Baltimore's Crown Jewel/Size Matters

While 1/4 of OSB's staff will be working tonight, and another 1/4 will be out on the town, the remaining half will be at Camden for the debut of Baltimore's newest superstar (Baltimore superstar = oxymoron? You be the judge.) Matt Wieters will assume his rightful place behind the plate tonight, as Chad Moeller has been designated for assignment and Gregg Zaun becomes Wieter's backup and mentor. (Only in baseball can your understudy be your mentor.)

HH wishes best of luck to Wieters, and to the Orioles, who could not be happier to have their stud catcher on board: the last time the Birds had a winning season, the Macarena was en vogue, Monica Lewinsky jokes were novel, and Apple's new gadget was a sleek, user-friendly affair called the "iMac."

Show me what you got

Ah, remember the days when your bottle of rot-gut or vino came in a "fifth?" Well it still can, and often does. But with a proliferation of foreign spirits overtaking the American liquor market--and in honor of OSB's celebration of May 31st, A.K.A. Jeroboam's Day--HH is bringing you, the reader, a refresher on bottle sizes. These sizes apply not only to wine and spirits, but to beer as well. All sizes are based on the metric scale (I'm as patriotic as the next guy, but times have changed, and the 'fifth'--a fifth of a US Gallon--is no longer the standard.) For a more in-depth assay of volumes, consult the wiki.

Demi 375ml./2 glasses
"Demi" is the French word for "half." A demi is a half-bottle.

Standard 750ml./4 glasses
The "Standard" amount for a bottle.

Magnum 1500ml./8 glasses
Twice a standard. Frequently used for Champagne.

Jeroboam 3000ml./16 glasses
Four times a standard.

Franzia 4000ml./21 glasses
Admit it: you wanted to know how many glasses you could get out of a box.

Methuselah 6000ml./32 glasses
Generally speaking, the largest bottle today's consumer will ever find.

Salmanazar 9000ml./48 glasses
All further sizes are named after biblical kings

Balthazar 12000ml./64 glasses

Melchior 18000ml./96 glasses

Melchizedek 30000ml./192 glasses
(The largest bottle ever sold commercially)

While our 'Boam of Augustijn Tripel (review coming on Monday) and its sixteen cool glasses pale in comparison to the Methuselah or the Balthazar, we're quite proud of it nonetheless. And if the ambitious reader wishes to get his/her hands on a 'Boam of their own, they can skip on down to Devino's at U and 18th and talk to Bill.

Happy Weekend. Posts resume on Monday.

-HH

Cheap beer!

Here at HH we sure do love our expensive beer... but we like to pay as little for it as possible. There is almost always a beer bargain available in this city to the savvy shopper. I recently stumbled upon The Duck-Rabbit's milk stout for $7.99 a six pack at Magruder's in Chevy-Chase. This is a steal for this great beer (review, perhaps??), which normally runs at $9.99-$10.99 a sixer. The selection at Magruder's isn't amazing, but it is pretty damn good, and occasionally you can find a great bargain...especially if you are in the market for cases. Eggenberg Hopfen Konig Pils for $22.99 a case, what??

While you are up in the north part of town, you owe it to yourself to swing by Rodman's on Wisconsin. Consistently the best deals in the city. Not sure what is on sale currently, but there is always a bargain to be found (ie: $6.99 Two Hearted...mmmmm...Two Hearted)

OG over and out, gonna try to keep y'all posted on sweet deals as best I can.

Restaurant Review: Black Squirrel

(Photo courtesy of DCist)

A weekend evening out in Adams Morgan is usually a tedious affair. Cheap liquor, an abundance of Bros, too many people who think it's okay to wear sunglasses at night, and a stifling police presence create shitstorm conditions. Best to hunker down somewhere safe, nurse a few drinks, and try not to make eye contact--or, if you've been around D.C. long enough, to find a new spot altogether.

