Sometimes the road beckons, beer be damned

Cape Breton Highlands

“You should have been here yesterday.”

Oooh, that can hurt.

“Too bad you can’t be here tomorrow.”

That might inflict even more pain, because sometimes it seems like there should be a way to hang around an extra day (or two more weeks if necessary).

In New Glarus, Wis., it was Dan Carey talking about a Czech-style lager they would brew the next day as part of the Unplugged Series. Triple decoction with 100% undermodified Moravian malt, Czech hops, fermented in oak, krausened at bottling . . . after more than two months of lagering.

And then showing off the new open fermenters dedicated to the production of Dancing Man Wheat (can’t youenvision the billowing wheat head?). “We’ll be brewing it tomorrow,” he said, standing in the yeast propagation room, which smelled a bit of banana. “Too bad you can’t be here tomorrow,” he said. There are those words again.

In Portland, Maine, brewmaster Jason Perkins opened a door to display the wood foder recently acquired from Bonny Doon in California. It would be put to work — you guessed it — tomorrow, filled without about 2,800 gallons of Allagash Tripel nearing the end of regular fermentation. That was to be inoculated with a grundy full of funk the brewers have been collecting. It might be two years before anybody tastes what comes of this.

Right after I mentioned some of this in a post, Sean Paxton scribbled on my Facebook wall: “How long are you on Maine? I am doing a beer dinner @ the Ebenezer’s Pub the last week of August.”

Aug. 28, as a matter of fact, the beer dinner everybody is linking to. Don’t just look at the beers being served, but the ones that Sean is cooking with. Aug. 28 will be the 100th day of our adventure.

Gotta be there, right? Not when we fly to Germany three days later. But then that excuse doesn’t earn much sympathy from you, does it?

7 thoughts on “Sometimes the road beckons, beer be damned”

  1. Why do you do this to me? I know its my fault that I moved away from Wisconsin but do you have to keep bring up New Glarus! I just wish I could find a replacement here in Seattle WA.

  2. “But then that excuse doesn’t earn much sympathy from you, does it?

    Honestly? Not in the least. But then, you can’t get New Glarus in Germany or New Mexico, can yeh? 😉

    Maybe we ought to talk…

    Dave, there isn’t a corner of Seattle without good beer, you oughta be able to find one decent runner-up!

  3. Don’t get me wrong the beer here in Seattle rocks! I just miss having the surefire not sure what I am in the mood for (old stand by) so if I grab a six pack of this I know it will be good beer. But I guess that will come with time. Right? I will just have to pack my suitcase full when I am back in Wisconsin next week.

  4. “But I guess that will come with time. Right?”

    I’d think so, I take it you haven’t been in Seattle too long? Happy hunting! It’s a dirty, thankless job, but…

  5. Hey Stan – I got Sean’s email as well but our time in Portland this month was from the 15th to the 23rd. Did you check out Novare Res, the new Belgian beer bar? And I can confirm that there is a sense of comfort one gets from having an new unopened 2-4 of Allagash White (as well as a bunch of their bombers) in the stash.

  6. Alan – I warn you. the Allagash White disappears fast.

    I love the deck at Novare Res, but I’d like to see more regional beers on tap and didn’t the prices seem a little high?

    (Hold it, did Stan comment to Alan that prices might be a little high?)

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