Below is a recount of the World Cup events at the pub so far written by one of our regulars and an old room mate of mine. It's pretty amusing stuff. Please, enjoy. - Tap & Mallet, World Cup 2010 observations: Group Play, Round 1 (V1) [a/k/a “The Little Leprechaun Letters” – “LLL”] Overall Pints: the first matches of group play are complete, and WC 2010 is off to a roaring start • THE TELE-VONIC DEVICES: seem to be doing the job, yet not interfering with all that we love about the T&M … the space is very “special” [insert Dutch word for good community vibe, organic & dynamic, spiritedyet kind-spirited, etc.], and patrons shape it themselves to their needs (as the soccer gods intended) … • Special Break-Fast-Ness: new / special breakfast menu(of healthy favorites); French/Freedom-press coffee;and Ma-ma-ma-mosa’s, finally in a decent portion (no champagne flutes need apply)! • Special thanks to the staff, most of whom have altered their life schedules to accommodate morning matches. Except the ones who normally turn up for work a few hours early. You know who they are … Memorable Moments/Matches: Friday, June 11: • South Africa v Mexico: opening match, 10am on a Friday (11 June), great turnout for debut of the breakfast menu. Oh, and the footie on the TV thing. The South Africa fans were there early and often, and several came back later for the 2:30 as well. Thought Mexico showed good fight back to draw—some (like the Little Leprechaun) reckon this as a close 2nd for the real group of death. • Rumor has it that France played Uruguay, but could not be confirmed because the French do not speak of such personal embarrassments in public. Saturday, June 12: • OK, it was a 2:30pm match on a Saturday that had been hyped for months. But turnout was immense between the “Yanks” and “Three Lions” fans, with the former somewhat more prevalent. The spirit / (insert Dutch word meaning “vibe”?) was incredible, with patrons packed together yet helping one another out, many songs sung loudly, and even a few babies marking their first pub footie experience! Whilst Tim Howard (a/k/a “Tim-mee How-ward ….”) was undoubtedly the man-o’-the-match on bravery & performance, Steve Churondolo provided the steadying, Reyna-like presence that made the difference. Special kudos to the crowd for NOT going all “let’s riot” when the big TV went to sleep for a few minutes (half an hour before kickoff:). • England (see above), great sports / stiff upper lips throughout. However, for future reference, pulling a “Robert Green” is now common vernacular for any type of one-time, very unfortunate spill (picture scalding hot dishes over nuns or other sainted patrons). “Pulling a BP” still reserved for more long-lasting disasters (see England, WC Finals over last 40-odd years). Must admit: the Dodge Ramcharger or whatever TV ad with George Washington charging the Redcoats circa 1776 was quality. I’m sure I will feel the same way 20 views from now … • Nigeria v Argentina (0-1), tough draw for the screaming / golden / super Eagles, but a spirited throughout. Watching Messi makes me feel like I should have made the sign of the cross with holy water when entering premises. Sunday, June 13: • Germany v Australia: so embarrassing that I had to temporarily suspend my practice of asking any Aussies I meet “so, are you all what they call ‘Kiwis’?” Almost as embarrassing as being nicknamed “soccer-roos”—almost. • (Unseen: Slovenia 1-0 v Algeria, lucky result for the .. green dragons? Purple horseshoes? Whatever, it clarifies things for the US in 2nd match …) Monday, June 14: • (Unseen, but not unfelt: 7:30am Netherlands 2-0 v Denmark. Its toughest test in group play, with no Robben nor Huntelar, the Oranje do what’s needed. Hup hup Holland!) (Unseen @ pub) Ditto Japan putting on over on Cameroon—Roger Milla must be rolling in his grave. If dead. Else, my bad …) • Italy v Paraguay: great turnout for a weekday afternoon—the hush was deafening when Paraguay got the first goal. Good fight back from the Azzuri, though it limited their opportunities for cynical time-wasting. Tuesday, June 15: • Brazil v North Korea: best (non-US) fans do far. Wile (some) arrived casually late for kick-off, they were joyous, family-oriented, and sporting throughout, and stayed around for pictures and catching up for long after the match—genuinely great people across multiple generations. But go on, North Korea gets a goal?!? Word is they are a hungry team … • (Unseen: New Zealand ties Slovakia in the 93rd minute—go on you kangaroos! What? What kind of fruit? And with sheep ,.. do what? Somehow, this helps the US in re: Slovenia?) • (Unseen here @ Pub: Cote d’ Ivory v Portugal yawner. Drogba played. Group of death my arse—both deserved less to go through than North Korea.) Wednesday, June 16: • Spain inquisition-ed by the Templars (Swiss) 0-1; waiting for Tom Hanks movie to explain what it all really means. • (Beginning of 2nd round: South Africa on