So I saw an ad about a week ago from New Belgium. It was for the release of their new Fall seasonal, Red Hoptober. So a fall seasonal released in late July? Let me try to remember my seasons here..... Winter is Dec-Jan-Feb, Spring is March-Apr-May, Summer is June-July-Aug, Fall is Sep-Oct-Nov. Ok so I'm not crazy. A fall beer released in the middle of the summer. What have the breweries become, auto makers? On sale now, the new 2015 Lexus....
All kidding aside, I understand why the seasonal releases get pushed a bit earlier. Heck I welcome it a bit just because I am not a big fan of many of the summer seasonal beers. Just means I'm a few weeks closer to football season, a few weeks closer to buying a 12 pack of Sam Adams Octoberfest, drinking 2 of them and remembering that I really don't care for it, and then spending the next 6 months pawning them off on buddies when they come over to hang out.
Anyway, just kind of downloading my brain this morning. Have brainstormed some homebrew ideas. Going to start fooling around with a true IPA recipe. May brew a few batched back to back with the same malt bill and fool around with the hops to see which ones I like the best. I also plan on making another batch of my Red IPA since it seems to be a favorite with everyone in the neighborhood. Figure I'll try some sort of barleywine this fall as well.
That is it for now,
Happy Drinking!!
Friday, July 27, 2012
Monday, July 23, 2012
A Beer Review? Really?
Four of them in fact! Imagine that, a beer blog with a few beer reviews!
First up, Great Divide Wolfgang Doppelbock Lager.
I'll keep this one simple, Wow. Balanced, smooth, a few hops in there, dead on style. I need to go stock up on this one for the fall and figure out how to rig my kegerator as a place to start lagering. Buy this beer now! My rating, 5 pints out of 5.
My Homebrew Red IPA Hybrid:
This is the 2nd batch of this I have made. My thought when designing this one was, hey I really like Red Ales, I really like hops so let's try to combine them. I'll call it "Redstone" Red IPA. 1st batch was spit on, malty, smooth, good hop kick and it clocked in at a sneaky 8.5%abv. 2nd batch I fooled around with the hop bill a bit and ended up with a much different brew. Sweeter, more flowery, not as much bite on the end. Still good but the Ukrainian judge takes off a half point for the landing. Let's call this one a solid 3 pints out of 5.
Now to the not so hot reviews.
Bomb Lager:
I had a 6 pack of this dropped off at my house by the local rep! I'll give them an A for effort. The cans are very cool with nice art work and boy do I wish the beer could live up to the art and devotion of the area rep. It is called a Helles Lager. Sure, if Miller Lite claims to be a true Pilsner then I guess this is a Helles. Pretty strange up front, I get orange? Reminds me of Sundrop, fizz sticks around and the flavor just disappears. Sure I guess it is smooth but, eh, not much else doing with this one. 1.5 pints out of 5.
Last and least....
Batch 19 Pre-Prohibition Lager:
Ok, maybe the ones I got sat in a hot truck for a month. Tasted like a skunked Milwaukee's Best. So yeah, yuck. If this is truly what Pre-prohibition beer tasted like maybe it's a good thing they stopped making it. .5 a pint out of 5.
That is it for now dear readers,
Happy Drinking!!
First up, Great Divide Wolfgang Doppelbock Lager.
I'll keep this one simple, Wow. Balanced, smooth, a few hops in there, dead on style. I need to go stock up on this one for the fall and figure out how to rig my kegerator as a place to start lagering. Buy this beer now! My rating, 5 pints out of 5.
My Homebrew Red IPA Hybrid:
This is the 2nd batch of this I have made. My thought when designing this one was, hey I really like Red Ales, I really like hops so let's try to combine them. I'll call it "Redstone" Red IPA. 1st batch was spit on, malty, smooth, good hop kick and it clocked in at a sneaky 8.5%abv. 2nd batch I fooled around with the hop bill a bit and ended up with a much different brew. Sweeter, more flowery, not as much bite on the end. Still good but the Ukrainian judge takes off a half point for the landing. Let's call this one a solid 3 pints out of 5.
Now to the not so hot reviews.
