BeerBloggers.com

The Maine Ambassadors of Food and Drink is offering a two session introduction to the wide variety of alcoholic beverages produced in the Pine Tree State. The two sessions will take place at Portland’s Bar of Chocolate on April 7 and 14, from 6-8 PM. This is the second of an eight-part series of food and drink instruction and tasting.

Session 1, April 7, will cover Maine’s beer and mead production. Margo Mallar of the Maine Institute of Food and Drink, brewer Tom Bull, and mead maker Eli Cayer will present. Breweries covered include Gritty McDuff’s, Stone Coast, and Casco Bay Brewing.

Session 2, April 14, will cover wine and distilled spirits. In addition to another appearance by Margo Mallar, Keith Bodine, the maker of Back River Gin and Three Crow Rum, and the vintners from Cellar Door Winery and Oyster River Winegrowers will present.

Aside from the flyer I got my hands on, details are a bit scarce, and MAFD’s website is apparently still waiting for some HTML love. The cost for each night is $30, or $50 if you go to both. Reservations are required. To make your reservation, or inquire about additional details, you can contact them at info@maineambassadors.com or (207) 712-5864.

It’s early in this year’s NERAX season, and we already have a small controversy.

I’ve already reported on the brouhaha regarding Greene King, the growing regional brewer in the UK. They seem to have a business plan calling for acquiring cherished breweries and closing them, absorbing the production in their larger facilities.

We’ve been offered the opportunity to acquire Greene King beers for NERAX 2009

The NERAX working party was of a mixed mind in this regard. The CAMRA traditionalists opposed the inclusion of Greene King. The majority concluded that NERAX is a beer venture, not a political entity. CAMRA in the UK is a political advocacy organization; here in the US NERAX is strictly about the beer.

So we expect to have Greene King IPA and Old Speckeled Hen at the festival. I personally favored including the beers. NERAX is too small to play politics; we’re about the beer. Still, not an easy call.

On a more practical note, I had a pint of the cask version of Old Speckled Hen in Boston at Bukowski Boston last Friday. Bukowski Boston continues to be a fabulous source of cask ale in the Boston area, more power to them. They are a reliable source of cask ale in Boston, and more power to them!

Alas, the pint of Speckeled Hen I had was a bit tired. Nothing dramatically wrong with it, pleasant really, but tired nonetheless. It still was better than the alternatives.

Well, come on down to NERAX and test politics vs beer. I’ve enjoyed some pretty acceptable pints of Greene King Cask IPA. Some of my colleagues would disagree. Come see what you think.

Amber and I stopped at Novare Res last night for a couple of beers after dinner. It was surprisingly quiet for 8:00 on a Friday night; I’m sure the frigid temperatures downtown had something to do with that. We found a seat near the bar and noticed owner Eric Michaud sitting nearby. I waved and he came over to say hello. I asked for a recommendation (actually, more of a confirmation that the De Struisse I was eying was worth it), and he said “absolutely, but try the Harvey’s Christmas Ale on cask first.” I did, and he went and grabbed himself a Caricole and a glass and sat and chatted.

The conversation started with the merits of the excellent Christmas Ale (it compares favorably with the 2006 Stille Nacht I had at Ebenezer’s this past August), and moved to some exciting news about a yet-to-be-announced Harviestoun event. If you’ve had Ola Dubh 30, stay tuned to novareresbiercafe.com for an announcement of something you won’t want to miss.

After some gentle prodding, Eric also opened up about some of stouts he’ll be pouring in the next few weeks for the 12 Stouts After Christmas Stout Fest. In addition to some of the stouts you’d expect him to have, such as Rogue Chocolate Stout and Victory Storm King, check out some of the other aces he has up his sleeve:

• Ellezelloise Hercule Stout
• Van den Bossche Buffalo Belgian Stout
• Allagash Black aged in a bourbon barrel
• Marshall Wharf Chaos Chaos R.I.S. (on cask!) – Eric was especially excited about this one
• Oyster Stout – didn’t catch the brewer on this one, but apparently there are real oysters added to the boil in this one
• Rogue Shakespeare (on nitrogen)
• High & Mighty
• North Coast Old Rasputin R.I.S.
• Dogfish Head Chicory Stout

Don’t Miss These

So, getting back to the beers I had last night, both the Harvey’s Christmas Ale and the De Struise Tsjeeses are undoubtedly worth seeking out. The cask of Harvey’s Christmas, especially, won’t last long, so get down to Exchange St. this afternoon before it’s all gone.

D. L. Geary Brewing Company will debut re-introduce its Wee Heavy Scottish Ale tonight at Great Lost Bear. Details are sparse, and the Geary website doesn’t even have the beer listed yet, but this is a good time of year for Scottish ale, so I’m intrigued. I assume there will be prizes and specials, but you’ll have to head down to Forest Ave. to find out for yourself. There’s a good chance I will.

Notice the above label appears to be box art, and it says “Four 12 oz. Bottles.” Something tells me this one is a limited release, and might be a little stronger than the average Geary offering. I’ll be keeping an eye out at RSVP for this one, too.