Brewing?

Well, Brother Charles and I were thinking about brewing this weekend (in light of some changes coming up) but it dawned on us that this Sunday is Mother's Day.  Duh...  We AREN'T brewing on Mother's Day.  But something will be coming up soon (like maybe NEXT weekend) because we have a need to brew!!

Tales From the Hopvine

The ol' hopvine has interesting news.  I mean... Um, what?  Oh, the hopvine?  It's the beer version of the grapevine.  You mean what I know...

Anyway, first of all, Kindling is working on expanding in terms of a brewery.  A certain old friend of mine is going full time there and they are trying to work it up where they will have a brewery.  This isn't a new idea.  Larry was talking about a brewery years ago when I worked there.  But with my old friend there, I'm sure they will gain momentum with it.  They are also planning on cutting back the amount of the big name beers and making more room for craft stuff.  They were leaders of craft beer back in the day but now everyone is carrying it.  They want to be able to improve on the craft beer scene instead of fighting the others.  My prayers go out to them.

Next on the list is the possibility of a major midwest brewery opening up something here in Carbondale.  Schlafly is looking to open up a new brewery.  They are doing a lot of "contract brewing" where they lease space from other breweries to help keep up with production.  They are looking at three possible locations to open up a brewery to help bring brewing back in-house.  The attractive thing about southern Illinois is the possibility of also acquiring farm land so they can grow some necessary ingredients - helping reduce costs even further.  Heck, if they need an IT guy, I'm the man!!  While I won't work for beer - I do have bills to pay - I will accept beer as a perk.

That's it from the hopvine for now.  Until later, have a good one.  I just had some Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA.  That will count!!

Blessed be the Brew!!

UPDATE: With some other conversations I've had, this MIGHT be going to the Champaign, IL area.  I say MIGHT because things are always "in discussion" so it MIGHT change.  I'll keep you updated.  

A Day in Forest Park

For those who read this blog, you'll have to wait until later for my impressions on the 17th annual St. Louis Microfest.  The whole thing - trip up, walk through the park, drink, walk back through the zoo, dinner, and trip back - took about 12 hours.  I'm tired.  Aaaand a little sunburn.  Regardless, I'll be updating soon with notes about the incredible time at Microfest.  Until then, have a good one.

MICROFEST!!!

If you are sitting there saying "Wha?" I won't feel bad.  This fest was brought to my attention by a good friend and fellow brewer Marika Josephson.  I've been to the St. Louis Microfest site and thought that it would be cool.  Today, my wife had an article from STLToday and there, amongst a list of some big name breweries, I see Scratch Brewing Company - a brewery started in part by the a fore mentioned Marika.  This is awesome!!  I think this will be their first big pouring.  And they will be in good company.  If you get a chance, shoot up to St. Louis on Saturday and congratulate them.  But make sure to celebrate responsibly.  A total of 110 breweries will be there.  That's a lot of beer!!

New Beer Taste...

Last year I decided to track my beer habits.  I've found myself continuing this study to see where my tastes wonder.  I'm not saying that I can't remember every beer that I've tried.  With so much on my plate at the moment, I could see it happen if one slipped my mind now and then.  I can pull up my calendar and see what, when, and where I consumed.  I also kept track of the new beers I tried.  If I could not remember if I had tried something before, I tagged it as a new beer. 

Today as I was doing some chores around the house, I decided to pop open something new.  Today it was Miles Davis' Bitches Brew from Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales up in Delaware. 

Kind of a disclaimer here: I LOVE Dogfish Head.  Sam Calagione is somewhat of a beer brewing hero of mine.  Not only do they have their normal production batches, but they also have some reproductions that are formulated by working with a chemical anthropologist.  Resurrecting ancient brews gives us a good perspective on how beer has evolved over the millennium.  Regardless of regular or special batches, the dedication to detail and quality never wavers.  I will say that not every style they come up with is my favorite but they do make some damn good beer.

