Welcome welcome to another episode of Over a Pint. This one wt Allagash founder, Rob Tod while he was in town for the Flying Saucer’s East Coast Big Beer Week back in April (yes, we are still playing catch up…)

Rob was in town slinging the Curieux, the Black, the Four and the Odyssey, a dark wheat beer aged a year in stainless steal/oak.

Very nice.

We were drinking the Curieux, a barrel aged trippel. Rob explains the creation of the Curieux was a happy accident as some of their strong cork bottles got held up in customs coming over seas and they didn’t have anywhere to put their latest batch of trippel but some Jim Beam bourbon barrels they recently acquired.

Rob explained how Allagash came about being an American brewery focused on Belgian style beers. He said when he was working at Otter Creek he and the other employees would bring in beers to share and he became inspired by the belgian style. He said he decided to open Allagash and focus on belgian style beers in the mid 1990s because very few American breweries were making those styles. He was impressed by the various styles and also the experimentation and ingenuity of the belgian brewers and wanted to capture that same spirit at Allagash.

Much thanks to Sam at Flying Saucer for opening up the cooler for us to shoot in as it was super packed and loud for the East Coast Big Beer Week (Allagash and Dogfish Head rarities tapped every night for a week).

We’re drinking the Curieux in the video, so if you can, crack open a cold one and join us over a pint.

Enjoy!

Yowza.

No good reason this took so long to get up. Painting, packing, moving, jobing, unpacking, brewing, etc-ing.,

Welcome welcome to part two of Knockin’ em Back at Billy’s on Burnet, a podcast. Check out Part One here.

It’s still JIB, Shawn, myself, and our guest comedian/old roommate Bryan Gutmann!

Good stuff.

We hit up the beer news, lots of it out dated at this point. We talk about the Dogfish Head/Alamo Drafthouse Lakecreek Off-Centered Film Fest (coverage of this to come…), the Flying Saucer East Coast Big Beer Week (also coverage to come…), we talk about Ranger Creek announcing that cicerone Rob Landerman of Flying Saucer being their future brewer, the news that Draught House plans on submitting some beers to the Great American Beer Festival for 2010, also we discuss the old news that Real Ale will be bottling some of their barrel aged experimental beers (Mysterium Verum) in 750 ml bottles. We get over excited about this as I ran into some Real Ale buddies the other night and they said it may not be in the so near future.

We chat about our recent go-to beers and “special” beers, Brews-you’re-intos…

• Chris- Dale’s Pale Ale/Draught House Red Planet Cask
• Shawn- Deschutes Mirror Pond/Big Sky from Missoula Montana
• JIB- Real Ale Full Moon Pale Rye Ale/…
• Bryan- Yellow Tail Cabernet/stiff drinks/homebrew via Shawn and me/bottle in front of him

Also, this is very important: we discuss the underage drinking being portrayed in the 1985 film Teen Wolf. Yikes, talk about irresponsible film making…

We continue on with lots of bullshitting and drinking. We do the Twout-Outs and discuss Bryan’s upcoming Internet sitcom podcast, “Making It.” FUN! It should debut here.

Also, what’s up with the dead mom in Full House? And how is Joey related to the family?

Not for grandmas, children, republicans, sunday school teachers, boy scouts, the PC, or the easily offended…

There’s a good story in there about a dirty word that snuck its way onto the site design.

This one ranks in at Explicit Content LEVEL ORANGE.

Huge thanks to Alex and Billy of Billy’s Burgers for sponsoring the podcast this “month”. Also thanks to Bryan for coming out and drinking wt us.

Sorry, no new photos this time, Shawn’s in China.

Enjoy!

Audio

Direct link to the mp3 HERE

Subscribe to the Podcast

American Craft Beer Week is fast approaching. May 17- May 23. Yup. If you read this guy, you already knew that.

This post is where we will list all ACBW 2010 ATX events. Watch it get updated as more events approach.

AUSTIN EVENTS:

DRAUGHT HOUSE

DRAUGHT HOUSE
Mon.- Come out and sample New Belgian beer for free, from 5-8pm, and receive a glass with beer purchase. We will also be raffling off sweet New Belgium cruiser.

Tues.- Sample Live Oak beer for free, 5-8pm, and receive a glass with beer purchase. Meet the brewers.

