Thursday, November 3, 2011
Oh, and about that epic fail with carbing the Yak Spit?
Didnt happen :) Its just REAL slow to carb for some reason, we cracked a couple on Tuesday night and they were just about right. Damn good beer, by the way. Almost as good as the Dirty Reheaded Stepchild.
First taste of this year's Blue Moon Winter Abbey
Had a couple off the tap at Buffalo Wild Wings last night, and as much as I hate to admit it, they're pretty good. Not "Holy Shit, I have to run out and buy a 12 pack" good, but considering its a Coors product, not much to complain about. They tasted good with wings!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Weekend Beer Review - Holiday Ales
Its that time of the year, folks. Best time for craft brews, in my opinion.
Deschutes Brewery Jubelale: Meh. Its like they tried to create a hoppy winter warmer, but none of the Winter Warmer came through. Really hard to describe, like a malty pale ale. Not a bad beer, but it will take some time to finish the six pack.
Breckenridge Christmas Ale: Much better than the Jubelale, but still doesnt really scream "THIS IS CHRISTMAS IN A BOTTLE, DUMBASS!!" to me. The hops arent overpowering, but they're in there. Malty and tasty.
Deschutes Brewery Jubelale: Meh. Its like they tried to create a hoppy winter warmer, but none of the Winter Warmer came through. Really hard to describe, like a malty pale ale. Not a bad beer, but it will take some time to finish the six pack.
Breckenridge Christmas Ale: Much better than the Jubelale, but still doesnt really scream "THIS IS CHRISTMAS IN A BOTTLE, DUMBASS!!" to me. The hops arent overpowering, but they're in there. Malty and tasty.
Holiday Brew Update
Oaked Vanilla Whiskey Porter and Spiced Holiday Ale bottled this weekend!!
The porter is delicious, the bourbon is a little more up front than I'd like but the vanilla and oak are perfect. I have no doubt that 4+ weeks in bottles will do wonders to merge them together. Looking VERY much forward to this one. We're at 5 weeks and counting since brewday, so next year we're starting early on AT LEAST a double batch of this.
The holiday ale is crystal clear (first time using Knox, and it definitely helps!) and smells like Christmas, but fairly heavy on the cinammon. Again, nothing some bottle time shouldnt cure. We bottled this one in a case of 22oz bombers, so hopefully it turns out gift-worthy.
Next up is probably going to be a stout of some sort (milk, cherry, oatmeal are being considered) and a drinker (light Scottish Ale or a session beer).
The porter is delicious, the bourbon is a little more up front than I'd like but the vanilla and oak are perfect. I have no doubt that 4+ weeks in bottles will do wonders to merge them together. Looking VERY much forward to this one. We're at 5 weeks and counting since brewday, so next year we're starting early on AT LEAST a double batch of this.
The holiday ale is crystal clear (first time using Knox, and it definitely helps!) and smells like Christmas, but fairly heavy on the cinammon. Again, nothing some bottle time shouldnt cure. We bottled this one in a case of 22oz bombers, so hopefully it turns out gift-worthy.
Next up is probably going to be a stout of some sort (milk, cherry, oatmeal are being considered) and a drinker (light Scottish Ale or a session beer).
Thursday, October 13, 2011
First Epic Fail of our brewing career
We've been sitting on a couple cases of a Yak Spit (semi-clone of Moose Drool from Big Sky Brewing) for the last couple weeks, waiting for it to carb up. Megan popped one yesterday for cooking (amazing batch of chili, by the way) and its dead flat. Turns out we forgot to add the carb drops, and we've got 2 cases of delicious, FLAT beer. So, in addition to transferring our Spiced Holiday Ale to secondary, we'll be pulling 40+ bottle caps off bottles, putting a little sugar pill in the bottle and recapping every...single...one...of those damned uncarbed bottles.
On the plus side, it does move the Red Headed Stepchild up in order and puts the brown ale ready in early November. It may be more of a cool weather beer anyway.
Bet you a million dollars we never make THAT mistake again...
On the plus side, it does move the Red Headed Stepchild up in order and puts the brown ale ready in early November. It may be more of a cool weather beer anyway.
Bet you a million dollars we never make THAT mistake again...
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Brew Update
Sorry, its been a while.
Spiced Holiday Ale: fermenting nicely, smelled really good in the first week but the spice notes have mellowed out in the last few days. We'll see where we're at when we move to secondary, but this may need another round of spicing.
Oaked Whiskey Vanilla Porter: moved to secondary over the weekend on top of the Weller and oak chips. We also added about 5oz of pure vanilla extract. Smells damned good, hopefully it mellows down enough to drink for the holidays. Should be bottling first weekend of November.
Dirty Redheaded Stepchild: Megan's Irish Red that never quite made it to red, hence the name. Sitting in bottles for about 10 days now, should be ready for a two week carb check this weekend. Looking forward to this one, should be a good drinking beer.
Yak Spit: Moose Drool clone with slight changes. Two weeks in the bottle and still flat, so we'll do another check on that one this weekend as well. Taste is almost perfect, less hoppy than the original but good flavor.
Our first batch: We didnt even bother trying to name this one. Its drinkable, but every damn bottle tastes different. Still has pretty heavy cider taste to it, but its carbed up right and doesnt make anyone sick. We have NO idea what the ABV on it is, because we didnt take measurements on that one. I'd guess its pretty standard 5% based on the recipe, but it seems to have a little heavier kick than that.
As a side note, we picked up a jug of Oxyclean a couple weeks ago to clean out carboys. The stuff is amazing.
Spiced Holiday Ale: fermenting nicely, smelled really good in the first week but the spice notes have mellowed out in the last few days. We'll see where we're at when we move to secondary, but this may need another round of spicing.
Oaked Whiskey Vanilla Porter: moved to secondary over the weekend on top of the Weller and oak chips. We also added about 5oz of pure vanilla extract. Smells damned good, hopefully it mellows down enough to drink for the holidays. Should be bottling first weekend of November.
Dirty Redheaded Stepchild: Megan's Irish Red that never quite made it to red, hence the name. Sitting in bottles for about 10 days now, should be ready for a two week carb check this weekend. Looking forward to this one, should be a good drinking beer.
Yak Spit: Moose Drool clone with slight changes. Two weeks in the bottle and still flat, so we'll do another check on that one this weekend as well. Taste is almost perfect, less hoppy than the original but good flavor.
Our first batch: We didnt even bother trying to name this one. Its drinkable, but every damn bottle tastes different. Still has pretty heavy cider taste to it, but its carbed up right and doesnt make anyone sick. We have NO idea what the ABV on it is, because we didnt take measurements on that one. I'd guess its pretty standard 5% based on the recipe, but it seems to have a little heavier kick than that.
As a side note, we picked up a jug of Oxyclean a couple weeks ago to clean out carboys. The stuff is amazing.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Fred's Downtown Philly in Richardson, TX
Fred's Downtown Philly for those of you in the DFW area
Fred's is probably one of the best cheesesteaks I've ever had. Greasy hole in the wall joint with dvd's playing on a TV, Philly sports shit everywhere and the same two guys working the grill everytime you're there. I highly recommend them to meat eaters everywhere...
I know, not really beer related but its our blog and I post whatever I want!
Fred's is probably one of the best cheesesteaks I've ever had. Greasy hole in the wall joint with dvd's playing on a TV, Philly sports shit everywhere and the same two guys working the grill everytime you're there. I highly recommend them to meat eaters everywhere...
I know, not really beer related but its our blog and I post whatever I want!
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