Holy City Brewing Launch Night!

 Myself and a buddy attended the launch of Holy City Brewing at the Oak Barrel Tavern last night.  I was excited not only to down a few of Holy City's beers, but also it was my first time checking out the Oak Barrel Tavern.  Their was definitely a good crowd for the launch!

Taken from their website: "Holy City Brewing started in the bike shop of Pedi Cab and Rickshaw, owned by Joel Carl and Sean Nemitz. Joel, Chris, Sean, and Mac started brewing, on the 15 gallon system that Joel built using used bike parts, in 2009. As our ideas (and beers) grew, a building was leased and the micro-brewery started to take form."

Their beer portfolio so far:

Holy City Pilsner
"A German style Pilsner, dry and crisp with a nice hop aroma, coming in at 45 IBU's and 5.0% abv."

Pluff Mud Porter
"An easy drinking 5.5% abv Porter, roasted malts and german carafa give it its color and body, 21 IBU's."
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Fish Bowl Ale I
"The first of our experimental test batches. Our Fish Bowl series of beers will be loosely brewed around pale ales and IPA's. Not sticking to a style will give us an opportunity to try some things out and have a little fun with our new system. Fish Bowl Ale I will be a 6% abv 70 IBU all Summit hopped ale."ﾠ

The Oak Barrel Tavern had 2 of the 3 beers on tap last night (not sure if the Pilsner is available yet), the Pluff Mud Porter and the Fish Bowl Ale I.   Of the two, I enjoyed the Fish Bowl Ale 1 the best.  My buddy concurred.   We did like the Pluff Mud Porter, and agree that it is an easy drinking porter.  For me, I enjoy my porters to be a bit more not-so-easy drinking.  A bit more robust if ya know what I mean.  All in all a pretty good beer though.  I am looking forward to trying the Holy City Pilsner when it comes available.  I thought the Fish Bowl Ale 1 was unique in that it didn't taste like any other IPA I have had before.

Some bonuses of the night included some free stuff.  I wasn't lucky enough to get a shirt, since they ran out of men's shirts, so I grabbed one for the wifey.  Check out what I got:

As for the Oak Barrel Tavern, it was definitely a pretty cool place!  Beer selection is pretty good there.  Last night, in addition to the two Holy City beers on tap, they also had Victory Prima Pils, Foothills Seeing Double DIPA, Coronado Nutter Brown, and French Broad Wee-Heavy-Er.  Prices for the draft offerings ranged from $4 to $7, which I thought was pretty good.  They do feature a really good selection of bottled beers.  Here are some of them (but not all):  Star Hill Northern Lights IPA, Stone IPA, Coronado Islander IPA, Rogue Brutal IPA, Southern Tier Unearthly IPA, Young's Double Chocolate Stout, Lion Stout, Smuttynose Robust Porter, Full Sail Session Lager, Bear Republic Rocket Red Ale, Allagash White, Coronado Orange Avenue, Lefebvre Blanche De Bruselles, Weihenstephaner Korbinian Doppelbock, RJ Rockers Son of a Peach, Brooklyn Summer Ale, Sweetwater 420, Hobgoblin, St. Peter's Organic English Ale, Paulaner Hefeweizen, Smuttynose Shoal's Pale Ale, Avery The Reverend.  Overall, I counted more than 30 different bottled beers to choose from.  I like how they organize the beer menu as well: 

Overall, it was a great time.  I look forward to drinking more of what Holy City Brewing has to offer and hopefully will get a chance to check out their brewery pretty soon.

Cheers!

Posted in: Breweries,local breweries,Restaurants With Selection