Which do you prefer?

Do you praise the qualities of cans while your bottle devotee friends doubt?

Are you mystified by the action of beer pong?

And…do you love learning about beer?

If you answered yes to any of the above, meet me at the Durham Museum of Life and Science next Thursday Sept. 22^nd for the Science of Beer.

The event goes from 6-9 PM and includes samples from your favorite local brewers, a tasting glass, live music, and the science behind about our favorite beverage!  Local food trucks will be on site too.  Butterfly House and Insectarium and Dinosaur Trail be open, and train rides will be available! What’s not to love!?

The Science:

• BREWING BEER with Bull City Homebrew
• THE SCIENCE OF SKUNKING with Dr. Malcolm Forbes
• EVOLUTION OF THE BEER CAN with Rusty Bunch
• BEER AND HUMAN HISTORY with Tom and Carol Sinclair
• BEER PONG PHYSICS
• GENETIC BEER BIAS
• ALL ABOUT BEER MAGAZINE, and more!

“But I can’t leave the rugrat.”  Fear not parents!  For a mere $10 (cheaper than a sitter) the little one can (4 and older) attend the Science of Root Beer.

For the cost of a few pints you can mingle with other beer lovers, learn something, taste beer, and be entertained!

Only $12 for museum members and $15 for the general public.

Pre-registration is required.  Don’t delay, call 919.220.5429 ext. 313!

Wine fans, it’s not too early to mark your calendar: Science of Wine is Thursday Feb. 9th.

The museum has several amazing events on the horizon, including Heroes, Villians, and Special Effects this upcoming weekend, the Wolf Howl (members only – note to self: join!), and of course the holiday favorite Santa Train.

Want more science and beer?  Geek out at Broad St. Café the 2^nd Tuesday of each month.

While many breweries around the world will make seasonal Oktoberfest-style beer, only beer which is brewed within the city limits of Munich is allowed to be served at the festival. Once it passes certain criteria, a beer is officially designated Oktoberfest Beer. Oktoberfest Beer is a registered trademark by the Club of Munich Brewers. There are six breweries which are the members of this exclusive club: Augustinerbräu, Hacker-Pschorr Bräu, Hofbräu, Löwenbräu, Paulanerbräu, and Spatenbräu.

Some useful German phrases for your Oktoberfest celebration:

• O’ zapft is! – “It’s tapped!” in the Austro-Bavarian language. This phrase opens the Oktoberfest festival.
• Bierleichen – the word for drunk people who pass out because they can’t handle their alcohol.
• Dirndl – the outfit many tourists think women wear in Bavaria (think Heidi).
• Bier brauen – to brew beer
• Bierkrüge – beer mugs
• Bierzelt – beer tent
• Biertrinkerin – a female beer drinker
• Feierabend - “beer o’clock”
• Prost, Auf deine Gesundheit, Tschüss – Cheers!

Places to celebrate Oktoberfest in North Carolina:

Hickory Oktoberfest – October 7-9, 2011 – an outdoor festival on the second weekend in October featuring three stages of non-stop live entertainment ranging from traditional polka to rock & roll, two beer gardens, amusement rides and carnival games, a juried arts and crafts show, and hundreds of food and commercial vendors.

Charlotte Oktoberfest – October 8, 2011 – a one-day outdoor festival with food, beer, and live music to raise money for various charities in the area such as The Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, The Humane Society of Charlotte, and The Carolina Raptor Center.

Asheville Oktoberfest – October 8, 2011 – a celebration in downtown Asheville on “Wall Street” featuring live music such as The Stratton Mountain Boys and local beers, many seasonal options, from the plethora of Asheville breweries.

Myrtle Beach Oktoberfest – October 8, 2011 – this outdoor celebration in Myrtle Beach will feature live music such as G. Love & The Special Sauce, Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band, Channelheimer Oompah Band and many more. This will be a family friendly celebration.

Sugar Mountain Oktoberfest – October 8, 2011 – live music, German food, and local artists & crafts can be enjoyed while locals can ride the lift or climb Sugar Mountain.

Triad German Club Oktoberfest – September 24, 2011 – Featuring the Little German Band and Dancers of Raleigh, NC and authentic German food & drink will be available for purchase.

What beer will you be drinking to celebrate Oktoberfest?

Image courtesy of Vicinzinu on Flickr.

