Movin' On Up...to Amherst, MA

Yes, Folks, I'm moving away from my beloved hometown city for the next few years. As my mini-biography indicates, my life has been a precarious mix of education, bartending and all things fermentable. Since graduating from college 3 years ago I've played a little juggling game. At the height of it, I ended up opening and managing a restaurant in Wayne while finishing a Master's Degree at NYU.

Since commuting to Massachusetts isn't a possibility, I'll be giving up my bartending gig at Tria in September, and moving to Amherst to pursue a Ph. D. in history at UMass. Have no fear, my passion for, and pursuit of, all things beer, wine and food related will not end; it will just be relocated, and interspersed with trips back to Philly.



Last week, I went up to Amherst to find a place to live. Naturally, I had to include some food and beer. With the help of Beer Advocate and Yelp I picked a restaurant that alleged to have the best combination of food and beer in the area. So, after securing a great place to live, my parents and I stopped at The Sierra Grille in Northampton.



To start, Beer Advocate didn't lie. The beer selection was great. With 21 taps, one hand pump and an okay sized bottle list, I wasn't disappointed. The list was about 75% import, 25% domestic and managed to cover most major styles.

I started out with a local draft beer: Berkshire Brewing Company Steel Rail Extra Pale Ale. Berkshire Brewing Company, started in 1994, is a craft brewery located in South Deerfield, MA. As their website says, they brew in 620 gallon batches and can brew 420 barrels (13020 gallons) a week. According to the brewery, Steel Rail, their flagship beer, is "a full flavored American style ale." While the beer had good balance between hops and malts, it lacked some body. It's citrus hop character was enjoyable, but not quite complex. I'm curious to try more of their beers and perhaps make a visit to the brewery. Based on BA, it seems like they might have some interesting one-off beers to try out.



After the BBC, I moved onto Ommegang Rouge, a Flanders Red from Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, NY. Since it's debut this past fall, I've been a big fan of this beer. I love, love, love sours and was impressed to find such a great American rendition. Say what you will about Duvel-Moortgat and Don Feinberg's exit from Ommegang (and I'm often the first one to jump in when Duvel comes up), but this is a great beer. It's tart, sour, refreshing, crisp and beautifully complex.



Moving to food, there was much to be desired. I realize I live in a fantastic foodie city. My standards for great meals have been set by the likes of Bryan Sikora, Jose Garces and Marc Vetri. So, this dinner was alright. I sound incredibly snobby in saying this, but dinner was just okay. I know that I'll find a few culinary gems in Western Massachusetts, this just wasn't one of them.

However, their cheese plate was great to see. Featuring 5 regionally local cheeses for 18 dollars, this cheese plate was the highlight of the meal. The plate included Great Hill Blue from Marion, MA, Shelburne Farms 24 mo. aged Cheddar from Shelburne, VT, Cobb Hill Ascutneg Mt. Gryere from Hartland, VT, Westfield Farms Camembert from Hubbardston, MA, and Vermont Butter & Cheese Chevre from Websterville, VT. Yes, it was a great all-American cheese plate. There's something to be said for fresh, local cheese.

All in all, not a bad place for cheese and beer. And for me, that's often all I need.

Here's to new adventures, culinary and otherwise.
Cheers!

The Sierra Grille
41 Strong Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060
413-584-1150

Brunch at Supper

Last Sunday I accidentally went to brunch at Supper. How does one accidentally go to brunch you might ask? Well, I was in the neighborhood and a few hours early for work. Turns out they serve brunch and have a bar. Both sounded like a great idea to me at noon on a Sunday.

With the help of a fellow bartender, and Tria Sunday School regular, I selected a Bloody Mary and entrée. In the mood for something sweet, I went with the "Crispy Banana French Toast with caramelized bananas and peanut butter crème anglaise." The crispy part is no joke. Turns out they soak the bread in the peanut butter crème anglaise overnight and then deep fry it. Yeah, it's as good as it sounds. Deep fried french toast? You can't really go wrong.


The house-made Bloody Mary's were also incredible. I had one with clam juice and a pickled quail egg, a more traditional version, and finally, my favorite, a Bloody Maria made with tequila and some sort of hot sauce. It was seriously the hottest beverage I've ever had. It was so spicy, yet so delicious.

