Nate's Beer and Brewing Blog

Extract Pale Ale for Club Competition

2011-08-03T22:22:00.003-04:00

It's been a slow homebrewing year so far. In March, I made my first batch of the year, and extract saison (11B01) for my wife. I brewed this up in the kitchen while hosting my cousin John and two of his friends, all of whom wanted to learn how to brew. They have since brewed up several of their own batches up in Punxsutawney, though I've not had the pleasure yet of tasting any of them!

Anyway, I finally got around to kegging the saison last week while brewing my second batch of the year (11B02), an extract clone of Geary's Pale Ale. I brewed this last Friday and will keg this Friday. After force carbonating and trying out my new Beer Gun, I'll be taking a few bottles to the August meeting of the Indiana, PA Alesmiths (IPAs) for an intraclub competition. Should be interesting to taste everyone's version of the same extract/all-grain recipe, and hopefully mine will hold up despite its young age!

A colleague and friend of mine has been growing his own Cascade hops - last week he surprised me with a generous gift of a mason jar jam-packed with over 9 ounces of freshly picked hop cones (lightly dried). I'll be using some of these to dry hop the pale ale on Friday.

The cider I made last October is still sitting in a carboy in the cellar. I hit it with a lambic yeast mix and there's a nice white pellicle (sp?) sitting on top of it. Just have to figure out how to sweeten it a bit before kegging and bottling!

Three friends and I have also been putting together a nice 10 gallon all-grain system in a garage, including a nice counterflow chiller. We brewed a couple of batches this year, but due to various circumstances (busy schedules, old yeast, new system, etc.), they didn't turn out well. We hope to rectify that soon! And tuck this name away for a later day ... Indiana Brew Works.

Yes, I'm Still Alive

2011-01-09T17:19:00.002-05:00

Well, so much for blogging in 2010!

I did do some brewing last year, though it was a lot slower than in years previous :(
A big reason for that was the majority of my free time was spent working on my house in preparation for our first child!

Aidan Finn McElroy was born Dec 20. He weighed in at 6lb 12oz, 19". He'll be three weeks old tomorrow and is healthy and happy!

My first 2011 batch will be an extract saison for my wife, now that she can drink again. I hope to brew a bit more often now that we're getting back into a routine. I've also been working with some friends in town on a ten-gallon all-grain system that we're having fun with.

Earth Bread + Brewery Delivers

2009-10-29T20:24:00.002-04:00

I suppose you could take that title to mean a few different things, but this past Monday evening, it was quite literal! Indiana Homebrewer Co-founder Emeritus Jon (aka santoslhalper) came back to western PA for a few days from Philly. On Monday night, he stopped in Indiana to visit a few of us who remain in town. Jon is now an assistant brewer at Earth Bread + Brewery in Philly.

'Round about 7pm, Jon and the rest of the crew (Dave, Justin, James, and Joe) popped over to my house for a tasting. Jon brought with him four growlers of Earth Bread + Brewery beers: Durham Strasse (a Berliner Weisse), 2bok4sur (a Doppelbock), Resin 2 Smile (an IPA), and Biere de Septembre (a biere de garde).

After those, we opened up a bottle of homebrew from an acquaintance of mine from work - it was superb sour Belgian ale and I hope that we'll get more soon. Finally, we cracked open the last four homebrews that a few of us have been working on with the 10-gallon all-grain system. We had a bitter, a saison, a lager, and pale ale.

All in all, a great evening. A big thanks to Jon for hauling growlers across the state for us. He left with a case of our homebrew, but I think we still got the better end of that deal!

2nd RateBeer Pittsburgh Gathering

2009-10-05T20:46:00.001-04:00

I didn't get a chance until now to write up something about the terrific beer tasting I went to back in August at the Sharp Edge Creekhouse. You can check it out at The Hop Press.

That was a good day!

An Oktoberfest Wedding

2009-10-05T17:50:00.002-04:00

On Saturday, my wife and I went to the wedding of one of her former coworkers/classmates. The reception was interesting in that it was an Oktoberfest theme. After the mass, we all went across the road to the hall, and the attached pavillion.

Before dinner, we all gathered at the covered, outdoor pavillion where a polka band played various German-Polish music. There were hot pretzels with mustards, and a veggie tray, and two beers on tap (Bud Lite and Yuengling, not real German beers).

The reception hall was set up with 10 different rows of tables. Roughly four tables per row. Each two tables were given a German region name, and each table of the region was given a German city name. This was a cool way to seat guests - find your region and city. Once you found your seat, the wedding 'table favor' was a nice dimpled beer glass with your name on a ribbon. Voila, you automatically had a way to get your beer for the rest of the reception.

The food was OK - brats, roasted chicken, potato salad and potato pancakes. And, of course, a German-chocolate cake.

The final touch - it was held in New Germany, PA.

The Hop Press

2009-10-04T21:27:00.003-04:00

There's a new feature over at RateBeer, if you're not a frequent visitor. They've started a new blog/media service called The Hop Press for some of the more frequent contributors, rather than sticking with the weekly articles. It's still in some development, but the content frequency has increased and will hopefully offer more correspondences from beer geeks 'on the street'. The few articles I wrote (about one year) have been archived at Nate's Notes. I hope to add articles a bit more frequently now.

A Busy Brew Night

2009-09-25T21:54:00.003-04:00

Last night was our first brewing night in a couple of weeks and our last for a couple of weeks. Between some conflicts and travel plans, getting four of us together at once gets to be difficult sometimes.

Regardless, last night was productive. Joe brewed up a 10-gallon batch of pilsener, and while he was doing that, Dave and I were packaging a back log of brews. First, we bottled a 5-gallon batch of Joe's first pilsener. Next up was Dave's first 10-gallon batch of a bitter, which we split into half - two cases of bottles and a five-gallon keg. Finally, we ended with my last 10-gallon batch of saison (tasted great!), with five gallons going into a keg, and two cases of bottles.

Had a good brew night and finished all the bottling/kegging within our normal brewing night time. I have to say, I hate bottling and last night was not my idea of fun, but I'll appreciate it more when I can crack open a few of those bottles and enjoy some great homebrew.

My First 10 Gallon Batch

2009-09-01T22:55:00.002-04:00

Short post. Tonight I made my first ever 10 gallon all grain. It was a simple saison recipe that I scaled up from a 5 gallon recipe that I did a month ago. The first batch of saison that I made on July 28 was kegged up two weeks ago and served at a party at our house. With 50 guests, several of them beer lovers and homebrewers, it took all of 3 hours to kill 5 gallons.

So, tonight I scaled up to 10 gallons. The only major changes were, hopefully, improvements. Last time I used a little wheat DME. This time, it was all grain. I used 16 lbs of pilsner malt, 2 lbs of wheat malt, and 2 lbs of honey. I used Hersbrucker and Hallertauer, and a touch of crushed coriander. Pitched with saison yeast.

I doughed in at 5:40 and pitched by 9:50, so not too bad for double the liquid volume!

Another IPA with Erick

2009-08-02T21:30:00.002-04:00

Today I helped Erick make an extract IPA. We started with 1 lb Crystal 60°L and some leftover Belgian aromatic malt, crushed with a rolling pin and steeped for 30 min.

Once that was sparged, we boiled and added 3 lbs. XLDME and 4 lbs LME.

1 oz. Phoenix (60 min)
3/4 oz. EKG (15 min)
3/4 oz. Cascade (15 min)
1 oz. Cascade (1 min)
1/2 oz. EKG (1 min)

O.G. was a little lower than we'd hoped for at 1.040. Pitched at 70°F with 1056 American Ale, and he'll dry hop in secondary with another 1 oz. Cascade.

14 Years and a Good Steak

2009-07-30T07:44:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was my 14th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe sometimes, but then again both of our 20th high school reunions were/are this summer. Anyway, to celebrate we went for dinner last night to Nap's Cucina Mia here in Indiana. We try to get to Nap's once a month and we never have a bad meal there. Nick, the son of the owners, spent a year in Italy for part of his culinary training. The menu is small, compared to other places in town, but the food is just freakin' outstanding. Homemade pasta & sauces, fresh local produce and meats, prepared while you watch (the kitchen is behind the 'bar' and place only seats perhaps 50 people).

Normally we get pasta, but last night I finally got the filet (mignon), frequently a special, and it was without a doubt the best piece of steak I've eaten in town. It's not cheap, but it is delicious. Superb crust, seasoned with salt, pepper, and maybe something else. Rich and buttery on the inside, and almost fork tender.

So if you're local and haven't been, or if for some reason you plan to visit Indiana - do yourself a favor and have dinner at Nap's.

Brewing Update

2009-07-28T23:37:00.002-04:00

So a couple of us have gotten together the last few weeks and brewed some all grain beer. Tonight was my turn as Der Braumeister and I opted to make a saison. Dough-in to yeast pitch was 3:45, and my new mash tun worked really well. Our efficiency was a bit low, but I think that might be a result of the milling.

8 lb 2-row pilsner malt
1 lb aromatic
1 lb extra light DME (boil)
1 lb wheat DME (boil)
1 lb honey (5 min boil)
Hersbrucker (1 oz @60 min; 0.75 oz @20 min; 0.25 oz @2 min)
2 tsp coriander
WL Belgian ale pitched at 70°F

The O.G. was 1.050, which was just a bit lower than I wanted, but that was also because we had a little over 6 gallons, rather than 5.25.

One More Reason to Despise the PLCB

2009-07-12T12:51:00.003-04:00

So we went to State College yesterday to visit the Arts Fest and People's Choice Festival (in Boalsburg) and so there had to be the requisite stop at Otto's for a bite and pint. I enjoyed the Munich Dunkel and a pint of Arthur's Best Bitter, and held back from getting some 2009 Jolly Roger. I was disappointed to see the Triple D IPA gone from the menu, and hope it'll come back again for me to try.

The reason for the snide title, however, is because of the ludicrous classification of Otto's new venture, Keewaydin Cider. It's available in 22 oz. bombers for just over $6, and you can get a taste of it - it's good. However, after dinner as I was about to settle up, I learned that those handy 22 oz. bottles can only be consumed in the restaurant! Why? Because the PLCB considers their cider to be a wine, and therefore Otto's lacks the correct license to sell it for take-out. So Woodchuck and Bulmers and tons of other ciders are fine to buy in sixpack stores - but somehow PA-made Otto's Keewaydin cider is a wine.

I wish Otto's the best of luck in unloading over 700 cases of this stuff by restaurant-only consumption - hopefully they can sell it to other restaurants? Or maybe I'll be able to go to the local liquor store soon and buy some.

Gorillo's in Butler

2009-07-06T10:46:00.002-04:00

For those who might be curious after reading the previous post, we did indeed kick the keg of Belgian ale I took to the family reunion. After it carbed up, you could detect a bit of age (not surprising since it sat in my basement since April 2008) but it was drinkable.

On Thursday last, I drove to my parents' place and met up with my younger brother. We played 18 holes at Hiland golf course, despite some Belgian-like gray and rainy weather. We got pretty wet, but enjoyed playing. It was my first game in 8 years, and the best I could do was bogey 30% of the holes. My aim was off, but I was hitting them straight ... I guess an 8-year hiatus helped get rid of my slice.

Anyway, after golf we drove into Butler to check out Gorillo's Pizza (129 South Monroe St., Butler, PA). Through this and the Indiana Homebrewers Club blog, I was contacted by John Cirillo who owns the place. Since I was going to be very close to Butler, I couldn't not stop in to check it out (the paucity of good beer places in that area is disgruntling when I visit the folks).

I believe it was an old convenience store, and now it has the beer place on the left and a hot dog shop on the right. The pumps have been removed and there is a decent amount of parking. The late Friday afternoon crowd was moving through quickly, with just about everybody picking up 6- and 12-packs of light beers and macro lagers. A few were grabbing tall boys and 40s of malt liquor. OK, so what? Well - the gem of this place is the small selection of craft beers offered at rock bottom prices.

Hoppin' Frog, Victory, Bear Republic, Lagunitas, Voodoo, Chimay Bleu, Ommegang, etc. All priced very aggressively and some were several dollars cheaper than I've found in Pittsburgh or Indiana. In addition, he has three taps and fills growlers of Magic Hat, Shiner Bock, and East End Black Strap. In fact, a growler of Black Strap was going for $6.99!! That's a few dollars cheaper than if you go to East End yourself. Mixed six-packs of craft beers are $9.99.

Although you can sit and have a pint, it's not the best place for ambiance unless you like watching some interesting people. They also have a short food menu. So, if you're in Butler, this is the best place I've found yet to pick up some good beer at great prices.

My First Kegging Experience

2009-07-01T19:52:00.003-04:00

So today, finally, after a long wait to get my equipment and some time, I kegged homebrew for the first time. And I am excited. Ever since my first few batches, I have loathed and continue to loathe one step in all of homebrewing: bottling. I do it; I help others do it. But I don't like it. Hence my excitement for kegging. And actually, the delay in kegging has affected my homebrewing output. I swore to myself that I would not brew another batch of beer after the Belgian ale (sorta Leffe clone) in April 2008 until I kegged it.

Well, short of helping some others brew and teaching the Brewpub and Brewery Operations course, I have not brewed at home since batch 08B03. Sad, I know, but I'm stubborn sometimes.

Anyway ... I've had five Corny kegs sitting in my basement for a while now, gracious gifts from my friend Tom, whose cousin gave him about 40 of the things from the Pepsi plant. A few weeks ago, I placed an order with Leeners.com for some connections, O-rings, and a few other gadgets in order to wash and recondition the kegs. Last week, I cleaned up two of them, then placed an order with BeverageFactory.com for a CO₂ tank, regulator, and a couple of picnic taps. The tank and regulator arrived via FedEx this afternoon, and I got the 5-lb tank filled at the local oxygen gas place for $10.

So, after sanitizing two kegs with iodophor, I racked the beer from the carboy into the first keg that I'd purged with CO₂. After putting some pressure on it, I submerged the bottom quarter of it in a bucket of ice water to try to cool it down as much as possible. For non-chemists, carbon dioxide gas dissolves much easier (i.e., with less pressure) in colder liquid than in warmer liquid. I've got about 10 lbs pressure on it right now and I shake it periodically.

After is cools down some more, I'm going to force the beer from the first keg to the second sanitized keg while holding pressure. This mixing/moving should help carbonate the beer more quickly that placing static pressure on it. My friend Tom does this up to four times (hell, he has enough kegs to do it). Hopefully then, the beer in the second keg will be cold and better carbonated, then I can really shake it up, roll it on the floor, etc. in order to mix in the gas. It should be ready for serving on Friday and Saturday for our family's reunion.

The beer itself? Well, it started out as a Belgian blonde-ish Leffe clone, but after 15 months in the basement, it's gotten a little richer than that. I took the final gravity today at 1.008, that's down from 1.072 - so we're looking at 8.4% abv. And it tastes darn fine ... can't wait to drink it in two days, rather than waiting three or more weeks had I bottled it.

Now all I need is a counter-pressure bottle filler ;)

Asheville, Hilton Head, and the Triangle

2009-06-23T20:30:00.003-04:00

After my diligent blogging in May with the brew course and Pints for Pets, I feel so lazy this month; partly because I was out of town for a while, which is a bummer because Adam and I might have been able to hook up for a pint.

Anyway, I did manage to drink and bring back some good beer because of my travels. My wife and I did a week on Hilton Head with her sister and her family. Amy and Jeremy and our two nephews, Jackson and Jude, had a great time at the beach. Did a lot of biking, sunning, and eating.

On the way there, Dana and I stopped for a day in Asheville, NC. I got to try some beers from Green Man Brewing (Jack of the Wood) and we of course hit the Thirsty Monk for some nice selections on tap. Of particular enjoyment was Ommegang Grand Cru Rouge, a wonderful sour ale on tap.

Before leaving town, I also hit up Bruisin' Ales, the best beer store in Asheville if not the state of North Carolina. I grabbed some Carolina beers and found some others not available easily here, such as a Struise Black Albert.

On Hilton Head, the only brewpub is the Hilton Head Brewing Company, which has been around for quite a while (mid 90s), yet every time we go there it consistently amazes me how they stay in business. The beers are usually mediocre and the food is hit or miss, but the service is usually good. There's just no WOW factor, but I guess as they don't have that much competition beer-wise, they get by.

On the way back from vacation, we broke up the trip again by overnighting in North Carolina, this time in Cary. We lived in Chapel Hill for a year and Cary for two, and this was the first time we'd been back since 1999. Other than some friends, we don't miss the Triangle. We drove around a bit to see what had changed, but didn't spend much time there. Beer highlights included buying two mixed six-packs at Trader Joe's for less than $12, and I also found some goodies at the Whole Foods in Raleigh. It amazes me that Victory Wild Devil sells at Whole Paycheck in Raleigh for $8.49, when it costs me $9.50 here in my own town in the same freakin' state in which the beer is brewed. Maddening.

We did hit the Weaver Street Market in Carrboro on Saturday morning for lunch items for the ride home, including a small piece of chaource cheese that we can't get in PA.

