Biking like a gentleman

It's been a busy week but this weekend I got to take part in the 120-mile Rapha Gentlemen's Race in and around the Catskills of Upstate NY. There was about 5000 vertical feet of climbing and cold beer from Kelso Brewing at the finish line (a delicious pilsner).

Here are a few images from my crappy camera of my Fifth St. Cross team rolling up Sugar Loaf, the day's big climb.

Taylor ripping it up.

Pryor, Plunkett, and Christine bringing the pain.

It was a long, sweaty day and thankfully Pryor had a few special brews waiting for the team. I had a nice, cool bottle of Tripel Karmeliet. Delicious. Here's a review from the achrives on the tasty Belgian.

Tripel Karmeliet
Brouwerij Bosteels
Tripel

A- / 4.2
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 5 | drink: 5

Poured from a 750ml green bottle. A little overflow after it was uncorked, this bottle might have been sitting around a while. No matter, its still tasty.

Looks a hazy straw yellow, and smells of apples and green grapes with a touch of spice. The spice expands on taste, as does the fruit here. This is one of those beers that amazes you at what a beer can taste like. Not overly sweet. I'd say its perfectly balanced. Give me more.

Surprise: Tap and Table is Open

I was sitting at South Mountain Cycles and Coffee Bar this morning when suddenly Bowman emerged from the bathroom with an announcement. While doing whatever it was he was doing, he noticed an ad deep in the local newspaper proclaiming the opening of Emmaus's Tap and Table gastro pub. Hot damn, it opened early.

I went over for lunch to check the place out. Unfortunately, I only had my camera phone with me, so I apologize for the crappy images. I had the mussels and clams, cooked in a garlic beer (La Chouffe) sauce, and a bottle of Taras Boulba, a light, hoppy Belgian pale ale.

Good Belgian Beer: Eerwaarde Pater

I'm typically a pretty intentional drinker. When I'm trying a new beer, I like to know what it is and whether it's worth a damn, because, well, there's a lot of shitty beer in this world. Recently my favorite bottle shop, Abe's Cold Beer, filled a few shelves with new-to-the-US Belgian imports. Incidentally since most of the beer geek websites I use are US-based there was little to no info on the new brews. For posterity's sake, however, I swallowed hard a picked a few bottles that seemed to come from reputable brewers. So far so good...


Eerwaarde Pater
Brouwerij Het Alternatief
Belgian Strong Dark Ale

B+ / 4
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | drink: 4.5

Picked up a single at Abe's Cold Beer for $5. Poured a clear brown with little head and no retention. This is certainly a unique beer and is sort of a hybrid of an American brown ale and dark strong Belgian. I'm sure that wasn't the brewer's intention, but the malts come out very clean and crisp with roast caramel, not at all hidden by yeast-driven flavors like fruit and spice. The oak aging (at least according to the label) adds a mildly acid sour tang that's an not-so-natural, but interesting pairing with the robust dark malt flavor. The aroma is a smoother, inviting caramel and chocolate candy smell. And in the sour aftertaste there's a hint of farmhouse funk. This beer would likely be greatly improved with a year or two of cellaring to let the wild critters grow and develop, you know, if you're into that sort of thing. Overall, a different take on the style and very drinkable. Try this beer.

New Lehigh Valley Gastropub: Tap and Table.

UPDATE: NOW OPEN SEE THURSDAY'S POST


Hell to the yes. I got word earlier this week that a new gastropub, called Tap and Table, will be opening in the Lehigh Valley. Here's an email I got from the folks in charge:

Thanks a lot for your interest; we are VERY excited to serve the valley with an incredible beer experience. The goal is to open by the end of May, but there hasn't been an exact date set yet. We will have 6 drafts, 3 casks, and about 50 bottles; all rotating selections. We will NOT carry any light commercial beer, yuengling lager, sam adams, etc...only the FINEST. We guarantee our selection will be blow you away! The food consists of 5/6 appetizers and 5/6 plates. Beer is used as an ingredient in a number of the dishes. The food is pub fare with a very unique twist. The atmosphere is an old world pub feel/gothic church, and the space is completely illuminated by candles!

They'll be located just outside Emmaus on 4226 Chestnut St (AKA Rte 29). That's just down the road from The Farmhouse and not too far from Shangy's.

Some day I might get tired of drinking Belgian beer. Maybe:

Saturday night I had dinner at Louie's in Allentown (they have some good beer) with a group that included a several runners who'd signed up for today's Lehigh Valley Half-Marathon. One guy, however, was injured but still came to town from Binghamton to pick up his race t-shirt and cheer on his girlfriend.

Now I like bad, stupid ideas. So the second I learned there was a race number up for grabs, I had to have it despite maybe running for a total of seven miles a week the last couple months. Twelve hours later I was lined up and running in support of my friend Meg (she kicked ass and ran a 1:50, I kicked far less ass and ran 1:50). Surprisingly, I felt pretty good. After eleven years of on and off competitive I guess I've built up what Bill Strickland eloquently describes as "deep legs". Today also went a lot better than my bad idea to run/walk the Marine Corps Marathon last fall, so I celebrated with the best Belgian beer I had on hand.

't Gaverhopke Den Twaalf (Bruin 12°)/ Extra
Brouwerij 't Gaverhopke
Quadrupel (Quad)

A- / 4.05
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | drink: 4.5

Picked up a single at Abe's Cold Beer for $5.25. The label read "EXTRA" and that's just the exported name. Very interesting. This doesn't just follow the typical quad lines of smooth caramel malts. Instead it starts with a mix of dry lemon with tart raspberries, then cocoa and toffee with a very mild earthy mustiness. The aroma is a little cleaner than the flavor with dry, earthy cocoa and a grape juice note. Finishes with a tart juicy feel, sort of like drinking cranberry juice, and no hint of alcohol. I'd like the flavors here to be richer, but this is still tasty and very easy to drink Belgian.

Thanks Keith: ReaperAle Deathly Pale Ale

My favorite neighborhood bar Liberty St. Tavern reopened this weekend after suffering damage from an electrical fire in the upstairs apartment. I met up with a few friends and shared a few large bottles of delicious craft beer. Keith, who's always generous with beer, set down a new round on our table and proceeded to leave me and Kuklix to finish them. He simply asked to let him know what the Deathly Pale Ale tasted like, so here you go.

Deathly Pale Ale
ReaperAle
American Pale Ale (APA)

B+ / 3.85
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | drink: 4

It poured a light copper with white head. The hops dominate this beer, but not beer a quick shot of bready malt pops in the. The hops are almost sweet with smooth, sappy pine followed by apricot and grapefruit. Very drinkable and very tasty.