My home brew sat for two weeks carbonating. I opened one last night and had my first taste. I took a short video to send to the benefactors of this project, to share the moment with them. Here is the transcript:
"The time has come to open this. You're really watching this now. It sounded carbonated! Smells like beer... (sip)... THAT could pass for a beer! This is exciting."
Other reviews from the Earp household:
"Smells good... tastes fine, it's just a bit fizzy." -The Baby Brother (ok, not a baby, he's 23)
"Sounds like beer... looks like beer... tastes like beer... you know, for all that work, it came out like a beer!" -The Dad
and later-- "It tastes like banana pudding!"
Sort of. Despite no bananas occurring anywhere in the brewing process, my hefeweizen tastes ever so slightly banana-y. That's kind of typical though. I don't think it tastes quite like pudding, but that's just me. This might go nice with a slice of orange*. It is absurdly fizzy though. I'm going to have to read more about the carbonation process and figure that out.
So I hope you will join me for a quaff at some point! It looks like there will be a Dear Beer Friends staff dinner meeting next week, when I will share this with Paul and others and get their reviews. I'm really pumped to share this with friends and family. It's definitely not the most amazing hefeweizen I've ever had, but I think it's totally drinkable, totally passable as beer. How exciting!
In case you're interested in home brewing, here's a ridiculous article about how to take it a step further, kind of MacGyver style.
*I realize putting fruit in beer is totally against man law, but 1. I am a girl, and 2. a man who served as a marine who I went to college with said it was ok, so I'm pretty sure it's ok.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
procrastination.
Well, I got back from Virginia yesterday afternoon and I leave for camp for a week tomorrow morning, stopping off at Rutgers on the way. I'm not motivated to pack again yet, so I'll share with you a few brews I've tried recently.
While I don't advocate the use of alcohol to soothe negative situations, I did keep Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout specifically for my most recent round of thesis revisions. I figured the strong coffee flavor to be expected from such a beer would perhaps trick me into staying awake longer to work on that thing while the alcohol helped lower my inhibitions just enough to open the floodgates of writing. Does it actually have caffeine in it? I don't know, or really care. It was a nice accompaniment to my work though. I really enjoyed the strong taste. It made me say wow. This is one of those beers that Taylor would accuse of "sucker punching" the taste buds. This is certainly not for the faint hearted or stout haters.
What was I in Virginia for this past week? This man. I did use Josh's Valentine's Day Brawl at the 9:30 Club on Monday as an excuse to visit that other dude I like to visit in Virginia though, and to make up for drinking all of the beers I left last time, he took me to the Dogfish Head Alehouse. The food was awesome, as were the beers (OBVIOUSLY). I ordered the Chicory Stout, which is so so good and I'm embarrassed to say I forgot was on my list. It's one I always see and mean to double check, but apparently never actually did. But it's so so good. It's a nice coffee stout, really mellow with a slightly fruity finish but it's not offensively fruity.
I also ordered the Lawnmower Light beer because it's not available commercially and I was curious what a craft light beer would taste like. As it turns out, it tastes like NOT WATER. It was interesting but still not heavy or strong in any way. It was pleasant.
Taylor also let me taste his beers-- he got the Palo Santo Marron, which I've also had before (drinks like a porter, really really malty, avorite Dogfish Head, but after getting over the fact that it's hardly your typical brown ale, I liked it), and the Shelter Pale Ale, which was very plain and hoppy and delightful. I imagine it'd go well with something spicy, but it was nice enough on its own. I approve, Dogfish Head, I approve. Keep up the good work. (For Taylor's side of the story, go here.)
On Monday night before the concert, I cooked dinner for Taylor and our friend Luke, and they gave me beers.
Leffe Blonde, which I swore I'd already had but it's not on my list, is a decent Belgian pale ale, tasting like a really strong hefeweizen.
Appalachian Trails' Hoppy Trails was not my favorite IPA ever, but not terrible. It just wasn't particularly impressive. It was an IPA, I guess.
Atwater Block Brewery's Vanilla Java Porter was my favorite of the evening, tasting like all of the things in its name, but not in an overly strong or sweet way. This was nice. Might be a better dessert beer rather than sitting outside on a nice evening with friends while waiting for the ziti to bake, but still enjoyable.
Another lovely trip to Virginia, another great concert by Josh Ritter and The Royal City Band, and now that I'm done writing, another attempt at thinking about packing...
While I don't advocate the use of alcohol to soothe negative situations, I did keep Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout specifically for my most recent round of thesis revisions. I figured the strong coffee flavor to be expected from such a beer would perhaps trick me into staying awake longer to work on that thing while the alcohol helped lower my inhibitions just enough to open the floodgates of writing. Does it actually have caffeine in it? I don't know, or really care. It was a nice accompaniment to my work though. I really enjoyed the strong taste. It made me say wow. This is one of those beers that Taylor would accuse of "sucker punching" the taste buds. This is certainly not for the faint hearted or stout haters.
