The adventures of a beer lover, brewriana collector and homebrewer in the Texas Hill Country
Interbrew and Royal Phillips Electronics have joined forces to create a home draft system to sell in Australia. The device is a case that covers a small metal keg. The keg cools the beer and lets you pour draft beer at home.
We'll never get that here. Neither Bud nor Miller would want to package their product in that kind of container.
6 lbs Williams Brewing American Lager liquid malt extract (70% malt, 30% corn)
1 ounce Cascade hops/60 minutes
1 ounce Cascade hops/15 minutes
1 tsp Irish Moss
Wyeast 1056 Chico
OG = 1043
I brewed this using the "Good Eats method." I put two gallons of water into my kettle, added the extract and began the boil. To the fermenter, I added 7 pounds of ice and 1 and 1/2 gallons of water. At the end of the boil, I strained the wort into the ice water and pitched the yeast. I don't think I stirred my beer well, because my actual original gravity was 1021.
The last couple of beers that I brewed were dark, so I didn't do a secondary fermentation. Since this one is pale, I will rack to secondary on Sunday, where it will sit for two weeks.
Labels: Wahl- Henius Ale
I was disappointed to learn that Miller Brewing Company will end their Miller Lite "Man Law" campaign, albeit temporarily. Instead, they will advertise the quality of their beer as their main selling point.
At least I can watch the commercials online. . .
Labels: Beer Commercials
Also on the website is the interesting history of the brewery: "Originally founded in 1993 at Oulton Broad by real ale enthusiast Tim Dunford, the Green Jack Brewery ceased to trade in 2001 after a split with business partners. However, in 2003 Tim installed a 2000 litre plant behind the Triangle Tavern in Lowestoft to become England’s most Easterly brewery."
Congratulations to Tim!
Labels: Beer News
Over on the Beer Blog, Stephen Beaumont reports that Labatt's Brewing, owned by InBev, is trying to buy Canadian discount brewer Lakeport Brewing Company, whose discount prices have propelled it to the third largest Ontario brewery. InBev generally buys and and then closes breweries to reduce costs, laying off thousands of people worldwide.
Stephen speculates that instead of closing or discontinuing the Lakeport discount line, Labatt's will stop promoting the line, hoping to lure the Lakeport drinkers to the more profitable Labatt's line. This is how Miller handled Celis beers in the 90s.
Labels: Beer News
The more I review beer, the more I realize I like most beer. Most of the eight or nine reviews I done offline score 15 points or better. Are they all really that good?
Anyway, the other day I bought a six-pack of Abita Brewing Company's annual mardi Gras beer, Abita Bock. And here's what how I evaluated it:
Appearance: Golden amber color with a thick white foamy head. 3 points.
Aroma/Bouquet: Fleeting, slightly sweet, with syrup tones. No hop notes. 3 points
Taste:Hop/Malt balance: Despite the malty smell, malt not too apparent. Slight bitterness on the tongue from hops. 3 points.
Aftertaste: Slightly sweet malt finish, with a tingly hop finish. 3 points.
Mouthfeel: Full mouth feel with lots of carbonation. 2 points.Overall impression: This is really good. The slight malt finish reminds me of Spaten Oktoberfest. It's not as strong as Spaten, it hints at that flavor. I actually expected something like Shiner Bock when I bought this. It's more European in feel than Shiner. And I got to use my Abita pint glass! 3 points.
Total: 17 points
Labels: Beer Review
My cousin, Satan (As in "Get thee behind me..." He says all his friend's wives are convinced he's Satan, sent to lead their spouses into temptation.), is getting back into brewing. About six or seven years ago, he and a friend (now deceased) brewed an Oatmeal Stout and won second place in regional competitions leading up to the national AHA contest.
Here then is his recipe:
Brother Spud's Oatmeal Stout (All-Grain)
OG=1060
7 lb Marris Otter Malt
1.13 lb roasted barley
1 lb German wheat malt
1/2 lb Crystal malt 15° L
1/2 lb Crystal malt 80° L
1.13 lb flaked oats
1 lb flaked barley
2 tsp gypsum
0.9 oz English Kent Goldings 6.2%AA/90 minutes
0.8 oz English Kent Goldings 6.2%AA/15 minutes
Irish Ale yeast
Use 10 quarts strike water at 175°F. Mash for one hour. Sparge. Boil mash 2 hours. Cool and pitch yeast.
Forgive me if the recipe is incomplete. Satan did say, "I'm using an infusion mash with a two hour boil time." I don't do all grain recipes.
His OG was 1.060. When he bottled the beer, the FG was 1.030. I think he should have let it ferment a few more days. But he's confident that everything will turn out fine. I can't wait to try it.
Labels: Recipes
The other day, my doctor told me he would like to see me cut back on my beer intake. Then he asked me if I was depressed, or had money problems. I looked quizzically at him for a moment while it sunk in. "Oh! The beer! No, no. I just like beer." It wasn't until I got home that I realized I was wearing a Beer Church t-shirt.
"Bradley Cailor was a yo-yo dieter. He hit bottom when his scale topped out at 266 pounds. Today, he's a trim 152, and he did it drinking beer," says an article at cbs2chicago.com.
"Start by just getting your meals a little smaller. Don't have a gigantic thing of fries. Have some fries,” Cailor said.
The point is to keep from feeling deprived. During the week he eats small meals. Snack-sized ones, five or six times a day. And he works out every day.
But on weekends, he eats all the stuff he loves. And drinks beer.