Anyway, the trip was good and I ate tons of great seafood and oddly, drank less alcohol than on any other trips to the beach ... must have been the sobering influence of my nephews :)

In other news, the remaining parts to for my new mash tun came in and so I hope to finish that this week in order to all grain brew a saison or a tripel in the next few weeks. I still have to buy a CO₂ tank and regulator and clean out some kegs in order to keg batch 08B03 (yes, it's been sitting in a carboy this whole time) which still smells terrific. If I mess up the kegging, I won't feel too bad. I'd like to be able to take a keg to my family reunion on the 4th of July!

Finally, Dave seems to have made good use of my brew keg, burner, and wort chiller this past week for a barley wine and second runnings 'table beer'. Can't wait to taste those.

Pints for Pets Was Terrific

2009-05-30T21:41:00.002-04:00

Just a quick post - the 2nd Annual Pints for Pets was terrific (again). The early session was laid back and not crowded at all, although I understand the later session was close to sold out. Tons of great brews available - more than I could try in 3 hours. I tried several good ones, but the stand out beer was Bullfrog Frambozen. It was a raspberry lambic, blended from two separate batches. I felt like I was back in Belgium drinking something special from Cantillon or Drie Fonteinen. Sour, funky, and full of raspberry goodness.

Brewpub and Brewery Operations: Day 15

2009-05-22T13:04:00.003-04:00

We had a packed last day of class! Tom and I met early to chill some beer and get a few things ready for the food-beer tasting. Unfortunately, one of our students opened the fridge a bit fast and we lost two bottles of bitter ... sniffle. Anyway, after that clean up, we started class with the final exam, which covered beer brewing, styles, etc. This took most people between 30-45 minutes to take.

Next, we got to our four group presentations on brewpub or brewery feasibility studies. I have to say all five in the past two days were quite inventive and well-presented. I'd visit all five of them if they were to open (of course it didn't hurt to find a couple of beers named in my honor).

The final bit of class was a beer-food pairing. Most all of the students brought in food dishes ranging from chili or nacho dips to wings, ribs, cheese, and pasta. All in all, a great spread and the beers both turned out well.

Tom said that this was the best group of students in the three years he's taught the course. They did an excellent job, had some fun, learned a lot, and were generally pleasant to work with. Hopefully, I'll be invited back to help out again next summer - and will gladly do so!

Thanks for reading - we now return you to your normally scheduled blogging.

Brewpub and Brewery Operations: Day 14

2009-05-21T19:26:00.002-04:00

Next to the last day! I took up the first half hour discussing more on beer styles, trying to link characteristics to those we'd tried during the course. I showed the students a couple of beer websites (like RateBeer and Beer Advocate that have their own style guides but are both influenced by the Beer Judge Certification Program guidelines.

Next, we had some student presenters give small talks (as make up work for missing class) on various subjects. The first student talked about marketing as it relates to brewpub/breweries. The second gave a talk on the calculation of ABV from specific gravities and its relation to the density of ethanol and water. The third gave some history on just a few breweries/brewpubs in PA.

After this, the students hit the computer lab while Tom and I met with individual groups to go over their feasibility study slides. At 11, we all re-gathered in the main lecture room to listen to one of the five feasibility studies. It was an idea for a brewpub in the North Hills of Pittsburgh. They included initial costs, types of equipment, beer menu (with names), food menu, and an overall plan.

Tomorrow is the last day and we start with the final exam.

Brewpub and Brewery Operations: Day 13

2009-05-20T22:32:00.002-04:00

The majority of today's class was taken up by a great talk from state police Sgt. J. Jones, a member of the Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, which under no circumstances should be confused with the PLCB. Sgt. Jones talked for almost 90 minutes about all of the considerations of running a licensed establishment, including the rules and regs for serving, open hours, gambling, and ID checks. He finished the talk with a segment on fake IDs and how to spot them. He also passed around several confiscated IDs from different states. It's amazing how poorly some people try to create a fake ID.

After Sgt. Jones left, one of our students gave a brief presentation (as make-up work for missing a field trip day) on safety in brewpubs/breweries. He's a safety science major and so this brought some new viewpoints to the operations side. Next, we assembled everyone in the computer room for more group feasibility project work. Tom and I met with some students about their presentations that are happening tomorrow and Friday.

Tom and I also cracked open a bottle each of the bitter and the lager that we brewed in class. Both had carbed up pretty well and should be good for Friday's final tasting/food pairing. Each could use a little longer to optimize, but we're dealing with a tight schedule.

Brewpub and Brewery Operations: Day 12

2009-05-19T17:48:00.002-04:00

We started today's lecture with a bit of talk on yeast in a bit more detail than I'd covered before during the brewing process.

Our scheduled guest speaker to was Linda Chicka from ARIN IU-28 to talk about alcoholism - including the signs of alcohol addiction, how it affects work/productivity, and what to do about employees under your supervision who may be alcoholics. The facts and figures on the cost of alcoholism to taxpayers and businesses is, if you'll forgive the pun, sobering. It's a hard problem.

Finally, students handed in their brew tour journals from last week's trips. I spent the afternoon reading over those and editing the final exam. Tomorrow, we'll have a member of the state police talk to us for a while, then get in depth with more beer styles.

Brewpub and Brewery Operations: Day 11

2009-05-18T22:37:00.003-04:00

Today was more class time, down in the computer room. First we finished the Beer Clean Glasses video, which explained the proper way to clean and test for cleanliness in beer glasses in addition to pouring a good head. A bit cheesy in its production value, but informative nonetheless.

Following this, we let the students work in their groups on the feasibility studies for their PA brewpub. As they worked, we also brought up some helpful websites for them to look at, including: RateBeer, the U.S. Census Fact Finder, the PA Restaurant Inspection Database, and the PLCB license search. You can find a lot of neat information on these sites, although you may NOT want to know what health infractions your favorite eatery has been sited for!

With a bit of remaining time, I lectured on water quality and its role in the brewing process. Tomorrow we're having an outside speaker talk about alcoholism and dealing with employees who may be alcoholics.

Brewpub and Brewery Operations: Day 10

2009-05-15T20:50:00.003-04:00

After four days of road trips, it was nice to be back in the classroom. We started today with an hour-long debriefing on all the places we visited this week. It was a good chance to have a discussion about the different brew houses, menus, etc. and find out what students liked and disliked.

After a short break, Tom handed out several papers on food-beer pairing, and also an equipment pricing sheet for brewing equipment. After a short discussion, we headed to the computer room to watch a video of a Food Network show on brewpubs, hosted by Al Roker.

Finally, we organized the work groups for the brewpub feasibility studies.

Brewpub and Brewery Operations: Day 9

2009-05-14T22:07:00.002-04:00

The last day of field tripping was also the shortest. Today, we left at 9am and drove to Rivertowne Pour House in Monroeville. We started the visit with a tour of the facility and then headed to a small meeting room for a presentation by brewers Andrew and Barrett (Sean, formerly of Johnstown was also there, but he was brewing).

For about an hour, Andrew and Barrett gave us a talk on all of the considerations you must take into account when opening a brewpub versus a microbrewery - from operating expenses, material costs, employee costs, licenses, utilities, etc. Quite enlightening, and considering some of the archaic PA laws, it's amazing that anyone would even venture into this type of enterprise. Well, kudos to those who do and we're thankful for it!

Afterwards, we enjoyed a great lunch and some beer, then headed home. Tomorrow, we pick up with lecture again.

Brewpub and Brewery Operations: Day 8

2009-05-13T19:50:00.003-04:00

Today was day 3 of 4 for field trips and we found ourselves back in Pittsburgh. We left a bit later today because our morning plan to go to North Country was scrapped. The class has gone there in the past, but this year despite repeated calls, no one would get back to us. Hope everything is OK in Slippery Rock!

So, we left at 11:00 and drove down to the Hofbräuhaus Pittsburgh by 12:30. We were seated at two adjacent tables and enjoyed a great lunch of German fare, with some great beer to boot (well, no one got a boot glass, but that's another story). After lunch, we met with Ed, the head brewer, Eckhard, the brewmaster, and Tom, the general manager. They gave us an informal presentation on the store, the brewing, etc. After which, we got a small brewhouse tour. Interestingly, all the beer is brewed on site here - except for the Maibock (now on tap) and the Oktoberfest. Both, because of licensing issues, must be imported from Germany.

After our tour, we drove across town to Church Brew Works. Here we were greeted by Brant, the head brewer, and given a quite thorough tour of the facility and a great presentation on the brewing process. We even got to see the yeast lab. After a brief taster, it was time to wrestle through rush hour traffic and head back home.

A big thanks to Ed, Eckhard, Tom, and Brant!

Brewpub and Brewery Operations: Day 7

2009-05-12T23:16:00.002-04:00

Another day of field tripping today - this time everyone went to the same places. We left IUP at about 10:30 and drove to Edgewood to visit D's Six Pack & Dogz, arguably the best bottle shop in the Burgh. The students were able to find many more styles and brands of beer that just aren't available to us over here in Indiana, and most walked away with some bottles of good stuff. We also met briefly with the owner (and I just completely blanked on his name - sorry!) and Hootie, "The Executive Director of the Nectar".

Next, we drove over to the Sharp Edge Beer Emporium on St. Clair Street for a late lunch and tour of one of the best Belgian beer bars. Hart, the director of beverage acquisitions for the 4-store chain was there to talk to us about the locations, their beer selection, and all the challenges of running a place in the Pittsburgh area. He was also gracious in giving us happy hour beer flight prices! After a great lunch, we got a tour of the place, including the beer storage area.

Finally, we made our way over to our final stop, East End Brewing. Scott and his assistant brewer (sorry - forgot his name, too!) were on hand to tour us around the brewery and offer up some samples of their beers. When the tour was over, the students (and the instructors) purchased a growler of stuff to go (in my case, two growlers and two bottles). We hit some rush hour traffic but did make it back home in fairly good time.

After a long day on the road, I then had to host the May meeting of the Indiana Homebrewers' Club. Students from the class were invited, but only one showed - not surprising since they'd been with either Tom or me all day: why ruin their evening ;)

Anyway, a homebrewer and former student of mine was the guest tonight and he showed us how to build some nice mash/lauter tuns and hot liquor tanks from picnic coolers using PEX tubing. Other than missing a few pieces not available at Lowe's, I'm just about done with mine. I'm anxious to start the all-grain brewing for the summer again.

Thanks to our hosts today at D's, Sharp Edge, and East End! Tomorrow, it's off to Pittsburgh again for the Hofbräuhaus and Church Brew Works.

Brewery and Brewpub Operations: Day 6

2009-05-11T18:56:00.002-04:00

Today was the first day of field trips. Tom started early and left at 6:45 with his group to go to Red Star Brewing in Greensburg. Afterwards, they were going to go to Rock Bottom in Homestead at the Waterfront.

My group left just a bit later at 7:20 and drove to Marzoni's in Duncansville. Bill was brewing a batch of Avalanche IPA today and we arrived in time to see the transfer of the mash liquor to the brew kettle. Bill graciously and patiently answered several questions from the students, gave them a tour of the facilities, and then took us to the bar for a sampling of the Marzoni's lineup. Today's specials were the Scotch Ale and a great Maibock. After the sampling, several students took turns raking grain out of the mash tun.

We left Marzoni's at about 11:15 and drove to State College. We arrived at Otto's Pub & Brewery at 12:15 and started with a round of drinks and lunch. The Bourbon Barrel Aged Jolly Roger was still on cask, but unfortunately the Double D IPA was off tap for a few hours. After a terrific lunch, we got a tour of the brewing operations. Charlie was off premises today at a fly fishing tournament, so Nick was happy to step in for all of the questions from the students.

A big thanks to all of the brewers and other staff today for their patience and great hospitality.

Zeno's and Otto's Never Fail to Please

2009-05-10T20:14:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, my wife and I went to State College for the first time (together) since last year's Arts Fest. After enjoying a good lunch at Faccia Luna and driving around to see what had changed, we parked downtown and did some walking around and shopping.

Of course, after walking around for a while, one does tend to build up a thirst. So into Zeno's we went for a refreshing draught. I was anxious to try a couple of Zeno's brews - brewed by Otto's. The first was the Rye Ale, a nice specialty grain brew that was very nice - great hoppy character. The second one was a Schwarzbier aka Black Lager. It was a bit sweeter - almost like a porter - than other German Schwarzbiers that I've had, but very tasty. While I was drinking those, my wife enjoyed a glass of Dupont Avec les Bons Voeux saison from draught! Delicious.

As I ordered our first round, I notice a gentleman sitting at the bar taking some notes on the beer he was drinking. I struck up a conversation only to find out that he was another RateBeer user (frothingslosh) from Greensburg whom I'd talked to on the site several times but never got to meet in person. Small world.

We left Zeno's and did some more stuff down town, then I got dropped off at Otto's while my wife did some more shopping at Target, etc. I walked into the bar, only to sit down next to frothingslosh again! Luckily, the Bourbon-Barrel Aged Jolly Roger Imperial Stout was still on cask. Absolutely delicious and sublime. Following that, I had some cask Arthur's Best Bitter.

All in all, a successful beer day. After a quick appetizer, we headed over to see the new Star Trek movie, which was really good despite the fact that neither of us is a Trekkie.

A New Blog and A "New" Beer Place in Indiana,PA

2009-05-08T16:09:00.002-04:00

Our good friend, homebrew club founder emeritus, and assistant brewer at Earth Bread + Brewery, Jon, has started a new blog: Proclamations of a Malt Lover.

And wonder of wonders, one of our existing bars here in Indiana has stepped up its game in the craft beer arena... Boomerangs (formerly Kangaroos to us older folks) has just this week installed a 20-tap system! Although it's not up to Pittsburgh/Philly beer bar quality, it's going to give The Coney and HB Culpepper's a run. In addition to several standard macros and macro imports, there is Hoegaarden, Brooklyn Brown Ale, RedHook CopperHook, Lagunitas IPA, Magic Hat #9, and Lindemans Framboise.

There's hope for this town yet!

Brewpub and Brewery Operations: Day 5

2009-05-08T16:03:00.002-04:00

Today was bottling day for the most part. Tom and I and a few students were in early at 8am to sanitize equipment and bottles. Once the rest of the class showed up, we started the explanation of and demonstration of the bottling process - then turned the students loose.

Both beers smelled and tasted pretty good having only been fermented since Monday - both had pretty good attenuation. The lager went to 1.012 and the ale to 1.015. We got just under two cases for each, and they're now safely conditioning in a store room until two weeks from today, when we'll crack them open. Keep your fingers crossed.

After cleaning up, we went to the classroom to take the RAMP exam, which Tom will score and process for us. We then started watching a rather commercialized video on beer clean glasses until the VCR-computer combination stopped working. Hopefully we can finish that up next Friday. Why wait until next Friday? Field trips start on Monday!

Tom is taking one group to Red Star in Greensburg to watch some brewing, then heading to Rock Bottom. I'll be taking a group to Marzoni's to watch some brewing, and then head up to Otto's for lunch and a tour. Should be fun.

Brewpub and Brewery Operations: Day 4

2009-05-07T20:36:00.002-04:00

So today I got a break from teaching and got to do some learning. After figuring out who is going with who next Monday for the field trip, Tom started into the Responsible Alcohol Management Program (RAMP) training.

Essentially, the training goes over what alcohol does to the body, what occurs to the body at different BAC levels, what factors affect BAC (body mass, time, alcohol dosage, etc.), and what to look for in a patron who has had too much.

In addition, we covered several legal aspects of RAMP, including what forms of ID are acceptable in PA, what liabilities are assumed by the bar and its employees, and what specific laws apply to restaurants and clubs in PA with regard to hours of operation, last call, and alcohol service.

So, in PA if you're 21 years old or older, you can bring your child (of any age) into the bar as you drink. If you bring your niece who's not your ward, you cannot drink if you're not 25 or older. If you're 21 and married to a 20 year old, you cannot sit at the same table with your spouse if you wish to drink. Some odd, odd logic in this state.

Tomorrow, we're going to bottle the beers that we made on Monday and take the RAMP exam. For passing the exam, we get a two-year certification in RAMP.

Brewpub and Brewery Operations: Day 3

2009-05-06T21:30:00.002-04:00

Day 3 went well. I basically talked about beer for 2.5 hours, which is always fun. We finished up the main discussion of the brewing process during the first half of class, and although I skipped over some detailed slides, I think they got the main ideas. If I get more lecture time later, I can revisit a few sections.

At the half way point, we started into a discussion of beer styles. I used the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) as a reference to discuss what makes a style and how you can experience a beer in terms of style. Last night, I went out and bought three six packs to showcase three styles. When I got to class this morning, one of the students actually said he'd brought a six pack, too.

So, for the latter half of class, we discussed four styles of beer and some of their close relatives. First, we talked about American Wheats and did so while enjoying Leinenkugel's Summer Wheat, donated by a student. For each of the beers, we discussed the characteristics and 'vital stats' of the style, and cited characteristic examples. Not a bad way to spend the late morning...

As for the other styles that I brought: the second beer was Victory Golden Monkey as a Belgian Tripel; the third style was an American IPA and I was lucky enough to find a six pack of Stone IPA - an excellent beer; and finally, the fourth style was a stout (probably more of a sweet stout) exemplified by Bell's Kalamazoo Stout. The students seemed to enjoy all of the samples and I think it was an eye opener for the majority to experience some beers more complex than Guinness or Old Milwaukee.