Bomb Lager:
I had a 6 pack of this dropped off at my house by the local rep! I'll give them an A for effort. The cans are very cool with nice art work and boy do I wish the beer could live up to the art and devotion of the area rep. It is called a Helles Lager. Sure, if Miller Lite claims to be a true Pilsner then I guess this is a Helles. Pretty strange up front, I get orange? Reminds me of Sundrop, fizz sticks around and the flavor just disappears. Sure I guess it is smooth but, eh, not much else doing with this one. 1.5 pints out of 5.
Last and least....
Batch 19 Pre-Prohibition Lager:
Ok, maybe the ones I got sat in a hot truck for a month. Tasted like a skunked Milwaukee's Best. So yeah, yuck. If this is truly what Pre-prohibition beer tasted like maybe it's a good thing they stopped making it. .5 a pint out of 5.
That is it for now dear readers,
Happy Drinking!!
Monday, July 9, 2012
Homebrew: Berliner Weisse Edition
A quick update on my homebrewing front. Taco Mac is sponsoring a homebrew competition this month and I plan on entering my "Redstone" Irish Red IPA hybrid beer. Only batch I have to bottle up is the second batch where I had to use Columbus instead of Citra hops and I threw in some of the Tettnang and Hallertauer hops I had left from my dunkelwiezen. Still a pretty good beer but a tad sweeter than the first batch. I don't like it as much but have several buddies who tried both batches and they like this one better. Guess I'll have to wait and see how it turn out.
As for bottling the beer, I tried a home solution to the beer gun about a month or so ago with the last dunkelwiezen and smoked stout. Plan on popping a bottle of the dunkel tonight to see if the carbonation has held.
On to my latest brew day, did a Berliner Weisse 2 weeks ago. Learned from the Dunkel regarding using rice hulls during the sparge, worked really well, nothing stuck this time! Why a Berliner Weisse? I don't know, figured I like wheat beers and I like sour beers so why not try the only sour wheat beer there is eh? Should be pretty easy drinking right now best guess is it will clock in around 3.5% abv or so. Makes it a really nice session beer for the late summer. Looks like the perfect color in the primary, still bubbling away a little bit. My wife went down to the basement a few days after I pitched the yeast and she came up complaining that we must have a sewage leak.... Yep that's wheat yeast and Lactobacillus for you. Anyway, plan to move it over to the secondary in the next few days and then letting it work for another month or so....Hmm maybe the first football game would be a good time to debut this one.
Happy Drinking!!
As for bottling the beer, I tried a home solution to the beer gun about a month or so ago with the last dunkelwiezen and smoked stout. Plan on popping a bottle of the dunkel tonight to see if the carbonation has held.
On to my latest brew day, did a Berliner Weisse 2 weeks ago. Learned from the Dunkel regarding using rice hulls during the sparge, worked really well, nothing stuck this time! Why a Berliner Weisse? I don't know, figured I like wheat beers and I like sour beers so why not try the only sour wheat beer there is eh? Should be pretty easy drinking right now best guess is it will clock in around 3.5% abv or so. Makes it a really nice session beer for the late summer. Looks like the perfect color in the primary, still bubbling away a little bit. My wife went down to the basement a few days after I pitched the yeast and she came up complaining that we must have a sewage leak.... Yep that's wheat yeast and Lactobacillus for you. Anyway, plan to move it over to the secondary in the next few days and then letting it work for another month or so....Hmm maybe the first football game would be a good time to debut this one.
Happy Drinking!!
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Are Growlers Good for Georgia?
Short Answer: Yes and No.
Long Answer: Well here goes nothing....
I was first introduced to the idea of a growler of beer while traveling around for work to other states that allow breweries to sell beer directly to the consumer. The growler allows a small brewery to sell beer to go without having to invest in a bottling line. It allows their customers to take the beer they can get at the tap-room or local bar home and then return the growler to have it re-filled. See here in Georgia we have a set of laws that require any brewery to have to go through a distributor in order to sell there product. No beer to go at the brewery, no on site tap room where the brewery could sell pints and thus no growlers filled on site. Wineries in the state do not have the same problem, they are more than welcome to sell their wine direct to anyone that shows up, they can also sell their wine by the glass. Hmmm.
