What a Weekend! First (Semi) Annual Pouring at the Pond!

We had a busy weekend with the BeerThursday crew.  We held our first large tasting, where 35 beers were consumed with a little more than 20 people in attendance.  Food included Chili, Mac and Cheese, Brats, Dogs, Wings, Pretzels, and Dips.  We also had deserts and nuts hanging around the tables.  Thanks to all for coming out, and stay tuned for the next one in April!

After the cleanup was done, a few people wanted to have a few more beers, so a few of us took a trip to the Moo Bar where a nice little line up was put together.

Finally, on Sunday, Caffe Gelato in Newark, DE had a Dogfish Head dinner where Sam went form table to table helping pair beers with meals.  Everything went a little slowly, but the food was quality, and the beer was great.  The highlight for me was the 2009 Immort Ale, and the surprise of the night was seeing 120 passed around like water.

Overall, it was a very successful weekend.  I hope we can do more events like this in the future.

Beer Thursdays #20 will be coming up in November, so check the facebook page for updates!

-Jay

Newark Food and Brew Fest 2011

The Newark Food and Brew Fest is just wrapping up, and I must say, it was a success.  Not to many crazy off the wall beers, but there was some quality craft, and a few things I haven't had before.

The day started off at Grotto's Pizza, a place I used to frequent before craft was a lifestyle of mine.  For sampling was Shipyard Export Ale and Summer.  Both decent, but nothing over the top.  To my surprise however, Grotto's now carries Dogfish Head 60 Minute on tap.  And $6.00 for 22 ounces is not bad.

Next was Kildare's just upstairs.  Six Beers were for sampling.  Selections form Twin Lakes Brewing, a Delaware local, and Paulaner were enjoyed by all.  Twin Lakes Pale Ale is still one of my favorite local brews, and Paulaner Salvator was also quite tasty.  Another surprise was to see Victory Head Waters Pale Ale on tap.  A very nice pale from another local company.

We ended the evening at Buffalo Wild Wings with some $.50 wings and a selection from Clipper City and 16 Mile.  I must say that I've never had too much from 16 mile that I have enjoyed, but the Clipper City Heavy Seas Loose Cannon was worth drinking.  Buffalo Wild Wings also had Dogfish Head 60 minute on tap, which was enjoyed by all.

Over all, a great event.  I would like to see some of the local brewers show up to help sell the beer and explain what every one was drinking.  Also, it would be nice to see some limited release, cask conditioned or experimental beers brought out to this event, but that may be asking too much for an event which covers so many different places.  There were a lot more beers to try, but just not enough time to try them all.

Check out the link here and hopefully we will see some more people out next year.

P.S.  It was HOT!

Big Trade Upcoming.

In the BeerThursdays #17 Event on Facebook, I talked about a big trade we have set up with another Beer Advocate Tasting group.  Some info on the trade can be found here:  http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/3773360

So far, we've acquired a number of beers for the trade including:
Two Hearted - 24oz
Abacus - 22oz
Serpents Stout - 25oz
BA Gonzo - 12oz
Alaskan Smoked Porter - 22oz
Supplication - 12oz
and a few more.  We have right around 200oz of their "wants" and need to start filling out the boxes with locals and more wants.  Minimum is 350, I would like to get about 500 in the box.

More of their wants include:
Consecration
Speedway Stout
Coffee Bender
Exit 16
Bourbon County Brand Stout
Older Viscosity
Coffee Bender
Old Rasputin 11
Big Black Voodoo Daddy
Cadillac Mountain Stout
Creme Brulee
Riserva

We can also fill out the box with local stuff that we know doesn't make it out that way.  Things from Evolution, Twin Lakes, Stewarts, Iron Hill, DuClaw, Stillwater (maybe), possibly some Dogfish stuff, and I'm sure a ton more will help fill out the box.  I'm not going to give out their names an open site so we don't ruin any surprises, so I'll send out something with all of their participants names so you can look up their wants on BA.  Plan is to have it all together on the next BeerThursdays, and then ship it out the following day, or following Monday.

