KegWorks Blog

Winning the Stanley Cup is not only hard on our good ol’ Buffalo Sabres. It’s hard on the fans. Playoffs are intense: You have to be swift (to get a seat at a bar), tough (to stay up later than normal 3 days a week during the 2 months of the playoffs) and focused (on where you are going, who you are meeting and what good luck pre-game strategy won the game last time).

On our quest for the cup, we’ve tried watching the games downtown, at home, at friends’. Sunday, we opted for a friend’s. On our way, we decided to grab our growlers and fill them at a local retailer.

If you don’t know what a growler is, you should. So, pay attention:

In the late 1800s, before breweries bottled beer, people would take fresh beer home from their local pub in small-galvanized pails. Rumor has it that when the beer sloshed around the pail, it created a rumbling sound as the CO2 escaped through the lid, thus the term “growler” was coined.

It’s second to having draft beer at home. Since I have yet to install a draft beer system in my endless project of a “house,” I like to get the same feel by filling growlers.

On tap this week:
Brooklyn Pilsner
CB’s Spring Fever Ale
Ellicottville Toasted Lager
Flying Bison Aviator Red
Ithaca Cascazilla
JW Dundee’s Pale Bock
Yuengling Porter
Long Trail Unfiltered IPA
Otter Creek Cuckoo Bock
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
Smuttynose Hanami Ale
Southern Tier Jah-va Imperial Coffee Stout

We opted for the Ellicottville Toasted Lager and the Yuengling Porter. I preferred the porter. It was a little sweet and light for a porter, but decent. I had no idea that Yuengling even made one. But, what I liked best about it was that we won and closed the series.

Last night, we opted for watching the game at a bar over pitchers of Canadian Light. And, I think that the hockey gods prefer growlers. Game 1 lost to Ottawa. Ottawa!

Next game – Saturday. Growlers for sure.

Being the drink geek that I am I love to thumb through hard-core recipe books while sitting at my sweet basement bar.

Recently, I came across a few recipes that called for aquavit (pronounced aha-kwa-vit, I think). I was intrigued (ok…shocked) that there was a liquor out there that I was not familiar with, so thought that I would give it a try.

After a bit of a search, I found it a local retailer. Turns out, aquavit is a potato or grain spirit, most often from Scandinavian countries distilled several times and flavored with caraway, anise, coriander, or citrus rind. Sounds weird, and pretty gross. But I pushed forward with my mission.

The store clerk suggested that I try Linie (pronounced “LINN-yuh). It’s an aquavit from Norway and is aged in cask shipboard traveling from Oslo, Norway down under the equator, and back again - giving it a softer mouth feel and light amber color uncharacteristic for aquavits.

Aquavits are typically kept in the freezer, and drank straight up, ice cold in a cordial glass. I know that drinking out of a cordial glass doesn’t sound all that cool, but believe me it’s worth it. It keeps this, not so sweet tasting liquor ice cold.

I also heard that people sip it with a pilsner chaser to bring out the caraway flavor. So I gave that a go. Hmmm…not the best tasting drink I have ever had, but interesting, potent and 40 proof – which always makes things taste better.

Even with my veteran palette - it was a bit pungent for me. I would suggest you try it with some mixers or twists.

Here are a few recipes to give it a go. Good luck!

Viking Blood
2 oz aquavit
2 oz Tia Maria® coffee liqueur
Sprite® soda

Pour aquavit and Tia Maria® over ice cubes in a highball glass. Fill with Sprite® or 7-Up®, stir, and serve in a highball glass.

Danish Martini
3 oz aquavit
½ oz dry vermouth

Shake ingredients with cracked ice in a cocktail shaker. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an olive, and serve.

Beer, called “hqt” by the ancients, was a very important Egyptian drink. It was so popular that historians have often called beer the national drink of ancient Egypt.

Adults and children, rich and poor alike, shared in the sudsy libation. Beer was the staple drink of the poor - sometime wages were even paid with it. The rich and wealthy drank it for celebrating and relaxing, and was even offered to the gods and placed in the tombs of the dead.

