February GOOD BEER News: 5th Anniv Beer, 4 NEW BEERS (one just for V-Day), Hell With The Lid Off tickets on sale now, new Tap Spots, and a Beer Dinner at The Frick!
EastEndBrewing
I hope everyone had a great holiday season, and that you've settled in
nicely for what's left of this long gray Pittsburgh winter...but I
think we can help remedy that in a bit. December was our biggest
month ever here, so thank you all for your amazing support and never-
ending thirst! What a way to end the year! So after taking January
off, the GOOD BEER News is coming back fresh, well-rested, and packed
full of a HUGE amount of brand new beers... at least 4, maybe even 5
or 6 of them, depending upon how you count these things. Plus, a
bunch of new events too. So, in order of appearance, starting with a
new beer debut you may have missed, here's every bit of GOOD BEER News
that I know right now, along with some recent press, and some brand
new tap spots:
RELEASED NOW: SESSION ALE #33 - YANKEE WANKER
We brewed an English style of Pale Ale with some fantastic UK Marris
Otter Malt, and decided that we'd hop it up a bit in an English kind
of way, with some East Kent Golding hops. More earthy than citrusy,
these hops are born to go with this malt, but since it's probably too
hoppy to fit the English Pale Ale style, it's clear that there's some
Yankee influence to this particular Wanker. On tap as of 2 or 3 weeks
ago!
JAN 29: EAST END BEER AT THE FRICK MUSEUM
While the beer is not the main feature of the exhibit, it's still
worthy of some careful study. Plus, this is about as local to us as
an East End Brewing event can be! Hey, this is TONIGHT - I'd better
fill some Growlers! http://www.thefrickpittsburgh.org/collection_exhibitions/1934.php
PLUS, AN EAST END BEER DINNER AT THE FRICK CAFE!
Mark your calendars for March 25th when we're putting on the very
first East End Brewing Beer Dinner at the Frick Cafe. Not only is it
an amazing setting, but the menu promises to be top-notch too! Here's
a quick listing of the event on their site - reservation available
now: http://www.frickart.org/start/cafe.php
FEB 9th: VALENTINE'S WEEK RELEASE - SESSION ALE #35
This year, we've got something special in mind for that someone
special you have in mind. Confused? Don't worry. It'll all be clear
with that first sip of CHOCOLATE COVERED CHERRY STOUT. We added 17lbs
of Belgian Dark Chocolate and another 5lbs of cocoa powder to a kettle
boiling with a brand new chocolate-malt based stout earlier this
week. And then a couple of days later, tucked a whole mess of tart
Michigan cherries into that dark chocolate shell. Well actually, we
just added them to the fermenter. We're not expecting this beer to
come out sticky-sweet, as the nearly all the sugar will ferment out,
but if the smell in the brewery during the brew day is any indication,
chocolate lovers should start rejoicing now. But really, you'll have
to taste it for yourself to see if it is indeed the perfect
valentine's day offering for that special someone. We'll be tapping
it in plenty of time for Valentines Day, though heart shaped Growlers
are on back order.
FEB 10th: BEST OF THE 'BURGH
As you may know, every year the Sharp Edge Restaurants hold a homebrew
competition, and every year we brew the winning recipe here at East
End. This year's style is Belgian IPA, and the winning recipe came
from Mike Moretti who came out for the brew day. BULLION DE HOUBLON
(aka Hop Broth) has been bubbling along beautifully for a couple of
weeks now, and it's currently cold-conditioning, waiting for it's big
debut at the Sharp Edge Creekhouse on February 10th at 6pm. So come
join us for the tapping, congratulate Mike on a brew well done, and
taste the very first pints of this brand new beer... actually, the
first pint goes to Mike, so get in line behind the Brewmaster! Then,
after the 10th, you can also get Bullion De Houblon on tap at all
Sharp Edge locations, and here at the brewery during Growler Hours.
www.SharpEdgeBeer.com
FEB-ish: WOODEN NICKEL RELEASE
Although we celebrated our Anniversary in back in December and
announced that we "won the toss" in the last newsletter, at that time
all we could offer to celebrate was the promise of a special beer that
we were brewing... a promise about as thirst quenching and useful as a
wooden nickel. So, WOODEN NICKEL is the name of our 5th Anniversary
beer. And like I said here before, it's a Saison, a Belgian/French
style of Farmhouse ale first born in Wallonia, the French speaking
region of Belgium. Literally, it's a seasonal beer ("Saison" is
French for season), primarily brewed for the working class of the
countryside - a farmhand's beer. Because of that, it's brewed to be
especially thirst quenching: on the light side, quite dry, slightly
tart, effervescent, and definitely leaning toward hoppy for a Belgian
Ale (think peppery-spice noble-hop hoppy, not citrusey American hop
hoppy). A perfect way to quench your thirst, during these long,
sweltering days of working the fields... or maybe just have it with
dinner while we imagine all that other stuff.
Right now, the beer is conditioning in 1 liter bottles for another
couple of weeks, while Wayno dials in the label artwork. So, we're
looking at a mid February release for this beer. And this time, we
managed to brew and bottle enough of it to run through the folks at
Vecenie to any interested bottle shops and tap spots around town.
I'll update in all the usual places when it's time for the release day
- and maybe I'll send out a Late-Breaking GOOD BEER News message if
there's a few of these new beers landing all at once.
ANOTHER EMPTY PROMISE...
