Beer Tasting: Hardywood Park Bourbon Double IPA

Hardywood Park Bourbon Double IPA
9.4% ABV, 80 IBU 
Enjoyed on 8.9.14

A particularly arduous business trip saw me returning home on Saturday evening with only a few hours of sleep. True to form, I opened the fridge and found that my wife and personal beer goddess had gotten me a surprise: Bourbon Double IPA. If that won’t chase the travelling blues away, I don’t know what will!

One Year Old Birthday Bash

Seeing a keg at a 21^st birthday party wouldn’t seem all that out of place – but when you homebrew you get unique opportunities. How about bringing a keg of homebrew to a 1 year old’s birthday party? When you have mobile keg abilities and homebrew available, a multitude of gatherings suddenly transform into homebrew tasting sessions and conversions to craft beer are made.

Learn to Brew - Part II

Learn to Brew!

This is the second in a series of posts about how to break on to the homebrewing scene. For Part I, click here.

Part II: Your First Brew Day

Now that you have all of your supplies and ingredients for your first brewing creation, it’s time to walk through the first brew day. I’d like to give some serious props to John Palmer and his How to Brew for teaching me when I started out. He goes in to much more detail, and it’s a great read if you want to know more about the science and the “why” involved in brewing. Hacksaw read The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by the infamous Charlie Papazien before starting his homebrewing adventures. John Palmer is the preferred read but Charlie’s work – while dated - is still a classic and very helpful.

Homebrew Recipe: The Dunkel (Extract)

Once upon a time, shortly after I became a confident brewer, I had the dream that I was going to
revolutionize the beer world by inventing or pioneering a new style. In my pursuit, I thought to myself,
“what about a dark wheat beer, surely that’s never been done before!” Well, I emailed this to Hacksaw
Brewing, excited to share my genius. And then I remembered, ye olde dunkelweizen is a dark wheat
beer and has been around for quite some time. You win some, you lose some I suppose. Nevertheless,
I decided to take my realization and brew it up.

Small Batch Beer Company

What is one thing that makes attending a wedding even better? How about checking out a new brewery the same day! I am often times at fault for trying to cram too much into a single day, but this little visit with all of Mrs. Hacksaw's family was perfect. Small Batch Beer Company in downtown Winston Salem is about as small a batch as you can get to be a brewery. Take a look at the brewing system these guys use!

Beer Tasting: Green Flash Le Freak

Green Flash Le Freak Belgian Imperial IPA

9.2% ABV, 101 IBU

Enjoyed on 8.3.2014

I like to think of this beer as the nerdy kid who has a really hard time in high school. Then, when he gets to college, he learns to embrace his quirks, laugh at himself, and ends up rolling up to his high school reunion as the head of some multi-million dollar start-up company. In any case, this beer a prime example of when outside-the-box thinking has really paid off.

You Might Need A Beer Cave.

Hi I'm Lauren, the Mrs. Hacksaw half of things!

First there's something I should say, I really don't like beer.  I prefer a nice cider, a glass of wine, or a mixed drink with way too much sugar.  Oh but I do love this guy, my claim to fame in the "Lauren likes a beer world." However, one thing I do love is the creative aspect of being the wife of a brewer.  The beer names, the homemade labels, and the creative storage solutions that come with all of the crap supplies! I don't mean to scare any potential brewers off, it's great stuff, but where are you going to store a 24-quart stock pot and the rest of your essentials?

When we moved into our house we had this stunning closet...

I kid.  I mean seriously, how many jackets do you need, and how would you even hang them?  Before we moved in, I knew this would be much better used as a Beer Cave.