Ok, spent the weekend in the N.GA mountains with my folks. Had a great time fishing, playing a little golf and just relaxing. Decided to stop by Tower to pick up a few new beers for the weekend. The gems that I picked up will most definitely make return appearances to the beer fridge and to the cellaring fridge.
First up, Rogue Old Crustacean Aged XS line (Barleywine).
This came in a nice 750ml ceramic bottle with gate close top. I don't remember the year, I'll have to check the bottle. Poured very thick. Very dark brown with a nice creamy head. Great aroma, hops all over the place. A bit of a sweet note on the nose as well. The taste of this beer was perfect. Nice smooth start, a little sweet, kind of fruity but then the hops kick in. Wow, great hop note. Balances the malt sweetness perfectly and complements the alcohol zing and warmth nicely. Not a beer for those who don't like hops. A neat take on the barleywine. This one will be heading for the cellar very soon! I also have the feeling that it will make an appearance in my hall of fame.
Allagash Tripel Reserve
I usually trend towards darker more aggressive beers but decided to give this one a shot. Sure glad I did! Pours a hazy orange, nice white lacey head. Smells fruity with some yeast tones, more like a bakery smell. Taste is very nice. Smooth, ohh so smooth. Not too sweet, very flavorful. Alcohol is well masked, this definitely does not taste like a beer with 9% ABV. Carbonation is perfect, just the right amount to add to the experience. My wife even tried this one and liked it (she hates beer, only one she has ever liked was some Hefewiezen we got on draft at Brick Store). This beer did undergo an interesting transformation when I let it warm up. When very cold it is a much fruitier beer, once warmed the fruit sweetness was dulled a bit and you could pick a bit of the warmth brought on by the alcohol. Either way this too is a great beer and a good introduction into the land of the Belgian Tripel.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
IPA in Bottles and a Beer and Concert Review
Got my IPA bottled up this past weekend. Now I have to wait for a few weeks to let it carbonate. Looking forward to trying it out. I may go ahead and get the Bock Beer kit that I bought going so that it may be ready for football season. Also picked up a bunch of brewing equipment from a good friend from my car club (Thanks Laura!). So I now have all the right stuff to tackle a big batch. May be a few weeks, I'll keep everyone posted right here.
Went to a pretty great concert last night with a college buddy of mine. Stopped by his place for dinner before hand (His girlfriend cooked fried chicken, very excellent) and he had a stash of Highland Gaelic Ale. Been a while since I had tried this beer. I immediately reminded myself not to pass over a few of Highlands offerings next time I frequent the local beer store. A nice thick head, slightly brown in color. Beer color is a great dark brown, almost a deep ruby. Very malty flavor, sweet up front. A touch of hops to balance it out and keep it from being overly sweet. Very smooth and extremely drinkable. A great beer that I am glad I rediscovered.
The Concert: Old 97's
Where: Variety Playhouse
This was the first show I had ever seen at the Variety Playhouse. The venue reviews I read before hand showed people either loved or hated the place. I fall in the former, this is a great place to see a show! Parking is cheap ($5) beer is a good price and the size is just right. Plenty of room to stand in the front and tons of seating on the sides, back and in the balcony. Went to the show only expecting two bands, Sleepercar and the Old 97's. Got a very pleasant surprise when there was a second opening band, The Spring Standards. Wow, best opening band I've ever seen. A trio consisting of Two guys on guitar or bass and a girl on percussion. The guys also played either a hi-hat or bass drum while strumming (and sometimes a harmonica) and the girl also happened to play keyboards, some sort of wind recorder thingy and sang lead on several songs. Try to name me one other female lead vocalist that plays percussion! Vocal harmonies where amazing, energy was great and the songs where perfect. They played a strange combination of bluesy, folky, little dash of gospel, countrified new rock with hints of some emo working its way in there. Just wow. Picked up their brand new EP, No One Will Know after the show. Check these guys out at their myspace, www.myspace.com/thespringstandards
Sleepercar played a great set. Very high energy. Hit all the songs off of their new CD, West Texas. They even threw in a cover of a Flying Burrito Brothers cover near the end of the set. They are a neat combination of Snow Patrol with a little Wilco thrown in and a big influence from the Old 97's. Check them out on their myspace, http://www.myspace.com/sleepercarwesttexas
Headliner the Old 97's did not disappoint. Huge energy throughout a big set. Band sounded great, songs where awesome and the crowd really seemed to get into it. I am pretty sure they played for almost 2 solid hours. You can check them out here: http://www.old97s.com/
This show has vaulted into my top 3 concerts of all time (For review, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Live in Savannah, GA on 2/13/96 is #1 and Radiohead Live in Atlanta this year is #2). Two amazing opening acts that put on incredible sets that should have been hard to follow but Old 97's stepped up their game and delivered. Keep and eye on all these bands, The Spring Standards, Sleepercar and the Old 97's. I am sure you will hear of them again.
