Saison de...saaaaaay!

so mark and galen of aviator brewing; together with david from the times and everyone's favorite funny-man come GM of the pit, lee robinson, got together a few weeks ago and brewed up something fantastic.

they stirred wort, they stared into the darkness as foam rose in a threatening hot-break. sweat streamed from faces and gauges were thumped and twiddled for hours and hours before the resulting sweet water was laid to rest in a giant fermenter made from an old dairy tank.

the result? saison de aviator royale. now on draught at the times and ONLY at the times. i honestly feel like i've been kissed on the forehead by a cute little booze cherubim. really? yes. really. holy cow, holy cow and holy cow.

saaz, northern brewer! rochefort 10 yeast! coriander at boils end and a healthy dose of imaginative nurturing and now you get to drink it. it's good. it's quenching. i feel like a mill-worker when i sit down to have a sip. it's been a hard day and the sun has sapped my energy. the first thing i want to do when the horn sounds is have a beer...and this is THE beer for me.

photos of my own personal dreamland

and oddly enough, that dreamland is the raleigh times bar.

i know, i know...many of you can be heard saying "but jay, you work there. how can it possibly fulfill dreams for you?" to which i should be noted as shouting in response, "because it is my favorite place to be whether working or just talking about beer and thinking about beer and studying beer and dissecting beer and dreaming about what beer should end up on the tap-line next!"

and so the other day, i was playing around with my 50mm and 85mm lens' and found that if you unmount them, turn them around and shoot that way, you get an almost macro effect. with the 50mm lens, i took the pic of the masthead piece on our tap tower. the other is just an ethereal photo done the same way with the other lens. it's a shimmering glass of Ertveld Witte by Pierre Celis.

all i know is that if Pierre Celis and Richard Avedon would be my grandfather's, i'd be pretty stoked!

Jolly Friday

Hi all,

We are very proud to introduce a fantastic new draft. Once again an exclusive we brought it in with the help of Ron the brew master of Jolly Pumpkin. Aged in large oak casks and refermented in the keg, Calabaza Blanca is a Belgian Biere Blanche. Spiced with orange peel and coriander, you'll find it refreshingly tart, with a wonderfully dry finish. Coming in at 4.8% ABV this is a perfect summer brew. The oak is very subtle and adds just another layer of complexity without being so extreme.

It has taken months to get this beer here as Jolly Pumpkin is a very small artisan brewery and it came down to one conversation where I said "Come On" one last time then Ron was silent for a second and finally replied "Ok, I'm getting in the truck now and finding my kegs". He usually only kegs for his folks in Dexter Michigan. I feel very blessed and thankful, you will too.

Wednesday Night!!!

Dustin from Terrapin Brewing Company is headed here and he has some beer! We will be tapping that cask Wednesday night at 7pm sharp! This is the fiirst cask we have ever had here at the times so we are stoked come check it out!!!Email me if there are questions at chris@raleightimesbar.com

champagne beer

there will always be the debate about beer versus wine and so forth. some leather-elbowed schmuck will forever decry the virtues of wine and spit at the idea of "good beer". the belgians, in their typical "what? we're not supposed to do that?" way, have created several beers that are brewed in the typical fashion of their style, then shipped to the Champagne region of France to undergo further maturation and fermentation using the methode champanoise. we have two! Malheur Dark Brut and DeUs. both are beautiful with the tiniest hint of champagne yeast and millions of tickly bubbles.

and we also have the OTHER champagne beer.

Miller High Life!

PBR is hard to come by from the distro right now, so for a limited time, we throw a bone to the burdgeoning connoisseurs out there and offer you the FIRST champagne of beers. drink it up!

Newness!

nothing makes a bartender happier than looking at the clock with a mop in hand and realizing that the night was a huge success, the deposit is dead-on and the beer is waiting at a darkened table. nothing, that is, except for maybe sweeping changes to an already heralded menu. so join me in a rousing "hell yes!" as the Times unveils an expanded food and drink menu this week!

all those intricately-designed specials that Corey cooked up over the past year are now residing permanently on the menu. if you haven't had the bean cakes...get thee to a table and notify the server that you have been thusly COMMANDED to eat them. whoa.

as for beer? well, you just have to come in and see. this week, our illustrious beer troll arranged the new comers in the cellar and started stocking the cooler with such beers as Dupont Avril, Vuuve and Rose de Cambrinus. you may call him chris powers, but we call him dedicated beer monkey boy.

come out and check it out!

Ommegang!!! It's McChouffe!!!

I have kegs, that's right blink your eyes a couple of times, KEGS of McChouffe ready for those empty bellies out there. Your not going to find it anywhere on tap...anywhere at all in these parts.
St Bernardus has won hands down the battle of the summer Wits so Ommegang is moving over for the beautiful Belgian strong dark that is McChouffe.
So what we have here is an 8% abv strong dark that tastes of sweet caramel, a balance of sour apples with splashes yeast and fizz. Yum...
McChouffe will surprise you because it is so drinkable, yep one after the other is done easy as you like. This is a great summer brown that you better try with our spicy wings. That is beer bar heaven with food and drink buzz.
The year is shaping up to be a real pounder. It is absolutely astonishing how much draft you folks are drinking.
You people are all responsible for the world wide shortage of urinal cakes I hope you know. Nice job indeed.
-D