Tomorrow, I get a break from lecturing so that Tom can start into the Responsible Alcohol Management Program or RAMP.

Brewpub and Brewery Operations: Day 2

2009-05-05T15:24:00.002-04:00

Today's class was mainly lecture, by me, about the brewing process. We discussed the overall processes involved in malting and the chemical components of malt and got about half way through the mashing process before calling it quits. At the midpoint of lecture, we went down to the kitchen lab to check on the status of our beers from yesterday - happily bubbling away. Tom also had the students fill out proof of age forms.

We then had a small tasting. I didn't make it out last night to the store, so I shared two homebrews with them: the Fantome clone from 2007 (still gushing) and the second (2008) batch of Commonplace Coffee Porter.

Tomorrow I'll be wrapping up the brewing process and starting into beer styles, so tonight I'm going to buy six packs of three different styles of beer that we can taste and discuss during lecture. Rough job, I know, but someone's gotta do it.

Brewpub and Brewery Operations: Day 1

2009-05-04T23:00:00.002-04:00

Today was the first day of May intersession classes that run from May 4-22, and marks the beginning of HRIM-404 Brewpub and Brewery Operations (actually, that course number was only recently approved so it's still really HRIM-481, but that's neither here nor there). Anyway - it was the first day of a three-week course about beer!

I'm team-teaching this course with another instructor (Tom) who specializes in the drinks management, beverage service, alcohol awareness portions of the class. I bring the geeky chemistry and home brewing knowledge to the table. Tom and I arrived at 7:30 to set up all of our ingredients and equipment in the kitchen lab of the food & nutrition/HRIM building. I picked up all of the ingredients at our local homebrew supply shop, Montgomery Underground Winery. Tom Montgomery (a different Tom), the proprietor of the shop, was kind enough to let me borrow a grain mill for crushing our whole malts.

After setting up, we met our students in a lecture room and went over the syllabus and orders for the day. All 18 students showed up, which was encouraging. After everyone got changed into proper kitchen attire, we headed down to the kitchen to start the brewing. With that many students, we set up two brewing stations - one for the British bitter and one for the Czech lager. I had typed up a recipe/instruction sheet for each so the students could take them home and also to use while brewing. Tom and I talked the students through the entire process, from some crushed grain steeping to the yeast pitching. We did run a bit late, but I was pleased to see most of the students could stay longer than 11:30 to finish the job.

Both batches are hopefully bubbling away in the storage closet and will be ready for bottling on Friday.

Brewpub & Brewery Operations - Prepping For Class

2009-05-02T09:13:00.003-04:00

Today and tomorrow I will be preparing for the Brewpub and Brewery Operations (HRIM-404) class that I'm co-teaching from May 4-22. On Monday (Day 1), we're brewing two 5-gallon batches of beer so that we can (hopefully) have some to drink by Day 15.

The first recipe is a British bitter, from which the majority come from Dave's notes. In honor of his contribution, I've named the recipe Hwart's Bitter (small inside joke). Why a bitter? Well - because of scientific research: I had three chemistry students do water testing on our local water this semester. They looked for certain ions that define water quality, then compared our levels to those of famous brewing waters. The result was that the best beer to make here in Indiana, PA is a bitter. We'll see how it goes.

The second recipe is a Czechvar clone, a bit lower gravity and using only Saaz hops. Also, we're going to try to use California lager yeast to ferment, since it knocks out a bit quicker and at a bit higher temperature. Keep those fingers crossed!

Both batches will be brewed on Day 1, bottled on Day 5 (Fri.), and opened for drinking on Day 15 (last Fri.).

In order to aid in that process, today I'll be making two yeast starters. Going to use about 4 oz. of DME in 1 qt of water for the wort. We'll see how it goes. Tomorrow, I'll be filling up my sanitized brew bucket with 5-6 gallons of my filtered tap water to use for the bitter. My colleague is bringing in 5-6 gallons of well water for the lager.

Sun May 3 update: The yeast starters are bubbling along quite nicely and should be ready to pitch tomorrow morning. I have all of my ingredients boxed up and ready to pack in the car, and I'm filling up the brew bucket with water in just a few minutes. I've been working on slides all days, but my lectures don't start until Tuesday, so I have a bit more prep time.

Brewpub and Brewery Operations: A Preview

2009-04-29T20:48:00.004-04:00

How the time flies - over a month since my last post! Well, the semester is just about over and we're ready to send some graduates out into the world - not the best time in this economy, but many of them are going to grad school.

Normally, I would not look forward to teaching a course in summer. In fact, I try to avoid it so that I can catch up on research. However, this year a special opportunity was offered to me and I could not turn it down. For three weeks, I will be co-teaching a 3-credit course on Brewpub and Brewery Operations (HRIM-404) with a colleague from Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management. The course has been offered in past years - always during our May intersession, but this is the first time I've been involved. The gentleman whose position I'm taking will be off to his daughter's wedding ... lucky me!

Tom, the HRIM faculty, is responsible for all of the aspects involved in alcohol service, etc. I, as the homebrewing geeky scientist, am responsible for the brewing process and styles lectures. Together we will also guide them in costing and designing a brewpub, and take some field trips.

This week, I've been polishing and adding to the slides on my lectures and today I picked up the ingredients for two five-gallon batches of beer that we're brewing on Day 1. Both Tom and I have been talking with regional brewers to set up visits during Week 2.

So, I will make every attempt to narrate what we cover in class from May 4-22 in order to share what the class is about (for those of you who wanted to take it but couldn't).

More to come!

Pints For Pets Is Coming Back!!

2009-03-23T07:35:00.000-04:00

The second annual Pints for Pets is coming to the Blair Co. ballpark. This time with two sessions, from 12-3 and 4:30-7:30 on Saturday, May 30.

Mark those calendars!

In Pittsburgh Steht Ein Hofbräuhaus

2009-03-23T07:16:00.004-04:00

Ich kann nicht glauben. Vor drei Jahren, ich hab' gehört "es kommt bald", "nächste Monat", usw. Aber jetzt das ist endlich hier! Gestern meine Frau und ich haben besucht das Hofbräuhaus Pittsburgh für Mittagsessen. Es erinnert mich auf dem Münchner Hofbräuhaus, aber ein bischen kleiner. Die Brezen sind OK gewesen, aber die Bierkäse hat toll geschmeckt! Die Speisekarte hat eine gute Sammlung - Burgers, Salaten, und viele Wurst zum Beispiel.

Das Bier ist genau so wie man erwartet gewesen. Alles ist dort gebraut - ausser jetzt der Hefeweizen ist in München gebraut. Andere Biere sind Dunkel, Lager, und Light.

Wenn Sie in Pittsburgh sein, Sie müssen der Hofbräuhaus besuchen. Klassiker Essen und Trinken, und traditioneller Tischplan (und Musik!).

Back to the Brewing

2009-02-03T07:13:00.002-05:00

Just a short post - but last night I assisted my buddy Erick in the brewing of a Belgian pale at his place. Looking in my brewing notebook, it was the first brewing I'd done since March of last year! How in the world did I go that long?? I'm not sure, but of course the bathroom renovation project had a lot to do with it.

Next up, I'm going to be making a Dubbel here, then Erick is going to brew the IPA we make first time last year. I'm excited to get back in the game!

A Nice Beer Tour of Pennsylvania (Part II)

2009-01-07T15:19:00.003-05:00

see below for Part I

Fri Jan 2: I went on another road trip to visit some friends down East. After having lunch with my wife in Johnstown, I hit the Turnpike and headed East. First I stopped off in Mt. Joy, where one can find Bube's Brewery (pronounced boo-bees). Tried their five samples and while all were fine, I enjoyed the seasonal Santa's Helper the most. From here, I stopped by the Iron Hill in Lancaster. Iron Hill always offers up solid beers and I tried the seasonal sampler. Standouts included the dark saison Permanent Midnight, an Imperial Coffee Porter, and a Schwarzbier.

From here, I went to my final destination of the night, my friends The Meyers. Dave was a college roommate and fraternity brother and it'd been a couple of years since we'd gotten together. His two girls were waiting at the door for me and I got a warm welcome. That night, we drank quite a bit of Allagash Dubbel from Dave's kegerator in the basement.

Sat Jan 3: First order of the day was a trip to State Line Liquors in Elkton, MD. This is a beer Mecca and I always find way too much stuff that I can't buy. Sigh. In any event, I walked out of there with a dozen good bottles of stuff and a case of Weihenstephaner Hefeweizen for my wife. For lunch, we went to a nice little pub called The Whip - very English themed and I had a couple of pints (Tetleys, Smithwicks) over lunch of Scotch eggs and bangers and mash.

We had some running around to do and ended up driving quite a bit. I was able to sneak into Victory for their Abbey 6 and see how things had changed since the renovation - good job, Victory.

Sun Jan 4: After bidding the Meyers au revoir, I headed up to Phoenixville for lunch at Sly Fox. Good food, and the standout beer there was definitely the Rauchbier. It's hard to find smoked beers on tap, let alone really nice ones.

Next, I drove over to General Lafayette Inn. What a cool place - I'd love to stay here some time. Sampled a few here (unfortunately the Framboise was kicked!) and enjoyed the Sunset Red on cask and the Raspberry Mead. Great ambiance!

Killed some time hitting some book stores and a few other places before heading to dinner at Earth Bread + Brewery in Mt. Airy (Philly). Our "local boy makes good", Jon, works there now supervising the kitchen and helping out Tom Baker in the brewery. I tried Earth's four offerings, including Jon's pseudo-eponymic Santos L. Halper. The pizza is really good, despite the fact that Jon made it ;)

After Jon was done working, I got the nickel tour of the place. I'm only sorry that I'll not get to taste the Sahti or the Wee Heavy currently bubbling away. The final stop of the evening was McMenamin's, just down the street. Quite a lively Sunday night crowd, and between conversation with Jon and some locals (including Doc Holliday), I was able to try both Affligem Nöel and Long Trail Triple Bag on tap.

Mon Jan 5: One last stop before driving home - lunch with Jon at Manayunk. Had a nice salad and tried the Title Bout Stout. Jon got a sampler of stuff which looked decent.

All in all - not a bad few days of beer and travel. Apologies to the folks who regularly write about the Drafting Room and some other places down that way ... many of the visits were 'spur of the moment' and not planned. Next time, I'll try to coordinate better and perhaps we can meet up for a pint.

A Nice Beer Tour of Pennsylvania (Part I)

2009-01-07T14:41:00.004-05:00

It's that time of year ... some time off between semesters. This is the time I get to catch up on stuff around the house, hang with the families, and do a little touring with my beer geek friends to get our 'fix'. The shower is tiled and ready to be grouted and we should be showering again by Sunday (fingers crossed). We had a nice Christmas and got to spend time with both families - and my brother even decided last minute to come in from Idaho.

Tues. 12/30: But on to the beer! On the Tuesday after Christmas, we (me, Dave and Justin) drove up to Williamsport by lunch time. We started at The Bullfrog Brewery, where we met up with Bill (of Marzoni's) and Mark (homebrewer and regional beer writer). The funny part was that Bill was in Indiana just the day before delivering yet more Avalanche IPA to The Coney (he's now bringing over half kegs instead of sixtels, so it's selling well) and over lunch we each found out the other would be at the Bullfrog the next day. Anyway, Terry (Bullfrog brewer) had given Bill and Mark a tour and we got a round on him. Thanks, Terry!

I tried a few new beers over lunch, including Bruggetown Blonde, XXXX Quad, Fast Eddie's Pale Ale, and a Coffee Cream Stout. I bought a book of Busted Lawnmower to go and a growler of the Quad.

From Bullfrog, we drove across the river to Duboistown to have a few samples at Abbey Wright - once again running into Bill and Mark. I tried another sampler here, including two new ones - a Kölsch and a saison. After the samples, we chatted with Bart (the brewer) for a few minutes before getting back on the road.

Next stop: State College. Neither Dave nor Justin had ever visited Zeno's. If you've not been, you must! One of the best beer bars in PA, and I'd put it up against Eulogy and Sharp Edge - maybe not as many Belgians on draught, but quite a selection. Here, I sampled Otto's Scottish Ale (on cask), De Ranke XX Bitter, Hair of the Dog Ruth, 3 Fonteinen Doesjel, Deus Brut des Flandres, and Voodoo Big Black Voodoo Daddy. Fantastic!

Our trip finished out at Otto's, where we once again ran into Bill and Mark. Here I picked up a growler of the Apple Tripel and enjoyed a glass of Jolly Roger.

Wed 12/31: Did have a couple of pints of Avalanche IPA for lunch at the Coney with my good friend Mike (also former college roommate and my best man). He was in the region for Xmas, having driven all the way from Santa Fe. He brought me a 20th anniversary wooden collectors box from Santa Fe Brewing containing: Sangre de Frambuesa, State Pen Imperial Porter and an Imperial Yippee IPA. I look forward to trying these soon. Thanks Mike! I of course sent him home with some goodies.

More to come in Part II.

On Saison du Muqunee

2008-12-14T15:45:00.002-05:00

So I'm adding my own two cents about Muckney Brewing's Saison du Muqunee, Dave's first all-grain brew. In short, it turned out really well. Despite the jerry-rigging that went into adapting my equipment to Dave's back porch, it went off pretty well.

As for the beer itself: Has a nice spicy-funky aroma to it, with notes of coriander, astringent hops, teaberry, and a bit of sulfur (pleasant, not off-putting). I like to pour out a little of the dregs on these styles, so it was a nice hazy medium amber color, topped off with a thin white head. The taste was really nice - it's been in the bottle for a while now, and has matured nicely. It's not overly sweet, but has a nice balance of pilsner malt character, dry orange peel, and mild spicy hop character. Dry yeasty after with medium bitterness.

Nice beer to drink on a cloudy Sunday afternoon getting ready to watch the Steelers!

Looking Forward to Brewing Again!

2008-12-07T18:26:00.003-05:00

Crikey! It's December already. Time is flying. So, I've not brewed since April, and the secondary carboy now has some nice mold growing on the top of the last beer I made. I'm still going to try to keg the stuff to see how it goes, but I've distanced myself enough from that batch that I won't be horribly upset if it gets trashed (though I'm hoping it's not).

On Friday, Erick and I went out to our local homebrew store to pick up some carboys I need for a chemistry experiment (non-brewing, unfortunately) and we each placed an order for some supplies. Erick's going to brew the IPA we made back in January, in addition to a Belgian white he's going to make for his wife. I'm going to try an Abbey Dubbel for a change, and may or may not add some spices to it. We'll see.

Some local beer news of late: The Coney now has a Marzoni's tap (Avalanche IPA), which many of us here are extremely about; Marzoni's also has now two really tasty special brews on tap: Hoppy Saison and Bill's 5th Anniversary Barley Wine; Otto's has a great apple-flavored tripel available; and Scott at East End has been busy creating some great stuff for the holidays.

Our December homebrew club meeting is just going to be an unofficial gathering of whomever can show up - it's busy this time of year with holiday and family obligations. I finally signed up for a subscription to Brew Your Own, since I keep buying it at the newsstand price.

Over the holiday break, I'm hoping to get down East to see some friends of mine, including Jon, and to visit some fine brewing establishments.

Other excitement lately is that I finally got out for a day of deer hunting this year - the first time since 2000 or 2001. My cousin from Ohio got the one 8-point that roams our hollow, but I had a great time. Tomorrow, I was supposed to go to jury duty, but because this is finals week I was granted a pass. Bummer, because I could have sat on a murder trial (though I have an idea that lawyers aren't too crazy about having academics on juries).

Our First Year Anniversary of Homebrew Club

2008-10-14T22:51:00.000-04:00

Tonight, we celebrated our first year anniversary at as a homebrew club by hosting Bill Kroft of Marzoni's Brick Oven & Brewing and his good friend and homebrewer Mark Dellinger. We met at 7pm at the Coney for our monthly meeting, with 11 regular club members in attendance.

We started with introductions and a brief history of Marzoni's (and Bill's brewing history). Next, we sampled some homebrews from three of our members: Ray S. brought a Honey Porter, an extract recipe that had a pound of honey in five gallons; Pat S. brought a 'normal' IPA, then followed with an apricot extract infused IPA - both all-grain recipes; and Eli brought a year-old, very dry cider. All four contributions were delicious.

After those, we cracked open two of Mark's homebrews, which included a heavily hopped smoked porter (awesome Rauchbier) and the one that I have been waiting for ... a saison with tons of Brett! Both were very tasty, but the 2005 "bretted" saison was absolutely outstanding!

Last, but not least, we cracked open the four different beers that Bill brought along: the Belgian Witbier and Oktorberfest (seasonals) and the two year-round offerings, Stone Mason Stout and Avalanche IPA.

Finally, as a rare and special treat, Bill brought along a bomber full of his very special and not-available-to-the-public Eis-Barleywine. In short, he took 10 gallons of the five-year anniversary barleywine (around 11% abv), froze it, and extracted 4 gallons of liquid from that. The result was an intense and very HOT alcoholic barleywine concentrate that was phenomenal tonight ... and what will turn into what I can only imagine as Heavenly in a few years. Kudos, Bill!

In all, quite a successful meeting!

