Ask for Cask!

Jenn and I had a dilemma this past weekend. Our friend Patty had recently turned 40 and Jenn had planned to get away for an evening to celebrate. Our friend Chris is soon to turn 40 and he was interested in participating in Philly beer week. How could we do both? We decided to make it work with me heading south Thursday night and coming back the next night so that Jenn could go on Saturday. So I went down after work and stopped at the Long Valley brewpub. The place was off the beaten path, but on the way to New Hope, and I tried a sampler and their cubanella sandwich. The food, service and location were excellent, but the beer was only so-so. The best was their Irish Red Ale, a seasonal that was out for St. Patrick’s day. And after catching up with my friends Chris and Liz, and watching a great basketball game (a six OT victory by Syracuse over Connecticut), I was ready for the next day’s events.

The plan was to head down to the Grey Lodge Pub (http://www.greylodge.com/) for Firkin Friday, and this year in honor of Philly Beer week, they opened at 9AM and planned to have about 30 different casks. Liz offered to play chauffer, and we stopped by breakfast on the way. New Hope is a tourist town, and the locals were disappointed during tourist season of having to wait in line for dining (sounds like the Saratoga locals opinion in August). So they have Fred’s Breakfast, a member’s only establishment that members get issued their own keys. So I enjoyed a wonderful breakfast of eggs and scrapple, and had enough food in the belly to start imbibing.

We got to the Grey Lodge around 9:45, and there were already about 60 patrons with a head start on the samples. Chris and I pulled up piece of wall and started ordering. The beers are in 6oz glasses, and the bar STRONGLY encourages its customers to drink lots of water in between. As luck would have it, one of the first beers was Arcadia Sky High Rye (Chris was hoping to have a rye ale) and we both agreed that it was great way to start the morning. There were several beers (Sierra Nevada Stout, Voodoo Wynona’s Big Brown Ale, Erie Railbender, Iron Hill Irish Red Ale, and Yard’s George Washington Porter) that I had tried before on draft, so it was neat to sample their versions on cask. The place was packed, and after we sampled all of the initial 7 casks, we took a break for lunch. I had the Lodge Steak sandwich, a Philly cheesesteak that had salami on it also (highly recommended) and when we finished several of the casks had kicked so we got to try a few of the replacements. I really enjoyed the Weyerbacher Echo and Troeg’s Flying Mouflan. We went across the street and I enjoyed a Rita’s Italian Ice, and we soaked in the crisp, clear, sunny day while talking to other beer enthusiasts.

Liz picked us up (God Bless her), and we returned to New Hope where we got ready for dinner. And where did we go? Triumph Brewpub of course where I had a specially made peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a Smoked Porter on cask. It was a great day, and I really liked sharing the experience with a friend. The next Firkin celebration will be in November so I’m already putting in for vacation on that day. - 5051

"A cask of ale can work more miracles than a church full of saints." - Anonymous