Local Searching

Sometimes I can’t get away to try something new, and have to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves. Take this week, for example. There are so many things going on both at work and in my personal life that there seems like there would be no way that I could get out and explore. That is when the true beer enthusiast can shine, trying to turn barley malt into Barley Wine. My work encouraged me to attend a class for two days this week, and since there are no restaurants in the hotel where the class is held we are allowed to go out to lunch for an hour.

That’s when my planning started. Knowing that this opportunity was coming, I brought my handy-dandy beer list out with me. For lunch on Wednesday, I went to Brown Brewing (425 River St, Troy, 518-273-BEER, http://brownsbrewing.com) and ordered a buffalo chicken salad with a Cranberry Christmas Ale. If you like a fruity/spicy beer, this one was a hit. I love cranberries, but the only other cranberry beer that I can recall is Sam Adams Cranberry Lambic. That beer is so far from a traditional Lambic (it is more like a cranberry wheat) I couldn’t bring myself to order it again.

For dinner, my friend Mike was in town and a couple of friends wanted to go out to dinner to the Old Dublin Inn (130 Meyer Rd, Clifton Park, 518-877-0100, http://www.olddublininn.com). I used to go there when it was the Old Dater tavern, but it was fancier then and had a limited menu. It is now an Irish restaurant with some 28 beers on tap. Unfortunately, at least 6 of the taps had kicked and they were pushing some standard stuff. I had Shipyard Export Ale in honor of my shipbuilding friends, along with the fish and chips. Looking at everyone’s meals I’d avoid the fish and the Shepherd’s pie in the future, and would recommend staying with the sandwiches.

The next day my classmates and I went to Malt River Brewing at the Latham Circle Mall. Last summer they decided to switch to being a beer bar instead of brewing (I think they lost their head brewer), and they’ve since ripped out all their brewing gear and turned the area into a lounge. Their website hasn’t been updated so they still advertise their “fine ales”. I had a Saranac Imperial IPA with their homemade pub cheese, which I wouldn’t recommend again. The change made me sad; Malt River use to have a firkin Friday party that was quite nice.

Every town has their favorite beer retail store, and I’m often asking the locals when I travel where it is. In Albany the best selection can be found at Oliver’s Beverage (105 Colvin Ave, Albany, 518-459-2767, http://www.brew-crew.com). I’d say that the best part of Oliver’s is that they encourage folks to buy a variety of beers by selling them individually. My best finds for the evening were from England’s Meantime London Porter and IPA.

That leaves my favorite beer bar, Mahar’s (http://www.itsonlybeer.com/index.html), to visit on the weekend. Mahar’s had me hooked when I first moved into the area back in 1997. Their system is to have each new member print out a list of all the beers they have in stock. They mark off the list with the beers you’ve tried and when you return you’ve been assigned a number. When you enter that number into the computer, you get a list of all the beers that they have in stock, minus the beers that you’ve already tried. I’ve now moved up to #7 on their all-time list with 4053 beers tried. The highlight for today was the Rogue’s Imperial YSB (Younger’s Special Bitter) on draft. This is one of their John Locker series, which have been available fairly regularly at Mahar’s. – 4053

“The church is near, but the road is icy. The bar is far away, but I will walk carefully.” – Anonymous (Old Russian Proverb)