Tap and Mallet Blog RSS Feed

You stink mate!

Tap and Mallet — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:25:40 -0800

So I realize that this blog is called 'Rants and Raves' and that there tend to be a lot more raves than rants, but do I have a rant for you today...

I've been working in pubs for a good while now and have seen all kinds of odd situations, but a new one for me occurred Saturday night. Sometime around 7 ish a group of about 40 people showed up on a pub crawl from one of our neighboring cities. These types of events can be good or bad depending on where you are positioned on their list of stops. We were stop number 8. Not good. To their credit they seemed a bit weary but generally jovial and well behaved. The problem started when one gentleman wandered into the kitchen in hopes of finding a toilet. I sprinted across the pub, saved the cooks and redirected him towards the facilities. That's when I was hit by the initial cloud of toxic flatulence. Nasty, but let's be honest we've all been in a situation where we've been subjected to someone else's unsavory odors. Pretty gross but it soon goes away and we get over it. To be fair to this guy I thought he was trying to find the bathroom.

Well things didn't get any better. Soon the whole bar room was reeking of this guy's stink. People were holding their faces, others trying to eat, doors are being wafted and I was pissed off. Eventually I had to take action. I felt it was necessary to make an announcement over the PA as I wanted people to know that we found it completely offensive and were dealing with it. The announcement went something like this - "will the person in the bar who stinks - you know who you are - take yourself outside to fart. It is totally disgusting and anti social. You STINK. Thanks."

Well everyone in the pub was both appreciative and amused. The guy mercifully left. Problem solved. In all my years I have never had to ask someone to leave for excessive flatulence. Chalk another one up I guess.

There is a raccoon on my couch

Tap and Mallet — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:22:45 -0800

As most of you have heard by now I bought a taxidermied bobcat for the keg race with Lovin' Cup on the 24th of March. Truth be told I looked at a number of different taxidermy disasters before finally landing the bobcat. One of my favorites was a raccoon. A horrible thing with a menacing look on its face, stick like legs and a weird bouffant hair do. I got out bid on ebay for it. Not a big deal I thought when a few days later I managed to score the bobcat.

Just to clarify. I lost it, haven't paid for it and was never in contact with the seller to exchange name and shipping info. Today a box from Alabama showed up. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the raccoon in it. It just doesn't make any sense.

The only clue was a Rochester telephone number under my shipping address. I called it and it went to a Sarah's voicemail. Sarah, who are you and what do you know about this raccoon? I have sent the seller a message. Maybe he can shed some light on this bizarre turn of events.

I will let you know how this mystery develops. In the meantime a raccoon has taken up residence on my office couch.

Help give a bobcat a Lovin' home.

Tap and Mallet — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 12:54:58 -0800

For those of you who have not heard, we have an event coming up to launch our new beer. Check out the events page of this site for full details.

I am truly excited to try the beer and get the race on. I am just as excited for the forfeit prize. After much bidding I have been able to secure the purchase of a real life full size taxidermied bobcat. The losing team will have to display the bobcat at their bar. Now this isn't just your run of the mill regular feline bobcat mind you. This thing is horrendous. I bought it from some dude in South Dakota. I wasn't aware that people actually lived there. Imagine for a second what a bobcat would look like if it was in the acute stages of rabies, had just been hit by an 18 wheeler and was coming off a week long bender of hard alcohol and illegal street drugs. OK, you're starting to get the picture. Not good, but oh so charming in a hideous sort of way.

Why I hear you ask. Well we needed something to play for in this Keg Race of ours, and this fits the bill perfectly. If Tap and Mallet fails in kicking the McBane's SlyPA keg first, them myself, the employees and you the ever faithful T&M patrons will have to look at this thing for the next year. Now we don't want that do we people? Wouldn't it be much nicer to head on over to Lovin' Cup once in a while, have a chuckle and toast the bobcat with one of their fine beers? That's what I thought.

So now you understand the stakes I ask you to be here on March 24th at 8pm to drink the McBane's SlyPA and send the bobcat to a Lovin' home. Cheers.

McBane's - SlyPA

Tap and Mallet — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:39:29 -0800

The day finally arrived when a bunch of us went down to Sly Fox to brew our version of an IPA. We planned on brewing the beer and checking out the Philly beer scene a bit more.

