A great new liquor store

On Saturday, 9/6, I headed down to Elkridge on a tip from a local beer expert that there is a new store with a fantastic selection of hard to find beers, in particular Belgian ales that cannot normally be found out side of Belgium! The liquor store is “the perfect pour” . It is in this shopping plaza at the intersection of 175 and 95, and though it is hard to find (the perfect pour name isn’t on the storefront, it just says ‘liquor’ or something) it is well worth the effort.

I had Gabi with me, the local Portugal expert and right as we entered she pointed out that they were setting up for a tasting. At 3pm. So, to kill time we headed down to the homebrew store to buy some supplies for a beer I’ve had in mind…and also to kind of make up a recipe on the fly. A brief run down has 3.3lbs dark malt extract, 3.3 lbs pale malt extract, 1.25lb Crystal 40, 1lb Crystal 60 and 2lbs Chocolate roast. 2 oz whole leak Glacier hops, 2 oz pellet Willamette hops and an Irish ale yeast in suspension. Oh and toasted French oak cubes. There are a few more ingredients, but I can get these at a local store, so, more to follow on this.

Anyway we go back to the liquor store at 3pm and it is packed with people. They had wine tasting and beer tasting booths set up, along with a food table. The food was provided by a restaurant next door, Mamma Lucia. Fried ravioli, bruschetta, both spicy and non, and spinach/cheese stuffed mushrooms… they were very delicious. Gabi and I stopped by this one table with Chilean wines, since she wanted to see what all the hype was about and it’s been years since I’ve had one. Tried a Pascual Toso, which I twittered as ‘blah’. Was kind of tart, but that’s all it had really. Next we had Montes Classic Malbec. This was a little better, had a strong oak flavor/aroma, was dry to the taste and had fruits in there that were easily detectable. A halfway decent wine, I feel. The last one was by far the best, it was a proprietary blend of cabernet sauvingnon and something else. Very similar to the Malbec actually, but way more dry. The woman at the booth was talking on and on about meats in Argentina (this was an Argentinian wine) and how this would go well with it. I agree!

Next Gabi and I went to the beer tasting. They had two booths set up. One was from Lancaster brewery, the other was Delerium. We tried all that Lancaster brewery had to offer, and I was very pleased. And Gabi left changed, forever. At first I got the Milk Stout, which tasted about as classic as a milk stout can ever taste, and Gabi got the strawberry Ale. Personally, I liked the stout better and Gabi liked her ale, but she also enjoyed the milk stout. We then tried the Hop Hog, which I would said was a medium hoppiness, cascade hops with some fuggles (I had just told Gabi these were very common in American beers, nice coincidence). I liked this beer, but Gabi liked it a lot, to the point where she bought three bottles (one of milk stout)! The next beer was the Amish 4 grain. I could really smell, taste the mixture of grains and rye in the and it reminded me of some all-grain beer recipes. Gabi didn’t care for it too much, and I could understand why, it lacked a real flavor, hops or sweet and the grain were real subtle so unless you knew what to look for, you may be disappointed. I was pleased, but not my favorite of this bunch. We then tried Oktoberfest brew which, like the milk stout, wasn’t extremely unique tasting, but still was an excellent beer. The last beer we tried was the Rare Rooster Rye Ale. This beer may be great if it’s really hot outside, but I think it lacked a bit in flavor, though it was still very refreshing to drink! I got a chance to meet John Frantz, VP of sales. Funny guy, AND knows a lot about the beer he’s selling, which is always a big plus and something you’d expect from a sales rep, but don’t always get. I think a trip to this brewery should be in short order, since it really is NOT too far away!

The Delerium booth, Gab and I spent less time at. The sales rep really just wasn’t into acknowledging people apparently, and I had to stand right in front of him for a few minutes and then wave in front of him to get his attention to ask for a beer. We tried the Zatec, a Czech lager. I don’t think I’ll be trying this beer again any time soon… I had seen it at Max’s on Broadway a few weeks ago, seemed like everyone was drinking it. But, it was gross. The sales rep made a big point to mention it was a “state run brewery’… which if anyone knows me and my libertarian/classically liberal philosophy, I find that basically an affront to humanity. State run brewery. bah! But regardless of politics, this beer was awful.

While leaving, Gabi purchased several beers in the hopes that she can try to see if she likes hoppy beers. So she used their mixed 6pack deal to find several hoppy beers and create her very own 6 pack. She also found her favorite portuguese beer, sagres, on sale at this store and clutched it like a mother would a small child. I on the other hand, found a bottle of Rasputin. I’ve heard so many good things about this beer that, even at a price of $30 a bottle, I bought it. It is in a very small batch, and I got bottle 348 out of 524 . It says I can store it up to 25 years, so we will have to see when I finally crack open this bottle. I also bought a 4 pack of Old Rasputin, an excellent Russian imperial stout as well, though much more common.

All this in a matter of about 45 minutes! The Perfect Pour, despite being well out of walking distance, is clearly one of my new favorite liquor stores. Besides the tastings and the selection of rare beers, they just had a ton of wines which I know nothing about. I highly recommend you checking them out.

Main image credit:  Ventura Blvd., Encino, CA -Encino Park Liquor with “Time to Buy” Sign, Ventura Blvd., Encino, CA.  Author Cbl62 (talk)  (www.wikipedia.org)