Local Paper writes about our Brew Club

I received an email the other week from a reporter, stating that he was tasked to do a story on local homebrewing and homebrewers.  He came across our Facebook group and then visited this blog.  He asked if I'd mind an interview and if the photographer could come by for some photos.  I had to think long and hard before I answered...  (not really)

Homebrewers are often pleased at the opportunity to talk about the craft and their love for good beer, and I am no exception to that rule.  "Absolutely!" I said.

The story was first in the online addition here in the Seminole Chronicle. The next day I was able to find a copy in one of the little blue boxes.

Story highlighted on the Frond page, above the fold.

Front page of Lifestyle Section, brewing in my garage.

Photos of the inside of my refrigerator.  Recognize the labels?

We were all happy with the story.  It was great exposure for our still relatively new club.  Check out Brew Club of Seminole County.  Special thanks to Steven and Ed with Seminole Chronicle for the time and great write-up.  Part 2 should be in print this week.

Epcot Food and Wine Festival photos

A few photos from the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, 2013 on opening day/evening.

The display upon entering the Park for this year's festival.  I don't know the girl in the corner.

My wife was thrilled to get one of these rare gems.  And featuring her favorite movie!

I started the night with caffeine at the new Starbucks in Epcot. 

Craft beer selection menu.

Display by the Scotland Destination, new this year.

From Scotland, the salmon and Innis & Gunn Original.

There may be some good beers here, but for the beer geek, this is disappointing.  All are owned by Big Beer. 

The obligatory photo with the souvenir glass.  I have these glasses from the last 4 years now.

Like my sausage pic?  This is venison sausage from New Zealand. 

This way to the American beer selection in the American Pavilion.

Some of these are standard in the German Pavilion in Epcot.  Some are interesting additions.

Roog Smoked Wheat on the left and Darkon on the right.  

The Beef Skewers in Argentina are tasty.

Well, that is it for now.  What are your favorites?

Cheers!

Oatmeal Stout - New Label and Name

Yep, it's time to bottle the Oatmeal Stout.  This is the closest to a collaborative brew I've done.  My wife assisted with the recipe (she bought the oats), but more importantly loves the style and thus the inspiration for this beer.  There is no chocolate in this one, but Moo Hoo better watch out.  This has promise to be great.

Aptly named 4Shel, the label too is the most personal to date.  Brewing and the enjoyment of beer should be a family thing, right?  At least we all have our passions.  Here is the new label, and a few photos of the beer in action.

New Belgium Brewing Now Availabile in Florida

New Belgium beers are in Florida.  Long awaited and anticipated, we are now free to partake in the Fat Tire, without  traveling to distant lands.

I made some time yesterday to stop by the ABC store to check it out.

I was quite enthused to find the main initial offering beers were on sale in 22oz bombers for 2 for $5.00.  For those from Alabama, that is $2.50 each.  Not a bad price.  The other day the Store Manager let me know he was expecting to have a few cased of Lips of Faith too.  I searched through the Craft Beer section of the store and found a small sampling of these set out...with no price listed.  Would it be crazy expensive?  I didn't care too much.  The day prior I could not purchase this, and now it is available.  Immediate demand.

The store can be dangerous for me and my wallet, so my wife reminded me that today's trip needed to be more like a $20 trip and not the normal $50 trip.  I hesitantly agreed.  (Imagine how happy I was to see the $2.50 price.)

The initial beers consist of 5 of the 9 year round brews.

• Fat Tire
• Ranger IPA
• Trippel
• Sunshine Wheat
• Shift Pale Lager (in cans) 

I've had the Fat Tire and Ranger before, so I picked up a few of the others (and a Fat Tire) and grabbed one of the Lips of Faith Dieu du Ciel ($8.50 for the 22oz) as well.

Cheers!

The latest brew: American Pale Ale

Ready for the Fourth of July?  This beer will be!  We are looking for a refreshing, hoppy aroma, easy drinking American Pale Ale.

For each of the last several years, Independence Day has been celebrated at the Beach with good friends, soaking up the sun, waves, a few food brews and an old fashion southern boil.  With the finale of amatuer fireworks on the beach. I've managed to secure our invite first by helping in the kitchen and now by bringing the beer also.  Homebrewed beer!  We've achieved lifetime invites!

