Greg Zaccardi of High Point Brewing.
Few restaurants have demonstrated a greater commitment to the promotion of good beer than have John and Nancy McDevitt, owners of the
High Street Grill in Mt. Holly. They’re doing weekly events each Tuesday night at their restaurant, complete with company representatives and plenty of freebies from 6-9 p.m.
Here is what’s on tap for the next few weeks: October 2- Sly Fox Oktoberfest, October 7 (Sunday)- Second Annual Homebrew Contest and Oktoberfest Party and Buffet from noon to 3 p.m., October 16- Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale, October 20 (Saturday)- Oktoberfest Beer Lunch beginning at noon, October 23- Marzen Oktoberfest, October 31 (Wednesday)- Halloween Party featuring Maudite, November 6- Ayinger Dark Wheat, November 13- Blue Point Winter Ale, November 17 (Saturday)- Legacy Brewing Beer Lunch beginning at noon, November 21- Heavy Seas Winter Storm, December 15- Holiday Ales Beer Lunch with the return of Mad Elf. At a date to be determined in January, there will be a beer lunch spotlighting the beers from Unibroue.
If you are a teacher, you can enjoy an “attitude adjustment at the Grill on Thursdays from 3-6 p.m. There are food specials and $2.00 off all drinks for teachers. Email highstreet1@verizon.net and the McDevitt’s will get you info that you can post in your faculty rooms.
Here’s a little more about the October 7th Homebrew Contest and Oktoberfest Party. Your $25 fee allows you to sample the submitted beers and vote for the Peoples’ Choice winner. I was present for the challenge last year and can assure you it’s a fun day.
Living in the southern part of the state, let’s admit it, there aren’t too many locations featuring good craft beer. Lately, I’ve been visiting
Triumph Brewing’s Philadelphia location, where the food and drinks have been outstanding. I can report that, as with so many breweries, Oktoberfest has been tapped. Here is what you can look forward to for the next few weeks. In Philly, you’ll see German Pilsner, Belgian Red and Pumpkin Ale. In New Hope, there are Irish Red, Kolsch and Pumpkin. Princeton will feature Pumpkin and Cherry Stout. Also of interest should be the wooden barrel tapping of a limited Brewer’s Reserve at 6 p.m. This will occur during the first week of each month with the locations being Wednesdays in Princeton, Thursdays in Philadelphia and Fridays in New Hope.
Our congrats are offered to Greg Zaccardi and all the good folks at
High Point Brewing Co. for receiving word that their Ramstein Oktoberfest was voted as one of the top 10 Oktoberfest beers in North America by Draft Magazine. Looks like the rest of the country is finding out what we already knew! This beer, a 6% ABV malt amber lager, will be available on draft in NJ, PA and NY through October. Look for an increased High Point presence in Philadelphia, as well.
Put November 10 on your calendars. High Point will bring out their Ramstein Winter Wheat Doppelbock at their Open House on that date. You’ll be able to find it in bottles and on draft in the tri-state area. We hear that Winter Wheat regularly is among the very highest rated Weizenbocks on BeerAdvocate and RateBeer. We’re not surprised. This beer is a powerful malty chocolately wheat doppelbock that presents itself at 9-9.5% ABV. For October and November, keep in mind that Open Houses occur on the second Saturday.
In New Brunswick,
Harvest Moon Brewery is showcasing Oatmeal Smoked Porter, brewed with rolled oats and peated malt, coming in at 5.5% ABV. Brewer Matt McCord is bringing out two…two…two pumpkin ales this season. The first will be their “traditional” pumpkin brewed with whole roasted pumpkins, courtesy of the pub’s chef, brown sugar and a bit of rye malt. Don’t forget the mandatory spices such as nutmeg, allspice and cinnamon, of course. Version number two is a jacked up adaptation of the first courtesy of the addition of molasses. Matt’s shooting for 9% ABV on this baby. Oktoberfest is out. The Moon’s is brewed with “plentiful additions of Munich malt along with Crystal and various other malts fermented with traditional German lager yeast for a month or so.”
One common theme I’ve heard in the preparation of this column is how much brewers enjoy this time of year because they enjoy introducing their line of fall and winter beverages. At
Long Valley Pub and Brewery, brewer Joe Saia is no exception. His Strong Golden Ale is one of his favorites and, at 7.5% ABV, I suspect you’ll enjoy it too. Joe said, “We reached 65 IBU’s on this before dry hopping with a generous amount of Cascade was added. We ran plenty of wet Simcoe’s (a hop variety) through the hop back. I’ve been growing hops in my garden for years and it was great picking them with my grandson, Steven Jacob. The hops were used within 24 hours of harvesting. The flavor and aroma is so fresh.” Look for an English Pale Ale, Oatmeal Stout and Oktoberfest on tap through the fall. Speaking of Oktoberfest, Long Valley will host their rendition on October 7.
Executive Chef Ben is flexing his culinary muscles by putting on the final touches of a new menu that includes the return of the Fare Game section. It may include such items as ostrich, duck, rattlesnake, alligator and buffalo. Chef is reviving a 150-year-old stone smoke house that sits just 20 yards from the stone barn that houses the brewpub. Apparently it is a 7’X7’ room built solely for smoking meat. Saia is considering brewing some smoked beers to complement the new foods.
Flying Fish Extra Pale Ale is being sold at all Philadelphia Eagles home games this season. Head over to the concession stands at Sections 104, 117, 123, 129, 133, 136 or 243. Flying Fish, Cricket Hill and Climax will be representing Jersey at the Kennett Brewfest on October 6.
At
The Original Basil T’s in Red Bank, Gretchen Schmidhausler has just completed her 100th brew, a batch of her award-winning Maxwell’s Stout. Also pouring are Spiced Apple Wheat and Bad Seed Pumpkin Ale. Returning are Gesundeit! German Ale and Big Vic’s Porter.
The
Tun Tavern’s new brewer, Tim Kelly, just presented his delicious German-American Alt at an event in Atlantic City in late September. Kelly will be joining me at the Atlantic City Convention Center from October 12-14 at the annual
Food and Wine Festival. I’ll be hosting a series of seminars and tastings, as will John Frantz of Lancaster Brewing. Here is the complete schedule for that weekend. October 12: Tasting the Great Beers of Belgium (3:30 p.m.), Vintage Beer Sampling (5:30 p.m.), A Tasting of Great North American Craft Beers (7:30 p.m.).
On October 13: Beer 101 (Tim Kelly at 12:30 p.m.), Subject to be determined at 2:30 p.m., Tasting the Great Beers of Belgium (5:00 p.m.).
Finally on October 14: Tasting the Great Beers of Belgium (11:30 a.m.), Vintage Beer Sampling (1:30 p.m.), A Tasting of Great North American Craft Beers (3:30 p.m.).
If you are a “foodie,” you’ll enjoy meeting Food Network stars such as Iron Chef Morimoto (maybe there’ll be some of his Rogue beers?), Guy Fieri and The Next Food Network Stars finalists Adrien Sharp and Tommy Grella.
