The Power of Hops

Many people have heard of hops. They are a pine cone shaped flower that are used in the brewing of beer. Of course there are other uses for them (in food) but they are not as common.


Hops are one of the four main ingredients in beer. Water, Yeast, Malt, and Hops.


Not only do hops naturally preserve the beer that is being brewed, but also add aroma, flavor and bitterness.


The exciting part about hops is that the smallest change in the time when you include them in the brewing process changes their aspects completely.


For example; You add the hops in the beginning to achieve the bitterness level you desire, while you add the hops at a later time (45 minutes and up) to add flavor or aroma.


The types of hops are also an important thing to look at. If you use hops with high alpha acids then you will be using them for bittering, and will throw them in early.


This process is simple but the result can change drastically depending on what you decide to do.

Texas Cigar Festival

So after much deliberation I decided to drop the cash on a ticket to the Texas Cigar Festival (hosted by Serious Cigars).


It was quite the experience. Upon entering the door I was given a bag of twenty-eight cigars, a cutter, a shirt and some other small crap. I was supposed to get a torch lighter but I got stiffed on that one.


Either way, the value of this cigar mix bag was totally outrageous. Here's a list of what came in it.


601 Cigars Blue Robusto
Alec Bradley Family Blend M23
Arturo Fuente Double Chateau Fuente Sun Grown
Avo No. 3
Camacho Corojo Nacinales Maduro
Carlos Torano Virtuoso Encore
Discovery Series Santa Rosa Robusto
Don Pepin Jaime Reserva Especial
Drew Estate Acid Toast
EP Carrillo Core Line Predilectos
Gran Habano #5 Blend Robusto
Illusione Avalitos
J Fuego Corojo No. 1 Delirium
Kristoff Robusto
La Aroma de Cuba Magnifico
La Flor Dominicana Ligero 400
La Gloria Cubana Serie N Glorioso
Mi Dominicana Robusto
Nestor Miranda Special Selection Pyramid
Nub Connecticut 460
Oliva Series G Cameroon Toro
Padrom 3000 Maduro
Perdomo Patriarch Churchill Connecticut
Rocky Patel Decade Robusto
Quesada Tributo Manolin
Tatuaje El Triunfador No. 2 Belicoso Fino
Xikar HC Series Habana Grande


The value of all these little bastards was around two-hundred dollars.
Free food and drink (good drinks like Glenlivet 21, Remy VSOP, Saint Arnold's Abby Normal etc. mind you) great music, and had I had someone to share it with would have been an amazing time. Even alone however it was enjoyable.


Getting all these free cigars, however, put a damper on my plans to buy the 12 Angrier Men sampler from CI.
Freakin bad ass cigars for a very low price. Check it out.


http://www.cigarsinternational.com/proddisp.asp?item=SP-CIDD159&stext=12%20angrier%20men

Beer Myths 101

It has long been stated in mystical tomes of untold origin that the holy drink known only as "Beer" has weaknesses that cause the flavor to worsen.


Many people think that if beer warms after being cooled, that it will "go bad". This is one of the worst and most believed beer myths of all time. At some point, someone probably cracked open a two year old domestic beer that they had let warm then chilled again and it tasted like rat piss. They then went on to spread the knowledge to all their buds that cooling then warming beer will ruin it.


I am here to tell you that this is not true!


There may be truth in this, if warming and chilling a beer repeatedly for months is what the truth is based on. 


The only time temperature change can damage beer is when it is in the extremes (over 100° F or below freezing).
Many cases of beer that are delivered to your local markets arrive chilled and are allowed to warm before entering the craft beer shelf.


Another myth is that green bottled beers are the best type of bottle. This comment is less heard but still leaves the lips of those uneducated on the subject. Brown bottles are far better for the beer than green or even clear.


Brown bottles actually filter out more of the harmful light than green or clear bottles do. For some reason, people associate green bottles with imports and therefore think they are better, but some of the best imported beer comes in brown bottles.


