New South Brewing to start canning

From my new column in the Weekly Surge:

Soon, you’ll be able to purchase a six-pack of New South Brewing Co.’s White Ale in area grocery stores.

You can already buy the Myrtle Beach microbrewery’s beers at local bars and restaurants. New South has been producing kegs of several types of beer for 10 years.

But now a canning machine is primed and ready to go, said owner Dave Epstein, who has been finalizing the art work and labeling for his cans.

“We’re still on track for late next month or early April,” Epstein said. That’s to start canning. The famous White Ale – the microbrewery’s “flagship” brew – should appear in local package stores and grocers by May, maybe late April.

Beer distributors, rather than New South, will make the sales pitches for the White Ale to individual stores and chains, so Epstein doesn’t yet know for certain where you’ll be able to buy his beer. But those distributors have long-standing relationships with area retailers.

“Anywhere you find a good selection of beer, hopefully you’ll find us,” Epstein said, adding that local golf courses are also a target market.

New South will start with ringed six-packs and White Ale, but of course, Epstein plans for more.

If the microbrewery can keep up with demand during the summer months, and if everything runs smoothly, Epstein will add a second beer in the fall. Twelve-pack cartons are a possibility, eventually.

The price for that locally brewed six-pack? That’s yet to be announced. Epstein noted that the baseline price for most microbrews is $8 for a sixer. Whatever you pay at the checkout counter, Epstein said it will be competitive, on the lower end of the microbrew price scale.

Big anniversary party at Liberty Steakhouse & Brewery this Tuesday, on Election Day

Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery (at Broadway at the Beach here in Myrtle Beach) will celebrate its 13th anniversary this coming Tuesday, on Election Day.

Brewer Eric Lamb is planning to tap the Porter, and Liberty will have 2-for-1 meal deals available -- the restaurant's own "economic bailout."

Definitive review of Myrtle Beach's beer now online

Hey folks -- my Weekly Surge cover story about Myrtle Beach's locally brewed beer was published on May 29, but the newspaper's Web site didn't seem to have a permalink for story until recently. Now, at last, you can find it here. Note that at the bottom of the main article, there are links for two related stories that ran with the same package.

The main players are:

1. The microbrewery New South Brewing Co. in Myrtle Beach;

2. The brewpub Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery at Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach;

3. The brewpub Quigley's Plate and Pint in Pawleys Island;

4. The new Gordon Biersch brewpub at The Market Common on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base.

Old Dominion Brew Pub, Ashburn, VA; sampling five beers at Old Dominion Brew Pub

Live, from Chantilly, Va., I'm filing a review of Old Dominion Brew Pub in Ashburn, Va., for blog watchers as well as readers of my Beerman column in the Weekly Surge of Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Tucked away in an office park, Old Dominion Brew Pub at 44633 Guilford Drive, Ashburn, Va., gave me a sampler flight of these beers ($6.25):

Beach House Pils: The yellow-golden sunshine of this brew is intense in the best way a pilsner can be. It hits with a ton of taste, especially citrus-like flavors, and a crisp finish.

Dominion Lager: I tasted a touch of roasted malt, subtle yet still more than I usually get in a lager.

Dominion Ale: A solid ale, amber in color, advertised as the product of two-row pale, caramel, and black malts, and Kent Golding hops.

Dominion Pale Ale: This is a regular pale ale, but I've tasted India Pale Ales this good and hoppy. Outstanding, more punch than a typical pale ale, with hints of grapefruit and a dry finish.

I also tried a full pint Dominion Oak Barrel Stout: Wow. This might be my favorite stout, ever. I wondered what was taking so long for the barkeep to bring my pint of the stout when I realized that the beer was slowly pouring into the pint glass while I waited. How slow? I watched another pull of a stout, as the pint glass stood on another, inverted pint glass and the stream slowly went down the side of the glass. I started counting when the glass was about a fifth full. I estimated about a full minute for the pour. Nice.

The head was a dark beige, almost with a faint tint of orange to the color.

