Try a Belgian!

For New Years this year, keep one thing in mind. Champagne is sparkly and bubbly, but so are the giant bottles of Belgian beer!

Give something like Unibroue or Duvel a try this year and see how it goes.

This works great for those who don't like Champagne and just want a little something different.

Happy Early New Years!

Spice

Of course I am not talking about Sand Worms and Melange, but of the massive artillery of spice we have at our disposal to make our carbonated malt beverages festive.

Many Belgian beers use spices and herbs to flavor their beer, especially in the Wit styles. Coriander and orange peel are common, but there are many other additions in festive beers.

Ever pick up a Holiday brew and feel like you were just face punched with mulling spices? It is not unusual, and many people enjoy it.

I prefer to have a good lightly spiced Christmas beer where you can still tell it is beer.

Some good examples of spiced Christmas beer are Karbach's Yule Shoot Your Eye Out, which is strong in ABV and in spice content, and Anchor Christmas Ale (although it is a little different each year).

I discovered a good lightly spiced beer this year, the Ebenezer by Bridgport. It had a good malty backbone but enough hops to consider it a well balanced beer and just spicy enough not to make me need water afterwards.

Either way, enjoy some good brews on this cold ass Xmas day!

Brooklyn Concoction

The consumption of delicious and enticing brews is what being a beer aficionado is all about. Broadening one's horizons and expanding one's palate is something any beer explorer should be open to.

Condemning a beer just because it is not the kind you enjoy, is just plain ignorant.

If you are looking to expand your taste buds, don't just limit yourself to beer, but taste wine and spirits, and also any foods that you have never had. These things will allow you to understand better the flavors you experience in your beer.

I bring all this up because I was enjoying some good ol' Brooklyn beer recently when I saw The Concoction on tap. Not knowing what it was I ordered it.

The smell was like extremely tart hops. I was a little confused by this but took a sip anyways. I felt at first like I was licking vapor rub... the flavors of menthol and camphor were off the wall.

After a few more sips I started realizing what I was tasting. Peated malts and lemon at first, followed by the honey. This recipe mimics the famous Scotch based cocktail "Penicillin".

I went to Anvil, the well-known cocktail bar in Houston, and did a side-by-side tasting of The Concoction and Penicillin. After a couple sips, they seemed almost identical.

Way to go Brooklyn!

Don't be afraid to try new things. If you are, you are just holding yourself back. Step over your own boundaries and show up when you would rather just sit around.

All-Grain

Let me take a moment to explain something very new to me (and hopefully throughout this process we can both learn something).

I have been partial mashing and steeping specialty grains for some time now.

Steeping the specialty grains is just like making tea. It will affect the overall taste but not leave much to ferment, while partial mashing will allow just a little of the fermentable sugars to be created while allowing the flavor be imparted.

All-Grain however is something completely different. I have a recipe I have created and the process that I will follow written down, and would like to just go over it a little.

This is the All-Grain crash course from a newbie. Of course if anything needs adjusting please let me know, and at the same time hopefully some will learn from it.

1) Mashing

• Strike water is the first batch of water set inside the mash tun which the malts will be soaked in at a given temperature for an hour or so.
• Generally 1-1.5 quarts of strike water are used per pound of grain.
• The grain will be soaked for one hour in water ranging from 150-158 degrees F
• The temperature chosen for the mash will result in different outcomes
• The higher the temperature (between 150-158F) the sweeter the malts will be, and the lower the ABV will be.
• The lower the temperature the drier the malts will be and the higher the ABV will turn out.
• Remember to have the water at at least 10-12 degrees higher than your mashing temperature, because adding the grain will make the temp. drop.
• It is a good idea to use 2-row malts for single infusion. This just makes life easier all around. (At least 50% of grain should be 2-row)

Equipment can be purchased or even made. I have seen all sorts of different methods but this one really strikes my fancy. Here is a video by Don Osborn. This is a great reference to check out when you are stuck.

Easy All-Grain Brewing - Batch Sparge Method

(And of course we cannot forget John Palmer and his methods)

Brewing Your First All-Grain Beer

2) Sparging

• What I have decided on is 1/2 gallon of around 170 degree water should be over the grains to sparge. This method is the process of extracting the sugars by basically pouring water of mashed grains. Any temperature over 170 degrees could cause the tannins to be more noticeable and therefore causing off-flavors.
• There are many methods of sparging. I personally like Don Osborn's technique but just take a look around a decide for yourself.
• A good rule of thumb is this. Oversparging will create a more watery beer while undersparging will create a more concentrated beer.

Here is my simplified checklist to follow when I brew my all-grain.

-Boil strike water to 166, pour grains in and close the container for 1 hour. (stir well)

-Cover as well as possible and let sit for an hour.

-Mash Out -Pour a couple gallons of boiling water on top to raise temp (optional).

-Collect some of the wort before letting it fill the container.

-This should give around 3 gallons of liquid.

-Close the container.

-Boil 3 more gallons to about 170 degrees (maybe a little higher depending on how far it will be carried, and pour it slowly over the grains.

-This will give us 6 gallons of wort.

-Start boiling the wort as usual.

-Follow recipe!

A lot to take in and it took me a very long to really comprehend it, but if you have any questions feel free to e-mail me at Sudsandsmokes@gmail.com.

I will update the process when the time comes!