Overall this is one of the best festivals in terms of layout and attendance. The bourbons and beers were well-spaced around Koka Booth amphitheater among the retailers, food vendors, and informational groups. Some brands that were represented include:

• Buffalo Trace
• Firefly
• Elijah Craig
• Jim Beam
• Maker’s Mark
• Wild Turkey
• Woodford Reserve
• Jack Daniels
• Absolut
• Pucker
• Jameson
• Saranac
• Ronoake Railhouse
• Dogfish
• Mother Earth
• Big Boss
• LoneRider

If you didn’t get one of the Groupon tickets you had plenty of options for food and beverage throughout the evening. There were clothing and specialty food retailers along with informational booths and, of course, cigars! Yes – alcohol infused and hop infused cigars were available to buy so patrons can enjoy them with their multitude of bourbons and liquors. You can also bring cigars in with you if you prefer your own.

The Koka Booth Amphitheater has a nice, grassy layout around the stage. It was a great set up for the bands and pig pickin’ that occurred about an hour into the event. The sound traveled well without drowning out the ability to talk to new friends. The tents were spread out so no one ever felt like they were on top of each other trying to get a drink. And the amphitheater comes with low tables to eat at so make sure to bring your lawn chairs & get there early to grab a table! And don’t forget to bring your DDT-free bug spray! August is a humid time of year for North Carolina and our mosquitos came out for the event too.

I caught up with some friends from Food, Sweat, and Beers and foraged our way through the festival. Blacksauce Kitchen was serving up some fantastic pork BBQ on homemade biscuits, green beans, fried green tomatoes, and bacon banana bread pudding! We watched the line for this one restaurant extend at least three times longer than any other place so we assumed (correctly) that this was the place to go for food. We were not disappointed. Blacksauce Kitchen is a food truck from Baltimore, so if you see it around, make sure you grab a bite!

Enjoy the pictures from Friday night of the Beer, Bourbon, and BBQ festival. Please be aware some of the photos are graphic if you’re awfully fond of the four legged animal.

The event runs from noon – 5 PM and admission is free.

Activities for the day include a mead making demo, sword fighting, music, facility tour, beehive demo, and music from Thunder and Spice.

Mead tastings and mead slushies (yes, slushies!) are a cool $5.  Lemonade slushies are available for the minors.   If you come dressed in Renaissance finery, however, your tasting is free!

Not familiar with mead?  Check out this UNC TV Video to learn more.  Like wine, mead is a fermented beverage, but instead of grapes, honey is the key ingredient.  Because mead uses honey (not fruit) it’s not truly a wine, nor is it a beer (no grain is used).  Mead is it’s own category of beverage, but for business purposes a meadery is treated as a winery.

How did Starrlight become more than a twinkle in the eye of Becky and Ben Starr?  They decided to turn their passion into a business after entering the 2006 Colorado International Mead Competition.  Not only did they do well; 0ut of 210 entries their Spiced Apple won Best in Show and a Gold medal!

Just another reason this part of North Carolina is so special.  How many towns can claim their own Meadery???

Some mead trivia you might pick up after spending time with the Starrs:

• Mead is the first fermented beverage, discovered by a hunting party.  After consuming all the honey in one of their vessels -an animal skin- they filled it with water.  Water diluted the residual honey, which fermented and produced an unusual tasting and slightly alcoholic beverage.  The hunters were on to something.
• The government mandates that mead can’t be lower than 8% (wine can be as low as 7%)
• Mead is purported to be the source of the term ‘honeymoon’, harkening to the custom of gifting newlyweds a month’s supply of mead.

More about Meadfest from the StarrlightMead site:

A day set aside by the American Homebrewers Association to enjoy and celebrate everything about mead, mead making, bees, and much more! And we mean to do it up in style!

We are having a Mead Day Celebration dressed up like a mini-Renaissance Fair! Join us at the meadery for a day filled with fun and learning! Free event!! (except for food and mead tasting!) Family Friendly!!

• Music by Thunder and Spice
• Medieval sword fighting demonstration by the knights of The Knightly Order of the Fiat Lux
• Turkey legs by Chatham Marketplace
• Beekeeping information and observation hive presented by Chatham County Beekeeper’s Association
• Handmade Honey and Bee’s Wax products by The Carolina Bee Company
• Yummy Chocolates by Red Light Chocolates
• Reclaimed wood frames and furniture by Reinbarnation
• Handmade Soaps and Goat’s Milk products by Swanfire Farms
• Handmade Fiber Arts by KnitKass Creations

Fun for all!!

Mead Day Schedule
12:00 Mead Day Begins!!!
12:30 – 1:30 Mead and Chocolate
1:00 – 1:45 Sword Fighting Demo
1:00 – 1:30 Production Area Tour
1:30 – 2:00 Concert – Thunder and Spice
2:00 – 2:30 Mead Making Demo
2:30 – ? – Meads of the World Tasting
3:00 – 3:45 Sword Fighting Demo
3:00 – 3:30 Production Area Tour
3:30 – 4:00 Concert – Thunder and Spice
4:00 – 4:30 Beehive Demo
4:00 – 4:30 Mead and Chocolate
5:00 Mead Day ends! Winery open until 6:00

All Day
Mead Slushies ($5) and Lemonade Slushies ($1 & $3) for kids
Mead Tastings at Bar with the Mead Wenches ($5)
Knightly games for kids
1:00 – 4:00 Music – Thunder and Spice

See you there with my slushie in hand!