As advertised, the flavors were of vanilla and bourbon. I didn't find a bit of bitterness in it. In fact, Dominion Oak Barrel Stout was sweet and yummy. The body was medium, not as heavy as it could have been.

One important note:

Today, I spent approximately three hours trying to find the Old Dominion Brew Pub in Ashburn. It's tucked away -- quite literally -- in an office park.

In fact, overcoming my maleness, I asked for directions not once, not twice, but three times, and I still couldn't find the damn thing. Then, duh, I called the brew pub's phone number, and found a recorded message with helpful, clear, straightforward directions.

-Colin Foote Burch

Best locally brewed beers in the Myrtle Beach area

Hey folks -- my cover story in the Weekly Surge will be available at this link for about three more days. Check out my picks from Myrtle Beach / Pawleys Island microbreweries and brewpubs. If you are a beer drinker who lives in the greater Myrtle Beach area, or if you are planning a visit, this article is a must-read if you want to make the most of your beer-drinking dollar.

Thomas Creek Brewing Co. is growing, upgrading

Ten-year-old Thomas Creek Brewing Co. in Greenville, S.C., is running through an amazing expansion as we speak.

Within the last year, co-owner Tom Davis said, he added four new fermentation tanks with the capacity of 6,000 barrels of beer. He upgraded the brewery's bottling equipment within the past four months, moving its capacity from 18 bottles per minute to 49 bottles per minute.

Part of the expansion is due to contract work. Thomas Creek is brewing for Orange Blossom Pilsner out of Florida.

But the microbrewery has plenty going on with its own label - a logo change, for one thing, and a new graphic design for packaging. The first beer with the new logo and design went out Thomas Creek's door about four weeks ago. New t-shirts arrived at the brewery three weeks ago, and logo glasses arrived earlier this week.

Davis has also made small changes in the flavor profiles of his beers, but "nothing major," he said. He also decided to drop his multi-grain beer, but he has added an India pale ale and a porter.

Davis said his Up the Creek Extreme IPA - a 12-percent beer, separate from his standard IPA - will be released either in a four-pack or in a special corked bottle, tentatively in the fall.

Also for autumn, Thomas Creek is planning a "Trail Mix" variety 12-pack of the brewery's beers.

"Ten years," Davis said. "Slowly, slowly growing for ten years. Now we've reached what my father calls the tipping point." His father, Bill Davis, is co-owner.

For more information on Thomas Creek, visit www.thomascreekbeer.com.

New TBonz summer seasonal gets a name

New South Brewing Co.'s new summer seasonal for TBonz Gill & Grill restaurants is...

AMBER WAVES SUMMER ALE.

This brew will be amber colored and slightly malty with a mild hop character, according to the TBonz Mug Club Newsletter.

Look for it on-tap Friday, May 9.

cheers,

Colin

A visit to Foothills Brewing in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

After a hike around Pilot Mountain, why not drink some Pilot Mountain Pale Ale?

I went to Foothills Brewing at 638 West Fourth Street in Winston-Salem, N.C., after spending most of Sunday at Pilot Mountain State Park with two of my daughters.

Of course I ordered the Foothills Brewing sampler, which included six of the microbrewery's standards in 10-ounce glasses for $7.99. The server offered me the option of adding the seasonal brew to the sampler for $1, so I did.

Here are my notes:

Salem Gold: This ale was the lightest offering. It had a pronounced wheat flavor and a crisp, clean finish.

Pilot Mountain Pale Ale: A swallow of this gave me one of the cleanest finished I've had from a pale ale. Definite hints of grapefruit and lemonade.

Torch Pilsner: Not strong. Complete and pleasant. I thought it had a slightly lighter body than other pilsners, but that's probably just me.

Hoppyum IPA: As advertised, Hoppyum IPA has "citrusy hops." It is strongly hopped but not extremely hopped like some IPAs these days. Definite presense of grapefruit. Maybe some orange peel in the aftertaste.