What was I in Virginia for this past week? This man. I did use Josh's Valentine's Day Brawl at the 9:30 Club on Monday as an excuse to visit that other dude I like to visit in Virginia though, and to make up for drinking all of the beers I left last time, he took me to the Dogfish Head Alehouse. The food was awesome, as were the beers (OBVIOUSLY). I ordered the Chicory Stout, which is so so good and I'm embarrassed to say I forgot was on my list. It's one I always see and mean to double check, but apparently never actually did. But it's so so good. It's a nice coffee stout, really mellow with a slightly fruity finish but it's not offensively fruity.
I also ordered the Lawnmower Light beer because it's not available commercially and I was curious what a craft light beer would taste like. As it turns out, it tastes like NOT WATER. It was interesting but still not heavy or strong in any way. It was pleasant.
Taylor also let me taste his beers-- he got the Palo Santo Marron, which I've also had before (drinks like a porter, really really malty, avorite Dogfish Head, but after getting over the fact that it's hardly your typical brown ale, I liked it), and the Shelter Pale Ale, which was very plain and hoppy and delightful. I imagine it'd go well with something spicy, but it was nice enough on its own. I approve, Dogfish Head, I approve. Keep up the good work. (For Taylor's side of the story, go here.)
On Monday night before the concert, I cooked dinner for Taylor and our friend Luke, and they gave me beers.
Leffe Blonde, which I swore I'd already had but it's not on my list, is a decent Belgian pale ale, tasting like a really strong hefeweizen.
Appalachian Trails' Hoppy Trails was not my favorite IPA ever, but not terrible. It just wasn't particularly impressive. It was an IPA, I guess.
Atwater Block Brewery's Vanilla Java Porter was my favorite of the evening, tasting like all of the things in its name, but not in an overly strong or sweet way. This was nice. Might be a better dessert beer rather than sitting outside on a nice evening with friends while waiting for the ziti to bake, but still enjoyable.
Another lovely trip to Virginia, another great concert by Josh Ritter and The Royal City Band, and now that I'm done writing, another attempt at thinking about packing...
Thursday, February 10, 2011
fun, friends, falafel and beer
This year, I "watched" the Superbowl with Cheryl, Gurzo and Cristina at Cheryl and Gurzo's house. I may have been paying more attention to my friends, falafel and... there doesn't seem to be a synonym for drinks that starts with the letter F, so the alliteration ends there.
We split several 22 ounce bottles partially because good stuff came in them but also because I have realized that I do not have enough bottles for my homebrew, which I am set to bottle tomorrow (and will be buying more bottles in order to do so due to my poor planning).
HUB's Abominable Winter Ale: As much as I seem to have developed a taste for hoppy beers, I just felt like this was really unbalanced in favor of hops. It wasn't bad, just not particularly more interesting than a really hoppy beer.
Oakshire's Ill Tempered Gnome: This was relatively plain but had some nice spice to it, if that makes sense. It wasn't particularly complex tasting aside from the spices, I mean. Whatever. It was smooth and I enjoyed it and it seemed like a good beer to drink in winter when you're cold and just need something warm and spiced in your life.
Ninkas Oatis Oatmeal Stout: This was a little sweeter than the average oatmeal stout but very smooth and mellow. I liked it, but it's not about to win the favorite oatmeal stout award (that would most likely go to BORIS, Shakespeare or Samuel Smith, or the overly- built- up- in- my- mind- epic Southend Brewery Oatmeal Stout that I tried with the Mary Washington Geography Department at the SEDAAG conference in 2007).
Dogfish Head Sah'Tea: Ahhh, Dogfish Head, you almost never let me down. This was really excellent, like if beer and chai had a beautifully delicious spiced baby (my love of spiced chai is severe). You could kind of taste the spices and the tea, but it was just so unique and enjoyable. I was worried when I saw juniper berries in the description after not totally loving tree flavors in another beer, but no problem. It was a hint but not overpowering. Subtle and complimentary. Ah. Loved it. This also introduced me to a new type of brew: the sahti. I had never heard of it before. I suspect this is not super typical of the style though...
Fort Collins Brewery's Double Chocolate Stout: I had this on Tuesday in hopes that another 22 ounce bottle would alleviate the bottle crisis... not even close, but it was still a worthwhile beer. If you like offensive, sucker-punch flavored stouts, this is for you. I really enjoyed this. The chocolate was present but not super sweet. The stout was mostly just strong and... strong. Yep. Delicious. My kind of beer.
Long Trail Hibernator: My little brother gave me one of these this evening because I'm his favorite big sister (probably more because I picked up some snacks for him on my way home from choir tonight...). It was not as interesting when it was ridiculously cold from sitting in a fridge in our ridiculously cold garage, but once I let it sit for a few minutes, I got a hoppier- than- expected- but- not- overly- so kind of flavor. Decently balanced, pretty smooth going down. This was more delightful than I expected. It's reasonable and generally unoffensive.
