Brew News and more!

Well, I still have not tapped the Monk's Revenge but man am I looking forward to it. Had another one of my bottles the other night and I think this is going to be wicked on draft.

Hit up Brew Depot last week with my dad. Picked up a new air lock and some more brew kits. I picked another HopNog because I liked the first so much. This one has a slightly different hop schedule so I'll have to see if I can taste the difference. I also got an Irish Stout and a Wiezenbier. Figure I'll brew up the Stout right after the primary is free from the Hopnog and then brew the Wiezenbier up for the opening of our neighborhood pool. I figure I will christen the travel tap with the Wiezenbier, looking forward to being able to take homebrew to football games in the fall.

I also hit up the local Taco Mac for lunch with the padre. He had never been and I figured it would be a good way to continue his education and induction in to the wide world of craft and extreme beer. I am starting to order more off the bottle menu to help fill up my Passport list. I've had most of the stuff that the Ellard location has on tap so I went for some Thomas Creek beer. Story behind Thomas Creek, they are the largest microbrewery in South Carolina. I had heard of them from my trip to the NC mountains over MLK weekend. Anyway, I got the Pumphouse Porter to start. A very good dark porter. Good coffee flavor and some nice sweet maltyness to balance. There is a good hop note at the end and if really tastes good. Off the cuff I'll give it a 3.5 out of 5 pints. Second beer was going to be the Class 5 IPA but there was none to be had in the fridge so I went with the Appalachian Amber Ale. Very nice! A wonderful floral note, great taste. Great all around, I will buy this again if I ever see it. 4 pints out of 5. My dad got to try Sweetwater Dank Tank Ron Burgandy and the Stone IPA. He really liked the Stone IPA and tried to trade the Ron Burgandy for my porter.

That is about it for now. I need to buy a new stock pot to brew in. I am moving my brewing out doors and will start using my good propane cooker set up so that I can control the heat a bit better. Figure I'll brew the next batch of HopNog sometime in the next few weeks when I am taking time off for the twins birth! Anyways, as always, happy drinking!