Wed.- Sample Deschutes beer for free, 5-8pm, receive a glass with beer purchase, other shwag too.

Thurs.- Sample North Coast Beer for free, 5-8pm, get an Old Rasputin glass with beer, meet Tom Allen, one of the owners of the brewery. Tapping of Draught House Whiskey Century.

Fri.- Sample Brooklyn beer for free, 5-8pm, receive a glass with pint purchase, also a quiz with prizes. Tapping of a 2007 keg of Brooklyn Chocolate Stout.

Sat.- Sample Real Ale beer for free, 5-8pm, receive a glass with beer purchase. Tapping of Highlander barrel aged Real Heavy.

Sunday- Beer and Cheese Tasting done in partnership with Antonelli’s Cheese Shop. This is a ticketed event, which will be held from 1pm-3pm. A limited number of tickets will be for sale at the Draught House an Antonelli’s for $45. Below are the details of the pairing-

Live Oak Hefeweizen (TX) w/ Fresh Chevre (Pure Luck – TX)
Brooklyn Lager (NY) w/ Lincoln Log (Zingerman’s Creamery – MI)
Draught House Bombay IPA (TX) w/ Oma (von Trapp Farmstead – VT)
North Coast Red Seal (CA) w/ Vermont Ayr (Crawford Family Farm – VT)
Ommegang Hennepin (NY) w/ Ossau Iraty (France)
New Belgium Eric’s Sour Peach Ale (CO) w/ SarVecchio Parmesan (Sartori – WI)
Real Ale Devil’s Backbone (TX) w/ Marieka Gouda Aged (Holland’s Family Farm – WI)
(512) Pecan Porter (TX) w/ Barely Buzzed (Beehive Cheese Co – UT)
Deschutes Jubel 2010 (OR) w/ Caveman Blue (Rogue Creamery – OR)
Bread and fruit will accompany the pairings.

Austin Flying Saucer

Austin Flying Saucer

UPDATE

Mon.- Harpoon Brewery Special Tapping @ 7PM 100 Barrel Oyster Stout Glass Giveaway UFO.

Tues.- Colorado Craft Featuring the Beers of Avery, Lefthand, and Ska.

Wed.- Sierra Nevada Sierra Fritz and Ken 30 Series Sierra Nevada Imperial Tulip Glass Sierra Southern Hemisphere Harvest Glass Night Buy the beer, keep the glass

Starts at 7PM and supplies are limited So get here early!

Thurs.- Brooklyn Brewery Rare Beer 2007 Black Chocolate Stout Tapping at 7pm Get here early, When it’s gone, it’s gone…

Fri.- Breckenridge Special Tapping Barrel aged Summer Bright Glass giveaway Brewer’s Table.

Sat.- North Coast Special tapping Brewer’s Table with Tom Allen Glass Giveaway Open at 11am.

Sunday- Texas Brewers Meet and Greet Reps from local brweries Special tappings Giveaways Cheap TX Pints!! All Draught Beers from the Lone Star State $3.00 (512) Live Oak Real Ale Independence Southern Star St. Arnold’s Shiner

American Craft Beer Week featuring the beers of Harpoon, Brooklyn, Sierra Nevada, Ska, Breckenridge, New Belgium, and local Texas Breweries.
We will be tapping a different Limited Release
beers every night at 7PM all week long.
Come by any evening for a Brewer’s Table from 6PM – 9PM

Ginger Man

Gingerman
“Gingerman will have Real Ale casks on all week and Real Ale flights available on Tues. the 18th.”

- Real Ale Facebook

Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar

Alamo Drafthouse

“Alamo Draft House theater on S. Lamar will have “The Devil’s Share” (barrel-aged Devil’s Backbone) on tap this week”

OUTSIDE AUSTIN:

Freetail Brewing Co

San Antonio, TX
www.freetailbrewing.com
210-395-4974

Description: May 17: Craft Beer Week Kicks off with our Spring Beer Dinner. $45 + tax & gratuity. Tickets on sale May 1 May 18:Craft Beer Week Recession Buster. Pint night drops to $2/pint for ONE DAY ONLY! May 19: Release of Solera III May 20: Barrel Aged La Muerta keg release. Only 5 gallons, so get here early. Keg tapped at 6pm. May 21: Craft Beard Week. Start growing those funky beards now – Jason and John Lee will judge and the best beard will win a $50 Freetail gift card (ladies, you can participate too – make a fake beard!) May 22: Craft Beer Week Battle of Wits IV. Chris Taylor Band live on the patio 8-11pm.