"You gotta do the right things most of the time, and then we can have fun here a couple times a week, too,” Cailor said. “Remember: Eighty percent good, maybe 20 percent bad. That's the ticket."
The article concludes that he has switched to light beer, and reminds the reader that beer is a slurge, not a binge.
Labels: Beer and Health
As a local brewery supporter, I have been drinking Shiner beers regularly for over a decade. The other day I decided to sit down and evaluate my favorite beer, and was surprised by the outcome.
Appearance (0-3 pts): Orangey brown color with amber highlights. Perfect clarity. It has a thick white head with small bubbles that dissapatesrapidly to a small ring around the edge of the glass. 3 points.
Aroma/Bouquet (0-4 pts.): Cararmelly sweet aroma. No hops detected. Definitely malty. Maybe a little too sweet? 3 points.
Taste: Hop/Malt Balance (0-4 pts.): Low hop bitterness, mainly in the finish. 4 points.
Aftertaste (0-3): Finishes sweet with a little hop bitterness on the back of the tongue. 2 points.
Mouthfeel (0-3): A little thin and watery. 2 points.Overall Impression (0-3 pts.): Shiner Bock is the quintessential Texas experience. It's so much more flavorful that most other beers, and I like it. 3 points.
Total: 17 points.
I have to admit, I had thought it would rank a bit higher than that. But I am just starting this whole evaluation thing, and I suspect that when I revisit this evaluation, things might change.
Labels: Beer Review
The search for gluten-free beer got easier for drinkers in December when Anheuser-Busch released Redbridge, the first nationally distributed sorghum-based beer. The beer has been in testing for more than a year and many A-B distributors have already lined up placements in stores, such as Whole Foods and Wild Oats, featuring organic and other specialty foods. Sorghum beers serve first the more than 2 million Americans with celiac disease, although those allergic to wheat may also drink them. Celiac disease is a genetic disorder causes stomach cramps and digestive problems and can lead to other serious health risks. People with celiac disease cannot tolerate gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, oats and spelt (which are the grains traditionally used to brew beer).
Here's a link to gluten free homebrew recipes.
Comfort is in western Kendall County on I-10, about 40 miles west of San Antonio. The town was laid out in 1854 on the ruins of an old Indian camp, though there had been settlers in the area since 1852. A cooperative community, Comfort resisted local government and didn’t have a church until 1892. For many years, Comfort Competed with Kerrville to become county seat of Kerr County, but lost out when Kendal county was organized in 1862, and the town was removed from Kerr County.
Thomas Ingenhuett arrived in Comfort, along with his parents, and brother Martin, in 1854. Peter, an older brother who had come to Texas two years earlier, joined the family, and they began farming. Peter later sold his farm to his brothers and moved into town where he opened several businesses, including a hotel, a saloon, and a livery stable. The Ingenhuett men were also charter members of the Comforter Liedertafel, a male singing group, or mannerchor.
During the Civil War, Comfort was the center of pro Union sentiment, and lost many young men at the Nueces Massacre. A monument to these dead, the Treue Der Union Monument, is the only monument dedicated to Union dead in the South. It one of only four places that are authorized to perpetually fly the flag at half staff.
In 1878, Thomas and Martin established a lager beer brewery on the banks of Cypress Creek. Martin died in 1881, leaving Thomas as the sole owner of the brewery. Ingenhuett beer was considered as good as Menger Hotel Beer.
The brewery disappears from the tax records in 1884, but A Hundred Years of Comfort in Texas says that the brewery survived until 1887, when the railroad arrived in Comfort. Beer from the Menger Hotel, the Pearl brewery and the Lone Star brewery was being shipped ice-cold into town. Thomas could not afford to refrigerate his beer and the brewery closed and went back to farming.
Thomas and Anna, his wife, had four sons, Otto, Martin, Oscar and Charles. Anna died in 1885, and Thomas married the widow of his brother Martin, Marie. Peter’s store was run by Gregory Krauter, his great-grandson, until it burned in a heartbreaking fire in 2005.
Much of the Comfort is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
There is a fun beer related story that needs repeating. Some July 3rd after Thomas closed the brewery, the Goldbeck Brothers were going through town, and passed the train depot. They spotted a car carrying Menger beer for the July Fourth celebration sitting in the sun. Realizing that the beer would spoil, the Goldbecks rushed to the cannon used to call the citizens for an Indian attack, and fired a shot. The citizens of Comfort responded to the shot and were a bit upset when they learned there was no Indian attack. They quickly realized that the Goldbeck’s were right to be concerned about the fate of the beer, however. The town quickly decided to celebrate July 4th a day early to prevent spoiled beer.
Germans do have their priorities.
Labels: Beer History
Ken March has been involved in the beer industry for some time: his first brew was a hard apple cider fermented in his closet in 1991. Ken started large-batch homebrewing in the spring of 2000. Some time later, Ken and a close friend were sitting at the Flying Saucer in Ft Worth, Texas, when the topic of breweries came up. One thing led to another and an idea hit: Why not create a natural beer? And so was born Healthy Brew Brewery!
After some research, a line of beers was born. The beers are organic, made without any additional chemicals or additives are made in small batches for the utmost quality.
Healthy Brew Tours and Tastings are held on the Second and Fourth Saturdays of each month, from 12:00 P.M. until 3:00 P.M. and include free beer tastings and food. Tours are at 1:30 P.M. and 3:00 P.M. Healthy Brew Brewery (817-238-1334) is at 6435 Nine Mile Bridge Rd, in Fort Worth, between Round Rock Trail and Rolling Meadow Trail.
Labels: microbreweries
Labels: Beer Vacation
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