Went to a pretty great concert last night with a college buddy of mine. Stopped by his place for dinner before hand (His girlfriend cooked fried chicken, very excellent) and he had a stash of Highland Gaelic Ale. Been a while since I had tried this beer. I immediately reminded myself not to pass over a few of Highlands offerings next time I frequent the local beer store. A nice thick head, slightly brown in color. Beer color is a great dark brown, almost a deep ruby. Very malty flavor, sweet up front. A touch of hops to balance it out and keep it from being overly sweet. Very smooth and extremely drinkable. A great beer that I am glad I rediscovered.
The Concert: Old 97's
Where: Variety Playhouse
This was the first show I had ever seen at the Variety Playhouse. The venue reviews I read before hand showed people either loved or hated the place. I fall in the former, this is a great place to see a show! Parking is cheap ($5) beer is a good price and the size is just right. Plenty of room to stand in the front and tons of seating on the sides, back and in the balcony. Went to the show only expecting two bands, Sleepercar and the Old 97's. Got a very pleasant surprise when there was a second opening band, The Spring Standards. Wow, best opening band I've ever seen. A trio consisting of Two guys on guitar or bass and a girl on percussion. The guys also played either a hi-hat or bass drum while strumming (and sometimes a harmonica) and the girl also happened to play keyboards, some sort of wind recorder thingy and sang lead on several songs. Try to name me one other female lead vocalist that plays percussion! Vocal harmonies where amazing, energy was great and the songs where perfect. They played a strange combination of bluesy, folky, little dash of gospel, countrified new rock with hints of some emo working its way in there. Just wow. Picked up their brand new EP, No One Will Know after the show. Check these guys out at their myspace, www.myspace.com/thespringstandards
Sleepercar played a great set. Very high energy. Hit all the songs off of their new CD, West Texas. They even threw in a cover of a Flying Burrito Brothers cover near the end of the set. They are a neat combination of Snow Patrol with a little Wilco thrown in and a big influence from the Old 97's. Check them out on their myspace, http://www.myspace.com/sleepercarwesttexas
Headliner the Old 97's did not disappoint. Huge energy throughout a big set. Band sounded great, songs where awesome and the crowd really seemed to get into it. I am pretty sure they played for almost 2 solid hours. You can check them out here: http://www.old97s.com/
This show has vaulted into my top 3 concerts of all time (For review, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Live in Savannah, GA on 2/13/96 is #1 and Radiohead Live in Atlanta this year is #2). Two amazing opening acts that put on incredible sets that should have been hard to follow but Old 97's stepped up their game and delivered. Keep and eye on all these bands, The Spring Standards, Sleepercar and the Old 97's. I am sure you will hear of them again.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Wordle...
A pretty neat application that I stumbled across. Takes all the word from a page or anything and makes some graphical "art" out of them. Check out the art for this site below....
title="Wordle: Beer Blog">
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd"
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title="Wordle: Beer Blog">
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd"
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Wednesday, July 16, 2008
New Mini Fridge
Picked up a new Mini Fridge at Sears today (yeah gift cards). It is plenty big to hold the beers that I want to store long term. This will let me set this fridge temp to 50-55 degrees and only use the kegerator fridge when I have beer on tap. When I get it unpacked and set up I will post some pictures.
Friday, July 11, 2008
My Basement Bar
Here are a few pictures of my basement bar set up. You will find me down here most Saturdays and Sundays in the fall watching football and enjoying a brew. The brick finish on 3 of the walls is painted, took about 3 years to really finish everything up and get it to where I feel like I am actually done. When we moved in there was a wall that split the room into a pool room and a storage area. Wall ran where the metal poles are in the pictures.