Dancing Bear Pub

Waco, TX
Dancing Bear Pub
254-753-0025

Description: The Dancing Bear Pub’s Texas Craft Beer Festival The Dancing Bear Pub is presenting our First Annual Texas Craft Beer Festival to celebrate American Craft Beer Week Saturday, May 22nd. Come join the festivities from 5 pm to 1 am at 1117 Speight Ave. Waco, Texas. American Craft Beer Week is celebrated throughout the country from May 17-23. The “Mother of All Beer Weeks” recognizes small and independent craft brewers. It’s a fantastic opportunity to emphasize craft beer, which we Texans love. The Dancing Bear Pub will highlight seven Texas Craft Breweries with the tasting event on our beer garden. (512) Brewing Company, Live Oak Brewing Company, Saint Arnold Brewing Company, Shiner, Southern Star Brewing Company, Rahr & Sons Brewing Company and Real Ale Brewing Company. We will have live music and food is available from Terry and Jo’s Food for Thought. This event will take the place of our monthly Beer Tasting. Tickets will be $30 per person. This includes the tasting and a chance to win swag. The Dancing Bear Pub will donate half of the proceeds to Fuzzy Friends Rescue.

Fredericksburg Brewing Co.

Fredericksburg, TX
www.yourbrewery.com
830-997-1646

Description: We will have a small batch of our Garrison Brothers Bourbon barrel aged stout on tap that week. Along with a small brewery tour on Friday the 21st at 10a.m. We will also be having beer specials through out the week!! So be sure to come by and sign our Declaration of Beer Independence!!!

Check back here for updates…

Welcome welcome welcome to Over a Pint, the double deuce.

On this, our score and two, outing for Over a Pint, we sit down and share some nice nice beer with Sam Wynne and Rob Landerman of the Flying Saucer. These two fine gentlemen make up 50% of the living Certified Cicerones in Texas (not implying that there used to be more than four and some died, that’s just how it came out).

If you don’t know, a “Cicerone” is to beer as “sommelier” is to wine. Basically, these guys know their shit.

These guys are experts at food pairing, serving, glassware, aging, draft systems, style knowledge, history, brewing knowledge, and all things beer A to Z (I stole that last bit from Rob).

Ray Daniels, the cicerone Gandalf, put together the program in 2008. Previous to creating the Cicerone program, he was/is a professor at the Siebel Institute and is the author of several beer and brewing related books.

From the horses’ mouth:

Anyone can call themselves an expert on beer. But when consumers want great beer they need help from a server who really knows beer flavors, styles and brands. They also want to buy from a place that understands proper storage and serving so the beer they drink will be of the highest quality. Too often great beer is harmed by improper service practices.

In the wine world, the word “sommelier” designates those with proven expertise in selecting, acquiring and serving fine wine. Lately some beer servers have adopted the title “beer sommelier” to tie into the credibility of the wine world.  But anyone can call themselves a beer sommelier regardless of knowledge or experience.  And while some will be highly skilled, the only way to demonstrate that objectively is through independent testing of knowledge and tasting ability. The Cicerone Certification Program offers that independent assessment and certification so that industry professionals—as well as consumers—can be sure of the knowledge and skills possessed by current and prospective beer servers.

For more info, there is a great interview with Ray here.

Rob and Sam are currently “flexing their Cicerone muscle” at the Flying Saucer by planning beer tastings with food pairings (much like the one here) and with their regular “Randall” concoctions. As mentioned in the video, sounds like they have some cool stuff coming up.

Rob also flexed some “Cicerone muscle” on the second recording of the Knockin Em Back podcast.

Mainly, APPRECIATE THIS. These guys learned a lot and are very valuable resources and additions to our local beer community. And they are just plain nice guys, too.

In the video Sam cracked open a nice bottle of Lost Abbey Devotion, a Belgian Pale. If you have one you re ready to open (don’t sit on that shit too long) join us Over a Pint.

Sorry for the lack of photos. The original photographs we took got lost. Sorry, Sam and Rob for making you guys pose for some.

