Went to the Ravens-Falcons game Thursday night. Ugh! An ugly 10-9 loss. They used to call these games "exhibition games." This raises the question: what was on exhibit last night?

On a happier note I did find a spot that sells good beer at a relative "bargain." It is  Ravenswalk, the walkway running between Camden Yards and M & T. There eight restaurants have set up booths selling food and beverages.

For $5 I got a 16 ounce cup draft Guinness. This beer stand, between the Attman's and Oregon Grille stands, also sold $5, 16 ounce cups of Smitwick's and Harp.

Other stands in Ravenswalk sold  22 and 24 ounce cans of Bud Light, Coors Light and Miller Lite for $5.  Twenty four ounce cans of imports went for $7.

This was cheaper than inside the stadium, where beers stands were selling domestic beers for $7 and premium beers for $8 a cup (not sure of the size, but it was either 12 or 16 ounces). Cans of Bud, 16 ounces, were $7.

The drawback to buying beer at Ravenswalk: You gotta drink it before you go inside the stadium.

You can't take beer inside M&T, and if you try to sneak it in the security, "pat-down" people will probably catch you.

Any other suggested spots for Ravens beer drinkers?

Posted by Rob Kasper at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Fowarded Bolt's question -- How can the neoprene insulate beer and still benefit from the ice pack that the website is selling? -- to Brooks Lambert, inventor of the Beerbelly.

Here is Lambert's response: "It’s important to remember that the beer is held in a separate polyurethane pouch or bladder that is then inserted into the neoprene sling which has a pocket to hold the bladder. This way the bladder is held in place and insulated on all sides.

Then if the user wants, they can add the Pleasure Extender “hot/cold” pack into the neoprene pouch next to the bladder offering additional cold time.

Without the cold pack the contents stay cold for a couple of hours depending upon how cold it was when it started and how warm it is where it’s being used. The cold pack adds about another hour again depending upon the previously mentioned variables."

So you can, Lambert says, have your beer cold and your stomach warm.

Posted by Rob Kasper at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

I got a hold of Brooks Lambert , the inventor of the Beerbelly, the device that lets you carry 80 ounces of beer under your shirt. (see yesterday's post: Just in Time for Football Season )

He reports that your stomach does not get cold because the Beerbelly is coated with insulating neoprene. "I made the first one cutting up one of my $300 neoprene wet suits," said Lambert  who is a California surfer.

He also reports that he has never been "detected" by security personnel. "The first time I had it on I felt conspicuous," he said, thinking his stomach protruded. "But then I looked around and saw I loooked like every other guy."

Speaking of beer at stadiums, what is your recommended beer-seeking routine at Ravens stadium?

I am headed out there Thursday night, and will be looking for good brews. Anybody got a stadium "stratergery" ?"

Posted by Rob Kasper at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Recently I checked out the web site of an hilarious product, the Beerbelly.

It is a polyurethene bladder that can hold 80 ounces of beer. A sling over your shoulders holds the device in place on your stomach. A tube running from the "storage tank" delivers beer to your  mouth. When a wearer slips a shirt over this artificial Beerbelly, he looks like has a real beer belly. It costs $35, which the creators point out is cheaper than buying six $7 beers at a stadium.

For the wine-sipping ladies, the same outfit makes a $30 product called the Winerack. It is a polyurethene bra that holds a 750-milliliter bottle of wine. It too has a device that allows the wearer to sip the hidden beverage.

Most stadiums, of course, prohibit fans from carrying alcoholic beverages into the site.

I wonder what beer from a Beerbelly tastes like?

If the beer is cold, won't your belly be frigid?

If it is warm, ugh!

Has anybody tried this out?

Has anyone tried those "beer helmets," the hard hats that hold two cans of beer and have plastic drinking tubes? My guess is they look hilarious, but don't do the beer, or the beer drinker, any favors.  Am I right?

Posted by Rob Kasper at 3:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Tom's of Maine, that eco-friendly outfit that makes tasty toothpaste, has deodorants that use hops to fight odor-causing bacteria.

According to the Tom's public relations people , the type of hops they use is hallertauer magnun. They are in their Long Lasting and Senstive Care brands of deodorants.

They offered this explanation of how hops could keep us smelling good.

"Unpleasant odor is caused by skin bacteria when we sweat. The “bitter principles” that help hops to preserve beer also, it turns out, fight odor. Hops inhibits the growth of bacteria by causing leakage in the bacterial cell membrane, which impairs bacterial function and therefore prevents odor."

Anybody try these?

Do you end up smelling like a bar or a beer?

Posted by Rob Kasper at 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
                    

I liked the bottle of Michelob Dunkel Weisse, a new dark wheat ale that arrived the other day in a sample package sent to members of the beery press by Anheuser-Busch.

Excellent dark color, easy on the clove (never my fav), with hint of a chocolate in the body and 5.5 percent alcohol by volume. It reminded me of the good old days when Michelob was one of America's top brews.