I have 5 neon signs that I have acquired either from ebay or gifts. Also have a ton of metal signs, a few non-neon light up signs and lots of other pictures up on the walls.
The Taps and Bar:
I had been hunting for some sort of bar to use and came across this piece at the big antiques mart here in Atlanta. As you can see the top folds out for a nice work area and there is plenty of space underneath for glassware and liquor storage. I am working on trying to find a key to fit the locks so that it can be locked up if needed. Only thing I can figure is it used to be some type of desk. Folks we got it from where not really sure what it was used for only that it looks to be custom made and maybe 100 years old or so. Whatever it was made for doesn't matter to me because it works perfect for my bar, exact right size and height for the taps and fits in well with the rest of the basement. Picked up the granite top cheap from a place near where I work, it was a scrape piece they where able to cut to size and polish up for me.
Dart Board:
TV, Stereo and Record Player:
Georgia Tech Corner with a piece of goalpost from the 1999 GT 51 v UGa 48 game.
The Kegerator:
I can fit a 1/2 barrel easily in there and I think I can squeeze a 1/6 in next to it. Most of the time I'll be running either several homebrew kegs, a few 1/6 barrels or a 1/4 and a 1/6 barrel. The blower at the top cycles cool air from the fridge through the pipe that the beer lines run through. Only problem with my set up is that my line run is 5-6 feet. Mean I have to use a bit higher pressure and had to install the blower to keep the lines cool. It has worked great now that I worked a few bugs out.
This is also where I store/cellar my beer. I really want to find an old mini fridge that I can put in the basement to store the cellared beer a bit warmer (50-55 degrees) than I keep the keg fridge, I'll keep my eyes out for a yard sale.
I have 5 neon signs that I have acquired either from ebay or gifts. Also have a ton of metal signs, a few non-neon light up signs and lots of other pictures up on the walls.
The Taps and Bar:
I had been hunting for some sort of bar to use and came across this piece at the big antiques mart here in Atlanta. As you can see the top folds out for a nice work area and there is plenty of space underneath for glassware and liquor storage. I am working on trying to find a key to fit the locks so that it can be locked up if needed. Only thing I can figure is it used to be some type of desk. Folks we got it from where not really sure what it was used for only that it looks to be custom made and maybe 100 years old or so. Whatever it was made for doesn't matter to me because it works perfect for my bar, exact right size and height for the taps and fits in well with the rest of the basement. Picked up the granite top cheap from a place near where I work, it was a scrape piece they where able to cut to size and polish up for me.
Dart Board:
TV, Stereo and Record Player:
Georgia Tech Corner with a piece of goalpost from the 1999 GT 51 v UGa 48 game.
The Kegerator:
I can fit a 1/2 barrel easily in there and I think I can squeeze a 1/6 in next to it. Most of the time I'll be running either several homebrew kegs, a few 1/6 barrels or a 1/4 and a 1/6 barrel. The blower at the top cycles cool air from the fridge through the pipe that the beer lines run through. Only problem with my set up is that my line run is 5-6 feet. Mean I have to use a bit higher pressure and had to install the blower to keep the lines cool. It has worked great now that I worked a few bugs out.
This is also where I store/cellar my beer. I really want to find an old mini fridge that I can put in the basement to store the cellared beer a bit warmer (50-55 degrees) than I keep the keg fridge, I'll keep my eyes out for a yard sale.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Bottling?
My IPA should be finished in the next week. I plan on checking it tonight to see if it has finished fermenting. Next step is to clean out all my bottles and then fill them up to condition!
On the new Beers tried front, I gave Great Divides Barleywine a try. Not bad, I probably would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't July 4th, I hadn't drank my weight in cheap beer by the pool all day, I wasn't smoking a cigar, and I wasn't losing at poker. Either way, I seem to remember liking it enough that next trip to Tower I plan on picking up another bottle and giving it a proper review!
On the new Beers tried front, I gave Great Divides Barleywine a try. Not bad, I probably would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't July 4th, I hadn't drank my weight in cheap beer by the pool all day, I wasn't smoking a cigar, and I wasn't losing at poker. Either way, I seem to remember liking it enough that next trip to Tower I plan on picking up another bottle and giving it a proper review!
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