Part two at Thunderbird Coffee Manor. Check out part one here.

Listen in as JIB, Josh (little beard/@itzsprad), Aaron (CraftAustin/@elmachuca), and myself finishing up our beers and talking about more stuff.

Enthralling content, believe me.

We were joined by recent Statesman Social Media Award winner, Cindy Royal. She was my New Media professor at Texas State. She had some good stuff to say about social media, using it in journalism, and some cool sxsw stuff.

Check out her music blog On That Note.

It was great to run into her.

We also talk about Aaron’s recent plate winning at Flying Saucer… and why he didn’t invite any of us out to share in his celebration. Chump.

We talk about the next bike pub crawl and why they are awesome. More info on that soon.

The audio is off in this one. We tried to have Shawn call in and put him on speaker phone, but it didn’t work, and somehow I ended up turning up the reverb on my mic. Annoying, I know.

We will be recording the second Thunderbird sponsored podcast some point this week.

Listen to this episode for info on how to WIN A $25 THUNDERBIRD COFFEE GIFT CARD LIVE AS WE RECORD THE NEXT EPISODE.

Follow us on TWITTER for info on when and where to go and what to do to win.

FYI, this episode isn’t as crusty as the others, but still not alright to share with children.

Our apologies for the less than perfect audio levels (we’re recording at a bar while drinking beer, cut us some slack) and also sorry for talking about Twitter so much… we have no excuse for being so pathetic.

Anyways…

Much thanks to Chris and Ryan of Thunderbird for the beer and the support (emotional and otherwise).

Thunderbird, where you come with full intentions to be productive but you just end up hanging out and drinking beer, and that’s OK.

Cheers!

Audio

Direct link to the mp3 HERE

Subscribe to the Podcast

More photos from that night.

Alright. I was traveling last week, thus the tardiness of this post.

Also, it’s our first Sunday post I think.

Welcome to part two of Knocking ‘em Back at Flying Saucer. Check out part one here.

In this second part, we cover a lot of ground and try our hand at a NEW BREWERY ROUND UP!

It was tedious (which is a good thing because there are so many new breweries on the block!).

We recently visited with the brothers Jester King and gave a recap on them. Had a small update on Hops and Grain. Talked a bit about Thirsty Planet (this was prior to our visit wt them), South Austin Brewing Co, Orf Brewing, Moonlight Tower Brewing, Barbed Wire Brewing, Black Star Co-op, Flix Brewhouse, and Ranger Creek Brewing & Distilling.

Phew! Just typing all that up got me worn out all over again.

We chatted a bit about Deschute’s, Leonardo DiCaprio, Salt Lick, and some other stuff I can’t recall.

Again, huge thanks to Tim from the Get Dressed Show for sitting in and producing this episode and to Flying Saucer for sponsoring.

Remember, this podcast is not suitable for pregnant women, people who have had heart problems, high blood pressure, a history of stroke, or generally live in the 1950s.

Enjoy!

Direct link to the mp3 HERE.

We plan to record a few this month about and during SXSW… because that’s a good key word to put on your blog for more traffic.

Hmm. So we decided it was a good idea to do this again.

In our defense, we met this guy we don’t know who said he heard the first Knocking ‘em Back podcast… no word if he liked it. BUT that he heard it was all we needed to do a second one.

Thanks to Flying Saucer, our sponsor, and to Rob, Knocking ‘em Back’s resident Cicerone, for having us out, serving us beers, foods, giving us a table, an electric outlet, and professional beer opinions (look out for an Over a Pint featuring the Cicerones Rob & Sam).

Also, huge thanks to Tim from the Get Dressed Show for sitting in and producing this episode (notice how much better it sounds than the last? Don’t get used to it. Tim has invested some $$$ into his recording setup. We spend our $$$ on beers…)

Tim, JIB, Shawn, Josh, and I sat down, drank some beers (Tim had a Lone Star), talked about some local news including the Saint Arnold pub crawl, the Beer Connoisseur party at Independence Brewery, the (512) Brewing 2X Pecan Porter bottle release, and the TX debut of the Stone Sublimely Self Righteous.

And guess what. Rob broke some news on the podcast.

Beans were spilled revealing that FLYING SAUCER AUSTIN GOT A CASE OF THE (512) 2X PECAN PORTER.