Once again, you don't have to do anything, but opening big boxes is exciting, especially when  you don't know anything that will be inside.

Beer Thursdays #17

Cans Cans Cans! We're going to be doing cans just because there seem to be so many right now, and we haven't done them yet.

Also, I entered our group in a very large beer trade. You don't have to parcipitate, but I just thought it would be fun for those who did. Details here:
http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/3773360

We'll bring all the stuff for the trade on the 17th, package it up, and then set a date when we our box(ex) back to try all of the new stuff. We don't know what we'll be getting, and we don't tell the other group what we are sending. If you want to help out and need a shopping list, I'll be glad to send one to you. Paul and I hit a bunch of their wants already, so maybe one or two more from State Line, and then a bunch of local stuff (DFH, Evo, Twin Lakes, maybe Stewarts and Iron HIll). Should be fun! Hope everyone can make it.


More info here:


facebook.com/beerthursdays

Forum of the Gods!

Taken from dogfish.com

"Ale Street News presents a spirited round-table discussion with five of the biggest names in American craft brewing:

* CAROL STOUDT, Stoudt's Brewing

* SAM CALAGIONE,... Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

* VINNIE CILURZO, Russian River Brewing

* BRIAN GROSSMAN, Sierra Nevada Brewing

* LARRY SIDOR, Deschutes Brewery

This crew is producing some of the absolutely best beer in the world.

Join us for a one-of-kind session, to be moderated by Philly's own Beer Reporter Joe Sixpack and Tony Forder, editor of Ale Street News.

And it won't be all yakking! Each brewer will bring along a couple favorites for an afternoon of sampling.

Feature keg: EXPORTATION, the Philly Beer Week collaboration porter, brewed by local beer luminaries in 2010 at Sierra Nevada, then aged in Russian River's barrels for a year.

Tickets are available here.

Philadelphia Bar & Restaurant

120 Market Street

Old City- Philadelphia, PA

215-925-7691"

Can't wait for this one!

Bunch of Great Beers

Plan was to do high ABV night, but with only three guys at Beer Thursdays 16, plans changed.  Instead of a bunch of boozy brews, we opened a bunch of super flavorful ones.

Spring House Peanut Butter Chocolate Stout
Funky Buddha Maple Bacon Coffee Porter
Sweetwater Big Ol' Belgian Blue Balls
Flying Fish Exit 9
Russian River Beatification Batch 2
and a home brew Raison Quad from 2009 thanks to t0rin0

So we'll have to do the high ABV night some time in the future.  Let me know if anyone has a date in mind.

Iron Hill - 5/18/11

Iron hill is doing a Sour/Lambic event tomorrow night from 6-8.  Not too many details out there, but should be pretty nice if they have a bunch of the sours we haven't tried.

I'll be there at 6, and hope to see a few people hanging around.

-Jay

Another Trade Completed

Just excited about this one.  I've been working on Partridge for a while, and to get an 07 Gratitude with it is a big win in my book.  Won't say what I had to give up, but I think it was well worth it.  Can't wait to try them,


in about 9 more years.....

-Jay

Why am I Still Up?

Not sure where to start...

All that with the two growlers, plus Nugget Nectar and Dan's home brew Coffee Brown on tap...

Rare was the best, but the Dandelion Upland was prety awesome too..

More tomorrow.... Or today...

Goodnight.

Dogfish Head Happy Hour with the Beer Advocate Brothers!

Heading to Dogfish Brewpub in Rehoboth, De for happy hour with the crew from Dogfish and the Alstrom Brothers from BeerAdvocate.com.

The event starts at 5pm, and there should be plenty of good beer flowing and lots of good people.

Super Bowl Party was a success!

Well, the Super Bowl is over and it was definitely a success. Nugget Nectar was on tap, and a mini keg of Hopslam was finished. Also, we got to try a bottle of Evolution Brewing Winter Migration, a dark ale aged in Bourbon Barrels.