So, say I want to start a brewery (actually I really do want to start one sometime), in which state is it going to be easier for me to get started?
State 1: A state where I can find a small space to build the brew-house, put in a small bar area up front, sell pints/growlers/kegs direct to customers who stop by off the street (and thus be able to experiment with very small batch brews and allow my loyal customers to try them before going large production) and be able to self distribute my beer to several local bars/grocery stores/liquor stores.
State 2: Find a small space to build a brew-house, beg and plead with beer wholesalers to pick up my product and sell it to a bar or liquor store.
Ok, so the situation in Georgia may not be that dire. More and more craft breweries are starting to pop up. Red Hare, Monday Night, Wild Heaven and Jailhouse are a few of the brave companies that have decided to give the craft brewing thing a try here in the peach state. But this 3 tier system (Brewer ---> Wholesaler ---> Retailer) does have something to do with the stunted growth of breweries here. Heck, there are about 10 breweries in Asheville, NC. Population of Asheville? 83,393. Breweries (Just counting Breweries and not Brew Pubs) in Atlanta: 6, population: 5 Million +. Gee wonder why that is?
So what does this have to do with the new growler fad in Atlanta? Well I think some local businesses realized that with the booming craft beer market the idea of beer in a growler was some how cooler or better than beer in a bottle. Well it is neat to be able to use some of the old growlers I have sitting in my basement but for the most part it just doesn't make much sense here in Georgia. A certain store that just sells growlers just popped up near where I live, looking at their "Menu" shows they have 40 beers on "tap". Of these there are only three that I could not otherwise get in a 6 pack. So I can pay roughly $12 for a growler of Sweetwater IPA or about $8 for a 6 pack. Huh? Why buy the growler for more when it has less beer!! Now, I would understand buying a growler of one of the local brews that you can't get other wise but why buy any of the other ones? It's not like the keg that growler is filled from is brewery fresh. I think some of the craft beer heads here in Georgia are getting a bit taken advantage of by these new Growler Filler Stores. Heck I bought a growler of Great Divide Smoked Baltic Porter at the brewery for $8, and that included the growler!
I don't know what my readers opinions may be, and yes it is good that more and more people may get exposed by buying a growler of a new microbrew that they have not heard of. Even so, I hope that those same people will some day find themselves in another more brewery friendly state and learn what the real advantage of buying beer by the growler really is!
As always, Happy Drinking!!
Long Answer: Well here goes nothing....
I was first introduced to the idea of a growler of beer while traveling around for work to other states that allow breweries to sell beer directly to the consumer. The growler allows a small brewery to sell beer to go without having to invest in a bottling line. It allows their customers to take the beer they can get at the tap-room or local bar home and then return the growler to have it re-filled. See here in Georgia we have a set of laws that require any brewery to have to go through a distributor in order to sell there product. No beer to go at the brewery, no on site tap room where the brewery could sell pints and thus no growlers filled on site. Wineries in the state do not have the same problem, they are more than welcome to sell their wine direct to anyone that shows up, they can also sell their wine by the glass. Hmmm.
So, say I want to start a brewery (actually I really do want to start one sometime), in which state is it going to be easier for me to get started?
State 1: A state where I can find a small space to build the brew-house, put in a small bar area up front, sell pints/growlers/kegs direct to customers who stop by off the street (and thus be able to experiment with very small batch brews and allow my loyal customers to try them before going large production) and be able to self distribute my beer to several local bars/grocery stores/liquor stores.
State 2: Find a small space to build a brew-house, beg and plead with beer wholesalers to pick up my product and sell it to a bar or liquor store.
Ok, so the situation in Georgia may not be that dire. More and more craft breweries are starting to pop up. Red Hare, Monday Night, Wild Heaven and Jailhouse are a few of the brave companies that have decided to give the craft brewing thing a try here in the peach state. But this 3 tier system (Brewer ---> Wholesaler ---> Retailer) does have something to do with the stunted growth of breweries here. Heck, there are about 10 breweries in Asheville, NC. Population of Asheville? 83,393. Breweries (Just counting Breweries and not Brew Pubs) in Atlanta: 6, population: 5 Million +. Gee wonder why that is?
