While I didn’t end up in the underground labyrinthine caves beneath the brewery this year (I know, I was sad, too), I did get to judge some damn fine bock beer. A whole lot, in fact, as I was judging 5B. Traditional Bocks; we had two sets of judges, with each set getting 7 or 8 beers. All I know is we judged eight beers, so maybe the other set of judges weren’t pulling their weight. Any who, afterwards, Jeff Fortney and I sauntered downstairs for a ham and cheese crepe (not German, I know, but it certainly was delicious). I also made derisive comments about the 
stripper pole set up in front of the radio station booth. After all, nothing says classy like a stripper pole. Because when I think of German brewing heritage, the first thing to pop into my mind is, well, strippers. Who don’t? After a quick deliberation, we voted to head out to 50 West Brewing Company, as neither of us had been there previously. While it is a bit of a ways outside of downtown Cincinnati proper—exacerbated, I will admit, by my taking a few wrong turns—it was certainly worth the visit. Excellent atmosphere and
good beer. I tried the Coast to Coast IPA; I can’t remember what Jeff had. My favorite moment, however, was when Jeff inadvertently got one of the bartenders in trouble: Whit Hesser was at the door when we were leaving, and asked us how we liked our visit and what was in the growler Jeff had; when Whit found out it was the Russian Imperial Stout, he looked grumpy and observed it wasn’t supposed to be available for growlers. Whoops! Still, I will certainly be back to check out 50 West in more detail soon. Oh, and results for Bockfest are here!
(3/2/2013)
No comments:
Post a Comment