Penny Pickart from Briess toured with me awhile. Overall, I'd say I had about 30 samples total. I had a5am wakeup yesterday and was heading out of the hall by 8:30. But not before I stopped by the bookstore and met Randy Mosher. This was the highlight of my day yesterday. Nice guy. We talked about Gruit and how my son (See the Meet the club page) loves his book. Very cool! Today, I'm more organized with a list of about 40 beers I'd like to try. I'll also be able to try Brian Richard's Biere Bella today. Should be fun!
10-9-08 3:10pm MDT GABF Day #1 Well, I have arrived in my hotel and am beginning to plan my strategy. I will be picking up Central Waters Brewery's packet and then I will begin to plan my drinking. Starting out, the only lagers I will look for will be Bocks. I will look for Baltic Porters, Interesting Stouts, and Anything French or Belgian. It must be something that I cannot get my hands on in Wisconsin. I have yet to decide how many samples I plan to limit myself to. I also will be meeting up with Penny Pickart from Briess Malting. Maybe I can get a tour arranged for the club. More to come later.
10-2-08 Well, the house project continues to keep me from brewing, but I have started three other fermented beverages. I now have all three projects listed below started (Cider,icewine,pinot gris). They are all happily fermenting away now. In think after I get back from Denver, I'm going to brew another Foreign Extra Stout and maybe even follow it with an Old Ale. We'll see. I read today on AHA TechTalk, a post on AB's American Ale. Here were the highlights: very low cascade aroma, nice red color, very low body, and quite watery. AB must've forgotten that they were brewing on ALE! I still try it at some point, but I'm surely it will be just as disappointing as Michelob Pale Ale, which seems to be missing the hops. Thank God for craft brewers!
9-25-08 I have been staying busy with my new house, but I have finally found time to post again. I added two states to my beer competition conquest. My Edweiser, and American Stout, took 3rd in the River City Roundup in Nebraska and a won a 1st (Scottish 80/-), 2nd(Weizenbock), and 3rd(Speical Bitter) in Seafood, Jazz, and Brew homebrew comp in South Carolina. I also have a number of competitions that I plan to enter in October in Maine, Connecticut, California, North Dakota, and Kentucky. I have some of my stronger beers that are getting closer to being ready including a Trippel and a Belgian Dark Strong. I also have my Organic Stout ready and I'm really curious to see what the judges have to say about my Spruce Pale Ale. I haven't brewed lately, but I am going to start an English Cider, a Cab. Franc Icewine, and a White Cranberry Pinot Gris. I am also getting ready to go to Denver for the 2008 GABF Oct 9-11. I'll have 4-four hour sessions of drinking to get through in only three days with 10,000 beers to choose from. I'll also be serving up the Old Ale I brewed at Central Waters Brewpub last October. It will be entered in the Pro-Am competition, so wish me luck!
9-08-08 Just an update on the First Coast Cup...When entering a rhubarb beer in a competition, avoid entering in the South. They have no clue what rhubarb tastes or smells like. My Rhubarb Rye, which is strong on rhubarb and light on rye flavor was noted to have "no hint of rhubarb in taste or smell." Other than that though, I got good comments as usual. Next planned beer for me will be "Ed Lite," a Foreign Extra Stout. I'm going to try and out-do my award-winning "Special Xers Extra Stout." I didn't use an crystal in the original FES, but I think I'm going to mix some Special B and Extra Dark Crystal malts in. This will be the third generation for my 1028 London Ale strain. I hope to follow this up with my first true Russian Imperial Stout. I also plan to get my 2nd 1/2 of Belgian Dark Strong, my Organic Dry Stout, and my Chocolate Raspberry Port bottled this week. In other news, I will be judging my first competition in Appleton this weekend. It's not a BJCP sanctioned event, but it's a really cool concept. Back in late Spring of this year the Appleton Ale Club came up with the concept of an "Iron Chef" style homebrew competition. They gave us some grains and hops, and we had to add a secret ingredient, as well as the yeast. You had to use a portion of all ingredients and come up with something. I brewed a Biere de Noel, a French Christmas-style Ale. Some whatever reason, I really enjoy Biere de Garde. My entry is still a bit young, having spent two months at 36 F and coming in at 9.54%. Regardless though, the beer tastes wonderful and will surely need to be rationed! Should be a fun event.
9-07-08 I went over 1000 gallons fermented today. I need a English IPA at 1.076 using my Pacific Gem hops.
I don't know if this is going to be a "competition" English IPA, but I really like the smell of these hops and they are said to have a blackberry flavor. I'm defintely looking forward to drawing a pint. I also tasted my Organic Dry Stout today. Very dry and roasty though a bit unattenuated at 1.015. It doesn't taste sweet, but I'm hoping I get a few more points as I let it settle for a few days in secondary. Finally, I tried Belhaven's St. Andrews Ale today and was a bit disappointed. There was a definite hop flavor/aroma character to it that doesn't really fit the 80/- Scottish Ale. It really tasted more like a Bitter, though much less assertive bitterness.
9-01-08 I have been quite busy lately. Between my house getting set last Thursday, running the Brew Masters, entering competitions, and fantasy football drafts, I'm ready for things to slow down a bit. In brewing news, I brewed up a batch of Organic Dry Stout for the National Organic Homebrew Competition. This was my first organic batch. I'm not really into the whole organic scene, but i figured what the heck It was also the first Dry Stout I've done since batch #1. That seems like a long time ago. I also found out that I didn't place in Florida's First Coast Cup. It looked like there was tough competition there, though they didn't list any numbers. Oh well, try again. This brings me to my whole 50 states thing. For those of you who don't know, I'm trying to place a an entry in all 50 states. It's crazy, but I get a lot of feedback, and this helps me become a better brewer. Plus, I do enjoy winning awards, I mean who really, deep down, doesn't. So, I'm currently at 18 states (I've entered in 26). I have two news states coming up...Nebraska (The River City Roundup) and South Carolina (Seafood, Jazz, and Brews HC). So I'll see if I can add a state to two soon. In other news...Have you seen the new A-B add for their American Ale. "Don't know what an American Ale is?" Yes, Budweiser, we do know what a APA is. We've been drinking them for over 30 years. Welcome to the party. You're late! What the hell took you so long I bet you it doesn't come close to matching Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. On the other end of the spectrum, I tried the new, old Schlitz yesterday. Very nice. I scored it as a 47/50 with two points taken off in taste for balance between malt and bitterness and on e for general impression. An excellent example of a Standard American Lager.
8-19-08 I brewed an Oktoberfest this past Sunday which turned out a bit strong (1.067 OG), so instead I'm calling it Admiral Ackbar's Decemberfest! Part way between a Fest and a Bock. Should be a good one. I'm following Lorena's suggestion to cold pitch this one, like I did my Vienna Lager. That actually turned out pretty well. I'm currently doing a diacetyl rest before it is off to the lager fridge. I think cold pitching will be the answer to my lager woes. Thanks again Lorena!
8-10-08 After seeing Brian Richard's blog site, I decided I needed to start one for myself. So here it is. I'm a little limited by space, so I probably won't do many pics. Mostly just a diary. Day #1. I made a Johannisberg Riesling today thanks to the wonderful people at Winexpert. After my '06 Selection Original Symphony won a silver medal at the 2008 Winemaker International Amateur Wine Competition, they sent my a letter good for a complimentary kit of equal value. Thank you Winexpert! So I have a 1.082 OG wine that I have dubbed "Germans Love David Hasselhoff Riesling." Maybe I'll send him a bottle ;-)