Jan 26th 2007, 11:47am By Ethan Cox

I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer. -- Abe Lincoln

Winter has finally come, and so the beer drinking continues apace- on the heels of some news from our friendly fave brewer from the great white north, I was sort of moved to wonder if there is a sales slump at Labatt & Molson during All-star week. In any case, for this post, I present a snippet of news, and a quick review...

EXRTA!! EXTRA!! READ ALL ABOUT IT: Hasenpfeffer Club to be reborn at Ulrich's!!

First bit o' news: I got this from Jim down at Ulrich's Tavern:

Hasenpfeffer Club to be reborn at Ulrich's!!

The private club that Mike Ulrich hosted upstairs at Ulrich's, starting in 1920. (It was the only place on Ellicott Street you could get a drink from 1920-1933)

First Meeting January 30th 2007 Tuesday at 8 PM

Contact Jim Daley for more details 855-8409

The Hasenpfeffer Club will be dictated to the tasting of fine alcoholic beverages and the history of drinking in Buffalo NY. We will visit historic Buffalo taverns and clubs every other month, and meet at Ulrich's on the alternate months.

Once a month for 12-month beer-food-history and good company! What could be better?

Pick up your pint of Flying Bison, Ladies and Gentleman, and head down to Ulrich's: this is going to a fun ride.

Smirnoff Ice or Zima drinkers need not apply- leave the real drinking to us!

If you're into good beer, good food, good company and Buffalo, this is going to be the way to meld your interests, I guarantee.

Next bit of news: Mr Goodbar hosted their first Homebrewing Night on Wed- yes, I know this already happened- I was thinking too much about the beer and the mead I was going to bring, I guess. Here was the scene on the second floor:

That's Paul Dyster of Niagara Traditions brewing supply store there, behind the bar, giving a wee demonstration on beer evaluation and judging to (a portion of) the 30 or so attendees. Because the Goodbar Goodbeer Club has been such a success, Bobby has lately begun to branch out with planned pubcrawls and other side trips- and the homebrewing crowd was his next target. It was great to meet a few new people, and as well to connect up with some members of both local homebrewing clubs (The Niagara Association of Homebrewers and the Sultans of Swig). If you missed this, or the demo at the Brewfest, but are interested in this superlative hobby, stop in at Niagara Tradition anytime- the owners are both thoroughly knowledgeable and friendly, and it really is a rewarding hobby. Not to mention the huge volumes of beer which will generally festoon your entire living space after a while... mmm, beer.

Speaking of which... the subject of todays review, pictured below, is J.W. Lees Manchester Star Ale... (in honor of Mr. Issa, naturally)

A little background- somewhat cribbed from the bottle label, to be fair: This beer is a reproduction beer, in that it is brewed from a recipe dating back to the 1880's (with input from celebrity brew-master Oliver Garrett, of the Brooklyn Brewery). At this time, the venerable Lees brewery was already over 50 years old. Given it's historical background, I should not have have been surprised that this ale turned out to be not some Bass-style pale ale but rather, a big ol' porter. In fact, at 7.3 abv, this borders on the Imperial porter category, and certainly hints at that level of complexity. One sip and you realize that this is exactly the sort of beer that is best enjoyed as a cask-conditioned hand-pull, served at 55 degrees. I managed that last bit, but had to settle for bottle service on this one.

The pour into a standard pint revealed a thick & fully beige head which fell fairly quickly and did not lace, sitting atop a black-as-night beer in which even bright direct light still barely revealed a trace of deep red core. In the nose, I got malt sugar and alcohol, with the latter in greater measure. The malt had a bass note of burnt earth, and the entirety was overlaid with a dark fruit--plum--redolence, probably enhanced by the alcohol. Sipping revealed definite maple or brown sugar sweetness and the expected fruit at the beginning. A beer this sweet could have been hard to pull off, but the follow through worked it out here, with roast barley and classic understated Kent Golding hop bitterness taking over in the middle-to-finish. Remarkably, the alcohol flavor was absent, but some oaky bourbon seemed to come through in the finish and a certain warmth was nice to enjoy. In terms of mouthfeel, the fine carbonation gave it a silken dimension, however, overall the body was far thinner than you'd expect. Overall, this was a very impressive beer, and a gentle introduction to the complexity of higher-gravity brews. It would probably not make for a session beer, given the strength and intensity of flavor, but as an opener or a nightcap, or paired with some fall-off-the-bone smoked brisket, Manchester Star would shine brightly. I got mine at Consumer's on Elmwood; you can too!

That's all for this post, folks- until next time!