Posts Tagged ‘Beer’
No He Didn’t!!!
Yes, he did. The Washington Post’s smack-writing extraordinaire, Dana Milbank, couldn’t resist the temptation to poke fun at the recent White House “beer summit.” It’s natural territory for Milbank, who snarked it up in his newspaper column and in an installment of the Post’s regular online series “Mouthpiece Theatre,” itself a send-up the the long-running PBS program “Masterpiece Theatre.” Hosted by Milbank and Chris Cillizza, the online spoof bills itself as “political commentary from two of the biggest maws in Washington.” This time Milbank opened his a bit too much.
This Week’s Greatest Hits on the Young & Hungry Blog
Most folks saw the Beer Summit as a chance to talk race relations in America. The readers of Y&H saw it as a chance to bash the participants for their lousy taste in brew.
Orr Shtuhl’s post on the suds summit was the runaway hit of the week, but his follow-up on Obama’s disastrous taste in light quaffs just barely missed the cut, which makes me think Y&H readers have some deep-seated desire to push the president around.
The rest of the week’s hits:
- Obama’s Beer Meeting: Let the Lobbying Begin!
- Strip Club Food: Not as Nasty as You’d Think
- Chinatown Coffee Co. Opened for Business Today
- Follow That Cheese: Whole Foods Burrata Not Made in House After All
- Michelle Obama and Company Dined at The Majestic on Thursday
Photo by √oxéfx via Flickr Creative Commons Attribution License
Birch & Barley Should Tap Its First Keg in September
Birch & Barley/ChurchKey, the long-delayed project from the ever-expanding Neighborhood Restaurant Group empire, should open in September, even though NRG still hasn’t hired a chef for the gastropub in the former Dakota Cowgirl space on 14th Street NW.
So says Michael Babin, co-owner of NRG.
“I say that with all the necessary anxiety and stress,” Babin adds, with a laugh. “I don’t see anything that will stop us from opening in September.”
And that includes, Babin says, the hiring of an executive chef after Frank Morales‘ surprising departure earlier this month.
Read More “Birch & Barley Should Tap Its First Keg in September” »
Germans Giving Up On Beer?
A few weeks ago, we lamented the absence of a traditional German beer garden in DC. Now, based on new numbers released by Germany’s Federal Statistics Office, perhaps we should be more concerned about saving the original beer gardens in the Fatherland. Germans are notorious for their thirst for suds, but could this just be an antiquated stereotype? (Based on our trip to Oktoberfest last fall, the answer would be no, but then again most of those folks were Irish and Australians… Man, can they drink!)
German breweries sold 1.3 billion gallons of beer in the first half of this year–about 60 billion gallons, or about 4.5 percent, less than during the same period last year. This is the poorest showing the German beer industry since 1991, the first year in which figures were kept. The reason? According to Peter Hahn of the German Brewery Association, the lagging sales numbers are the result of an aging population that drinks less and smoking bans that have discouraged those chimney Germans from hitting the bars so much. Hahn (apparently Germany’s answer to Milli Vanilli) even blames it on the rain, saying that abnormally high precipitation this year has meant fewer nights spent at outdoor beer gardens and neighborhood barbecues.
Obama’s Beer Meeting: Let the Lobbying Begin!
Every time President Obama eats a burger, Mr. Y&H (aka Tim Carman) has a goddamn field day. But now that Obama is set to crack beers with Officer James Crowley and Harvard prof Henry Louis Gates, Jr. to discuss Gates’ false arrest at his Cambridge home, it’s time for the liquid half of Young & Hungry to go nuts. And I’m going to milk this baby for all it’s worth.
First, CNN reports (with the urgent UPDATE in all caps) that Obama will have a Budweiser, which is what he had at the MLB All-Star Game. Crowley will reportedly quaff a Blue Moon, and Gates’s choice is still undetermined, though he has a preference for Red Stripe and Beck’s. Surprising? No, but so, so disappointing.
Capitol City Stinks!
CORRECTION: As Capitol City has pointed out to us, our post below includes sloppy language that we regret. We cited “a patron” telling the Washington Post that the odor was that of sewage. In fact, the complaint came from a customer of the post office. The odor, now known to have been grease build-up in an old pipe, appears to have been confined to the mail sorting facility downstairs from Cap City. Furthermore, we’re told that the problem has been resolved. Again, we regret the error.
Literally. We have no problems with Capitol City’s beer. In fact, it’s one of the great pleasures of DC’s beer culture to be able to drink fresh brews next to its beautiful fermentation tanks. To be clear: we love fresh beer. But when it comes along with a foul-smelling odor, the experience is considerably diminished. The Washington Post reports that Cap City, located upstairs from the US Post Office facility on Massachusetts Avenue on Capitol Hill, is indeed a stinky place lately. From the Post:
Kelvin Nwosu, general manager of Capitol City Brewing Company, a restaurant on the floor above the post office, said the smell is the result of a leaking pipe somewhere in the bowels of the building, known for its round-the-block lines come annual tax deadline time in April. Read More “Capitol City Stinks!” »
TGIF: Beer-Launching Refrigerator
“Yo, dude! That’s awesome! Can I buy one?” That’s pretty much what we were thinking. Finally, technology put to good use. Enjoy the weekend…
Frank Morales Has Left Rustico Behind, But Not Beer-Friendly Food
Former Rustico chef Frank Morales told Tom Sietsema on Friday that he left the Alexandria gastropub because he had done everything he could at the Neighborhood Restaurant Group property. What Morales apparently didn’t tell the Post, though, is that he still has much more to accomplish in the area of beer-related food.
“Rustico gave me a…style and a way to cook, and I’m going to continue that,” Morales told Y&H this afternoon.
Read More “Frank Morales Has Left Rustico Behind, But Not Beer-Friendly Food” »
This Week’s Greatest Hits on the Young & Hungry Blog
It’s only fitting José Andrés grabbed the top spot during the week in which he also celebrated his 40th birthday.
But aside from defending their turf from opinionated New Yorkers (you’ll figure out that reference after reading the top post), Y&H readers also proved they have a great interest in beer, particularly how to open one in a pinch — and how to convert the stuff to fuel.
Enlightened and thirsty readers we have here at Y&H Central.
Peak Oil? No Problem, Put Beer in Your Tank
Economic necessity is the mother of invention. Just ask Wolfgang Bengel. The research scientist, a technical director with Germany’s BMP Biomasse Projekt, is tackling one of the continent’s growing environmental conundrums: what to do with all the used grains and wastewater that result from brewing beer. Historically, European breweries have given by-products to farmers to use as fertilizer and cattle feed. But declines in Europe’s beef market and new environmental regulations have combined to upset the delicate relationship, shouldering brewers with the added expense of waste disposal–a considerable cost. One possible answer, the one Bengel now evangelizes (along with Ken Grossman at Sierra Nevada), is to convert it into fuel for cars and energy for use in the brewing process.
