Why I Live in the Northeast

It's May 1st and parts of the Philadelphia suburbs are some of the most beautiful around. All over the northeast spring bloom is taking place. I happen to take a number of back roads to work every morning and am fortunate to travel through the horse country of Malvern which is made up of open green spaces dotted with ridiculous estates. Ridiculousness aside, these estates are beautifully landscaped with a variety of trees, flowers, and bushes that all seem to bloom different color flowers but somehow the colors perfectly compliment each other. The ride that used to take forever in January now flies by.

How great is that first morning when you wake up, go out to the car, and realize that you don't need a jacket for the first time in 5 months? For me that day was a couple weeks ago and now I shudder at the thought of trudging to work in my wool overcoat while dealing with sub-freezing temperatures inside my car until the heater comes alive. Ugh.

But, I still wouldn't trade the seasons for the year-round warm temperatures of the Southeast and Southwest. Spring and fall are too precious to give up.

Another great thing about warm spring temps: going to watch the Phils play. Chris and I went down to Citizens Bank Park on Sunday to enjoy a fine game in even finer weather - low 70s and sunny. I can tell you that nothing is more fun that going to that ballpark. Even those out there who can't stand baseball (ie, my wife) enjoy seeing a game there. The sight lines are outstanding from any seat, even those in the upper deck, and there is enough to do besides baseball to keep most people entertained.

For my money, Wrigley field is the best pure baseball experience in the land, but Citizens Bank Park is my favorite park for all thoese intangibles that baseball purists hate.

Saturday is another brew day. Actually it's not just another brew day - it's National Home Brew day so we are under obligation to brew (it is also Cinco de Mayo but you will not find us celebrating with Coronas and limes).

Mike and I have taken some time off from brewing recently due to the birth of Teddy, Mike and Jill's new baby. But a lot of technical developments have taken place in the past month that I won't bore you with. I only mention it because we are putting systems and techniques into place that will eliminate most of the issues we were having before. Specifically, we took a month to study how Belgians create their complexity of flavor and we now understand the basics of it. We also realize how the mistakes we made in the past were reflected in the quality of the brew. The end result will be beer that is just as good as what you can get in the store (except for Struise Pannepot. I think they put magic dust or something in that).

Some Nice Weather and a Big Wedding

It finally looks like spring is here. What a bizarre April we're having. I can't remember the last time that we had two solid weeks of 40 degree temps in April. Sure, you typically have a couple of bad days here and there, but two straight weeks of damp, chilling weather at a time of year that's supposed to be an interlude between winter and summer is too much for me to handle especially after 5 months of misery. April is the new March - just one big tease.

The warm weather couldn't happen at a better time. Tomorrow our man Maarten is getting hitched. Casey, Barb, Christina, and I are driving up to Syracuse tomorrow morning for what should be a really, really fun time. By the way, Syracuse received nearly a foot of snow on Monday. What a miserable place to live. But, no matter. Tomorrow marks the first day since October that they'll be over the 70 degree mark.

The Bhutas are driving in from Providence and we'll be meeting up with them for a quick lunch before heading off for the 2pm wedding. There's some lag time in between the ceremony and reception so we're all planning on hanging out and enjoying some of De Broers latest offering - a test batch we made a month ago.

We had all these random ingredients sitting around and didn't want them to go to waste so we decided to throw them all together to see what we get. And you know what? It's not too bad. We have no idea what it is but it's pretty good. Mike filled a growler of it for me to take along on the trip.

And speaking of the other Broer, he and his family need some congratulations thrown at them for the latest addition of their family - Theodore Lee Price - born this week. Weighing in at 8 lbs, 15 oz, Teddy helped maintain the Price family tradition of birthing large boys. Mike and I both weighed in at a hefty 9 lbs, 9 oz. Our poor mother.

Teddy is doing well. Christina and I drove up last night to visit Mike and Jill and the baby. Mike's birthday is April 26 so I gifted him a couple of bottles of one of the most anticipated beers in a long time - DFH's Black and Blue. We were terribly underwhelmed, as the aroma was a complete turnoff - rotting apples or some skunkishness something. There was a surprising lack of black raspberry or blueberry flavor - Enjoyable hints of fruity acidity up front, fairly thin body, and non-existent finish. I think DFH has out-thunk itself this time.

