Posts Tagged ‘Venti’s’

Happy St. Patty’s

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

istock_irishstoutI wasn’t planning on doing two posts today, but it’s St. Patty’s so what the heck.

Irish Stouts On Tap

As long as we’re on the subject of St Patrick’s I figure I may as well talk about some local joints that have Irish stouts on tap today. In no particular order, the Ram has their seasonal Irish stout out right now as do McMenamins locations. Conrad Venti also let me know today that Venti’s cafe now has an Irish stout from Seven Brides Brewing on tap for the holiday. If you want more info on what it is check out their blog, or head on in for some good bento and a pint….. or two.

Free Beer

Free beer just seems like a good thing to go with St. Patty’s doesn’t it? My Rose Red ale has just finished carbonating, and is ready for consumption. For people interested I’m giving out a free bottle of it on the condition that you fill out a questionnaire about it so I can use the feed back on my blog. If your interested shoot me an email at theweeklybrew@live.com There is a limited number of beers that I can give out so let me know soon.

Share Your Passion

I just joined a group at meetup.com for people in the Salem area that are interested in good beer. If you also think it’d cool to find some local people interested in beer then check it out. Hopefully someone gets around to making a Salem area homebrewers group. Maybe I should make one eh?

Need Bottles

Last but not least I’m running low on empties for bottling. Between my spoiled gruit, my Rose Red, and my new gruit that will have to age for an obscene time all my bottles are tied up. If you have some empty standard size pop tops your willing to part with let me know.

Sorry For My Tardiness

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

sorry-piecesI apologize for not getting this up earlier today, I was having internet troubles. Today I’m gonna clean some house in terms of posting since I have several things to cover.

1. Potential Prizes

Paul over at 72mm is the guy that graciously set up this blog, and allows me to post on it. To up the ante Paul has also talked about potentially giving away some beer/brewing prizes on this blog. Not everything has been finalized, but I’m still excited about the possibility of doing this. I do ask one thing though. If we do the give away please help get the word out so that as many people as is possible can participate.

2. Coastal Crawl

Friday I’m supposed to go up to Newport and visit the Rogue Brewery. Are you jealous? I’m excited to go do some tasting. Hopefully I can get a decent post about Rogue done for Friday or Saturday in honor of this little trip.

4. Tastey Treats

This title is a stretch, but I want to keep the theme. I’ll be bottling the Rose Red next week, and it will be ready for consumption towards the end of March/beginning of April. If you live close by, and want to have a bottle and hang out for a bit feel free to shoot me an email at theweeklybrew@live.com so I can give you directions. Carlos and J already have bottles claimed, so don’t worry guys, they’re commin.

4. Brewing Prep Sucks

Ok, I killed the theme I had, oh well. My thumbs are very sore right now. Last night I de-labled around forty bottles in order to prep for bottling the Rose Red. More and more I am hating this process, and considering kegging my beers. The problem with kegging though is the cost, and storing the equipment. Also has anyone ever tried to de-oil peanut butter? It’s a really sucky, and lengthy process. Hopefully a Reeses Cup Beer is worth it.

5. Last But Not Least

I talked to Conrad about posting Venti’s taps on here, and he in turn talked to Dino. I’ve gotten the go ahead to post them, but with a hitch. As a teaser Dino is gonna let me know what brewery the new beers are coming from, but not what the actual beer is. The reason for this is they get customers (like me) who come in to see what’s on tap, and end up eating there. I don’t wanna mess with Dinos buiseness, so we’re gonna turn this into a fun game somehow.

Today’s Post

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

venti_extI know the names not very creative today, but I decided to let my friend Dan choose the title today. In fact that’s not the only thing that went different then planned today. I was supposed to be updating today from Venti’s Bento in downtown Salem, but apparently all 15 wireless networks downtown are locked now. Even with the inability to get online though Venti’s is definitely a great place to go for a meal and an awesome beer. Venti’s is unique in the fact that the owner doesn’t drink, yet they always have a really good and unique selection of beers both on tap, and in 22oz bombers. The reason for this is that customers and employees get to recommend the beer. This makes it difficult to say what will be tap or in bottle from week to week. Right now they may have tricerihops on tap, but next week it could be the newest seasonal release from Bison Brewing. I asked Dino how often they run a tap and he told me it can be a run of anywhere from one to three kegs, and occasionally more. Not only does this keep things fresh in terms of selection, but it means that the tap lines are cleaned out fairly often. That’s a great thing in terms of selection since not all places clean their tap lines as often then they need to. Today I purchased their lunch special and a bomber of Winter Warmer from Bison Brewing, and it cost me less then $10, which is pretty good for a micro brew from a downtown restaurant. Although Venti’s will remain an occaisional treat for me, rather then a daily thing, it is definitely a must for beer lovers. After all, whats better then a business that lets you choose what you drink? For more info check out their website at VintisCafe and their blog. Also Conrad Venti will occasionally post stuff about the place on his blog at conradventi. I’ll see if Conrad or Dino can send me updates about what their serving week to week so I can let you guys know.

Just a side note. beware of ordering a bomber here as they tend to be stronger then what’s on tap, as I discovered today. My Winter Warmer ended up being 9% apv