Philly's Own Farm & Food Fest Tomorrow!

The Farm & Food Festival is in my top 3 Philly events of the year. (The other 2 if you're curious are Brewer's Plate and Yards' Real Ale Festival). Come and check out the array of farmers and local food and beverage producers. Particularly check out the Libations Lounge where you'll find a beer specially produced by the women's section of the Philadelphia Homebrew Club! Named Salvation Saison, it uses local malt (Double Eagle) and yeast (from Saint Benjamin's Brewing Company). You can read about it and a whole bunch of tasty (and locally produced) ciders here.

Put Some Hop in that Buggy—Elk Creek Café

This Thanksgiving brought me to family in State College, PA. The game-day feast was fabulous, with contributions from all my culinarily-gifted family members. The day after, we felt like roaming further afield than the fridge (and far away from the 50" flatscreen marauders at Best Buy), so my uncle took us on a tour of the surrounding countryside. After a tour of an old flour mill turned pottery studio, we were ready for some refreshment.

Nestled in the middle of Amish country (definitely, choose a window-facing seat for prime buggy watching), Elk Creek Café + Aleworks in Millheim, PA, is a cozy village hotspot and brewpub with a creative bent. 

Little Village MFA--one tall pint of hoppiness

My first beer, Little Village MFA, was made with some local Chinook and Cascade hops. The owner, Tim Yarrington, would like to use local grain as well (with farm fields as far as the eye can see, it certainly is abundant!), but local malters are sorely lacking (I may have just googled "how to start a large-scale grain malting business"). Back to the beer, it was a zingy hop-forward "fine ale." I’m not sure where fine ale fits into the BJCP guidelines, but the adjective fits to a T. This beer produced bolts of grapefruit and zesty citrus with each sip. I could have easily downed another, but couldn't justify a repeat with a host of new brews to sample.

My second beer, and also second favorite, was Hairy John’s India Pale Ale, an IPA with a strong malt backbone, which helped ameliorate the steeper alcohol level (9%). While I tend toward the camp of aggressive hopping (see above), I appreciated the fine balance of this beer. When you're not distracted by such dominant hop flavors, you're free to focus more on the beer as a whole.

I also sampled the Elk Creek Copper ale--a classic copper with an appealing bitter edge--that would sit well with almost any food option, and especially partner well with a hearty loaf of home-baked bread. The Winkleblink Ale, a clear winner in the beer names race, was a buoyant lighter ale—good for a palate cleanser or an evening of lighter drinking.

The food well fulfilled the "eat fresh and local" maxim. We dined from the specials list, from which a cream of cremini mushroom soup restored warmth to my marrow. My fried oyster sandwich main was topped with jalapeno aioli and butter lettuce, providing a tangy counterpoint to the plump, rich oysters. I was impressed that the restaurant applied care to even secondary details. I'm probably going to dive into whatever pile of chips accompanies my sandwich, but it certainly helps if they are freshly fried and look as delicious as this.

I love when my chips have crispy brown edges and traces of skin.

Last, we got a special preview of Elk Creek anniversary ale. Though not yet fully carbonated, the rich harvesty notes were there. Pick this baby up when it arrives on tap.

Accustomed to (admittedly reasonable) Philly prices, I was bowled over anew by the beer prices here. Pints (all beers are produced on premise) were on average $4.00, with the specialty selections topping out at $4.50. Samplers are available for $8.00, so unless you have anywhere to go soon, there’s really no excuse for not sampling the entire tap list. (Taps will rotate, but find our weekend menu below.)

So even if you don’t have agriculturally-versed relatives to give you an insight-studded tour of Amish country, it is well worth the car trip. The cafe is also known for its music program, so sit, sip, and stay a while!

Judging the National Homebrew Competition (first round)—The 'Real' Beer Geek Breakfast

Morning: Beer judges are early risers. We were asked to arrive at Keystone Homebrew Supply, about a 45-minute ride from Philly, at 8:30am to be ready to judge at 9am. This was a Saturday, March 31. This harsh awakening helped underscore the seriousness of the pursuit. This was no open bar happy hour. We were judges--we could have been judging orchids or pekingese or marble statues of Sam Calagione, except our judging would require some serious drinking.

