Hurricane Irene is proving to have been a lot more destructive to property and livelihood and life than we fortunate many at first believed. Witness the diluvial destruction in New Jersey and Vermont.
This is a blog about beer, and I have read little about the impact of Hurricane Irene upon our craft beer industry on the East Coast.
For the historical record, let us know how you, our sisters and brothers in craft beer, survived Irene, or suffered. Lost power? Lost beer? Or, hoping not, worse?
And, for dire need, let the craft beer community know what is needed, and where. I'm confident that we all stand ready to assist.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Irene & beer: What happened and what is needed?
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Domain names
Today was domain name renewal day here at:
http://www.YoursForGoodFermentables.com.
If that web address is too cumbersome for you, try one of these:
Notice that there's no YFGF.com. That web address has been claimed, but left unused, by a nefarious cyber-squatter.
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- YFGF's companion photo site is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cizauskas/ - The accompanying Twitter feed —with links to stories not covered at YFGF— is:
http://twitter.com/#!/cizauskas - YFGF's Facebook page can be accessed at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Yours-For-Good-Fermentables/140140202667984.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Hurricane Irene, breweries, and DC emergency contacts
As Hurricane Irene comes past, keep in mind that for breweries the danger is not only from the storm, winds, and flooding. If power is lost, refrigeration is lost. If refrigeration is lost, beer is lost. That's a financial hit that can cripple a smaller brewery, and endanger livelihoods.
Here's how the Dogfish Head Brewery 'Tweeted' their situation earlier today. Sitting near the coast of Delaware, the brewery and its brewpub could be in the bulls-eye path of the storm.
Heading inland. Hope 4 intact brewery, brewpub & all the beer safe & sound. Here's to hoping #Irene is a craft beer-loving hurricane!Sat Aug 27 11:17:49 +0000 2011 via Twitter for iPad
dogfishbeer
We hope for the best for Dogfish Head and for all of our brewery friends along the mid-Atlantic coast, New York, and New England. We wish safety for everyone in Irene's path. Today, don't forget your bottled 'water.' Tomorrow, we'll all appreciate a good beer.
Iki pasimatymo!
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If you live in the greater Washington D.C. area, here's a list of local emergency contact numbers, from The Breaking News Blog of the Washington Post.
UTILITIES
- Pepco: To report an outage or downed wire, call 1-877-PEPCO-62 (1-877-737-2662).
- Dominion: To report outages or downed lines, call 1-866-DOM-HELP (1-66-366-4357).
- BGE: To report outages, call 1-877-778-2222. To report a gas leak or downed power line, call 1-800-685-0123.
CABLE AND INTERNET PROVIDERS
- Comcast: 1-800-COMCAST (1-800-266-2278).
- Verizon: 1-800-VERIZON (1-800-837-4966).
TREE REMOVAL
- D.C.: To report downed limbs and trees, call 311.
- Montgomery County: To report a tree that has fallen on public property, call 311.
- Prince George’s County: To report a tree that has fallen on public property, call 301-499-8520.
- Fairfax County: To report a tree that has fallen on public property, call 703-324-1770.
- Arlington: To report a tree that has fallen on public property, call 703-228-6525.
- Prince William County: To report a tree that has fallen on public property, call 703-792-7070.
TRAFFIC CONDITIONS
Drivers in Maryland and Virginia can call 511 to get the latest on traffic conditions.
RED CROSS
To find out about emergency services in your town, call the organization at 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767).
EMERGENCY SHELTER
The Red Cross is setting up dozens of shelters across the East Coast. Shelters can be located on a map the organization maintains on is Web site. The Red Cross can also be contacted at 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767).
HOTLINES
- Prince George’s County: Non-emergency hurricane hotline will be in effect from 2 p.m. Saturday for at least 48 hours, call 301-352-1290.
- The county’s emergency command center, at 6820 Webster St. in Hyattsville will open at noon on Saturday. Updates will be available on the Twitter handle @CountyExecBaker and on Facebook.
Pic(k) of the Week: Judging Procedures
It was the finals of the DC Beer Week Homebrew Competition
... and Bill Jusino, steward for the competition, conferred with the judges about the scoring of the beers. The competition was organized by the DC Homebrewers Club, and held at the Red Palace, in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, 20 August 2011.
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- Pic(k) of the Week: one in a weekly series of personal photos, often posted on Saturdays, and often, but not always, with a 'good fermentable' as subject. Commercial use of the photo requires explicit permission, as per Creative Commons.
Friday, August 26, 2011
BREAKING NEWS: SpaceBar to land in Falls Church, VA.