It's become almost cliche to shit-talk AMo, but it's so easy, I figure I might as well hate along with everyone else. The Strip is a godawful place to be on a Friday or Saturday night. Unfortunately, when else are government employees/lobbyists/politicos/hill grunts/lawyers/etc going to hit the bars? D.C. is a decidedly staid city, and the people who work shitty/frustrating/stressful jobs get only two nights (or sometimes just one) a week to let loose. And where does all that stress/cash funnel into? You guessed it. It's probably a combination of the density of watering holes, proximity to downtown, and access to public transportation that makes a weekend trip to AMo so desirable to these people. In any case, they won't find me drinking with them.

But hold on; if the Strip is so bad on the weekends, what about the rest of the week? Glad you asked. There are a number of decent joints on 18th street that are worth a visit. During the week, many of these places offer deals and specials meant to entice the very same people who have seen the place on a Friday or Saturday and probably do not wish to return.

The Black Squirrel is just such a bar.

Heights Hops recommends Tuesday night for a trip to the Squirrel. Two reasons why:

1. Scotty works on Tuesday nights. Give Scotty your business. Dude knows his beer and can pour one perfectly. (Side note: a couple of the Ogden Street Brewers went to Paradiso in Georgetown about a month ago and were treated to a shameful sight: the bartender had no idea how to pour a bottle-fermented beer, and a perfectly delicious Westmalle Double was ruined with yeast sediment. Let that be a lesson to you: don't go to Paradiso on a Tuesday night, and always leave a centimeter at the bottom of a bottle-fermented beer. Ugh.)

2. App special. Like I said, the Squirrel is overrun with Bros on a typical weekend night. In order to do some REAL business, they keep people coming during the week with half-priced appetizers.

The Black Squirrel is one of those AMo bars that is easy to miss; it's tucked into your standard four-story row house, next to Amsterdam Falafel. The place used to be a Red Sox bar called Muttly's, and though the Boston paraphernalia is gone, the walls are tastefully lined with framed SI covers and other subtle homages to sport. Sleek HD televisions bookend the bar. There are a dozen tables and a couple of cozy booths, and the wood bar is long enough to seat fifteen comfortably. The lighting is restrained; bathrooms are clean. It is, in short, a perfectly tidy little place.

Oh, and that food. I don't know how chef Gene Sohn does it (probably his experience at Saveur and Marcel), but I doubt much else along 18th street (Reef and Orleans might take umbrage with this) comes close. This reviewer suggests pairing the plump, crispy calamari, accompanied by a tangy red pepper aioli, with the sweet grilled cheese-and-bacon sandwich and the hearty tomato soup. Or indulge in a crock of the mac-n-cheese with bechamel. Other favorites--full price entrees, but worth every penny: Hereford Filet with herb butter, Free-range buttermilk fried chicken, and the House bratwurst, which--coming from a Wisconsin kid--ain't half bad.

But what good would the food be without beer? The Squirrel has the standard dozen or so taps. Nothing on tap tends to stand out (you'll find all the usual suspects, random light lagers/Guinness etc, though the Squirrel does have it's own White beer. Not bad.) The real treat are the bottles: about fifty in all, divided helpfully into domestic and imported, and further classified by style. You'll find the full range of Unibroue beers (OSB favorites from Canada), along with familiar names like Ommegang, Stone, and Rogue stateside, and Chimay, Baltica, and Weihenstephan from overseas. Nothing on the list could be considered rare or eclectic, and the Squirrel tends to oversell certain styles while neglecting others (too many lagers, lacking in more compelling niche styles like Saisons, Barleywines and the like). But the collection as a whole serves as an efficient and worthy crossection of reputable domestic microbrews and foreign standards.

Finally, if you're not into beer, then you shouldn't be reading this blog. But, on the off-chance somebody like that stumbles across this review and needs another reason for visiting the Squirrel, there's always the absinthe (several different bottles) and the "Lambicane," a drink the owners advertise as being the strongest on the strip. A nice idea in theory, but I'm not sure overworked hill people need another incentive to get f***ed up in AMo on a Friday night.

Overall: A great place to kick back and enjoy a decent brew with some excellent food. Bring a friend or a date.

