Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
The EBeer ENews EMail Question of the Week
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Question of the Week...
While researching RateBeer.Com for the trip, I took a minute and imagined what a traveler might find if they were coming here. There was precious little in there about us. That is not their fault, it is just that no one has written about us. So I did. Cregeen’s wasn’t in there, so I put them in and rated them. Boscos was there, but had the wrong picture (the Memphis store). Springhill wasn’t in either, so I put them in. Neither of the ones I put in are showing up yet, I guess they have to be verified. All that said, I encourage all of you to put us on the map. Take a minute and tell our wayward travelers what to expect. To go directly to that section, click here. If you have a favorite beer store or watering hole, put them in. Click here to do so, but make sure they don’t already exist.
Who they have:
Boscos River Market , Little Rock
Brewpub
500 President Clinton Avenue
(501) 907-1881
64.6%
12
Colonial Wine and Spirits
Beer Store
11200 W. Markham Street
(501) 223-3120
N/A
0
Diamond Bear Brewing Company
Brewery
323C Cross St.
(501) 708-2739
80%
4
Flying Saucer Draught Emporium (Little Rock)
Restaurant
http://www.ratebeer.com/Maps/PrintPlace-2685.htm
(501) 372-PINT
67.2%
12
Raffertys Liquors
Beer Store
13328 Interstate 30
(501) 455-9903
72%
1
Vinos Brewpub
Brewpub
923 West 7th
(501) 375-8466
65.8%
10
Sunday, January 18, 2009
The EBeerSnob Question of the Week
Does it matter what kind of glass a beer is served in?Related to the following article in this week's Official Size & Weight EBeer ENews EMail
to receive, email John@EBeerSnob.Com
Prescription Glasses
As I’ve promised over the past few weeks, I’ll be doing a series of articles in the next few issues about the different vessels that beer is enjoyed in. Does it really matter? We’ll try to decide as we go along. Here’s the first in the series…
The Flute
This glass is a long, tall, slender glass with a narrow opening at the top. It has a two-fold purpose. Structurally it is designed to retain carbonation and freshness by reducing the surface area exposed to air. Secondly its tall narrow design shows off the beauty of the beverage by displaying it vertically where the carbonation can travel the maximum distance giving a nice long upward visual. A lesser-known benefit is that the server can carry more of them on a standard sized tray. Perhaps the nicest part for beer drinkers is that the long verticality of the Flute really shows off the pattern left behind as the beer is consumed.
The Flute is best for beers and sparkling wines wherein the center characteristic you want to showcase is the carbonation, particularly if that carbonation releases a desirable smell. This glass is designed to preserve and display the strong points in these types of beverages. The biggest difference in a Flute designed for sparkling wine and one designed for beer is that the wine version is more likely to have a stem. The stem allows the drinker to hold the glass without the transformation of temperature. One’s fingers stay warm and the beverage stays cold. The non-stemmed version is built for volume, so the vessel’s capacity is utilized all the way to the bottom. Beer drinkers aren’t afraid to wear gloves if it means there will be more beer to enjoy. Also, fine beers often do not rely on the temperature to retain (or often to disguise) their flavor. Therefore the transformation of temperature is not such a bad thing. They are otherwise quite interchangeable. I regularly drink beer in wine glasses.
Nucleation is a term used to describe the formation of the carbonated bubbles. Nucleation, once understood, can be manipulated through changes in the design of the glass, particularly the lower surface. The smoother the glass the slower the bubbles release, and therefore the longer the bubbly lasts. The more microscopic imperfections on the glass surface, the more quickly the nucleation occurs. Some glasses are intentionally and minutely etched to create an intentional bubble flow. This etching at the bottom assures that the nucleation will start there and flow the full length of the glass, giving it its most appealing visual effect.
