Alan stopped by Business RadioX last week to discuss his views on Southern Hospitality and Max Lager’s, and his latest addition to Brewed to Serve, White Oak Kitchen & Cocktails.

Listen to the full interview here: http://bit.ly/KCXpHi

http://www.openhand.org

Our Brewmaster JR entered his Great American Beer Festival award-winning Imperial Mocha Oatmeal Stout into the competition. The complex notes and addition of dark roast coffee and Ghana cocao nibs were a hit among attendees.

The IMOS was awarded 3rd place in the People’s Choice Competition. Congratulations to Wrecking Bar for winning 1st place for their Smoked Porter aged with Tahitian Vanilla Beans and to the Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company who came in 2nd place for their Bonnie Blue Bomb- Southern Pecan with Blueberries, Coconut, Lemon, and Cinnamon! We had a blast! See you next year, Athens!

So as I stood poised over my stacks of Pilsner, Vienna and Melanoidin malts, ready to dump them cautiously through the grain mill, I had a thought. “Do I really want another big, heavy, high gravity beer right now?”  I mean, at one point I had four on at once recently. Delicious sure, but I was sweating just thinking about picking up the 1000 odd pounds of malt that go into the Mai Bock. What would really taste good as the heat rises would be something lighter, subtler. My brewer’s mind raced, but not for long. All this malt in front of me could easily be re-arranged into a Helles style beer…yes a Munich Helles! Delicious! Refreshing! Lower alcohol so I can drink more, thus even more “refreshment”! At least that’s the excuse I’m using to drink more : )

So I quickly made some recalculations and proceeded to make WHAT THE?! Munich Helles- Style Lager and man did it come out great! It’s got a beautiful deep golden color, a slight sweetness that is dried out by subtle toasted malt notes. Clean, complex and just super yum…did I just say “super yum”? I’ve got to lay off the Rachel Ray….

Ingredients

• 1 round of chilled Brie Cheese, 6-8 oz.
• 10 inch round of puff pastry
• 3 tablespoons of all purpose flour
• 10 inch round of puff pastry (rolled out to 1/4 inch thickness)
• 1 whole egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon of cold water

Directions

• Place the puff pastry dough on a lightly floured surface
• With a rolling pin, roll the dough quickly to a 1/4 inch thickness (working quickly with the dough will keep it cooler, allowing it to become more flaky)
• Using a brush, brush the beaten egg to lightly coat the dough. This will act as the glue
• Place the chilled brie in the center of the dough
• Fold the dough over the sides of the cheese, pleating the upper edges to fit snuggly around the cheese
• Punch the dough together in the center to form a seal
• Brush the outside of the dough evenly with the egg wash
• Place on a prepared baking sheet lined with parchment paper
• Refrigerate for 30 minutes
• Preheat oven to 375°
• Bake for 35-40 minutes until the pastry is golden and crisp
• Let rest for 5-10 minutes
• Transfer it to a platter and serve it with cracker and your favorite compote or jam

and Enjoy!

Frugal Friday’s

Through the end of March, enjoy 50% off select bottles of wine all day every Friday. View the wine list at: Max Lager’s Frugal Friday Wine List

First Sunday Beer Dinner

4 – 10:30 pm

Join us as we kickoff March Madness with Chef Ben’s 3-course meal carefully paired with our house brews or select wine.  Available all evening. View the Beer Dinner Menu.

Max Madness

The first 100 guests to visit us on March 5th will each receive a Max Lager’s pint glass!

ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament

Tavern Open ALL WEEKEND
Opens at noon on Thursday & Friday,
1:00 PM Saturday & Sunday

Cheer your team on with Brew Master John Robert’s seasonal beers and his specialty smoked wings & appetizer specials
(We crave these wings all year long!)Follow us on twitter for a chance to participate in our ACC Tickets GIVEAWAY!

St. Patrick’s Day Celebration & IMOS Cask Tapping

at noon, limited supply

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade begins at noon in front of Max Lager’s doorsteps and JR is going Irish in a big way.

Supplies are limited so come early to be one of the lucky few to taste these special brews.