So, tomorrow I bottle my first batch of beer! It will need a week or two to carbonate before I can find out if I did it right or not... I'm really nervous, but excited. In the meantime, I have a few beers around waiting to be tried, including Mikkeller's Coffee IPA (I got the last two available in the region as per my big brother's request), Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout (which I plan to use to get me through the latest round of thesis revisions... ugh) and Dogfish Head's My Antonia (which was purchased to cover up someone's worst boyfriend ever moment of drinking all of my beer).
We split several 22 ounce bottles partially because good stuff came in them but also because I have realized that I do not have enough bottles for my homebrew, which I am set to bottle tomorrow (and will be buying more bottles in order to do so due to my poor planning).
HUB's Abominable Winter Ale: As much as I seem to have developed a taste for hoppy beers, I just felt like this was really unbalanced in favor of hops. It wasn't bad, just not particularly more interesting than a really hoppy beer.
Oakshire's Ill Tempered Gnome: This was relatively plain but had some nice spice to it, if that makes sense. It wasn't particularly complex tasting aside from the spices, I mean. Whatever. It was smooth and I enjoyed it and it seemed like a good beer to drink in winter when you're cold and just need something warm and spiced in your life.
Ninkas Oatis Oatmeal Stout: This was a little sweeter than the average oatmeal stout but very smooth and mellow. I liked it, but it's not about to win the favorite oatmeal stout award (that would most likely go to BORIS, Shakespeare or Samuel Smith, or the overly- built- up- in- my- mind- epic Southend Brewery Oatmeal Stout that I tried with the Mary Washington Geography Department at the SEDAAG conference in 2007).
Dogfish Head Sah'Tea: Ahhh, Dogfish Head, you almost never let me down. This was really excellent, like if beer and chai had a beautifully delicious spiced baby (my love of spiced chai is severe). You could kind of taste the spices and the tea, but it was just so unique and enjoyable. I was worried when I saw juniper berries in the description after not totally loving tree flavors in another beer, but no problem. It was a hint but not overpowering. Subtle and complimentary. Ah. Loved it. This also introduced me to a new type of brew: the sahti. I had never heard of it before. I suspect this is not super typical of the style though...
Fort Collins Brewery's Double Chocolate Stout: I had this on Tuesday in hopes that another 22 ounce bottle would alleviate the bottle crisis... not even close, but it was still a worthwhile beer. If you like offensive, sucker-punch flavored stouts, this is for you. I really enjoyed this. The chocolate was present but not super sweet. The stout was mostly just strong and... strong. Yep. Delicious. My kind of beer.
Long Trail Hibernator: My little brother gave me one of these this evening because I'm his favorite big sister (probably more because I picked up some snacks for him on my way home from choir tonight...). It was not as interesting when it was ridiculously cold from sitting in a fridge in our ridiculously cold garage, but once I let it sit for a few minutes, I got a hoppier- than- expected- but- not- overly- so kind of flavor. Decently balanced, pretty smooth going down. This was more delightful than I expected. It's reasonable and generally unoffensive.
So, tomorrow I bottle my first batch of beer! It will need a week or two to carbonate before I can find out if I did it right or not... I'm really nervous, but excited. In the meantime, I have a few beers around waiting to be tried, including Mikkeller's Coffee IPA (I got the last two available in the region as per my big brother's request), Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout (which I plan to use to get me through the latest round of thesis revisions... ugh) and Dogfish Head's My Antonia (which was purchased to cover up someone's worst boyfriend ever moment of drinking all of my beer).
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
friends forever
Dogfish Head's brewmaster Sam Calagione and I are practically best friends.
After watching Beer Wars, I sent him an email, because he said in the film that people could do that. I told him about my love of Bitches Brew and World Wide Stout and how much I appreciated his efforts to make cool beers despite the challenges in competing with the behemoths. He wrote back!:
Thanks for the kind words and support Colleen. And thanks for taking the time to see the movie. Keep drinking the good stuff. Cheers, Sam
Just wanted that here for posterity, and also to show that we're on a first name basis. Awesome.
After watching Beer Wars, I sent him an email, because he said in the film that people could do that. I told him about my love of Bitches Brew and World Wide Stout and how much I appreciated his efforts to make cool beers despite the challenges in competing with the behemoths. He wrote back!:
Thanks for the kind words and support Colleen. And thanks for taking the time to see the movie. Keep drinking the good stuff. Cheers, Sam
Just wanted that here for posterity, and also to show that we're on a first name basis. Awesome.
Monday, February 7, 2011
American beers
Taylor shared this with me today, and I thought it was neat:
http://awesome.good.is/transparency/web/1102/beer-map/flat.html
I definitely was happy to see the results for New Jersey and Delaware in particular. I've tried beers from 17 of these brewers. I guess I need to travel more... Idaho, for one, has just moved up on my places I should visit sometime.
http://awesome.good.is/transparency/web/1102/beer-map/flat.html
I definitely was happy to see the results for New Jersey and Delaware in particular. I've tried beers from 17 of these brewers. I guess I need to travel more... Idaho, for one, has just moved up on my places I should visit sometime.
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