We spent the first night in South Philly with our gracious host Corey Reid from Sly Fox. Our first stop was at the South Philly Tap Room. An amazing array of beers and a well thought out menu. The only down side was that they had sold out of the pigs feet special. We're the kind of crowd that gravitates to any off the radar pork product. The next stop was a little neighborhood bar called Bridget's. A tiny little place with a strange horseshoe shaped bar that was so small that you could pass samples to your friends on the other side without either of you leaving your seats. They also had a gravity fed cask tube contraption that came out of the ceiling. We all relaxed there for a while and then decided it was time for bed as we were brewing early the next morning. One other thing I should mention about our excursion into Philly was the snow. It was like being in a disaster zone. Coming from Rochester a foot of snow is no big deal, however these people were completely beaten. Cars had been abandoned for days all over the place. It seemed obvious to me that 10 minutes with a shovel would take care business. Bottom line these people's spirit had been crushed and they had given up all hope in my opinion. Kind of funny in a 'they're not laughing kind of way'.

Up early and after some minor car issues off to the brewery. I was touched that brewmaster Brian O'Reilly was going to personally brew our beer. He doesn't do as much hands on these days as he is in charge of a team of brewers. The day was off to a good start. Once we got going with the mash in, it was clear Brian is an old pro. Watching him stir the mash was like poetry in motion. My appreciation was even greater after I had a go. Imagine trying to stir grain that weighed 750lbs when it was dry and now it is soaking wet. You get the idea. As the brew progressed we added our hops at various stages. We were all excited to smell the lemony scent of the Sorachi Ace as they went in. As Brian so nicely pointed out I added the bitterness and my wife, Bethany added the aroma. Sounds about right to me. I should point out at that Sly Fox were kind enough to sign a 3 year hop contract for Sorachi hops so this beer could be made. Pretty awesome I thought. I predict more beers with this hop from them for about 3 years at least!

When the brew was done it was time for pints and plans. Plans were quickly made and pints took a while. We headed off for an evening of beer, food and touring at Victory Brewing. I have been drinking Victory beer since I have been in the US and have always enjoyed it. I never really thought of them as being massive, yet they sure are. You are greeted by the sight of four, four hundred barrel fermenters coming out of the roof of the building. Just to put some perspective on what that is, let me break it down into pints. Each one holds in the region of 100,000 pints of beer. Wow! Big brewing isn't always a good thing for the end product but Victory manages to pull it off on this scale and do it right. We got a 2 hour tour of the brewery by the quality control manager, Whitney, who used to be a brewer there. She was full of insight. Some of the note worthy things we learned about Victory were that they continue to use whole leaf hops in all of their beers, keep 80 unique strains of yeast in house and have a brew house that is so huge and polished that it feels like you are on the set of a si-fi movie. Oh, and they make really tasty beer - but you already knew that. On a side note, while we were touring through we bumped into Jordan Sunseri. Jordan is a brewer there now, but was the guy I worked with at Custom Brewcrafters when I made the last McBane's beer. Small world really, and funny that I would bump into him while working on the next stage of the McBane's project.

The next morning brought more snow. Did I mention that they don't know what they are doing down there with snow already? We considered not leaving and staying a few more nights but decided to brave it anyway. Hats off to my wife who bravely took the wheel. The first three hours of the drive were horrific, but we eventually pulled through and made it back alive. All that is left to do now is wait to taste the McBane's SlyPA. It should be here in about four weeks or so. Watch out for more information on this site.

Cheers, Joe.

Fix it week.

Tap and Mallet — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 11:51:10 -0800

This week was supposed to be a fairly smooth easy going week. It's been a busy stretch with the holidays, the new POS system, tastings etc. I really didn't have any big commitments and was looking forward to a mellow week. Wrong! This was the week that everything broke. First it was the main bottle beer display cooler, then one of the furnaces, next the ATM, followed by the ice machine and topped off with the dishwasher. Freakin' lovely.

Well with out boring with the technical details most things are fixed or at least about to be. While periods like this are inevitable from time to time I hope it is a while before I have another. You feel like you are bailing water in a sinking ship. Oh, that reminds me I just got done fixing a sink that leaked resulting in water coming through the ceiling in the bar.

Oh jeez, got to run I think I hear the roof caving in!

Closed Tomorrow

Tap and Mallet — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 14:40:20 -0800

Well it's been about a year and it is time to roll out the Christmas staff party. It was a fairly epic holiday season and the staff have truly earned a good knees up. I am sorry if this causes any inconvenience for any of you but I hope you understand.

Cheers.

2009 in Review. 2010 in Preview

Tap and Mallet — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 11:40:24 -0800

2009
A another year comes to a close and I have a few minutes to reflect on some of the key moments.

Overall it was a fantastic year here at the pub. You continued to support us by buying good beer and food even though it has been a hard year for some of you in this economy. Thank you.

