Oktoberfest and Chowder Cook-Off
[ No Comments ] Posted on 09.06.08 under Events
It seems like just a few weeks ago that I participated in the New London Rotary Club’s fundraiser, Springfest at the Beach, at Ocean Beach in New London, CT. It was a warm wet evening, with rain pounding all night. But that didn’t stop the crowds from coming in. It was a lot of fun, among the most beer-related fun I’ve had.
Coming up soon is the twin event for Springfest, it’s Oktoberfest. Springfest had a chili cookoff, but Oktoberfest has a chowder cookoff. Either way, there is table after table of beer from across the brewery spectrum, from energy beer to Dogfish Head to Orange Creme FMB to local brews. It’s a great event, and I’m really looking forward to this upcoming fest.
It will be on October 3rd from 6-9 PM at Ocean Beach in New London, CT. If you’re in the area, you really should stop by!
DFH 120 Revisited
[ No Comments ] Posted on 09.05.08 under IPA, Stories, Tasting
A little while back, I wrote about Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA.
Since then, I’ve had another few of these beauties. The next one I had, I found it harder to finish than the one I so glowingly reviewed previously. And now here I sit with one right now, and I am finding it incredibly easy to drink and enjoyable. Maybe it was the Taste of Mystic that got me warmed up - all that fancy food but all the beer sequestered away where children could not go. Exclusion of children equates to exclusion of me at a family event like the Tate of Mystic. Besides it’s not likely they have anything there to compete with a 120.
Whatever it is, this is a great beer for right now.
The moral of the story is that the overall experience that you have with a beer depends on a lot more than just the beer itself.
Orval
[ 2 Comments ] Posted on 09.01.08 under Lambic, Tasting
For all the beer I’ve consumed, I’m still really new to the world of wild fermentation. I have had a few Lambics here and there, and I generally have a hard time finishing them, and when it comes down to it, I just love a massively hoppy IPA or an insanely black Stout any day.
But I keep trying, and I had read somewhere that Orval has “classic Brettanomyces character”. I remember trying one of these a year or so ago, and liking it. I figured it was time to give this one another shot. At over $4.00 a bottle, it’s something that you sometimes like to think twice about taking a chance on. But you only live once, and that $4.00 wasn’t going to spend itself.
So here I sit at the end of the glass. The gigantic rocky head still exists in a smaller form at the bottom of the glass. I have a subtle tang feeling and a distinct dry chalky feeling (almost dusty) in my mouth, as well as a smile on my face from the gentle aroma of subtle sourness that is associated with these bacterially infected beers.
I found the smell of the beer to be nicely brett-ish, but the flavor to be somewhat lacking in comparison to the smell. But it was still a tasty beer that had me wanting for another. Now this is progress. I wish the beer was more acidic. I think I might be ready to get another bottle of real Gueuze and go for the all-out lip-puckering acidic-sour experience again. Maybe some more Cuvée René? Or a Cantillon Gueuze 100% Lambic? Or even Rodenbach Grand Cru? And I just got my hands on a bottle of Ommegeddon that I am considering holding on to for a little while before I dig in. And I just might go pick up a bunch more Orval to let them sit around for another five years, until they reach their “best by” date of 2013!
Drinking Age
[ 1 Comment ] Posted on 08.27.08 under News
There’s this group of college administrators that want to lower the drinking age to 18. They say that the 18-year olds on their campuses are drinking anyway, so why not make it legal. Their basis seems to be that 21-year drinking age is not a deterrent, and instead teaches kids to break the law. This has, of course, spawned a big debate, as all the anti-alcohol groups and some normal people want the law to stay the same.
First of all, it doesn’t really matter what the legal drinking age is. People will drink when they want to. They will find a way. You think high school kids don’t drink? It just makes it harder and maybe more expensive for those below the legal age to get alcohol. But it does not stop drinking.
When rules are illogical or seemingly unjustified, they are asking to be ignored. Consider the speed limit. When’s the last time you drove below the speed limit? Normally, people expect everyone to go at least 5 MPH above the speed limit. But it’s a LIMIT, not a MINIMUM. Yet it is hardly ever enforced, and often driving the speed limit makes you feel like you might as well be walking, you’re going so slow. So nobody follows the law.
It’s not really a big stretch to take this to the drinking age. It’s fairly well enforced that you can’t buy alcohol if you’re not 21, but still not uniformly and unequivocally enforced. And there’s no way for anyone to enforce the posession law, unless a person is blatantly violating it. So people find a way to work around the law when they want to.
