#grado plato

[thebirchbar]

The Inaugural B. United Int Festival at The Birch! 7/17-7/21

We hosted a beer festival dedicated to one of our favorite importers B. United International. The festival gave our patrons a unique look into the little known first tier, of our three tier system. B. United brings in brands such as Schneider, Del Borgo, Baladin, BFM, Thornbridge, Kiuchi Hitachino, just to name a few! You can check out the rest of their portfolio here! http://www.bunitedint.com/

We were so excited about the amount of support we were given for our first beer festival at The Birch! We ended up tapping a total of 2 pins and 2 firkins, each of which were gone the day they were tapped! Here's the draft list (on top of an all B. United bottle list): 1.Schneider Aventinus 2.Kiuchi Espresso Stout 3.Hofstetten Granitbock Z 4.Alvinne Gaspar 5.Barley Friska Z 6.JW Lees Harvest Ale Calvados 2011 7.Piccolo Seson 8.Grado Plato Strada san Felice 9.Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted 10.Thornbridge Jaipur 11.Hambleton Nightmare Porter 12.Strubbe Ichtegem's Grand Cru 13.'t Smisje Catherine the Great 14.Reissdorf Kolsch 15.Makana iQhilika Dry Mead 16.Porterhouse Wrasslers XXXX 17.Schlenkerla Weizen 18.Professor Fritz Briem Piwo Grodziskie 9) Del Borgo Re Ale 6th Anniversary 20) De Glazen Toren Cuvee Angelique 21) Gulpener Mestreechs Aajt 

(Thanks Phil @Duke_Erosennin) 

Tuesday July 17, 2012 - Special Green Glass Guild Tasting with Ron Fischer

And we tapped the BFM La Douze Cask

  Wednesday July 18, 2012 Steal the Teku Night with a Super Baladin Firkin! 

Thursday July 19, 2012 Grado Plato Strada San Felice with their Snails!

Friday July 20, 2012 L'Olmaia La Nove Pin and Pairing Menu!

Saturday July 21, 2012 BFM Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien Vintage Flights 2006, 2007, 2011

  2007 was voted the best, with 2011 not too far behind! It was an amazing week, thanks to B. United for making it all possible!

[thebirchbar]

Grado Plato Chieri (TO) Italy - Birra d'Italia

Tuesday night we ventured into Chieri in search of Grado Plato. We didn't get a chance to visit their brewery, so the brew pub was the next best thing. We put the address into the GPS, and drive into town. Of course, we can't find it. We end up having to rely on asking a store owner, that we hoped was just down the street. He points down the way a bit and says they don't open for another hour. So we wait. Here it is:

Yep, in a parking lot, hidden off the main road. And then my thought was, "How does that little space house a brew pub?" Well, the brew pub is under ground.

People had said on the trip so far, that the Grado Plato pub is a locals kind of joint. You go there for a beer after work or out with your friends for a few pints.

This is the Sticher, an all Italian ingredient beer. It was sweet and malty, a traditional Red Ale if you will.

Nanoro is a beer brewed to benefit a charity in Burkina Faso. It is based on a traditional beer brewed by the women there with Orzo. It had lovely citrus aromas and was light and crisp. It was a perfect accompaniment to the pub's specialty: SNAILS! We had the sampler option: fried with veggies, on top of greens in a dressing, on top of bread with tomatoes and olive oil, and with cheese sauce. Delish!

Most of the people gathered at the pub that evening were young adults. This is the pub we learned that it is weird to sit at the bar in a pub. Most Italians stand at the bar to avoid the "table service" charge. So sitting at the bar is definitely weird, and automatically labeled us as foreigners. But we didn't mind, we like to watch the bartenders pour beer! A gentleman standing at the bar, who soon moved to a table, said Italians feel like they are eating at a desk when they sit at a bar as well.

Did I mention that you don't tip in Italy? It just isn't done, and you can tell they aren't working for tips. They get your order, bring it to you, and that is it. If you need something else, you flag them down. They aren't in any hurry and that can either be relaxing or vexing, depending on how you embrace their culture!

Up Next: Cafe Baladin Saluzzo (TO) Italy - Birra d’Italia Previously: Pausa Cafè Grugliasco (TO) Italy - Birra d’Italia