Choc Brewery

Last week I made a trip to Krebs, Oklahoma. You may be asking yourself, "Why might one visit such a seemingly desolate place?" Although Krebs is by no means a tourist destination in itself, there is at least one good reason to go: beer.

Krebs is home to the Choc Brewery, the oldest brewery in the state of Oklahoma. The brewery was founded by Italian immigrant Pietro Piegari, who came to the mining town of Krebs in the early 1900's. After suffering an injury in a mining accident, Pietro was left without work and began brewing beer with a recipe he learned from the local Native American tribe, the Choctaw Indians. His beer became a popular offering for the local miners, and Pietro, who later changed his name to Pete Prichard, opened a restaurant serving Italian food and Choc beer.

Pete's Place is run today by Pete's grandson, Joe Prichard. The restaurant holds seating for 500, with small private dining areas spanning the majority of the restaurant. The food is served family style, with traditional Italian fare. My advice on the lamb fries: eat first then ask later. Don't make the same mistake I did and come early, cause they don't open the kitchen until 4pm unless it's Sunday. Fortunately, I was offered some good beers to hold me over.

Attached to Pete's Place is the Choc Brewery, separated by a connecting glass door. Choc currently offers four quality craft beers available to the public year round: Choc 1919, their original American unfiltered wheat ale; Basement Batch, a traditional pale ale; Waving Wheat, a Belgium style wheat beer brewed with coriander and citrus and Miner Mishap, a German-style black lager. Choc also brews a couple beers exclusively for Pete's Place: Miners Light and a Peach Beer. Plans to add two more beers to their collection are in the works, which will be called Last Laugh and Pietro Piegari.

If you want to take a road trip, the Choc Brewery is about a two hour drive from Tulsa, and it's definitely worth the visit. But you don't have to drive that far for the beer; McNellies offers Waving Wheat and Basement Batch on tap, and the other two Choc beers are available in bottles. Support your local brewery and have a few pints.

April Specials

The new month has arrived and that means...new specials! So everyone (K-Brick) can stop whining about how we haven't had anything for a couple of weeks and once again save a buck or two on a good brew.

Currently we have 16-ounce bottles of Ayinger Oktoberfest on special for $3.50. This is an excellent beer special, one of the better ones we've had in a while. The Ayinger Oktoberfest is a German lager with a hearty malt character. It's an orange-amber color with a fruity sweetness and a slightly bitter aftertaste. In addition to being a tasty brew, the bottle cap (pictured) is pretty exquisite as well. Ask your bartender or server to save it for you if you're into that kind of thing. This is one of those 'while supplies last' deals, so I wouldn't be surprised if they go very quickly.

Our other special is Boulevard Dry Stout for $2.50. We just got this one back on draft, which is better than the bottled version because nitrogen is used (versus the carbonated bottle) which creates a creamier body and a beautiful pour similar to Guinness. This beer has a dry, clean body with a complex flavor. John Roux-Lough, former president of Guinness Importing Co. describes the Boulevard Stout as having an American body, but an Irish soul. This was sampled during Beer University, and the Boulevard rep suggested trying it with an aged cheddar or cheesecake.

So there you have it. We also have some new beers on draft this month, but I don't have a beer menu with me, so you'll have to come in and check out the selection yourself.

Campers with Class

This weekend my boyfriend and I went on a camping trip to the Wichita Mountains. We had settled at the campgrounds and were sitting by our campfire when a camping cohort embarked upon our territory, asking to borrow a corkscrew. Although there were signs clearly posted indicating the consumption of alcohol was prohibited on the campgrounds, we did, indeed, have one to lend. "I'll trade you an ESB," the camper offered. I was quite taken aback by this statement. Perhaps I'm not giving enough credit to the typical Oklahoma camper, but I dare say that most wouldn't have known what this guy was offering. It seemed presumptuous of him to believe we knew what an ESB was. I mean that in an endearing manner.

For those that aren't familiar with an ESB, here's a description taken from beeradvocate.com:
Extra Special/Strong Bitter (ESB)
ESBs are essentially more aggressive and more balanced Bitters, both in alcohol and hop character, but nothing overpowering. Color range will be similar, though leaning towards the darker end of the scale; dark golds to copper. Low carbonation. Malts tend to be more pronounced, often toasty and fruity, with maybe some notes diacetyl. And despite "bitter" being in its name, ESBs are not really all that bitter. They key to an ESB is balance.

The beer this guy had to offer was a Sierra Nevada ESB, a newly released spring seasonal beer by the California craft brewery. It's the breweries variation of the ESB style, labeled as an Early Spring Beer. Ken Grossman, owner of Sierra Nevada brewery explains, "Our ESB blends the best of English tradition with the boldness of West Coast style. Featuring English ingredients, we added a Sierra Nevada twist by leaving the ale unfiltered, which enhances mouthfeel and hop aroma creating a slightly reddish-copper hue."

I found the beer to be very tasty, not to mention a vast improvement over the lukewarm Rolling Rock we had brought along. It was the first time I had seen this beer, and McNellies doesn't carry it quite yet. If I had to venture a guess, I would assume we will have it sometime in the near future. .