Another strange but often heard myth is that imported beer is better than domestic. Wake up call for those who still believe this is the ultimate truth and not just an OPINION.


America actually makes bad ass beer.


There was a time when craft breweries were so minuscule that the macro-breweries overshadowed them. This was a helluva long time ago, so stop thinking this way.


The true ways to really kill a beer are to subject it to extreme temperatures, let it out-date itself, or let it sit in sunlight for a while. These will all make your beer taste like doodoo.


Now ya'll come back and read us again soon!

Fruit Beer

It is common to find beers that contain fruit. Our macro-breweries all do it, Bud Light Lime, Michelob Pomegranate etc.

Belgium and Britain do it, with their fruit lambics and fruit beers.

So why is it so hard to believe that there exist such things as fruit beers by some people?

I hear more often than not, "I don't drink that shit, beer ain't supposed to have fruit init."

We need to educate people on not being ignorant.

Fruit beer is it's own category and should be treated as such, enjoyed by those who enjoy fruit beer. No need to condemn it for what it is.

If Lindeman's is too sweet for you, try Timmerman's. It is more fresh fruit forward and less cough syrupy (which some people like).

Growler

On my adventures today, I paused for a refreshing growler of Blanche de Chambly from Unibroue. Delicious and nutritious!


For those of you who do not know what a growler is, it is a two liter resealable bottle, that you can fill up at participating locations (mainly breweries).

This Growler has a handle!

This type of growler is a higher end design, and is freakin sweet to carry around with you everywhere you go!

Rogue's Dead Guy growler is another example of a growler, with a simple screw top and sometimes a grooved grip.

In the end growlers are sweet as hell because you can purchase draft beer for quite cheap while not giving those landfill digging bums your extra trash! 

At the end of it all, I refilled my new growler before leaving with some delicious Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball for fifteen bucks.

The Pub Hub

Today is my birthday, and I am heading to the Pub Hub for burgers and beer.


They have a great selection of craft brews and I am ecstatic!


I will post more information when the time comes.


http://www.facebook.com/PubHub


Edit: Okay so I went and had a great time. The food was delicious (despite some of the negative customer reviews) and the beer was plentiful.

I gave Southern Star ProAm (smokes porter) an try and was blown away! Creamy consistency and just enough smoke to make it enjoyable.

 I also tried Twin Sisters by Left Hand, and for a double IPA it was pretty damn good! Not overly sweet but definitely on the heavier malt side.

Harpoon Maple Wheat was the final new beer I tried, and it was surprisingly full flavored and sweet for what I expected to be a basic wheat. Their UFO has never really impressed me, but the beer was quite good!


I also bought a growler of Hairy Eyeball to bring home with me. Yum Yum.

Kombucha

Brace yourselves as you take a step into the un-ordinary... into the weird... as we step into the world of...

KOMBUCHA

Not long ago, I was shopping at the grocery store when I noticed an end cap full of what was labeled "Kombucha". Intrigued, I paid far too much for the product and drank it right up. It was a tart and almost acidic tasting bastardized root beer. I checked the ingredients to see why it was so strange and found out that a large part of this beverage was the yeast cultures.

I forgot about kombucha until I found some at random on serious clearance and bought them all.

I decided to do some research and discovered some interesting info.

What kombucha is, is fermented tea. In many countries (including Russia, Japan, and China) this beverage is called Mushroom Tea. 

As you can see from this sample, it looks like a big mushroom top inside liquid. 

There are as usual many health benefits from drinking kombucha, including... all sorts of stuff.

The other side of this story (as there always is in popular media) is that there is no benefit from drinking kombucha.

Then back to the other side again, it is all a scam from popular media to make people not put money towards something that costs 50 cents a gallon to brew. 

You get the picture. There's no way to tell if it is actually beneficial to drink, but it is pretty cool and has been around for freakin ever.