rarest and tastiest holiday brews around (with a few non-holiday gifts) in celebration of our 10th Annual Christmas in July. This is a list of some of the beers we are expecting – an up-dated and final list will follow on Tuesday.

Christmas in July Part 10! @ Blind Tiger
Date: July 22, 2009
Time: 4pm
Location: Blind Tiger, 281 Bleecker St., NY, NY

Anchor Holiday Ale
Avery Old Jubilation
Blue Point Winter Ale
Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout ‘07
Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA
Dupont’s Avec les Bons Voeux
Gouden Carolus Noel
Left Hand Snowbound
Stoudt’s Winter Ale
Harvey’s Christmas Ale (Cask)
Grado Plato Kukumerla
St. Bernardus Christmas
Samichlaus Biere
Smuttynose Winter
Great Divide Hibernation
He’brew Jewbalation 12
N’ice Chouffe
Ridgeway Brewing Company’s Bad Elf
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
Slyfox Christmas
Weyerbacher Winter Ale

Also, in addition to the free cheeses from our friends at Murray’s, we will also have some dried meats to add to the feast!

(If anyone happens to go to this, please drop back by Oh…a beer and leave a review in the comments.)