Youth Day, powerful moment of proud, painful history …) Future Notes: • Thursday, 17 June: Mexico v France at 2:30, freedom-fried chimi-frogs on menu (kidding—special order only) • Friday, 18 June: US vs. Slovenia (10am), followed by England vs. Algeria (2:30pm)!!! The weekend starts early, will likely leave a mark … • Saturday, 19 June: Holland match again at 7:30am—I am sensing a c-o-n-spiracy? • Sunday, 20 June (Father’s Day, you good-for-nothing ingrates): Italy v New Zealand at 10am, Brazil v Ivory Coast at 2:30pm … oh dear, Monday morning will not feel kind. • Monday, 21 June: Chile v Templars (Swiss) at 10am, Spain v Honduras at 2:30—end of 2nd round of group play! • Tuesday, 22 June onward through Friday, 25 June: 3rdround of group play features simultaneous matches at 10am and 2:30pm daily! • Round of 16 kicks off Saturday, 26 June with one match each at 10am and 2:30pm daily through Tuesday, 29 June … Thu, 17 Jun 2010 - 01:37PM To one of our friends of the pub, Captain Marty Keogh we say hey. He is stuck in France till the fall doing a somewhat important job of monitoring security at many of France's nuclear facilities. They do enjoy the nuclear over there I understand. Pretty clean with a low chance of oil spills. Of course if things do go wrong...but I'm sure they won't as the Captain will keep a close eye on all the particulars. The only downside I understand from Marty is the state of the French beer scene. I can't help you with that but I'll be sure to tip one for you here. Cheers buddy! Fri, 04 Jun 2010 - 01:32PM I often say that a pub is a community. I had never seen it quite so clearly though as last Saturday. We were lucky enough to be able to host the wedding of John and Jeana. It was an occasion that brought together many good people who make the pub what it is and we were able to celebrate a memorable occasion. We forgot the normal daily routines and enjoyed the pub and each others company. I felt very lucky to be part of making this little community happen. That's about it. Cheers. Joe. Thu, 03 Jun 2010 - 07:38AM We will be showing the World Cup at the pub. I am thrilled at the prospect. Growing up in England involved many big games down at the local boozer. You really can't beat the atmosphere that you get with a room full of passionate fans. Football (soccer) has the ability to generate excitement like no other sport I have ever experienced. It is a real treat to be able to do this here. The pub really lends itself to an occasion like this. I am bringing in a couple of TVs. The main screen will be a hefty 73 incher. Everything will of course be HD and the game sounds will pipe in through the pub's sound system. It's going to be a hell of a time. I decided if we were going to do it it was going to be done right. I will post the full schedule to the event page of our site so you can plan out what games interest you. There are three time slots. We will not be showing any of the 7.30 am games. We will however be showing all of the 9.30 am and 2pm games. There really aren't any games in the early slot that are of great interest anyway. England and the US certainly aren't playing any of those times. Morning games will see the Tap and Mallet serving breakfast for the first time. We will be offering a limited yet high quality menu. I am particularly keen to get my chops around the breakfast tacos that we're going to serve up. We will have plenty of coffee and of course great beer. Victory Brewing has offered to partner up with us for the duration of the World Cup. We are going to feature 5 Victory drafts through the entire tournament at very reasonable prices. The final point I want to make clear is that TV's are only for World Cup games. They will show nothing other than football. After the tournament is done they will disappear. Go ENGLAND! Tue, 18 May 2010 - 02:01PM We will be enjoying time with our mums and you should too. The pub will be closed for Mothering Sunday. Fri, 30 Apr 2010 - 11:59AM Well the summer season is nearly on us and thank goodness for that. Who doesn't like a chilled pint in the sun? Speaking of drinking outside, be sure to check out our new umbrellas once the sun goes down. Flick the switch on the pole and enjoy the built in solar lights. Pretty awesome I thought. It is good that we have that as our lighting issues outside are still causing us a few headaches. We hope to have them resolved soon. The McBane's SlyPA is nearly gone believe it or not and we are already starting to think about the next brew. Our bar manager, Chris Schultheis has come up with an idea for a late summer brew that we're all pretty excited about. A light golden saison delicately spiced with touches of green peppercorn, ginger and lemon zest. We loved working with the Sly Fox guys so much that we are going to go straight back for the next round. They also make their own killer saison which didn't make our decision any more difficult. We are still awaiting