Category: Review

Holiday Beer Extravaganza at Moerlein Lager House

  • Event Report: Holiday Beer Extravaganza
  • Venue: Moerlein Lager House (Cincinnati, OH)
  • Date: November 16, 2019
  • Cost: $40

Holiday Beer Extravaganza has been an annual event for a few years now, and from what I understand the format and beer selection has changed over the years. I gave it a try this year.

Advertising/ Tickets – well promoted on social media and on site advertising. Promotional materials revealed much of the beer and food list, leaving well, maybe 1 little surprise. Ticketing was easily handled through Event Brite.

Check In: On the day of the event, check in was quite easy by name (I don’t think I’ve ever had an Event Brite event actually scan the barcodes, they usually go off the roster provided by Event Brite) Upon check in, you received a swag bag complete with a Christian Moerlein pint glass (not an event exclusive, I saw glasses just like it in their gift shop), a program with the beer list, and a multitude of tickets of varying colors.

The Event itself: I had arrived a bit early, so I found a seat at one of the tables that had been moved to form long communal tables, perfect for meeting new friends and talking beer. At the event start time, our host led us through the logistics of the event. In our bags we should have 4 each of red, green, white, and blue tickets.

The event offered a total of 16 beers, 8 brewed in house and 8 guest beers. Each of the in house brewed beer came with a suggested food pairing, so yes, this event falls somewhere between a beer luncheon and a beer fest. It was noted that we were not obligated to stick with the suggested food and beer pairings, and that we were free to mix and match it anyway we so pleased.

The event was held in the first floor beer garden area of the restaurant, which thankfully can be glassed in on colder days like today. Along the outer side of the room by the windows, across from the bar) were the guest beers. The package included your choice of 4 of the 8 guest beers, and each cost one green ticket. Alongside the bar were the 8 in house brewed beers, and again you had your choice of 4 of the 8 house brewed beers, which cost one red ticket. At the same time, you could order a food pairing (either the suggested one, or one of your choice), the food pairings cost 1 white ticket each. Are you sensing a theme here? So you could have your choice of any 4 of the 8 small plates. The remaining blue tickets were for door prizes which would be announced throughout the event.

Looking over the Moerlein brewed beers – it would be quick to note that 4 of the 8 were variants of their Baltic Porter (French Toast, Raspberry, Irish Cream Coffee, and Elvis (bananas, roasted peanuts, paprika), while 2 more were based on a golden coffee stout (either with or without Chai tea added), along with a special expression of their dunkel, Barbaroasa (Cherry Cordial), and of course their traditional winter warmer, Christkindl.

On the guest side of the room, a variety of holiday beers were offered, from a Christmas Ale (Belgian Strong Dark Ale) from Corsendonk, an authentic Belgian brewery, to some sweet dark beers in the form of Holiday Donut Cookie by Platform, No Bake Cookie Stout by Listermann, and Cinnamon Roll Brown Ale by Southern Tier (a last moment change from Salted Carmel Imperial Stout. Making sure there was something for everyone, there was an IPA in the form of New Belgium’s Accumulation, a witbier in Great Lakes Holy Moses, a barleywine by Streetside (Barleywine is Life), by far the strongest beer at the event at 15.5% while most hovered around the 6-7% range. A cider rounded out the beer selection.

Moving on to the small plates, a full meal could be had if you played your tickets right. The offerings ranges from a salad (field green salad with currants, pecans, goat cheese, maple-bacon vinaigrette), to appetizers (5 piece shrimp cocktail with wasabi and Szechuan spices, or 2 wings (Cherry Habenero), to sandwiches and entrees (French Toast Grilled Cheese (with ham), Coffe BBQ Meatloaf slider, or pork belly mole), to deserts (Irish Cream Coffee Cake or Banana Bacon Tart)

Rounding out the event, a duo played live music on one corner, while St. Vincent De Paul (official charity of the event) had a donation table in another corner. in the center of the main bar was a merchandise table to buy all your Moerlien related gifts as well as additional tasting tickets.

Selling the tasting tickets extras makes it easy it work out the value of the event package. Additional small plates were $5, and additional beer tastings were $3. So in your package you started with 8 beers x $3 = $24 and 4 small plates at $5 = $20 so you get a $44 value before we toss in the courtesy pint glass and a taste from the mystery cask. So easily a $50 value for only $40, and the chance to win door prizes.

Overall, I felt this was a very well run event, While the room was cramped there was seating available. Another big plus was that each beer station was stocked with tasting glasses so no need to worry about rinsing or dumping. When you were finished with a beer, a busboy would collect it (and hey, I even saw the brewer busing tables), and you collected new glass with each beer. That also meant the pint glass you took home was clean when you left, no beer residue. Actual ice water with ice was available from a table in the center of the room, so logistically, the event did everything right.

