Weeping Radish - Manteo N.C.
Ken Weems
While taking a vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina last week,
I had the pleasure of visiting the Weeping Radish Restaurant and
Brewery in Manteo N.C. (on Roanoke Island). The brewery itself is
a relatively small operation (~1000 gallons/month). Beer is sold
at the bar and restaraunt, and in 1 liter reusable bottles (Grolsch style
caps) and 5 liter mini-kegs. We went for the brewery "tour" (1 & 5 pm)
and dinner. The tour was really more of a lecture, but was interesting
nontheless.
They produce 3 beers there, all lagers:
- Helles (light)
- Fest
- Radish Dark
All three are produced all year around (no seasonals). Rather than
creating his own style, the proprietor seems to be trying very hard to
duplicate Munich style beers. He has some kind of involvment with
a brewing institute in Munich, and his brewery is run by their brewmasters
and he has yeast sent from their labs (via airplane) on a regular (weekly!?)
basis. The beer is unpasturized and unfiltered, but is "whirlpooled"
in some fashion.
We had dinner, which had (IMHO) very, very good German food (not a lot
else), washed down with a considerable amount of beer, which was sold
in 1/4, 1/2, and 1 liter glasses. All three beers were good, (though the
Helles was a little light for my tastes), but the Fest, with a nice malty
flavor, was the overwhelming favorite at the table. Cost was not cheap
but not extravagant either.
The retail beer was quite expensive, with the reusable 1 liter bottles at $6.99
(4.99 for a refill) and the 5 liter min-kegs at ~$22. We got a 5 liter
mini-keg of the Fest to go, and it was excellent.
All in all, a worthwhile visit, though the beer selection was a bit
limited, IMHO, and a good motto for the place would probably be:
"If its not brewed by Munich BrewMasters (TM) with Munich yeast, following
the Rhienswhatever (you know what I mean), its not beer"
The one question I forgot to ask was: Was does the name "Weeping Radish"
mean (aside from the obvious, of course) and where did it come from?
As a contribution to the recent "What's in my Fridge?" thread:
My fridges and beer closet contain (all spellings approximate - most wrong):
Thomas Hardy Ale (1992) (4 bottles) - When should I drink it?
Wild Goose Ale (2 bottles) - Cambridge Brewing Company - nice
Wild Goose Porter '93 (1 bottle) - very nice seasonal offering
Lowenbrau Dark (1 bottle) - The Miller version - cheap and (mostly) drinkable
Henieken Special Dark (2 bottles) - I like it
Stoudts Bock (10 750ml bottles) - GREAT STUFF
Sarenac Black & Tan (4 bottles) - Good for the price
Saranec Adirondack Lager (3 bottles) - Very good for the price
Saranec ?? Pilsner (1 bottles) - not bad
Artic Bay (~15 bottles) - Cheap and my wife likes it
Michelob (~12 bottles) - Ditto
12 Horse Ale (2 bottles) - Buying this was a mistake I won't make again
Homebrew "Sparrow Hawk" Porter (~40 bottles) - Needs a little more aging
Homebrew "Lunar" Lager (~40 bottles) - Arrgghh, my first BAD homebrew
I wanted to pick up some Yuengling while traveling through Pennsylvania
last week (after visiting Stoudt's Brewery), but my wife thought
that 14 varieties in the fridge was enough!
Ken Weems
"Better living through beer drinking and marine hydrodynamics"
Alan Marshall
<snip>
> The one question I forgot to ask was: Was does the name "Weeping Radish"
> mean (aside from the obvious, of course) and where did it come from?
In Bavaria, radishes are the food of choice to be consumed along with
beer. In most places, they are peeled and salted and are considered
ready to eat when they start to "weep". Hence the name. BTW, the
radishes are very mild in flavour.
This reminds me of a story. Nearly twenty years ago, I was at the
Hofbraeuhaus with my brother. We had never seen radishes served with
beer like this before. There were barmaids walking around with trays
of radishes for sale. At one point, this very well-endowed barmaid
wearing the standard low-cut smock came along with a tray of unusually
large radishes. My brother exclaimed "Look at the size of those
radishes!" Well you can imagine that ever since, "radishes" has had a
different meaning when our family gets together.
--
-- Alan Marshall -- AK20...@SOL.YORKU.CA (York University, Toronto, Canada)
William Hix
: While taking a vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina last week,
: I had the pleasure of visiting the Weeping Radish Restaurant and
: Brewery in Manteo N.C. (on Roanoke Island). The brewery itself is
: a relatively small operation (~1000 gallons/month). Beer is sold
: at the bar and restaraunt, and in 1 liter reusable bottles (Grolsch style
: caps) and 5 liter mini-kegs. We went for the brewery "tour" (1 & 5 pm)
: and dinner. The tour was really more of a lecture, but was interesting
: nontheless.
: They produce 3 beers there, all lagers:
: - Helles (light)
: - Fest
: - Radish Dark
: All three are produced all year around (no seasonals). Rather than
: creating his own style, the proprietor seems to be trying very hard to
: duplicate Munich style beers. He has some kind of involvment with
: a brewing institute in Munich, and his brewery is run by their brewmasters
: and he has yeast sent from their labs (via airplane) on a regular (weekly!?)
: basis. The beer is unpasturized and unfiltered, but is "whirlpooled"
: in some fashion.
My grandfather lives a bit further down on the Outer Banks, so whenever
I visit him, I make sure I go by the Weeping Radish. If you like
Munich style beers, you'd find their beer quite acceptable. My
grandfather has figured out how much I like this stuff, so everytime
we have a family holiday dinner he brings a few liters with him.
At one point they produced a Chocolate lager. Not really chocolate
in flavor, but the darkest lager I've ever seen. Imagine a Munich
lager as dark as Guiness and you've got the idea. Yummmmmmmmm!
Raph