Rainbow Trout ESB: Accessible and very drinkable, with a touch of tartness. Yet I thought it didn't have quite as much traditional ESB character in its flavor. I couldn't put my finger on it. It definitely had a hint of roasted-nut in the finish; the sampler placemat had said "nutty chocolate finish." I enjoyed it.

Hurricane Hefeweizen: This seasonal was clean and dry -- perhaps even a bit drier than other hefeweizens I have tried. I thought I tasted a touch of bubblegum in the yeast. No hints of banana, which some hefeweizens have.

Total Eclipse Stout: This was an amazing stout. It's the closest thing to cold coffee I've ever tasted in a beer. If you've had high-quality coffees before, you'll know that some have a rich, almost liqueur-like touch to them. That's what this is like. The richness had me drinking more; the robust, coffee-like bitterness had me looking for the sugar!

Most accessible: Salem Gold, Torch Pilsner, Rainbow Trout ESB

Biggest surprise: Total Eclipse Stout

Visit Foothills Brewing online at http://www.foothillsbrewing.com/. The site includes a list of other eateries in the Carolinas that serve Foothills Brewing beers.

-Colin Foote Burch

Interview with co-founder of Gordon Biersch; news from the new Gordon Biersch location, now opened in Myrtle Beach, SC

My recent conversation with Dan Gordon, co-founder of Gordon Biersch, uncovered news about the company's expansion plans. The following is from my column in the Weekly Surge in Myrtle Beach, SC:

Dan Gordon of San Jose, Calif., insists that each server passes a test on the beers at his Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants.

"We're going to do some beer education," said Gordon, co-founder of the Gordon Biersch chain, referring to the role servers will play in explaining his micro-brewed beer to local customers. "A lot of people think microbrews are bitter and undrinkable, and this is going to prove them wrong."

I was already convinced. For about an hour, we had been sitting in the brand-new Gordon Biersch at The Market Common on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base. The restaurant-brewery was preparing to open today (April 3). Several folks were already dining, and the restaurant was fully staffed.

Gordon walked me through five year-round beers and a seasonal brew. With six 0.4-liter glasses across the table, we started on my right with the Golden Export lager, which Gordon described as "the type of beer you'll find in a German biergarten." It was light in body but smooth instead of watery.

Next, the dry, auburn Marzen, a Bavarian lager which Gordon called his "flagship," followed by Czech Lager, a Bohemian-style Pilsner, made with Noble Hops, which provide a "pinpoint bitterness" to the flavor - a good bitterness, welcome in beer.

The Schwarzbier was lighter in body and easier on the palate than its nearly-black color would have suggested.

The Maiboch seasonal was a fairly accurate interpretation of springtime, with subtle fruit tones and crisp hops and yeasts. It was unfiltered, meaning the yeasts were left in.

The also-unfiltered Hefeweizen was a different experience altogether. Gordon said beer drinkers either love it or hate it, because the yeasts naturally yield hints of bubblegum and banana.

My personal favorites? The Czech Lager and the Maiboch. But any of these beers would be great at any time. All are made according to the Reinheitsgebot, the strict 1516 German Purity Law. That quality, to my tastes, made the biggest difference in the overall clearness, cleanness, and smoothness of these beers.

(The prices run $4.75 for a half-liter, $4 for a 0.4-liter, with a dollar off during happy hour, which runs 4-6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, with the same special available 10 p.m.-close Sunday through Thursday.)

beer food

Gordon also brought out his favorite dishes from the menu for sampling, not that he, or anyone else, could eat it all in one sitting.

For appetizers, Gordon Biersch Garlic Fries and Southwest Egg Rolls with roasted jalapeno ranch dipping sauce; then, Seafood Cobb Salad with shrimp and lump crab; Cajun Pasta with Andouille sausage, grilled chicken and shrimp; Gorgonzola Bone-In Ribeye, with Gorgonzola-buttered steak leaning on a mountain of garlic mashed potatoes; and Warm Apple Bread Pudding with vanilla ice cream and sticky bun caramel sauce.