Our First Offering

So as most of you know, my brother Mike and I brew. Both of us are pretty obsessive about it and are attempting to take it very seriously. Our first release is simply named Prijs ('Price' in dutch - no we aren't dutch nor do we have any affliations or affinities towards the dutch people. This is our pathetic attempt to be cool and creative). This beer really doesn't fit into any style which is why we are calling it a Belgian Style Barleywine. Of course, there is no such thing as a Belgian Style Barleywine, but I feel it's a pretty fair description. We used a Belgian Abbey Ale yeast strain so the brew definitely gives off some of the estery spiciness of an abbey ale. But, it registers anywhere between 15-20% ABV and is fairly balanced at the front with a pronounced hoppy bitterness at the back, thus a Barleywine.

Either way, it proved to be a very difficult beer to make. Total fermentation took almost 2 months and it has bottle conditioned for 5 weeks so far (I think 8-12 weeks will be perfect). Here's a picture of the bottle (click for bigger image):

So a couple of explanations. First, we are calling our venture De Broers - dutch for Brothers. The shield you see is part of the Price Family Crest. How cute. Pascal's portrait graces the label for two reasons: 1) Christina is obsessed with him, 2) I think he's as important a figure in church history as he is in the history of science. So whatever.

I'll be bringing at least 6 to Maarten's wedding in a couple weeks.

Our second and third brews are coming along ok. The Abbey Ale is a bit too hoppy at this point and I fear we overestimated how long to include the hops in the boil. We'll see. It needs to condition for at least one more month. The Christmas Ale has been racked to secondary fermentation. We'll bottle in another two weeks and then allow it to sit until late summer/early fall. I'm hoping for the best.

Up next on the slate is a summer wheat. I'm thinking it'll be a cross between american wheat and belgian wit - using belgian yeast and orange peel with american barley and wheat. So basically we're taking a shot in the dark that it'll work.

We plan on making test batches the rest of this year. This way we can brew a ton of different beers and come up with 3-5 that can be replicated next year. I'll keep you posted.

A Bold Reappearance

Ok, so I've been pretty lazy for a almost a month. Actually, my month has been consumed with brewing and baby showers, so give me a break. But I'm back and plan on contributing consistently indefinitely.

Today has been a day that I will pine for once my daughter is born in 7 weeks or so. After a day of intense work on our house (I had Good Friday off), I decided to do nothing but watch sports and drink beer today. My day started at 10am with a really entertaining Liverpool/Reading match. I've become a huge fan of Liverpool since my infatuation with soccer began last summer. A thrilling 2-1 L'Pool win lead nicely into another soccer match pairing league leaders Manchester United against middle-tier Portsmouth. Chelsea, six points behind Man U., won earlier in the day so United needed to win to keep pace. Surprisingly, Portsmouth won 2-1 in a match dominated by PFC.

Onto more soccer, this time pairing Barcelona vs. Real Zaragoza. Barca lost 1-0 and promptly ruined my day. No matter. The Masters' coverage started online at 2:30pm with tv coverage starting at 3:30pm. Tiger is making a valiant charge and is currently only 1 behind the leader going into 16. The Masters is truly something special that any sportsfan can enjoy, regardless of their opinion on golf. HD really makes the most beautiful course in the world more so.

I have been somewhat productive today as I continue to pursue my quest for making the world's best baguette. This new obsession took hold of me over a month ago while enjoying the Sunday afternoon Price family tradition of enjoying soft cheeses, italian meats, greek olives, and pungent olive oil as a very refreshing dinner. We have enjoyed wine with this feast in the past, but Christina's delicate condition has limited our wine consumption on Sundays. No matter. It's still a great way to celebrate a Sunday evening.

So in response to my obsession with anything craft, I thought I could replicate the baguettes I've been purchasing at Wegmans. No good. The first couple attempts yielded okay results, but not nearly as flavorful or fluffy as the traditional baguette. I finally found a recipe that yielded high praise and tried it last week. This recipe required over 6 hours of my time, but I trudged though it and produced a very respectable loaf. I made some adjustments this week and I think they made a difference. My baguettes just came out of the oven and look wonderful.