The most common beer for this glass is the Lambic styles, including Kriek and Gueuze, the latter of which is nicknamed Brussels Champagne. This style of beer derives from the use of stale hops and the most primitive of yeasts, uncultured and wild, which naturally occur in the air, particularly in Belgium. Where in the United States beer production is highly controlled and sanitary, in Belgium the brewers often just take the top off of the unfermented wort and fling open the windows and let nature take its course. In the Gueuze style, older beer is mixed with younger beer and fermented again. In all of these styles the beer ends up wildly carbonated, particularly when added sugars come into play, which is common in these recipes.
This design of glass also works nicely for most all of the thirst quenching styles of beers. Fine Pilsners do particularly well in this glass as it keeps the beer nice and frothy and shows off the pretty golden color. In any event it is a pretty glass and gives a stylish look to most any place setting. It gives a smart, modern look (non-stemmed) or classical look (stemmed) to the presentation and I doubt that it would hurt the flavor of any beer.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
The EBeerSnob Question of the Week Jan 11, 09
Related article in this week's
Official Size & Weight EBeer ENews EMail - Edition 87
for more info email John@EBeerSnob.Com
The Beers About Town – Holiday Edition (or Do You Have a Pet?)
I love it when folks take the time to write articles in the newsletter. This week it is particularly enjoyable because there is a second slant on a review I did last week. Mr. and Mrs. Beer often write us to share their beerly travels. This week they stay right here in the River City with a review of the remnants of the holiday season and a general overview of beerly opportunities in our fine community. A bonus is that this will be the article that promotes our second EBeerSnob Question of the Week.
From Mr. and Mrs. Beer:
With some extra days off for Christmas and New Years, Mr. & Mrs. Beer decided to make the sacrifice for the EBeerSnob readers and check out what’s happening in the local beer scene. Here’s what we found:
Old Chicago Pizza in Conway – We really want to like this place, but the people working there aren’t making it easy. The beer selection is large, but they don’t seem to know what to do with it. We’ve encountered several puzzling facts during our three visits. First, all draft beers are served in a frosty mug. While that might be appropriate if you’re drinking a Dos Equis on a hot summer day, but good beers shouldn’t be served so cold that your taste buds are numbed. Second, order a bottled beer and you’ll probably receive it without any accompanying glassware. Once again, that might be appropriate for a mass-produced American lager, but some beers deserve a little space to breath before being consumed. Third (and maybe the most irritating), the staff doesn’t know much about the beers. Sit and the bar and the bartender might know a little, like where the beer is from, but if you’re sitting at a table and ask a question, be prepared for that “deer in the headlights” look. When you order a beer you tell the waitress what number it is on the menu, she writes the number on the pad, and she brings you that beer. That seems to be the extent of her knowledge. The lack of training would be understandable at many restaurants, but Old Chicago bills itself as a beer destination! Anyone working there should be able to answer this type of question – “I like Beer XYZ, what else would you recommend?” (To see how that question should be answered, try asking it at the Flying Saucer sometime.) In summary, if we happen to be in Conway for another reason we might stop by Old Chicago, but we won’t be making a special drive again.
Big Whiskey’s in the River Market – Big Whiskey’s recently opened in the space that formerly housed Velo Rouge, Nu, and Café St. Moritz to name a few. We stopped by for lunch on a non-work day, which meant we could have a beer with our food. First, the food - the appetizer and sandwiches we had were good, our favorite thing was the fried green beans on the veggie platter. Now the beer – there are 10 tap: Bud Light, Miller Lite, Shock Top, Dos Equis, Blue Moon White, Guinness, Newcastle, Stella Artois, Fat Tire, and New Belgium Two Below (probably a rotating tap for the New Belgium seasonals). Not a huge selection, but decent enough. Their biggest demerit on our report was that the beers were served in very icy pint glasses. When an iceberg broke free in Mrs. Beer’s glass of Two Below, her comment was “If I wanted a watered-down beer, I would have ordered a Bud Light.” However , when we asked Justin the bartender to serve our second round in non-frosty glasses, he was happy to comply. Since Big Whiskey’s doesn’t claim to be a beer destination, we went in with fairly low expectations and were pleasantly surprised. In summary, we’ll definitely be back.