Listen for more details.

We had a lot to talk about and not much I felt the world could live without, so instead of editing it down to ~30 minutes, I cut it in half. Look for Knocking ‘em Back at Flying Saucer EP 2.2 next week.

Again, this podcast is not suitable for toddlers, moms, baptists, grandmas, or Rush Limbaugh, so listen in headphones or with trusted friends.

Enjoy!

Direct link to the mp3 HERE.

Hmm. We forgot to bring a camera again. Shawn got a new fancy camera. Maybe he’ll bring it out and we’ll get some photos next time.

Flying Saucer had us out for a North Coast food pairing with North Coast co-founder Tom Allen the other day.

It was pretty swanky. Sam and Rob flexed their cicerone muscles and put together a very interesting seafood pairing for the beers.

As a journalistic disclaimer, Flying Saucer was very gracious and comped our tickets. With that said, this was a great event. Allen was on hand and after a brief North Coast history, he walked us through the tasting. It was  very educational [read: my non-beer drinking wife was finishing more than half of each taster, taking notes, and walked away with a new found appreciation and affinity for belgian style ales].

Allen was kind enough to give us a few minutes for a video after the event and informed us that North Coast is working on landing their Acme Pale and Acme IPA series in Texas soon (hurrah!)

Here are the pairings:

Scrimshaw Pilsner (Pilsner Style Ale)

w/ Grilled Brined Shrimp with Tomatillo & Avocado Salsa

Pranqster (Belgian Style Golden Ale)

w/ Fire-and-Ice Melon Soup

Old Rasputin (Russian Imperial Stout)

w/ Fresh Oyster on the Half Shell w/ Shallot Vinegar Drizzle

Le Merle (Belgian Style Saison)

w/ Ahi Tuna Ceviche with Mango and Avocado

Brother Thelonious (Belgian Style Abbey Ale)

w/ Texas Pecan Pie

Personal favorite pairings included the Ahi Tuna Ceviche with the Le Merle and the Brother Thelonious with the pecan pie. The oysters with the Old Rasputin were surprisingly good, but not exactly my cup of tea (wasn’t such a fan of the shallot/vinegar drizzle).

With two of Texas’ four (this was the count last I heard) cicerones on staff, hopefully Flying Saucer will do similar pairing events in the future.

Our swanky new video intro courtesy of the gentelman Adam Gutierrez.

So we’re kicking around the idea of doing a bi-monthly Podcast just for fun.

Here’s the logic:

We go out a lot, we drink, we talk about local beer stuff, the more we drink the better our conversations get and they often draw in random participants. We like, it so we thought others might like it too (can I sound anymore conceited?)

Also, it’s easy content.

This first episode was recorded 2-7-10 at Flying Saucer with Chris, JIB, Shawn, and Josh on the mics. We’re still figuring out the format, so forgive this one being a little rough, but don’t expect them to get much slicker, either. We only had two mics and tried to mix it via a Peavy PA down into Garageband… so it doesn’t sound too pretty, but it’s not bad (also, we were in a bar… drinking beers.)

We don’t get too explicit, but maybe listen via headphones if your mom is around…

Thanks to Flying Saucer for hosting us. We’ll be recording our next Podcast there on Sunday, 2-21 at 9pm if you want to come out and join, and if you listen more than half way through, we announce a small contest in which we’ll give away a $25 Flying Saucer GC “live” during our next recording.

Again, this is not content or for serious, just for fun. It’s better than sitting in traffic in silence.

Enjoy!

Direct link to the mp3 HERE.

We’re currently submitting the feed to the iTunes store so it should be up on iTunes shortly.

Also, maybe we’ll remember to bring a camera along next time and have some photos… or at least a better logo.

Last month we went on our second bike pub crawl. We rode, we drank, and then we repeated. Several times.

Here’s some photos from the night.

If you think this might be some action you wanna get in on, keep checkin the site and we’ll post info about another one soon (hopefully at a time when just the thought of biking won’t make us cold…)

Muchos Gracias to Crown&Anchor, Draught House, Flying Saucer, and Billy’s on Burnet for fueling us with a wide variety of great brews all evening. And also a big thanks to ATXBS.com for getting the word out (and thus supplying a good percentage of the riders)

Thanks to everyone who came out, we’ve got another one up our sleeve soon.