Tomorrow: Downtown Sumter Microbrew Festival

Get info here and also here.

A visit to Capital Ale House in Richmond, Va.; a date with Legend Brown Ale

I stopped at Capital Ale House in downtown Richmond, Va., during a break from my rocket ride down Interstate 95 yesterday. The barkeep said the only locally brewed beer on tap was Legend Brown Ale, but of course several other local and regional brews -- along with dozens more -- were available behind six doors of coolers that were packed with bottles.

Legend Brewing Co.'s Brown Ale felt and tasted just about perfect. It was sweet with just enough hops to keep it honest. The medium-light body served both sip-ability and drink-ability.

Capital Ale House had a frost strip, or frost in a stainless steel indention, set into the long, wood bar. Nice touch.

My 12-ounce Legend Brown Ale was $3.50.

My house burger was $7.49.

Capital Ale House also offers take-home bottles for 25-percent off the list price, as long as each purchase meets a $10 minimum, which is due to concerns of local residents, according to the menu.

So I picked up two bottles to go.

My take-home Legend Golden Ale, in a one-pint, six-fluid ounce bottle, was $6.50.

And my take-home 12-ounce bottle of Full Nelson, from Blue Mountain Brewery in Afton, Virginia, was $4.

Stay tuned and I'll tell you what these good-looking beers taste like.

-Colin Foote Burch

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

Wise words from Magic Hat's hI.P.A.

I opened a bottle of Magic Hat's hI.P.A. -- delightfully, if heavily, hopped -- and found this under the bottle cap:

Don't pour
Sap
on your
Lap

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.

World Market's Winter Brews 10-pack

The World Market chain carries assortments of American Micro Brews and Beers of the World in handsome, 10-pack boxes, suitable for gifting and re-gifting, for reasonable prices.

This year, the World Market in Myrtle Beach, S.C., at Seaboard Commons between 21st Ave. North and 10th Ave. North and U.S. 17 Bypass, has something I hadn't noticed before: a 10-pack of Winter Brews for $14.99.

Like the American Micro Brews and Beers of the World, which were both $12.99, each 10-pack of Winter Brews has a slightly different selection - and in some cases, they're technically autumnal brews.

My 10-pack has Spaten Oktoberfest, Samuel Adams Boston Lager, Samuel Adams Cream Stout, Samuel Adams Holiday Porter, Brooklyn Brown Ale, Abita Pecan, Hoegaarden, Rogue Mocha Porter, Palmetto Charleston Lager, and Highland Oatmeal Porter.

My priest friend recently offered me a bottle of the Abita Pecan. It was decent beer, but not what I would have expected from Abita, a brewery of good repute. Although a flavored beer, the pecan presence wasn't strong.

Another box I looked at included a bottle of Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale. World Market also has it in six-packs for $7.99.

(This came from my column in the Weekly Surge at http://www.weeklysurge.com/beer.html .)