Monday, October 1, 2012

So How Was Beau's Oktoberfest 2012, Eh?

Let me put it this way:

Click here to check out
 Beau' s All Natural Brewing
Six hours in the car. Rain then sun. "Gravina!" to me "McLeod!" to him, in the hotel hallway. "Let's find Ron." Fobbing beer makes a mess. The man in the hat—Chad—arrives. "Let's hit the fest!" Cuban cigar waiting for the taxi. Killer cab ride number one. Staff—then VIP (Alan stays both). In! Get a mug and to the cask tent! "Where's the Vassar?" Ahhh, mango. Next Oktobock...and more Oktobock. Finally, Ethan shows up. I had the LCBO explained to me (but it still doesn't make sense.) "Je ne parle pas français." "Food ... must ... get ... food."  Pierogie poutine, topped with pulled pork, yes that'll do—but a little tourtière for dessert might be nice, too. The cops are cool. Hmm, let's try the Lug-Tread. Back to the hotel. Killer cab ride number two. Camp out in Alan and Craig's room. The Whale shows up and the world's greatest beer bullshit session ensues. Exhaustion sets in. Alan saws logs. Tim Horton's at 8:30 a.m. "STICK!" Anders Kissmeyer and Bill White eavesdrop during breakfast. Nothing says beer festival more than going to a hardware store. "Why are those guys sanding wood in the back of their car?" We've got some time to kill, let's play some washers in the hotel parking lot. Sorry Alan, you need to finish you're homework before you can play with the other boys. Chad dominates, but is upset by the underdog Pattinson. Home brewed spruce beer, Brett-ed Porter and St. Bernardus Abt 12—obvious choices for one-handed, hardware based throwing games. The festival awaits. The cabs are decidedly less killer than the previous night. There seems to be a few more thousand people stopping by today. The cops are really cool! I need to get some Night–Märzen. By the way, Jordan, the designs for the O-fest—and Beau's in general—is beyond some of the coolest graphics I've seen anywhere—awesome job. Bedlam breaks out because of a beer and cheese pairings. Ron nails it in his 19th century Vassar Ale presentation. Two pounds of Quebec bleu cheese and samples of Weiss O'Lantern left over, after the presentations, in the back room—'nuff said. "Ya know what we need?" "What?" "More beer." Hello, Dieu Du Ciel! Voyageur des brumes, I think I'll be seeing more of you. Interesting conversation about two words—and their very different use in the U.S. versus the U.K. Barb is apparently both single and straight—her two friends are not. Time to head out. Killer cab ride number three. "Hey, don't we have a bunch of beer back in the room?" Violent Femmes and pre-ska. "Does style matter?" "Okay, okay, Ethan it does!" Gueze, IPA and more spruce beer. "William Shat—HE'S CANADIAN!!" "Ya know what we need?" "What?" "Cuban cigars." Hey it's the gals from Grapefruit Moon in Toronto! Tim Horton's at 12:05a.m. Time to hit the hay. Alan saws more logs. Rain—but I got my' boots! "Uh, could we order, now?" What seems like three hours later, "Uh, could we get the check, now?" Back to the fairgrounds in our own cars—it's showtime! Better get one more Voyageur des brumes. Look at that line for the pub games presentation! "Has anybody seen the sixth washer?" "Okay, it's simple, throw this stick and try and knock down that stick." The girl in the red Canada shirt and her mom, apparently, already knew how to play washers. One presentation down, one to go—beer writing Q & A. Cass is not moderating. "Who reads beer blogs?" Okay, that's not so many hands in the air. I admit that I would be happy to drink any really great beer with a can of cold Spagehtti-Os—Anders is horrified. "So, who would drink beer based off a historic recipe—if it were presented that way?" It seems the entire crowd would. Ron is happy about this. Hops anyone, hops? Done, and done. See ya' Chad, see ya' Ethan! "Alan—we'll see you on the internet." "Hey Steve, check this out—historic New York hops!" "Ron, do you want to head to the brewery and grab some beer for the road?" Rain and more rain. Six hours in the car.

That won't make any sense to 99.99% of you, but it sure will to two Americans, a Canadian and a Brit living in the Netherlands. Also, big thanks to Steve Beauchesne for the invite and of course to Alan for coordinating the attack. Last thing, if you make it up to Ontario—get yourself to Beau's All Natural Brewing, or at the very least get a bottle to take back across the border! 

8 comments:

  1. I would certainly be interested to hear more about this "Vassar Ale" presentation and/or about these 'mango' tasting (cluster) hops, I presume.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Here's the low down on the Vassar Ale: Matthew Vassar's family was in the brewing biz (that's how he got the money to open the college.) The Vassar family had neighbors who grew and malted barley—the Van Kleeks. When the American Revolution broke out, a contingent of British loyalist Van Kleeks, left Poughkeepsie for southern Ontario. They settled in what is now Vankleek Hill, Ontario—the current location of Beau's All Natural Brewing and home of Beau's Oktoberfest. Chad Fust, who works at Vassar, contacted the Albany Ale Project with copies of Vassar's brewing records. Ron Pattinson translated them, and Beau's—who was totally psyched about the Van Kleek/Vankleek Hill connection made a 6.5ABV brew from Canadian pale malt and Ivanhoe (decedents of Cluster) hops. Although, I did give Steve Beauchesne (the founder of Beau's) a big ol' bag of Dieter Ghering's NY heritage Clusters. Maybe they'll do a Vassar II, someday!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I still never got to try the Vassar, looked for it all day. Luckily I have a bottle getting delivered to my house ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had it on cask, but I grabbed a bottle at the brewery before heading back south o' the border.

      Delete
  4. Will, you're welcome to a copy of my presentation script. Bit incoherent and rambling, but full of stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ron, I would very much appreciate that. Thanks.

      Delete
    2. Will, you can find my email address over on my website:

      http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/

      Delete