American Solera Brewing, Tulsa.

How many of you are fans of Prairie Brewing beers?  Pretty amazing stuff, right?  Chase Healey is the warped mind behind those massive brews, and now he's gone.  No, he didn't die, but he sold Prairie to Krebs Brewing Company, the guys who have been brewing the beers all along, under contract.  Prairie, founded in 2012, has quickly become a nationwide name, and respected internationally, which is what everyone wants, don't they?  Apparently not.  Chase sold Prairie because it had grown too large, too fast, and he lost control.  You have to admire his dedication to the craft.  Don't feel sorry for Chase, I am sure that he made out quite well.  In fact, he has already begun his next project, American Solera, in Tulsa.

We had heard whispers about the project and all of the chatter was very complimentary, so we decided to take the arduous journey north to give it a shot.  Not an attractive drive through the back waters of Oklahoma, and pray that you have Sirius/XM or a MP3 player, because the radio selection is bleak, unless you like country music and/or religious programming fading in and out..... but I digress.  The brewery is located in a remote area of a remote city in a remote state that confused my google maps app so thoroughly that I had to call for directions after being trapped in a dead end, but the prize at the end was worth every second of the monotonous trip.

Chase's focus on beer crafting has completely changed with the new project.  The people at the brewery insisted that Chase is as intent on not growing the brewery as he was intent to grow the Prairie brand.  His insistence on not growing and controlling every aspect of the production is meant to insure that the quality is never an issue, and that beer probably won't stay around long enough to become boring.  Instead of massive high gravity beers, the beers produced by American Solera are more about sour, wild yeast and brettanomyces beers aged on oak barrels.  Most of the beer produced has been aged in oak barrels from between 6 - 18 months in their cellar containing 16 foeders, puncheons, and wine barrels. The tasting room is quite spacious and good for a couple of hours of hanging and tasting.


On our visit, we first tried the Sherry Barrl Western Culture Coolship Ale (5.4% abv).  The beer, produced using open fermentation, was lightly sour and funky as hell.  You can only imagine that the brewery, being located next to the not so clean and pristine Arkansas River, has a plethora of funky yeasts floating around to access. The beer was quite an easy drink and delightful

Second on the tasting was the Ould Friend Brett ESB (4% abv) which they tell us was an accidental creation.  They were trying for something a bit more sour using Brett, but it came out mild and quite funky, so he named it an ESB, which is absolutely is not.  Good nonetheless.

Third up was the Old Dishoom Sherry Barrel Old Ale (8.5% abv).  Holy poop on a stick!  This is one of the funkiest beers that I have ever tasted.... almost indescribable.  Ever so slightly sour, almost astringent.  The official description is that it is an old ale aged in sherry barrels with 'a selection of brett cultures'. I could bathe in this brew .... actually, it kind of tastes like I already did. Magnificent.

The last on the tasting list was the Raw Emotion Imperial Stout (13% abv).  It was not last on the list due to them not having more beers to taste, it was simply because I was getting waxed and still had quite a drive back to Dollars, Taxes, because we don't want to stay in Tulsa overnight, do we?  This is a massive stout, sweet, and with an underlying coffee flavor, though they assured me that there was no coffee added.  Absolutely nothing like the Prairie Bomb.

They have a good selection of bottled beer to go, so we  purchased several bottles to bring home and will be placing the reviews on our Facebook page as we get around to trying them.  As that at this point, Mr. Healey has no intention of growing the brewery, or even allowing the beers to be distributed, you must make the trip north, through the radio desert, to get these brews, but drive you must because this place is worth the trip.

American Solera
1801 S 49th W Avenue
Tulsa, OK 74107
https://americansolera.com

Jabberbock, Rabbit Hole Brewing's New Release

JabberBock (6.9% ABV) is a limited release Maibock style of beer coming January 20th. Or in their words:

Beware the JabberBOCK my Son...

2017 is off to a booming start and here at Rabbit Hole Brewing it is no different! New Year = New Beer! We're proud to introduce our newest entry to the Rabbit Hole brand: JabberBOCK!

 The JabberBOCK is bold and malty Maibock that sports a clean and smooth mouthfeel, with a gentle warming and a subtle hop character lurking beneath a bready German malt base.