Leprechaun

Recently on our podcast "The Beer Party Show", which you can catch almost every week at http://thebeerpartyshow.podomatic.com, we sampled the up and coming Leprechaun Cider. I was lucky enough to meet the owner himself recently and was so impressed by everything he stood for that I gave it a shot.

The words "Artificial, and concentrate" were used as if they were naughty and so I went on to test this theory.

Leprechaun Cider is by far the most delicious cider I have ever had. I do enjoy ciders from time to time, and consumed many of the well known brands (Ace, Crispin, Woodchuck), and while these are all delicious in their own way, they still lacked the authenticity that Leprechaun puts forth.

Using Cider apples instead of dessert apples was quite an important step in the making of the cider, and the lack of any apple juice concentrate made a world of difference. Many more techniques were used to make this cider what it is, and once again... cider is GLUTEN FREE for those of you that can't take the awesomeness that is malts.

In the end, if you enjoy ciders... or hell, if you enjoy a fine champagne... buy a bottle and give it a try yourself. I highly doubt you will be disappointed.

Houston Beer Week

Well, this week so far has been a success. I have networked and met some pretty bad ass brewmasters, consumed large amounts of good beer, had a hangover for the past three days, and am just plum tired.

So many events are happening and I have so many more I am going to attend!

If you are coming into this week late, here is the website to check what else is happening and what is coming up this weekend.

Remember, drive safely. I am on the road too and don't feel like having to look out for drunk asses!

Smoked Malts

There was once a time when malts were dried over open flame. These were harsh times, and the beers created were smoky as hell.

This did not stop our ancestors however, and they continued to make unintentionally smoky beer until one day, someone decided to dry their malts with a kiln. This kept the malts from becoming smoky and burnt.

One country still makes smoked beers however... Germany.

They make such beers as Rauchbier and Roggenbier, in which the malts are intentionally dried over open flame. These styles were not widely accepted until recently, and now the smoked beers are appearing more on the market.

I as well am going to smoke my own malts and attempt to make a couple smoked beers. This process will of course begin when I have the funds to buy all the new equipment and ingredients I need... Damn.

Either way, I will be brewing a smoked red and a Roggenbier. I will experiment and see how different smoking procedures affect the malts.

Status updates will be posted.

The easy-cleanse

Looking for a cheap alternative to those expensive gut cleansers?

Then look no further!

Flush your pipes with a six pack of tall boys!



Any cheap ass beer will do. Start by opening all six cans and slamming them as quickly as possible. Then sit back and enjoy the ride.

The cheapest Colon cleansing on the market.

Doctor approved!

It's No Use Crying...

...Over Spilt Beer. 


Why? 


Because we can always make more!


At least the sewer mutants were happy that night.


Borrowed picture from the Yuengling Brewery website, the oldest brewery in the USA. Check out their website!  Yuengling





Better keep the people happy.

Legacy

Yesterday I read something very interesting in John Palmer's "How to Brew". A segment on yeast was written that speaks of a stirring stick used in Viking times. It states:

        "In the days of the Vikings, each family had their own brewing stick that they used for stirring the wort. These brewing sticks were regarded as family heirlooms because it was the use of that stick that guaranteed that the beer would turn out right. Obviously, those sticks retained the family yeast culture."

Pretty amazing eh? They had no idea it was something so complex (yet simple) that caused their brews to taste the same as every other they made, yet different from their neighbors.

To read more about brewing beer you must check out "How to Brew" by John Palmer. I as well as anyone else who homebrews would not think twice to recommend it.

It contains information for first time brewers as well as the veterans who want to brush up on their practices.

Of course, don't try to use your own stirring stick without sanitizing it... unless your'e feeling daring, and wouldn't mind possibly wasting some money.

Beer is eternal

Our Founding Fathers brewed their own beer.

Mobsters brewed beer during prohibition times, and monks have been brewing beer for centuries.

The ancient Egyptians brewed beer for sustenance (the main reason I drink it of course), and as a way to preserve their grains.

During war times Germany would keep brewing beer to make sure the populace was content and did not suspect anything was out of the ordinary (even though food and grain were scarce).

Beer was even brewed at the beginning of time, by the gods themselves... or so say the texts referring to those times!

Even Dogfish Head has been contracted to brew beers like Midas Touch which is made from ingredients found in drinking vessels in what is presumed to be King Midas' tomb (2700 years ago).

You see, the point is... Beer will be around for as long as we breathe. Brewing dates so far back it is almost inconceivable to think of where it began.


Check out this link to find some historical recipes you can brew on your own.  http://brewery.org/cm3/recs/13_toc.html

Chinese and German

I have consumed many Chinese beers, and many German beers. When I was first getting into the beer world, I thought they tasted like skunk stew.

Noticed when drinking Lucky Buddha (sweet freakin' bottle!) the finishing tastes of honey. Strange how this beer tasted just like a delicious German Kolsch.

After drinking this beer, you rub the belly and get LUCKY!

Either way, I wondered where the connection was and did a little research, noting that this is how Tsing-tao finishes as well.

Qingdao was a German concession, and is located on the Shandong Peninsula, facing Japan and Korea. There are areas that imitate Germany in architecture, and obviously in beer. This is where Tsing-tao is brewed, and many other Chinese export beers tend to taste very similar.

The marriage of two cultures, so different and unexpected, created beer. Nothing wrong with that I suppose.