Ah, beer!  Last year I brewed an extract with specialty grains pale ale and this year it will be an all grain. There is nothing more real (and freeing) than formulating your own recipe and starting with grain, hops, water and then boiling it.  Add some yeast and watch it come to life as the yeast creates an amazing beverage.

So what is under the hood of this new concoction?  American two row pale ale malt base with crystal 60 and crystal 15.  7 lbs base, .75 crystal 60 and .25 crystal 15.... And that is it for the grain.

Hops...bittering, .5oz Centennial for 60 minutes. flavor ... .25oz Centennial at 30 minutes. Aroma... .5oz Mosaic and .25oz Centennial at flameout. The remaining .5oz Mosaic will dry hop after two weeks.

Final volume 4 gallons.
OG 1.05
IBU 41.65
Expected FG 1.013
Expected ABV 4.9%

For those counting, this is my 27th batch of homebrewed beer.

Cheers!

New Brew sampling - Barleywine

Today I tried one of the promising new brews.  At 3.75 months from brew day and 1 month from bottling day, this English Style Barleywine is still quite young.  Nice aroma, descent color, a little nutty in flavor, complex, with a decent amount of bitterness.  It's high in alcohol, but you may not realize it...at first anyway.  The hops will subside and as the flavors mature it will come together to be something excellent!  It will require some additional time to come into it's true greatness.

A Barleywine needs to have a good name, and the other night I had an epiphany, of sorts.  There is not another one like it.  Presenting, Anal Retentive Dishrag.

Anal Retentive Dishrag

It was brewed in a classic English style, with specialty English malts, UK hops, and Whitbread Ale yeast.  Watch-out upcoming BJCP brewing competitions!

OG 1.088
FG 1.018
IBUs 74*
ABV  9.9%

Brewed 02-03-13
Bottled 04-21-13

And of course there is a story behind the name.  Only a few know of the true origin of this unique name, and sadly, I don't get to see most of them nearly enough.



*Calculated at 105, with a 30% reduction due to hop sacks, results in this amount.  Too high for BJCP style either way, but with age, the bitterness will subside.  Brew it strong and let is work it's way out, right? 

Hopzilla - a review

It's like cough syrupy hop goodness. Hopzilla is a monster, thick malt flavor and tons of hops, bitter, flavor, and aroma. Well rounded hop extremities abound.

A fairly pungent hoppy aroma is followed by smooth bitterness, then finishes with nice lingering hop hop hop. You know you are drinking an Imperial IPA.

What you may not pick up on is that it is solely Maris Otter malt, which gives great character and a solid malt backing to the happiness (hoppiness).  (Unless of course you read the label.)

It's not overbearingly bitter and not too sweet. Has enough pop to slow you down as you drink, and it has enough going on to keep your interest.

Golden, light in carbonation, nice clarity.

Terrapin's Hopzilla fits well with the east coast Imperial IPA mold...well rounded hopping and not just a bitter hop bomb.  Living up to the namesake, and forgive me for yet another analogy, It's a rugby player to the football star of the 90 Minute IPA for sure.

And all the while I find myself singing, "Oh, no, they say he's got to go go go Hopzilla!"  After a few, I'd be singing very loud.  So I'll keep it to one for now.

Cheers!

Jose Marti America Porter - Beer Review

Surprisingly balanced. The Jose Marti American Porter from Cigar City Brewing boasts high hopping levels to give an IBU of 65... Much higher than one would expect from a porter. Yet this is called an American Porter. (In general the American title addition lends to an increased amount of hopping.  It's not the rule but seems to be the way things work.)

This beer pours deep brown in color with an ivory head.  Hops and  malt are in the aroma with hints of toffee and vanilla.  Dark malty goodness is present as to be expected...without too much sweetness. Hop bitterness helps cancel the sweet while maintaining balance. A lingering bitterness persists.  Mouthfeel is silky with a nice little bite at the finish.  There are some hints of chocolate in the flavor, dark chocolate.   It has a nice full dark malty flavor (not too roasty), like a porter should have.  It's pretty good.