We built a bigger deck to accommodate your outdoor needs. Due to extreme City of Rochester coding I am sure that will still be there long after the apocalypse has swept through. On the plus side of the extreme City coding I got to play with a back hoe for the day. If you ever get the chance, do it.

Collaboration between breweries. It seemed that every couple of weeks someone else was doing it. Brooklyn and Schneider got it started back in '07 with Hopfen Weisse and it really became a trend in '08. I thought that Dogfish/Sierra Life and Limb and Stone/Brewdog Basha were the highlights. Cripes you emptied the Life and Limb keg in 18 minutes!

McBane's Best Bitter was respectfully killed off. I didn't love it in the end and it had to go. McBane's beer project was then dreamed up. Work with different breweries brewing different one off batches of beer. Myself and Jordan Sunseri then of Custom Brewcrafters, now of Victory came up with McBane's Strawberry Wit. Delicious beer with a shortage of strawberry flavor. I should have called it McBane's Wit and left it at that. It's funny, when you give something a name you create an expectation and people only judge it based on that.

The pub was voted Rochester's Best Beer List by readers of City Newspaper. Ever since I arrived in Rochester back in 2000 I have wanted to win that award. 2009 was the first year that I truly gave up all hope and resigned myself to losing out to MacGregors again. You see, Mac Gregors has a big advantage in that they have four or five locations that all have regulars. All of their votes get pooled into one. Oh, that and they do sell a fair bit of good beer. Thanks to every one that voted. Just remember when the last glimmer of hope fades away, don't give up.

As the overall quality of craft brewing improved, the importance of branding and packaging grew. It is a very competitive marketplace and clip art won't cut it anymore folks. Good beer can get lost. Equally there are examples of mediocre beer that is marketed very well. Listen up brewery owners, don't skimp on the marketing department and send out your carefully made beer looking like a hillbilly high school art project. Ok.

We saw less sour ales in 2009 than 2008. I was a trend that this young craft brew culture had to go through I suppose. Thank fully we have gone through it and it is back to being very niche. That is just my taste buds talking.

I see less and less mystique when it comes to European beers. Want to know why? American craft beer is freakin good and has got much better in the last few years.

The bar stools continued to deteriorate. No major injuries were reported.

2010
New bar stools have been picked out and will have backs.

Keep an eye out for beer dinners. We have sold out of tickets for the Great Lakes January event and will plan more.

I think that one of our weaknesses at times is our ability to get guests out in a timely fashion when they are done with their meals due to our hand written checks. This all about to change as I bought an electronic POS system that is going to launch this coming week. Service should be streamlined and generally improved.

Look for a new brewery to open in Canandaigua. It will not be called the Chosen Spot.

Brewdog. These guys are making good beer. They get their name out there in a massive way. They are going to be a presence for a long time. If you haven't already read about them. Drink some of the beer.

I think organic and locally grown will really become a huge trend in 2010 as craft beer drinkers demand environmentally responsible products.

The next McBane's beer will be brewed with Brian O'Reilly of Sly Fox. West Coast style hop bomb with an Eastern twist I am currently thinking. Brewing sometime in February.

In addition I am sure there will be a whole host of surprises along the road.........

Joe.

Android app

Tap and Mallet — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:39:01 -0800

We have just launched our Android phone app. Just like the iphone app it will allow you to get all our menus right on your phone. It saves on paper and is super cool.

Thanks to James Mann for making it happen!

Knit Caps

Tap and Mallet — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:39:24 -0800

Knit caps are in house and on sale. We have black and burgundy. Both are priced at $16. I have been testing mine for a few weeks now and can tell you that not only do they look good - they actually work. Something about quick wicking??

We only bought 50 so they should go pretty quick.

New Beer Styles

Tap and Mallet — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:51:43 -0800

It seems like brewers are constantly pushing the envelope with new beers. Brooklyn has come up with some corkers of late. Brooklyn Schneider Hopfen Weisse and the Manhattan Project really stand out. The Hopfen beer was incredible in that they were able to get a German brewer who are normally considered a fairly conservative bunch to open up to new ideas. The result was extraordinary. A marriage of American hopping with German wheat beer tradition. The Manhattan Project sounded crazy on paper. Pulling all the ingredients of a Manhattan cocktail into a beer and make it taste delicious. It turned out great.

Here at the Tap and Mallet we like to bring you as many boundary pushing beers as possible. I take this opportunity to present my suggestions for future brews. Most are tongue in cheek!

