Took a little walk around Troy on Saturday to check out some of the new statues that have popped up around the city as part of the Uncle Sam Project as well as grabbing breakfast and doing a little shopping at the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market. Check it out!
Last Friday night was the Sierra Nevada event at The Ruck. Oddly, most of the beers they were offering had already been on draft earlier in the week, even the Porter on cask and the Brandy Barrel Ovila Quad. Given that we were there for wing night on Monday and had already had the majority of the event’s beers on tap, this definitely took away a lot of the luster of the event away for our whole group; I’m sure we weren’t the only ones to feel this way.
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Nuzzy doin’ his damn thing.
Sadly I missed out on any of the big Northeast Stone Vertical Epic events that happened in December. Participating in any of the ones that had VE 03.03.03 and up would have required a trip to NYC or Boston on 12/12/12 and just wasn’t in the cards that close to the holidays. Luckily, the guys from The Ruck had some vintage Stone kegs stowed away for us Capital District folks to get a taste. The lineup for the night:
Yesterday was the awards ceremony and Homebrews Shin Dig for The Ruck’s second Extreme Hombrew Competition. Things were done a little differently than last year, as they separated the judging and the awards to two separate days to make things a little quicker for all of the homebrewers who were involved, and also gave them a chance to grab lunch and share their brews with their fellow competitors.
Awards were given for the best in each category, Best in Show, and Best 6-Pack for teams who submitted a beer to all 6 categories:
The trophies were all very cool, unique, and handmade right in Troy, NY…
…by Bianca of The Broken Mold Studio. Check ‘em out.
Chad getting a pour of some homebrew braggot.
Bob getting the show going.
Winner for the Snow Melter Category: Brooklyn Hopsters for Dragon’s Breath.
AlcoholiX taking home the Beer & Cereal win for Special Red.
Brooklyn Hopsters wins again for his American Wheat “Göse” in the Funky Fermentables category.
Beer Me Up Scotty taking the trophy for Calvin & Hoppes IPA in the Kitchen Malt House Category.
Three trophies. Hm, I’m seeing a trend here… Best In Show: Brooklyn Hopsters
And one last trophy for Best Six Pack. Damn, congrats man!
The guys waiting for Bob to wrap it up so they can go back to drinking each others’ brew.
Chad’z Cherry Chocolate Stout
Nice turnout of a bunch of guys enthusiastic about their craft. Looking forward to see what they come up with next time.
I was planning on using a spirit for my Repeal Day post yesterday, perhaps the gin I picked up at New England Distilling over the weekend, but man did I have a hankering for some Ruck wings. So, I grabbed a couple of tasty treats from my recent hauls and headed down.
I brought some ZD I’ve been meaning to share with the guys (although no one could blame me for keeping all of that deliciousness to myself if I did) and some Allagash House Beer from my tour there over the weekend. House Beer is only available at Allagash, and is sold by the crate, so I’m pretty happy to be able to share it friends and with some of the future trades I have in the works.
Dave brought down some 2000 (!!!) Brooklyn Monster Ale, Lawson’s Finest Maple Nipple and The Bruery Mischief. I’m not big on most Brooklyn beers these days but this Monster Ale killed it. Huge fan.
Jon showed up later with some Audacity, Crossroads’ latest bottled beer (I believe only the second beer they’ve bottled). I missed out on the Winter Warmer, so I was happy to give this one a shot. These bottles have been aging in their cellar for two years, too. Huge candied sugar present here with just a hint of Belgian spices. Keep ‘em coming, Hutch!
And naturally I mixed in a few other beers in that were on draft like Evil Twin’s Soft Dookie (droooool), Stillwater Artisanal’s Autumnal and Anderson Valley’s Heelch O’ Hops.
Not a bad way to celebrate the 79th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition, huh?
— Dogfish Night is always a great time. I got to tick almost all of the beers they had that I haven’t checked into in Untappd yet (missed three but we were hitting the road for yesterday’s Hill Farmstead haul pretty early). Dave knows how to put on a great party. I spent the majority of the night enjoying myself so only a few pics were taken. Check ‘em out!
Dave (owner of the Ruck) and Jay from Jay’s Beer Review.
Matty J!
Ev holding it down
Nuzzy doing his damn thing.
Buff doing some sort of sign language. Not sure.
Erica and Elise making sure the bar isn’t going anywhere.
Caleb sadly not making me wings hot enough to make my nose bleed.
Dogfish Head shortbread cookies made from the tap handle!
I… don’t know. This was their idea. I swear.
Matt, the head brewer of Chatham Brewing, Russ from Homebrew Emporium, and Bob from the Ruck.
Sad looking Randall all out of World Wide Stout. :( Gotta get there early!
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— Got this response about their November 16th event via their Facebook this morning:
And the bottle list:
I’ll update if I hear anything about casks, Randalls, build your own Randalls, etc.
EDIT: Brian updated me with the Randall list:
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— Told you guys I was doing this. See you at The Ruck for 30 Days Til Dogfish Head Night.
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— A little preview of what they have in store for the big Dogfish Night on November 16th. Make your own randals are a great idea. Me? I’d do cocoa nibs, vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks and dried chili peppers on World Wide Stout. Sound like a familiar recipe? It should. That’s what they put in Hunahpu.
Bonus points for whoever Randalls the weirdest shit tomorrow night.
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- Jon and I went down to The Ruck to take a few pics of the Stein Hoisting but somehow got roped into competing. It was a lot tougher than it looks, but it was fun and Jon ended up winning and taking home the stein you see above. Not bad, huh? Check out the pics below.
The Sam Adams rep explaining the rules.
The start of the ladies’ competition.
Kristien struggling to keep up her mug. The hard work paid off, she was the women’s champ!
Jon and I about to start the competition.
And the guys starting their bout.
Jon acting like a goofball as he’s about to take the win.
The champs!
And finally a little Sam Adams Oktoberfest hat swag to bring home for all of the participants.
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