Final Rating: ***1/2

Generic Mid-Atlantic Brewing Rant/The Audacity of our Hops/Review: Founder's DubTrub

Yup, I know, I copped the heading from the actual shit (which I may, fingers crossed, be sampling on Thursday in honor of R.M.'s birthday festivities. If this happens, best believe the review will knock the socks off the fawning, stick-up-their-ass write-up in Mid-Atlantic Brewing back in January.)

A word about Mid-Atlantic Brewing: those guys are painfully old. Forget the fact that beer nerds tend to be a naturally occlusive bunch--even yours truly, Beer Populist and Ogden Street Die-hard, will gently turn his nose up to the n00b who wanders into the middle of a beer conversation and talks about how Magic Hat #9 blew his mind--but on the real, those dudes think it's still 1980, when Anchor Steam was cutting edge, and new beer either sank or swam based on the self-gratifying bulls**t opining of a small cabal of carbuncular brew-geeks. Well, those guys are now about thirty years older, fifty pounds heavier, and just as obstinate.

These are the guys who show up in droves to tastings at RFD or Rustico and hijack the proceedings. These are the guys who won't talk to you unless your name ends with "Oliver" or "Calagione," despite the fact that they think Sierra Torpedo is "cutting-edge." (Citra Hops = Biggest. Letdown. Ever.) These are the guys who spend half their lives in bars and don't know how to tip. These are the guys who think they've "earned" the right to tell you what to drink, even though half of them probably don't even homebrew. You want REAL beer knowledge? It's out there, buddy; and it's not in the hands of those old farts.

Come to us. H.H. will drop serious brew knowledge whenever, wherever. And we promise to never, ever, ever, condescend.

Time Lapse Hoptimology

Ogden Street Brewery Hops, aged 4 weeks

...And again, aged 6 weeks
...And again, aged 8 weeks (late-May)

Look at the little guys go!

We've had a fairly wet spring here in the District, and no doubt all that water has helped our hops skyward. The second plant from the left, in particular, has become more intrepid than the others; notice the offshoots right around deck-level. Sampson explains: when the plant can no longer grow upward as rapidly due to space constraints, it knows to splice itself, so it can grow horizontally. Smart plants, no?

So far, the only pests I've personally encountered were a couple of daring ladybugs making their rounds on a mid-level leaf. (I say 'pests' because ladybugs do eat leaves, but not hop leaves. They must have gotten lost on the way to the mulberry tree.) Some of the plants have the characteristic tripartite leaf shape (think the Canadian Maple leaf, but with more scooped edges and less pronounced tips), but one of the vines has leaves with a more classic, almost chevron-like shape to them. These rounded, arrow-tip-shaped leaves are cupped near the base, and on a recent inspection, I found the two buggers holed up there. Snug as bugs in a rug, er, leaf.

One last note: OSB's next project is a mulberry-wheat ale, with all-organic mulberries plucked right in the Brouwerij's backyard (shot out to Reese.) Possible live-blogging of the brewing process, plus specs, coming your way soon enough.

What the OS Brewers are doing right now:
MLB '09 The Show for PS3.
Sampson can't wait for the Matt Wieters Show to hit Camden Yards
Bob can't thank Yovani Gallardo enough
Tim can't believe David Ortiz has one home run all year

Review: Founder's Double Trouble

Everyone basically jumped on the Founder's bandwagon when they hit the District this year. This sort of thing seems to happen about once every six months: some hotshot microbrewery from Michigan or Colorado or Louisiana finally makes it to the East Coast and everyone blows their load (except the Mid-Atlantic Brewing people, who automatically disdain the new beer because it wasn't around during the Carter Administration.) Last year it was Green Flash/Mad River etc. This year so far, it's Blue Point/Kona/Duck-Rabbit, and Founder's is the latest in this line.

Let Heights Hops be the first to say that, unlike some of these other arrivistes, Founders is the real deal. Their porter is the creamiest, caramel-est, nuttiest, chocotastic-est delight this side of the Harpoon Leviathan series. Their Cerise is a Belgian-style dream in the vein of a sweeter Oude Beersel Kriek. And their big, progressive scotch-style brew, quite frankly, mops the floor with a more traditional submission like Skullsplitter.