the arrival of Dave Schlosser's brewery in Canandaigua. I have high hopes for this venture. It would be nice to see a local brewery that has a strong line of beers through out and regularly challenges us with some of their special releases. It would also be great to see a brewery that it is marketing itself as a sharp cool brand. We need to move away from where we were ten years ago. It is far too competitive not to be perceived as cool now. Why can't we have our own Rogue, Stone, Founders equivalent nearby? I can't think of any reason. We still have a few tickets left for the Ithaca Beer Social next week. As with their last appearance we have forced them to dig deep into the stash to bring some of the lesser seen beers for us to try. There will be a Sierra Nevada beer dinner in July. More details of this will follow. The new menu will be launched on May 10th. There will be some exciting new dishes to try as always. I'm sure there will also be a few tough losses. This is kind of tough to take but variety truly is the spice of the pub. I will be keen to hear your comments once we have rolled it out. Well that is probably about all that I have got for now. As always, thank you for all of your on going support. It is your support that has/does allow us to build the pub into Rochester's beer lovers paradise that we all love. Cheers. Wed, 21 Apr 2010 - 10:08AM We will be closed this Sunday. While I doubt that many of the staff are church goers they do work very hard and certainly deserve the holiday. I hope everyone else enjoys their day too. Cheers. Fri, 02 Apr 2010 - 12:02PM Well it's all over. The bobcat did find a Lovin' home after all, and much good beer was enjoyed. The night itself was probably the craziest event we have ever had at the pub. The crowd started to gather early and by 8 you could barely move. It was so busy in fact that when my wife arrived she couldn't even get through the door and had to sneak in by way of the kitchen. Each team was introduced like prize fighters with much cheering from their section of supporters. You could cut the anticipation in the room with a damaged bobcat claw. We then pounded down a glass of beer each and opened the taps. It was a constant flow of beer. Just 6 minutes and 46 seconds later our keg blew, I sounded the air horn and the crowd went wild. Awesome! I can't believe how quickly it went. We probably should have done a half keg in hind sight, but who knew it was going to be so popular. I mean I figured we'd get a crowd but this was just bonkers. Everyone who had bought a ticket but not got a glass then headed straight to the bar to trade it in. We opened the taps and just started putting beer into any glass we could lay our hands on. It took about half an hour to really get on top of the insatiable demand for pints, but ultimately we prevailed. So all that remains is to enjoy the rest of the Sly Fox beers while they are around and pay Bob occasional visits at the Lovin' Cup. I wonder what the challenge will be next year in order to keep Bob at a Lovin' home? Wed, 31 Mar 2010 - 08:05AM 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. Tue, 09 Mar 2010 - 07:25AM 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. Sat, 06 Mar 2010 - 12:22PM 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. Sat, 27 Feb 2010 - 12:54PM 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. Fri, 12 Feb 2010 - 11:39AM 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! Sat, 06 Feb 2010 - 11:51AM 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. Sat, 09 Jan 2010 - 02:40PM 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. Sat, 02 Jan 2010 - 11:40AM 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! Wed, 16 Dec 2009 - 08:39AM 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. Tue, 15 Dec 2009 - 11:39AM 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. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 - 01:51PM 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. Wed, 18 Nov 2009 - 01:59PM 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 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 - 01:04PM 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. Sat, 24 Oct 2009 - 10:16AM 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." Tue, 20 Oct 2009 - 01:20PM 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 Fri, 02 Oct 2009 - 09:18AM 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? Tue, 22 Sep 2009 - 07:13AM 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. Fri, 04 Sep 2009 - 01:44PM 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. Thu, 03 Sep 2009 - 05:05PM 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. Wed, 05 Aug 2009 - 12:01PM 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 Sat, 25 Jul 2009 - 12:31PM 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. Sat, 25 Jul 2009 - 09:39AM 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! Tue, 21 Jul 2009 - 10:22AM