Well, I got three entries which isn’t too bad. A number of blogger friends warned me that I’d be lucky to get one response based on their past experiences. Three seems like an acceptable enough number to me. First Stater’s mild, Ben’s Kitchen Sink beer, and Stefin’s Surfer Kitten —two of which are posted to the comments, and Stefin’s will get put into a new section along with the other two specifically for recipes.
But the winner is First Stater, and here’s why: Read the rest of this entry »
My friend, coworker, and new BaltiBrew member Lyle Albright just bottled his first batch of homebrew and was kind enough to give me two bottles of his American Brown Ale to sample. While talking to Lyle about his brew — and I haven’t even tasted it yet — it occurred to me to dispense some “I wish I would have done this with my first brew” advice to him and to you readers.
Don’t drink it all too fast. Save a half dozen bottles or so. Store them properly — upright, in a cool, dark place — and taste them periodically over time. Speaking from experience, I can say this is incredibly difficult to do. You made your first beer and you’re supposed to wait to drink it?!?!?! Crazy talk, I know.
But trust me — if you’re interested in learning a lot about how beer matures and ages, AND a lot about yourself as a brewer, it makes perfect sense to squirrel some away. Read the rest of this entry »
Well, I’m sorry I missed it, folks. I had plans of getting a post up about how you might want to try something besides Champagne for your toast, and I was going to suggest big Belgian Tripels, and… well I got lazy and didn’t get to it.
Then I got busy buying up some interesting beers at Honeygo — Sam Smith’s Stingo Oak Aged Ale, Great Divide’s Old Ruffian and Oak Aged Yeti, and some of those interesting Belgians instead of Champagne — to enjoy while I slaved over a hot stove to make a latin New Years feast. Braised pork, chicken and chile soup with epazote, and the requisite beans. And I just didn’t get back before right now.
I’ll have some posts up for you this week, and if we’re lucky we’ll get a couple more entries in our contest.
Hope this new year is great for you.
I want to wish all of you out there a happy holiday — whichever one (or none) you observe.
This one is a little bittersweet for me. I had plans to fly to Denver to spend time with my family, but last week’s snowstorm put the kibosh on that rather effectively. Instead, I’m afforded time with my wife’s family, who have had a very rough year. Sometimes even when things don’t work out the way we want them to, other things that matter fall into place.
I’d intended to gift readers with reports from the various breweries in and around Weld County, Colorado, but instead I present you with a beer recipe I made using Brew Pal. Just a little 9 percenter to keep you warm over the next few cold months. Recipe is after the jump.
There’s a recipe formulation contest on. Winner gets a So Yeah Dood pint glass, and I’ll brew the winning recipe — and you can join me to direct the process if you live local to Baltimore.
I received an unexpected email this morning. I got my BJCP exam score today a full two months earlier than I figured it would come.
I achieved a score sufficient to attain the level of Certified once I’ve gotten four more judging experience points.
This isn’t too shabby, but I’ll more than likely end up taking it again sometime soon.