Bishop Cider Company Opens 'Cidercade' in Design District

BISHOP CIDER IS OPENING AN ARCADE.   We are officially opening an arcade in the Design District starting this Thursday (12/29). There were an extra few thousand square feet of warehouse attached to the Cidery that wasn’t being utilized, so we've transformed it into the Cidercade. Every time Joel and Laura Malone, the founders of Bishop, have visited Austin over the years, Pinballz Arcade was a mandatory stop and they’ve always desired to bring the concept to Dallas.  Bishop Cider is releasing two new arcade-themed ciders starting Thursday, December 29 that will be available only at The Cidercade. The two new ciders are Galaxy and Mosaic, both drier ciders that are generously hopped, fully-flavored, and very aromatic. The Cidercade has up to 12 house ciders on tap, 80+ arcades for over 140 people to be playing simultaneously, and they plan to have food trucks on weekends. There is an admission charge of $10, but that includes unlimited button mashing on the arcades. No quarters or tokens needed. Hours for The Cidercade: Thursday-Friday: 5pm-10pm Saturday-Sunday: 12pm-10pm.*  *The one exception to the hours is on NYE, The Cidercade closes at 8pm that day because it is the official pre-party for Noble Rey’s Brew Years Eve Party. For more details, visit the Cidercade FB page.

Our Christmas Wishes

What is it that a beer snob would want for Christmas?  Really a no brainer question, right?  Beer, duh.  But our Christmas wish is for something a bit different, something beerish, but not really just beer.

We hope you saw our post that this December 31st is the 5th year of existence for Peticolas Brewing.  They are going to have a major announcement on their anniversary that they are going to change direction, and we have no earthly idea what that will be.  We do have a strong idea of what we want the direction to be.

Rahr and Sons Brewing opened in Fort Worth 2004 and was the first out of the craft brewing chute, creating fine, traditionally crafted beers.  Nice, drinkable beers, but safe.  The first on the Dallas side of the metroplex was the venerable Franconia Brewing in McKinney.  While their beers are pretty darn good, they are decidedly main stream and take few risks. Then along comes Peticolas Brewing, and with their release of Velvet Hammer the excitement for craft brewing coming to Dallas was palpable. This beer was intense and powerful giving us the feeling that this was the beginning of the revolution.

Many new breweries have opened since 2011 with over 20 breweries to be visited in north Texas.  The problem is that even with all of these breweries, none have ever taken a risk, none have created a signature beer line creative enough to be able to attract the attention of anyone outside our region.  Now we are not saying that the beer in north Texas are not good, quite the contrary there are many fine, fine beers being created here.  We are just a bit disappointed that no one has stepped forward to create something outside the safe zone.  For instance Jester King from Austin creates sours that are desired by beer geeks nationwide.  Houston's Buffalo Bayou creates massive beers that get us good trades nationwide.  Dallas has ..... ?  Exactly.

Our Christmas wish is that Michael Peticolas sees this as a challenge and has in mind a mad plan to create a beer line that puts us on the beer tourism map.  Something that makes us giddy to try the next creation, like Velvet Hammer did 5 years ago,

Cheers, Michael, and good luck.

Travelling in the Philippines

Do you have a hobby? Perhaps one that involves enjoying beer?  Obviously you are part of the beer culture, else you wouldn't be wasting your time reading this drivel.  We actually have 2 hobbies, that we manage to combine into one.  Obviously beer is the first, but we also have a love for travel, so as often as we can, we tie them together into a rolling drink-a-thon. This time we decided to try somewhere quite unique, a bit risky, a bit .... raw.

