My Hoppy Place

Quick notes from the Flying Dog Bitch Session. They featured three beers: Raging Bitch 4, Garde Dog Bier de Garde, and Dog Schwartz.

I wanted to try Dog Schwartz first. The idea of a smoked double lager intrigued me. However, tap issue thwarted my plans. After a Brooklyn lager, the bartender brought over a snifter of the Schwartz: Lovely mocha head. Huge smokey nose. Black in color. Not heavy at all! Crisp flavor. The smoke lingered nicely.

There’s a picture on my phone. How to get it out? May require more beer.

Filed under: Beer, Drink local, Tasting notes on March 4th, 2010 | No Comments »

We are smack in the middle of Snopocalypse 2010. More than half of the pubs and bars on H St were open for business! We hit Little Miss Whiskey’s for a Stone IPA and Founder’s Dirty Bastard (fabulously brown sugar-y). Then we slopped through the accumulated inches to the H St Country Club for a round of 60 Minute IPA and minigolf. Several snowball fights were underway on the way home.

Stay safe, folks. Hope you have plenty of good beer in the fridge!

Filed under: Drink local on February 5th, 2010 | No Comments »

You want ice cream, don't you?

At Total Wine & more I found a six of Saranac Root Beer and had to listen to the 10-year-old in my head who would not stop saying “oooo! Root beer! Can we? Huh, huh, can we?” Both the 10-year-old and the 40-year-old were happy about it!

Saranac’s root beer is sweet and smooth. It has a great balance, offering hints of mint and vanilla. I poured it into a frosted mug and was rewarded with a creamy head that hung around almost to the bottom. It would make an amazing float with a good vanilla ice cream!

Damn. Now the 10-year-old wants ice cream.

Filed under: Drink local, Not beer on January 28th, 2010 | No Comments »

My first reaction to this beer is not “extraordinary.” Unless they meant “extra ordinary.” It was decent but nothing to write home about (though apparently enough to write here about!).

The amazing pumpkin & goat cheese filled ravioli served with wild mushrooms in a butter-cream-nutmeg sauce (awesome! I highly recommend the restaurant, Scion, in Dupont Circle!) did bring out some of the here-to-fore hidden hops of this ale. But overall it was not that noteworthy. Not something that I will actively seek out again. But nothing offensive about it either. It is easy to drink and I am sure some folks will enjoy its light flavors.

Filed under: Beer, Food, Tasting notes on January 26th, 2010 | No Comments »

I have been waiting for this beer! I heard about it a couple of months ago (along with Dogfish Head’s Limb & Life) and have not been so excited for a beer ever. These 2 amazing breweries got together for the first time and created 2 amazing beers.

First, Dogfish Head created Life & Limb – that was a huge beer with a very high alcohol content (can’t give more of a description because I haven’t had it YET). Then,  they took the mash from that beer and Sierra Nevada created Limb & Life, a lower alcohol beer. They only brewed very small batches that were distributed in October and November locally. I missed it all. It was the thing I listed as my biggest regret this year, beer-wise.

Then I was given a gift, the gift of another chance. We found out that a relatively new restaurant in the Dupont Circle neighborhood, Scion, was celebrating their 6 month anniversary by tapping a Life & Limb keg for those of us lucky enough to get there. I got there!

This is remarkably smooth and drinkable, especially for a huge barley-wine-like beer (10% ABV). It has strong notes of coffee. It would be amazing with chocolate – which it was. It was served to us with a tasting portion of maple-seared pork belly (like breakfast) and a nice light chocolate mousse (like dessert). The pork brought out the sweet, slightly sour notes of the beer. The mousse, served with an orange cookie, brought out the citrus and coffee notes. I preferred the latter, but both were pretty amazing. This is a great beer. I am so lucky to have been able to try it. And it’s green too – made with maple syrup from the Caligione family farm in Mass. and estate barley grown on the Grossman “farm” at the brewery in Chico, CA.

My only lingering hope is that I get the opportunity to try the Limb & Life beer too.

Filed under: Beer, Food, Tasting notes on January 25th, 2010 | No Comments »

Spent the evening at one of our favorite local hangouts – the Argonaut. This is the first restaurant to open on the long-devestated H Street NE corridor, so it has a special place in both of our hearts. They have always had a decent beer list and food that is more than edible. And you can get out without spending much more than $40 on dinner and beer. You gotta love being within walking distance of this treasure!

While there this night I treated myself to a beer that I never have in a restaurant (I usually only buy it to bring home). This is a very sweet beer to have after drinking Sierra Nevada’s Celebration Ale (yummy, still one of my favs!). It is sweet and caramelly (is that a word?) with lots of malt, and a touch of hoppy finish. I found it VERY easy to drink.

Jess had a West Coast IPA. She is always generous and allowed me to try this wonderful beer. It is SUPER hoppy! Four American hops (including my favorite, Cascade) make this beer huge in the flavor department. Not for anyone not a big fan of the hops – me, I LOVE IT!

Filed under: Beer, Tasting notes on January 24th, 2010 | No Comments »

What an interesting beer! 10 percent without the kick of a barleywine. A fabulous balance between bitter coffee and sweet caramel. Scion paired a small snifter of LnL with a couple of pieces of pork belly seared w maple syrup and a scoop of rich chocolate mousse with a lady finger. The maple brought out the sweet and sour while the rich fat smoothed out the alcohol. The sweet mousse paired fantastically with the coffee notes. A really nice beer!

