WV Gourmet

Fathead’s is a great bar/restaurant on Pittsburgh’s South Side.  Not only does Fathead’s have an insane beerlist, their staff is knowledgeable about beer, AND they have great bar food.  It’s pretty much the greatest place in the world. 

The food:  They have an extensive menu of sandwiches (or headwiches, as they call them) and burgers, as well as generous sized appetizers and chicken wing flavors.  On my most recent trip, I went with an appetizer of five wings and the Double D.  For the wings I went with Fathead’s Original (their version of the classic Buffalo sauce).  They were very big and meaty with a crispy exterior and a good dose of very spicy Buffalo sauce.  My sandwich headwich was the Double D, which the menu describes as follows:   “Shaved Steak grilled with onions, mushrooms & hot peppers on top of hot sausage & pepperoni.  With tomato sauce, provolone and parmesan cheese.  Buy two, who wouldn’t want a pair of Double D’s.”  This sandwich was every bit as big, unhealthy and DELICIOUS as it sounds.  I did not capture a photo of it because it was so large that you couldn’t fit it into a single picture.  I’m not kidding, it was bigger than my oversized head.  It came with homemade chips, which were also very good. 

A delicious mug of Brutal Bitter

The beer:  Even if Fathead’s didn’t have exceptional bar food, it is well worth the visit for the beer.  They boast 42 beers on tap, many of which are rotating selections.  Forty of those taps are devoted to microbrews/imports, while one is for Lite Beer From Miller and the other Yeungling Lager.  They also always have one beer served on cask.  For those of you who don’t know about cask conditioned beers, they are a rare treat which you can learn about here.  On this particular visit, Rogue Brutal Bitter was on cask, so I started off with that.  It was slightly warm (as a cask beer should be), had a great full mouthfeel with assertive, yet somewhat mellow hops.  I followed this up with Great Divide Fresh Hop Ale - a very assertively hopped pale ale from Colorado.  The grapefruity bitterness of this beer paired well with the fatty Double D.  I then tried a sample of the Sierra Nevada Brown Saison, which had nice raisin and funky flavor.  I closed out with the Oskar Blues Ten Fidy Imperial Stout.  Why is this beer called “Ten Fidy”?  Because it is 10.5% alcohol by volume.  This is one hell of a strong and tasty beer, with strong roasted coffee and dried fruit flavors, but also a strong hop character, in other words a damn fine beer.  

A lilliputian selection of taphandles.

After finishing the Ten Fidy, I went back to my hotel, turned on the TV and was asleep before 8 p.m.  The combination of a long day, some good football, the Double D, and some damn fine beers had worn me out.  I awoke the next morning, refreshed and ready to go to Pamela’s Diner for pancakes, but that is another story.

The famous Belgian beer, Chimay has finally made it to the liquor stores and bars of West Virginia. Many of you may have heard about it, but never tried it. There are three varieties available in the States: red label, blue label, and white label. Here are my thoughts:

Chimay Red in the little bottle is really good. On tap and from the big bottle, it’s too clovey.

The Blue is sort of okay, but nothing special.

The White, like all trippels, sucks balls.

*Rich Ireland’s more rosey view can be found here.

I saw these strong beers at Capitol Market. So far, I’ve only seen some Rogue and Harpoon products.

I have a friend whom we call Big Snaxx.  Big Snaxx lives up to his name.  The man loves to eat.  He once ordered a rack of ribs as a side item with his meal at Chilis.  Recently, we went to The Cold Spot for 35 cent wing night (Tuesday night).  There was much discussion amongst myself, Preston, and Roger about how many wings Snaxx would order.  I set the over/under at 47.  Snaxx then arrived and after realizing that fifty wings would only be seventeen dollars (practically giving them away), he went with the half century. 

Before I get into whether Snaxx completed the half century, I should probably discuss the Cold Spot and their wings.  The Cold Spot is located in North Charleston/Dunbar in a former gas station.  Their specialty is wings.  They do not disappoint.  The wings are crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, and swimming in sauce.  You can add garlic to any of their flavors.  The only downside, which Preston constantly bitches about, is that the wings often tend to be a bit small.  They also have several beers on tap, including Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Great Lakes Burning River Pale Ale – both for only ten bucks a pitcher.  Chomp on that that Bruno’s, home of $20 dollar pitchers of Sierra Nevada!

After that digression, I can tell you that Snaxx completed the half century.  He was not miserable afterwards and probably could have gone for a few more.  He is a god among ants in the world of eating.

http://thegazz.com/gblogs/beerstoyou/2009/04/25/bty-tastes-three-organic-fruit-beers-from-samuel-smith%e2%80%99s/

““If you like drinking Cheerwine or Big Red with you pork bbq, the Sam Smith Raspberry might be for you.” With regard to all of them: “Keep a few of these beers in your fridge for when you have a lady friend over.  Chicks should really dig these beers.” – Chris Workman  “

An update on the WV beer bill (which would amend state code to allow the selling of craft beer up to 12%, instead of the current 6% cap).

It hasn’t been shot down yet!

In fact, it’s been sent off to the finance committee. Notorious pessimist and beer lover Chris Workman called this a “good sign”. Make of that what you will. I’m trying to avoid getting my hopes up, but it’s looking encouraging.

West Virginians no longer have to bootleg mediocre beer.  Now all bootlegging efforts can be focused on bootlegging beers that are actually worth drinking. 

http://www.wvgazette.com/News/200903230678