Therefore, I had relatively high hopes for their Double Trouble, a Double IPA supposedly in the mold of the Great Divide Hercules or the Steelhead 2xPale.

Review:

Nose: Many West-Coast style IPAs tend to be robust, floral and citrusy, while their Midwestern and East-Coast contemporaries are more restrained. Double Trouble, which comes from Michigan, splits the difference. Mild, fragrant, and malty, with tantalizing notes of grapefruit, lime and kiwi.

Body: Deeper and richer in color than your typical Pale. I wanted to call it burnt orange, but really, it's almost beige.

Palate: The bottle advertises, shamelessly, 86 Bittering Units. They were not kidding. Bitter at the front, but in that indefinably appealing way that Hop Head Red or Hercules manages to overwhelm with hoppiness while not giving away too much of its hand. Juicy, wet hoppiness remains midway. Accompanied by ascorbic notes, lemon, spice and pine.

Finish: The mouth feels wet from the hoppiness at the end. It is not an entirely pleasant feeling, however. One wishes the slickness of the conclusion could be tempered.

Overall: I had higher hopes for this beer. Still, if you're an IPA person, it's worth a buy. At 9.4% ABV, anyway, you'll feel exponentially better about your purchase with each brew quaffed.

Final Rating: **1/2

Here's Hop-ing for the best/Review: Anderson Valley Summer Solstice (Cerveza Crema)

Ogden Street Hops, circa approx. early April

The Ogden Street Brewery is currently nurturing four lovely vines of genuine Cascade Hops. Rhizomes courtesy of Tim and his connects. In the six weeks since this pic was taken, the plants have grown over eight feet. (Pics to be provided in an upcoming post.)

If all goes well, sometime around September, we'll have a bunch of these:

We have a few things going for us (info from Sampson):

1. Hops flourish between 35 and 50 degrees latitude. This is true irrespective of the hemisphere. Some top hop spots are Chile, China, South Africa, Australia, Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium, and America. Washington, DC: 38 degrees north latitude. Prime hop territory, son.

2. Overused hop-growing regions suffer from an abundance of pests. Luckily, hop predators attack only hops. This means that growing hops in a new area guarantees at least a few initial successful growing seasons.

3. Humulus lupulus ("ground wolf," in Latin) is an apposite moniker for the hop plant; the root system of an adult plant is infamously extensive. Ogden Street Brewery has provided its quartet of sapling vines with a capacious plot in which to spread out. (ours have already snuffed out the lives of interloping weeds and clovers in the Official OSB planter's box.) Miracle Gro also available. Thanks, Home Depot at R.I. Ave. and 10th, NE!

4. Cascade hops enjoy the climate synonymous with their name: long, mild, wet springs, followed by warm summers. Can the D.C. area hook it up? We think it can. (If only the humidity weren't so f***ing oppressive.)

One of the definitive tutorials on hop-growing history can be found in the late, great, Beer Hunter's tome on Belgian beers. Michael Jackson's book has helpful graphs and maps--great for a cartographile like me--as well as pictures of hop vines and cones. (And really, who doesn't love pictures of old, British, gin-blossomed men holding handfuls of hop cones?)

What the OS Brewers are listening to right now:
Classified--"Boycott in the Industry"
Phoenix--"Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix"
Murs--"Murs 3:16"

Review of Anderson Valley's Summer Solstice (Cerveza Crema)

Who knew: Anderson Valley's brewers have a sense of humor. The ursine imprint on every AV bottle has been replaced with the apochryphal "bear-moose," which I guess fits into the same mold as the Jackalope and the Hodag. Oh, and the bear-moose wears sunglasses. But that makes sense; they're always tending to one vine or another in Anderson Valley.

Nose: Vanilla, cream (duh), cinnamon, nutmeg. An aromatic slam-dunk.

Body: Rouge--calls to mind a darker Van Honsebrouck Kasteel.