Thanks Giving Ale
Autumnal brown ale infused with cranberry, clove and celery.

Bacon Beer
Sweet smokey Scotch ale with bacon. Maybe a crispy bacon rasher as garnish. Kind of like Blue Moon with orange - but different.

Cheese and Onion Weisse
Always like this combo with potato chips. Could it work with a wheat ale base? Hmmn

Garlic Sour Ale
It tastes great with food. Beer? Anyone tried this yet?

Privet Hedge Pale
Instead of hops use pickings from a neighborhood privet hedge as the bittering agent (I assume they are bitter). Any pale ale will work here. It's all about the hedge.

Well if anyone has any further suggestions I would love to hear them. I would also be happy to let any brewers use my ideas just let me try them please. I cannot guarantee their worth in any way though.

Brew Dogging

Tap and Mallet — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:59:19 -0800

I am excited because I am about to connect 3 kegs of Brewdog beer. For those of you that don't know, Brewdog is the thing of the moment in the craft brewing business. A small outfit from Scotland that has been making quite the name for themselves. They have quickly become known for brewing bold no nonsense beers. They are also happy to give the establishment the middle finger at every opportunity it seems. One of their beers is an 18% abv imperial stout. That was hailed as irresponsible in Britain's binge drinking society. I can't imagine many drunken Brits shelling out the cash for one of these when you can get 12 Stella for about 5 pounds. Any how in response they brewed a 1.5% abv beer called Nanny State. Hilarious.

We have their Punk IPA, Dogma (they were forced to changed the name from Speedball)and Basha. Basha is a Black IPA that they brewed in collaboration with Stone Brewery in San Diego. This is the one I have tried. Not tremendously hoppy but what a fantastic beer none the less.

As soon as I post this I am going to go tap them and sample. In that order.

Uptopias 'Release(d)'

Tap and Mallet — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:04:50 -0800

As many of you have noticed we have advertised the Rochester bar launch of this year's Sam Adams Utopias. I have to inform you that it is not officially a launch as it was unveiled last night at another Rochester bar who decided to purchase some from another source and beat us to the punch by 5 days.

While we are upset/aggravated by this move we haven't lost any sleep over it either. I felt it was my duty to let you know this is no longer a 'launch' situation. You are still welcome to come down on the 11th to try the product.

We love to bring the best beer available to all you guys. Love Joe xxx

New Menu

Tap and Mallet — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:16:28 -0700

We have launched our new menu for Fall and Winter ’09. You will see all of the old favorites still there, with the addition of many newbies.

At the Tap and Mallet we firmly believe that change is good. We had a lot of fun coming up with the new items and we hope you enjoy exploring the selection.

Couple of Beers

Tap and Mallet — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:20:05 -0700

Not sure who wrote this but I like it.

Couple of Beers

A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a "VERY LARGE" and empty mayonnaise jar. He proceeded to fill it with rocks, which were about 2 inches in diameter. He filled the jar to the top!

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They said, "Yes."

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into thejar. They rolled into place, all around the rocks. He shook the jar lightly. This allowed him to pour more pebbles in, until they were up to the top of the jar.

He again asked the students if the jar was full. They said, "Yes."

The professor then picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled the spaces between the pebbles.

He asked once more if the jar was full. The students wondered what the right answer was this time, wondering what else could be poured into the jar.

The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and proceeded to pour their entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty spaces in the sand. The students mumbled.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The rocks are the important things -- your family, your partner, your health, and your children. Things, that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car.

The sand is everything else. The small stuff.

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks! The same goes for your life. If you spend all of your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal. Take care of the rocks first . . . the things that really matter . ..then the pebbles.

Set your priorities. The rest is just sand (the little stuff)!"

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented. The professor smiled and said, "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers."

Beer Advocate Evening

Tap and Mallet — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:18:54 -0700

All beer lovers are invited to attend this event. The aim of it is to hopefully introduce more people to the wonderful website/community that is beeradvocate.com. Over the years I have met many people through BA and used it as a resource for finding good beer and particularly good places. It is a free user supported site that has done great things in championing the cause of craft beer.

There will be a number of local BA's in attendance so come and hang out with like minded beer lovers. John Schmitt has been a very active member for many years now and will taking the mic during the evening to say a few words.

We are going to put on a selection of Oktoberfest and Harvest beers at special prices along with some free German munchies, so come on down. Starts at 5 on Saturday October 17th.

