beer: wagner valley sled dog doppelbock


Today’s guest post is by my good friend and homebrewer, Erin Mulrooney.

While wine touring last fall in the Finger Lakes of upstate New York, one of the stops brought me to Wagner Vineyards, which also has its own brewing company. I first tried Sled Dog in their tasting room, and enjoyed it so much that I bought a few six packs to bring home with me.

Sled Dog pours a medium caramel color, and is extremely effervescent with fairly large bubbles and a small head that dissipates quickly. The aroma from this beer contains rich notes of caramel, and almost no bitterness.

Doppelbocks are known for being extremely malty and having a fairly high ABV, and Sled Dog does not disappoint. Weighing in at 8.5%, I was surprised at how smoothly this beer drinks, with very little alcohol taste. When I initially tried this beer, I was with my grandfather (who is not a big beer drinker), and even he commented on the smoothness. In addition to the ever-present caramel, you also get a pretty big dose of molasses in the flavor. With more sips, I started to notice the sticky quality that such a malty beer like this has – it actually stayed on my palate after finishing the beer. Despite the initial effervescence, it is almost nonexistent throughout the drinking of this beer.

Sled Dog is an enjoyable beer, especially if Doppelbock is a new style for you. It isn’t the kind of beer that you’d want to have a few of in one evening, mostly due to the stickiness, but it does make for a good pint on a cold night. If you ever find yourself in the Finger Lakes, I’d recommend a stop at Wagner to sample the other beers they produce in addition to Sled Dog.

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beer: charleville hoptimistic ipa


Today I finally open my blog up for a guest post. Friend and fellow blogger Ryan Hudak of In Search of Beer offered to write a beer post for me.

Being that Brian’s blog here has “beer” in the title but not really in the posts anymore, I thought I would help out and donate a little beeriness (more of which can be found on my blog, In Search of Beer). I received this particular beer, from Charleville Vineyard and Microbrewery in Missouri, in a beer exchange with a fellow blogger. I wanted something I wouldn’t be able to get at home, and this certainly fit the bill.

The beer poured dark orange with a thick, foamy yellowish head. It had a very soothing, floral, and piney hop smell that didn’t hint at much bitterness.

But, the bitterness was certainly there, and almost overpoweringly so. The first few sips were surprising, as the smell didn’t hint at this much bitterness. Underneath, though was a strong citrus flavor, but also a slight soapy flavor.

The beer would have benefitted from more balance. There was a subtle maltiness that could have been stronger to help with the bitterness of the hops. More balance would’ve elevated this IPA from good to great. If I ever go to St. Louis, I would order this again if there was nothing else, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to find it.

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dogfish head brewings & eats


This past weekend I went down with a friend to run in Dogfish Head‘s annual Dogfish Dash 5K which is held at their brewery in Milton, Delaware.


Since we’ve never been down to Dogfish Head, we wanted to make a weekend out of it and hang out at their brewery and brewpub, Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats, in Rehoboth Beach all day/night. The race was on Sunday and we arrived early afternoon on Saturday. We didn’t realize we needed to make reservations for brewery tours, so we canceled that plan and just went to the brewpub.

120 min ipa & repoterroir


The wait was about a half hour, so we grabbed our first round at the bar, some 120 Minute IPA and Repoterroir. Repoterroir is a collaboration session lager between Dogfish Head, Allagash, Avery, Lost Abbey, and Sierra Nevada. It was a super earthy beer and very enjoyable. Unfortunately, it was kicked by lunchtime on Sunday. Glad I got to try some Saturday though!


The appetizer we got was the Woodgrilled Wings which were covered with a Palo Santo Marron BBQ sauce!

lawnmower & chicory stout


Next round of beer was a Lawnmower and Chicory Stout. The Lawnmower was very reminiscent of Festina Peche, minus the peachiness.

fish tacos


The main dishes we ordered were the Fish Tacos and The Indulgence Burger. The tacos consisted of buttermilk fried dogfish, apple slaw, chipotle aioli, and cilantro. They were served with rice and beans. Really enjoyed the dogfish. It was pretty meaty since a dogfish is actually a type of shark. Anyone know where I can get some? I’d like to try cooking with it!

the indulgence burger


x-section


The Indulgence Burger comes topped with a beer battered onion ring, house made bacon, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, and onion. Unfortunately I didn’t really enjoy the burger. It was ordered medium rare but was a bit on the dry side. The fries were not a strong point either.

peanut butter vodka


During lunch a friend who’s visited Dogfish Head in the past texted me saying that I shouldn’t miss the peanut butter vodka if it’s available. So our next round? A shot of peanut butter vodka. This stuff was ridiculous (in the best way). The vodka had a cloudy color and smelled like fresh peanut butter. Upon smelling it, we decided we were going to sip and enjoy this instead of shooting it. You bet I savored every drop. I also left the brewpub with a full bottle purchase of this stuff. It’s that good.