This is not the first time that we have visited a third world country, in fact there have been several, but none quite so third worldish as this.  As with many countries once ruled by the Spanish, there is a huge gap between the haves and the have nots.  Manila is a huge city of 13 million people with hordes of desperately poor people living in the shadows of shiny glass high-rises.  Even as poor as they are, they are always quite respectful, which actually is a bit disconcerting.  There is a reverse racism that we noticed after several days which took aback a bit.  "Hello, sir", "good morning, sir", will come at you from almost everyone that you meet, but they don't speak that way to each other, only to people who are obviously westerners.  Should you be one of those deluded souls who believe in white race superiority, this is the place for you as that they fall all over each other to serve you.  There are beggars, to be sure, any city with this much poverty has many, but just smile and wave while saying nothing, and walk on you way, they will leave you alone.  The child beggars are a bit more aggressive and will follow you for a few blocks with their hands out, but just keep your eyes straight ahead and keep walking.  In a country as desperately poor as this, you are a target, so leave your bright and shiny things at home (i.e. jewelry, expensive watches, etc), dress modestly and do not wave cash around.  Most people speak at least some English, and should that fail, try a bit of Spanish, after all, the Spanish ruled here for several centuries.  Money is all counted in Spanish as well.

Your first contact with hustlers will come as you leave the airport.  There will be an army of hawkers trying to convince you that the $1,800.00 Peso (about $36.00) flat rate cab is the way to go with traffic as bad as it is in Manila, and man, it is bad, stunningly bad.  However, a Taxi is also stunningly cheap, and you a typical cab ride, even in really slow traffic, will cost you less than $500.00 Pesos.  Don't bother trying to find a bus or the subway, there aren't any, just take a cab and be happy. Other than a cab, the only public transportation is the ubiquitous Jeepney.  These diesel exhaust spewing monsters are all privately owned, all competing for the same riders, all on the same routes which are printed on the sides of the vehicle. In theory the amount charged for the ride is figured by distance. You get in and pass the money forward, but for the life of me I never mastered the pricing and am quite sure that I was royally screwed.  To be completely honest, with an exchange rate of about 50:1, a royal screwing amounts to only a couple of bucks.

If you get tired of dealing with the crush of humanity or choking on the filthy air, there are options for you to get away and into a world more familiar to the average boring American.  The shopping malls in Manila are awe inspiring. These are massive temples dedicated to the gods of commerce are staffed with security guards stationed at the entrances to keep out the poor and smelly people.  One of the examples of reverse racism that you may come across is that all Filipinos will be searched as they enter, but as a westerner you will most likely get a pass.  Now I pride myself in my ability to finding my way around almost anywhere without getting lost, but the malls in Manila are maddeningly convoluted and HUGE.  The Robinson's Place Mall has everything that a homesick tourist needs to make them feel safe, secure and boring.  It is also where those without an adventurous palate can find solace with the 30+ restaurants, most with familiar choices (TGIFridays, anyone?). The Mall of Asia is one of the largest malls in the world should you need exercise in a place with slightly cleaner air.

"WHAT ABOUT THE BEER!"  

To be sure, we have not really visited a country that doesn't have a thriving underground beer scene ... until now.  Craft beer is a luxury that a country full of desperately poor can ill afford.  San Miguel is by far the largest brewer and has little competition.  Why?  Because it is frigging cheap, that's why.  A bottle of San Miguel will set you back about a buck.  The San Miguel Cerveza Negra (5% ABV) is a quite serviceable dark lager that will do in a crunch, but the craft breweries were really scarce, in fact, we only found one simply because we were lost and took the wrong exit from the Robinson's Place Mall (like I said, confusing), and there it was. It is true that you can find a few craft brews around town in the bottle, but our goal was to find a brewery where we could sit and chat about beer with locals.  

The Tap Station on Adriatico Street was honestly the only place that we could find within several miles of our hotel serving craft beers, and luckily, it was quite fine for our needs.  Their own beers, CraftRevolt Brewing, are color coded on the board on the board by price along with a few guest beers.  You will find most of their beers are session-able brews with modest alcohol content, but with familiar flavors and at reasonable prices.

The bottled craft beers that we tried were quite sporadic in quality.  The Tarsier Wheat Beer (4.6% ABV) made by Crazy Carabao Brewing had the funky armpit foulness that you get from unclean brewing equipment, or perhaps unwashed kegs.   Brew Kettle Belgian style Wit Bier (5.3% ABV) by the Asian Brewery, Makati, Philippines, is as good as any American knockoff of a Belgian classic.  In our not so humble opinion, the best craft brewer that we found was Joe's Brew out of Manilla. The Fish Rider Pale Ale (5% ABV) has a super drinkable balance between hops and malts.