All in all, I'd certainly go back to Supper for brunch, or dinner for that matter. And I'd definitely go back for the Bloody Marys...


Supper
926 South Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147
215.592.8180

I Finally Bought My Name

Yes, finally. It's official.

I no longer need to tell people to "google 'femme fermental' and I'll come up." www.femmefermental.com is all mine.

Yup, it's now a way of life. :)

Cheers!

Phish, Food & Beer

After recovering from my four days of Phish, I'm finally ready to recap my mini-tour. Last Thursday - Sunday I followed Phish to Jones Beach in NY for two nights, Mansfield, MA and back to Camden on Sunday.

Like any good beer geek, I managed to find some time for beer along the way. My accomplice for the weekend was my brother, a newly minted beer geek and home brewer. While we've always shared our love for Phish, beer is new for us. And as it turns out, not a bad combination.

Oh, and yes, let the Phish mocking ensue. But for the record, I saw my first show when I was 12; yup, I'm a jam-band hippie at heart.


Jones Beach 6/4


Jones Beach 6/4


Jones Beach 6/4


Mansfield, MA 6/6


Camden, NJ 6/7

As far as food goes, we really didn't really go crazy on the high end food. We tried to keep it local. On Long Island we went to the Plainview Diner 3 times in 24 hours. It was worth it. The Challah French toast was the best french toast I've ever had and the coffee was perfect.



For the Mansfield show we stayed over in Rhode Island, my brother's old college stomping grounds. Immediately upon arrival I made him find me an Awful Awful; it's a really delcious milkshake from the Newport Creamery. I have fond memories of my first Awful Awful. I was just 9 years old and my family was dropping off my brother at college in Providence. I chose an Oreo Awful Awful and it was just as good as I remember.



After the show in Mansfield, my brother took me to a late night institution in downtown Providence: Haven Brothers Diner. It's really not so much a diner, as a it is an eat-in lunch truck.



At midnight, there was nothing better than a vanilla milkshake, a grilled cheese with bacon and tomato, and french fries. It's a good thing that this doesn't exist near Tria, because I'd certainly be there after work around 3am.



Most of our beer excitement happened in New York. After spending 2 hours in traffic on Long Island, we arrived at the hotel, and promptly found ourselves at the hotel bar. I started the trip off with a Blue Point Toasted Lager. I'm not a huge lager person, but this beer was fresh and delicious. We later bought a six-pack and it wasn't nearly as good as the draft.



Thanks to beer advocate I managed to find a bar that was open and near our hotel. On our second day on Long Island we drove about 20 minutes to Canterbury Ales in Huntington, NY. While they do have 20 drafts and about 50 bottles, their lists are dominated by big beer. Craft beer made up about 25% of their selections.

One big plus was their option for a sampler. Most bars don't offer samplers for many reasons. Mostly, it's hard to produce when busy.

After I had a full Captain Lawrence Freshchester Pale Ale, we moved onto a sampler of Blue Point Hoptical Illusion, Sixpoint Bengali Tiger, Brooklyn Hefeweizen and Captain Lawrence Brown Ale. Both of the Captain Lawrence's were stellar, the Hoptical was nice and piney, and the Bengali Tiger was just right.



After our stop at Canterbury Ales we went to a beer store that I had also found on Beer Advocate, Shoreline Beverage. Of course there's nothing better than stoping at a beer distributor after drinking. Their selection was great, not quite on par with MD's State Line Liquors, but very good and well priced. The coolest part of the place was that they sell growlers! This is a PA alcohol purchasing person's dream come true. It completely blew my PLCB-disliking mind.



The highlight of the trip, in terms of beer, was our stop at Captain Lawrence Brewing Company in Pleasantville, NY. As I walked in the door the Grateful Dead's "They Love Each Other" was playing and I was in beer heaven. We picked up a growler of their Liquid Gold; a strong golden ale. It was fresh, fantastic and truly awesome. It made a more than nice beer for the Phish parking lot.










All in all, the trip turned out to be an awesome beer adventure with good food, great tunes and the best company I could ask for. I have to thank my brother for putting up with my driving, beer obsession and insatiable appetite. To quote one of our favorite Phish songs, "I hope this happens once again."