Homebrew Club 1st Anniversary

2008-10-14T06:42:00.003-04:00

Hard to believe, but tonight our Indiana Homebrewers Club celebrates one year of official existence. Well, not official in terms of being recognized by any actual authority, but at least official to those of us who run and attend the meetings, and official enough to The Coney, who graciously hosts our meetings every month.

Looking back, it's been a successful year. Our membership is modest but fairly steady, and quite satisfactory for a town of this size. We usually have between 10-15 members at each meeting. We try each time to have a point of discussion, whether its different styles of beer or tips & tricks of homebrewing or the hop shortage. And of course, we have a couple of homebrew samples each time to enjoy.

For our first anniversary, we've invited Bill Kroft, the brewer at Marzoni's Brick Oven & Brewery to come over to talk to us and bring a few samples of his terrific beer. It'll give the members a chance to talk to a professional brewer (who started as a homebrewer) about brewing, and hopefully get the Coney interested in tapping into some local micros!

For the coming year, perhaps we can start to cook up some more activities as a group. Helping Scott at East End hand bottle beers, or have some of us help out at the 2009 Pints for Pets (tentative date: May 30), or perhaps even get something started in Indiana. Only time will tell.

I've Been A Lazy Blogger!

2008-10-09T19:13:00.006-04:00

Apologies to those of you who check in on a regular basis. I've been a lazy blogger these last few months, but it's not been for lack of wanting to blog. As the pictures below will show, I've had a little project going on during weekends here at the house. In hindsight, I could have started much earlier in the summer, before classes started, and been further along. C'est la vie! I've been doing all of the work myself, though I did have to call in a plumber recently to do some reworking of old copper drain pipe and moving from a vanity sink to a pedestal sink (it was well worth the expense!).

In terms of brewing - that also has been on hold for a while. I still have the Leffe Blonde clone sitting in secondary in the basement waiting to keg, and I probably won't brew until the bathroom gets done.

In late August, I did get to travel to Bethesda, MD for a one-day conference, so I went down the day before and hit up a few brewpubs: Brewer's Alley in Frederick; Rock Bottom in Bethesda; and Barley & Hops in Frederick.

In September, our homebrew club 'exec board' got together at my house for a grand tasting and send-off for our good friend, Jon. Jon has accepted a position at the just-opened Earth Bread + Brewery. We're sure going to miss him around here, but we're also very happy for him and Autumn in their new endeavors.

I was able to get some East End beers recently, including a nice Cherry Dubbel. I'm looking forward to some more Fall offerings, including the Bourbon Barrel Aged Black Strap Stout ... my keyboard has drool on it just from typing that!

Brewing and Baseball

2008-08-17T20:35:00.004-04:00

So as the summer winds down and I prepare for another school year, I try to squeeze in a bit more fun before getting back into a rigid schedule.

On Tuesday night, we had our August homebrew club meeting at the Coney. It was a nice meeting, and we had 12 people in attendance along with four homebrewed beers to sample. I even managed to come away with a quart bag full of some home-grown Cascade hops for some dry-hopping. If possible, I'm going to try to test the alpha-acid level. I had to call it an early night on Tuesday, however ...

The alarm went off at 4:30 on Wednesday morning, and I was out the door by 5:00 - all in the name of good beer. I was fortunate to be able to 'help' Bill Kroft brew a batch of Patchway Pale Ale at Marzoni's in Duncansville. Bill starts early, however, so when I knocked on the door at 6am, he already had the water heated.

I've toured many breweries and brewpubs over the years - from high tech monstrosities like an Anheuser-Busch plant to more traditional and tiny operations like Cantillon. But never until last week was I able to be there for the whole brewing process. The steps in brewing were the same as all-grain homebrewing, but what was terrific and humbling to see was both the scale of materials and the automation of the process. It was actually easier to brew 10 bbls of beer than for me to make 5 gallons - of course it helps to have such great equipment. And, of course, the clean-up was a bit more involved because of the scale.

Bill was kind enough to let me and another homebrewer, Mike Jackson, watch the entire process from milling grain to pitching yeast and ask tons of questions. Mainly, we stayed out of his way but did try to help by shoveling spent grain and hosing out tanks. We started at 6:10am and finished by 1:30pm. Afterwards, we chatted over a few pints out front. I enjoyed some Saison and some Chocolate Wheat. I even got a sneak preview of the 5th Anniversary Barley Wine coming out in November ... keep your eyes open for this one!

Fast forward to today. We got in our one Pirates game today, with a beer theme. Today was the second of three special beer tasting events at PNC Park in the club level (Club 3000). For two hours before the game, East End Brewing, Church Brew Works, and John Harvard's Monroeville were pouring two beers each. This "Beer Passport Club" offer will happen one more time this year, on Friday Sep 12. The game starts at 7:05.

How good a deal? The normally-priced $58 ticket was priced at $40, plus free beer for 90 minutes before the game. In addition, your ticket could be used to get up to $10 in food/beverage on the club level. Considering the cost of a large beer at PNC is now $7, this ticket almost could pay for itself. During the game, the club bar has about 15 taps, including Sam Adams, Penn, SNPA, Dogfish Head, and several other crafts.

If interested, contact Jason Marovick at (412) 325-4964 no later than week before that game.

Friday Evening Irony

2008-08-01T20:47:00.004-04:00

This was a good laugh as I read my local paper, The Indiana Gazette.

The Police in Concert

2008-07-30T20:56:00.002-04:00

A couple of lawn tickets at the Post-Gazette/Star Lake Amphitheater were made available to us last week - $30 each, which was very reasonable for the Police tour. Primo seats were selling for $200, and that was face value.

We drove to Pittsburgh on Monday afternoon, just beating the heavier rush-hour crunch getting through the tunnels to head toward the airport. We decided to crash at the Robinson Microtel, so that we (read Dana) could do some shopping on Tuesday - which was, by the way, our 13th wedding anniversary.

Anyway, we had a nice dinner at the Share Edge Creekhouse before the show. It was our first time at Star Lake, so we left plenty of time to drive out towards Burgettstown ... it still took some time. We parked and walked over to get our 'seats' just as the opening gig - Elvis Costello - was getting into it.

I like Elvis Costello, though I don't own any albums, so it was nice to lay back on the blanket and let dinner digest while the sun went down.

So - the real reason for the trip: The Police. Both Dana and I have been big Police fans since the mid-80s, and we've just about worn out the "Message In A Box" 4-disc set over the years. We'd seen Sting twice in concert, once in Raleigh and once in Hershey. Good shows - Sting has a great voice and stage presence, and he really melds with the other artists when he's calling the shots.

With Stewart and Andy ... not so much. Don't get me wrong, the show was enjoyable and some of the versions of their songs were fantastic in new form (Sting can't quite hit those high notes, for example). The percussion in Wrapped Around Your Finger was terrific, and I was happy that, among their radio hit standards (Roxanne, Message in a Bottle, etc.), they also played some others that don't get played so much (Demolition Man, Voices Inside My Head). Two songs we would have loved to have heard but didn't: Oh My God, and Canary In A Coalmine (me) or Tea In The Sahara (Dana).

All in all, a nice concert. Crowd got into Roxanne, of course, which is one of my least favorites, but the acoustics out in the lawn made the crowd seem very tame. I would have been very disappointed to spend $200 per ticket, however.

Still nowhere near the fun and energy of an indoor U2 concert, however.

Catching Up

2008-07-27T07:57:00.004-04:00

The more I have to do, the more I get done. I'm not sure what my efficiency is as a person, but hopefully it's as good as or better than my all-grain efficiency. Regardless, I've been very lazy about blogging this summer. I thought with all this time away from teaching I'd be writing every day, brewing like a mad man, and getting lots of tasks completed.

Yeah - that didn't happen. I've been reading a lot, hardly watch TV any more, and have been getting into the gym. Mostly, it's been time spent with my wife who, for the past two years, had been buried in a physician assistant program. I'm happy to say that we've enjoyed the last month or so with few major commitments before we get back to normal. Next week, she starts her new job/career and I start getting ready for another academic year.

Highlights in the last month or so included an annual family reunion at my parents' place (a small gathering this year with 58), a trip to the Finger Lakes, helping Dave do his first all grain brewing, and an afternoon at Fallingwater. We started this morning off early with a neighbor's truck on fire at 6:45.

Two weeks ago, we drove up to New York for a few days in the Finger Lakes. We'd been up there once before with my parents, back in 2003. It was a nice trip, but a bit harried, as Dana and I were just a week away from moving to France for my post-doc - we spent several hours on that trip trying to get our papers in order. Regardless, we liked the area enough to go back, and we stayed at the same B&B, Merritt Hill Manor, near Penn Yan. Great place and super hosts, Mark & Susan.

We didn't really tour any wineries this time - we haven't been drinking too much of it. But I did find some good beers, of course. I snagged two bottles of Boon Pertotale and a 1995 Hurlimann Samichlaus at the Village Tavern in Hammondsport.

If you're in Canandaigua, I suggest eating at the New York Wine & Culinary Center, which focuses on New York beers and wines, paired very well in their menu with many local ingredients. The Wegmans in Canandaigua also has a great beer selection, including tons of NY beers and four different Trappist breweries represented.

In Watkins Glen, there's the Wildflower Cafe, home of Roosterfish Brewing. Lunch after hiking in the gorge was nice, although the beers were so-so. On the trip home, we stopped for several hours in Corning at the glass museum. Nice place. Afterwards, we drove over to town and had some samples of beer at Market Street Brewing. Decent enough, but it was freakin' hot inside.

For dinner, we hit Bullfrog in Williamsport, and I brought back a bottle of the Beekeeper ale - unfortunately, they were out of the Cheer (blackberry/blueberry sour ale). All in all, a nice few days.

Last week, I helped Dave with his first batch of all grain. We toted up all my equipment to Dave's porch, where, with a bit of alteration, we started things going around 2:30. He made a saison. My last batch of beer still sits in secondary - and I think I want to keg it ... just need to buy the stuff.

Yesterday, we took a drive down to Fallingwater. It's about 1.5 hours from here, and this was our 3rd time there. Great tour, if you've never been. Afterwards, we drove down to Ohiopyle and had a pint at the Falls City Pub (not a brewpub), before heading up to Ligonier for dinner.

And finally, I woke up this morning at 6:40 or so - nature called. With the windows open, we've been hearing a whining-whirring fan at the neighbors house (unoccupied and for sale). It's the radon-removal unit, and has been bugging us for three weeks now, despite two calls to the Century-21 office. Anyway, just as I was climbing back into bed, the noise got worse, like a fan on its last legs. I assumed it was the radon fan of the house ... after about 5 minutes, it quit.

A few minutes later, I hear a fire siren. Not unusual in Indiana, as we have tons of fires and about 40-60% seem to be arson. However, the siren came right up our street and stopped. Jumped out of bed thinking the house next door caught on fire or something, but it turned out to be a Ford F-150 sitting on the street next to the neighbors house. Quite a fire. By the time the fire truck arrived, the whole front end was engulfed, and we'd heard three explosions (two front tires and maybe the battery?). By 7:15, it was all over and quiet again. Not something you see every day, but luckily no one was hurt and all the smoke went straight up and not in anyone's home.

Johnstown Brewing Closed

2008-06-24T09:51:00.002-04:00

The story can be found here. Bummer!

Best of luck to everyone involved with that!

Good Places To Eat & Drink

2008-06-08T10:44:00.006-04:00

Yesterday, I was looking over different blogs and saw Lew Bryson's Top Ten Breakfast Places. This prompted me to think about all of the different places that I've had some good breakfasts over the years, then good lunches and dinners, and of course, beers! Admittedly, I've been fortunate during the past 15 years to have gotten into situations that took me to many different places - whether for school or work or vacation. I can not list all of them, but here are a few that stuck out for various reasons - either for the quality of the food & drink or the service or the view. Without further ado...

Nate's Top Five Breakfasts
5. Skillets Cafe in Hilton Head, SC. This is more of a sentimental entry, though the breakfast food is very good. We first ate here in 1994 during our first of many trips to Hilton Head. In 2003, we biked over for breakfast only to find that the building had burned out because of a fire in the adjacent restaurant. This year, they were back with an all-new and expanded restaurant - the skillets were just as tasty.

4. Lowell's Restaurant & Bar in Seattle, WA. This place is in Pike Market, and offers full service dining on the second level - the food is good (I like the smoked salmon omelets), but the views are what make my list. If you can score a window seat, you'll have a great view of the Olympics, Puget Sound, and the Seattle waterfront. Once you're done, you'll have the entire market to explore (and don't forget to have a pint at Pike Place Brewpub!).

3. The Waffle Shop in State College, PA. Nothing remarkable about the locations or views - and maybe the food isn't world-class - but darned if we didn't find ourselves eating here almost once a week during our five years in State College. Reliable, great value, and comforting.

2. Breakfast In America in Paris, France. The simple fact that coffee came in a mug with free refills (in France) was enough to cement my love of this place. The food was served/cooked by American students living in Paris and gave us a taste of home. Now, before someone goes off in that "why did you need to eat an American breakfast instead of enjoying a croissant, blah, blah, blah" voice: I lived in France for 18 months, and not in Paris. If I go somewhere for a week or three, I fully enjoy the local customs, food, etc. and eschew the touristy umbilical cord of American fast food, etc. However, a year and a half without a bottomless cup of coffee and some honest to God bacon & eggs over easy with homefries is too much for this man to bear!

1. The Oak Table Cafe in Sequim, WA. My wife and I lived in Sequim for 9 months while working as D.O.E. fellows at Battelle Marine Sciences Lab. They didn't have short order cooks here - they were chefs. Just about everything was local - from the bacon and eggs to the seafood. To this day, I've not found a better breakfast place. If you find yourself on the Olympic Peninsula and don't eat a breakfast here (whether for breakfast or lunch), you'll have missed out on a spectacular experience.

Honorable local mention: Cafe 701 (Gatti's pharmacy) and Perkins in Indiana, PA.

Nate's Top Five Lunches
5. Neomonde in Raleigh, NC. Awesome Mediterranean food, including the best pitas we've ever eaten. This place is a short drive from NCSU, and we used to take out-of-towners here all the time.

4. Wild Ginger in Seattle, WA. I'm sure this could go in the dinner list, too, but we had lunch. We found this a little bit by accident, but boy what a nice accident. Great Pan-Asian food in a trendy setting.

3. L'as du Falafel, 34 rue des Rosiers, 75004 Paris. If you like falafel, this is the place to get one. Smallish joint in the 4th, with celeb pictures adorning the walls - including many of Lenny Kravitz, who frequents the place when in the City of Light. A nice stroll from Catedral de Notre Dame or Ile St. Louis (good ice cream there for dessert).

2. The Sea Shack in Hilton Head, SC. A hole in the wall. We'd been to the island for years and had never visited until this trip. Apparently it was made even more noted from a visit from Rachael Ray during her $40/day show. Regardless, this is an awesome place for seafood. You will wait in line for at least 30 minutes (outside), whether for take out or dine in. Once inside, there are only about a dozen tables, but the food is fresh and cooked to order. The fried scallops are out of this world.

1. Primanti Brothers in Pittsburgh, PA. The original 18th Street location in the Strip District is the best. Get a seat at the stainless steel counter and watch these masterpiece sandwiches being made. Get insulted for free and watch in amazement as a grumpy old woman picks up fresh-cut french fries with her bare hands seconds after they come out of the grease. I've had a lot of good sandwiches over the years, but I still haven't found one to top these (and yes, that includes cheese steaks from downtown Philly, which are delicious).

Honorable local mention: The Pizza House in Indiana, PA. Great lunch special, and a two minute walk from my office.

Nate's Top Five Dinner Places
5. The Coney in Indiana, PA. This was my college hangout, and now that we're back in town, we eat here almost every Friday night or at least once a week. Is it fancy? No. It's a pub - but it's also just now part of our life. It's like our version of Cheers, where (not everyone) many people know your name, or at least your face. And, in my humble opinion, they still have the best damned buffalo wings I've ever eaten. Anywhere. When not living here, I would drive out of my way to get wings here. And in the past couple of years, the beer selection (both in bottle & tap) has improved dramatically. There is only one lite beer tap now, and we do get some locals finally.

4. CurryHolics in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. When I visited England on business, one thing I wanted to have was a really good Indian meal. This was not a disappointment - I had the best and hottest Indian meal ever. Chicken chili masala! I haven't found a place in the U.S. yet that makes it, but boy was it something. You know it's good when after eating, you're sweating.

3. Brasserie Beck in Washington, D.C. This was a surprise in that we stopped in thinking we'd just grab a light dinner and a few beers. We ended up having a spectacular dinner and excellent service. Definitely a great place to eat in D.C., but go early or make reservations well in advance. We happened to get lucky and walked right into a table.

2. Casbah in Pittsburgh, PA. One of the Big Burrito Group restaurants. Definitely a nice place to go for an anniversary or other special occasion. You can easily enjoy a three-hour meal here, with a terrific wine selection (and beer) to accompany a great meal.

1. The Angus Barn in Raleigh, NC. An old barn converted into a steak restaurant. Haven't been there in a long time, but boy was this a super place for steak (and a lot of other food). And with a wine cellar containing over 25,000 bottles, you'd be hard pressed not to find something with which to wash down dinner.

Honorable local mention: Nap's Cucina Mia in Indiana, PA. Superb Italian cuisine in a family owned restaurant. Never a bad meal here!