So what does this have to do with the new growler fad in Atlanta? Well I think some local businesses realized that with the booming craft beer market the idea of beer in a growler was some how cooler or better than beer in a bottle. Well it is neat to be able to use some of the old growlers I have sitting in my basement but for the most part it just doesn't make much sense here in Georgia. A certain store that just sells growlers just popped up near where I live, looking at their "Menu" shows they have 40 beers on "tap". Of these there are only three that I could not otherwise get in a 6 pack. So I can pay roughly $12 for a growler of Sweetwater IPA or about $8 for a 6 pack. Huh? Why buy the growler for more when it has less beer!! Now, I would understand buying a growler of one of the local brews that you can't get other wise but why buy any of the other ones? It's not like the keg that growler is filled from is brewery fresh. I think some of the craft beer heads here in Georgia are getting a bit taken advantage of by these new Growler Filler Stores. Heck I bought a growler of Great Divide Smoked Baltic Porter at the brewery for $8, and that included the growler!
I don't know what my readers opinions may be, and yes it is good that more and more people may get exposed by buying a growler of a new microbrew that they have not heard of. Even so, I hope that those same people will some day find themselves in another more brewery friendly state and learn what the real advantage of buying beer by the growler really is!
As always, Happy Drinking!!
Monday, July 2, 2012
Asheville, NC: Beer Nirvana?
Close, at least one of the best beer meccas in the eastern USA. So many cool breweries, excellent bars and amazing scenery. I have to admit, I have a bit of a soft spot for Asheville already. I spent a few summers working at a camp near Brevard. With Sierra Nevada, New Belgium and Oskar Blues soon to set up shop in Western NC I think the secret is out. If the new growth allows the small fish to co-exist with the big fish then exciting times are ahead. Can't wait to plan my next trip to Asheville!
I tried to stop by Green Man Brewing but had forgotten that the Euro 2012 final was on. With at least 5 deep at the bar and the temp pushing 100 degrees I hopped back in the car a drove over to the River Arts district and Wedge Brewing Company. Took me a minute to find it but I am really glad I did. Neat little spot near the river and railroad tracks. Lots of nice places to sit outside (if the temp wasn't 100+!). Nice bar inside. Staff were very helpful. Since it was so hot I went for the Pilsner. An odd choice for me as I am really not a big Pilsner fan but damn, this one was incredible! Just right, quenching, a bit hoppy, wow. I guess this is what folks drinking fresh pilsner in Europe have fallen in love with. It surly has challenged me to seek out fresh brewed true pilsners. The only disappointment was I couldn't take any home in a growler. So I grabbed a growler of their Iron Rail IPA and am finishing it off now. A very nice southern IPA, not overly hopped, a tad sweet with a decent bite to balance it out. Not quite as good as the Green Man IPA but better than anything the local boys here in Atlanta have to offer.
So, as Ferris Bueller would say: If you have the means, I highly suggest that you go out and find a way to get to Asheville and drink some of the great beer.
Happy Drinking!!
I tried to stop by Green Man Brewing but had forgotten that the Euro 2012 final was on. With at least 5 deep at the bar and the temp pushing 100 degrees I hopped back in the car a drove over to the River Arts district and Wedge Brewing Company. Took me a minute to find it but I am really glad I did. Neat little spot near the river and railroad tracks. Lots of nice places to sit outside (if the temp wasn't 100+!). Nice bar inside. Staff were very helpful. Since it was so hot I went for the Pilsner. An odd choice for me as I am really not a big Pilsner fan but damn, this one was incredible! Just right, quenching, a bit hoppy, wow. I guess this is what folks drinking fresh pilsner in Europe have fallen in love with. It surly has challenged me to seek out fresh brewed true pilsners. The only disappointment was I couldn't take any home in a growler. So I grabbed a growler of their Iron Rail IPA and am finishing it off now. A very nice southern IPA, not overly hopped, a tad sweet with a decent bite to balance it out. Not quite as good as the Green Man IPA but better than anything the local boys here in Atlanta have to offer.
So, as Ferris Bueller would say: If you have the means, I highly suggest that you go out and find a way to get to Asheville and drink some of the great beer.
Happy Drinking!!
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