Have you seen 'Planet Earth' yet? If not, you must carve out the time on Sunday at 8pm to view the single best nature production ever made. 5 years of filming resulted in 11 episodes detailing various areas of the planet in which we live - desert, icelands, forests, oceans, etc. Many of the images are of things never seen before (and they constantly remind you of this) and done in such a way that truly makes you appreciate God's creation.

In other news, Mike and I brewed a Christmas beer a couple of weeks ago. This beer requires 4-5 months of aging, so we decided it best to make it now so that it's available in the fall. It's a fairly basic belgian strong ale base with added spices, ginger, and orange peel. Our first effort, a belgian strong made with demarara sugar back in January (actually, I think it has the characteristics of a barleywine) is really becoming tasty. I'm planning on bringing 6 or so to Maarten's wedding for an added treat.

Finally, I've been negligent in producing new beer vlog entries. Currently, I'm on the 2nd of a 3-part ESB series. I promise it will be up within the next week.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Pub Crawl

My brother called me yesterday afternoon to let me know that he will be working in Bala all week and would be available to hang out, so we decided to get together last night for what was certainly a beer geek's nirvana.

I picked Mike up around 6pm and we headed into town. Our plan of action was to go to Zot, Eulogy, and Monk's and we figured the best way to go about it was for each of us to enjoy a beer at each establishment while noshing an appetizer or something. So, first up was Zot.

ZOT - Zot is a new tavern located on Lombard between 2^nd and Front. Their official opening was last week and according to the bartender it has been a weak one so far. I can see why. It seems to me that Zot has an image problem. Their main dining room says 'this is a quaint and romantic Philadelphia row-home restaurant.' But the beer bar in the back says, 'this is a wannabe Rittenhouse Square yuppie swank-fest.'

Their selection is ok I guess. It looks like they have around 200 bottles now and are working their way to 500. Mike had the Bruges Zot, which was enjoyable despite the poor RB rating. It's style is simply Belgian Ale although both of us thought it had attributes of a triple. I forget what I had - Bornhem Dubbel maybe? It was fairly unremarkable.

Overall, Zot is fair at best. They really need to focus on gaining an identity.

On to Eulogy.....

EULOGY - Eulogy is only 4 blocks away so we decided to walk. The night air was surprisingly warm. Upon arrival, we went upstairs due to the hipster crowd downstairs. In an effort to only drink new beers, I got a Atomium Grand Cru. Yum. Technically, the Atomium is a Belgian Strong Pale Ale but it definitely had the spicy characteristics of a Grand Cru. Almost no head to speak of.

At my behest Mike had a De Dolle Stille Nacht. Stille Nacht has been one of my favorites for quite awhile. Mike wasn't disappointed. Complex maltiness followed up by cinnamon and earthy spices. Oh yeah.

On to Monks......

MONKS - If nothing else, the night of pub crawling confirmed that Monks is the king of all beer bars. In fact, Eulogy and Zot can't come close to touching it. We couldn't really put our finger on the distinguishing characteristic (aside for the selection of course) that sets Monks apart. Is it the slight hole in the wall quality? The knowledgeable waitstaff? Nope. After a night's rest, it all became clear. Monks is the best because everyone there is there for the beer. Eulogy is filled with Olde City yuppie swine who swill drinks before heading to 32 degrees to hit on 18-year olds. Zot is not too dissimilar. Not to mention some chick at the bar drinking a Yuengling. Excuse me?

Monks is the haven for the beer geek. The food is great for sure, but the love of beer fills the place. We were very much in our element.

Ok, so most of you know that I freaked out about the Achel Extra during a recent Beer Vlogger episode. We decided to split a 750ml bottle. Oh so good. This is one of those beers that sticks to the back of your throat to give you continually evolving flavor long after the swallow. We took our time and enjoyed. The second pour of the Achel came about 30 minutes after the first so I estimated the beer warmed by 5 to 10 degrees. As expected the beer was completely different. The carbonation bite was gone and replaced by a bubblegum finish that had us arguing over what magic went into making this slice of heaven.

