I spent part of the day yesterday, checking in on a few local sources of my favorite malt beverage and it included a lunch break at The Ram – Boise. Even before I opened the front door I knew something was brewing when I picked up on the unmistakable aroma of a “boil” going on. I loved it but I wondered to my self how many of the prime time lunch crowd coming in would infact be turned off by that unique smell as it is somewhat of an “acquired taste”.
As is typically the case when I stop in to a Brewpub, especially ones I have visited recently or regularly, I am looking for any one-offs or seasonals or some other special offering. I cant quite justify driving all the way down for a run-of-the-mill Amber, for example that they have all the time anyway. Once in a while my effors are rewarded as I stumble across some Barrel Aged version of some seasonal or some other experimental brew.
Today though, only their regular line-up was on, so I had the Taildragger IPA which was very tasty as usual. I skipped actual food and stuck with the beer only as a type of carbo-loading I suppose.
The highlight of my visit was when I spotted Kevin, the head brewer come out for a drink (of water) while glancing at MLB highlights on the big screen (Bobby Thompson had just passed away, and they were showing the clasic 1 game playoff in 1951) I overheard my server talk to him about my questions I had for her a few minutes earlier about any special beers that were coming up and she was, I suppose making sure she hadn’t forgotten to mention any. He came over and we shook hands and since he didnt seem to rushed I got to chat with him and ask a few questions.
He did say that he has an American Stout on oak right now that will be released in the fall and when I mentioned that it smelled like he was boiling something he confirmed that it was “just an Amber” he was doing today. I asked him about GABF coming up and he perked up a bit and said he had several entries this year. I reminded him that he had done pretty well in the past and he shrugged it off and agreed that he had had some success recently. I asked him if he had particularly high hopes for any of his entries in particular and the Kolsch, he thought was pretty good especially. I’m sure he will come back with a couple medals this year again.
It was great to chat with him and it was gracious of him to take a few minutes out of his busy schedule for me and now that I think of it, he might have shown me around the brewing facilities if I had asked, but I didn’t want to impose. I did however switch gears a bit, identified myself as a Homebrewer and had a specific question about Pale Ales and IPAs and that grassy, hay like flavor I sometimes get. He asked if I dry hopped and when I said “yeah” he advised me that hops in the pellet form would likely give me less of that off flavor than the whole leaf version I had usually used in the past. Thanks for the tip.
I was good to talk to Kevin, and I couldn’t help feeling like I was hob-knobbing a little and getting privy information.
