Homebrew Weisbier Review

I got my Weisbier kegged up over the weekend and debuted it down at our neighborhood pool on Memorial day. Along with the new brew I gave my new travel keg kit a try out. I figured this would be a good run for the rest of the summer and for football tailgating this fall. First let's talk about the beer.

It turned out a good bit darker than I was expecting. It looked a lot closer to a brown ale than a lighter wheat beer as I was expecting. It poured well with a decent head that tended to stick around quite a while. Nice crisp and very smooth at the start. A very cool lemon flavor and a slight hop touch to finish. Really nice. It really was a ton better than I expected. Everyone really liked it and I will have to brew this one again a few times this summer. If this had come out of a bottle I would give it a 3.5 out of 5. Pleasantly redrinkable, no aftertaste, a perfect beer for sitting by the pool all day.

The travel keg system also performed without any hiccups. Only mistake I made was attaching the gas connection before I had the CO2 cartridge plugged in and releasing all the pressure I had in the keg initially. No worries though, the little 16g CO2 cartridges did there job. I went through 3 during the afternoon and almost floated the keg, there may be 3 or 4 beers left in the bottom. If I had not lost the initial charge on the keg 3 would have been more than enough to dispense all the beer. I also have a design in my head on how to keep the keg cool during tailgating. I am going to hack up one of my coolers that I really don't like. I'll remove the hinged lid, cut a hole in it just large enough to fit around the keg. I'll get some pictures of the whole rig when I put it all together in the next week or two.

I do have some site related news. Since I have been a bit of a slacker when comes to new beer reviews I am going to do my best to review a new beer a week for the rest of the summer. I also am going to have a few new reviews in the next few days as well as a beer drinkers guide to Japan and Taiwan. Hope you guys enjoy! As always, Happy Drinking!

Found a beer for the wife...

Kelly and I finally got a chance to grab a nice dinner alone. We went to Leon's Full Service in Decatur. It is owned by the same guys that own the Brick Store just around the corner. Neat little place, may have the coolest looking bar in town. Good beer menu, a little bit of everything. Food was excellent. I grabbed a Belgian IPA, pretty good, nice hop note but for the life of me I can't remember the name of it. My second beer was a Sour. I have become a huge fan of this style of beer, really complex. Sour, sweet, bitter, smooth all in one sip, very cool stuff but it is a love it or hate it style. I convinced Kelly to take a sip and was surprised that she really liked it. Guess I will have to try and brew a sour up sometime in the coming months.

I have a bunch of beers to review (Guinness 250, Yuengling Black and Tan, Kona Longboard, Terrapin 30, Bells Oberon and more) a long with a trip report about where to drink in Ann Arbor, MI. Bear with me, I'll get them up soon! 'Till then, Happy Drinking!

Bell's is almost here!

It is official, I received my first pre-order request for Bell's beer. It lands here in the Empire State of the South on Tuesday May 19th! Sweet! Taco Mac is having a release party and Tower will have a few of there beers ready for the initial roll out. If you live in Georgia and have not had a Bell's beer I suggest that you pick up any sixer that you can find. I am saddened that the Two Hearted IPA is not one of the initial beers but Hopslam and Oberon are so I look forward to restocking my Hopslam supply.

So this is what no sleep feels like....

Just a quick update, the twins are doing fine and I have not yet had a chance to get a few new beer reviews up. I found Guinness 250 at Total Wine, I was the first person to buy it. I'll have a full write up on it in the next few days. First impression was made when my dad loaded up the cooler and snuck a few into the hospital to celebrate. It is good.

That is about it for now, hoping to some good posts up in the next few days. Happy Drinking!

Raise a toast to Two New Beer Snobs!

Well good news, the twins arrived Thursday at 2:30pm and 2:31pm. James "Tripp" Robert Garrison III and Benjamin Tanner Garrison are doing just fine. Mom and Dad are proud to welcome a few new beer snobs to the world. Tripp is in the "B" hat and Tanner is in the "A" hat. Both boys are named after their Grandfathers.

Raise a Pint Tonight.....

Yep, Guinness 250th anniversary Stout makes its debut today. If you see it on draft somewhere give ti a shoot. I plan on picking up a 6 pack on the way home tonight and see what I think of it.

Picked up a 6er of Breckenridge Brewery's Pandora's Bock yesterday. Quite good, very sweet malt note, nice and smooth, just enough hint of hops at the end to cut the sweetness. Nice deep reddish brown color too. A nice all around beer.

Turns out I may not buy the new brew kettle from Wally world. Read some reviews and people have good things to say about it but apparently it warns you not to use it over anything above medium heat. I'm guessing my propane burner would qualify as a but more than medium heat. Did some digging and I have decided it looks like I need a Stainless Boiling Pot. Found a few and they look pretty heavy duty and perfect for cooking up my brew. I'll try to get one on order here in the next few days, I really want to brew again soon. Looking forward to trying my first stout.

Looks like a great weekend here in the SE for some porch sittin', grillin' and beer drinking so get out and enjoy the nice spring weather before it gets too hot.

Happy Drinking!

Just a quick update....

Got my confirmation that I am in the Guinness 250!

Sometime in the next month or so I am going to try to get a calendar feature set up to keep track of the beer goings on in and around Atlanta. Figure I can put local beer dinners, special beer releases, when I plan on brewing and the like on there.

Still waiting on my Asian correspondent to get back to me on if they drink beer in Japan. Although he is probably to busy discussing things that make no sense to my at his conference.

My brewing is currently on hold until I get my hands on a bigger brew pot. I have the size and material picked out (22 quart, Stainless Steel) now I just have to find it. Wal-mart has them but I think I might try this little restaurant supply store that is right around the corner from work.

Spent some time looking through the cellaring fridge last night. Getting a bit thin. I am going to open a DFH 120 when the twins are born. Need to head down to the new beer store here in Atlanta (Hop City) to pick up some new brews. I also need to make an SC road trip to find some more Bear Republic beers.

Plan is still to tap the Monk's Revenge soon.

That is about it for now. 'Till next time, as always, Happy Drinking!