It's all about the food. And ours is, we think, notable for many reasons.
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We respect beer at the Blind Lady Ale House.
And we’re a little fanatical about quality. This obsession is certainly exemplified in our beer—from the brewery to your glass, we do everything we can to ensure the beer tastes as the brewer intended.
The Art of Organoleptic-Enhancment Engineering.
Draft beer takes center stage at the Blind Lady Ale House. We’ve designed and built a unique system that incorporates a multitude of specialized components to ensure that your drinking experience is the very best it can be.
Our Direct Draw System. Direct-draw is a term used to describe a draft system that places the kegs in direct contact to the faucets so they kegs are cooled by the same refrigeration source that cools the beer-line and the faucets. This means that the beer-line is not very long, and that the beer arriving in your glass has only recently left the keg. This results in a fresher, more accurate beer flavor. If you see a tap tower, and below it there is no refrigerator holding kegs, you are probably not seeing a direct-draw system. Which begs the questions: Where are the kegs on-tap stored? And how long ago did my beer leave the keg
on the way to my glass? (Sadly, the answer may be a few days ago!)
Our All Stainless Steel Metal Components. Save for the lines, everything else, from the keg to the faucet, is in fact made from stainless steel. This includes the coupler (the device that connects to the keg), the tail-pieces (the barbed pieces that connect the beer-line), the shank (the part that goes through the wall), and the faucet. In the processing of beer at a brewery, only stainless steel is used. However, most bars use nickel-plated brass—an odd choice indeed, because it reacts horribly with the beer. But the thing is, it’s cheap. A brewer would never use a brass component in the brewery, so why should we in our bar?
And you know what—our beer tastes fresher.
Our Glass Rinser. Many of you have noticed that we rinse the glass just before we fill it with your beer. And many of you have asked, “Why?” The Health Department requires a final rinse of sanitizer before air-drying. This is great for sanitation, but not so good for beer flavor— you’re left with sanitizer residue in your beer! So we rinse your glass with water that has been carbon filtered to neutralize any foul odors or tastes.
The Art of Appropriate Glassware.
A lot of thought has gone into the choices we’ve made regarding our glassware. Each glass is craft-beer appropriate, with it's own set of organoleptic-enhancing features.
The Honest Pint. All of our standard glasses have a pour-line, which ensures that you are getting what you pay for. The serving-sizes are listed on the chalkboard menu, right there next to the %ABV and the price. We were in fact the first Certified Honest Pint establishment in Southern California. No cheater-pints here.
Aroma & Foam. We selected glasses that are larger than our pour, which allows room for foam on top of the beer.
The foam not only looks beautiful, it also enhances the experience by releasing the drink’s aroma—and the majority of flavor is aroma. Lasting foam is considered a positive attribute to a beer: it reflects a clean glass and beer-line,
as well as the Brewers’ skill during the process, and their ability to preserve subtle flavors in the beer.
Temperature. Cold beer is refreshing! But even a standard 16-ounce pint glass often leaves the last sip of beer warm.
Our larger glass, the 21.5 ounce Willy, is engineered to keep beer cool until the last drop—it features a large, solid mass of glass that acts a little like a non-melting ice-cube. Our Snifter is used for stronger, more complex beers that aren’t served quite as cold.
It is engineered to fit nicely in the palm of your hand, which allows you to bring the temperature of the beer up.
Design. The Belgians are probably the most celebrated for their beer-specific glass shapes, which are not just about function, but often express an artistic form. There is a sculptural element to the glass, and the various shapes can add to the landscape of the table. Our array of glassware is not just enjoyable to drink from, but also to view and to hold.
