Barcade Visits WFMU

WFMU's Beer Hear! with Bob W. and B.R. from 1/27/2012

I was asked to fill in for Thursday afternoon d.j. Diane, as she embarked on a "metal cruise", and it seemed like a good opportunity to have some beer-guests on and do a live Beer Hear! segment on WFMU! Beer Hear! co-host B.R. was on hand, too!

Fuzzy photography courtesy of Bob.

Since the guys from Barcade have been so supportive of WFMU, holding two WFMU Meet-Ups/fundraisers in the last six months, Barcade Jersey City is one PATH station away, and we were at one such fundraiser this past Monday, we decided to invite them on to talk about beer, music and to sample a little of each! [Note: this Bob's idea, not WFMU's idea -- and the Barcade guys neither asked for nor expected any "favors" for anything that they've done for the station. They're a cool, unique local business, making J.C. a more interesting, better place -- that's why they were invited on to the radio.]

Michael, fuzzy Bob effect.

Paul, one of the founders of the Barcade "franchise", and Michael, the key man at Barcade Jersey City, dropped by to share some local beers, talk about music, play some selections, and answer questions about their fairly unique bar. 

Paul

We started out trying to guess the identity of an unlabeled 24 oz. bottle from Dieu Du Ciel, which was given to us by the brewer a few weeks ago. It turned out to be the Peché Mortal 10th anniversary! 

Dieu Du Ciel's Peché Mortal 10e.

Next it was the Hoffmann Doppel Bock from Climax the the Jersey-boys brought, which we found to be a bit "off" -- it was kinda sour. But, honestly, I liked it! In the podcast you'll hear a story about another "off" beer that I had at a bar which turned out to be much better than the "not-off" version.

Climax Brewing's Hoffmann Doppel Bock.

Then a "rum barrel aged imperial sweet potato ale" brewed by Bob Olson of Bolero Snort, a new NJ brewery set to open soon.

Bolaro Snort in the foreground.

Then we gave Port Brewing's Santa's Little Helper a taste.

Santa's Little Helper.

Did you know that Paul-Barcade directed a Sam (Dogfish Head) Calagione's music video?

Why can't Bob take a clear photo?!

There was a lot of entertaining banter (and some not-that-interesting banter) on the podcast. But can you pinpoint the moment when Bob earned himself a six-month suspension from the radio station? The photo below lends a cue.

This is how you get suspended from a radio station for 6 months (provided that you're clumsy enough to spill your beer into the board). (Which I was.)

Dogfish Head Brewpub In Rehoboth Beach

WFMU's Beer Hear! with Bob W. and B.R. from 9/20/2011

We've been the DFH brewpub many, many times over the years. We've been to the brewery in Milton, DE. We've even been to one of the satellite DFH pub -- the one in Gaithersburg, VA (across the road from the NIST). We've taken the tours. We've bought the t-shirts. And we've put away a pint or two, as well. But on this trip, we took the time to talk to one of the brewpub brewers, Matt.

B.R., Matt and Bob in the tiny brewpub brewhouse.

The brewpub operates separately from the main brewery. The beers brewed at the pub aren't bottled or kegged for off-site consumption. And there is a separate brewhouse staff for both facilities.

Matt told us that the Rehoboth brewpub is kind of a research and development lab, of sorts, for the main brewery, which brews the DFH beer that flows around the globe. Most of the pub's beers are brewed at the main brewery in Milton, but there are always some special pub-only brews on offer on Rehoboth Ave.

Sherwood hockey stick/measurement device.

Rather than filling up this post with lots of information and history that you probably already know, and if you didn't know but wanted to know, but you could better be informed by Wikipedia or the DFH website, we'll let the podcast do the talking. And as for why we return to DFH every year, there's an entirely other post. So...

Half of the menu at DFH brewpub.

Why are you still reading this? Check out the podcast, which will give you some interesting insight, and will inform you as to what a nice guy Matt was for taking the time to indulge a pair of hopeless "nerds de bière" on semi-vacation asking dumb questions. We learned some stuff -- you might, too!

We drank a LOT of different DFH beers on the trip, as expected, including some that we've never had before. I don't think that I've had the PANEAGA before, but found it to be refreshing and unique in its subtleties -- "subtle" not always being a term used to describe the beers of DFH!

So, we posted two BONUS podcasts, describing some of the brewpub-exclusives. Interested in hearing about their SORGUM BEER called TWEASON, or REPOTERROIR, or LIMB & LIFE?
  Beer Review

How about the 75 MINUTE IPA ON CASK with MAPLE SYRUP, or the 10.5% abv minted stout "with a serious fruit problem" BLACK & RED?
Beer Review 2

O.K. -- with the description above of Repoterroir clearly somebody is taking a shot at some other brewery's "beechwood aging". And I think that that's fine. I was once told by an employee of A-B that their "beechwood aging" consisted of passing the beer through a tube of beechwood chips on its way to the fermentation tanks. Whooo.....hoooo. Aging.

The other half.

Stillwater Artisanal Ales

WFMU's Beer Hear! with Bob W. and B.R. from 9/13/2011

Lucky for us, Brian of STILLWATER ARTISANAL ALES decided to come to NYC to meet up with his pal and fellow "gypsy brewer" Mikkel of MIKKELLER, during the Mikkeller event at The Gutter! B.R. sat down with Brian to hear about another gypsy brewer's experience brewing exceptional beer, without having his own brewery.

Also, you can check out the bonus podcast of a tasting of two Stillwater beers, one of which, the Débutante, was paired with homemade strawberry shortcake that B.R. made!

Review of Débutante

Strawberry Shortcake and Débutante

And if that's not enough for you, how about another bonus podcast! Who knew that the first ever collaboration between PRETTY THINGS and STILLWATER would be a freestyle rap with Brian of Stillwater and Jim of Pretty Things! And we thought that Sam at Dogfish Head was the only rapping brewer!