Here is a link to the event on BA. http://beeradvocate.com/events/info/27593

Hair of the dog explained

Tap and Mallet — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:13:51 -0700

If after a bit of a heavy night out, myself and many other people would describe the consumption of another alcoholic beverage as 'hair of the dog'. It was always under stood what it meant but I never knew how it came about. Well thanks to Bella Online via a Twitter post I have the answer.

Much has been written about hangover cures throughout history. As early as 400 B.C., Hippocrates was writing, "Through the like, disease is produced and through the application of the like, it is cured." In this spirit of reasoning, dog bites were treated by burning some of the dog’s hair, grinding it into a powder, and pressing it into the wound. This is the derivation of “Hair of the Dog.”

Well there you have it. I have never found it to work for more than 10 minutes with the feelings after that usually being worse than before.

By the way does anyone know where the term 'the dogs bollocks' devirved from?

The Ironically Named - Labor Day

Tap and Mallet — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:44:24 -0700

Well, having done some brief reading on the subject (being English I wasn't taught much US history and culture at school) it appears that the national holiday known as labor day came about after the killing of some laborers. Apparently there was a strike and the US military killed some of the strikers. The wise President Grover Cleveland realized there could be potential bad press and gave everyone a day off. I'm sure the families of the dead felt excited and fully compensated by this. Pretty standard political manoeuvrings.

The question remains however why the name? It seems to suggest work, which obviously flies in the face of the spirit of the day. Some suggestions I came up with are 'have a beer with breakfast day', 'pleasure and leisure day' or 'max relax day'. Terrible ideas I know, but you get my jist.

This brings me to my final point. Down here at the Tap and Mallet we do some laboring every now and again. This Monday we won't be. The pub is closed. Have a beer with breakfast folks and feel good about it.

iphone app

Tap and Mallet — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:05:00 -0700

We are excited to announce that the pub now has it's own iphone app. You can check all of of our current products, this blog and event listings. For anyone with an iphone it removes the need for paper beer menus as the phone list will be at the very worst, just as up to date. It will usually be a little more accurate as we tend to update through the day but only print lists when there are 4 or more changes. We try to be aware of our paper use.

I think that it is great that we are able to embrace technology in this way and create a new way for our customers to be connected with the pub. If it proves to be popular we would certainly consider developing apps for other types of phone users. It would be wonderful if we could significantly reduce our paper use.

I would encourage anyone with the iphone to down load the app and give us some feedback on how it works for you.

http://bit.ly/H2WQl - URL link to the app in the itunes store

http://www.carbondevplus.com/ - Joe Tunis is the guy who developed the app as well as our whole website. I would encourage anyone who is in need of online development to consider him.

Blast from the Past

Tap and Mallet — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:01:52 -0700

This month's Beer Social will feature Middle Ages. It has always been a brewery that is close to my heart. Back when I first came to this country I took a trip to Syracuse to explore the craft beer scene. It was on this trip that I truly fell in love with good beer. It went from being something I had professional knowledge of to something that was a real passion. A passion that I am lucky enough to be carving a career out of.

Middle Ages reminds me of a lot of small British breweries that I have toured. They use open fermenters which is something that you rarely see over here. I honestly believe that some exposure to the open air and whatever else may come into contact gives beers a complexity of character that doesn't come through with closed fermantation. Of course with all this British style brewing comes a strong commitment to cask ales. MA casks are some of the best. Always primed and in great condition. I have seen some funny moments over the years when I have had rookies tap a cask from MA. A brief beer shower is usually customary and ensures an enjoyable, lively pint about 24 hours later.

It was always the brewery I took Old Toad staff to when I worked there. Brewmaster and owner, Mark Rubenstein never fails to give an informative and witty tour. I really hope that he will be able to make it to our tasting as he has a lot to say when it comes to all things beer. He actually got his start brewing in the UK, so he clearly comes from good roots!

Well I can't wait. Hope to see you there.

Military 'Fidel Style' Caps Are Here!

Tap and Mallet — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:31:54 -0700

After many requests they are here. They are limited and we have them in brown, black and the very popular camo. They cost $18.

Have a look at Dem Jones sporting one in brown on the photo section of the site.

http://www.tapandmallet.com/public/photo

Charity Prizes for Duvel Launch Party

Tap and Mallet — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 09:39:01 -0700

We are pleased to announce that we will be raffling off prizes for the launch of Duvel Green.

Two tickets for Ommegang's Belgium Comes To Cooperstown next weekend. Check out the link for more details.
http://www.ommegang.com/?event_view_id=222&event_view=2009-07-31&mcat=3&scat=0

A Belgian home bar package. Will include Duvel neon, glassware, bar mats, beer, coasters etc...