Where was I... Oh yes.  The Bitches Brew.  So, if the label says that it is an "ale brewed with honey and gesho", what would you think?  Well, I know what I thought.  What the hell is gesho? Gesho is the Ethiopian name for rhamunus prinoides.  Apparently it is used like hops.  Regardless, when I thought of an ale brewed with honey and something I didn't really know, I thought it was going to be like a honey wheat - light in color.  Boy was a wrong.  The first thoughts as I was pouring was, "What the hell" and soon turned to "Oh my goodness this is good!"

I wasn't vigorous enough on the first pour in my tasting glass and ended up not producing any head.  The second pour produced a mocha color head that faded away to a persistent ring suspended on rich, dark ale.

(More to come)

Inspiration comes from strange sources

So I just finished reading Rick Riordan's The Red Pyramid, Book One of The Kane Chronicles.  If you aren't familiar with Riordan's works, he's the one that did the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series and the Heroes of Olympus series.  Now I can already hear some of you saying, "Aren't those kid's books?"  You have to understand something about me: I'm a mythology geek!  The Percy Jackson series is about Greek mythology, Heroes brings in Roman.  The Kane Chronicles is about Egyptian mythology.  In reading the Red Pyramid I found a lot of familiar names.  The should be!  I did some research on Egyptian mythology when writing my paper on Beer and Religion.  After all, Egypt was the brewing capitol of the world before those pesky Romans came to town.  I digress...  Even for a "kid's book" they reference a story from Egyptian mythology that I am familiar with.  If you have a copy of The Red Pyramid, Riordan's retelling starts on page 419.  The story goes something like this...

Ra was upset.  More than that, he was mad!  Humanity was disrespecting him: not following his commands, scoffing at his judgements, etc.  Ra decided to punish humanity and sent out his wrath in the form of Sekhmet.  Sekhmet started ravaging the country killing the wicked.  But, Sekhmet got out of control.  She became filled with blood-lust and started killing the innocent as well as the wicked.  Ra felt remorse and called Sekhmet home but she refused!  Ra dyed some beer red with pomegranate to look like blood.  Sekhmet saw the beer and drank her fill, became drunk, and passed out.  When she regained consciousness,  the blood-lust had left her and she became a different aspect, Hathor, the goddess of love and music.

Maybe it's because I live in an area called Little Egypt.  Maybe it's because all around me there are references to Egyptian hunting dogs.  Maybe it's because Sam Calagione is a brewing hero of mine and I just got done drinking some Ta Henket.  Regardless, I'm inspired to attempt an ale infused with pomegranate.  Maybe I'll call it Sekhmet's Feast.  Maybe I should seek inspiration for a better name... 

And we're off...

The Monks' first two batches of 2012 are under way.  Brother Charles is going for a Scottish ale while I'm gunning for a chocolate oatmeal stout.  I love the way the Brewhaus smells while we are brewing!!  To fuel our efforts, I had a batch of chili cooked up that I brought over.  The sad thing is that there were only two of us.  There was a lot of chili to eat.  Thankfully Charles's family assisted.  Good eatin' and brewin' were going on. 

Looks like we will try to bottle next weekend.  Until then, I've got more beer to drink.  While brewing I had some Brewery Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence and Bell's Hopslam Ale!  Oh man!!  If you haven't have Chocolate Indulgence, it's Brewery Ommegang's Belgian stout with Belgian chocolate!!  The flavor in heavenly: rich, creamy, smooth and balanced.  Something that one can get addicted to (that's why I have another bottle in stock).  And then there was Hopslam!!  Wow!! All the label says is "Ale brewed with honey."  The incredible hops flavor mixed with the honey seems to mask the alcohol - 10% alcohol!!  I didn't know it was an Imperial Ale.  No wonder why Beer Advocate rated Hopslam as a WORLD CLASS beer. 

I won't say too much about the chili.  It's for a competition at work.  Muhahahaha.  Enough of this.  More later.