Nate's Top Ten Beer Places (it is a beer blog, so I'm listing ten)
10. Cölner Hofbräu Früh, Köln, Germany. If you like Kölsch, this is a nice place to enjoy some - particularly if you've just ascended and descended the 500+ steps to the top of the Kölner Dom. Although not quite the best of this style in the city - Pfaffen gets my vote for that - you can enjoy people watching here, especially out in front near the cathedral.

9. The Thirsty Monk, Asheville, NC. If we had a bar like this in Indiana, I'd never leave. Great selection of Belgian beers both on draught and in the bottle - ranging from the ubiquitous Hoegaarden up to Trappists and single special kegs that are almost impossible to find in the U.S.

8. The Brickskeller in Washington, D.C. One of my first trips to a real beer-focused restaurant was here. The menu is impressive, with offerings from around the world. Although every time I've been, they seem to have several things "not available" at that moment.

7. Zum Uerige in Düsseldorf, Germany. As with most German brewers, the selection is very limited, but what a terrific Altbier! Dana and I first went in March 2004. It was a Friday afternoon about 3pm and the place was packed. We found an empty seat across from two Rentners (retired folks) who lived only 30 minutes away but had never been. After a few rounds, we were happily conversing in German. By the time we left, I think I had 6 ticks on my coaster (if you've ever drank in a German bar, you know what that means).

6. Zeno's Pub in State College, PA. "Located directly above the center of the Earth" is there motto. Located in downtown, this is a great college hangout - with quite an impressive tap and bottle selection. On certain nights, they have live music, including 7pm on Fridays the terrific AAA Blues Band. Decent food from upstairs, too. Luckily, they've really cut back on the smoking there.

5. Sharp Edge (pick one of four) in Pittsburgh, PA. Super places in the Pittsburgh area to grab some great beers on tap and in the bottle. On Wednesday, they have half off on Belgian drafts. The food at the Emporium and the Creekhouse are really good, and I assume it to be at the other two places, too.

4. t' Brugs Beertje in Bruges, Belgium. Opens about 4pm and fills up in about 30 minutes - go early and get a table. Great selection of bottles and taps here. The only downside is that (at least when I went) people were smoking which kind of detracted from the beer enjoyment.

3. Staminee de Garre in Bruges, Belgium. One of the best places to drink good Belgian beers, if you can find it. This little gem is tucked into a hard-to-find alley in Bruges. Home of a nice Tripel de Garre and classical music.

2. Delirium Cafe in Brussels, Belgium. When you're handed a beer menu the size of a small phone book, you know you're in for a good evening. I was lucky enough to visit here with a fellow beer geek and his fiancee in September 2004, and we spent several hours on the patio sipping various offerings from some of Belgium's finest breweries. We even traded beers with the Alstrom Brothers (of Beer Advocate fame), who happened to be on one of their tours. This is a "must see" establishment if you are passionate about beer.

1. Akkurat in Stockholm, Sweden. An outstanding collection of beers from around the world, including some amazing cellared lambics. I hope to someday get back to this place - the beer (Öl) menu is here. I can't say much more than that. Though not nearly as extensive as some other places, the focus is really on quality and properly aged beers - I had a 20-year old gueuze that was phenomenal here.

Honorable mention: Zum Schlüssel, Düsseldorf; La Gueuze, Paris;

Well - there are just too many more places to put down here. Maybe someday I'll write an exhaustive list of places, but between Trip Advisor and several beer sites with excellent directories, you don't need me to tell you where to eat. It was fun, however, to think about these places again.

North Country Brewing Company

2008-06-03T21:48:00.002-04:00

So we've been to North Country Brewing Company twice in the past two+ weeks - both related to our vacation (see posts below). The first time was two Mondays ago, when we decided to head to the Prime Outlets near Grove City - both Dana and I needed some clothes, since we'd not been to the beach for five years. Before going to shop, we dropped off our cat (Abby) at my parents house in Chicora.

This evening, we went over to pick up the cat, and treated my parents to dinner at North Country for watching said cat.

Because it's a bit distant from Indiana (about 1.5 hrs), we don't get there as often as we'd like - but it's worth a trip if you're in the area. First, the building and the interior are pretty darned cool. Second, the food is outstanding - the last two meals we had were excellent. I recommend the calamari appetizer (Squidelicious) and if you like burgers, the Roasted Garlic Burger.

The beer at North Country has improved since my first visits. Tonight I enjoyed an Irish ale on cask and also their Creamation Ale (the building used to house a mortuary). The best beer I've had so far was during my visit two weeks ago - a casked smoked porter, Kian's Smoked Porter. Good stuff!

Definitely worth a visit! If I would win the lottery tomorrow, I'd try to build a place like that here in town.

My Free Shirt

2008-06-02T10:11:00.003-04:00

So back in March, there was a link to a beer haiku contest at the Prague Daily Monitor - Evan Rail's Beer Culture site.

For funsies, I submitted two haikus - one in English, one in German. I forgot all about it until a couple weeks ago, when I got an email from Evan, saying he wanted my address.

When I picked up the mail today, I found a padded envelope from the Czech Republic awaiting, in which I found a nice green Staropramen t-shirt (for the German haiku). Thanks, Evan!

Evan makes frequent contributions to the Prague beer scene, and has written the Good Beer Guide Prague & The Czech Republic. If I ever get the chance to go, I'll be taking a copy of this book with me.

Hilton Head and Asheville (part deux)

2008-06-02T07:03:00.003-04:00

So we're back from vacation - probably the best vacation we've had, ever. Really relaxing. Stopping in Asheville on the way down and the way back was a great way to break up that drive, too.

We always stay in a fairly inexpensive condo about a 5 minute walk from the beach. Nothing has changed much at those places since we started going, and May is a great time to go because it's nice and warm for swimming and sunning, but not so hot that you can't enjoy biking and golfing. The only downside is that we showed up on Saturday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend - never realized Hilton Head was so popular with college pukes. Saturday and Sunday nights were a bit noisy, but after they left, it was peaceful for the rest of the week.

The beer scene is deplorable - but I knew that from the past trips and bought beer in Asheville before arriving. The Hilton Head Brewing Company, which has been around since 1994, was still the disappointing place we remembered from our last visit - but at least this time they had four beers on tap rather than one! All were pretty crappy, however. The food was decent, and Dana swears they offered the best turkey burger she's ever had.

We ate lots of seafood. Lots. Including two trips to The Sea Shack (no website), where we had the best fried seafood ever.

We rent bikes for the week - single speeds with fat tires, foot braking, and wide seats - when the tide is low, you can ride your bike on the sand for miles (literally), which we enjoy. From the beach, you can usually spot pelicans and dolphins. On the numerous bike paths that cover the island, we spotted tons of different types of birds, lizards, and of course, alligators. Largest we saw was about 8-9 feet long, sunning itself in someone's back yard.

On Saturday, we drove back up to Asheville to stay over. This time, we enjoyed a few flights of fine Belgian beers on tap at The Thirsty Monk - great place! I also picked up a few more bottles of good stuff at Brusin' Ales to bring home.

In summary, great vacation. I enjoyed many fines beers, though the majority of the really good ones were of the Belgian variety. There were a few good North Carolina brews and I enjoyed trying some new breweries, but many that I got to try were not quite up to the quality of Pennsylvania beers to which I've become accustomed. The brewery that did stand out was The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery, with a focus on darker brews.

Asheville, NC

2008-05-25T21:33:00.003-04:00

On Wednesday, Dana and I hopped in the car and headed south. Our ultimate destination was Hilton Head, SC, but rather than driving the full 13 hours in one day, we decided to check out Asheville, NC for a few days as a stopping point. We left Indiana at 9am and drove for about 3 hours before stopping for a sandwich and picnicking at the New River Gorge Bridge. We stopped for gas once, and for a leg-stretcher on the TN/NC border heading over the mountains. We landed in Asheville at about 6pm and checked into our hotel on the south side of town (near NC-25 and I-40).

Asheville is a pretty cool hippie-college-tourist town off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Definitely has a good beer scene! After a long day's drive, we decided to grab dinner and a couple of beers at The Mellow Mushroom. This was our first time at one of these, and the pizza is really good. The beer selection was also very nice, particularly with their focus on local microbrews. I enjoyed both a Pisgash Brewing Endless Summer Ale and their Pale Ale.

On Thursday, we decided to just look around town and get familiar with the layout. We took shopping stops at several places, including the Asheville Wine Market, the Green Sage Coffeehouse, and the Woolworth Walk, where Dana found her graduation gift from me - a really cool painting by Sarah Faulkner. Sarah happened to show up and signed the work for Dana, so she was really jazzed about that. Now we gotta figure out where to hang it. Thursday in town continued with a beer buying trip at Bruisin' Ales - a phenomenal beer store with a great selection of Belgian beers. I grabbed a bunch of stuff to take to the beach (Hilton Head is not known for its beer selection) and ended up with a free tulip glass. After more shopping, we stopped for a pint at The Bier Garden, where I enjoyed a Foothills Seeing Double IPA.

Our hotel offered a deal on Biltmore, where you get two consecutive days of entry for the price of one. So on late Thursday afternoon, we went over and hiked around the gardens and down to the bass pond and back - glad we did that, because trying to do that and a house tour in one day is a lot!

On Friday morning, then, we headed back to Biltmore and spent the morning touring the house ... holy crap is that thing amazing! We've toured some pretty big places in Europe and this gives them a run for the money. After about two hours, we were pretty hungry, so we did lunch on the estate at the Arbor Grille, after which we sampled some of the wine they produce there. Meh.

On Friday evening, after a light picnic down by the French Broad river, we headed over to the French Broad Brewery, a little hole-in-the-wall brew 'pub'. They're only open from 4-8 or so, where you can get pints or growlers (and samples) in the brewery while listening to live music. On this evening, we enjoyed a few beers while listening to Brushfire Stankgrass. Good band - bought one of their CDs.

Tastings, Pints for Pets, and Great Smoked Porter

2008-05-20T08:59:00.002-04:00

I can't believe how quickly May is passing - already three weeks down! It's been a good beer month, so far, and I hope to keep pace for the remainder.

On May 8, actually the evening of my last post, the majority of the Homebrew Club "exec" board met at Dave's for some good beer tasting. Justin and Jon were also present. Some pretty good beer flowed that evening, including: Stone 05.05.05 Vertical Epic that Jon had stored properly for the last couple of years; Lost Abbey Avant Garde and Devotion from Justin; an Avery Fourteen from me; and then both Surly Furious and Bender courtesy of Dave (via trade) finished by Dave's growler of North Country Double Buck-Up Stout.

On the 13th, the Indiana Homebrewers Club had a large homebrew tasting at The Coney. The notes from that event are here.

On the 17th, several of us rented the Coney van and went to Altoona for the Pints for Pets brew festival. This was the first beer festival for everyone in the van except for me, and I think they'll now be spoiled after Pints for Pets. There were at least 1400 people in attendance for the single 4-8pm session. Over 50 brewers & distributors were present, each pouring several beers. In all, it was a well-run and well-attended event, and I look forward already to next year's festival!

And finally, because I enjoy good Rauchbier (smoked), I wanted to give praise to North Country Kian's Smoked Porter, now on cask at the brewery. Wow! Dana and I had lunch there yesterday on the way to the Prime Outlets ... always helps to have a pint before going shopping ;) Anyway, between the two of us, we tried the Nit Wit!, the Simcoe Pale Ale, and the Cherry Garcia .. but that smoked porter was delicious. Outside of the Aecht Schlenkerla line and similar Bamberg beers, this was the smokiest I've had. Went very well with their Roasted Garlic Burger.

Lichtenhainer, A Graduation, and Time Off

2008-05-08T11:11:00.002-04:00

Last Friday & Saturday, if to be summed in one word, were hectic. I'll not bore you with the nitty gritty details, but it stemmed from needing to pick up several last-minute items in preparation for a small gathering at our house on Sunday to celebrate Dana's graduation!!

So first, a big Congratulations! to Dana for completing her Masters in Physician Assistant degree from St. Francis University. I couldn't be prouder, and I was a freakin' mess during the ceremony on Sunday.

So, part of the preparation on Friday was a trip to Altoona - which, of course, means that I stopped by Marzoni's. I walked in with a small cooler because I had two empty growlers to fill (one for me, one for my father-in-law) and two bombers filled with coffee porter to give to Bill. As I walked to the bar, I hear off to the side .. "What'cha got in the cooler? An extra liver?"

There sat Rick & Dave (of Cassidy's Brew Zoo), enjoying a late lunch. They're also hugely responsible, along with several others, for the Pint for Pets Brewfest coming up next Saturday. Bill was just on his way off to an appointment, so I sat and BS'd with Rick and Dave while enjoying a large glass of Lichtenhainer, a smoky, lightly sour session ale that I enjoyed but will take others some time to get used to. This beer was part of a collaboration between Bill and Scott at East End Brewing. They're also working on a gose, which they're brewing today in Pittsburgh.

After a pint, I grabbed a growler of Bill's Red Ale for me and my father-in-law, and hit the road.

Saturday was spent completely cleaning the house and de-junking.

Sunday was graduation day. My parents came over and we drove them to Loretto for the event. Luckily, this year SFU decided to split graduate from undergraduate graduation - so we were done in less than 1.5 hrs. A nice reception followed, then we all headed back to Indiana for the after party.

Now it's Thursday. My grading is done, finals here are over, and our graduation is on Saturday. I'm not teaching this summer (a first) and look forward to these months with excitement and some nervousness. I have some research projects and household tasks to keep me busy here and at the office, but I've never in my life had a long chunk of time where I wasn't on a schedule while still employed (I've had chunks of unemployed time, of course, but that's a different feeling alltogether). I already feel irresponsible and lazy!

Monkey Boy, Smokin' Joe's, and Another Batch Bottled

2008-04-27T21:20:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, Dana and I went to Pittsburgh for the day. After having breakfast at Cafe 701 (isn't there a Cafe ### in just about every town?) with our friend Erick (also now a homebrewer), we got ready and hit the road. Well, I should say, first we did some stuff around the house and left around 11:30.

We decided the main visit of the day would be Phipps Conservatory. Dana wanted to see the spring flowers and also the newly opened butterfly forest exhibit. But first, I had an errand to run since we'd be on the right side of town - that is, get a growler of East End Monkey Boy, a really nice German Hefeweizen that Scott debuted last month. I was hoping to get some before it was gone (like the fate of the Cherry Grisette!), since I don't make it down as often as I would like. We strolled in at 12:45 or so .. absolutely empty, unlike every other Saturday visit I've had.

By this time, we were hungry, so we drove over to Shadyside for lunch at Girasole, a nice little Italian bistro on Copeland Street. Luckily, we got a table inside and not the patio, because half way through our meal the skies opened up for a nice shower.

After lunch, we hit Phipps and walked around for over an hour and a half. Nice place. While inside, a big booming thunderstorm passed - amazing how much water really comes down when the whole ceiling is made of glass! Dana picked up a neat little garden decoration - a tiny solar-powered 'lamp' with a hand-blown glass flower top. We put it out today, and as I write this I see it glowing in the dark out in the back yard. Kinda cool.

From Phipps, we took a slightly scenic drive through Schenley Park and over to Homestead, where we drove around the Waterworks 'mall' area. There's a Rock Bottom there, but we skipped that this time. I visited one in Seattle last summer, but wasn't hugely impressed - especially compared to our local scene. We killed some time, instead, in Barnes & Noble, where I read through a few beer magazines.

Next, it was on to the South Side. We tried to get a table at Fat Heads, but the wait was an hour! So we ambled down a block or so to Smokin' Joe's. We found no wait, and a nice tap selection. Between us, we had a Stoudt's Abbey Tripel, a Magic Hat Odd Notion Irish Red Ale, a Boulder Beer Obovoid Empirical Stout, and a Dogfish Head Burton Baton.

Slightly happy now, we decided not to eat there, but rather head across the street to Primanti Bros. Again, if you've not been to Pittsburgh or have been but not eaten here - do yourself a favor! The best place to have one is the original 18th Street location in the Strip District, but you can find them several places now, including PNC Park for a Pirates game.

After dinner, we were tuckered out form the day and drove back home.

Today, I bottled the Coffee Porter I made back in January. I'm a little slow this year! Anyway, it finished at 1.011 and tasted pretty fine. I hope it will be ready for the grand tasting during our Homebrew Club meeting on May 13!

Lew Takes on the 800-lb Gorilla

2008-04-24T15:32:00.005-04:00

Lew Bryson, author of many state-specific beer guides and a well-written blog (Seen Through A Glass), has started a new blog called Why The PLCB Should Be Abolished.

This is sure to be entertaining, enlightening, and (one would hope) influential at some point to get our fair Commonwealth out of the Dark Ages. An uphill battle to be sure, considering the puritanical, elderly-centric voting bloc and the corruption of many of our elected and appointed officials who aren't likely to give up control of such a cash cow.

Pints for Pets

2008-04-16T17:49:00.003-04:00

What's that, you ask? Well, on Saturday, May 17 from 4-8pm at the Blair County Ballpark (home of the Altoona Curve), the first annual Pints for Pets beer festival will be held. All proceeds (that's 100%) will go to the Central PA Humane Society.