Long tables were set up in the cavernous homebrew shop, with stacks of BJCP scoresheets, pencils, little plastic cups, water bottles, and tons of saltines (the saltines would come to play a very important role).

My morning category was Belgian Strong Ales, which includes: Belgian Blonde, Tripel, Belgian Strong, Belgian Golden Strong, and last, but definitely not least, Belgian Dark Strong. These beers hit a 9% abv on average. Suffice it to say, it was a powerful start to the day. We paired off in each section: a more experienced judge partnering with a newbie (like me!) to determine scores for each beer presented to us.

I chased my coffee with a handful of saltines to refresh my palate before the first beer arrived. You want to drink lots of water too, just not so much that you irritate your judging partner with bathroom breaks at 10-minute intervals.

After every pair had come up with their top two, we formed a winner’s circle to taste how they ranked side by side. I have to congratulate the brewers in this category; most all the beers I tasted were very, very good and it was difficult to select top choices amongst them, especially since it can be hard to appreciate the delicacy of a good Blonde once you’re awash in the rich stone fruit flavors of Belgian Dark Strongs. I was happy with the winners despite none of my samples making the cut (you do start to feel protective of them!).

Lunch Break: I tried desperately to sop up the morning round with a complimentary lunch of meatball subs and Caesar salad.

Afternoon: My afternoon category was IPAs, subcategories: English IPA, American IPA, Imperial IPAs. I gotta say, IPAs are my favorite, favorite beer (my desert island companion barring my boyfriend is an endless case of Founders Centennial). Here I learned an interesting lesson about the experience of drinking your favorite beer during times of casual enjoyment vs. the experience of judging it. What extreme mouth-blistering hops I love in a pint, I grew a little weary of by the time the 10th convenience cup arrived. By the end, I was reaching for something, anything I could say about those hops to describe them in a new way. I tried very hard to find new and accurate ways to describe the full frontal assault of resin and juicy grapefruit. I hope my desperation was not too evident in my commentary, despite describing one quaff's aroma as "B.O., but in a good way."

When you fill out a BJCP judging form, you disclose your real name and e-mail (no “Hops McCoy” pseudonyms here), so there is a risk that the brewer of your anonymous beer will contact you demanding to know just why you suggested their beer had a whiff of oxidation. Around my table, few had been contacted, except for one guy whose recipient had complemented his writing style and detail, even though his beer lost out. (Someday, I want to judge that guy and/or be that judge.)

Leaving, we got to select a complimentary beer. I drew, of course, a Hop Stoopid--not only a fantastic beer, but an all-too-accurate representation of my state of mind by our 4:30 departure time. But, lest anyone worry, I'm currently in hop marathon training for my next judging opportunity at the Magic Hat Brewery BBQ and Homebrewing Contest on May 12.

Initial Fermentation

I plan to use this little blog space to post my hopes and dreams--after dousing them with brewer's yeast and storing them in a fermenter for a while, before unveiling them, more delicious and alcoholic than before.

Perhaps I'd better start with my own introduction to the world of the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program). My journey started a year ago when I could still call myself a New Yorker, with the first certification class, held at wondrous craft beer cave Jimmy’s 43 in Manhattan’s East Village. There every Tuesday, we BJCP hopefuls would eschew sunlight and fresh air to work our way through tasting every style in the beer guidelines, from Light Lager (no offense light lager, but let’s skip past this portion quickly) to a very fun Belgian class. We sampled common off-flavors ranging from dirty socks to buttered popcorn (amazingly, not in a positive way). BJCP exam spots are highly sought after, and I totally lucked into one based, not on my expertise, but attendance. I emerged from all this with a new appreciation for my (sadly diminished) college memorization skills and a bit more knowledge for judging beers. It has been and will continue to be a learning process.

Six months ago I moved from NYC (the land of 24hr everything, but sadly also the $9 pint) to Philadelphia, where it seems like you're always a stone's throw from beer being freshly made, right this moment. Not to be all "official Philly blog," but, as I expand my understanding of beer, I hope to get to know Philly better too.