Palate: More of the same: soft vanilla notes, with some serious nutmeg in the middle. Earthy, gentle, smooth mouthfeel.

Finish: Lingering creaminess.

Overall: An excellent summer beer. Go and buy a six-pack today. (And do it at Devines @ 14th and Irving, NW, or their sister joint, Devinos, at 18th and U, NW. They deserve your business. And finally, if you see the dude who purchases beer for Pete's Pizza behind the CoHi metro--a bomb ass slice, btw, though haters and New Yorkers say you can't find a good slice in the District--give him the finger. Hi, Hater!)

Final Rating: ***1/2

About Beer Ratings

Auxiliary post re: ratings:

It occurs to me that it would be helpful to contextualize the rating system. Y'know, so you don't see "**1/2" and wonder what, exactly, that means.

(All ratings reflect the palate and nose of the reviewer only. Qualms? Feel free to comment.)

* = Don't bother.
Generic example: Any Leinenkugel's niche brand;

*1/2 = Redeeming qualities, but generally disappointing.
Example: Abita Turbo Dog; Legacy Hoptimus Prime

** = Serviceable.
Example: Anderson Valley Winter Solstice; Fat Tire

**1/2 = Worth a try.
Example: Chimay Tripel; Flag Porter

*** = Successful.
Examples: Dogfish 90; De Koninck; Smuttynose IPA

***1/2 = Noteworthy.
Example: Mad River Steelhead Double IPA; Ayinger Celebrator; Unibroue Maudite

**** = Masterful.
Example: North Coast Brother Thelonious; Brooklyn Local 2; Chimay Blue

****1/2 = Exemplary
Example: Rochefort 10; New Glarus Raspberry

***** = Westvleteren 12
Example: Westvletern 12

Cheeba's Winter Ale/LHBS Rant

Ogden Street Brewery created a Winter Ale back in December. Yes, December. Aged five months and ready for consumption, here are the quick specs:

OG: 1.06
FG: 1.018
Hops: Hallertauer 1oz, Challenger 1oz
Malt: 3.5lbs of Generic Choco Shit from LHBS

A bit about LHBS: as anyone who frequents Local Home Brewing in Arlington/Seven Corners can tell you, the guy who runs that place is a. full of himself, and b. pretty knowledgeable (so long as you don't get him talking about himself.) Standard conversation between Dude and Me:

Me: Hey man, just drank a Peak Organic IPA yesterday. Pretty dope beer, huh?
Him: Yeah I'm tight with all those guys, since from about five years ago.
Me: That's weird, cause they've only been in the D.C. market for 18 months, and I'm friends with the rep, and he doesn't know you.
Him: Oh, you must be confused, cause I'm totally friends with those guys. By the way, would you like to spend another fifty dollars on a pouch of sanitizer and some bottles?

LHBS is pretty much the only place around that will sell us brewing necessities, so we can't afford to piss the guy off (yeah, yeah, there's some mystical place in Columbia but who wants to drive 45 minutes out of the District?) Nevertheless, I guarantee this won't be the first post on the subject. Why can't a decent, modest guy/gal open up a good homebrewing store somewhere in the city? Are there barriers to entry? Let me answer my own question by saying, No, there aren't. D.C. is just waiting for the right person to do it. Will YOU answer the call?

Anyway, the Ogden Winter Ale has been renamed the Cheeba Ale in honor of the housecat. Cheeba, you sly kitty...

Profile (courtesy of Reid-O and yours truly):
Nose: Apples, crabapples, a hint of peach.
Body: Coppery, somewhat cloudy. Ochre-tinged under lights.
Taste: Blossomy at the front, slightly astringent midway. Distinctive apple notes.
Finish: Lingering oaty, creamy notes. Pear blossom. Stone fruit.

Final Review: **1/2

Welcome

Like the title says, welcome to our beery nook. Stay tuned for daily beer reviews, bar reviews, restaurant reviews, news from the beer world, tips on home-brewing, and innovative food-beer pairings. Heights Hops: your resource for living the good life in the District.