Daytona Beer Festival and a Firkin

We were able to do a fundraiser for the Animal Rescue Konsortium coupled with a beer festival in Daytona, and got a firkin to boot.  I was really looking forward to this one!

Woefully, I met up with Josher at Davinci the night before for ONE since I wanted to meet up with Mr. Dan Reed to talk about an event we had coming up.  Given that Josher won't let you walk away from a bar without offering to buy you enough drinks to put an Irish dockworker under the table, I had a terrible headache that morning and really did not feel like drinking.  This sucked because I knew there would be a ton of great beer at this one and a lot of other reps to drink with.  Add to this, we had a second firkin from Lazy Magnolia and given how I felt about the first one, I really didn't want to miss out on this one.

So Renegade Rip came to pick me up at the house to carry out to Beach street for set-up around noon.  The event didn't start till 2:00, so I figured maybe I could heal a bit before the event started and get on some brew once we started pouring.

We got set up at the booth being accompanied by the staff at Davinci, whcih made me really happy.  Good folks and fun, and I figured I could sneak away and be part of the firkin getting tapped in the pumpkin patch that was being set up for the pumpkin beers.  By the way, that is an awesome idea setting up a pumpkin patch like that this time of year, an idea that should be stolen......

Once we got all set up, Mr. Rob Nelson came over because I told him we'd split off a Westvleteren since he wasn't feeling 100% the previous night for the Trappist Dinner and missed out on the Westies we were pouring.  May as well get some hair of the dog.  What a spoiled life we live to have some Westvleteren as hair of the dog - in plastic cups no less.


Either way, it cured my pounding head and I was now ready to slurp and burp.  It worked out well also because I was sharing a booth with Terrapin and Bell's and really wanted some Moo-Hoo and Hopslam.  So the first thing I did was pop open a bottle of Moo-Hoo.  Maybe not the best beer for the hot weather, but I haven't had one in a bit and I love this beer.  Of course, the Hopslam was to follow.  Aaaand then of coourse I split a Sweaty Betty and an Indian Summer with Rip afterward.  Feelin' pretty good at this point.

We get rolling and Vinnie calls me over to pop the firkin.  This firkin as described by the brewery, by the way was:

Southern Gold with pumpkin, brown sugar, nutmeg, and aged rum-infused vanilla bean.

CUMINAYAY-HAAAAAAH!

I get over to the pumpkin patch and we get the firkin all set up.  Without a rubber mallet, we had to use a hammer and wrap some towels around it.  Not too sure about it, but oh well.  I grabbed the hammer and hit the bung a few times, which was not budging.  After gathering some balls after getting heckled by the guys, I finally got a good whack on it and the faucet was in.  Of course, there was beer spraying everywhere, but collateral damage as far as I'm concerned.  Once the cask got aerated a little bit, we were finally ready to pour some out.  I look up and there appears to be an endless sea of cups stretched out at me for a taste.  

Holy Cow was this beer good. Everything that was in it shone through in perfect balance.  I really thought I had hit the mother lode with the fresh peach firkin we got from Lazy Magnolia last week, but man was this one close if not better.  Add to that, I had a ride home.

I was able to get a pitcher poured and walk it over to the booths to let the volunteers have some.  Twice I had to go back for refills before I even got to the booths because people stopped me for some.  Quite a compliment.  Once I did get to the booths, it didn't last long.  Back and forth, back and forth - and lovin' it.  This brew was definitely the hit of the event.  I myself found I couldn't get enough and was drinking it like water.  In fact, at one point I lost my pitcher and filled up a Diet Coke can with some of that goodness.  Unreal.

Top off all this good beer with an appearance from Daneaux of Mermaid Juice fame tapping some Dave-O IPA that he had made.  Long story on this brew and I will post about it later.

All-in-all a great day and a massive THANK YOU to Renegade Rip for being the driver.  Safety first and my day would have been a lot different if I had to rely on my own wheels to get me home.  Cheers!

Trappist Beer Dinner at Windy City

I held my first Trappist Beer event in 2006, not long after I opened Abbey in DeLand.  We charged $15 for it (lost our butts financially, but it was to prove a point) and limited it to 15 people, just enough to sit around the bar.  We begged and boot-licked whoever we could to come to the event as beer hadn't hit its stride in the south yet and believe it or not, $15 seemed high to most people in DeLand at the time.

The last Trappist Beer Dinner we had before I sold Abbey had 65 people, each of whom paid $65 for it.  Times had most definitely changed.  

I like to think that there are 2 kinds of Trappist Beer events - the on that has Westvleteren and the one that doesn't.  I've done both.  Personally, I say take whatever chances you have to, get the beer, charge the extra bucks, and make it happen.  Cops?  What cops?

If ya don't know about Westvleteren, here is a small crash course.

From Wikipedia:

The Westvleteren Brewery (Brouwerij Westvleteren) is a Belgian Brewery founded in 1838 inside the Trappist Abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren in the Belgian municipality of Vleteren, not far from the hops-producing town of Poperinge and the medieval city of Ypres. The brewery and its beers are usually referred to as Westvleteren. The brewery's three beers have acquired an international reputation for taste and quality, as well as the limited availability of the beers which are not brewed to normal commercial demands.