We’ll also be featuring an Irish Menu:

Soda Bread, Irish Bacon, Black Pudding, Potato Pearls, Sausage $14 All Day

St. Paddy’s Irish Pressed Sandwich

Shredded Corn beef, Crusty Soda Bread, Shredded Cabbage with Tarragon Vinaigrette, hand-cut Double Fried Potatoes
$14

Fish Fry Fisherman Style

Fish, Chips, Day Boat Beer Battered Fried Fish, hand-cut Red Potato halves, Malt Vinegar 1/4 Corn Cobs
$16

Irish Pub Grub

Brown Sugar Lager Corn Beef, Colcannon Potatoes, Rye Cabbage, Horseradish Cream
$22

THANK YOU FOR 14 GREAT YEARS!

Winter’s lack of wrath notwithstanding, Quadratic Liquation Belgian-Style Dark Strong Ale and Demon D’Or Belgian-Style Golden Strong are both pouring at Max Lager’s and it’s really cool to taste and compare the similarities and the vast differences between these cousins.

Quadratic Liquation was originally brewed back in 2009 with home brewer Ryan Stansbury. I chose Ryan’s wonderful Belgian Dark Strong as the “Brewer’s Choice Award” winner of the Peachstate Brewoff. This year I thought it’d be the perfect winter beer. I decided to kick it up a bit by increasing the alcohol and tweaking some of the ingredients. I also decided to give the beer 20 weeks in the conditioning tank to really let the complexities develop…and develop they did! The Quad starts with earthy sweet notes followed by biscuity malt flavors and hints of dark fruit. The extended conditioning has brought all the flavors together into a smooth and complex beer that has to be experienced to be understood.

Demon D’Or on the other hand, I normally reserve for the spring, but what the heck? I mean if it’s gonna be 72 degrees out…The Demon has bright and spicy malt flavors and a hint of wildflower honey in both the nose and the flavor. Lively German and Czech noble really bring the devilish quality of the beer to life, dancing on your tongue as you long for the next sip.

So, whether it’s cold out…or warm out…or cold again… I got the Belgian-style Strong Ale for you!

Lady Godiva Martini – $8

A Rich, Decadent, and Satisfying dessert cocktail

360 chocolate vodka
dark creme de cacao
1/2 and 1/2 cream
chocolate syrup
chocolate syrup garnish

French Kiss Martini – $8

Pucker up and kiss your inhibitions away

2oz rasp skyy vodka
1/4 oz arrow black rasp liqueur
Pineapple Juice

Romance – $10

Escape to south of the border with this sweetheart tequila cocktail

1.5oz Sauza Gold Tequila
cranberry juice
.5 oz Grand Marnier
lime juice

Cupid Bow and Arrow Martini – $10

A drink so heavenly it must be made by angels.

1.5 oz Stoli Vanil
.5oz liquor 43
.5oz dekupyer amaretto

Sweetest Thing – $9

A drink to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside

1.5oz Makers Bourbon
2tsp granulated sugar
1/2 oz triple sec
2 dashes bitters
lemon twist

Tickled Pink – $7

I’m so smitten with I’m just tickled pink with myself

Fresh muddled strawberries
Fresh Lemon Juice
1.5 oz silver rum
topped of with sprite

Holiday Hopper Martini

1 oz Midori melon liqueur
1/2 green creme de menthe
1/2 oz white creme de cacao
2 oz of half/ half

Jingle Bell Martini

1.5 oz of Sky dragon raspberry Vodka
fresh raspberry muddled
cranberry juice
simple syrup

Nutty Kris Kringle

½ oz Creme de Almond
½ oz Root Beer Black Maker Schnapps
¼ oz Half And Half
on the rocks with a splash of house made rootbeer

Blue Christmas

1 oz sky dragonberry vodka
1 oz blueberry schnapps
.5 oz sour mix
highball glass

Yuletide carol < mulled wine twist

1oz amaretto
.5 oz red wine
3 muddled mint leaves
fresh sugar
orange,cherry,lemon muddled

Winter Coffees

• Max Coffee Deluxe w/choice of Amaretto, Baileys, Chambord or Kahlua
• Irish Coffee w/Tullamore Dew
• Cinn-A-Max Coffee w/Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey & Baileys
• Caramel Coffee w/Kahlua & Butterscotch Schnapps