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After hearing so much about it, a couple buddies from work (Mat and Genna) decided to brew some beer. I, of course, took this opportunity to join them and fill up my keg. We made the Brewmaster's Red, but added a couple oz of Centennial as a dry hop.

The recipe is as follows:

7.0 Liters Amber Malt Extract
200g Munich Malt Whole Grain

The whole grains were crushed and then steeped at 150 degrees for ~45 minutes.
The Amber Malt Extract was added and a 10 minute boil was required for protein break.

66g Northern Brewer hops were added.
30 minutes later, 30g Fuggel hops were added.
30 minutes later, 30g Cluster hops were added and the heat was shut off to the kettle after 5 minutes.

The wort was cooled to below 80 degrees and transferred to the fermentation vessel, which was vigorously shaken to aerate. 2 packages of Dry Ale yeast were pitched.

Nearly a month later, the fermented beer was dry hopped with 2oz Centennial hops. It was kegged/bottled 5 days later on 10/11/07.

It's not bad. Although I'm not a big fan of reds, this one is not overly sweet and has a nice hop flavor. It's also fairly heavy and chewy. Next time, I think I'll try the Brewmaster's Dark Red and hop the hell out of it.

Texas Brews

Had a great time in Texas. Saw the Stanton Moore Trio in Austin and tried a variety of Texas brewed beers, and a couple others that we don't have in Florida.

First off was a trio from Shiner Brewing in Shiner, TX. The large German population in central Texas spawned a surge of traditional German Brewing. Summer brews were in season while I was there and Shiner Bock was a great warm weather drink. Less hoppy than a Sam Adams, but similar body. Shiner Kolsh was very light in color and body, true to the Kolsh style. The Seasonal Shiner Hefewisen was unfiltered and full of body. Slight diacetyl flavor.

Pearl and Lone Star (founded by Audolphus Busch) are now being brewed by Miller Brewing Company. Both beers are very much in the style of an American Lager. Pearl having a distinct Budweiser flavor and Lone Star having a slightly smoother flavor.

Tecate, while not a Texas beer, is imported from just across state lines. Tecate was named after the city of Tecate, Baja California, where it was first produced. Originally brewed by a local company, Tecate was acquired by Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma in 1955.

Real Ale Nut Brown

Real Ale Rye Pale Ale

Real Ale White Ale

Fireman's 4


Stone IPA

Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale

Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout


Racer 5 IPA

Austin Draught House Oatmeal Stout

New Florida Imports

Flying Dog Mixed Pack

Flying Dog Snake Dog IPA

Dogfish Head Immort Ale

Boulder Brewing Sweaty Betty

Four New Beers

Four new beers? Guess it's about time for an update. The local food jobber has graciously expanded its variety to include two new breweries: Flying Dog and Spanish Peaks.

The only offering from Flying Dog is their Pale Ale, which has become my new staple, not only because I want to encourage the spread of good beer in Florida, but also because it's pretty damn good. It's a well balanced, hoppy APA. Not too spectacular in any one area, but a good session beer and beats most of the staples. Just between us...I like it better than Sierra's Pale.
They've got a good website and a good label artist, Ralph Steadman of Hunter S. Thompson fame. I'm gonna see what I can do to get more of their beer down this way.

Spanish Peaks has two new beers available here, Summer White and Black Dog Ale. The Summer White is a Belgian white; light and crisp, great for the summer. It has prominent citrusy tones, but leads with a strong diacetyl flavor. It is unfiltered, with a lot of yeast in the bottle. The diacetyl flavor is overwhelming; it tastes like you're chasing a mouthful of butter. This characteristic quickly fades though, and the remainder is quite palatable and a nice summer drink.
Black Dog Ale is a malty English style ale. Dark amber in color and chewy, it kind of reminds me of a black and tan. It's good, malty with a nice English style hop balance; nutty and heavy. It tastes almost like it could have been aged in a bourbon barrel.
Just a note on their website; it's another damn flash based site so there's no way to link to their individual beers. You'll have to start from the beginning.

The fourth beer is not really new, just renamed would be my best guess: Red Hook's Longhammer IPA. I haven't had Red Hook in a while, not since their marketing agreement with Anheuser-Busch; which I assume attributes to the name change. It's pretty much the same as it's always been, hoppy but not too bitter. It's not by any means an IPA to write home about; I'd prefer to classify it as an APA. Red Hook describes it as "having a wonderful hop aroma without an overpowering hop taste". What kind of fucking IPA is that? It's a good session beer and one of the best (only) IPA's available at the grocery store, and it's kept cold which facilitates immediate imbibing following a hard day at work...or a day at work.
Red Hook's website is also flash based and, after a few beers, is really starting to annoy me. On second thought, don't buy Red Hook. They're in bed with the king of beers and they don't think and IPA should have hop flavor. I'm disgusted. I'm going to take the rest of the six pack and pour it directly down the toilet...or rather my throat, but I won't enjoy it.

Diacetyl: so I was wondering if I remembered my organic chemistry, and if I was using this term correctly; and by god, sure enough, I was!

Oh my God that's good.

I exclaimed as I took a sip of Rogue's St. Rogue Red Ale. It's a red, and I'm not too fond of the malty beers, but the huge print of "DRY HOPPED" drew my attention to the bottle. I love Rogue's Santa's private reserve, which I've heard referred to as a double St. Rogue Red, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Wow. I thought Hazed and Confused had some dry hopping going on....this is delicious. Not overly bitter, the dry hops add a wonderful flavor and aroma, balancing the malty red. This beer is very good and like a darker double IPA has both body and an ample amount of hoppiness. Go get yourself some, and also look for Rogue's Brew 10,000 celebrating Maier's 10,000th brew. With IBU's at 83 and 10% alcohol it's sure to be a winner.

Beerthday

Or, that's what I call my 29th celebrated at the local BOP. What else would a birthday be with out a little brewing. I decided to celebrate a day early as to not steal the thunder of all the mothers out there, and I didn't want to share my day with anyone else. Now I know how all those people feel with late December birthdays. Anyway, I did another variation on C3PA. Same recipe, but I put in 1.9Gal extract instead of the 1.7. I boiled the first Chinook hops for 60 min instead of 30, and I used 2.5oz Cascade and 0.5oz Centennial for flavoring. Due to a wheat shortage, I had to use 5.8oz of Caramel Wheat to sub for the lack of regular wheat; don't think it'll make too much of a difference. I also used my last pouch of Pacman. We'll see how it turns out...in 30 days...and...GO!

Oregon Brewer's Festival

Occurring July 26-29 2007, this year marks the 20th annual Oregon Brewers Festival, regarded as one of the finest craft beer festivals in the nation. Each summer, the beautiful city of Portland, Oregon welcomes more than 50,000 beer lovers to the four-day event. Aficionados come from all over the country and the world to experience this hoproots festival, which began as a way to expose the public to microbrews at a time when the craft brewing industry was just getting off the ground.

All of your festival questions can be answered here.