We will be selling tickets for $1 each. All of the money will be donated to the Livestrong Foundation.

UK Visit

Tap and Mallet — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:22:29 -0700

As many of you may know I am originally from England, so it was much anticipation that I recently took a trip back home. It had been about four years since my last visit so I had a lot of catching up to do. As well as reconnecting with family and friends it is also a chance to indulge in food and drink treats that I don't get here.

While the English pub trade in general has been suffering over the last few years it is mainly the drinking only establishments that have been hurt the most. Pubs that serve food, have in many cases stepped up the level of quality in order to stay competitive in a tough market. A gastro pub is no longer a rarity and is fast becoming the norm. Another reason behind this industry shift over to a greater food focus has been the price wars at the supermarkets. They now sell booze for close to cost in order to get people through the doors to purchase other products. The only comparison I can draw to here would be the way that Wegmans sells heavily discounted turkeys at Thanksgiving. Obviously no one is leaving with just the turkey in the cart.

I wasn't complaining however as it allowed me some memorable dining experiences. My first night there we ate at a little restaurant called Artisan in the suburb of Sheffield known as Crosspool. I was served a pork lovers delight of crispy belly pork, lightly steamed apple and a round of black pudding. Black pudding is a pig blood sausage that most people turn their nose to at the description. That quickly changes however upon tasting. A smooth texture that is not overly heavy, with bold but balanced flavors. When I was a child it would normally be eaten as a breakfast item, but I have seen it creep on to dinner menus more and more over the years. Used correctly it can really lift a plate. Other meal highlights included the most flavorful steak ale pie in short crust pastry I have ever tasted. It was served at the Strines pub after a morning walk around Dam Flask reservior. Haggis was served in Scotland for breakfast and dinner. Like black pudding, haggis suffers from a bad rap. Whilst it is cooked in a sheep's stomach it is not actually served in that. It is mainly oats with well seasoned meat. We had it one evening with small roast potatoes and a red wine demi-glace. Even the skeptics at our table loved it. Another evening out involved British oysters and tapas. Small plate tapas seem to have taken off in the UK. It is usually done with a twist on Spanish styles with a lot of British small plates worked into the selections. Take a look at this link as a good example. http://www.wigandpensheffield.com/food-drink/tapas-menu Overall British food seems to have moved away from its bad reputation and has given itself reason to be proud again.

So what about the beer you ask? Well, to be honest it continues to be a beer scene where craft beer is in the minority of offerings but has found it's niche and thrives. I was able to try new beers almost every time I went out. The exception to all this was Scotland. The Scottish beer scene is awful. When Stella is the best on offer that says a lot. As for cask ale, it seems to be MIA. Oh well, the golf was good.

So to sum up, I have come back once again feeling pretty upbeat about the English food and drink culture. The old notions of boiled meat and mushy over cooked vegetables are long gone. Certainly don't let that be a deterrent if you are thinking of planning a trip. However the British weather is still terrible and I can't see that changing in the next few years!

The Mayor Declares Tap and Mallet Potato Salad - BEST EVER

Tap and Mallet — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:56:48 -0700

The mayor dined with us for lunch today. If he ever comes over to your house for a bite to eat make him a chicken Caesar. You will also need our potato salad recipe as that was a big hit with the big guy. Speaking of big guy, Bob Duffy is huge. You will see from the picture on the site that he has me by a few inches. At 6'5" that doesn't happen to me all that often. It could also be exaggerated by the fact that he has an upright cop posture and I have a rather refined if I say so myself, bar owner slouch (a well known condition in my line of work).

Any how, a very nice chap. He tells me he'll be bringing in the better half sometime for dinner and I am assuming a solid session on the ales.

Cheers, Bob.

The Story of the Collection of the New Pub Car

Tap and Mallet — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:33:09 -0700

A while ago at the pub we started to question the worth of traditional print media as a way of getting our message out. We all know how well newspapers have been doing of late. This led us to the idea of purchasing a pub car. It needed to be something that was very noticeable but not obnoxious. A Hummer with jacked suspension was not going to work if you get my drift.

We searched for a while on Craigslist and Ebay before scoring a '56 Austin Princess Limousine. It's an English car that looks like a classic Rolls. Big sweeping curves to go along with that famous English reliability under the bonnet (hood). The only catch to the deal was that we would have to pull it back from New Hampshire. No worries we thought. It will be a fun adventure - right?