I became convinced the restaurant's brain trust put as much thought into the food as it did the beer.

expanding empire

The Market Common location is the 26th Gordon Biersch. Four weeks ago, a location opened in Kansas City, Mo. In November, Gordon plans to open in nearby Overland Park, Kan. Meanwhile, a Plano, Texas, location is due in May; Taipei, Taiwan, in June; and Annapolis, Md., in October.

Within a year, bottles of Marzen, Czech Lager, Hefeweizen, and Blond Boch - available at retailers in other parts of the country - will be distributed throughout the Southeast.

The expansion of Gordon's company, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary, was enabled by sound, long-term planning. "Nationally, the restaurant industry is down, and we're not," he said.

Gordon liked The Market Common concept because the development includes homes. "This kind of place, with the residential built in, is amazingly beneficial to us," he said



- Contact Colin Burch - the Beerman - at beerpour@yahoo.com.

Interview with co-founder of Gordon Biersch; news from new Gordon Biersch location, now opened in Myrtle Beach

My recent conversation with Dan Gordon, co-founder of Gordon Biersch, uncovered news about the company's expansion plans. The following is from my column in the Weekly Surge in Myrtle Beach, SC:

The Market Common location in Myrtle Beach, S.C., is the 26th Gordon Biersch. Four weeks ago, a location opened in Kansas City, Mo. In November, Gordon plans to open in nearby Overland Park, Kan. Meanwhile, a Plano, Texas, location is due in May; Taipei, Taiwan, in June; and Annapolis, Md., in October.

Within a year, bottles of Marzen, Czech Lager, Hefeweizen, and Blond Boch - available at retailers in other parts of the country - will be distributed throughout the Southeast.

The expansion of Gordon's company, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary, was enabled by sound, long-term planning. "Nationally, the restaurant industry is down, and we're not," he said.

Gordon liked The Market Common concept because the development includes homes. "This kind of place, with the residential built in, is amazingly beneficial to us," he said

Read the full Beerman column in the Weekly Surge.

Gordon Biersch opening soon in Myrtle Beach; an interview with the Head Brewer at the new Gordon Biersch in Myrtle Beach

Pete Velez is working on some brews that will probably make you smile.

Velez is head brewer at the local Gordon Biersch restaurant-brewery, which is scheduled to open on April 3 in The Market Common development on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base.

The Myrtle Beach location will be the first in South Carolina for Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant Group, Inc., which has 27 locations in 17 states.

And this will be the first Gordon Biersch gig for Velez, who left Capitol City Brewing Co. in the Washington, D.C., area for the job here.

The Gordon Biersch concept focuses on "upper-end casual dining," according to the company, with appetizers such as Garlic French Fries, and entrees including Sweet and Spicy Cashew Chicken Stir Fry.

And, of course, on-premise brewing. The company adheres to a German "Purity Law" for beer-making that dates back to 1516.

When Velez recently took a few minutes to tell me more about how Gordon Biersch makes and serves beer, I started looking forward to the grand opening.

First, all of the beers are made exclusively with German and Czechoslovakian ingredients, and they are all lagers, which take a little longer to brew than ales.

Gordon Biersch beers are served in half-liter glasses, although there is a smaller glass available at 0.4 liter, a difference that makes more sense when the glasses are set side-by-side, Velez said.

The prices on those glasses will be competitive with the going rates in the local market, but they haven't been finalized, he said. The Happy Hour prices at most Gordon Biersch locations are a dollar less than the regular price, he said, but those specials aren't official for Myrtle Beach yet.

Velez will offer growlers, too - a regular, half-gallon jug like Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery and Quigley's Pint and Plate offers, and possibly a more expensive, German-style jug with a flip top.

Gordon Biersch will also, probably, have a spin on the mug club, Velez said. It will be a bit more fancy and German - a stein club.

So what will be on tap when the restaurant-brewery opens? Click here to find out.

Magic Hat releases Pandora's Box

It looks like opening Pandora's Box is a pretty cool thing.

Pandora's Box, coming soon to a grocer or beer store near you, is a special package from Magic Hat Brewing Company in Burlington, Vermont.