And who is this Jose Marti guy?  Well, it seems a little Cuban history will give us the answer. In short, he
was an influential Cuban political activist, writer and poet around the time  Cuba gained independence from Spain in the late 19th century.  Fighting for independence and freedom, his life was eternalized by his words and deeds.  An additional remembrance for Jose Marti is to be found in this beer.

It comes in 4 packs.  If you see it, it's worth the purchase.

Something old, something new, and something a bit different: My week in IPAs

With an upcoming IPA Tasting event, I've had IPAs on my mind lately. This week I can put even more of a theme to the selection. It's not quite the "something old, something new, something blue" like the old wedding rhyme, but rather more like "something old, something new and something a bit different". (And I know I forgot "something borrowed" for the literalists out there.)

So let's look at it.

Something old: Bell's Two Hearted Ale

Something new: Ballast Point Sculpin

Something different: Dogfish Head Sixty-One

No further comments now... But keep you eyes open.  Just photos to help you look forward to "beer-thirty" later this Afternoon.  Cheers!

Some Homebrew Photos

Perhaps some explanation required.  This first photo of of my Imperial IPA, the Isis Imperial.  This beer had been in the refrigerator for many months.  It is a pretty beer, seemed to have darkened some with time, which can be typical with extract beers.  It is also very oxidized and not worth drinking... such a shame.

This next photo proves that sometimes the best fining can be a cold refrigerator for several weeks.  This is the Saison Du Ner.

And lastly, the Inklings Ale.

Deland Craft Beer Festival wrap up, Part 2: Festival Highlights

 This year was the 4th annual for the event, and the largest to date.  Some highlights each year are the Vintage and Rare Beers table, and Cask Conditioned Ales.

Another highlight for the brewers out there is the Homebrew Competition.  Each year for this event there are two competitions.  The first is a style competition, this year's style was Porter.  Second is the Extreme Valentines Inspired Beer competition (a February event is close to Valentines Day).  And next year promises to take the competition to a whole new level... At least that what a little birdie told me.

Working hard all day, it was tough to take time out to drink (yeah right), but I did manage to sample a few.

 I was tough because with 2 Warehouses, close to 40 tables and over 200 beers, it is tough to chose which to drink next.  Life can be so cruel sometimes.

Homebrewed Stout

Just a beer photo for today.  This is the Dunerbrew Stout, Foreign Extra Stout.

Recipe can be found on the Recipes Page.

Beer Photo of the week

As children, we are told not to cry over spilled milk.  That doesn't mean you aren't getting yelled at for spilling the milk.  "But it was an accident!!!"

No one ever said anything about spilled beer.  In a situation like this, you can choose to cry, wipe it up, or lick it up off the counter.  Guess which I chose.

I blame it on an over enthusiastic pour into the sampling glass.  It does look good though.  In fact, it was good.

I'll let others talk about this one... I'll just drink the Ruthless Rye

The 2013 Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye doesn't disappoint.  I could write about it, but would prefer to just drink it for now.   I can take a photo of it...  I did already.  It's a nice photo... which may make you thirsty.

A review?  Beer Drinker Rob reviewed this one last year.  Check it out.  If you ever want to try something new (and who doesn't) and want to do some preliminary homework, so you don't waste your money on a bad beer, be sure to check out Dailybeerreview.com, who has most likely reviewed it.  A good resource (and a free plug for the site).

And another?  Let's see what Chris with Beer Geek Nation has to say with his video review.



Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye.  Another seasonal beer to look forward to each year.

Bottling photos from tonight. Check it out!!!

I usually don't bottle beer on a Tuesday night, but when I do, I take photos and post on the blog.

Final Gravity, 1.016

Looks good and tastes good

Sanitized bottles in the dishwasher

Sanitized bottle caps after boiling for 10 minutes

Priming sugar, post 10 minute boil

Racking

Racking to the bottling bucket, mixing with priming sugar

Bottling setup over the dishwasher

And this is where I stopped taking the photos.  Sorry, nothing showing the capped bottles.  I know you are disappointed, so here is a photo of lots of bottles in the closet.

 Included in this photo are homebrewed Maibock, Strong Ale, Stout, American Wheat, and the newest English Pale Ale.  ...and a few other choice commercial beers.

Cheers!