After a long hiatus, the house beer makes a triumphant return. This batch will be a little higher in alcohol as compared to the last few as the efficiency seems to be around 75%. This is a straight forward American Pale Ale. A touch of caramel ending with citrus notes from the hops. Originally derived from Abita’s Restoration Ale. For those of you counting, this is batch #36 on the brew rig.
Brew session went well. Looking forward to having this on tap again!
Ingredients:
| 20# |
2-row Maris Pale Malt |
| 2# |
Carapils |
| 24 oz |
Crystal 40L |
Hops:
| 1.5 oz |
Cascade |
7.5% AA |
60 Min |
| 1.0 oz |
Centennial |
9.2% AA |
15 Min |
| 0.5 oz |
Centennial |
9.2% AA |
0 Min |
Yeast:
| (2) US-05 Fermentis Safale – Fermentiing ~@65F |
Yield:
Stats:
| OG: 1.064 |
IBU: 27 |
SRM: 9.1 |
Ben Brouse Food & Drink, Homebrew
| Had the pleasure on Thursday evening to head into the city. Hopes were running high as we wanted to try the latest trick on the beer engine from Stephen Jones, the brewer at Pratt St Ale House. |
| From Wikipedia – “Typically, beers of this style are of a copper colour but vary from golden to almost black, and as the name suggests the origins of this style lies in the tradition that it was matured/cellared for a period of time once bottled (and most sealed with a cork), to be consumed later in the year, akin to a Saison.” |
| This beer was delightful and something that grew on me the more I had. 5.5% ABV, dark amber color, a medium mouth-feel, pronounced maltiness and a little fruity character upon warming made this worth the trip! |
| As an added twist, it just happened to be the 100th firkin Thursday @ Metropolitan with several notable members of SPBW in attendance. |
Ben Brouse Beer, Food & Drink, Prelude
Located in Columbia, MD off of Dobbin Rd lies a little restaurant that is big on taste in both beer and food.
| Self described: “We specialize in southwestern-style cuisine, so whether you’re in the mood for one of our famous burritos, our world-class grilled barbecue wings or one of our daily specials like flat iron steak, Frisco has something to satisfy your senses.” |
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| Typically, I show up motivated by the ever-revolving list of fantastic craft beers on draught (19 of them). I can tell you that if you like to try many different brews, this is a place to add to your rotation. Albeit, I believe there is a hop-head somewhere lurking due to the saturation of IPA’s. |
| The beer isn’t the only star here, it is also the Southwestern-style food. I’ve eaten here several times. I can personally vouch for the Nachos w/ Grilled Chicken, the Chicken Burrito w/ Beans, the Sante Fe Burger & the Corn-Dusted Chicken Sandwich. I’ve heard great things about the Chicken Fajita Sandwich as well (my wife). |
| The ambiance is pleasant and the décor is casual. You can make yourself feel at home here. This place has a “Cheers” vibe. Everyone talks to each other. |
| There isn’t much else to say except the food is excellent, the beer is excellent and you can afford to eat here. Don’t believe me? – look at the menu for yourself. |
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| I’ll be back frequently. Other reviews here. |
Ben Brouse Restaurant Reviews
Interesting chatter over the last few days about a new alcohol tax bill in Maryland. Over the past weeks I’ve outlined Maryland’s Wine Siege. Now this gem. Deceptively named the “The Lorraine Sheehan Health and Community Services Act of 2010”. The house bill is here. The senate version is here.
Synopsis:
Increasing the State tax rates for alcoholic beverages sold in Maryland from $1.50 to $10.03 per gallon for distilled spirits, from 40 cents to $2.96 per gallon for wine, and from 9 cents to $1.16 per gallon for beer; providing for the distribution of the additional revenue to special funds to be used only for the purpose of providing additional funding for specified health services; etc.
Brandon Miller-Millhouse summarized as following:
“A Maryland Brewery" Brews 40 Barrel batches
40 bbl = 1240 gallons presently taxed at $111.60
with bill passed that same single batch would be taxed $1,438
…So lets say a brewery right now sells a gallon of beer for $5 (just an example) this tax makes them to have to raise the price of their product to say $7.50-$8 per gallon. The Distributor has to mark it up to retain their profit margin ($10-$11)and the retailers have to mark it up retain their profit margin ($13-$15) and WE are left paying Stone Six-Pack Prices for everything…oh and I almost forgot the 6% MD sales tax.
BTW – Brandon reads this blog, so if you’d like to leave him feedback, do it here. I won’t be handing out his email address.
Conclusion
Just another example of how clearly broken Maryland’s three-tier distribution system remains. I completely understand wanting to raise the taxes to be more in-line with other states, but don’t provide that comparison to me regarding states that don’t have a bogus three-tier distribution system in place. The reality is, the distributors don’t care because they are going to add their costs on regardless of what this bill does just as Brandon has previously outlined.
Opinions and comments welcome.