About halfway through the event they had the mystery cask tapping, tapped by Santa himself. This was announced as the base beer for the Golden Stout without the coffee, so that the hop bill really shined through. I heard and agreed with many comments made to the brewer that the plain base was better than the adjuncts. As another bonus, no tickets were needed for the mystery beer.

Door prizes throughout the event mostly consisted of either Moerlein lager house gift cards, or packages of give away items (think mugs, shirts, stickers and other brewery goodies) provided by the guest breweries. Your humble blogger even managed to win a $50 Moerlein Gift card. Thegrand prize was a hogs head club membership, complete with stein locker, and I think $100 gift card.

While I will try to stay away from beer reviews, since beer as we know is a very subjective experience. We all like different things in beer. I am not a cicerone or anything like that, I just know what I like in a beer. That said, yes I bought some extra tickets, yes the suggested food pairings were spot on. The surprise to me was the Cherry Cordial Barbarosa paired with the Cheery Habenero wings. The cherry binds it all together but the beer and the food provide both the sweet and the spicy.

Until next time, catch you later at a taproom or beer event nearest me.

Indiana Microbrewers Festival

Thanks to a couple of friends dragging me, and paying much of the way, I was able to visit the Indiana Microbrewers Festival in Indianapolis this past Saturday, July 18.

The Good

  • No limit on the number of tastings.
  • Great weather – slightly overcast with a high of 70. Who wants to drink outside in the summer heat?
  • Well over 50 brewers (mostly from Indiana) – most present themselves, a few via distributors. There were between 250-400 different brews to sample, making it impossible to sample every one on my list.
  • Almost every brew was on tap, no bottles!
  • Lots of swag to be had – mostly key chains and coasters.
  • Designated driver tickets – with free soft drinks and water.
  • Full layout of the festival including a listing of every beer was available in advance of the event.
  • The event was a benefit for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and Optimist International.
  • Firkin Tent! A tent full of cask conditioned brews – o’ my!

The Bad

  • Parking, or lack thereof. Get there early.
  • Smoking was supposed to be away from the tents, but in practice it was everywhere. Aroma is such a huge factor in taste, why anyone would want any distractions from this is beyond me.
  • Size of the crowd. The event was four hours long and during most of the event you were in line. Get a beer, run and get in the next line – then enjoy your taste.
  • Logistics. The lines and crowds overlapped, making navigating extremely difficult. You often could not figure out which line went to which brewer. Most of the crowd did not seem to care, as they could rarely tell us which brewer they were in line for. They really need to limit the crowd more, or do some serious work on the layout.
  • Food – although there was food available, the quality was dubious and it was an extra cost.
  • Non-alcoholic drinks were available for designated drivers, but cost $2 for drinkers. Do you really want to encourage drinkers not to hydrate? Water should have been freely available. You also had to hunt down the single location in the back of the event to get the drinks.
  • No early entry – they opened the gate at 3:00pm, not a minute early. Not much of a problem for us, as we were fairly close to the beginning of the line, but I felt sorry for those in the back as they must have missed the first half hour, or more, of the event.
  • Port-o-lets with very long lines. Chalk this up to a necessary evil of an outdoor event.

The Brews

You can find a mostly complete listing of what I tasted below. But I must, yes must, point out three that demand notice. First, most of you have probably had a Dogfish Head 120 (the best IPA ever) – but very few of you have had it on tap. I encourage everyone out there to hunt down an establishment and try this extraordinary pour. Second, drive to the Upland Brewery in Indiana and have one of the best stouts ever made – Chocolate Stout aged in a 23 year old Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon Barrel. And third, if you ever have heard of Three Floyd’s Dark Lord you certainly know the hype this beer generates. It can only be purchased from the brewery on a single day each year – and you have to buy a ticket to get the right to buy the beer. Now that I have tasted it I can assure you the hype is real – this is indeed the best beer you will ever have. Get on the lottery list now for next years Dark Lord Day.

Alphabetically listed (brewer – brew – rating from 1 to 10):

  • Alcatraz Brewing – 1 3/4 Belgian – 8
  • Barley Island Brewing – Single White Friar – 8
  • Broad Ripple Brewpub – Hefwiesen – 5
  • Brugge Brasserie – Bruno – 5
  • Brugge Brasserie – Tripple De Ripple – 5
  • Brugge Brasserie – Voyageur IPA – 5
  • Dogfish Head – 120 IPA – 10
  • Granite City – Brothers Benedict Bock – 4
  • Hoppin’ Frog – Boris Stout – 7
  • Lafayette Brewing – 1998 Big Boris Barleywine – 9
  • Lafayette Brewing – 2008 Big Boris Barleywine – 6
  • Mishawaka Brewing – Four Horsemen Irish Ale – 2
  • New Albanian Brewing – Scotch Cask Condition Community Dark Mild – 2
  • Schmaltz – He’Brew ReJEWvenator – 8
  • Shoreline Brewery – Beltaine Scottish Ale – 4
  • Southampton – Saison – 5
  • Three Floyds – Dark Lord – 10
  • Three Floyds – Gorch Fock Helles – 4
  • Two Brothers – Oh! Brother Belgian Triple
  • Upland – Bourbon Barrel Chocolate Stout – 10
  • Upland – Rad Red – 4
  • 21st Amendment – Hell or High Watermelon – 6

