The Week Before Our Wedding

Since there’s a lot to tell, I’m going to break up the stories, first starting with the week leading up to our wedding.

My future wife, myself, and another friend of ours drove from Iowa to New Jersey a week before our wedding.  We traveled well and made great time (mostly because we drove overnight and I slept).  The first few days were dedicated to planning, and as friends and family began to arrive, we started to hang out with them as the wedding plans started to fall into place.

McSorley's Old Ale House
McSorley's Old Ale House

The first big event we did when our friends from Iowa arrived on Wednesday was go to one of our favorite spots in Manhattan, McSorley’s Old Ale House.

We love this place because they only have two types of beer: light (similar to a pilsner) or dark (kind of like a darker red ale).  McSorley’s is so old-fashioned, as a great example of an old-style ale house, they didn’t allow women (even the owner) in the bar until the early 1970’s.  When you order a beer, they bring you two 12 ounce mugs, and with almost 20 people in our group, they kept bringing mugs of ale.  After we left, we were congregated outside the front door, and the barkeep who kept our table full of beer chatted with us.  He had a bit of an Irish accent, and I mentioned why we were there, and that we were planning on going to Ireland for our honeymoon.  He wished us well and called us “Lucky”.

Morning Wood
Morning Wood

On Thursday, we had our rehearsal dinner.  At the dinner, I handed out the special beer I made for my groomsmen, called “Morning Wood”.  From the blurb I wrote on the label:

Take a luxurious dark breakfast stout, made with oatmeal and chocolate, infused with three types of coffee: Sumatra, Kona, and Peruvian Dark, and you get something to wake up to.  But, take that stout and age it for several months with toasted oak to give it nice vanilla overtones, and now you have “Morning Wood”.

The name made this beer unique enough, but we tried it to celebrate, and it was delicious.  It smelled like coffee, and had a nice smooth roasted chocolate flavor.  The oak was just right, and gave it a slight oak and vanilla flavor.

Summer Bryed
Summer Bryed

In addition to the “Morning Wood”, I had also made two 5 gallon kegs of a dry-hopped rye pale ale to commemorate our wedding.  It was named  “Summer Bryed”, after my own summer bride.

With almost 50 people at the rehearsal dinner, the 10 gallons only lasted a few hours.  It was nice and light, and had a great hop aroma and flavor.

That brings up to the day before our wedding, so stay tuned for more stories, and more beer!

Court Avenue Brewing Company 21st Amendment Ale

21st Amendment Ale
21st Amendment Ale

Over the weekend I had the chance to sample the 21st Amendment Ale by Court Avenue Brewing Company (CABCO).  This ale is a rye pale ale, aged in Templeton Rye whiskey barrels.

Right off the bat, the 21st Amendment Ale smells of caramel and a bit like whiskey.  The taste has less bitterness than I would expect from a rye pale ale, but since it has been aging in whiskey barrels for a while, it’s not surprising because hop bitterness decreases over time.  It has a slight whiskey flavor, and because of the rye, has a nice, crisp finish. The aftertaste leaves a bit of a sweet, whiskey-like flavor, but not so much that you think you are drinking straight-up whiskey.

It was a very flavorful ale that was perfect for my after-dinner drink.

Let me know if you’ve had CABCO’s 21st Amendment Ale, and what you thought.