Tickets may be purchased in advance for $25, or at the event for $30. Unfortunately, in its infinite wisdom to promote safety, the PLCB squashed the idea of designated driver tickets at a deep discount. So, if you go and DON'T DRINK, you still have to pay $25/$30 - not just $5/$10.

If you plan to go, send me a comment/email - it'd be good to meet some of you!

Here's the current line-up of participants:

Abbey Wright - Duboistown, PA

Appalachian Brewing Co. - Harrisburg, PA

Arcadia Brewing Company - Battle Creek, MI

Bar Harbor (Atlantic Brewing Co.) - Bar Harbor, ME

Black Dog Brewery - Tulsa, OK

Brewerie @ Union Station - Erie, PA

Brooklyn Brewery - Brooklyn, NY

Bullfrog Brewery - Williamsport, PA

Church Brew Works - Pittsburgh, PA

Clipper City Brewing Co. - Baltimore, MD

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery - Milton, DE

East End Brewing Company - Pittsburgh, PA

Elk Creek Cafe + Aleworks - Millheim, PA

Erie Brewing Company - Erie, PA

Flying Dog Brewing Company - Denver, CO

Franziskaner Hefeweizen - Munich, Germany

Great Divide Brewing Co. - Denver, CO

Green Flash Brewing Co. - Vista, CA

Green Mountain Ciders (Woodchuck) - Middlebury, VT

Harpoon Brewery - Boston, MA

Johnstown Brewing Company - Johnstown, PA

JW Dundee’s Ales and Lagers - Rochester, NY

Lancaster Brewing - Lancaster, PA

Leinenkugel Brewing Company - Chippewa, WI

Lindemans - Lenniksebaan, Belgium

Magic Hat Brewing Co. - South Burlington, VT

Marzoni’s Brick Oven and Brewing Co. - Duncansville, PA

Oak Springs Winery - Altoona, PA

Oskar Blues - Lyons, CO

Otto’s Pub and Brewery - State College, PA

Penn Brewery - Pittsburgh, PA

The Raven (Baltimore-Washington Beer Works) - Baltimore, MD

Red Star Brewery and Grille - Greensburg, PA

Rivertowne Pour House - Monroeville, PA

Rogue Ales - Eugene, OR

Sam Adams - Boston, MA

Sam Smith Brewing - Tadcaster, United Kingdom

Saranac - Utica, NY

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. - Chico, CA

Southampton Ales and Lagers - Southampton, NY

Spaten Brewery - Munich, Germany

Stone Brewing Company - Escondido, CA

Stoudts Brewing Co. - Adamstown, PA

Straub Brewing - Saint Mary’s, PA

Troegs Brewing Company - Harrisburg, PA

Unibroue - Chambly, Quebec

Victory Brewing Company - Dowingtown, PA

Voodoo Brewery - Meadville, PA

Weyerbacher Brewing Company - Easton, PA

Yuengling Beer Company - Pottsville, PA

A Day Trip to D.C.

2008-04-15T22:04:00.002-04:00

Last Friday, my wife and I got in the car after dinner and drove down to Gaithersburg, MD. Unfortunately, we got nailed by a strong line of thunderstorms somewhere around Frederick and had to pull off the road for 20 minutes - otherwise we made fairly good time. We checked into the Comfort Inn off Shady Grove, a decent place for the money but which was extremely convenient to the Metro.

After a light breakfast at the hotel on Saturday morning, we drove the half-mile over to the Shady Grove metro stop - last on the RED LINE. Once nice thing about DC is the Metro system - an all-day pass is just under $8 - very convenient. We started our day with the ~30 minute ride into town to the Gallery Place-Chinatown stop, putting us only a few block from our first visit: the International Spy Museum.

We spent about 2 hours touring the place. It was interesting, and almost too much information to take in, but at the same time it left you feeling like you didn't really learn too much. Cool gift shop (no purchases). There are a lot more places to see in DC before I'm ready to go back to this place.

From here, we took the Metro up to Dupont Circle, and had lunch at Pizzeria Paradiso. Great wood-fired oven pizzas, fresh ingredients. The beer list was small here compared to the Georgetown location, but I enjoyed a Flag Porter 1825 Original with my Bottarga pizza.

After lunch, Dana wanted dessert, so we strolled over a couple blocks - past several embassies - to Teaism, a tea house and restaurant. We'd been there several times before, and usually picked up some interesting teas to bring home. Today we settled for a cool drink and split a jasmine creme brulee for dessert.

After our refueling, we got back on the Metro (that all day pass comes in handy!) and went down to Judiciary Square so that we could get close to our next stop: the National Gallery of Art (west). Dana wanted to be sure to get in some art while we were here, so we checked out some Monet, Degas, Cassatt, and others.

Since the weather was so cooperative today (sunny, in the 70s with a few passing showers), we hoped to see some remnants of the cherry blossoms. Took the Metro over to the Smithsonian stop, then walked down past the Washington monument to the Tidal Basin. Most of the blossoms were gone, but there were still festival tents up and people everywhere. We enjoyed the sunshine and people watching for a while, and got some nice pics of the Jefferson Memorial.

By this time, it was getting close to 5 - we'd been walking and on our feet most of the day and were ready for an early dinner, a beer, and a rest. So, back on the - yep, Metro - up to Metro Center. A few blocks up the street, and we found ourselves at Brasserie Beck.

Wow. First, I guess we were lucky in that we walked in the door at a hair past 5pm and were shown right to a table - without a reservation. Apparently the waiting list for reservations is fairly long. I hadn't really researched the place beforehand, and thought we'd just get a beer and some small supper (frites and salad, or something). Well - Joe M., our waiter and beer sommelier - introduced us to the beer menu, which was exclusively Belgian beer. Nice tap selection and an impressive bottle selection ~ 140 beers total. The list gets changed 2x daily. Joe also described several dishes on the menu with such precision and eloquence, that I could actually taste the dish from his descriptions. That was a first, and a real treat.

I enjoyed a St. Louis Gueuze on tap and Dana had a Tripel Karmeliet from a bottle. The gueuze was not top notch, as gueuzes go, but I was in the mood for it and it went really well with my choucroute en croute (Napa cabbage and a selection of different different pork products wrapped in a crust). Dana's halibut was, without a doubt, the best fish dish either of us has ever tried. Ever. Had we more time, appetite (and budget!), we would have loved to try some dessert and another round of beer. As it was, we were stuffed and ready to walk again. But final word on Brasserie Beck: if you can visit this place, do it!! (check out the staff section of their website - their beer specialist was knighted in Belgium)

Our last stop was for me to grab a Capitol City Fuel. From here, we grabbed the Metro and rode back out to Gaithersburg - exhausted, sated, and happy with our one-day DC trip.

The real reason for the trip in the first place was the business portion on Sunday. We drove to Woodbridge, VA on Sunday morning to my aunt's condo to meet my cousin. My aunt passed away in March, and since my cousin lives in a one-bedroom apartment in Richmond, could not take possession of the china closet that my aunt inherited from my grandmother. Hence, we now are the proud owners of a 100-year old china closet that my great-grandparents bought in 1908 for $20 in East Brady, PA.

DC this weekend, New Orleans last weekend ... I'm ready for a sit-on-my-butt or work-in-the-yard weekend, but it looks like we may be seeing the Pittsburgh Zoo with my nephews (5 yr old and 9 mo old) at some point. That's relaxing, right? A zoo trip with small children ;)

Trip to the Big Easy

2008-04-10T20:56:00.004-04:00

I had the chance to visit New Orleans for the first time this past week. I flew down on Saturday, arriving in the French Quarter about 4:30. Took the St. Charles street car for the full loop - riding out through the posh residential areas past Loyola and Tulane, then returning. By this point, I was getting a little thirsty, so I took an interesting stroll down Bourbon Street. Very interesting ... nice restaurants next to dive bars, strip clubs, and hotels.

I grabbed a plastic cup of Abita Andygator and took it all in. After walking the whole length of Bourbon, I headed south for a few streets to Decatur, where I took a left over to Frenchmen. Here, I had some nice crawfish etouffe at Snug Harbor, then popped into d.b.a to see what type of jazz was playing. From there, back down Decatur to see all the tourist places and bars.

4/11/08 clarification: though I was completely stuffed from dinner and did not have a beer at d.b.a - this bar, and possibly Cooter Brown's (across town) have the best beer selections in New Orleans. Several good Belgian offerings, and other European imports as well as a decent selection of U.S. micros.

On Sunday morning, I had breakfast at Cafe Beignet, enjoying some cajun homefries and fresh beignets. Afterwards, I hiked a good way across town to visit the World War II Museum - definitely worth a trip!

After lunch at Gordon Biersch and a quick hotel stop, I headed over to the Convention Center for the reason I was in town to begin with ... the 235th American Chemical Society Meeting. I spent all Sunday afternoon listening to seminars, then attended a reception for the CINF (Chemical Information) Division..

On Monday, I spent most of day again at the Convention Center for talks. I did get a nice lunch break in, and had a shrimp po'boy from Johnny Po'Boys. In the afternoon, I gave my presentation in a special symposium honoring my former grad school advisor.

After business, a couple of us went to a nice reception on the top floor of the Sheraton (Harry's party) before meeting others for dinner over in the Quarter. There were a lot of presentations to see on Tuesday-Thursday, but unfortunately I'm still in the middle of the semester and had to head home.

All in all, it was a nice trip to New Orleans - and it beat my last experience with Louisiana ... 7 weeks of Army basic training upstate at Fort Polk :(

I did try a few Abita beers, along with Gordon Biersch and Crescent City ... New Orleans is not really a beer town. Though I will recommend if you fly through Atlanta to get there, have a pint at the Sweetwater pub in Terminal B.

Thursday Night - A Hoppy Time At My House

2008-03-30T14:07:00.003-04:00

On this past Thursday, several of us gathered at Maison Nate for some beer tasting and joke telling - the latter improving (at least that's what I perceived) with more of the former.

Eli was the first to arrive, and he brought with him two Port Brewing/Lost Abbey beers: High Tide Fresh Hop IPA and Wipeout IPA, and also a nice chunk of bleu cheese. Next came Dave, who brought a few homebrews (Show Your Hoppy-ness (sp?) and Justin's Rising Sun Ginger-Sesame Red Ale), along with a Three Floyds Gumballhead, and an AleSmith IPA and YuleSmith (Winter) Imperial Red Ale. He contributed some olives, crackers, and a hunk of asiago. Justin showed a bit late after his drive from the Burgh, bringing DFH Palo Santo Marron, Pizza Port Hop 15, and Port Brewing Old Viscosity. Jon was the last to arrive, but not too late.

Oh, and I supplied a Full Sail Nugget Special Read Ale that I'd brought back from out West on a trip last July and some OK cheddar.

Very nice evening sipping quality beers, telling raunchy jokes, and eating good food.

Handbook of Brewing

2008-03-30T13:47:00.003-04:00

So I purchased some books the other day for work (both research and teaching) and threw in a couple of on-the-border titles (meaning I don't use them yet at work but I might) that I found particularly interesting. Couple of food chemistry books, one on malting and mashing, and then Handbook of Brewing (2 ed) by Priest & Stewart.

Holy crap, what an awesome book for beer/science geeks. It's a CRC publication under the Food Science and Technology series (with almost 100 titles ranging from food analysis, drug residues in food, food toxicology, dairy science, and oenology, etc.).

Anyway, I think at some point I'm going to have to teach a food/brewing chemistry class as an elective. Fascinating stuff considering we're putting this in our bodies several times a day.

Belgian to Secondary

2008-03-30T13:44:00.002-04:00

I had the chance yesterday morning to rack the Belgian golden over to secondary. Still very cloudy, despite the irish moss, but it tasted fine and has a gravity of 1.020, down from 1.072 - making it just under 7%abv.

Still gotta get that coffee porter into bottles, but it seems happy enough to sit in the basement for now.

A Fine Cup of Coffee - New Territory

2008-03-26T23:18:00.002-04:00

So my local coffee shop, The Commonplace, has added to their arsenal of fine coffee-making machines: The Clover. And of course, trendsetter that he is, as soon as TJ bought one of these for the shop, Starbucks bought the company that makes these machines. C'est la vie.

Anyway, I had the chance on Tuesday morning to try my first cup from this machine. Got an 8oz Honduran? Cup of Excellence blend. I didn't know what to make of it right away because:
1. it's highly filtered so the body is lighter than the French-press stuff
2. it's much more fruity and other flavors I've never experienced in coffee now come through
3. it's the first cup of straight black coffee that I truly enjoyed, rather than endured (normally need cream)

So, I look forward to testing more coffee varietals and having them alter the dwell times of the machine - and I look forward to acquiring a new taste in really good coffee. Cheers to TJ & The Commonplace!

Homebrewing a Blonde Abbey Ale

2008-03-19T17:06:00.004-04:00

It's pretty crappy out today, like it has been all week, and the rain just keeps coming. Well, what better activity to chase away the March blahs than beer brewing!

This evening, I'm making a partial mash-extract Blonde Abbey Ale, based on a Leffe Blonde clone recipe.

To start, I'm adding 3.5qt of 155 °F filtered water to: 2.5lb 2-row pilsner malt; 4.0oz each Belgian biscuit, Belgian aromatic, German Munich malts; and 2.0oz honey malt.

I let that sit at ~141 °F for 30 minutes. Now, I'm borrowing a simple picnic cooler and putting the grains into a grain sock, so adequately mixing the grains is difficult and I'm sure I'm going to have cold spots in there which will affect the efficiency. But it's my first partial mash (PM), so not everything is optimal. My next step will be to buy my own mini cooler (this is Dave's cooler) and add a screen at the bottom so that I don't have to keep using grain socks.

While this was going on, I brought 2 gallons of filtered water to a boil on the stove. By the time 30 minutes was up, the water was down to about 200 °F. I added roughly 1.5qts of this into the cooler to bring the temperature up to ~150 °F, and I let that sit for 60 minutes.

At this point Jon arrived, and we chatted for a bit over a Weihenstephaner Korbinian, a German Doppelbock. He stepped out for an errand, and I prepped the sparge water by bringing the temperature up to ~178 °F.

Sparged and drew off enough liquor, as best I could ... difficult without a true grain bed. Regardless, I got at least 1.5 gallons of wort. Brought this to a boil, then added 6lbs of Extra Light DME, then added enough water to make ~2.5 gallons for the boil.

After the hot break, I added about 5oz of clear candi sugar and 1oz of Brewers Gold (6.8%AA). Boiled for 45 minutes and added irish moss and about 0.7oz of Hallertau Hersbrucker (3.3%AA) for flavor. Meanwhile, Jon had returned with Autumn, and we watched some goofy crap on YouTube, like Star Wars kid and the Sarah Silverman/Jimmy Kimmel video war (with Matt Damon, Ben Affleck) ... all the while sipping a nice Nils Oscar Imperial Stout, which I'd had before during a hedonistic RateBeer Summer Gathering in Stockholm (Jul 04). Good to try it again.

Boiled another 15 minutes, killed the heat, and put the pot in the sink to chill. Brought the volume up to ~5.2 gallons and checked the O.G. (1.072!). I then added a slap pack of Wyeast 1214 Abbey Ale and a year+old pack of Wyeast 1762 Abbey Ale II. Temperature was about 65 °F, so I capped it off and set the bucket next to the radiator.

And that, for a rainy Wednesday, is that.

Super Tuesday (for beer, not voting)

2008-03-12T20:06:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was my Spring Break beer-related day, starting with a road trip and finishing with a homebrew club meeting. It wasn't quite the journey from last year, but it was a great day.

I picked up Justin (aka Naka) at 10am, and after grabbing some caffeinated sustenance at The Commonplace Coffeehouse, we headed west on Rt 422 towards Kittanning ,Butler, and New Castle. At New Castle, we hung a left toward Boardman, Ohio, our first destination.

Why Boardman? Well, because of an absolutely wonderful beer & wine store named Vintage Estate Wine & Beer. First, we had lunch up the road at a place called Rocknes Pub & Restaurant ... a run-of-the-mill pub like TGI's or Chili's or "Chotchkies". The food was fine but uninspiring. In fact, the whole strip of businesses and restaurants all along Rt 224 in Boardman was the most bland yet eclectic collection of businesses I'd seen in a long time: Home Depot next to a mall next to Olive Garden next to a mattress store next to an adult store called "Ambiance". The whole area kinda sucked the spirit out of you. But I digress....

Vintage Estate!! Man, worth the two-hour drive from Indiana. The beer selection was phenomenal and the prices, compared to Pittsburgh beer stores and the asinine Allegheny Co. Onorato tax, were very, very reasonable. I had a wish list and some cash from Eli, whose order I filled first. Justin was busy gathering his stuff.

After getting Eli's stuff, I picked up the following:

Ølfabrikken Porter

Haandbryggeriet Norwegian Wood

Nils Oscar Imperial Stout

Nøgne Ø Imperial Stout

Mikkeller Big Worse Barley Wine

Chouffe Houblon Dobbelen IPA Tripel

Mad River Steelhead Scotch Porter

Tripel Karmeliet

Allagash Curieux

Bottleworks Van den Vern Grand Cru

De Dolle Arabier

De Dolle Dulle Teve

Left Hand Milk Stout

't Smisje Grande Reserva

Weihenstephaner Korbinian

Weihenstephaner Vitus

After making the purchases and loading the car, Naka and I headed to the back of the store for a sampling of some of the beers that Ron Bush (the proprietor) had on tap. He rotates six different ones and yesterday there was:

Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot

Flying Dog Double Dog Double Pale Ale

Founders Pale Ale

New Holland Night Tripper

Bell's Consecrator Doppelbock

Lagunitas The Hairy Eyeball

I'd had the Lagunitas and Weyerbacher before, so I tried the other four.