Distributors should soon have the Pandora's Box Spring Variety 12-Pak in markets that already carry Magic Hat.

The theme of the box is totally Sixties: Day-Glo colors, dove's foot peace symbols, and the proclamation "Make Beer Not War." Everything about it screams youth and rock-and-roll.

Inside are three bottles each of the following brews, each of which I was allowed an advanced tasting:

#9, the "not quite pale ale." With the funky flower-child package of Pandora's Box, it's hard not to hear "Love Potion No. Nine" in the background. This remains a favorite. The not-quite-pale-ale factor reminds me of a Bass, but Magic Hat's brew wizards have added some subtle, unspecified flavorings, too. Try it, you won't regret it.


h I.P.A., a "highly hopped" India pale ale. This one definitely lives up to its name - the hops linger in your mouth with a peppery staying power, but it's not crazy hopped like some of the Dogfish Head offerings.


Circus Boy, "The Hefeweizen." I thought this was smoother and slightly heavier in body than most hefeweizens, but still crisp and good for warmer weather. Dang it, I had no lemon for my tasting of this one.


Odd Notion, an Irish-style red ale. This is a red ale that tastes red, almost with a cherry undercurrent. This is one of the sweeter, lighter, and more unique experiences I've had with a red ale. Much better than Killian's!

-From my column in Weekly Surge; see www.weeklysurge.com/beer.html


(For news about a.d.d, a.d.h.d., and neurofeedback, click here.)

Oktoberfest brews rule in Myrtle Beach area

Apparently, in the Myrtle Beach, S.C., area, most beer-drinkers love autumn.

Brewers at long-standing local breweries, including New South Brewing Co. and Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery, say their Oktoberfests are their best-selling seasonal beers.

Josh Quigley hopes to join the mix. He will unleash a high-gravity Oktoberfest brew Friday (Sept. 14) at his restaurant-brewery, Quigley's Plate and Pint in Pawleys Island.Quigley describes it as a "malty amber lager," smooth and slightly sweet, with about 7.5 percent alcohol by volume. (He also recently unveiled his Black River Stout, which he called a "typical dry Irish stout.")

New South's Oktoberfest gets double exposure. The hybrid of traditional Oktoberfest and American amber lager has about 5-6 percent alcohol, owner-brewer Dave Epstein said. He usually has a New South seasonal and a separate seasonal for T-Bonz Gill & Grille, for which he crafts signature beers. In the case of Oktoberfest, which Epstein and T-Bonz folks both say is their best selling seasonal, it's the same brew for both outlets.

In recent years, this would be the week Oktoberfest would show up at T-Bonz, Epstein said. This year, New South rolled out a special T-Bonz brew called Bitter Bonz Extra Special Bitter (ESB) between summer's Blonde Bombshell and autumn's Oktoberfest.

T-Bonz's folks expect Bitter Bonz to last right about until Oktoberfest goes on sale at T-Bonz locations on Sept. 20. Meanwhile, New South has already shipped a few kegs of Oktoberfest to local bars, Epstein said.

Epstein said New South might use Bitter Bonz as the basis for this year's winter seasonal at T-Bonz. He wanted to get Bitter Bonz, at 8 percent alcohol, out this summer following changes in state law that allowed more alcohol content in beer. Bitter Bonz has "gone over really well," he said. I'm not surprised. It reminded me of the outstanding English import Fuller's ESB, the original ESB.

Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery, at Broadway at the Beach, will have its Oktoberfest on tap Sept. 28, brewmeister Eric Lamb said. The amber lager, about 7 percent alcohol, is his best selling seasonal.

The late September tapping introduces a month-long Oktoberfest celebration. Each Saturday in October, Liberty will have Hans Schmidt's German Band performing (times vary, so call 626-4677 for the schedule on your preferred weekend). The big weekend Oktoberfest blow-out will be Oct. 19-21, when Liberty will feature a special menu and possibly some beer specials - still developing - along with extra performances by Hans Schmidt's German Band.