Buyers were originally limited to ten 24-bottle crates of the beer per car, but as the beer increased in popularity, this was first reduced to five, then to three and now to two or one crates. For the Westvleteren 12 in 2009, it was limited to one case. When making an order now, the type and quantity of beer available for sale are revealed. Sales are limited to one order every 60 days per person per license plate and phone number. Also, the beer must be reserved on their "beerphone" beforehand. The monks do not sell beer to individuals who drive up to the abbey hoping to purchase beer. The reason for this is to eliminate commercial reselling, and hence give all visitors a chance to purchase the product.

The current production is 4750 hl (60,000 cases) per year, and has remained the same since 1946.

Aside from the brewery itself, the only other official sale point for the beer is the abbey-owned Indevedre, a cafe and visitor's center opposite the abbey. All beers can be bought there for immediate consumption or take-away, depending on availability (however, prices are higher than at the abbey). Often there is no beer available at the shop. The shop also sells cheeses made at the abbey, yeast tabs (not yeast to make beer but dead yeast for health) and other Trappist products.

Naturally, there is a tremendous amount of  demand for Westvleteren's beers and they usually ranked among the best beers in the world.  This being the case, there is a marked difference between a Trappist event with and a Trappist event without this legendary brew.  

So when Scott at Windy City asked me if we wanted to take part in a Trappist Beer Dinner, I was all over the idea.  And he wanted the Westvleteren.  YES!  

The Renegades for with the Trappist Brewery Chimay and I was to be there representing them.  In addition to the blue cap bottles we'd be serving, I brought a gift of a 6 year old bottle of Chimay Grand Reserve for a "new versus vintage" comparison.  Also joining us would be Mr. Rob Nelson of Merchant du Vin.  Rob represents Orval, Westmalle, and Rochefort and the man knows hella lot about Trappist Beer.  

We stationed upstairs at Windy City in an area that is perfect for this type of gathering.  The upstairs of the restaurant has a circular opening that looks down onto the first floor, which makes for an awesome atmosphere to have an intimate experience while still getting some ambient noise from the crowd below.  A locale that I would dig watching some NFL Football and my beloved Steelers in, and am going to beg Scott to allow us to do so this season.  

The food that was offered for pairing looked amazing.  As a non-meat eater, I am pretty well screwed when it comes to this type of event.  When the smoked ribs to pair with the Westmalle Dubbel was coming out of the kitchen, I happened to be standing behind the server when she walked by with them.  Oooh man, the aroma made me want to chew my own fingers off.  

We began with the Chimay paired with a salad and had the 2006 Chimay right after to observe the changes that 6 years have caused.  A great way to show off what vintaging can do.  Second was the Orval with a soup followed by the La Trappe Quadruple with the ribs.  Next was a tenderloin with Westmalle Dubbel and the last pairing was a dessert with the Rochefort 8.  The Westvleteren 8 was going to fly alone and needless to say was a hit.  

Above anything else, when you get to talkin' with someone in the business about Trappist Ales not only do you invariably find a lover of them; but you'll also get into a conversation about how they have influenced not only Belgian brewers but American brewers as well.  It's awesome that you can easily point directly to a small handful of breweries who have had an incalculable effect on the entire industry.  Outside of perhaps a few German breweries can I think of any group that have had that type of influence.  I have attached a few resources if you want to further your education in Trappist beers, or perhaps run by your local bar that specializes in Belgian beers and get some hands-on schooling.  Cheers!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trappist_beer

http://trappist-beers.com/

http://www.chimay.com/en/trappist-beers.html?IDC=286

Windy City in Daytona

I FINALLY got some Flashback Brown on draft here in Florida and the first place I was able to try it was the newly opened Windy City in Daytona Beach. Opened by the same fellas who own the legendary McK's a few addresses down, their grand opening was this night and we were able to parlay a tap takeover to help celebrate. On draft this night, we had Boulder BRewing's Hazed & Infused, Kinda Blue, Sweaty Betty, and Flashback Brown.

A little about Flashback. This is a heavily hopped brown that begins slightly sweet in much the way you would think a brown ale would, but finishes with a massive rush of citrusy hops that leaves the finish very dry. It rates a 94 on ratebeer.com and one can easily see why it gained such a rating. An extremely complex brew, I am very excited to get it further out in the market......

Windy City is located at 230 South Beach Street in Daytona. A perfect tie-in with the local minor league baseball team, the Daytona Cubs, this new restaurant offers a great menu of many indigenous Chicago foodstuffs and decor to match. The vibe is very comforting with authentic brick walls, dark wood, and televisions to watch your favorite game. With full liquor and a gorgeous bar to sit at, you really can't beat grabbing a stool and chatting with one of their friendly bartenders. In addition, there are a great number of tables and outside seating when the weather is nice.

On this particular night, they offered $3.50 pints of Boulder Beer and handed out some goodies for the crowd. Also, a local radio station, 103.3 The VYB came out and did a live remote. I managed to drag Defran away from DeLand and brought his buddy Josh with us. Rip joined later and we commenced to partying. At $3.50 for a pint of Flashback (6.8% abv) I was a happy, happy boy and we downed our share of Hazed once we decided to drop our alcohol intake a bit (4.85% abv).

As it stood, I promised myself that I would be home at the latest of 10:00pm. As it turned out, we were at Krystal at 2:30 am watching Josh eat 5 chicken sandwiches. This is not only a nod to how great the beer was, but how much we all enjoyed the environment, each others' company, and the staff. Well, that and the 3 orders of fries that Defran imbibed in..........

Definitely check out this place. I can see great things for the future of Windy City and am happy to get to know these guys. Cheers!