And while Wooden Nickel was not aged on oak, like I said before, we
did set aside a small portion of this brew to barrel age with some
special wild fermenting agents added to the mix. This is a multi-year
experiment that could wind up in a bottle some day, or in the drain,
so there's another empty promise for you to replace this one we're
delivering on now.
FEB Something-th: SESSION ALE #34 - BLABBER AND SMOKE
We don't brew many lagers around here - mostly because we just don't
have the tank space to devote to a beer that takes so long to mature.
But since we were expecting our typical post-holiday lull here, it
seemed like the perfect time to sneak a lager into the tank. Although
the typical lull never materialized (thanks guys!), this is no typical
lager. It's a Bamberger Rauchbier, or smoked lager, brewed with
German wood-smoked malt. Similar, yet very different from our
Smokestack Heritage Porter, if you've never had a smoked beer before,
it'll definitely booglarize you! (Look it up!) It'll be coming on
tap at Growler Hours in another few weeks just as soon as we open up a
spot for it in the lineup. Watch the website for updates. Oh, and a
HUGE thanks goes to the guys at the Church Brew Works for the fresh
pitch of lager yeast on this one. Stop in for a beer and thank them
again for me, okay?
FEB MAYBE: ANOTHER GRATITUDE UPDATE
Labels are approved, but we're hitting some snags in the printing side
that are continuing to delay the release. Ugh. I swear, this beer is
cursed! Tasty, but cursed. I'll be happy if we can manage to get it
out before the HELL WITH THE LID OFF, but failing that, we'll
definitely have some 2009 Gratitude on draft at this barleywine
fest... plus a full compliment of older vintages as well.
FEB 20-21: WHAT? YOU DIDN"T KNOW ABOUT THE BARLEYWINE FEST???
And you call yourself a GOOD BEER Fan! Well technically, I called you
that. Let's just say that you're lucky to be in Pittsburgh, because
we happen to be home to the biggest and baddest beer fest of them
all. It's the all mighty, 6th Annual HELL WITH THE LID OFF Barleywine
Festival at Kelly's Bar and Lounge in East Liberty. Truly, the most
massivest collection of big beers available under one roof, on one
night, at any place East of the Rockies...maybe anywhere. Manageable
sample sizes, 4 hour gentle pacing, vertical flights, old friends,
stinky cheeses, stinky old friends, fancy chocolates, fancy old stinky
friends, and of course the ever-present Kelly's Mac N. Cheese... all
come together to make this one of my favorite events of the year. See
Wayno's kickin' poster for dates, times, and prices:
http://waynocartoons.blogspot.com/2010/01/hell-with-lid-off.html
Tickets available now at Kelly's (cash or credit) and here at the
brewery (cash only). This fest WILL sell out, so don't dilly or
dally.
FEB 27: MEET THE BREWER/TASTING NIGHT AT SIDELINES @6:30
For what's been maybe 4 or 5 years now, there's been a guy named Bob
preaching the gospel of GOOD BEER and converting the congregation one
pint at a time over in Millvale, at what was once just another local
Pittsburgh Bar. But in that time, the place has grown a fantastic tap
and bottle selection, and has become a real oasis of GOOD BEER in that
part of town, right down the street from Mr. Small's theater. So,
it's definitely time I was back for another tasting. Hope to see you
there! http://www.sidelinesbarandgrill.com/
NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION: DRINK MORE BEER
Here's a guy with a real plan - a new beer a day all year long, and
he's off to a good start!
http://365beers.wordpress.com/2010/01/09/beer-62365-east-end-smokestack-heritage-porter/
EDIBLE ALLEGHENY HOARDING BEER:
http://www.ediblecommunities.com/allegheny/online-magazine/december-january-2009-2010/of-age.htm
NEW YEAR, NEW TAP SPOTS:
Round Corner Cantina 3720 Butler St. in Lawrenceville
Murphy's Tap Room on Braddock Ave. in Regent Square http://www.murphystaproom.com/
Molly Brannigans on Washington Rd. in Mt. Lebanon http://mollybrannigans.com/
Cains Saloon on W. Liberty in Dormont http://www.cainssaloon.com/index.html
Whoville's 2036 Brownsville Rd. in Carrick.
Brew's Brothers 315 Mt. Lebanon Blvd. in Mt. Lebanon - Now filling
Growlers of East End Brew! http://www.brewsbro.com/
Braddock's American Brasserie 107 6th St. Downtown. In the renaissance
hotel. http://www.braddocksrestaurant.com/
IT TAKES A VILLAGE:
A quick word about our list of tap spots on the website: As the list
grows, it's getting harder and harder for me to keep it up to date, so
if your local haunt is serving our stuff and they're not on this list,
please let me know so that they can get the credit they deserve for
supporting local GOOD BEER! Or if someone on the list has given us
the whole "It's not you, it's me. I hate you." routine, well just
reply to this message, and I can remove the listing and strike them
from my BFF list too. Here's the list of tap spots if you'd like to
have a look: http://eastendbrewing.com/node/4 Thanks for the help!
That's it for this month - hope to see you here at the brewery, or at
one of these event some time soon!
Cheers,
Scott
BUY A GOOD FRIEND A GOOD BEER (tm)
www.EastEndBrewing.com
http://twitter.com/EastEndBrewing
Scott at East End Brewing
Cheers,
Scott
BUY A GOOD FRIEND A GOOD BEER (tm)
www.EastEndBrewing.com
http://twitter.com/EastEndBrewing
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