The "Little City" of Falls Church, Virginia, is poised to become a bona fide good beer destination.
Lary Hoffman, owner of Galaxy Hut—the nearly 20-year-old good beer bar in Arlington, Virginia, which he purchased only a few years ago— has formally filed papers with the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to serve beer and wine in a second location, in Falls Church, in the building formerly occupied by Stacy's Coffee Parlor.
[UPDATE: spacebar opened on 1 June 2012. More: here.]
As can clearly be seen on the public notice, only posted this afternoon (Friday, 26 August 2011) on the premises' window, at 709 W. Broad Street ...
... the restaurant will be called spacebar (all lower case). The target opening date is
To set the scene, here's how the orginal Galaxy Hut is described on its Facebook page:
good beer (20 constantly rotating taps of craft and imported beer you mostly don't see anywhere else, and around 30 bottled beers too), vegetarian-centric menu (and dead stuff too), some old video games, awesome staff, cool artwork and background music, and live music most sunday and monday nights
Others, like me, might describe it as funky, inviting, and hip (but not for those who think they're hip). And you gotta love those tater tots!
According to Hoffman, the new SpaceBar will be similar in form and feel: a restaurant/music space, with twenty-four 'craft' beer draught lines. Because the space will be limited and with no basement storage, design will need to be creative. To that end, Hoffman is re-purposing what he calls "megerators": multiple keg coolers built from 3-door beverage coolers. At this point, there are no plans for a dedicated cask line, but Hoffman promises frequent cask tapping events across the bar.
SpaceBar is submitting plans to be a live music venue. Befitting its small footprint, the acts will be small combos, not the full bands that often perform at Galaxy Hut. After the recent demise of blues venue Bangkok Blues, that's a welcome addition to the local music scene.
The pub/restaurant will have a minimum age requirement of 21 in the evenings, but, with a full kitchen, lunch and brunch will be offered to all ages on the weekends.
Finally, here's another really 'cool' possibility. The building was originally designed to have a second story but which was never built. Knowing that, Hoffman intends to open SpaceBar in November, and then submit plans for a 1,200 square foot rooftop patio to be added later. An upper outdoor deck would be a feature no other Falls Church bar or restaurant currently offers.
Add the November landing of SpaceBar on Broad Street to the long established Argia's and Dogwood Tavern, to the recent Dogfish Head Taproom, and to the year-old Public House No. 7 and brewpub Mad Fox Brewing, and Falls Church's 'main street' could indeed become a Craft Beer Street.
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- Here is the official press release, from Facebook, on Saturday, 27 August 2011.
Galaxy Hut, which originated in Clarendon in 1990 as Arlington’s original craft beer spot, is opening a second location called “spacebar” in Falls Church City, this fall. Owned and operated by Galaxy Hut owner Lary Hoffman and his wife Erica Hoffman, the restaurant and beer hall will be located at 709 West Broad Street, above the CD Cellar, and a couple of blocks from the Mad Fox Brewery in the spot formerly occupied by Stacy’s Coffee Parlor.
Spacebar is a bit bigger inside than Galaxy Hut, with seating for around 50 people, and some standing area around the 28 foot bar. Plans for a 1,200 square foot rooftop patio and greenhouse vegetable garden are in the works for 2012.
Spacebar will have some tabletop video games, quirky, hand crafted decor, and local art. The background music will consist mostly of current and classic indie rock and post-punk. It’ll have a decent TV (which will hardly ever show sports).
There will be 24 taps of constantly rotating 'craft' beer, and bottles and growlers will be available to-go as well. Spacebar will also be serving cask beer, but, due to space constraints, it is yet to be determined whether there will be a dedicated cask line or just weekly firkin nights. Hard liquor will not be served, but there will be a more substantial wine selection than Galaxy Hut’s.
The food menu will consist of tweaked, more 'gourmet' versions of Galaxy Hut favorites, and will be extremely vegetarian friendly. Yes, there will be tots.
Plans for live music include small combos with a focus on experimental music, frequent (perhaps weekly) karaoke, and low-key dj nights as well.
As spacebar will be a beer-focused night spot, the age policy will be 21 and over in the evening, but the restaurant will be open for lunch on Saturday and Sunday to all ages, beginning in early 2012. Like Galaxy Hut, spacebar will recycle about 80% of its waste.
There is parking for 18 cars on site, and there are numerous parking areas available within walking distance during spacebar’s business hours.
Please contact spacebar.va@gmail.com for more information.
- More photos: here.
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