Order of frites. Monks clearly makes the best belgian mayo. To my surprise Mike had never had a Struis Pannepot. No problem. Monk's has it. Now the Pannepot is even more confusing than the Achel. Is it a dubbel? No, the tartness takes that out of the equation. Is it a sour ale? Nah. Too much earthiness. Grand Cru? Maybe, but only because Grand Cru can mean almost anything. In the end we realized categorizing it didn't matter. This is one amazing beer.

I went away from the belgians and tried a Nogne Brown Ale. Nogne is a brewery out of Norway that has received high praise in many publications recently. The Brown Ale is in the style of an English Ale so they say. I say it's closer to a thin porter than anything. Perfect smokiness, almost no carbonation, beautiful black color, somewhat thin mouthfeel. I loved it. Those Scandanavians seem to know what they're doing. The Narke Kaggen Stormaktsporter has just overtaken Westvleteren as the best beer in the world. Legitimate? I don't know but every Scandanavian beer I've had has been wonderful.

Beer Beer and More Beer

The missus joined me last night on my weekly State Line run. I was after a coveted gift that State Line just stocked and I needed to buy a few ESB's for the next Beer Vlogger series. The trip was a success on all counts. The coveted gift shall remain nameless for now, but I will most likely share my opinions once consumed.

The Extra Special Bitter is a beer style I'm only vaguely familiar with. To my knowledge I've only ever had one - the Fuller's ESB. Apparently this is a fine example of the style, so I decided to buy another one, along with Rogue's Brutal Bitter, Stoudt's Scarlet Lady, Anderson Valley's Belk ESB, and Otter Creek's ESB.

Additional purchases included Dogfish Head's new Burton Baton and a 90-minute IPA. While browsing I realized I hadn't enjoyed a 90-minute in a long time so why not? It's always steady, faithful, and cheap.

Oh, I forgot to gloat after participating in last weekend's Best of 2006 Blowout held at The Drafting Room, Exton. The Drafting Room had over 500 different beers on tap in 2006 and they decided to save extra kegs of what they thought represented the best of the best. There were about 15 different beers to choose from and they allowed you to purchase 5 oz. servings which gave you the ability to try most of the beers without a) getting hammered, and b) going home broke.

To be honest, the only reason I went was to sample Pliny the Younger, Russian River's highly touted IPA. Russian River does not distribute outside of CA and OR for whatever reason so it was a treat to sample this brew. LOVELY! Best IPA I've ever had? I don't know, but it beats out Three Floyd's Dreadnaught for sure.

I ordered a pint of Pliny the Younger so I could enjoy it throughout the 5 oz. flight of 6 other beers, including Stone's 10th Anniv. IPA, Cantillon Lou Pepe Framboise, Brooklyn Cuvee d'Achouffe, Bell's Hopslam Ale, Drafting Room's 12th Anniv Ale (brewed by Troegs), and Victory's 10 Years Alt which again reminded me how I am largely ignoring great beers brewed only 10 minutes away from home. Victory really produces quality stuff.

Weekend plans: Tomorrow's the big brew day for Mike and I. We're also going to bottle our Demara Belgian Ale. I don't recall, but I think it needs to bottle-condition for a couple months so we'll have to be patient. I guess Sunday will be a lazy day around the house. Maybe I'll do something productive but chances are better that it'll turn into an all-day-soccer-a-thon.

Days 8 and 9 (Wednesday and Thursday) - Hot, then Cold

I'm done with South Africa. It was wonderful, I loved it, I want to go back. But I'm as sick of writing about it as you are reading it. So, quick wrap up:

Wednesday - Woke up, ate breakfast, went to local market, bought sunglasses, drove to wine country, tasted a bunch of wine, went to olive oil farm, tasted olive oil, bought olive oil, went to the tourist trap 'Mama Africa' for dinner (yahoo travel's #1 dining destination - I should have known), back to the hotel, slept.

Thursday - Woke up, packed, ate breakfast, went to airport, waited around for 2 hours, flew to Johannesburg, met a family from Zambia that had to fly to Cape Town to delivery their baby due to the awful medical care in Zambia, arrived in Jo'burg, waited around for a couple hours, flew to New York, the movies on the plane weren't updated so we were pissed, landed in New York, cold, drove home, went to supermarket, asked how the teller was doing, he responded by blurting out, 'awful, I just got paid and I'm still here. I want to go spend this cash. I can't stand working here.', ahhh...America.