We used a '91 diesel GMC as our vehicle of choice. We didn't really have a choice to be honest. So the day came and me and Chef Paul set off without AC or stereo. Just Paul's singing. I was driving and Paul was the navigator. Everything was going well until we crossed over into Vermont. That's when we got the call. We had already made arrangements for the Princess to be prepped up for the journey back so I didn't have a good feeling about why the seller would be calling me. The seller explained that everything was fine with the car except that the boot (trunk) cap was missing. She explained that they had taken it off to work on that section of the car and while working on it and put it into another car. Not a problem we think, but then she gives the news that the car that they put it in has been sold with our boot cap still in it. Well we're in Vermont at this point so we are pretty much involved by now. We are given a phone number for 'Steve' who is in possession of the missing part and told that he will be happy to meet us. Great.

After a slight renegotiation on the price we call Steve. Steve tells us that he is 1½ hours away. I'm not sure how Steve drives exactly but there was no way to get there in less than 2½ hours. In the event we managed to get lost and it took closer to 4 hours. Paul was not super familiar with the iphone GPS we were using to find our way plus AT&T's slogan in New Hampshire is surely 'few bars in even fewer places'. More of that though later. As we were getting close to the rendezvous with Steve point we called to see where he would like meet us. The top of Temple Mountain was apparently the best spot. We're now thinking that this is just bizarre but hey, what can we do. Steve tells us that he is in a silver Ford pick up and will leave the lights on. Turns out Steve's pick up is grey with a red back. It is also so foggy on top of the mountain that leaving the lights on is certainly not a distinguishing mark. 99% of drivers are sensible enough to have their lights on. Somehow eagle eyed Paul spots him and we come screeching to a halt. We get our part and Steve asks if we would like to come back to his house to see his cars. Against all normal thinking we agree without hesitation. It just seems appropriate for our situation. We made serial killer jokes all the way to Steve's house. Steve lived deep in the woods and had a plethora of vintage cars in various states of repair. Some where awesome. We thanked Steve and set off on our merry way. The first major hurdle had been overcome. Just for the record Steve was a very nice guy.

The next stage of our now epic journey was to head north up through the state. It should have taken 1½ hours. It didn't. It actually took a chunk longer. We couldn't figure out why we kept going astray. I finally stopped and inspected the phone which is something that I probably should have done much earlier. Turns out Paul had been searching for public transport routes. OMG!!! How did neither of us figure this out? OMG!!!

We got to the U-Haul place just before they closed and picked up the tow dolly to put the Princess on. We were a little liberal with the facts when describing the type of car that we would be towing. An '84 Rabbit. We weren't sure quite how excited they would have been to hear about our 6000lb classic. A small white lie we thought. Turns out the place where we were picking up the Princess was across the street from the U-Haul shop. We were a little anxious and then later amazed that they didn't stop over check out our new ride. We hooked up the car and I passed the truck keys to Paul. I wished him good luck and felt fortunate that I had done all of the earlier driving. The length from the front of the truck to the back of the car was about 45'! We set off to our destination for the evening which was about an hour away and we were starving. We had had a bagel and a packet of Funyuns to sustain us through the day.

Everything was going well until the straps that were holding the car to the dolly fell off. This was to be a reoccurring theme for the whole of our journey home. We got out for the first of many times to reattach the car. Cars from yester-year were apparently not made with front wheel locking functions which made for a challenging white knuckle tow. The roads in New Hampshire are really a fair bit different to say the I90. Narrow, twisty, up and down with minimal maintenance. Vermont wasn't much better. On the way we passed by a drive way sign that was advertising a store called Jan's Junk. We did not check out the extent of Jan's Junk. We finally made it to 7 Barrel Brewery in Enfield NH. Steaks, Jameson and pints ensued. What a day. Paul found out later that night that I have some sort of snoring issue. Can't say I've ever heard it myself.

Dragging that car up the mountains required every ounce of power that the truck had. We knew it was working hard when the roar of the engine was so loud that we had to shout to be heard. That and billowing black clouds of smoke flying out of the exhaust. To its credit it did make it though.

900 miles later we made it back home. Just in time for the launch party of McBane's Strawberry Wit. The car is now at the upholstery shop and we hope to have it on the road in a couple of months.

To check out pictures of the trip visit the photo page of the site.

McBane's Strawberry Wit Launch

Tap and Mallet — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:34:29 -0700

So the new McBane's beer is nearly with us. We will be launching it this Wednesday at 5.30pm. Everyone from the brewery who had a hand in the beer will be there for the evening.

