Dinner and a Beer. Or Two.

After a fun USPSA match, Colleen and I headed out for a relaxing dinner and a few beers at Capital Ale House. Our decision and timing proved excellent, as not only did I capture the prime parking spot right out front, but the sidewalk billboard announced that our favorite CAH meal, the Schnitzel Sandwich on a Pretzel roll, was a featured entrée.

Meal choice already made, we were left to peruse the beer menu. The Capital Ale House menu is arranged, generally, by beer style. When I'm hoping to try something new, I prefer a brewery-based listing myself, but we muddled through and found a couple of beers that were both new to us. Colleen opted for Lost Rhino Final Glide Hefeweizen, and I selected Rye of the Tiger from Great Lakes Brewing. We also selected a plate of Deviled Eggs topped with crab meat as an appetizer.

The Deviled Eggs were delicious. The crab meat topping added an additional flavor treat. I stole a few sips of Colleen's Hefeweizen and it was very tasty. I believe it is a new release from the Ashland brewery. Colleen even texted a picture of her beer to our friend Checkered Flag, who's a big fan of the style. We had recently visited Lost Rhino with him, but this particular beer wasn't available at that time.

Rye of the Tiger is a moderately hoppy IPA. The aroma is semi-sweet with both citrus and floral hop notes. The bitter and citrus hops in the flavor are moderated by the sweet, caramel malt base. I was also struck right away by the creamy mouthfeel of the beer. I found it to be a tasty IPA, that did not overwhelm with any strong one-sided flavors.

When our Schnitzel Sandwich platters arrived, the sides of frites were accompanied by spiced mayonnaises; Colleen's plate had spicy, peppery blend, while my meal came with a dill version. Colleen preferred the more moderate condiment so we swapped, although sharing was still allowed. However, my now extra spicy meal called for another beer, and one that would hold up to that red pepper flavor. For this purposed I selected the Devils Backbone 8 Point IPA. Even though both my beers were technically American IPAs, the beers could not have been any more different. 8 Point IPA is brewed in the "west coast" style, with an intense citrus hops in both the aroma and taste. This robust flavor profile was surely exaggerated by my having just enjoyed a more moderately flavored IPA.

It was an pleasant and relaxing evening spent enjoying good food, beer and conversation. But soon the recent late nights, the early start to the day, not to mention driving and shooting, would catch up to bring an early retirement to our Saturday. But what an enjoyable day it was.

J. Brian's Back Yard

We met a couple of friends for dinner Friday evening at J. Brian's Tap Room in downtown Fredericksburg. J. Brian's is one of the older, if not the oldest, good beer pubs in town. They served good craft beers before other local establishments did, and well before specialty bars like Capital Ale House come to town. I haven't visited in a while, but I recall drinking many pints of Bell's Two Hearted Pale Ale there when it was a rare treat to find anything other than BudMillerCoors in the area.

J. Brian's offers 20 beers on tap. This evening the selection featured a diverse list including Start Hill Starr Pils, Avery White Rascal, New Belgium Fat Tire, and one listed just as "Burning River IPA." I opted for the mystery IPA. I figured I'd take a chance even though I couldn't place the name. After the first sip I realized the beer wasn't an India Pale Ale, but actually a Pale Ale. It was quite tasty, enough so that I stopped thinking about the name, and just enjoyed it. The beer was good and I didn't feel like going all beer geek at dinner.

It wasn't until we got in the car to drive home that it clicked. "Burning River, now I remember, that's Great Lakes!", I said to Colleen. Great Lakes Brewing Company has been distributed in Virginia since February of this year, and I've picked up various six-packs of the brewery's beers, but this was the first time I've enjoyed any Great Lakes beer on draft.

As noted, Great Lakes Burning River is a Pale Ale, not an IPA. The beer is a bright copper color with a pleasing aroma of floral hops and caramel malt. The flavor is crisp citrus with a substantial malt base. The finish is mildly bitter and dry. It's quite an enjoyable and balanced pale ale. Despite the mistyped menu, I enjoyed the beer and ordered another to accompany my dinner.

We had a very enjoyable evening dining outdoors. J. Brian's has a new outdoor seating area, in a courtyard behind the restaurant. It makes for a very pleasant atmosphere, especially with the mild breeze that was a constant during our meal.

I resisted the temptation to whip out my phone and take a picture of my beer as I do so often, so no pics. This time.

Father's Day Finish

I didn't get to the range as I had hoped, as I chose the longer nap option in my plan. The waning hours of daylight were spent reading on the deck with Colleen and enjoying a Great Lakes Commodore Perry IPA. 

But the day wasn't over. There was yet another treat planned by my lovely wife.

Uff da! I might have to dust off the treadmill this week.