Ben Brouse Beer, Food & Drink, Wine
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Went out with the family last night (always enjoyable) to the new Italian restaurant in old Ellicott City that took over the space from the recently defunct Jordan’s Steakhouse. It is now called Portalli’s and offers Italian food from both the northern and southern regions of Italy. The dining room aesthetics haven’t changed much, but that doesn’t bother me as the upstairs dining room was rather pleasing. The piano player would have been a nice touch if I could have heard him. Now on to the food. |
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| Our service started off with a bang! While ordering a bottle of wine for the table, our waitress put her hand up to me (signaling to stop talking) and walked away. Five minutes later she came back to a table of disgruntled diners. I believe we were mere seconds from walking out as everyone looked around not knowing what to do next. |
| My wife and I started with a mozzarella & tomato crostini. It was very tasty. The toast points were still crunchy while the acid from the tomatoes balanced the cheese. |
| Next course, all the food except mine showed up! We let the waitress know, and then I was able to eat my Shrimp and Spaghetti Carbonara while everyone watched. Despite that, It was the highlight of my dinner. Nicely cooked firm pasta, not too heavy pancetta cream sauce and a nice poached egg that offered delicious richness to the dish. |
| Next all of our entrées arrived. Cheese Tortellini w/ Grilled Chicken – the tortellini was very nice but the chicken was a dried mass of protein. Broiled Mahi Mahi w/ Arugula – clear winner of the night. Nicely cooked & still moist. Chicken Picatta with crispy Polenta – miserable. Again the chicken was solid without any remains of moisture in it. The polenta was nothing special so it too was abandoned. Lastly, a nightly special NY Strip w/ a rich demi-glace. My brother took one look and that was it. I love a good NY strip steak with proper marbling, but this was easily the most gnarly, covered in grissle subpar cut off meat I’ve seen in a long time (It was sent back and not one bite was eaten). |
| All night long the service was lackluster – one example was the food runners reaching over people at the table to serve. The waitress at one point while clearing some plates, picked up a used fork and set it back down on the tablecloth. (really? zoinks!). Before you say it – I’m OK with that, but it isn’t acceptable at the price point of this restaurant. When a restaurant sets itself up with smaller plates fully intending for you to purchase three or more courses, then my expectations elevate. Our server and the food runners clearly lacked from any hospitality training. This was no more evident in the handling of the fresh pepper. We were asked if we would like fresh pepper and upon saying “yes”, someone, minutes later, would arrive to grind it. Should we have started eating? |
| Coming in at a moderate price during a touch economy, I’ll be surprised if this place can stay in business without some big changes. Very sad due to my high hopes for this place. |
| I will not be heading back anytime soon. Other reviews here! |
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| Update (2/21/2010): Upon seeing my review, the owner of Portalli’s requested that I share with everyone that they bought us desert and coffee at the end of the meal due to our experiences. |
Ben Brouse Restaurant Reviews
| Next we had the fresh fish prepared in the manner that you select. Choices in the past have included: Halibut, Grouper, Salmon, Rockfish, Tuna and Chilean Sea Bass. This is typically the highlight of my meal. The fish is exceptional and nearly always properly prepared. I prefer my fish blackened with some lemon butter on the side. |
| While this place can be a little pricey, the BYOB helps to keep the price down. A true neighborhood gem that I’m thankful we have. The service isn’t always the absolute best but they are always friendly. |
| A definite repeat performer! See other reviews here. |
Ben Brouse Restaurant Reviews
Last evening, I had the pleasure of trying Troegs Nugget Nectar on firkin. A seasonal brew they describe as a Imperial Amber. Coming in @ 7.5ABV and 93 IBU’s, this beer can be a real beast.
While the beer was OK, it wasn’t the experience I had hoped. I don’t think it was cellared properly. While you may think this isn’t too big of deal, the beer was as cloudy as many of the primary fermentations I’ve run and so active that they were pouring foam into pitchers, then into my glass. The result – real ale with all the natural carbonation knocked out of solution. 
On the positive side, it was amazing how 93 IBU’s were masked in this beer. It was extremely easy drinking and enjoyable outside of my other experience.
I hope my little story tells you how important a good cellar man is to real ale. You can’t have one without the other.
Update #1 (2/19/2010 1pm): This is not an attack on the place of business that served the firkin, I really enjoy the variety of beers served, the food and the staff. In fact, I purposely didn’t even mention their name because I didn’t want Google holding onto that forever. I merely wanted to tell of my experience and elicit feedback and thought. FWIW, I will continue to enjoy great beer at this great pub. I am fascinated by real ale and will continue to seek it out.
Ben Brouse Beer, Food & Drink
| Update 02/20/2010: According to Alexander D. Mitchell IV via the Harrisburg Patriot News, the bill may not be dead yet. “Sen. Joan Carter Conway, has scheduled a hearing on Senate Bill 566, the direct wine shipping bill, on Friday, March 5” |
| Update 02/19/2010: According to this article, Adam "Borden said Conway has said she will schedule a Senate hearing for the bill after it passes in the House, which is where his organization is now concentrating its efforts. The House version of the bill, HB716, has a hearing scheduled for March 5." |
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Well folks, she did it. No surprise there. The surprise is “Carter Conway refused to bring the bill up for a hearing, effectively killing the legislation this year”. I’m not sure how this is democracy when the legislation had the support of 106/188 state legislators. If her argument was sound, she would have let the hearing occur.
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| Coverage here. Maryland’s Wine Siege Continues!. |
| I urge you to let her know how wrong she handled this legislation. Here are her contact details. |
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JOAN CARTER CONWAY
Democrat, District 43, Baltimore City
Miller Senate Office Building, 2 West Wing
11 Bladen St., Annapolis, MD 21401
(410) 841-3145, (301) 858-3145
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3145 (toll free)
e-mail: joan.carter.conway@senate.state.md.us
fax: (410) 841-3135, (301) 858-3135
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Ben Brouse Food & Drink, Wine
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