Three Texas Breweries in Top 23 Tap Handles Article

Thrillist.com recently published an article of the best tap handles in America. Three Texas breweries made the list.

First to appear on the list is Jester King:

Next, is Four Corners Brewery:

And Deep Ellum Brewing pops up too:

Ninkasi Has Turned Against Me!

Normally, you would be getting a recipe here. But you're not. I truly intended to brew last weekend.

No! Really, I did!

But Ninkasi aligned things against me.

First I went to my LHBS, and  tried to order ingredients for the recipe, and they were out of wheat.  Wheat malt and flaked wheat were not to arrive for another week. Hell! I'd put off ordering a week because they were supposed to get it next week.

Sigh.

Satan recommended a homebrew shop near him, but their website was too hard to navigate. Instead of grouping the stock of the store in categories and letting me click on "grains", for example, their supplies were arranged on 70 pages.  Pass. I'm sure it's a great shop to visit, but their page isn't.

So, next I went to High Gravity Homebrewing and tried there. I was able to click a lot of check boxes to get my ingredients together, but the site crashed and lost all my clicked check boxes.

Sigh.

So I went to Northern Brewer. And their site was so slow that I couldn't get past the intro screen.

I guess I wasn't meant to brew last weekend.

Rest assured, as soon as a homebrew shop will let me buy ingredients, I will brew!

Deep Ellum Job Titles

I ran across an article about Deep Ellum Brewing Company and their fun job titles:

• Jeremy Hunt – Yeast Whisperer
• David Hauptman – Hop Czar
• John Wiewel – Sales Samurai
• Terry Leonard – Van Diesel
• Christian Rasmussen – Thorgrimsen Keg Viking
• Josh Mowell – Numbers Guy
• Chris Eiland – The Vansporter

Westbrook Berwing Co. White Thai - Review

Satan and I made a few stops at bottle shops on the way home from NHC. The next few posts will be reviews of the beers. Since my LHBS is out of wheat malt until Wednesday, I couldn't brew last weekend, so I broke out the Jester King glass and tablet, and reviewed some beer.

Today, I'm drinking a Westbrooke Brewing Co. White Thai, a Southeast Asian twist on a Belgian Wit.

Appearance (0-3): Pours up a slightly hazy golden color with a thin white head that dissipates quickly. 3 points

Aroma/Bouquet (0-4): Aroma is subdued, with notes of ginger and lemon. 3 points

Taste (0-10): Nice malt flavor, with hints of honey, lemon and a hint of hops.  Medium bodied with medium high carbonation, this dances across my tongue. It finishes with a slit hop bitterness at the back of the tongue. Very nice. 8 points

Overall Impression (0-3): This might be another reason to move to the East Coast. Bolder than your typical wit, this is still smooth and light and completely drinkable. 3 points

Total: 17 points

Port City Optimal Wit - Review

I picked up a lot of beer on the way home from NHC. I picked up Port City Brewing Company Optimal Wit in Fredericksburg, Virginia, after conning my aunt into a ride to the liquor store.

Appearance (0-3): Pours up an opaque yellow with a thin white head. Maybe I poured too carefully.  3 points

Aroma/Bouquet (0-4): There is a subtle orange/citrus aroma with some spices I can't identify. It's not unpleasant. (3 points)

Taste (0-10): Starts off with hints of honey and orange. Finishes with a Fruit Loops flavor and a slight bitterness on the back of the tongue. There's a bit of carbonation bite on the sides of my tongue. (8 points)

Overall Impression (0-3): I like this beer. It's a nice, easy-drinking summer beer. It could have a bit more aroma, but that's just looking for problems. 3 points

Total: 17 points

Beer Drinking Contest Winner Dies

Not Joaquin Alcaraz Gracia

In Spain's Murcia region, Joaquín Alcaraz Gracia had just finished 6 liters ( a gallon and a half) of beer in twenty minutes, winning the trophy at a festival. An obese man, When Gracia raised the trophy he began to vomit continuously for several minutes before apparently falling asleep.