After a great time at Vintage Estates, we hit the road and drove straight to East End Brewing in Pittsburgh - making it just in time for growler hours at 5pm. There weren't many people to show up between 5-6, so we hung out and chatted with Scott and Richard, tried a few samples (including the soon-to-be-released Monkey Boy, a German Hefeweizen). I left with a growler each of the Best Bitter and the Dubbel Trubbel.

We left Pittsburgh and headed home. After dropping Justin off and stopping home for a bit, it was time to head uptown to The Coney for the March meeting of the Indiana Homebrewers Club. The article about our club, published in the local paper last month, helped get us six new members last night! We talked about the hop shortage, tried some great homebrews and the two East End beers, and I ended up staying until midnight.

In all, a great beer day!

100th Post, Erick's IPA, and A Two-Week Rollercoaster

2008-03-03T19:06:00.004-05:00

Wow - the 100th post here. Hard to believe that a) time has gone so fast and b) I had that much to say.

Well, I'm sitting here sipping on Erick's IPA that he and I brewed together in January and bottled on Feb 11. Pretty darned tasty. Not harsh, nice dry-hopped bitterness and floral aromas. Great head and retention, and cleared fairly well. I'll be savoring this six pack of it! I'll do a 'rating' later.

Quite a few weeks it's been. On Friday, 2/22, Justin, Jess, and Dave came over to the house for one wicked tasting. We enjoyed:

Allagash Grand Cru (750)
North Coast Brother Thelonious (750)
Gouden Carolus Cuvee van de Keizer (750)
East End Three (1 L)
Ommegang Ommegeddon (750)
Lost Abbey Judgment Day (750)
Full Sail Black Gold Imperial Stout Bourbon Barrel Aged (22 oz)

So the four of us polished those off over a few hours while watching comedians on YouTube, BS'ing, and starting an episode of the original Police Squad. Great evening!

Last week was busy at work and my wife was fighting a wicked head cold while doing 12-hour rotations at the local E.R. On 2/28, I got another year older, but celebrated with Erick and Betsy (and Dana) at The Coney with some bottled Nugget Nectar.

The real downer was yesterday, however, when my 57 year-old aunt Debbie passed away after battling with lung cancer, which had spread aggressively to her brain and her bones. My dad's only sister (she was ~14 years younger) and my only aunt (Mom's an only child). She lived her adult life in Woodbridge, VA but will be buried in PA next to my grandparents on Saturday.

Such is life, though. For those of you who smoke: you're idiots.

In other news, we're trying to decide what to do next week for our March Homebrewers club meeting. IUP is on Spring Break next week, too, so I'm hoping to brew a batch and perhaps do an encore Spring Break Beer Road Trip.

Oh - finally. Happy Birthday to my brother Jason!

Jon Joins the Blogosphere

2008-02-21T11:38:00.002-05:00

So, the fourth member of the homebrew 'exec board' joins the blogging world ... with a snappy blog address ihatehops.blogspot.com and name "Confessions of a Hop Hater".

Jon's Homebrewed Milk Stout

2008-02-09T22:02:00.000-05:00

My friend Jon, co-exec of the homebrew club came over to borrow "Clone Brews" and brought me a bomber of his latest beer ... a milk stout (which he named ??, I forget). He used a bunch of lactose on this one, and oh boy is it creamy!

Malted milk chocolate nose, just a bit of lactic or priming sugar twang. Light coffee notes and sweet undertones. Dark brown-black clear with a thin creamy light tan lacing head atop. Medium bodied but very creamy, with light carbonation. Starts and stays quite sweet throughout, but not cloying. Some roasty notes with a creamy, tangy note. Clean finish.

Thanks, Jon! This'll be a great contender for March!

Tomme Arthur's Letter to eBay

2008-02-09T08:15:00.000-05:00

Tomme Arthur, the master behind Port Brewing and Lost Abbey, has had enough with the jerks who buy his special release beers one day and put them on eBay the next. Absolutely hilarious!

Just the Cure for Some February Blahs!

2008-02-07T09:27:00.001-05:00

Last night, the Indiana Homebrewers Club "exec board", as we semi-jokingly call ourselves, met at Dave's house for a February meeting pre-meeting planning session and, of course, tasting.

I was a bit late, and by the time I showed up, everyone was gnoshing on some good eats with some bombers waiting to be cracked. I can't remember who brought what, but there was some nice spicy sausage, Gruyere and Havarti cheese, then some St. Andre triple cream and a Spanish bleu (forgot the name) wrapped in grape leaf. Some apples and pears provided a sweet touch - and the hot appetizer for the evening was pieces of pheasant (courtesy of Eli) and pepperocini (sp?) peppers wrapped in bacon. Good stuff ... except for the piece of steel shot that I almost cracked a tooth on. The downside of shot game!

Anyway, in between discussion and food, we did manage to have some beers. Justin, who'd been in CA for a meeting, brought back several bottles of Russian River. Dave provided a Lost Abbey, Eli some Oskar Blues, and I brought a bottle of Belgium's finest. Our tasting list last night:

1. Lost Abbey Lost & Found, 750mL (Dave)
2. 2004 Westvleteren 12, 330mL (Nate)
3. Russian River Damnation, 750mL (Justin)
4. Russian River Redemption, 750mL (Justin)
5. Russian River Salvation, 750mL (Justin)
6. Oskar Blues TEN FIDY, 2x12oz cans (Eli)

All very tasty stuff.

Happy Groundhog Day

2008-02-02T10:43:00.001-05:00

So ... Phil predicts six more weeks of winter. No surprise there, I guess. One of these years, I'll make the trek to Punxsy (especially now that it's only 30 miles away) and join the melee. But standing in a cold field with 30,000 people doesn't seem to be that appealing.

However, one of my cousins is a co-handler (at right in the picture here, that I stole from the Post-Gazette website), and he and the family up there make the yearly invite to come join. Maybe next year...

A Big Ol' Pittsburgh Beer Tasting

2008-01-30T21:55:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday, I drove down to the Sharp Edge Creekhouse for a beer tasting, dubbed the RateBeer Pittsburgh Gathering. Participation was certainly not limited to site members, and luckily so: more people to meet, more people to bring good beer, and more people to help drink all of that beer!

We were fortunate to have some "insiders" at the Sharp Edge who could set up a private area, ice for keeping bottles/growlers cool, snifters, and rinse water .. along with some pitas and other munchies. My thanks to Hart and all the Sharp Edge staff who put up with us on that afternoon.

So, there were approximately 15-20 of us throughout the afternoon, with some late arrivals and some early departures. I, unfortunately, had to head back to Indiana before all the beer was sampled, but between the road conditions, the 90 minute drive, and my tolerance - it was good that I left when I did.

Here's what we had:
1. East End Smokestack Heritage Porter, on tap (courtesy of the brewer himself, Scott Smith)
2. Rivertowne Honey of a Nut Brown, growler (courtesy of Bob)
3. Castelain Blonde Bière, bottle (courtesy of Mark)
4. Heavyweight Lunacy, bottle (courtesy of Hart)
5. La Moneuse, bottle (courtesy of Mark)
6. Bière Darbyste, bottle (courtesy of Mark)
7. Church Brew 120 Shilling Smoked Wee Heavy Scotch Ale, growler (courtesy of Joyce)
8. Rivertowne Bringing It Bock, growler (courtesy of Paul)
9. Uitzet Tripel, bottle (courtesy of Mark)
10. East End Three, bottle (courtesy of Dennis)
11. Piraat (10.5%), magnum (courtesy of Nick, Emily)
12. Cantillon Bruocsella 1900 Grand Cru, bottle (courtesy of Hart)
13. North Country Psychedelic Nightmare, growler (courtesy of Dennis)
14. Aecht Schlenkerla Helles Lagerbier, bottle (courtesy of Mark)
15. Gouyasse Tripel (aka Goliath), bottle (courtesy of Ryan)
16. Captain Lawrence Xtra Gold, bottle (courtesy of John)
17. New Belgium La Folie, bottle (courtesy of John)
18. 3 Fonteinen Schaerbeekse Kriek, bottle (courtesy of Alan)
19. Alaskan Smoked Porter, bottle (courtesy of Alan)
20. Church Brew Mexican Mole Stout, bottle (courtesy of Joyce)
21. Southampton 10th Anniversary Ale, bottle (courtesy of Jason)
22. North Country Liquid Love Stout, growler (courtesy of Dennis)
23. General Lafayette 275th Anniversary Ale, bottle (courtesy of Jason)
24. Nøgne Ø Dark Horizon First Edition, bottle (courtesy of Hart)
25. Church Brew Cherry Quadzilla, bottle (courtesy of Dennis)
26. Trader Joe's Vintage Ale 200?, bottle (courtesy of Nick)
27. Southampton Abbot 12, bottle (courtesy of Nate)
28. Otto's Jolly Roger Imperial Stout, bottle (courtesy of Nate)
29. Thirsty Dog Siberian Night Imperial Stout, bottle (courtesy of Mark)
30. Hurlimann Samichlaus (1995), bottle (courtesy of Mark)

I also took a few bottles of homebrewed coffee porter to pass around. I didn't get a chance to try the last 5 on the list, but was only really bummed about the Hurlimann Samichlaus!

Anyway, it was a great afternoon of socializing, trying outstanding beers, and appreciating good beer in the company of others who do the same. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to do it again soon.

PLCB Article in Post-Gazette (part 4 of 4)

2008-01-30T07:32:00.000-05:00

Und endlich, hier ist das letztes Stück.

PLCB Article in Post-Gazette (part 3 of 4)

2008-01-29T07:08:00.000-05:00

The third part is found here.

There's also the public comment/forum here.

PLCB Article in Post-Gazette (part 2 of 4)

2008-01-28T21:18:00.000-05:00

Today's installment can be found here.

PLCB Article in Post-Gazette (part 1 of 4)

2008-01-27T08:24:00.000-05:00

For those who don't normally look at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, today starts a four-part series on the monopoly that is the PLCB. Check it out.

Added the Coffee

2008-01-20T17:10:00.000-05:00

A big thanks again to TJ at Commonplace Coffee ... he gave me a quart of cold-pressed Sumatran Mandheling coffee extract to add to the porter. I brought it up to boiling, then quick-cooled before adding to the secondary fermenter. Going to give it a couple of more weeks before bottling. Gotta get it ready for Febtoberfest!

Edit: In answer to Eli's question in comment 1: Yep, I boiled it last time, too. You're right in that boiled coffee can be harsh, but the difference here (at least I think it is) is that boiling/hot water was not used to extract anything from the beans, which will give that bitterness. Rather, the coffee was extracted using cold water, then the extract was brought to a boil. I suspect that if I let it boil for a while, the "cooking" reactions would impart harsh flavors, but it was just to do a quick sanitize and I cooled it down immediately. Only time will tell if this batch comes out as nice as the first one!

Edit: Adam, check out Toddy Coffee; this is the little device that my buddy TJ uses to make cold extracts. They use it for making really good iced coffee in the summer. It is indeed smooth!

IPA and Coffee Porter to Secondary

2008-01-16T21:25:00.000-05:00

My buddy Erick came over after work today and I helped him rack his first batch of homebrew to secondary. The gravity was at 1.010, so looking good. Tasted pretty good. We dry hopped it with 1 oz. of Cascade flower at 7.4%AA.

After that, I transferred my coffee porter to secondary. I'll be picking up the coffee extract (going with a quart of cold-pressed Sumatran Mandheling from Commonplace again). Porter gravity was at 1.011 and tasted super.

Can't wait for both of these to be done!

Beer, Books, and Yogurt

2008-01-13T21:51:00.000-05:00

Both brews from this week (porter and IPA) are finished bubbling vigorously, but I didn't get a chance to rack to secondary today. With IUP's semester starting tomorrow, there were just too many others things to attend to.

Over the weekend, I was point towards a cool book site, where you can 'rate' and review books that you've read, share lists with friends, join discussion groups, etc. If you're a bookworm, and haven't already found it, check out goodreads.com. It's a free account, and you just need a valid email. I've kept a list of books that I've read over the years because every time I go to the library, I need to remind myself if I've read a book or not. It's particularly a problem with all the popular fiction I read where authors tend to make similar titles - like John Sandford's "Prey" titles, or James Patterson's nursery rhyme homages. I really need to read some more 'classic' literature, but by the time I get done with a day of technical reading, I just wanna unwind with books I don't have to think about.

Finally, in the spirit of fermentation, I broke out the yogurt maker tonight (first time in a long time), and made a batch for the week. One of these days, I want to try to make cheese!

A Symphony of Bubbling

2008-01-10T11:57:00.000-05:00

Walked into my kitchen this morning to find two 5 gallon primary buckets bubbling away nicely, with the metronomic clicking of two airlocks (not in synch, however). 'Tis a beautiful thing.

Homebrew #2 for 2008 - Teaching a Friend

2008-01-09T17:36:00.000-05:00

Two days in a row of homebrewing broke my dry spell quite well (hadn't brewed since August '07!)

Today, I tutored a buddy on extract brewing. Erick, also neighbor/colleague and fellow Indiana Homebrewers Club member, wanted to get started in brewing. He purchased ingredients for an IPA, his wife (for Xmas present) bought a carboy and bottling bucket, and I supplied some miscellaneous gear and my kitchen.

Erick came over at 2pm and I walked him through the extract brewing process ... by 5:30, the yeast was pitched and we were cleaned up. A bit shorter than yesterday!

Here's the recipe for Erick's IPA:
- 4 lbs. pale LME
- 3 lbs. extra light DME
- 10 oz 40 °L crystal malt
- 1.5 oz Nugget (60 min)
- 3/4 oz. each Northdown, Willamette; 1/4 oz. Nugget (15 min)
- 1/4 oz. each Northdown, Willamette, Nugget (1 min)
- pitched with Wyeast 1056
- O.G. 1.051

A Warm January Day: Brewing, Tasting, Homebrew Club

2008-01-08T11:41:00.000-05:00

Some days just beg to be taken advantage of ... and today is one of those days. This is going to be one long post; edited periodically.

10am: Filling up the brewing keg with filtered water and got the burner going. It's a bit windy on the porch, but sunny and warm.

11:30am: Just started the mash for my Commonplace Coffee Porter in a converted picnic cooler. 12 lbs 2-row pale; 1 lb British chocolate malt; 12 oz 60 °L crystal; 6 oz. dextrin malt; 4 oz. black malt; and 1 oz. roasted barley. Added 14 qt of 155° water and brought mash up to ~144° Letting it sit for 30 min.

While that's steeping, I'm trying out the connections of my newly-crafted wort chiller (same one from before, just better fittings). ... :( ... one of the hoses will fit but the other won't. That's confounding, as they're both garden hoses, and both fittings are the same. Well, the input hose is leak free, so I'll just have to hold the output over the porch railing. Back to the drawing board for that!

12:10pm: Just added 6 qts of 200° water to bring mash up to around 150° which is a tad low. In keeping with what I did last time, I'm going to take a few quarts of the mash and boil, then add back to the mash. I think it gives it a bit more maltiness - like a decoction mash.

12:15pm: Just finished adding the water above when the phone rings ... it's a reporter from the local paper wanting to know if he and a photog can come to tonight's homebrew club meeting. This day is just getting better and better. Time for a lunch break.

1:30pm: The starch test was good, ready to sparge. Forgot how much my keg cools down, so I have to wait a few minutes to get my sparge water up to temp again. I'll wait while sipping a Stone Pale Ale.

1:45pm: Startin' the sparge.

2:30pm: Sparging is done. Pulled off approximately 6 gallons of wort, then started the burner.

3:25pm: Windy out ... took a bit longer to get the boil going. After the hot break, added Cascade and Northern Brewer (used 3/4 oz. each) in a hop sock. Let 'er go for 45 minutes. Added the irish moss, and put in the wort chiller to sanitize.

4:40: Started chillin'. Got the primary bucket ready & sanitized.

5:05: Chilled to about 90°, transferred to primary bucket. Got just under 5 gallons, so I added a bit of cold water to bring to 5 gallons. S.G. at 80°F was 1.058, so that's 1.060 at 60°F. Pitched Wyeast 1056 and locked up.

7:00pm: Went up to Dave's for a pre-meeting meeting. We (Dave, Justing, and Eli) sampled a Three Floyds Dreadnaught and a 'black lager' homebrew. From there, we all went up to the Coney for the January Indiana Homebrewers Club meeting, where we watched a DVD on all-grain brewing after getting some pictures taken for the local paper. After the video, we sampled four different beers from various members.

All in all, quite a nice beer day.

First Homebrew for 2008: A Repeat Recipe

2008-01-07T22:41:00.000-05:00

I absolutely cannot pass up this unseasonably warm weather and the opportunity to brew on the porch tomorrow. I'll be making a second batch of the all-grain Commonplace Coffee Porter. I've only got five bottles of the original and must have more!