I wanted more, so I called Joe Falcone at Wells Discount Liqours on York Road. He had not seen the Dunkel Weisse, and referred me to the AB distributor, Winner. They told me they had not one bottle of Dunkel Weisse in their warehouse.

So I called St. Louis. The AB people there said the Dunkel Weisse was part of national roll out of Michelob products that will start Sept 8. It will probably take a week or two beyond that date, I was told, before the beer arrives on retail shelves.

This appears to be part of a Michelob makeover. Seasonal beers, Shock Top and the AB organic brews, are, as I understand it, all going to be under the Michelob umbrella. The sampler from St. Louis also had a Pale Ale, which did not impress me.

Michelob seems to be going after the craft beer crowd. What kind of reception do you think they will get?

I suspect some craft beer lovers will shy away from any AB products as too mainstream.
But others will give it a try. The Dunkel-Weisse is good start.

Posted by Rob Kasper at 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
                    

Cracked open a Chinese beer, Harbin Lager, the other night to toast Michael Phelps and our  other lads and lasses performing in the Olympics.

Pretty good lager, tasted similar to Heineken.

The cool thing is the bottle (1 pint 4.3 fluid ounces) comes cloaked in what looks like a rice paper wrapper. All this for a mere $2.25.

I found Harbin Lager at the Wine Source in Hampden and am tracking down the distributor in Baltimore. Stay tuned.

Anybody else try Harbin Lager? It is made in the northern province of Heilongjiang.

Anybody have a worthy Chinese brew?

I have some sympathy for all the swimmers who are getting toasted by Phelps.  It happened to my son.

Years ago our younger son, then 9 I think, was swimming at Padonia, in the big year-ending, best -of-the-best Central Maryland swim meet. My kid won his heat, I think it was the breast stroke, 25 meters. Like a proud papa, I began scouting the opposition. 

The program listed this other 9-year old, M. Phelps, with great times. Sitting on a hill overlooking the pool, I watched this Phelps kid him swim his heat. Two distinct impressions: One, this kid seemed to swim ON TOP of the water. Two, even though the race was only one lap of the pool, he won by almost half the length of the pool.

That cooled this dad's fantasy about his kid making it to the Olympics.

The other night my son, now 23, and I toasted that former Padonia winner with a glass of Harbin lager.

Posted by Rob Kasper at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
                    

Got a look at Mutineer Magazine, a new publication that touts itself as "not your parents' beverage magazine." It comes out of Los Angeles.

In an article on how to order beer at a restaurant, it makes this observation about draft beer versus bottles. "Keep in mind that draft beer is great, but only if your dining establishment cleans the lines regularly and rotates the kegs. Bottles, however, are a pretty safe bet as long as their temperature is properly maintained."

I feel that ordering a bottle of craft beer is usually a waste. The other night I saw a bottle of Victory Prima Pils on the menu of a Baltimore restaurant for $6. An entire six-pack goes for about $8. I can't make myself order a bottle. So I stick with draft, and take my chances on the pipes.

Which do you order when you dine out -- draft or bottle?

Anyone had a look at Mutineer? It is pretty cheeky.

It offers a reasonable amount of information, and promises it will never reduce a beverage to a mere rating number.

 How do you feel about a beverage magazine that doesn't " do the numbers"?

Posted by Rob Kasper at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
                    

Enjoyed a bottle of Hook & Ladder Backdraft Brown the other night.

This beer has the aroma of chocolate, but has a dry finish. I think of it as a lighter yet satisfying porter. It is made by a Silver Spring-based operation started by Matt and Rich Fleischer. One of the brothers, Rich, is a firefighter in Bethesda, and now a portion of the proceeds of the sales of these beers goes to local hosptial burn units and other firefighter charities.

The beer is now brewed at the Genesee Brewery in Rochester, N.Y., but plans are to open a brewery in an old firehouse in Silver Spring. Groundbreaking for the new brewery is set for September 2009, Matt Fleischer told me.

I have also had the Hook & Ladder Lighter, which is their light beer. Not bad, considering the category.

Anybody else had these brews? Whaddya think?

They are distributed locally by Chesapeake Beverage Group. A six-pack of Backdraft Brown goes for $8 at Wells Discount Liquors.

Posted by Rob Kasper at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

The latest Gallup poll that measures such things shows beer rules in the U.S. It has a double digit lead, 11 percentage points, over wine as the alcoholic drink of choice. Spirits trail beer by about 20 points.

This is a comeback for beer, which a few years ago was tied with wine in the same poll. A big factor in the switch seems to be that drinkers in the 30-49 age group have switched their preference from wine to beer.

Another factor, the experts tell me, is that beer has followed wine and spirits in the reach for quality. In other words, people are willing to pay more for better beer.

My column in tomorrow's Taste section of The Sun has more details.

Any thoughts on why this is happening? Are you drinking less wine and more beer?

Posted by Rob Kasper at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)