Thursday, Apr. 23, 2009
Scholarship stout
Michelob Dunkel Weisse
As summer approaches, fewer beer drinkers will choose stouts and porters. Those darker, heavier brews don’t seem as appealing in the warming weather, in a climate that will eventually become full-blown South Carolina heat and humidity.
But Josh Quigley, owner of Quigley’s Pint and Plate in Pawleys Island, has a good reason why you should drink a stout, at least during the spring.
The reason: The late Rishard Pyatt, an 18-year-old Waccamaw High School student who died, along with two others, in a boating accident in February. The boat was carrying Pyatt, his cousin Shaquatia Robinson, 19, and her mother, Lou Ann Robinson, 47, to their homes on Sandy Island during a storm. Residents use a ferry to get to and from the mainland because the island is not connected by a bridge.
Pyatt worked at Quigley’s Pint and Plate. “He was kind of an old soul,” Quigley said of Pyatt. “He had something that we all wish we could lay hands on every day.”
Quigley’s new bourbon-barrel aged stout, Angels Share, goes on tap this Friday evening. Proceeds from the special brew will go toward a scholarship fund in Pyatt’s honor.
Quigley recalled a eulogy from the funeral. Pyatt was said to demonstrate the biblical “fruits of the spirit” – character traits such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and so forth.
Pyatt was also a quiet kid. Quigley hopes the scholarship can help “make his voice grow louder.”
Although the details of the scholarship fund are still being worked out with Waccamaw High administrators, Quigley said the scholarship will be awarded primarily on the basis of the recipients’ character traits.
Kid Drew will perform an acoustic solo gig at 9 p.m. Friday as part of the tapping event.
Angels Share comes from the name of the whiskey that evaporates through wooden barrels. “It’s what you have to give the angels to make the whiskey,” Quigley said.
Angels Share is a higher-gravity brew, although Quigley doesn’t have a percentage for its alcohol level. The stout has hints of vanilla and wood, similar to some bourbon, he said. Pints and nips from the five kegs of Angels Share will probably be priced a little higher to help fund the Pyatt scholarship.
dark beers in summer
A recent Anheuser-Busch press release made a compelling case for keeping dark beers – especially the company’s Michelob Dunkel Weisse and Beck’s Dark – in the refrigerator during the spring and summer months.
“Explore how Michelob Dunkel Weisse’s toasted caramel malt complements smoked Gouda or contrasts the salty and milky flavors of feta,” the release said. “Save Beck’s Dark for dessert – on its own or as part of a vanilla ice cream float.”
After trying New South Brewing Co.’s Irish Stout with cheese cake during the Myrtle Beach Beer Fest’s Brewmaster Dinner last month, I have to say the Anheuser-Busch marketing folks have a fair point.
But it’s not likely to change the habits of beer drinkers. When Quigley was brewing at Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery in Myrtle Beach years ago, he could put a stout on in May and it might last all the way until September.
The inverse is true of lighter beers. “My lager sales definitely slow down in the winter and pick up in the summer,” Quigley said.
“This will be the last dark beer I’ll put on until September,” Quigley said of the Angels Share stout.
Contact Colin Burch - the Beerman - at beerpour@yahoo.com or visit his beer blog at http://maltyhops.blogspot.com
Click here for previous Beerman stories