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!

Five Great Anerican Beers?

Ok, my buddy who is spending this month in Japan and should be writing up a short report in the next few weeks for me (hint, hint there Reed) sent me this link:

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2009/04/five-great-american-beers.html#comments

A pretty good article but I thought I would include my thoughts from my e-mail response to him...


You are going to hat me because I've had 4 of those. World Wide Stout is incredible, just flat out amazing. One of the best 2 or 3 beers I've ever had. Too bad we can't get it here in Georgia. Have to see if we can find it up in Michigan for Joey's wedding. The Weyerbacher is ok, I prefer Dogfish Heads punkin better. They messed up the description of the Terrapin Gamma Ray, it is not a wheat beer but a wheatwine, totally different. Also too bad that you can't buy the stuff anymore since it was a limited release. I have one bottle left but know where I can get a few more, I'll pick you up one. Again they screw up on the Oskar Ten Fidy, it is not draft only, I bought a 6 pack last week. Ten FIDY is the darkest stout/porter I've ever had. Pours like motor oil but is pretty tasty. Can't get the last one here in the ATL.

This article is why I like yet loathe Paste at the same time. Decent articles but no research is ever put into them. Just seems the writers are kind of hacks half the time but they do write about interesting subjects. Also, if he wanted to pick the 5 great American beers he has to include something from California. As far as I am concerned the best thing California (damn, every time I write that word I get the scene from the wizard stuck in my head where the little kid says "California", anyway back to the rant) has ever done was to kick start the craft/extreme beer movement in the US. Sure Sam Adams did it on the east coast and Dogfish Head does some nice things these days but some of the stuff that the brewerys in CA and the northwest do are amazing. They pretty much invented the Double and Triple IPA style, the Russian Imperial Stout, Coffe Stout, Vanilla Porter, American Pale Ale (Not that Budweiser American ale shit), XPA and rejuvenated the barleywine stlye all pretty much on there own. Anyway that is just my 8 cents.


Concerning the New Job? Yeah it was April 1st, I wish I had a brewery job to brag about. Other news on the kegerator front, I think I finally got it balanced and pouring right. Installed a new regulator and new beer line and got the first clear and non-foamy pour off my HopNog keg, damn that is some good beer. I need to get back to the homebrew store to get a few more kits. If they have another HopNog kit I'll pick that up along with a stout or porter and a hefe. That is it for now, Happy Drinking!

New Job!!

Ok, some pretty exciting news here for the beer snob. I was offered a job working for a local brewery! They liked my blog and decided they could use another hand brewing and spreading the news about their beer! Hell yeah. I'll follow up a bit more about this tomorrow....

Terrapin Side Project #5: Monk's Revenge Review

Ok, been a bit since my last post. Last week was a bit odd. We had an industry audit going on at work and the twins tried to escape a few weeks early from my wife so I spent a few days shuttling back and forth between work and the hospital.

Anyway, on to the beer. I was lucky enough to pre-order some of the new Terrapin Side Project that came out last week. Up to this point I had been pretty underwhelmed by this series of beers. #3 Gamma Ray Wheatwine was nice but #4 and #2 (Dos Cocas Chocolate Porter and The Rauchbier) both left a bit to be desired. Not so the #5, appropriately called Monk's Revenge. Anyway, it is billed as a Belgian Style Double IPA. Terrapin says it is a mix of the malt profile from a Belgian Triple with the Hop profile of an American Double IPA. I really don't care because it is soooo damn good. Reminds me very much of an Allagash Triple but with a tad more hops. Packs a pretty good punch too coming in a 9.6% abv and 99IBUs. Thing is though, the hops are nicely hidden and this does not seem like a beer with close to a 100 ibu rating. Very nice and malty up front, has a bit of the Belgian funk going on in the middle which I really enjoy. A very smooth finish with the hop aroma lingering for a bit in you mouth.

If you can get your hands on a bottle of this give it a shot. I was lucky enough to snag a 1/6 barrel keg! Plan on letting it rest for a bit and tapping it some time late spring. I'll give this Terrapin Side Project 4.5 out of 5 pints. Well done, they finally took a crazy idea and knocked it out of the park.

Big Beer News! Bells coming to Georgia!

Well it is going to be a banner weekend for the beer snob and friends. I have friday off and plan to celebrate the opening round of March Madness by tapping my keg of HopNog homebrew. Really looking forward to it. Have to keep track of how long it lasts but I doubt it will make it to Sunday.

Beer is getting interesting here in Georgia. Taco Mac has a special Sweetwater brew on draft for the next week or so, Ron Burgundy. It is a 30th anniversary beer brewed just for Taco Mac. Terrapin and Atlanta Brewing will also be making special beers.

Biggest news in my mind is that New Belgian and Bells are on their way to GA! Bells!!! Sweet. Should be here this summer. I can see my beer being permanently stocked with Two Hearted Ale for the foreseeable future, I am giddy with the news. Now if someone will get off their butt and get Bear Republic here in GA I can drink in piece.

Anyway, I'll take a few pics and let everyone know how the HopNog turned out. I also may have some guest posts up about the beer scene in the Far East (Yes Reed I may have you tell me a bit about beer in Japan). 'Till then..

Happy Drinking!!

Big drinking ahead...

Well there is now a deadline set to when the twins are going to show up at the latest. April 30th. I guess I have to get some good drinking in before then. Plan on having the Hopnog kegged up middle of next week and ready for consumption for the opening rounds of the NCAA tourney. I also have to help plan our neighborhood H.O.R.S.E poker tourney (I'm a co-founder of the tournament). This will be the 2nd year we have had this be one of the 4 majors in the Lockridge Forrest Sport Fishing and Gaming Association poker tour. The 4 majors include the aforementioned HORSE tourney, the Stud Poker Championship, the Gran Poupon Tourney (dealer calls) and the Tournament of Champions. You have to have won one of the other majors to be able to enter the tourney of champions. Luckily I am now eligible to play in the TOC due to my win in the Gran Poupon tourney this past January.

I am also kicking around the idea of buying either a really good bottle of port or of Champagne for when the kids are born. Figure I will try to keep it until they are 21 and then share it with them.

Not much real beer news right now. I should have the rearranged kegerator set-up this weekend. I'll review the Hopnog as soon as I give it a try.

Happy Drinking!

Mantuary of the Month, January 2009!

Don't know if any of my readers make it over to The Mantuary. It is a pretty good site about all things manly. Anyway, my basement bar was voted Mantuary of the Month for January 2009! Check out the article.