Ashley V. Raulston, whom some of you may know as @TheBeerWench and Ryan A Ross (@RyanARoss) are the masterminds behind this holiday that’s well worth celebrating.  The inaugural International IPA Day is this Thursday, August 4^th.  Learn more here, sign up here, and check #IPADay on the twitters for events near you.

For the uninitiated, IPA stands for India Pale Ale, and evolved from October ales in the 1800s.  This lightly malted, well hopped, higher alcohol ale was able to survive the voyage from England to India in the 1800s and gained a popular following.  Want to know more about IPA?  Uncover truth Vs. myth.

For many beer aficionados in the US, IPA is synonymous with American IPA, an interpretation of the original English IPA.  American IPAs are characterized by a robust herbal aroma, heavy on bitterness, and typically brewed using American hops – often so hoppy and bitter it can impart a drying of the palate.

International IPA Day in the Triangle

@AviatorBrew will have fresh hops delivered to the Aviator Tap House and Brewery Bar for your HogWild IPA…put the fresh hops right into your pint glass! http://fb.me/R2L7zpnK  They’ll also have a cask of Mad Beach aged on fresh cherries! http://fb.me/1cPPHp1B7

@RaleighTimesBar will start with 7 great IPAs and have more ready to rotate http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=168447449894897

@DraftRaleigh will have 6 discounted IPAs available 

@TriBeer Meetup @RockfishNC Southpoint: $2 Peak Organic Hop Noir includes a free pint glass. 

Are there events you’d like to share?

Where will you be celebrating?

What’s your favorite IPA?

Highlights of the Beltline Brew Tour in Durham

Txakoli is celebrated at five festivals around the US in July of each year (Chicago, Austin, Charleston, Baltimore & Durham).

Did you k now The Durham event is the largest in the country?  Wine Authorities co-sponsors the event with Six Plates Wine Bar.

Thanks to Wine Authorities for the scoop.

Sessions are :

1 :00- 4:00 PM

4:00 – 7:00 PM

General Admission 7:00 PM

$12 gets you entry into the festival session, a cider glass to use and keep, and the opportunity to order any (or all) of the eight featured Txakolis by the glass and first look at the menu (particularly the early sessions).

Txakolifest also features the porron

From Six Plates Wine Bar: TxakoliFest is to Six Plates what St. Patrick’s Day is to ye olde Irish Pub, Oktoberfest to Germany, and the Superbowl to the NFL.

It is hands down the biggest day of the year for our crew, our regulars, and all the bottles of Txakoli we can get our hands on.

Having spent a summer as an exchange student in the Bizkaia / Vizcaya Basque region of Spain, I’m REALLY excited about revisting the flavors of this gustatory, culturally, and generally vibrant part of the world.

Another txakolifest element is that you may have the opportunity to drink from the porron, a traditional wine pitcher.

Want to know more, need tickets, or the location?  Check out Wine Authorities and Six Plates:

www.wineauthorities.com    Wine Authorities | 2501 University Drive | Suite 6A | Durham | NC | 27707    @WineAuthorities

www.Sixplates.com    Six Plates Wine Bar | 2812 Erwin Rd. Durham  | NC        @SixPlates

Enter Will Holland, founder of Beltline Brew Tours.  In 2009 Will, an avid homebrewer, recognized the burgeoning brewery scene, the voracious local appetite for craft beer, and the opportunity to combine education and tastings while you – the beer enthusiast – get to ride around in the comfort of a cozy mini tour bus carefully navigated by Tom.

Will takes good care of you while you’re on tour – he makes a great beer wench, constantly ensuring your glass is full (if you wish)…How many times have you been caught standing in line waiting for a drink?  You’ll never be empty handed during the tour!

Beltline Brew Tours regularly cruise through both Durham and Raleigh.  Even if you’ve frequented these breweries or gone on their tours before, you’ll still learn something each and every time.  True – we all love the delicious product our local brewers carefully create for us, but undoubtedly the best part is getting to meet an entire group of your fellow craft beer fans.

As with the great joys in life, good beer makes the world go round.  While you’re concentrating on the educational and tasting lessons, make sure you also take time to meet your fellow tour mates and you’ll leave with an even richer experience.  You may meet as strangers but leave as fast friends.  Durham, Raleigh, & Apex denizens came to spend a beautiful afternoon with their honeys and friends.  A pair of brothers treated their dad to the tour as a Father’s Day gift (lucky dad)!  Goldsboro homebrew buddies came to enjoy the fruits of this area for the first time.

