Brewery Visit: Northern California

Okay fine, Northern California isn’t a single brewery.  I’m on vacation out on the ol’ left coast, and I’ve been able to drag my family to quite a few breweries along the way.  I’ll be out here through the end of the week, but since the first week was riddled with beer sampling in the Bay Area, I thought I’d write a brief update.

Beer Tasting: New Belgium Snapshot

New Belgium Snapshot

5% ABV, 13 IBU

Enjoyed 08.31.14

Every once in a while I go looking for something a little different than what I normally drink just to change it up. I’ve overdosed lately on IPA’s and imperial stouts, so this offering from New Belgium was enticing as I hadn’t had a wheat beer in a while. This used to be my favorite style when I first started getting into craft beer and while it isn’t my fave style anymore It’s a good standby.

The Grass is Always Greener

The grass is always greener on the other side….or is it?

Hi, I’m Colby, occasionally referred to as Jacob’s “beer goddess”, and I’m married to a brewer.  I love my husband, and I love beer (let’s be honest the two kind of go hand in hand am I right!?  Yes, I’m right).  I love that we have so many things in common.  But, in all honesty, I sometimes resent the fact that we have so much in common.  I am my own person and have my own hobbies…they just happen to be more or less the hobbies that he enjoys as well.

Cost-Effective Upgrades

So, you’ve started homebrewing, you’ve got a few batches under your belt, learned a couple of lessons along the way, and you want to keep pursuing the hobby.  Once you find that you might be willing to invest a little more money in your setup, there are a few items that are not essential by any means to brewing great beer, but they can make the process a little easier. 

Homebrew Recipe: Newly Wedded Wheat

When a wonderful couple asks you to brew beer for their wedding – you say yes! This recipe was crafted based on their input that “Blue Moon” and “Wheat Beers” were their favorite. Making a clone of Blue Moon was not going to happen because I cared about these people too much. I insisted I would make a crowd pleaser that would be even better than Blue Moon. With that goal in mind I built an American Wheat beer that had some hints of orange. Sounds similar to blue moon but it had much more malted wheat flavor and higher ABV than Blue Moon packs.

Why I'm Not a Farmer

A couple years ago, fresh off of a few successful DIY homebrewing upgrades, I decided it would be fun to grow my own hops.  After a bit of research, I quickly realized the yield would only be enough for really one batch of beer.  This was ultimately fine with me, it just seemed like a neat thing to do, plus the hop bines look really cool!  So that was it.  Expectations?  Managed.

Beer Tasting: Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

Enjoyed: 08.20.14

It was but a mundane Wednesday.  I remember well, my wife was having a rough day at work and strongly hinted that cheesecake would be a great help when she got home (apparently it was national cheesecake day… since that’s a thing).  So, being the dutiful and loving husband that I am, I went straight to the store after work to pick some up.