Notes from a Mobster

Review of: Speakeasy Ales & Lagers

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 5

Read review on Judy’s Book.

First off, I have to admit, I’ve been a Speakeasy Mobster and shareholder since the late 1990s – so I am a little biased. As much as I love the current lineup of bottled beers: Big Daddy IPA, Prohibition Ale, Double Daddy Imperial IPA and the Untouchable Pale Ale (and the elusive Godfather Barleywine), it’s the keg-only and the dearly departed brews that made this brewery tops in my book.

Keg Only:
The Bootlegger Black Lager holds up to the classic Sapporo Black and the archetype of the style: Kostritzer Schwartzbier. Malty and a little sweet, but also refreshing. There’s a reason they’re commonly called black pilsners.

The Shylock Maibock is also a great example of a German spring bock beer. Strong but balanced with a sweet malty character.

Even the Satchmo Stout, which should be bottled as there is a real lack of good local stouts, is a fantastic beer… nice and roasty and proof that stouts can aspire to be more than a Guinness.

However, the three best, most unique beers are ones that are unfortunately not being made any more.

White Lightning – their attempt at a berliner weisse, a sour beer that had undergone lactic fermentation. Even though it was a pain to produce and a bigger pain to clean out of the tanks and pipes, it was an amazing beer when stored and served properly (the trick was to make sure some live yeast made it into the glass like with a Belgian beer)

Common Beer – The San Francisco Common Beer was quite possibly the best beer produced on the west coast when it came to pairing with food, and it’s a shame that restaurants all throughout the Bay Area didn’t stock it. Maybe it was the name, or maybe the restaurant industry lacked the vision to pair a domestic beer with food the way they do now with Belgian brews. Either way, it is sorely missed.

Finally, the best of the bunch: Untouchable Lager – a perfect Maerzen beer, and possibly the best California-made lager I have ever had. This beer was fantastic, but unfortunately suffered in sales because the local market is biased towards ales.

The city is much better for having Speakeasy supplying its bars with fresh, local brew.

Amazing sophisticated Italian

Review of: Quince Restaurant

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 5

Read review on Judy’s Book.

An amazing birthday meal sitting next to the ex-Mayor? What isn’t there to love.

Yes, if you want to come here, be prepared. It’s hard to get a reservation and it’s a meal that will take hours of time and hundreds of dollars to be done properly. However, if this isn’t an issue, read on.

When I called two weeks ago to make a reservation for my wife’s birthday, the best they could do for a Saturday night was 10pm – which isn’t really a problem as we’re night owls anyway. When they asked if it was for a special occasion, I mentioned it was my wife’s birthday, and that was that.

This afternoon, the restaurant called to ask if we wanted an earlier seating – which we jumped at. 10pm is fine, but 7:30 is better as we would be able to relax through the meal.

The service was amazing. As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by name, coats were taken and we were seated. It was then that we were presented with special menus that simply said “Happy Birthday Janet” on the top. No big spectacle, just a nice touch showing that they remembered it was a special night. These small touches ran the whole night – our water and wine glasses never ran dry, and the service was transparent – never intrusive or invasive. When the dessert menu was presented, we were asked if we were having a celebratory dessert or just coffee – a small but genuine touch that finished with a single candle in my wife’s gelato.

The food was expertly prepared Alto Adige style cuisine. I started with two sea scallops with pureed sunchokes and black chanterelles, followed by a polpette with German bacon (speck), and finally a trio of pork preparations: belly, house made sausage and loin. Janet had a beet salad followed by a maccheroni with foie gras sauce and a perfect petrale sole.

The unexpected highlights were the beverages. From the champagne we started with to a hidden find of a 1994 white Rioja to the Quince ESB – a beer that was more Belgian than bitter – made by one of the chefs.

As we left, they presented my wife with one of her menus, rolled and tied with a bow. Walking past Willie Brown who had just been seated next to us, we were happy to have had the experience.

A perfect place for a celebratory Italian meal.

Omni Comics and Cards

Review of: Omni Comics and Cards

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 4

Read review on Judy’s Book.

Ok. Color me biased because not only were the folks at Omni suppliers for my comic book fix when I was still living in Connecticut – but one of the owners is a kindred spirit and good friend. Not only will you find a very knowledgable team when it comes to comics and collectables (ranging from trading cards to sports stuff), but you can get interesting opinions on everything ranging from beer to sushi.

Giving Sal a run for his money…

Review of: Bar Bru Rm At Bar

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 5

Read review on Judy’s Book.

What to do when living in Hartford on a snowy Saturday.

1) Get in the car
2) Drive to BruRm @ BAR in New Haven
3) Consume many great beers brewed on the premises
4) Eat lots of excellent pizza (sorry Pepe’s… you may have met your match – these pies can’t be beat!)
5) Decide to get another couple of pizzas for tomorrow
6) Kill some time until you’re legal to drive back to Hartford

Yep, that was our regular routine for three years. I still miss those pizzas and their outstanding beer.

Great beer and wings in Central CT

Review of: Eli Cannon’s Tap Room

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 4

Read review on Judy’s Book.

It’s not an amazing beer bar compared to places like San Francisco’s Toronado, but for the Hartford area, it’s your only choice if you’re a beer geek when it comes to a real multi-tap bar with well chosed beers.

Not only do they offer a good selection of beers, but their hot sauce selection is also pretty darned good – and they can cook up a pretty solid set of chicken wings. It’s been a few years since I’ve been there, but I still remember the place fondly.

Award winning beer and plebian food

Review of: Upstream Brewing Company

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 4

Read review on Judy’s Book.

Food: 2.5 of 5
Beer: 5 of 5

My work brings me to Omaha every once in a while, and when there, I always try to get in a few beers at Upstream.

The beer is fantastic – world class by any definition, and they have a healthy number of Great American Beer Fest awards to prove it. I even brought a growler (half gallon) home last time just to prove to the locals that there is good beer in Nebraska (but my wife and I ended up drinking it before we could share).

The food was pretty lackluster – overglorified TGI Friday’s fare. The Jambalaya was fair and extremely oversized, and a colleague’s salad was, well, salad.

Definitely worth a quick pint if you’re in the Old Market area.