Jungle Jim’s Spring Beer Fest

Last Friday was Jungle Jim’s Fourth Annual International Beer Fest – and I had been waiting a long time for this one. First off, a tip of the hat to all those at Jungle Jim’s for organizing this and to all of the brewers for participating and answering all of our questions. Thanks also to Rib City Grill for providing the yummy barbecue.

This years event had over 800 attendees, almost double that of last years event (or so I was told). There were also double the brewers in attendance. It is great to see the love of beer, and craft beers in particular, growing in the Cincinnati area.

The unexpected stand out award this year goes to Sam Adams for their Imperial White. Although Sam Adams makes a pretty damn good line-up, rarely have any been stellar – this one is.

The best new brewer find goes to Brew Dog. If you look at what goes into this Scottish brewers selections you may find yourself shying away – don’t. Their dogma is an interesting, complex, and easily drinkable ale. Their stout was superb. And the Storm? what can I say about this Scotch barrel aged IPA – you need to try it for yourself.

Unibroue again surprised me – how does such a large brewer make such great beers? I am adding the Don De Dieu and La Fin Du Monde to my stock keeping the always wonderful Trois Pistoles company.

My personally favorite of the night goes to Verhaeghe for their Duchesse De Bourgogne – a simply perfect Belgian sour.

And the beer you need to run out and get now? Shiner Bock’s 100 Commemorator – this delicious limited run beer won’t be around long.

My sampling is below – in no particular order (rating in parenthesis from 1-10). Please keep in mind that this was not a tasting, but a festival – ratings are rough. I plan to re-visit those brews that rated high and give them a more controlled tasting. You will notice that most of these were obscure – all were beers I had never had before.

  • Bear Republic – Big Bear Stout (6)
  • Bear Republic – Hop Rod Rye (6)
  • Bear Republic – Red Rocket Ale (3)
  • Brew Dog Brewery – Dogma (6)
  • Brew Dog Brewery – Riptide Stout (7)
  • Brew Dog Brewery – Storm (7)
  • Coopers Brewing Co. – Stout (3)
  • Coopers Brewing Co. – Vintage (6)
  • Van Den Bossche – Buffalo Belgian Stout (7)
  • Brouwerij Lindemans – Framboise (3)
  • Brasserie d’rval – Orval (4)
  • Sam Adams – Imperial White (9)
  • Thirsty Dog – Old Leghumper (8)
  • Thirsty Dog – Siberian Night (6)
  • Unibroue – Don De Dieu (8)
  • Unibroue – La Fin Du Monde (8)
  • Wooden Shoe – Bock (4)
  • Warbird – Shanty Irish (7)
  • Anchor – Small Beer (6)
  • Hook and Ladder – Pipe and Drum Irish Ale (7)
  • Hook and Ladder – Backdraft (7)
  • Shiner Bock – Commemorator 100 (8)
  • Verhaeghe – Duchesse De Bourgogne (9)

Overall this event was fantastic and I look forward to June 18 2010 for the fifth annual event. But not all was perfect. Due to the large number of attendees their were no tables to sit at – I hate to eat standing up. The large number of attendees also made it extremely difficult to move about at times and made the overall noise level very high (you could not hear Ed announcing the prize winners). As you can see above I got to try plenty of brews, but the three hour time limit made me feel very rushed. Another hour or two would have made it a much more relaxed event and would have allowed me more time between drinks to eat, snack, and sober up. At the end of the night I also felt rushed/pushed out the door promptly at ten – last year we were allowed to stick around and relax. But I have no doubt the team at Jungle Jim’s is already working on ways to fix these issues.

A friend of mine was the unofficial photographer for the event – check out his photos here and his homebrew blog here.

That’s all for this year. Again a big thanks to the Jungle Jim’s team – bravo! And if you were there, let me know what you think and what brews I should have had that I missed.

Party Source Burgers and Beers (Schlafly)

Last Thursday I and a friend decided to go down to Party Source in Belvue after work to check out a weekly event Party Source has been putting on. Thursday nights are Burgers and Brews. They cook up hamburgers with a special sauce and pare them with a brewer. I had heard from many that Party Source puts on some awesome cooking class, Schlafly was the brewer (friends rave about them) and they do have one of the best selections of beer in the area – so for $15 it was off to have some fun.