Having had a sneak peek I can let you know that beer has really come out well. Don't expect loads of sweet fruit dominance. It is definitely more in the vein of refined European fruit beers. A nice layer of taste.

I am driving back from New Hampshire that day with an Austin Princess limo attached to the back of the truck so I will be ready for a beer by 5.30.

Btw more details to follow on the Austin...

See you Wednesday. $3 pints.

Mc Bane's Strawberry Wit

Tap and Mallet — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:09:56 -0700

Myself, Chris Schutheis and Kim Reed went down to Custom Brewcrafters last Thursday for the brewing of the next McBane's series beer.

The brew went great. We seemed to hit all the right times and temperatures and we had a blast getting involved with the process. We will have the beer in house in a couple of weeks. As with anything like this the proof is in the pudding.

Check out pictures of our brew day in the photos section of the site.

Circumstance Makes It

Tap and Mallet — Fri, 22 May 2009 06:00:40 -0700

I finished my round of golf today and fancied a trip into the nineteenth. It was a hot morning and I don't like to ride golf carts so I was ready to put my bag down and have a pint. The best beer they had was Blue Moon. Not the best beer in the world if you were to ask me to critque it, but right at that moment it was heaven in a glass.

Some of my most memorable food and drink experiences have come in situations like this. Holidays in France eating all kinds of wonderful oddities in strange settings while trying converse in a foriegn language. I am sure the food was good but framed like that it was so much more memorable. Some of my favorite beers have happened to have been drunk in back street cafes in Belgium and great pubs in England. Coincidence? I think not.

What are some of your stories?

Essential Reading

Tap and Mallet — Wed, 13 May 2009 10:22:37 -0700

This pretty much a must read for any craft beer enthusiast. Mr Oliver does a hell of a lot for the cause of good beer and is a great speaker if you ever get the chance to listen.

http://www.garrettoliver.com/article01.html

Long live McBane's

Tap and Mallet — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:34:11 -0700

As many of you have now noticed my name sake beer, McBane's Best Bitter has departed from the Tap and Mallet draft system. The beer originally started out as a house brew that people could fall back on if they wanted something familiar amongst the usual sea of change that is the regular beer selection. I worked with Bruce Lish from Rohrbachs to create a beer that could hopefully fill that need. I came up with a bitter. It is a style that when done well appeals to the connoisseurs who can appreciate the style but can also be suggested to some more novice craft beer drinkers who tend to enjoy the drinkable qualities. In that regard it worked very well for a long time. What began to happen though was that as more and more of our customers became used to the beer they started to move away from it in search of something new. They followed our vision in essence, as we truly believe that variety is hugely important. The beer became a victim of the pub's success. As soon as we started to feel a bit uneasy about the quality of the beer towards the end of batch we knew it was time to pull the plug on it. RIP McBane's Best Bitter.

The story of McBane's is not over though just yet. The demise of Best Bitter has opened the doors for new adventures in the McBane's line. We are going to start working with a variety of brewers to make a changing line of McBane's beers. A new, one time brew for each season.

We have been really impressed with some of the work over at Custom Brewcrafters of late and are pleased to announce that they have been selected to produce the first of the one time offerings. The beer will be a traditional Belgian wit base. It will be created with top quality Belgian malts and fermented with a yeast strain that is being brought in exclusively for this batch. We are going add in 200lb of strawberries to finish it off. Look forward to a a light bodied crisp beer with abundant fruit to refresh during the hot weather.

We are open to suggestions for any forthcoming brews....after all you are the people who drink it!

Long live McBane's

Why I am a Craft Beer Drinker

Tap and Mallet — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 12:37:11 -0700

Because I like the taste adventure. It is OK to be disappointed sometimes. You have to experience the lows in order to appreciate the highs. Just like anything in life.

Because I don't have to go to bleach smelling, scary jock filled hell bars to get it.

Because I see through the mass marketing advertising hype. Look closely at the label with the eagle holding the barley in its talons. The eagle stole the ingredients that they should have used.

Because I believe it is a movement that is noble and worth following. Much in the same way that cooking whole foods is worth the extra effort and expense.

Because wine gives me heartburn.

Because I find that I am able to be around a lot of passionate people that love what they enjoy. It is a shared appreciation.

Because I support the small guy.

Because it never gets boring. There is always something new. I wouldn't drink the same beer every day no more than I would eat exactly the same food everyday. Variety is truly the spice of life.

Because I am not a 'Vroom Vroom Party Starter'

Because I like drinking beer and yellow fizzy macro lager with adjuncts is just not delicious.