Bilbo Baggins Beer Dinner

in case your invitation to the Presidential Inaugural Ball was lost in the mail

Bilbo Baggins Beer Dinner

Alexandria, Va.

6 beer selections paired with a Five-Course Dinner.

When: Thursday, January 20, 7pm.

Cost: $46 + gratuity.

Sponsored by: Clipper City Brewing Company & UnWined Gourmet

Host: Thomas Cizauskas from Clipper City

MENU:

Reception-

Oxford Raspberry Ale

Soup-Lobster & Shrimp Bisque

Paired with McHenry Old Baltimore-style Lager

Mussels Mariniere

Paired with Clipper City Gold Ale

Smoked Duck Salad

Paired with Clipper City Pale Ale

Main Course- (your choice)

Andouille Chicken Breast

- or -

Wild Mushroom Beef Medallions

Paired with Heavy Seas Winter Storm

Dessert

White Chocolate Bread Pudding

Paired with Peg Leg Imperial Stout

First-ever beer dinner at The Royal Mile Pub

If you weren't beer-ed out by this past weekend's fabulous Spirit of Belgium, consider this beer event:

The Royal Mile Pub
of Wheaton, Maryland

presents its first ever beer dinner

featuring the beers of Clipper City Brewing Company and others.

Monday, January 17th, 2005 at 7pm
$48, tax & tip included
(Reservations only)

Dinner created & hosted by: Executive Chef Ian Morrison
Commentary by: Thomas Cizauskas of Clipper City Brewing Company

Welcome Beer
Oxford Raspberry (Clipper City, Baltimore, Md.)

Heather & Thyme Duck Consomme
Fraoch Heather Ale (Scotland)

Diver Scallop in House Salmon & Bok Choy
Clipper City Gold Ale (Clipper City, Baltimore, Md.)

Duck Breast Braised in Apple Cider
Harviestoun Old Engine Oil (Scotland)

Carbonnade of Beef
braised in Dark Lager with Apple-Wood Bacon, Gratinee, Mesclun Greens
Aecht Schlenkerla Rauch Urbock (Germany)

Cheese Tray
Stilton Blue, Irish Cheddar, Sage Derby,
Gooseberry Wine Cheese, & St. Andre
fresh firkin cask of Winter Storm Imperial ESB (Clipper City, Baltimore, Md.)

The following week, The Royal Mile Pub will celebrate Burns Night with, among other things, house-made haggis. You'll be spared that for this beer dinner!

New advocacy group for small brewers

The craft brewery movement has long been absent a crucial peg necessary for sustained growth: that is, dedicated attention to the ways of government and regulation - and action about them. As of 1 January, seeds towards this end may have been sown.

The merger of the Association of Brewers (Charlie Papazian, et al) with the Brewers' Association of America portends practical efforts towards protecting the interests of craft brewers' as a group of businesses with like concerns.

Here are excerpts from a press release. More at:
http://www.beertown.org.

Formed January 1, 2005, through a merger of the Association of Brewers and the Brewers’ Association of America, the reorganized Brewers Association is a not-for-profit trade association representing the interests of craft brewers.

With a combined history of almost 90 years, the BA aims to promote and defend the interest of craft brewers and provide education and marketing support. The organization includes activities and services representing various facets of the brewing business including a professional craft brewers, homebrewers (American Homebrewers Association®), Brewers Publications, and events such as the Great American Beer Festival®, the World Beer Cup®, Craft Brewers Conference, BrewExpo America®, National Homebrewers Conference and the National Homebrew Competition.
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“We believe that a combined organization will result in a stronger voice for small brewers in the media, in the nation’s capital and in state legislatures,” said Gary Fish, Chairman of the BAA and President of Deschutes Brewery in Bend, OR. “We are part of a government-regulated industry, and we need to marshal all the support we can to represent the interests of small brewers. The goals of both organizations are to promote and protect the industry. Together, we will do a much better job.”