A staple to the ancient Egyptian diet, beer was considered healthier to drink than polluted water taken from the Nile or nearby canals. It was so revered, the pharaohs even appointed a “royal chief beer inspector” to protect its quality. (Think he sported this shirt?)

So, honor the gods – drink up!

Memorial Day is almost here, so it’s time to get stocked for the outdoor beer and food frenzy!

Want to serve ice cold draft beer outside? There’s a couple of different options for going about it. If you’re having a good old fashioned kegger party, check out our selection of picnic & party pumps. We’ve got a bunch of different types, including multi-faucet keg pumps, so you can pour more beers at once. Not sure which pump is for you? Read our Picnic Pump Tutorial! Perhaps kegerators are more your style. If so, the Outdoor Kegerator & Cart may be just the ticket. There’s tons of storage space for ice, other drinks, snacks… you name it. It’s ideal for personal or professional use. But, if you’ve got a kegerator or converted refrigerator in the house that you’d rather utilize, the Drink Tender Beverage Dispenser is a great way to go. You can stop being the bartender and let your friends serve themselves cool, crisp, draft beer instead.

Steak, chicken, burgers and dogs … time to fire up the grill! KegWorks isn’t just beer, you know. We’ve got some marinades and sauces you may be hard pressed to find anywhere else, like Buffalo’s own Anchor Bar Buffalo Chicken Wing Sauce. You haven’t had real Buffalo wings if you haven’t tried them with this sauce - really - there are NO substitutions! Fiery hot and oh so delicious. If surf and turf is more your style, you’ll enjoy our selection of F. Dick knives - there’s a great 4-piece steak knife set, and the F. Dick oyster & clam knife is a must-have. What’s more, they’re both on sale right now!

We’ve got a slew of outdoor party gear to get your festivities started, so check them out and get outside!

KegWorks has been in existence for just over 9 years now, and we are now in the process of our third move. And, I can’t wait until it’s over.

We started out in the spare room in a decent sized apartment. After hiring employee number 2 it became quickly obvious that three guys in a spare room was a bit tight. Not to mention, the small amount of inventory we carried back then was stashed in my closet as well as the garage. Soon, it was definitely time to get the biz out of the house.

I never realized how much stuff we actually had until moving day. We moved into an 800-square foot office space in a really old, but architecturally cool, building (built in 1907) in downtown Buffalo.

The building looked great on the outside, but inside it hadn’t been updated in decades. We didn’t care though - it was a cool building in downtown Buffalo and had awesome views. Almost everything we needed was right outside our door. About a year and a half later the building was sold and we were asked (told) to move out ASAP as the place was being turned into apartments.

Time to find some new digs. We could use a bit more space, anyway, as employee number 3 had just come on board. A quick stroll down the street and we hit the jackpot! A few hundred feet away was another old building, built in 1911 (Buffalo is loaded fantastic old buildings!), that was just bought by someone who was looking for their first tenant. We signed a lease and waited for the owner to renovate our 2,000-square foot space. Ok, so, moving literally a few hundred feet down the street sounds easy. But we took a good look around at how much stuff we had and said ‘no way are we doing this ourselves.’ So we hired a moving company. They literally showed up with two trucks and a small army. Everything was moved, no lie, in less than 45 minutes. Done.

We now had more space than we needed, but it was great. We actually had a bar custom built-in, a small kitchen area, hardwood floors, high ceilings and plenty of space to throw a football and jump rope. Employee number 4 then showed up. Good times.

Soon enough we outgrew our 2000-square foot space. So, we took over the basement, then added another 700-square feet across the hall. No more space to grow, and lack of loading docks is a bummer. Unloading a freight truck by hand in the rain and snow is no fun. Time to move again.

We spent over 18 months looking for new space that would accommodate our growth. I spent numerous weekends driving around the city looking for the perfect building. We had thought we had found it and spent a lot of time and money getting the plans together. In the end it just wasn’t meant to be for a lot of reasons. Trying to find the right building to meet our unique needs was not easy - Large amounts of office space, wide open warehouse space, loading docks, parking and security all had to be taken into account. We spent far too many hours being driven around by real estate agents who sometimes just didn’t get it. Long story short, we stumbled upon something that just might work. It’s not pretty - the area is quite industrial. It’s not downtown or even in Buffalo. But it meets our needs and the price was right. And, we’re sick of looking.