Filed under: Beer, Tasting notes on January 10th, 2010 | No Comments »

The Beer Chicks at Beer for Chicks are hosting the latest Session, a chance for beer bloggers to froth about a given topic. For New Year’s the theme is New Beers Resolutions.

So we want to know what was your best and worst of beer for 2009? What beer mistakes did you make? What beer resolutions do you have for 2010? What are your beer regrets and embarrassing moments? What are you hoping to change about your beer experience in 2010?

Best and worst of 2009?

Jess: Drinking Lasko beer at the top of Marjan Hill in Split, Croatia. The beer was good (not spectacular) but the view made it my top beer experience of the year. Worst has to be the crappy beer selection at Dulles Airport. Seriously, guys, Old Dominion is right next door!

Marlene: I have to agree with Jessica about the experience of drinking Lasko on the hill in Split – what a spectacular view! Well worth the climb of what felt like hundreds of steps! As to what was the best tasting beer I had this year, I think I have to go with this season’s extra yummy Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale – it was just so balanced and even and wonderfully drinkable while still having enough body and impact to remind you where it came from. We plan to put a couple of bottles in our basement for a year or 2 and see how it ages! I think I agree with Jess’ assessment of the beer at Dulles Airport, but I would take it one step further to say that many of the local venues that serve beer seem to be completely blind to the wonderful craft brewers right near by. The new Nationals Stadium on the waterfront only serves beers from Ansheiser Busch. I could be OK with that if they at least included Red Hook in their selection, but not so. It’s as if these venues saw a horror film about a killer hop when they were young and now they are terrified that one might kill them if they get anywhere near it!

Beer mistakes?

Jess: Missing Beer Wars the Movie. I promise I’ll watch it this year.

Marlene: Not trying enough new beers or a wider variety of flavors.

Beer regrets? Embarrasing moments?

Jess: I regret not getting around to making beer in 2009. I had many opportunities but they all fell by the wayside. Thankfully, I don’t think there were any beer related embarrassing moments. Plenty of just embarrassing moments, though.

Marlene: Missing both Life and Limb AND Limb and Life, the beers made by the first-time-ever team of Dogfish Head Brewery in Rehobeth, MD and Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico, CA. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity missed because I didn’t look at the Dogfish Head web page often enough!

Resolutions for 2010:

Jess: Write more here about beer. I am resolving to write something at least once a week. I’m also resolving to brew more. Maybe even keg something. Maybe a milk stout in honor of my siblings’ pending parenthood.

Marlene: Definitely to write more here about beer – at least one a week. And to try more varieties of beer, not just my hoppy favorites.

What do you hope to change about your beer experience in 2010?

Jess: I’d like to expand my “go to” pallate. I usually reach for an IPA, but that’s just one delicious sliver of the beer rainbow!

Marlene: I would like to make my own beer more. We really haven’t done it nearly enough. Also, I would like to do more dinners where we plan the food around the beer. I think both Jessica and I have a real knack for pairing beer and food and we should try to hone that skill more. And lastly, to get the the Great American Beer Festival this year. We really want to do that!

So, what are you New Beers Resolutions? Try new flavors? Visit new breweries?

Filed under: Beer, Not beer on January 1st, 2010 | No Comments »

Very soon here at My Hoppy Place, we’ll be kicking back with a nice glass of glögg (mulled red wine) and opening our presents under the tree. Well, not under the tree because it gets crowded under there. Next to the tree. Yeah. Next to it. There may be beer related gifts under there, there may not be, who knows. Either way, there will be much rejoicing.

Here’s hoping 2010 is a happy, hoppy year for you and yours!

Cheers!

Marlene and Jess.

Filed under: Not beer on December 24th, 2009 | No Comments »

We here at My Hoppy Place believe that part of our mission is to spread the good word about good beer. To further this mission, we’ve offered a custom beer tasting in this year’s Menu for Hope 6.

What’s the Menu for Hope? It’s a fundraising event organized by Pim of Chez Pim. Food bloggers around the world offer bid items ranging from cookbooks and kitchen tools to tasting menus and cooking classes. Folks purchase “raffle” tickets for $10 a piece and select what items they want to put their tickets in for. Each ticket equals one shot at a prize. Buy three tickets, choose three items or put them all in the same bucket for a better chance. All proceeds go to support the UN World Food Programme’s Purchase for Progress. Purchase for Progress supports small farmers by purchasing food from them for WFP campaigns.

So here’s what we’re putting up: You and three friends could join us for a beer tasting matched to your, well, tastes. Maybe you’re just leaving the Bud behind and ready to experience the wild and wonderful world of craft brews. Perhaps you’re interested in getting to know regional beers. Are you a Wine Nerd venturing into Beer Geekdom and wondering just what kind of beer would pair well with salmon in a pink peppercorn sauce? You tell us we’ll pick the beers.

But don’t stop here. There are a ton of amazing items up for bid through the Menu for Hope. Last year I won an in-home cooking class with Dara Bunjeon, food blogger with the Baltimore Examiner, and she totally got me over my fear of pressure cooking! Bidding is easy and secure. Here are the instructions:

To Donate and Enter the Menu for Hope Raffle

Filed under: Beer, Food on December 14th, 2009 | No Comments »