“There now are more than 1500 breweries in the United States, more than any other country in the world, and a united voice will enable us to tell our story to the world more effectively,” said Charlie Papazian, founder and president of the Association of Brewers, formed in 1979 to promote the then fledgling small brewing industry.

In 1975, there were fewer than 40 brewing companies in the United States, down from more than 2500 before Prohibition devastated the industry in the 1920s. The giant brewing companies that resulted from consolidation of the industry were all brewing light lager beers.

The Boulder-based Association of Brewers was formed to showcase the brewing renaissance than blossomed in America beginning in the late 70’s. Yearning for more flavor than was available from the mass market beers, thousands of Americans began homebrewing after President Carter legalized the practice in 1978.
<...>
The BAA [Brewers Association of America], the nation’s oldest association of brewers, [was] formed during World War II to insure that small brewers got their share of war-rationed materials like tin and barley.
<...>
In the past decade the BAA, which represented America’s dwindling regional brewing industry, enlisted many of the new brewing companies that sprang up across the country in the last two and a half decades. The new breweries brought new life to the BAA. As the new industry developed, the two organizations began searching for ways to better represent the interests of small brewers.

“This merger represents the best of the new and the best of the heritage of small brewing in America,” said Papazian. “A merger will greatly strengthen our marketing and our political initiatives.”

BAA President Daniel Bradford has been offered the position of Legislative Director.

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Ron Kodlick: an appreciation

In 2003, I asked Baltimore native Ron Kodlick, if Baltimore were a "beer town."

He was then the president of the Chesapeake branch of the Society for the Preservation of Beer from the Wood (S.P.B.W.).

That branch, based in Baltimore, Maryland, is, in fact, the only U.S. chapter of the British advocacy group for traditional ale.

Ron replied with evident pride, "I don't need to go anywhere else for beer."

I'm sad to report that, on 5 November 2004, Baltimore lost this stalwart advocate.

In the same tenacious manner with which he promoted good beer, Ron Kodlick had valiantly waged a one-year battle against a pernicious disease. Throughout, he maintained an active interest in the organization he had shepherded as president and member.

Also a long-time homebrewer (a member of the Cross Street Irregulars, a Baltimore homebrew club), Ron was most enthusiastic and loquacious when discussing traditional real ale, the freshest manner of serving ale - and the least common, at least, in the US.

His passion bore grain: beer lovers, who may never have known him personally, now can enjoy real ale in Baltimore, in no small measure, due to his efforts. During Ron's presidency of the S.P.B.W., cask ale, which had been found regularly at but one or two Baltimore pubs, gained three new homes. Working with others, Ron was instrumental in organizing an annual real ale festival in Baltimore.

Ron would enjoy an occasional "super hoppy" beer so favored by today's microbreweries, but he was never reticent in 'grabbing an elbow' and promoting the tasteful beauty of session-strength cask ale Bitters.

Frank Sinatra sang that he had once seen "a man dance with his wife." Any who saw Ron and his wife Gladys together were witnesses to a long-time love affair. Even Ron's email handle was "Mr. Gladys".

It's been said, "In heaven there is no beer. That's why we drink it here." Knowing Ron and knowing his vocal fervor, I'm certain he's already fermenting change in heaven.

This cask's for you, Ron.

Promise Lost

Maladventures in Sissonsland

It was four years ago today, on 2 November, 2000, in tandem with three other principal investors, I purchased the historic Sissons Restaurant and Brewery in Baltimore, Maryland. After a 5 month delay for renovations, Sisson's Restaurant and Brewery re-opened on 28 March 2001.


l to r: Jack Callanan (seller), Tofer Sisson (seller), me (buyer), Annie Sisson (seller), Craig Stuart-Paul (buyer), Al Sisson (seller), Paul Morrissey (buyer), Tracy Stuart-Paul (seller; not pictured)

But by the latter portion of July 2001, the other partners had made it abundantly clear that they wished to take the brewpub in what I considered a misguided direction. I resigned my position as General Manager and Brewmaster and dissolved my holding in the partnership.

The brewpub has since been sold and is now known as Ryleigh Arden's. Read more.