A few quick notes:
In case you didn’t know already, Boscos Little Rock has four beers that are always on tap (Flaming Stone, Bombay IPA, Downtown Brown, and Isle of Skye Scottish) and four rotating taps. The rotating taps are a particularly strong lineup these days – Harvest Wheat, River Rail Red, Little Rock Alt, and the Olde Ale. Even if you’re not usually a wheat beer drinker, do yourself a favor and try the Harvest Wheat. The Olde Ale and the Alt are both good choices on a cold, blustery day. And Mr. & Mrs. Beer have always been partial to the Red – we won the naming contest for that beer many years ago. If you haven’t tried them all, stop by the bar for a sample. Better yet, buy a sampler tray, pick your favorite, and have a pint.
Vino’s now has the Holidaze on tap. A blend of 10 spices and honey, what’s not to like? There’s also a Razor Bock, which is a fine accompaniment to a slice of Vino’s pizza.
Flying Saucer has some new beers that are worth a trip downtown – we especially liked the Avery Collaboration. There’s an interesting story behind this beer, you can read about it on Avery’s website here:
http://www.averybrewing.com/BigBeers/seasonal/CollaborationnotLitigationAle
Cregeen’s continues to impress us with both their food and their beer selection. We stopped in on a cold rainy Sunday night and Mrs. Beer thought a pint of North Coast Old Rasputin and a bowl of O’Hara’s Onion Soup was heaven on earth. If you haven’t been to any of the beer tasting dinners, you really should try one. Go to the website (www.cregeens.com) and join the e-mail list to keep up with their special events. And did you know they serve a Sunday brunch? We’ve been slowly working our way through the brunch menu and have loved everything we’ve tried so far.
By all means go to the link about Collaboration Ale. It is a classic example of how creative craft brewing is becoming. Those who appreciate really great, artisan beers, are living in a time when such beers are SO headed in the right direction. We are reinforced in our belief by the fine reporting of Mr. and Mrs. Beer.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
EBeerSnob Question of the Week Jan4,09
Here's the first of our weekly questions for folks to blog and discuss...
Scenario: The bar is packed, and the waitress is trying as hard as she can, but the service is bad because she has too many customers to keep up with. They need more staff, but that is the manager's job... right? How much if any do you penalize the waitress at tip time?
They were busy when we arrived, but not completely sold out. We picked a table that had not been cleared, electing for the location in front of the television. Fairly quickly the initial debris was cleared, but it was several minutes before our server arrived to complete the job. She was obviously harried. She wiped the table with a wet towel, and then set our rolled up silverware on the still wet table. She took our drink orders and was long gone. We wiped the table dry with the cocktail napkins.
After several more minutes we borrowed a menu from an adjoining table and were quite impressed at what we saw. It was creative and different. There were several things to try from appetizers to main dishes. After several more minutes the table next to us gave us the other extra menu, so hey, M and I now had our own menus, thanks to the fine service from the couple seated there. The problem was the service from our server, never spoke with her again. After thirty minutes we still did not have a beer and had not ordered any food.
Even more irritating was that there was a photographer hired to photograph the place roaming about. Every time a waiter would literally come flying out of the back, he’d stop them and photograph the food. We’d had enough, we walked out.
If they don’t solve some very basic problems, the pictures of the food, and the wonderful descriptions of the same in the menu won’t make any difference. This restaurant will soon become another of a long list of failures of this location. The place already suffers from terrible parking; they can’t afford to vex any customers.
We quickly scurried down to the reliable Flying Saucer and within fifteen minutes had both food and beer. Katherine was our waitress and though we were quite high maintenance, handled us with grace, a great spirit and efficiency. She did not recognize me or know of the newsletter as best I could tell, so this apparently is just her normal great everyday self. The Flying Saucer trains their staff well, and supports them.