May 13 2005 Friday the Firkinteenth

[Susan in FL]

Casks lined up so far include: Brewers Art Proletary Ale, Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, Flying Fish Vanilla Ice, General Lafayette Belgian-style Spring Ale, Heavyweight Mild or Stickenjab Alt, Iron Hill oak-aged Oud Bruin, Lancaster Milk

Stout, Legacy oak-aged Hedonism Ale, Middle Ages Black Heart Stout, Nodding Head TBA, Sly Fox Ahtanum IPA, Stoudts TBA, Troegs Pale Ale, Victory Hop Devil, Weyerbacher TBA, Yards TBA.

Wish I could be at The Grey Lodge Pub in Philadelphia on the 13th. It's the only Friday the Firkinteenth of this year. Great line-up!

For more information, including the new start tapping time of 2 PM, check out the website. There are new menu items that look really good, too.

My postcard to you all is, "Have a good time. Wish I was there."

[gbredben]

You will be missed. I was wondering when someone would open this topic. A lot of great beers lined up. The wait is killing me.

[Rich Pawlak]

The most up-to- date beer menu and schedule for May 13th's FTF:

SCHEDULE:

10am Bar opens

1pm Kitchen opens

2pm Tapping of Casks (7 at a time until they are all gone)

12am Likely end of the casks

2am Closing

MENU:

Brewers Art Proletary Ale,

Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA,

Flying Fish Vanilla Ice,

General Lafayette Belgian-style Spring Ale,

Heavyweight Mild or Stickenjab Alt,

Iron Hill oak-aged Oud Bruin,

Lancaster Milk Stout,

Legacy oak-aged Hedonism Ale,

Middle Ages Black Heart Stout,

Nodding Head TBA,

Sly Fox Ahtanum IPA,

Stoudts Scarlet Lady ESB,

Troegs Pale Ale,

Victory Hop Wallop,

Weyerbacher TBA,

Yards ESA.

Wow.

[cdh]

I know what my friday afternoon schedule looks like now...

[gbredben]

Looking forward to try the Middle Ages Black Heart Stout and Sly Fox Ahtanum IPA. Both received great reviews on the Beeradvocate web site.

[cdh]

A packed house, as usual at these events. I sadly arrived far too late to get much of the good stuff. By the time I got there at 7:45 or so there were already 7 or 8 kicked kegs in the RIP column... and the crush at the bar was more insane than usual.

I tried the Iron Hill Oud Bruin, which was an improvement on the last batch of it that they sent to the previous firkinteenth, but still somewhat muted. It's mouthfeel was too thin and its sourness was not pronounced enough. I commend them for continuing to try this unusual style, and hope they keep on improving it in the future.

Since the crush at the bar was as it was, I'd decided that two-fisted ordering was the only way to go, so I also picked up a Yards IPA (with special secret dry hopping)... which was a very nice IPA with the sort of burnt caramelly flavors that made it seem to be approaching on the tripel style. I generally like more grapefruit and less burnt caramel, so this wasn't quite to my tastes, but was clearly a well made beer.

Braving the throngs a second time, I managed to get a Brewers Art Proletary Ale and an oak-aged Legacy Hedonism. The Proletary was the most interesting beer of the evening, since it tasted like it had been bittered with coffee instead of hops. This was an interesting beer in that it was like coffee sweetened with malt syrup and then fermented. It actually worked quite well.

The Legacy Hedonism was less distinctive next to the Proletary. It's oakiness was minimal, and its flavor was underhopped and not particularly distinctive. It was a pleasant session type beer, but not a showcase beer like many of the FtheF beers tend to be.

I went upstairs and availed myself of the fine cooking of the Grey Lodge's new kitchen, enjoying the duck spring rolls and a plate of cheese fries. When I headed back down, the place was more packed than it had been... I fought my way to the bar and stood there for 20 minutes, intermittantly doing semaphor in the general direction of the bartenders. It appered that there were only about 3 live firkins left with any significant amount of beer in them, and everybody all around the bar was clamoring for whatever it was. After a long enough wait for my tastes, I decided it was not worth it to stick around... so I left.

And headed into Center City for a bit of Capogiro's fine gelato to finish up the evening. The cherimoya and apples with calvados were a fine pairing and did a marvelous job as end-of evening palate cleansers.

Edited May 14, 2005 by cdh (log)

[Okbrewer]

Nice write up, Chris! I sure would like to make one of these events! Maybe next year! I don't look forward to the crush at the bar, but I salivate at the thought of all those casks! Thanks for the report.

[Rich Pawlak]

Thats the unique pleasure of FTF: packed to the gills but unbelievably pleasant and congenial. It's an amazing chemistry.

[cdh]

Thats the unique pleasure of FTF: packed to the gills but unbelievably pleasant and congenial.  It's an amazing chemistry.

←

Did you put in a later appearance? Saw Gary there briefly, who reported that Bryson had come and gone by the time I'd arrived... and there were no signs of you. Not many familiar faces in the crowd, actually, which is a really good thing-- more and more people proving that they care about good beer by turning up for events like this.

[Rich Pawlak]

Thats the unique pleasure of FTF: packed to the gills but unbelievably pleasant and congenial.  It's an amazing chemistry.

←

Did you put in a later appearance? Saw Gary there briefly, who reported that Bryson had come and gone by the time I'd arrived... and there were no signs of you. Not many familiar faces in the crowd, actually, which is a really good thing-- more and more people proving that they care about good beer by turning up for events like this.

←

This was the very first FTF I have missed, and I'm really bummed, but personal circumstances took precedence.