He wasn't asleep. He was in cardiac arrest. When the locals discovered he wasn't well, he was rushed to the emergency room, where he soon died.

The festival was cancelled and replaced with three days of official mourning.

Bud Distributor to Stop Deliveries to Whiteclay

The The Whiteclay Situation™ has escalated. On Monday, July 8, someone shot pellets at a beer delivery truck on it's way to Whiteclay, NE. This prompted Jeff Scheinost, owner of High Plains Budweiser in Scottsbluff, to announce that he would stop delivering to Whiteclay, and would instead deliver to Rushville, 20 miles south of Whiteclay. The Whiteclay retailers will have to pick up their orders and bring it back.

No other distributors have made any announcement, but I would expect them to fall into line. Distributors like things to be "fair", and if one is making retailers pick up their orders 20 miles away, the others will too. It will be interesting to see if the retailers in Whiteclay will swallow the added expense or close shop and reopen in Rushville to save gas money.

That's what I would do if I were a person who cared more about profits than people.

Grapevine Craft Brewery Sets Kickstarter Record

According to Dallas Culture Map, Grapevine Craft Brewery raised $56,000 on Kickstarter, more than any other craft brewer.

The money will go to building the brewery which is expected to start soon, while the brewery is being built in Canada. Beer is expected to start arriving in December.

Oh Happy Day! Beer is Good for Your Heart!

Scientists at Harokopio University in Athens took 17 college students, put them through a cardiovascular exam before the experiment, and then gave them a pint of beer. Blood flow to the heart improved within a couple of hours of finishing two-thirds of a pint (or a more scholarly 400 ml of alcohol). The scientists speculate that the combination of alcohol and antioxidants in beer may be be the cause, and suggest that darker beers, such as stout and ale, are better for the heart than a pale lager.

Breweries Are Revitalizing Cities Across the Country

Satan wants to open a brewery. He's starting to do some research into the process, and keeps getting discouraged by all the hoops that have to be jumped through.

But, here is some news that should make him and the city feel a bit better.  It seems that a craft brewery can not only revitalize neighborhoods, but whole cities. Boston.com recently published a story about 6 breweries that did just that: Boulevard Brewing in Kansas City, Harpoon Brewery in Boston, Great Lakes Brewing in Cleveland (chronicled here), six breweries in the Ballard section of Seattle, Brooklyn Brewing in New York City, and 21st Amendment in California. Another news story circulating comes out of Portland, where Breakside Brewing is being given the credit for reduced crime rates in the Woodlawn neighborhood. In San Diego, breweries (expecting to need over 200,000 square feet in the next two years) are boosting real estate prices. And here's a story about the benefits of Duck Rabit Brewing on their local neighborhood. And, finally, a story about Cincinnati wanting to improve a neglected neighborhood by creating a brewery district.

So cheer up, Satan. It's not as bad as you might think. Your little brewery can benefit Midland.

Washington's Porter - Review

Before I started doing reviews here, I hand wrote my reviews. Here's a picture of my latest review.

A Pet Peeve

Satan and I brought back a lot of beer from our trip to NHC. One of our scores was Three Floyds Arctic Panzer Wolf DIPA.

Look, I love DIPAs, and this one is amazing! I love the hop/malt balance, and the flavor of the hops is wonderful!

I poured half the bottle into my 12 ounce Sam Adams glass and slowly poured it down my throat, hoping to stretch out the love.

But when I poured the remainder into my glass, to my horror, I saw floaties. Bits of hop leaves floating in the beer.

I have issues with beer clarity. The upcoming post about my Citra DIPA will touch on it, but it's taking me quite a bit of intestinal fortitude to finish this glass.

I know the hops won't kill me, but it's just unsettling to look at it. A few weeks ago, I bought a sixer of Real Ale Lost Gold IPA. The bottles were FULL of floaties. I had to carefully decant the beer and then discard the remainder.

Yes, I'm crazy.

Last Stop - Pinthouse Pizza, Austin

Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery