Bed and Brew...Ommegang

So....If you ever want a great weekend beer event...this is it. A two night stay at a 5 star bed and breakfast. Get to hang out in a great baseball town, and enjoy a food pairing beer dinner at a world class brewery. PLUS....meet a group of homebrewers and craft beer lovers.

So....first...a stop on the way at the Albany Pump station for lunch and a growler fill.

Friday night was craftbeer/homebrew night at The Inn at Cooperstown. We enjoyed ourselves....can you tell.

The cool part was...Wes from Ommegang, stopped by on friday to hang with the group.

(Third from left)
It was snowing Saturday when we hopped on the Trolley for the ride to the brewery. (and let's just say it was a white knuckle ride! We arrived safe and sound)

Our Ommegang tour guide...Scott. Always very informative...and funny too....

At the end of the tours...we enjoyed a tasting. This was no "visit the brewery" tasting! We had some stuff that you don't normally have on the tour. My favorite? Zuur. And how about "Cave Aged" beer. Ommegang!

Our new specialty cuisine friend Lucy, put together some perfect pairings. No, really....perfect.

So....here are our hosts...Marc and Sherrie, Wes and Lucy.

Here were the beers with our dinner....a great line-up. And the loud table.....

Just a great weekend...fun, food and beer...what more could you ask for....

Oh and....mystery "gakker"....we are still gathering recon.... :)

http://www.innatcooperstown.com/

http://www.ommegang.com/

Up Next..wheat, wheat and more wheat!

So what is up next, you ask? Working on a Hefeweizen and a Weizenbock. May do a double brew. Two separate beers in one day.... Just gotta find the right day.....

International Great Beer Expo

We made a trip to the International Great Beer Expo. I visited 23 Countries! It was fun to taste beers from far away places that I'll never get to see.... Pilsners...mostly pilsners. PLUS there were a ton of great beers from the US of A. It was the inaugural event here in NJ.

Distributors were on hand to pour beers you've heard of.....
Some from europe....

Hey....a polish beer.....

two sessions....2500 people each.

We support the Beer for Brains Foundation.

The Beer Garden

Japanese beers...

Tons of folks enjoying over 100 beers.

They put a call out for volunteers....here's a few of the fylsbrewing folks.

It was fun...and we look forward to next year.....

Black IPA in the fermenter

Brewed up the Marmot Black IPA. Lots of home grown whole leaf hops. Which is good for the taste, but bad for the siphon.... Looked, smelled and tasted great going in....

Da Hops

+Lettuce....kidding...vacuum packed hops before goin' in.

Easy way to cool the preboil SG sample

Now, that's what I'm talking about.

Chilling with local ingredients..

BLACK IPA!

Leftovers....it's tough to get it all out with that "salad" in there....

Yeast starter at high krausen....

In the fermenter.

Black IPA

Time for another brew. Black IPA this time. Maybe tomorrow....!!!

Pretty simple recipe and I'll get to use homegrown hops!

Six Point Beer and Wing Fest

We visited Lambrosa Lounge in Asbury Park, NJ for Six Point Beers and Wings. No swag...but nice folks. (BTW...Lambrosa is across the street from the famous Stone Pony)

Glad we had a chance to try these beers brewed in Brooklyn, NY. We'll have to plan a trip to tour the brewery....

Ironhill - Wilmington,DE

On the way home from Rehoboth,DE we stopped at the Wilmington Iron Hill Brewery.

Cool logo.
Wonder if that would fit in my garage...?? hmmmmm.

Stainless looks great.

A nice tart Cherry Dubbel.

Dogfish Head Brewery tour and Pub Visit

This past weekend we headed to Dogfish Head. We went to the brewery on Friday for a tour and tastings. We bumped into some beer celebrities while hanging out at the tasting bar. Then Friday night and Saturday afternoon we visited the Dogfish Head pub. GREAT BEERS....guess I didn't really need to say that...but figured I would throw that in there. And...Great food too.

First beer of the visit....at the pub..( we snuck over there first). 75 Minute from a cask.

The Randall. Can't get fresher hop taste than that!
The treehouse. As seen on TV.

Cases and Cases....

This weeks crew.

Retired....but still looks great.

The tour.

Big ass wood aging tanks.

Hey, Sam...how are u?

Sam's conversion bucket.

Are there hops in that?

Sunset in Milton, DE

MMMMMmmmmm....Beer!

New hat...hey how'd that sign get there?

Ok...the pub also has a distillery. I had a hot chocolate with peanut butter vodka.... Ouch!

I estimate that I had a taste of 14 different Dogfish Head Beers (and one super hot chocolate)....I would have had more, but my liver was revolting! Great trip....