And the food wasn't our normal Amore pizza either. 100 wings, meatballs, beer cheese dip, brats slow cooked in beer, and many other dishes provided by guests made sure no one went hungry.

More events coming soon, and feel free to let us know if you're interested in coming to any of the already announced events,

-Jay

Site Updates Coming Soon

I'm trying to keep up on this a little more leading up to the anniversary party, and I have a few changes I'll be making.

www.BeerThursdays.com - I registered for a few domains, and it looks like we won't need to go to blogspot.com for much longer.

Redesign - I've been working on a bit of a redesign, and it should go live in the next few weeks.

Email Addresses - Not sure if there will be any interest, but I should have a few @beerthursdays.com email addresses available soon.

Lot of Pictures - I have about 100 pictures that will be uploaded in the next few days, so be on the lookout.

Facebook Fans - Make sure you "Like" Beer Thursdays on facebook. The facebook page is facebook.com/beerthursdays so head over there and hit the like button.

Cameras - Throwing around the idea of taping Beer Thursdays, and then editing it down, but that may not happen. We don't really do a lot of reviewing, so may not be needed.

Suggestions! - What do you want to see happen with BeerThursdays? Leave a comment, and lets make it happen!

Empties are GONE! ...and upcoming events.

Didn't hear anything about the empties, so a I put them up on Craigslist and someone came over and took them all. Guess we'll have to start on a new collection. Sounds like a job I'm down to tackle!

Upcoming Events:

2/6/2011 - Super Bowl Part
2/9/2011 - Beer Advocate Happy Hour at Dogfish Head Brew Pub
2/25/2011 - Beer Thursdays One Year Anniversary Party

In March, we're hoping to be able to grab a few bottles of 2011 Kate the Great, and host the first annual Delaware Bottle Share. More updates coming soon.

What would you open?

We're planning for the anniversary party, and trying to decide what to take out of the cellar for the big night. Then it hit my, why not ask what we should open?

What beers would you open for the anniversary party if you could choose? What beers were your favorite of 2010?

Let me know and we'll try to get pictures and reviews of all of the suggestions.

-Jay

Empties!

So I went through most of the bottles from the past year and with 13 Beer Thursdays, The Night Of 100 Bottles, and other random events, we have hundreds of empties. I'm going to take them all to recycling this week, but if anyone wants them, let me know. Everything is in a case box, so you can cherry pick your favorites if you like, or just take them in bulk for home brew, decoration, or target practice.

I'll probably take them over on Wednesday, so let me know before then.

-Jay

176 Different Beers in a Year

Well folks, the one year anniversary is coming up, and I just did a list of all of the beers we have had over the last year. There were 176 different beers opened over the 13 Beer Thursdays, with only 15 repeats. That's 191 bottles, and that doesn't count when we had multiple bottles of the same beer on a night.

I was kind of surprised at the beers we opened, but more than anything else, I was surprised what we didn't open. I know we've had multiple bottles of Dark Lord, different Surly Beers, and other that I remember, but they all only showed up a few times in the list. I guess it goes to show what we have been drinking on non Beer Thursday events too!

Well, I'm finalizing the list (there were a few pictures that were hard to see) and then I'll post it here, but here's a preview:

