Beer Radar

I’m just getting my legs back from the all-day fest at the Armory on Saturday. It’ll take me a couple days for the post-mortem, but my first thoughts were about the beer itself. Some of the highlights:

-Chesterfield Ale. No, it’s not German, but Yuengling wanted to bring something special. I think they’ve nailed the draft recipe. Exceptionally balanced and smooth. I want to try it side by side with draft Budweiser American Ale when that shows up in town next month.

-Monk’s Fest. I think that was the name - it was one of the Franconian kegs from Shelton. Beautiful malt flavor, almost silky. Possibly the best beer of the festival.

-Yards ESA. We landed the first “official” keg from Yards’ new brewery. I heard someone say it was the best ESA he’d tasted in 3 years. The hops popped nicely and the balance was pretty close to what I remembered at its height. Tom Kehoe, the brewery’s chief, told me he’s still tweaking the dry-hopping. The true test, of course, will be when cask-conditioned kegs start pouring from the handpump at Dawson Street Pub.

-Roy Pitz Ludwig’s Revenge Rauchbier. The guys from Chambersburg are anxious to make their mark in Philly, and this was a very nice shot. Not overly smoky, which is actually a good thing - I could see myself drinking two or three of these in a sitting.

-Schwelmer Bernstein. I screwed up and forgot Bella Vista was sending this new German import to the festival. And I felt bad when I set up their rep in the very last tent. But I hope folks found their way to this beer. Smooth, a little sweet and a very fine, lasting finish.

One passing thought: Has there ever been an American beer festival (OK, outside of GABF) with this many different lagers? We had about 60 different beers pouring through the day, and I’m guessing at least 40 of them were German-style lagers. Spaten, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Augustiner, Franziskaner, Victory, Stoudt’s, Brooklyn - the powerhouses were what you’d expect. But Dock Street, Erie, Oskar Blues, Triumph and River Horse all nailed it, too.

As much as I enjoyed the day, the best part was arriving at the Belgian Cafe just in time to see Jimmy Rollins launch that double play. Go Phillies!

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 28th, 2008 at 9:56 pm and is filed under Beer etc., Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.