I think that the real key here is parental involvement. Or at least the involvement of some responsible adult. No matter what the legal drinking age is, there will be a time before a person reaches that legal age when they will want to try alcohol. And there will be a time when suddenly the person is told that they are finally old enough to buy and posses alcohol. Even if the drinking age was 40 and a person didn’t start trying to get illegal booze until they were 35, without an adequate knowledge base, they would still have the potential to do all the stupid things that people now do in their late teens and early 20’s as pre-legal and newly-legalized drinkers.
I am all for lowering the drinking age. No matter the age, it’s pretty much the same scenario. While a person is in high school and living at home, it is up to the parent or guardian to make sure that the person isn’t doing anything too stupid. After that time, when the person moves off to college or the working world, it becomes the responsibility of the person to take care of themselves.
Brewing Results Are In!
[ 5 Comments ] Posted on 08.06.08 under Alcohol, All-Grain, Brewing, Hops, IPA, Stout, Tasting
Three weeks ago, I made two beers. One was an IPA, called Newport Jazz Fest. It is bittered with Newport hops I got from Northern Brewer.com a while back when the panic of hop shortage first hit me. The panic has passed, but the hops remain. I am still not sure when I’ll use those Pride of Ringwood hops I have… The other beer was a Stout, called Midnight Moon Stout. Named after a “Jack and Annie” Magic Treehouse book, and my daughter drew the label for me.
Sitemeter
[ 1 Comment ] Posted on 08.01.08 under Uncategorized
Sitemeter totally crashed my site! I had a sitemeter javascript counter installed on my sidebar, and after making my session post, I just went to view the post, as usual, and it turns out that Sitemeter code that’s been there forever was causing Internet Explorer to crash. I found several other Sitemeter-using sites around the web causing the same error. Is this (hopefully not) just a problem with my own computer running the sitemeter javascript code, or is sitemeter totally hosed?
Session 18 - Anniversary Time
[ 1 Comment ] Posted on 08.01.08 under Aimée, Alcohol, Pairing, Tasting, The Session
Intro
This month’s session is hosted by The Barley Blog, and the topic is “Happy Anniversary”, where we’re all popping the cap on a very special beer and giving it the review treatment.
Avery is one of my favorite brewers these days. It’s got a lot to do with the Maharaja and the Czar and their other gigantic beers. Even their normal beers are pretty good. I dunno, I just like Avery. Maybe it’s the foil around the cap that gets me? This session was a perfect excuse to open one of my cellared bottles of Avery Fourteen. That’s the 14th anniversary beer from our friends in Boulder. This beer was bottled in 2007.
Read the rest of this entry…
The Smell of Iodophor!
[ No Comments ] Posted on 07.27.08 under Brewing
I love that smell! I can tell it was bottling day, in case the fragile feeling in my fingers of too much exposure to water didn’t remind me. Every time I leave the kitchen area, when I return, I’m greeted by the unmistakable smell of iodophor with a hint of beer. I wonder if they make a perfume in that scent?
The Benefits of Temperature Control
[ 4 Comments ] Posted on 07.26.08 under Brewing
Friday was the Fermentation Friday, with the topic “Advice for Brand New Homebrewers”. I came up with “Start Simple”, advising just to get started with the most basic equipment, and let experience be your guide. But I can’t resist expanding on that for folks that have brewed a few batches and are looking for process improvements.
There are so many factors that go into making beer and so many process changes I’ve made along the way that it’s hard to pick one and recommend it as the ultimate. And of course, I’m still working on perfecting my technique to get exactly the results I want. In a way I don’t think I’ve found the silver bullet for slaying the werewolf of imperfect homebrew quite yet.
I can’t say enough about the awesome power of fermentation temperature control.
Fermentation Friday - Just Brew It
[ 3 Comments ] Posted on 07.25.08 under Brewing, Fermentation Friday
Today is Friday. It isn’t just any Friday. It’s Fermentation Friday! That’s the recently established tradition of a group homebrewing blogging day, set up by Adam at BeerBits2. This month’s topic is hosted by Brew Dudes, and it’s about the best tip you could give to a starting homebrewer.
It’s tough to look back and try to remember what sorts of topics would be of interest to a starting brewer. I spent some time reflecting on my first days of brewing, and the weeks of preparation leading up to that first day. I came up with a simple piece of advice to give to starting brewers.
Just Brew It