  • Brown Ale Cask (special delivery for the event)
  • Kolsch – 4.8%
  • Biere de Garde – 7.0%
  • American Pale Ale (APA) – 5.9%
  • Export IPA – 8%

The Brown Ale was very interesting, but needed to age another six months. The Kolsch and APA were both good, but nothing special. To be honest, the more of these varieties I try, the more none of them stand out. The Export IPA was also good, but nothing to write home about. The Biere de Garde was very good indeed, but not the best of it’s class.

Now, please don’t take my words as too harsh towards Schlafly – five brews from a very deep line-up is not a good sampling. Not to mention three of the five were entry level beers. I did buy a sampler pack before leaving to give Schlafly’s line-up a deeper interrogation.

Before you begin thinking that a five beers and a burger for $15 is a great deal – the brews were served in plastic solo cups (2-3 oz.) – not in a glass (a big beer no-no).

The burger? We were served one mediumish burger (served with chips) that was slightly overcooked and on the cool side. Not bad, not good. The BBQ sauce they concocted was very interesting. It took an hour from the time the first burger was served (to the group of thirty or so) till we received ours (we were in the back).

How about the location – outside on their patio in great weather! But alas their patio is right next to a major road. The fair aroma of beer was replaced with car, truck and bus exhaust.

Not all was bust, a great two-piece acoustic band played background music at a perfect volume (I hate it when the music is overly loud making talk with your table mates impossible) – at least when not overpowered by the trucks and buses. The Party Source hosts were friendly and the experts from Schlafly were friendly, knowledgeable and talkative. Party Source also provided a 5% discount on anything we purchased that night.

Please don’t completely write off Party Source because of this review, as I said I have heard great things about their cooking classes and the beer selection is great – including many brews you can’t get in Ohio.

Stone Rare and Vintage Beer Tasting

Last Friday I had the pleasure of joining my fellow beer lovers for an extraordinary event at Jungle Jim’s. Stone Brewery from San Diego, California was nice enough to literally bring from their cellar the last cases of some vintage brews they had been allowing to age. On the table were twelve great beers to sample.

  • Russian Imperial Stout 2006 – 10.8%
  • Russian Imperial Stout 2007 – 10.8%
  • Russian Imperial Stout 2008 – 10.5%
  • 12th Anniversary – 9.8%
  • 11th Anniversary – 8.7%
  • Sublimely Self Righteous – 8.7%
  • Cali Belgique – 6.9%
  • Double Bastard Ale 2006 – 10.0%
  • Double Bastard Ale 2007 – 10.0%
  • Old Guardian 2007 (barley wine) – 11.26%
  • Old Guardian 2008 (barley wine) – 11.26%
  • Old Guardian 2009 (barley wine) – 11.3%

I could keep this really short by just saying every single one was fantastic, but I assume you want a few more details. First, you will notice that they are all high in alcohol – although we each only had a sample (as opposed to a complete pint) the tasting group were all a little tipsy by the end of the night.

Not all beers will age well, but this tasting proves that Stone beers do. Beers that would normally be hoppy mellow (in a good way) through the years with a wonderful melding of flavors. The first beer we tasted was a the 2006 Russian Imperial Stout turned out to be one of the best beers I have ever had – mellow, sweet, rich and awesome. Go buy a bottle of this years and stuff it in your basement for a few years – you will not be disappointed. The 2007 was a little more hoppy (but still excellent), with the 2009 noticably hoppier – the extra year made all the difference.

The anniversary offerings, as well as the self Rightious were some of my least favorite, as they were all very hoppy – with the 12th having a bitter coffee taste. Keep in mind these are the least favorite from an excellent collection – these just had too much competition.

The Cali Belgique was the most interesting – a Belgian IPA would be the easiest way to describe it. Although I am not so much for the hops, the combination of Belgian yeast within an IPA was genius. My kind of IPA.

We finished with a double of the Double Bastard and then a trio of Old Guardian barley wines. The Double Bastard is a darn good ale to start with, but let it age a few years and you have a perfect blending yielding one of the best ale’s anywhere. But… they were topped by the barley wine. I have never been a big fan of Old Guardian (although barley wines are a personal favorite) – as it was always far to bitter for a barley. But the 2007 really surprised me. What a difference a few years aging can make, taking the Old Guardian from a decent brew to a nearly perfect barley wine. If you like barley wine, go out and grab some of this years and let it age three to five years.

Thanks to Jungle Jims for arranging and hosting, and to Stone for bringing out some rare beers.

PS, see you all next month at Jungle Jim’s Spring Beerfest – over 50 brewers have already committed – get your tickets now.