The next half round was a shot of wasabi vodka split between us two. I wasn’t too keen on getting it but friend wanted to try so why not. This I did shoot, and it wasn’t that pleasant in my opinion.


The following round consisted of a flight of beers: Black & Red, Shelter Pale Ale, Tweason’ale, 75 Minute IPA (cask), and Chateau Jiahu.

crab & corn chowder


That concluded Saturday lunch and we picked up race packets before leaving. A much needed nap at the hotel happened before we attempted to come back to the brewpub for dinner. At that point though, the wait was three hours. Dinner at the brewpub did not happen Saturday night.

antelope sliders


Sunday morning after the Dogfish Dash at the brewery in Milton, we headed back for one last meal at the brewpub before heading home. The only round was their 75 Minute IPA on cask and Chicory Stout. The foods were the Crab & Corn Chowder, Antelope Sliders, and Fried Pickles. The standout dish here were the Antelope Sliders. They were slightly gamey but tasted great. The meat was cooked much better than the burger. It also came with grilled onions and a truffle aioli. That burger would have been incredible had they used antelope or cooked it the same way.

fried pickles


This weekend was such a great time. I’m totally coming back down and definitely signing up for the dash next year. I forgot to mention that I had a nice complimentary My Antonia post-race on Sunday!

Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats
320 Rehoboth Ave
Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971
302.226.2739

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fat head’s saloon

Last weekend was spent in Pittsburgh and on recommendation of several friends, I checked out Fat Head’s for lunch on Saturday.  My friends know me well, since they recommended a place with an awesome beer list and lots of food.

head hunter

The wait was almost an hour so to kill time I hung around and drank one of their house brews.  I started with the Head Hunter.  The Head Hunter is a 7% abv IPA which was quite tasty.  Once we were seated, I ordered another one of their house beers, this time the Happy Holidays.  I really enjoyed this one.  It was a delicious spiced Christmas ale.  At the time, they only had three house brews available, the Head Hunter, Happy Holidays, and Kulmbacher.

the southside slopes

I stared at the menu for a while trying to figure out what I wanted to eat.  I sure was hungry but damn were there so much to choose from.  Their menu has several burgers, melts, salads, and headwiches to choose from.  Yup, they’re named headwiches since they’re pretty massive sandwiches.  I decided on The Southside Slopes which was a sandwich consisting of kielbasa, fried pierogies, American cheese, grilled onions, and horseradish.  The sandwich came out with a very generous helping of homemade chips.  I found the Southside Slopes to be just alright.  Maybe I overhyped it in my head?  It wasn’t terrible though.  I’m convinced that if I return to Fat Head’s and have several drinks everything on the menu would be a great decision.  I do want to try some of their other headwiches too.

Fat Head’s Saloon
1805 East Carson Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15203
412.431.7433
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south philadelphia tap room


It took me way too long to get down here. I’ve always heard great things about the food Chef Scott Schroeder makes. He also tweets photos of his food and it always looks awesome. For example, there’s the grilled cheese & tomato soup and the extremely rare chicken fried cheesesteak. After seeing these, you’re probably wondering why it took me so long to go.

Grilled cheese in mind, I made my way down after work yesterday. To my surprise, an insert was handed out in addition to the regular menu which included Scott’s Dogs, hot dogs which will soon be served from a cart in a collaboration with Southwark Chef Nick Macri, an appetizer of “mexican construction worker style headcheese tacos”, and “my grandmom’s tomato and mayonnaise sandwich”. Whoa! If you follow Scott on Twitter, you have definitely seen him talk about a simple sandwich of tomato and mayo. I never thought it was weird, but I certainly have never had or heard of it. It certainly intrigued me. After I saw that Scott was offering this on the menu, I had no choice but to order it. I had to see what all the fuss was about. The sandwich (pictured above) is made from Lancaster county tomatoes, white bread, and mayo and is accompanied by a side of fries, salad, or pasta salad. It was freaking delicious. I would ramble on more, but my words honestly don’t do it any justice. You HAVE to make it down here.


grilled cheese & tomato soup

One of the three of us did get the grilled cheese and she was kind enough to let me try a piece. That was quite fantastic too. If I had a couple more beers in me, there’s no doubt in my mind I would have ordered a grilled cheese too. I also tried one of the headcheese tacos which was tasty. They had quite the spice kick!


mexican construction worker style headcheese tacos

I will definitely be back. The place has a chill vibe, the beer selection is good, and Scott’s food rocks. I also have unfinished business (grilled cheese/tomato soup, the burger, Scott’s Dogs, and a chicken fried cheesesteak…if I get lucky).

If you think it’s too far to get to it’s only a couple blocks northwest of the Snyder stop on the Broad Street Line. Do it.

South Philadelphia Tap Room
1509 Mifflin Street
Philadelphia, PA 19145
215.271.7787

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