Growler Fills: An Inner Turmoil

Draft beer is awesome. Draft beer to go is also awesome. Draft beer to go at the same price as draft beer to stay? Not so awesome. On the one hand, I love the enthusiasm for local and craft beer that comes along with the “growler movement”.  It has even allowed breweries with smaller setups to succeed and gain traction with a lower initial investment and little to no outside distribution. On the other hand, when you look at the ounce to ounce price comparison of beer at the grocery store and beer in a growler, you can’t help but scratch your head a bit.

Homebrew Recipe: Black Gold Imperial Stout

Black Gold Imperial Stout

Brewing Premise: I seem to get involved in lots of trades and swaps involving the exchange of beer for other goods and services. I've even traded homebrew for help replacing brake pads in the past –  but this particular beer was crafted to trade for some old homebrew equipment! A co-worker of mine used to be into homebrewing and has since had multiple children and taken up other hobbies. He still loves craft beer and a good homebrew so I asked him what he’d like in exchange for all his old equipment. He wanted an imperial stout that wasn't over the top on the alcohol. As a new All-Grain Brewer I couldn't wait to figure this one out. I only had a 5 gallon mash tun at the time so the recipe is tweaked a little to help me get the ABV up since my tun wasn't large enough to hold all the required grains.

Beer Tasting: Ommegang Valar Morghulis

Ommegang Valar Morghulis Dubbel

8% ABV

We often will put descriptors in front of the word "nerd" to delineate between a certain field and a complete lifestyle. One prime example, which fits well with this blog, is the "beer nerd". We've covered this fairly extensively, but what happens when you start combining specific types of nerd-dom? I'll tell you what happened to me. I've known about Ommegang's Game of Thrones themed beer series for a while now, but I've never had the pleasure of tasting any. So when I saw this one on the shelf, it was a collision of worlds and an utter no-brainer--it was coming home with me.

Hacksaw's Apartment Brewing Adventures

So you have jumped into homebrewing and are dominating with your extract brewing. You're making good beer and are into the hobby for the long haul. Perhaps you really want to convert to all grain brewing because you've realized it isn't that hard, it will save you some cash, and you feel it will make you more awesome in general (all three of which being obviously valid reasons).

The Dos and Don’ts of Planning a Beer-venture

As craft beer and its corresponding culture continue to gain steam in the US, “beer tourism” has not only become a thing, but a big thing. There was a time where a brewery would open primarily to distribute beer in the local, regional, or even larger markets. These breweries would frequently squeeze in a tasting room for anyone who wanted to see where their beer is made, and maybe get a growler filled. In that business model, the taproom was far from an integral piece of the profit stream.

Today, it is common for breweries to open with taproom as the lynchpin of their business plan. These places are geared heavily or exclusively to sell their product on premise, making them basically a bar that makes what they serve in house. This model is far less financially prohibitive than jumping right into a production brewery, and as such they, along with the bigger upstarts, continue to pop up all around the country.

What does all of this mean? It means that no matter where you are, you’re probably within a short drive of a brewery hotbed. This in turn means that you can and should dive in to the beer tourism world head first with an epic beer-venture!

Homebrew Recipe: Kung Fu Panda California Common

Kung Fu Panda California Common (Extract)

For the past few glorious weeks, the MLB playoffs have been consuming the evening airwaves. For that past couple weeks, I've had the pleasure of explaining to people here on the East Coast why San Francisco Giants fans are frequently seen wearing panda hats. It is certainly a valid question. It's not like pandas are indigenous to the Bay Area. The panda paraphernalia came about after one of the Giants' fan favorites, Pablo Sandoval, was awarded the moniker of "the Kung Fu Panda". Sandoval is a bigger guy, yet he is astonishingly nimble in the infield and quick around the bases. So, there you go, connect the dots and pandas abound.

Beer Tasting: Boulevard Long Strange Tripel

Boulevard Long Strange Tripel

9.2% ABV, 23 IBU

It’s funny how we all go through phases in various aspects of life.  In everything from how busy you are at work to what beers you end up with in the checkout line.  Of late, I’ve been on a bit of a Belgian kick.  I’m not entirely sure why, I suppose they seem to compliment the changing leaves and dropping temperatures rather well.  I was hitting the double IPAs pretty hard a few months ago, now it has been a lot of dubbels and tripels, and who knows what the early throes of winter will bring?