Hall of Beers

Folks, I know I haven’t been reviewing all that many beers lately, but I have a good excuse—the Cap’n has so much homebrew around the house these days that I’ve barely bought beer in the past few weeks. There are upsides and downsides to this. I’d get into them, but instead, I think I’ll just pledge to brew review soon, and share with you the best thing, oh, ever:

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No, that’s not a typo. I am going to attend the Lupulin Reunulin in DC on May 13 (Tuesday), where five of the world’s finest brewers will be in attendance. My goal is to get a photo of our Golden Calf, Sam Calagione (founder of Dogfish Head). I will also be meeting Randall the Enamel Animal for the first time, this three-foot hop infusion device. You may bask in my glory when I post images next week. I can’t wait. Read the rest

Hey peeps:

 My apologies to all five of you who read my posts; I have not provided an update in three long weeks. Those weeks have flown right by–where in hades did April go? Seemed like it was Easter, then whoosh! A giant suckin’ sound!

Anyhoo, I decided to give my most loyal readers a two-fer: a brew review andbrewing news, because bof of ‘em happened today.

Let’s start with the beer, then pick up with the brewing afterwards.

Trader Joe’s is perhaps one of the most innovative concepts we folk have in the wide world of supermarkets today. While other niche grocers, such as Whole Foods, cater to those who believe $9 for an avocado raised by Tibetan monks is an acceptable price, the rest of us have the terrific chain of no-frills stores. In many ways, I equate TJ’s to Southwest airlines. As a brand, I expect fine quality, no frills, a good price, and great service (without all the hoopla). The fact that they actually brew great beer is icing on the cake. The fact that it’s $5.99 for any six-pack, despite an unprecedented hop/barley crisis,  is the butter-cream filling. Damn, now I want some dessert.

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http://www.samadams.com/samsite/home.html

If you, at the above link, entered this contest:

Then you and I are among the same ranks. Except that WE HAVEN’T MAILED OUR BEER YET BLUAAAUGH!!! Now, if I didn’t have this goddamn stupid job, I’d drive my fine braus out to the testing site here in Southern CA myself. But I do. So I guess it’s semi-legal air mail for us…

Anyway, to all of you proud homebrewers out there who entered/will-enter-today-or-tomorrow… hats off and good luck (just not quite as good luck to you as to me…). It is a fine thing to make and love beer and t’would be the finest of things to have Sam Adams make and love our beer, no? No. I mean yes! Yes. T’would.

And again, hats off again to Jim K. and Samuel Adams: great beer, giving hops to the hop deprived, homebrew enthusiasts… man, they get the elusive “it.” Now! All of you! Go have beer(s)!

Yo I said yo. I took this beautiful picture in my studio, I did I did. OK… so… as we have established, the good folks at Sierra Nevada CAN’T MAKE BAD BEER. It’s all good. Mostly great, in fact. BUT… I gots me two little issues with this one. First… Early Spring Beer? ESB… that stands for Extra Special Bitter, man. Always has (er… for as long as that specific beer has been produced and denoted as such) and always will (until the sun collapses into a plasma-consuming white dwarf and then ultimately a dying pulsar and then: Pffffwaaugh! Ghosts! Yeah…). And second… this beer… it tastes a lot… hmm… read on… Read the rest

I can’t quite muster the courage to effectively write this post. Last night, at approximately 0230 PST, a loud, wet sort of pop announced the end of a hefeweizen that had barely begun. Brewed on Friday, the OG was solid at 1.042, the color was an even, red earthy base with a mighty amber froth. Hell, even the yeast smelled incredible. It all stopped last night.   Read the rest

It began with a late night conversation five weeks ago with General German.I had just finished an IPA, bottled it only days before, and I was pondering what the next brew-to-be was on my list. The good General suggested I visit the podcasting of basicbrewing.com. Good chaps they are, gents who brew and chat about it in front of a camera. Now one of these podcasts concerned the idea of a vanilla porter. I was intrigued. An adventure commenced. Read the rest