Wednesday, I'm going to help a friend & neighbor brew up his very first batch of beer - an extract IPA recipe. Once the coffee porter comes out of primary, I hope to brew a partial mash Belgian ale before January is out. Gonna be a busy brew month!

A Head of Steam

2008-01-05T17:15:00.000-05:00

I'm sipping a glass of Eli's steam beer (not the Imperial Steam, as he corrected yesterday). Steam beers, sometimes known as California Common beers, tend to be lagered, if I'm thinking straight - but I believe this batch is an ale. Correction thanks to cptvideo!: steam beers are fermented with lager yeasts at ale fermenting temperature. Thanks!

This has a nice aroma to it, with a bit of fruitiness to the hops and just a bit of DMS (nothing like last time!). Mild sweet malt and a bit of offness that's phenolic in character. Golden amber body, with mild haze, topped by a lasting, lacing, off-white creamy/foamy head. Medium body with medium carbonation. Starts with a nice rounded soft maltiness that is gets hit pretty quickly with grassy & rubbery (phenolic) hops. Mild bitterness to finish and a fairly clean after ... a bit sweet and not very much bitterness at all. I didn't find any weird aftertaste to this one, and think that the only detraction is that bit of phenolic character. Great second beer!

A Night Off From Beer (Gasp!)

2008-01-04T23:45:00.000-05:00

This is the first Friday in a long while that I've not had a frothy pint (or bottle). Why, you ask with mouth agape?

I learned the hard way not to mix beer in the same evening with another drink - champagne. That's a hard bit of research, let me tell you, when living in Reims and having friends who make their own champagne ... but also have grocery stores where Chimay Bleu is cheaply (sob) available. Mixing the two, not even in great excess, was a bad thing.

So, with dinner and a movie at home tonight with my better half, we polished off a bottle of Piper-Heidsieck Brut from our former home town. So my apologies to Eli, for promising to try his Imperial Steam Beer tonight and not making it. Tomorrow!

The Ad is Placed

2008-01-03T18:38:00.000-05:00

So the Homebrewers Club ad is now circulating in town! Hopefully, we'll garner some more interest for our January and February meetings!

Onorato Tax

2008-01-02T10:37:00.000-05:00

I was watching the Pittsburgh news last night and of course one of the big stories was the start of the new 10% alcohol tax imposed on 'poured drinks' in Allegheny County. They had the manager of the Big Burrito Group on the report, showing that at all of their establishments, the tax on the bill was listed as the "Onorato Tax". Many bars in the area had signs outside telling customers to "Thank Dan for your higher drink prices".

The restaurant and bar association members tried to have a judge put a hold on the action last week, claiming it unfair because there are certain exemptions (like casinos for example) to those who can be taxed. The biggest exemption, of course, is the state run monopoly that is our liquor store system. Of course, for consumers, it's nice not to have to pay more when buying spirits, but the local pub or restaurant is getting hosed.

I think the whole mess sucks. Pennsylvania has probably the highest, if not THE highest, taxes on alcohol (including the 18% Johnstown Flood tax). Now, for those rare times when I actually get to enjoy a fine pint of Belgian or micro beer in Allegheny Co., I'm going to have to pay $0.40-$0.80 more. All to fund a mismanaged and corrupt Port Authority transit system, which I never use.

Here are some links for more information:
OnoratoTax.com
outside.in

Snappy New Beer!

2008-01-01T10:30:00.000-05:00

Snappy New Beer ... wished on me by a colleague and fellow Indiana Homebrewer at midnight. It's probably been around, but it was honestly the first I'd heard it and seemed appropriate.

So anyway, Happy New Year to all and may 2008 bring you happiness, success, and lots of good beer!

A Little Western PA Tour

2007-12-28T11:58:00.000-05:00

I hope that everyone had a nice Christmas (for those who observe) and/or break and got to enjoy good beer!

Neither my or my wife's families exchanged gifts this year, except of course for the kids ... can't ignore the nephews! Regardless, I still ended up with a gift card to Marzoni's and an 'official' 2006 Oktoberfest München ceramic 0.5L mug on Christmas Eve. For Christmas day, I was drinking Avalanche IPA (which I'd purchased with the former) out of the latter. It was a nice day.

Yesterday, friends and fellow brewers Dave and Justin (Muckney Brewing) and I got in my car and headed out of town for a day of sampling and purchasing. Friend Eli (Four Eyed Geek) was not able to go, though he sent a cooler with empty growlers and cash in his stead; and Jon (no link) was working, but had just returned from a successful beer trip to the Detroit area.

After gathering everyone/thing, we grabbed some caffeine for the road at Indiana's own Commonplace Coffee and took off. First stop for the day (after a brief detour to my parents' house) was North Country Brewing in Slippery Rock. Here we had lunch and some samples. Dave & Justin each got a sampler tray, while I had a pint of the Dubble Trouble and the cask Amber. The cask amber was terrific!

From Slippery Rock, we headed down I-79 into Cranberry, where we each got a sampler tray at the Hereford & Hops. I thought that most were mediocre at best, though the Portersville Porter (Baltic porter) was above average.

Next, as rush hour was about to commence, we headed down Route 19 into Wexford to the first of two beer stores for the evening, 3 Sons Dogs & Suds. I find that 3 Sons is a bit cheaper than D's SixPax & Dogz for many beers, though the selection is a bit smaller. I grabbed a Lindemans Framboise and Chimay Bleu for my wife (both her favorites), and a Hoppin' Frog BORIS the Crusher for myself. Dave & Justin found good offerings, too.

From 3 Sons, we slogged our way down Route 19 to McKnight Road, then over Babcock Blvd to Country Wines for some homebrewing supplies. They had reorganized some things since I was last in - seemed a bit more roomy, anyway. I grabbed a few essential equipment pieces for friend/neighbor/colleague Erick, who's going to brew his first batch of beer over Xmas break in my kitchen. Lookin' forward to bringing yet another person over to the wonderful world of brewing!

By now, it was dark and rush hour in full swing. It was also time for growler hours (5-7pm) at East End Brewing! So, down Babcock and over to 28 North until the Highland Park Bridge, etc, etc. East End was slammed by the time we got there ... must have been at least 20-30 cars parked in the street and it was a fairly long wait to get our growlers filled. I think a lot of people go there to get free tastings and bullshit, though I hope they all buy something to support Scott. (see interview I did with Scott here)

I picked up a growler of the Grisette and a bottle of the Three Year Anniversary Ale; Dave & Justin got their fill, and we got more stuff for Eli. Snow Melt and The Bitter End were running, and last year's batch of Gratitude was back on sale.

By now, we were all hungry again and had one more stop to make: D's SixPak in Edgewood. After waiting for a table (man, it was slammed in there too!), we grabbed a draft and some food and then geared up to peruse the wares in the Beer Cave. I was particularly excited, because I had a $50 gift certificate that I'd purchased for $25 in October.

I grabbed 8 bottles, totaling just over $50, but they were ones I've been meaning to try for a while - along with a few spur-of-the-moment choices. A few interesting ones were Nøgne Ø 100, Avery The Beast and Avery Samäel's Oak-Aged Ale (note the particularly poetic rating by krisbierjaeger, who offers wonderful notes on beer tasting!), DFH Raison d'Extra and a few other goodies.

These buys, along with a few trades/gifts from Jon (including Founders Breakfast Stout, some Jolly Pumpkin offerings, and probably what will be my 2000th beer rating - Kuhnhenn Raspberry Eisbock).

All in all, it was another enjoyable and successful year end voyage and shopping trip (last year I was at State Line Liquors in Maryland) and I look forward to drinking and sharing many of the finds with my buddies listed above (and looking forward to trying some of their finds, too)!

In case I don't get a chance before the next post; Happy New Year!

Catching Up

2007-12-19T15:42:00.000-05:00

My, how time flies.

For those who check in regularly, my apologies. I'm still here, still drinking beer, still reading others' blogs - but unfortunately ignoring my creative writing outlet that is this blog. But, the semester is over, grades are in, and I'm looking forward to some time away from the office.

So what has been going on?

I've tried about 40 new beers since my last post, which included some road trips to Marzoni's for Bill's Wheat Wine, Otto's in State College (twice!) for some cask Amarillo Pale Ale, Five Year Ale, and some Ottonator and to Rivertowne Pour House in Monroeville for several offerings. The first trip to State College was pseudo-business related - just a flying day trip up and back and the second was because my brother came in from Idaho and the two of us did some bar hopping last week. I had several tasty Belgian beers while at Zeno's, which never disappoints (St. Bernardus Christmas Ale, HOTD Fred, Ichtegems Grand Cru, and Smuttynose Farmhouse Ale). Great time catching up with my brother, but the ice storm we had to drive back through the next morning ... coulda done without that!

The Indiana Homebrewers Club met 'unofficially' on December 11 at The Coney for a few rounds of pints and conversation. We'll meet again officially the second Tuesday of January. We also placed some advertisements in hopes of expanding membership and getting this thing really going.

I have been very bad about homebrewing! My all grain ingredients for the second batch of Commonplace Coffee Porter still are sitting here and now with crappy weather moved in .. well, it may be a while. However, I do plan to do an extract batch or possible counter-top partial mash during Christmas break, in order to have something to share for the homebrew club's Febtoberfest. I've fallen behind my comrades in barley! (Eli and Dave & Justin) but I've been helpful watching them brew, drinking their products, etc.

I'm looking forward to visits over the break to several of my favorite establishments, including Marzoni's, North Country, East End Brewing, D's 6 Pack & Dogz, and hopefully a few others. On the Thursday after Xmas, several of us are doing a road trip to North Country, then maybe to Hereford & Hops in Cranberry, then on to D's and East End (Dave has been to neither of the latter) and I need to use up a gift certificate at D's that burning a hole in my desk drawer! If I get real ambitious, I may try to get down to Johnstown Brewing and Tulune's South Side Pub.

My wife is ready for a trip to State College, and I'll gladly go again. I'd love to get up to Williamsport and hit Bullfrog and Abbey Wright, but that's probably pushing it ;)

2nd Homebrewers Club Meeting A Success

2007-11-14T07:47:00.000-05:00

Last night was our second homebrewers club meeting. A few people couldn't make it, and we didn't get any new members this time. But we still had about 15 people. The highlights can be found here.

Time to recruit more people!

2nd Indiana Homebrewers Club Meeting - Preview

2007-11-12T22:07:00.000-05:00

So tomorrow night is going to be the second meeting of the Indiana Homebrewers Club and I'm very excited. The last meeting was a great success - with 20 people showing up. Tomorrow, we're going to have (hopefully) that many and maybe a few more.

We'll start with a homebrew tasting: five or six of our members have agreed to bring a six pack of their product to share a taste with everyone. I'll be one of those sharing, and will take a sixer of my Commonplace Coffee Porter (which I need to make more of next week, hopefully). After the tasting, one of our members is going to give a presentation on the basics of extract brewing (with slides and everything!). Should be a good time, and I'll comment more later on the meeting.

Did anyone brew or teach a friend to brew back on 11/3? I couldn't, unfortunately.

Voodoo Gran Met

2007-11-12T21:53:00.000-05:00

My, how time flies. Already closing in on Thanksgiving and the light at the end of the fall semester. I sat down this evening and cracked open the fifth bottle of my Voodoo sampler pack: Gran Met, a Belgian style ale that, to me, floats out there between a tripel and a strong ale. So far, all of Matt Allyn's beers from Voodoo are technically superb. There aren't any flaws, or what I'd consider flaws (what the hell do I know, though) but the recipes all throw some sort of curve at your palate. It's refreshing, really, and you never quite know what to expect. But, it leaves many of us beer geeks a bit befuddled, even dazed (maybe that's just the high ABV), as we try to wrap our taste buds around the mix of elements that don't always get paired quite so readily as Matt has done.

Bottled. Has a sweet, clean aroma. Light honey, tripel estery profile, and mild alcohol notes. Sweet with a bit of muskiness, like a melon rind that's not quite ripe. Alcoholic notes get more and more pervasive as it warms, reminding me a bit of a European strong. Just a bit of butterscotch, but not to a fault. Light and fruity, with a hint of mild hops. Golden amber clear, with a thin white lacing head. Medium bodied, deceptively light for the amount of alcohol but probably because of the beet sugar. Medium to high effervescence, with a bit of prickly carbonic tang; could be a little smoother, but this might be helped by a little aging. Starts sweet, with honey, orange blossom, sugary sweetness and a mild hint of peppercorn. Honey Crisp cereal notes in the finish, light spicy character like teaberry gum. Bitterness is really secondary, lending more of a dry finish to the sweet malt and alcoholic notes. Alcohol warming, with a muted dry-grainy after. A little rough around the edges, and will probably improve (hopefully) with a bit of age. A decent offering and technically solid, but not as complex as I would have imagined.

How Many Homebrewers Are Out There?

2007-10-31T07:52:00.000-04:00

I pose this question not as a survey, though you're welcome to comment and share information, but rather as the rhetorical thought that popped into my head when some friends and I were contemplating a homebrew club in our little town.

As it turns out, a lot.

The inaugural meeting of our Indiana Homebrewers Club met last Tuesday at The Coney here in Indiana. Other than word of mouth and a few fliers posted at perhaps two establishments in town, we had done no real advertising. Despite that, the attendance was amazing.

Most people had done some brewing, a few had not yet brewed. The majority were doing extract, and a few of us are familiar with partial mash and all-grain. There seemed to be a current of excitement in the room as people mingled and met fellow enthusiasts; almost a bit cathartic to find out that "hey, I'm not the only person who likes to homebrew".

Our first 'regular' meeting will be in a few weeks, and one of our more experienced brewers is going to give a presentation on the basics of extract brewing. Several of us are going to bring six-packs of homebrew to share at a small tasting.

I hope that attendance will keep around this level, and that we can craft a club that meets everyones needs. It promises to be quite an adventure.

PS - don't forget that this coming Saturday is Teach A Friend to Brew Day!

Happy Mole Day

2007-10-23T09:30:00.000-04:00

Yeah - for any of you chem or science geeks out there - Happy Mole Day (10/23)! I plan to have several moles of "beer molecules" tonight to celebrate.

Mmmmarzoni's

2007-10-21T18:32:00.000-04:00

What a beautiful fall weekend in western Pennsylvania. A tad too warm for me, considering we're 3/4 through October, but a great time to be on a trip. The leaves are turning, the sunlight is crisp and bright, and beers are rotating. The last of the summer beers are kicking, the oktoberfests are just past their peak, and the winter warmer beers wait just over the cold horizon.

We found ourselves pulling into Marzoni's in Duncansville about 2:30 yesterday afternoon. Hadn't been there in quite a while and it was killing me ;)

We walked in to find the Oktoberfest and German Hefeweizen on tap as the specials. I'd had both before in seasons past, and it was nice to see some old friends. Speaking of old friends, we found James & Jo at the bar, whom we've not seen in ages. They're getting married in a few weeks and it promises to be a good celebration. We kicked some pints back while reminiscing.

The Oktoberfest was even better than I'd remembered and hit the spot - just the right balance of malt and dry nutty hops in the finish. Unfortunately, as I was about to order up another, they announced it kicked. I wasn't the only one disappointed! The man who got half a glass down the bar from me was David Cassidy, the co-owner of Cassidy's Brew Zoo in Altoona - a retail distributor from which I've bought a fair amount of beer. James introduced us, and we chatted about the beer scene in Altoona, the challenges of running a retail vs. wholesale outlet, and the somewhat restrictive laws that affects everyone in the beer chain. As we talked, the other co-owner, Rick, arrived to join the conversation.

After another hefeweizen, I settled the tab and walked out with a growler of the Avalanche IPA for the game tonight - which I enjoyed (the beer, not the game since we lost by a field goal in the last 2 seconds).

Ground Pepper, Sir?

2007-10-11T19:49:00.000-04:00

Last night I cracked open a bomber of Voodoo White Magick of the Sun - a Belgian wit brewed with tons of spices (including 12 types of peppercorns) and fermented with a house Belgian tripel yeast. Odd conglomeration of elements, but a fairly decent brew.

Without a doubt, the most peppery beer I've tried to date. It was in the nose, and it was on the tongue. In fact, when pouring the dregs, the yeast was black-ish from the pepper. Interesting.

I can see how many will miss the more subtle notes of this beer; very delicate. As it warms up a bit, sitting in a snifter, the aromas blossom a bit more. First, there is the pepper. Undoubtedly, the strongest pepper/peppercorn aroma I’ve ever encountered. The juniper berries come next, with the sweet gin tang. A bit of orange blossom and light coriander, though not a lot. Definitely a delicate nose and easy to miss. Mild tripel sweetness and light honey. Pours with a pale dull copper-amber, hazy, with non-descript off-white head. Very little lacing. Medium watery body with medium carbonation, thin but also quenching. Starts with medium tripel-wit sweetness, wheaty yet with a chalky yeastiness. Peppercorns and sweet orange essence attack next. A spicy beer, for sure, but not overbearing. Mild watery gin taste, light coriander. Overall, a bit watery with carbonic tang. Fruity juniper and pepper finish, with light chalky tripel-yeast-sweet after. I like this, but could use a bit more body to it.