You're going to need your palate and your liver to be in tip-top shape for Dallas Beer Week in November. Fortunately, there are plenty of training opportunities coming up -- as well as a chance to support state House Bill 602, which would allow craft breweries to charge for brewery tours and allow tour participants to take home as many as 48 12-oz. beers as part of the tour experience.
Rahr & Sons over in Fort Worth are big supporters of the bill, naturally, and offer an explanation of its potential benefits and how you can support its passage. Tonight's brewery tour from 5 to 7:30 p.m. is dedicated to "Bucking the System," and includes tasting of their spring Bucking Bock as well as preprinted letters so that all supporters have to do is sign them -- Rahr will even mail them for you. It will be but one of many HB 602 support parties at the brewery. (Though it looks like Fritz Rahr won't be there, as he will be hosting a beer dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Dallas.)
Also tonight, Meddlesome Moth offers a rare opportunity to try an oak-barrel-aged Real Ale 14th Anniversary golden Belgian-style ale. Moth and Flying Saucer "beer guru" Keith Schlabs says here it's one of just 10 kegs available in the state. Starts at 5 p.m. and will almost certainly go fast, if our experience at last week's Wednesday tapping is any indication -- Sierra Nevada's Hoptimum was gone by 6:45 p.m., and we got just a couple of frothy sips.
Tomorrow night at 6:30, Flying Saucer on the Lake is host of a Saint Arnold beer dinner with brewmaster Brock Wagner. Says the press release:
The night's courses will be served as follows, each paired with specific Saint Arnold beers: chipotle hummus with Saint Arnold Elissa IPA or Saint Arnold Spring Bock; cream of jalapeño soup with Saint Arnold Texas Wheat; sautéed apples and a Gruyère and ham sandwich with Saint Arnold Brown Ale; bacon-wrapped cream cheese-stuffed chicken with Saint Arnold Fancy Lawnmower; cod and cilantro fish cakes topped with sweet chipotle sauce served with Saint Arnold Amber Ale; and two desserts to include chocolate mousse, served with Saint Arnold Divine Reserve No. 9, and mom's pecan pie, served with Saint Arnold Root Beer.
(Speaking of Saint Arnold Divine Reserve, the brewery just tweeted that DR11, an imperial IPA, "was brewed yesterday...hopefully we made enough that you tweeps with jobs can get some." Should be in better beer stores and bars mid- to late April. Needless to say, we're excited.)
As usual, Plano Craft Beer Examiner's Brian Brown has a listing of the week's beer events, capped by Sunday's 15th Anniversary Party from 1 to 6 p.m. at the Flying Saucer in Addison. Ten beers, including some hard-to-find ones, will be tapped: Brooklyn Monster, Avery Mephistopheles, Ommegang 3 Philosophers, Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron, Dogfish Head Midas Touch, Moylander Double IPA, Scaldis, McChouffe, Real Ale 14 Reserve and Sierra Nevada Oak-Aged Bourbon Reserve.
Looking ahead a bit, the Common Table is planning a Brooklyn Brewery beer dinner for March 14.
And the Moth will celebrate its first anniversary in April with Ale Week April 4-10 and includes nightly cask tappings, four beer dinners, tastings of rare and vintage beers and Saturday's Tap Takeover, with some 30 unique drafts. "The Meddlesome Moth has been cellaring the best beers coming through the state since before opening in anticipation of this unique tasting," says the press release. Anything leftover will be for sale during a Leftover Brunch on Sunday, April 10. A partial schedule is available on Moth cicerone Matt Quenette's blog.
