BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse

by Bob Ostrander

The new BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse opens Monday, the 19th. It's a huge place, seats 340. A very large menu is accented with stuffed potatoes, pizza, and the Pizookie dessert - chocolate chip macadamia cookie ala mode. Big, clean, new. It's at the north end of the Greenwood Park Mall, visible from County Line Rd.

We had a chance to preview both food and beer so we took some casual beer drinkers to try the beer sampler. $9 gets you 7 4-ounce samples. Descriptions and ingredients are on their website.

  Jay Jeff Terry Bob
Normally prefer Upland Wheat, Brooklyn Brown American Lagers German Hefeweizen Admitted malt-head.
Brewhouse Blonde (Kölsch 4.5%) Appeals. A bit like Little King's. I like it. Would order anywhere. Nice. Crisp. Plain. Does all the right things for the BMC drinker. Creamy. One blonde I'd order.
Harvest Hefeweizen (4.8%) Not to my liking. Fruit and sweetness aren't my style. I like it. Sweet notes are welcome. Banana and clove are what I look for. A bit too effervescent. Good unfilitered beer. Banana and clove are up front and lasting.
Jeremiah Red (Irish Red 7.3%) Oooh. Gooood. Easy and smooth. I like it. My favorite. Didn't get much as Bob selfishly drank our whole sample. Rich sort of Imperial Red but it hides the alcohol deeply.
Nutty Brewnette (American Brown 5.8%) Beautiful color of cordovan. Rich like Brooklyn's I'm not a fan of the long, sweet aftertaste. Has a definite nut taste much different than, say, Newcastle. Much thicker also. Dark and quite sweet, almost to cloying. Fuggles for earthiness, Am hops for bitter.
Piranha Pale Ale (American 5.5% 45 IBU) Bitter. Too bitter for me. Bitter. Too bitter for me. Bitter. Too bitter for me. Plenty of American bitterness with a touch of Cascade grapefruitiness.
PM Porter (Robust Porter 6.4% nitro 30 IBU) Candy. Dangerous. Roast. Too sweet for me. Lots of nuttiness. More than I like. Caramel, chocolate, nuts. It's a Snickers beer.
Tatonka Stout (Imperial 8.5% nitro 60 IBU) Quite like a Guinness. What, it has twice the alcohol? It has twice the alcohol of Bud? Not a fan of roasty burnt flavors. Understated for an Imperial and for 8.5%.
Seasonal Maibock A bit too bitter. OK, this is my other favorite. Thick for a lager. Has a long aftertaste. Center of the style. A bit light. Will go fast.

Next Seasonal: Nit Wit (Gold medal at the 2004 GABF. Silver medal at 2006 World Beer Cup.)

Also on tap: Three Floyds Gumball Head, Wyder Cider, Sierra Nevada Pale.

  

Now to answer the question about the word "brewhouse". BJ's is not a brewpub. The beer is not produced here. Actually it's coming from the main brewery in Reno with some also from Houston and Lacrosse. But it acts exactly like a brewpub. Big range of beers - usually 8 on tap. And, considering just a few days of training, the wait staff had a good knowledge of the beers. The tanks behind glass are used to make root beer, cream soda, etc.

Michael "Mufasa" Ferguson (below center) is the Director of Brewery Operations for BJ's. He visited Oaken Barrel on Thursday which turned into a 2-pub crawl back to BJ's with myself and some area homebrewers in tow.