So, in two weeks, we once again, pack everything up and do the big move. It will be sad to leave downtown Buffalo. We will miss all the crazy people who kept us entertained just outside our front window everyday (Ninja lady, the dude on the funny looking bike who rides around in circles all day, and most missed will be Lou the mailman with his crazy holiday costumes and beer funnels just before the St. Pat’s Day parade). We’ll miss having a ton of take out restaurants all within a few blocks. Lunchtime walks down Main St. on a sunny day. Thursday in The Square concerts.

We’re off to the ‘burbs. Moving sucks.

To be continued…..

In all of my, eh-hem, 10-ish years of drinking (the best of those in my drink-anything-and-everything college days) I have only recently begun mixing anything more sophisticated than my standard Captain and diet, extra lime.

Lately, I’ve been digging martinis. All sorts of them - Pomegranate, Tropical, Dirty - bring it on. I have been really into trying new recipes at home on a chill Friday night.

So, I have been mixing up all sorts of stuff at my mini home bar (AKA my dining room). Pulling recipes from books we have in stock here and from some that I have gotten as gifts over the years.

In preparation for another weekend of intense hockey here in Buffalo I started thumbing through what everyone here has been saying is the best cocktail book ever – a bible of sorts, if you will – Mr. Boston’s Platinum Edition. And I am loving it. This guy, Mr. Boston (Leo Cotton, RIP), really knows his stuff.

Not only chock-full of recipes (like 1500 of them!) this book has tons of techniques on how to make, muddle, shake and pour them, and history of a lot of the cocktails. So, I can stop BS-ing and look like I know what I am doing.

If you don’t have one, really, check it out.

I am absolutely bringing this home tonight to get ready for our nail-biting, finger-crossing, TV-cursing Sabres-filled weekend! Because whichever way this round of playoffs goes – I’ll need a drink.

On a short, but sweet work/pleasure trip to San Francisco this weekend, I was able to soak in some of the amazing food, drinks and culture that the oh-so-casually-chic city has to offer.

We had a fantastic, oddly light, rice dish at King of Thai, Dolce De Leche (that I would possibly die for) at Ben and Jerry’s in Height Ashbury and downed local beers all over the city – Anchor Steam (of course) and Prohibition Ale to name a few.

One of our favorite stops was for Asian Fusion at a lively, modish, curbside restaurant on Union, Betelnut. We opted for a tapas-style dinner, which just means that we couldn’t make up our minds, so we ordered appetizers until we were stuffed – scallops over coconut rice, spicy endemame, hand made chicken dumplings - all delish.

I loved the eclectic bar menu – a laundry list including everything from house-brewed rice beer, to Asian inspired cocktails, to modern martinis. It was here that I took note of the infusion of an ultra-modern twist on the classic cocktail comeback that’s all the rage right now. We sipped on sweet Mojitos, while watching a flurry of Scorpion Bowls being cast off from the bar. Although we, ourselves, did not try one (They serve 4 – 5, and we were a party of 2). The oversized, cherry red cocktail looked more than fabulous, garnished with pineapple, cherries, oranges, flowers, straws and a flurry of colorful umbrellas served in a large volcanic shaped bowl.

So, back at my desk this morning, missing cold California, I did a bit of research to pass along this chic party drink. I think it would be amazing at a late night poolside tiki bash, a trendy Asian themed dinner party – or a Tuesday morning at the office.

Scorpion Bowl 2 oz Gin 1 oz Dark Rum 2 oz 151 Rum 2 oz White Rum 2 oz Vodka 4 oz Orange Juice 4 oz Pineapple Juice 2 oz Grenadine 1 ½ oz Orgeat Syrup

Blend ingredients in a large bowl with ice. Garnish with orange slices, cherries, pineapple and orchids – and tons of straws. Serves 4-6.