Great Lakes Beer Dinner

It's finally here! The much-anticipated entry of Great Lakes Brewery into the Virginia market officially begins on February 27. There are several "tap takeover" events taking place around Northern VA. The first official Great Lakes Beer Dinner will be held on March 1, right here in Fredericksburg at Capital Ale House.

MENU: 

Welcome Beer - Eliot Ness Amber Lager 

1st Course - Chestnut Soup topped with Sourdough Sage Croutons paired with Dortmunder Gold Lager 

2nd Course - Tapas plate of house made Bread n Butter Pickles, Polish Kielbasa, Sauerkraut Balls, Fontina Cheese and Smoked Cheddar paired with Burning River Pale Ale 

3rd Course - Jerk Seasoned Walleye stuffed with Roasted Red Peppers and Baby Spinach over Wild Rice paired with Commodore Perry IPA 

4th Course - Blackberry stuffed Pierogies finished with Coffee Infused Porter Reduction paired with Edmund Fitzgerald Porter

There will also be tasting events held around town that day, at Wegmans and Total Wine.

Tickets to the dinner are available at Capital Ale House. The dinner will be held from 7:00PM - 9:00PM and tickets cost $35. As of this writing they were not available online.

Great Lakes Coming To Virginia

This press release just in:

02.27.12: Great Lakes Brewing Company To Enter Northern Virginia
Virginia The Newest State For Distribution

January 18, 2012—CLEVELAND, OHIO—Great Lakes Brewing Company (GLBC), Ohio’s most celebrated craft brewer of award-winning lagers and ales, announces its plan to enter Northern Virginia with Hop & Wine Beverage on February 27, 2012. On the heels of rolling out Central Pennsylvania (February 1st) and Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill (February 20th), Northern Virginia is the latest distribution area in the company’s strategic growth plans. Hop & Wine Beverage currently distributes GLBC products throughout Washington DC; Virginia will become the 13th state to receive GLBC’s craft beers. 

Customers can expect to see GLBC’s year-round family of beers in package and draft, as well as the new “Taster’s Pack” (a sampler 12-pack). The new market rollout will involve multiple customer appreciation events, meet-and-greets, tastings and giveaways throughout the area. 

GLBC currently serves 13 states and Washington DC. Founded in 1988 by brothers Patrick and Daniel Conway as the first craft brewery in the state of Ohio, GLBC is nationally known for its exceptional family of beers including Dortmunder Gold Lager, Eliot Ness Amber Lager, Burning River Pale Ale, Commodore Perry India Pale Ale and Edmund Fitzgerald Porter.  

Visit greatlakesbrewing.com/washingtondc-nova and follow @GLBCinDC on Twitter for exclusive updates and event announcements.

Great Lakes is a brewery I've been hoping to see available locally for some time now. I have a friend who occasionally brings the beers back for me his from hunting trips to West Virginia. Unfortunately my "order" is frequently consumed before it gets to me. Soon I'll be able to cut out the middleman.

Celebration of the Feast of the Epiphany

Each year we hold an open house to celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany. As is her style, Colleen prepared a groaning board worthy of the day; Cookies & Cream Trifle, Lemon Cookies, Sausage and Cheese Balls, Gingerbread Bars, Olivata, Mhammara, Italian Appetizer Bites, Sesame Noodles, Hot Artichoke Dip...  All home made of course.

This was a feast day after all!

Compared to all her work, I had the easier task as the beverage side of the menu fell to me. This year I selected Avery Elle's Brown Ale, Starr Hill Pale Ale, Starr Hill Northern Lights and Great Lakes Christmas Ale. Of course, anyone brave enough to venture into the basement where the kids were playing video games was free to raid the beer fridge as well. One friend opted to choose from a selection of various Hefeweizens I had put out with his preferences in mind.

The Great Lakes Christmas Ale proved quite popular. Most folks had not heard of the beer, but everyone who tried it liked it, and many went back for seconds, and thirds. The Starr Hill Pale Ale was the next most popular beer it would appear from eye-balling the empties. The guests in general were not craft beer fans per se, but folks absolutely willing to taste new things.

The only sad note of the event was the opened but not consumed Starr Hill Northern Lights I found at the end of the evening. I'm going to go with the assumption that it was simply forgotten. The well-known, and oft-stated, rule of beer at our house is no one is forced to drink a beer they don't like. If you were willing to try something new, and you don't like it, get something else. I know that attitude is anathema to some craft beer fans who think you drink a beer no matter what, else you foist a global insult to some unnamed beer entity. But beer is meant to be enjoyed. Not worshipped.

For a few hours on Sunday our home was alive with good friends, good food, and good beer. It was a super fun way to celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany, and it kicked the new year off in style.