Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Blind Tiger: I could've had a Pale Ale

I could've had a Bitter, a Bigfoot, a Blonde, a Celebration, a Southern Harvest, an IPA, a Pale Ale, a Porter, or even a Stout, a Schwartz, a Wheat, or a Torpedo. But, when you can also choose from a 20th Street Ale (last year's version of their homegrown Harvest), an Anniversary (this year's), a Barrel-Aged Stout, a Brown (on gravity cask, to boot), a Crystal Wheat, a Pale Bock, a Ruthless Wheat, a Witte, or yes a Debockel Bock.....uh, what was my point? How in the world do I choose? Ah, yes...that was the question. The selection of brews at this annual end-of-summer Sierra Nevada celebration (pun intended? perhaps) at Blind Tiger in NYC is bound to become legendary, if it isn't already. So, in the 90 minutes that I had to spare for this stopover before my train ride home, how in the world did I choose? Well, I went for ones that I haven't tasted before, and I went for the smallest format that they would serve them in. With my experience, the coaching of a couple of new friends (never hard to come by at Blind Tiger), and Mr. Tom Gannon's personal advice (I figured he'd be the first familiar face that I'd see) I opted for ones that I've never come across before, namely the Ruthless Wheat, Debockel Bock, Barrel-Aged Stout, 20th Street Ale, and a beer that I was told ("between you and me") is being discontinued. Since I'm not 100% certain of the terms of "between you and me," I won't be disclosing which specific beer. I was hoping to try the brown ale cask on gravity, but Alan had just driven the tap home and the cask wasn't quite ready for serving. Oh, you want a winner? Guess I would say the barrel-aged stout. It was one of the smoothest, easiest-drinking, while most flavorful bourbon stouts I've tasted. As usual, I left way too early. Too early for having fulfilled my personal satisfaction, but just in time to catch the 6:30pm Amtrak train back to Philly. Perhaps it's a good thing, as I needed to lug my overnight bag, my laptop bag, and a growler (did I mention the growler of Ommegang Rouge?! congratulations if you read through here....meet me at TJs tonight for a possible taste!).

3 comments:

kmudrick said...

Where did you get the growler of Rouge filled? WF Bowery? Blind Tiger? I kind of always figured the Blind Tiger would not do growler fills. I'll be in NYC this weekend for that Nike Run and would love to get a growler for my dissapointed-that-redbach-is-discontinued wife.

Bryan Kolesar said...

Whole Foods, Bowery. $16.99 fillup

Anonymous said...

The Redbach was swill.