We did get to spend a bit of time on the island of Boracay, about an hour's flight south of Manila.  Here you will not find the masses of desperately poor .... poor to be sure, just not desperately poor.  You will still find the hawkers trying to sell you anything that your drunken ass will buy, but the beggars are not so prevalent.  You will see gross, fat westerners with their tiny Filipino lovers .... male or female, but try not to judge, they need money and gross, fat westerners have it to give.  You will also see gloriously blue, clear water and swaying palm trees.  Hotels range from cheap dives to shiny new resorts

with the north end of the strip more of the latter .... a bit to sanitized for our tastes.  There is no sea wall and no concrete sidewalk here, hotels and restaurants are located directly on the beach where you can stroll along underneath the shade of the coconut palms.  Our recommendation to find a good selection of craft beers in the Red Coconut hotel bar and decently priced fruity drinks with umbrellas.  For dining you must try to find the Hobbit House restaurant where all of the staff are little people, and the food is actually quite good.  Little people, I just loves me some little people.

We will give you one last piece of advice that should satisfy all of your cravings for finding good beer in the Philippines, consider, if you will, that the exchange rate is about 50 Pesos to the Dollar .... do the math.

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain

Cheers, Bon

2016 Thanksgiving Beer Recommendations

Do you ever get stuck in a rut that you just can't (or won't) escape from? For instance, normally, our 'go to' beer for Thanksgiving is the venerable, magnificent, Saison DuPont. We drink this every year, and have for years on end. Why? Because it pairs so very well with almost every dish in the Thanksgiving feast.

This year, though, we have decided to change things up .... a bit. For this year's debauchery, we are going to recommended a few similar beers for the snobs to try, along with us, they are:

1. Straffe Hendrik Wild Belgian Tripel Ale - Brewed by Huisbrouwerij De Halve Maan, Brugges, Belgium, it is funky, earthy and ... wild. This should be the perfect accompaniment to the bird

2. Dogfish Head Biere de Provence Saison - Brewed with lavender, marjoram and bay leaves it should pair well with dressing.

3. Dogfish Head Saison du Buff - Brewed with Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme making it a perfect pairing for almost everything on your plate. Now try getting that song out of your head.

FREE HOG! FREE NOG! At the Rustic

Celebrate the Season at The Rustic’s 

Holiday Hog & Nog Happy Hours

FREE Roasted Pig and Adult Eggnog usher in the season beginning Nov. 28

DALLAS (Nov. 21, 2016) – The Rustic is preparing to spread holiday cheer in truly distinctive fashion: With roasted pigs on the patio and enough adult eggnog to make Mrs. Claus blush!

On Nov. 28, The Rustic will kickoff a month-long series of Holiday Hog & Nog Happy Hours, every Monday through Friday after 5:30 p.m. Guests will enjoy roasted pig, smoked up on the patio and served FREE with a side of spiked eggnog, with the purchase of any menu item. 

The hog’s on the house until it’s gone, so no squealing if you miss out! Just arrive earlier the next day – The Rustic will be pigging out on the patio every weekday through Dec. 23!

Did we mention the hog and the nog are free? Just choose from over 40 beers on tap, a variety of handcrafted cocktails and margaritas or any other menu item, and happy hour’s on us!

“We think The Rustic is the best place in Dallas to toast the holiday season, and this year we’re going hog wild with our Hog & Nog Happy Hours,” said Kyle Noonan, co-owner of FreeRange Concepts. “Our climate-controlled patio is perfect for roasting a pig while sipping on adult eggnog, and I can already picture our guests taking selfies by the spit with our grill masters.”

With its casual atmosphere, live musical acts and unique, full-service dining experience featuring farm-fresh, homestyle dishes and a Texas-sized selection of wines, spirits and 40 beers on tap, The Rustic has carved a distinctive niche among Dallas restaurants. The concept is the brainchild of Noonan, Josh Sepkowitz and Texas country artist Pat Green, whose love of the outdoors and live music helped bring The Rustic to life. The result is a fun and relaxing dining and concert experience from a phenomenal patio, all under the big Texas sky.

The Rustic is located at 3656 Howell Street in Dallas.