The Tour:

Durham

11:45 AM Departure point: Bull City Burger and Brewery.  Board the bus here and end here – conveniently located for grabbing a post tour bite!

First stop: Triangle Brewery. Owner Rick tells you about the brewing process, how they got to be the trendsetters of NC beer canning, and about the rituals and homage they pay to Rufus, the posthumously named John Doe they found on premises during groundbreaking.  Yes, you read that correctly.

Second stop: Fullsteam Brewery.  If you haven’t ventured there yet, you must be living under a rock.  Fullsteam is one of the most beloved hotspots in Durham whether you’re an established local, part of the stroller set, a downtown tech geek, a ping pong slamming hipster, or, of course, a craft beer fan.  Head brewer Chris passes around some of the key ingredients that are the foundations, and inspirations, for their NC agricultural influenced brews including grits & sweet potatoes.

Third stop: Bull City Burger and Brewery.  Remember the great hunt for the golden bull?  Yep, this is where it all started.  BCBB is the only Durham brewery that also has a restaurant on premises.  During the tour, owner Seth Gross teaches us how to properly taste beer!  Simply – observe with multiple senses: look, smell, sip.  BCBB stays true to classic beer styles and integrates symbolic Durham references into the brew names.

(Be sure to eat prior to the tour as you will have an opportunity to drink a pint or two.)

Raleigh Beltline Brew Tours takes you to the following locations: (we look forward to checking this one out too!)

1:45 PM Departure point: Natty Greene’s – like the Durham tour you’ll have an opportunity to get a bite after the tour.

First stop: LoneRider 

Second stop: Roth Brewery

Third stop: Natty Greene’s

For a wealth of more info on the brewery tour and what you can learn and taste, sign up now!  You’ll taste your money’s worth of delicious craft beer, learn A LOT, and have a great time socializing with new friends on the trip!

The quick and dirty:

• Eat before going so you don’t have an empty stomach for tasting
• Enjoy learning new things no matter how many times you’ve been to one or more included breweries
• Make new friends!
• Merch is available for purchase at tour spots – including tees, growlers, and more
• If you’re considering the tour, don’t hesitate, the bus fills up!
• $45 for one, $80 for 2
• Tours run about 4 hours, so you’ll be able to take your time at each stop!
• Conveniently you can grab dinner at the final stop after the tour

Thank you so much for graciously providing us seats for the tour Will - we LOVED it!

Yes, food fight. San Fermin is begun with a giant town wide food fight. There are parties in every bar and there’s even an unofficial competition to see who can climb a statue in the center of town and crowd surf their way to safety. The trick is actually climbing the statue. Local officials know that this is an age-old, drunkard tradition so in the last decade or so they’ve begun to grease up the statue in order to deter people from climbing it. This, however, backfired and just makes everything that much more fun. Aside from the food fighting, dancing, and crowd surfing there’s a lot of drinking. When I went to San Sebastian right before San Fermin I was inroduced to a fantastic concoction called Kalimotxos (KAL-ee-MOCH-os) which is made of Coca Cola and Rioja wine. When I first heard about it I was disgusted, but being open-minded I tried it. If you like Cherry Coca Cola, you’ll like Kalimotxos. And plus, it’s super simple to make.

Authentic Kalimotxos Ingredients

Kalimotxos Recipe

• 1 part Rioja wine
• 1 part Coca Cola (or Coke Zero)
• Ice

Fill a tumbler glass or highball glass full of ice. Seriously, fill it up like ice is going out of style. Then add half a glass of the Rioja wine. Then fill with the Coca Cola.

Some people will claim that you can make this with Pepsi, but I really think it tastes different. It’s authentically a Coca Cola (or Spanish version of Coke) that makes this drink weirdly delicious.

People who might like Kalimotxos:

• Wine spritzer enthusiasts
• Cherry Coke lovers
• Spanish decendents

Kalimotxos tastes a lot like a non-alcoholic beverage and because of that it tends to go down pretty easy. I highly recommend you make this in a pitcher size to serve at a party or else you might end up drinking a bottle of red wine without even recognizing it.

Note: If you ever get the chance to go and witness the opening ceremonies of San Fermin, I highly recommend that you do. However, if you don’t want to run with the bulls, go get a great seat in the stadium where everyone ends up. That way you get a really good view at all the bulls tossing those idiots around.

Double Note: The 1985 bottle of Rioja was not harmed in the making of this drink. Don’t waste a great vintage on something like Kalimotxos. A cheap red wine will do just as good as a bottle of Rioja in a pinch.