Supplication
Old Rasputin 12
Beer Geek Breakfast
Noctorum
Love Child
Nemesis 2009
Lucky Number 7
Bock
Yakima Twilight
Fire Rock
Russian Imperial Stout
Breakfast Stout
World Wide Stout
Java Head
Speedway Stout
Storm King Stout
Exit 1
XS Russian Imperial Stout 2008
The Abyss 2008
Dark Lord 2006
Wrath of Pecant
Theobroma 2008
Saison Rue
Saison Dupont
Gulden Draak
Abbey Ale
Maraedsous 10 Triple
Helios Summer Ale
Exit 4
Exit 16
Hazelnut Brown Nectar
Espresso Oak Aged Yeti
Planet Bean Coffee Stout
Hop Rocket
Mad Elf
Pliny The Elder
Festina Peche
Crooked Tree
Reserve Special
Too Cream Stout
Fat Dog 2006
Piraat Ale
Beer Geek Breakfast
Beer Geek Brunch Weasel
Espresso Oak Aged Yeti
Sublimely Self-Righteous
Cockeyed Cooper
Black
Squall
Bam Biere
Burried Hatchet Stout
LeBleu
Love Child
Nest White Ale
Bruocsella 1900 Crand Cru
Van Twee
Hercules Double IPA
Raspberry Wheat Ale
Saison Du Buff
St. Terese's Pale Ale
Scratch Beer (Unknown)
Old Guardian
Seventeen
SahTea
Racer 5
Serum XX
XS Russian Imperial Stout 2010
Crème Brulee
Mokah
Planet Bean Growler
Smoked Porter Growler
Bourbon County Stout 2009
Imperial Stout
Yeti 2008
Guava Grove
Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti
Espresso Oak Aged Yeti
Too Cream Stout
KBS
Storm King Stout
Irish Stout
Flower Power
Bitches Brew
Love and Regert
Black
Duchess de Bourgogne
XX Bitter
Classic Geuze
Trappist 12
USAlive
It's Alive
Dubbel
Hiver
-----
Blue
Mischief
-----
Devious
Pumpkin
Autumn Maple
Pumpking 2008
Pumpking
Imperial Pumpkin
The Great Pumpkin
The Greater Pumpkin
Pumpkin
Night Owl Pumpkin
Harvest Pumpkin
Oktoberfest
Humidor IPA
CoCoNut Porter
1000 IBU
CoCoNut Porter
Bender
Fest
Wet
Maduro Brown
-----
Glacier Wet Hop
Imperial Porter
XXX IPA
Cadillac Mountain Stout
-----
Big A IPA
Barley Wine
Double Bag
Saint Botolph's town
Cosmic Monster
Two Headed Beast
Chocolate Bock
Flower Power
Smoke From the Oak Wine
Sculpin
Imperial Pumpkin
Bender
Bitter Brewer
Three French Hens
Wet Willey
Winter Warmer
Too Cream
Humidor IPA
Smoked Porter
Hop Harvest
Smoked Porter
Rauchbier
Pliny The Elder
Beer Geek Bacon
Smoke on the Water
Rauch Ur Bock
Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier
Black Damnation 2 Mocha Bomb
-----
Mad Elf
Pere Noel
Noel
Marshal Zhukov
Santas Little Helper
Aved Les Bon Voeux
Splinter Black
Santas Butt 2008
Santas Butt
Crooked Tree
Criminally Bad Elf
Growler (Unknown)
-----
-----
Scratch 37
Winter
Winter Wheat 08
Noel
Christmas 08
Samichlaus 08
Santas Little Helper
Duet
Nelson
Victory At Sea
Black Cat Stout
Coffee Bender
Infinium
Fred
Dark Intrigue
Oude Geuze
Hopus
Abbrasive
Hopslam
Scratch 39
Wake and Bake
Redemption
Nugget Nectar
Centennial
Gandahi Bot

Yeah, Wow... Thanks a ton for a great year, and get ready for the Anniversary Party on the 25th!

One Year Anniversary Celebration!

Beer Thursdays one year anniversary is Febuary 25, which happens to be a Friday. I say we hold a blowout night, wi th 30 beers tasted over 6 hours!

6:30-12:30 on Friday, the 25th.

Because of everyones schedule, I think BeerThursdays may become a Friday/Saturday event in the future, so why not start on the one year anniversary?

So clear your cellar and your belly. Pizza will be ordered, maybe multiple times. The kegs WILLl be flowing, and many many bottles will be popped. I want to make sure all of the founding member will be able to attend, as well as the many honory members who have attended over the last year.

Are you ready for an epic beer tasting night?

Long time no see

Here are the last few lineups