Summer Kolsch and Brown Ale Tasting

People may already have a Saturday night planned, but what about a brew session? My wife and Ginger have separate quilting engagements. I'd really like to try to get a summer kolsch (a lighter wheat/malt hybrid that we can actually flavor with fruit (pomegranate?) if we so wish) going since the weather's getting better, and we need to get together and try the Brown Ale. I was thinking grill out starting around 7 and get a batch (maybe 2???) in while smoking some pipes and enjoying some brewha. Thoughts?

An interesting read. . .

Here's a piece of legislation I dug up. . . http://www.legislature.state.al.us/CodeofAlabama/1975/21502.htm

Ch. 3a Section 28-3a-6 ($50 buck application fee to become a manufacturer of malt beverages in Alabama)

Field Trip

I think we need to have a field trip sometime soon. We can either go to Sweetwater Brewery in Atlanta, GA where we get to watch how they brew beer and taste all of them or we can go to the Flying Saucer in Nashville, Tennesse where they have more than 70 taps pull drafts from some of the best breweries around the globe, and 160-plus bottled varieties round out the impressive selection.

The tour is either Wednesday, Thursday or Friday and we have to be there at 5:30 PM and the tours start at 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM.

Flying Saucer is an anytime and I do have a menu for their different beers. We can become members there to keep up with which beers we have drank and once we have drank 200 we get a Flying Saucer gold disk on the wall and will be in the History of Beer Drinking forever.

Beer, Beer, Beer

I wanted to write reviews for every new beer I tried over spring break, but the list is daunting so here's a breakdown and a comment or two with more on some of the beer's I thought were really special.

Squatter's/Wasatch Beers
Captain Bastard's Oatmeal Stout. Amazing.
Provo Girl Pilsner. Uninspiring.
Squatter's IPA. A good, but not great example of the style.
American Wheat Hefeweizen. Excellent beer.
Chasing Tail Golden Ale. :\
Full Suspension Pale Ale.
Bobsled Brown Ale. Doesn't come close to new castle.
Orphan Abbey Belgian Style Ale. A great beer, but a poor example of a belgian. More like a brown ale.
Polygamy Porter. The best beer name ever.
Apricot Hefeweizen

Other
Smithwick's Irish Red Ale - A better March beer than the BBB I.R.A. but we're not far behind. Hoppier with crisp carbination.
Pilsner Urquell. Amazing.
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Ale. 10% alcohol content but 100% hair on your chest.
Pyramid Hefeweizen. A great unfiltered hefe.
Uinta Cutthroat Pale Ale. Awful, no taste. too pale not enough aley.
Uinta India Pale Ale. Better than the cutthroat but steel uninspiring.
Michelobe Ultra. Why does this belong in this list? Because while it is an example of the butchering of the lager style that's pilaging the U.S., it is an excellent example of this and I love it.
BBB Brown Ale.

I'm missing one or two, but that's the gist of it.

I HOPE YOU ALL GET SUNBURNED!

I am at work, it is 74 degrees outside, and all of you are enjoying spring break. I am a little bitter.

Hit Counter

How do we put a hit counter on this thing?

It's a Double FULL MOON tonight at Volker High

As I sit quietly in room 414 attempting to learn about Germ cells and fertilization, I hear whispering outside of my door. It is late and there are not many people here tonight so I can't figure out why anyone would be whispering. Then out of the corner of my eye the door slams open and two human bodies fly into it and both drop trough. Instantly both mooners turn, look, and smile at me. I set my papers down gently and put my face in my hands and realize that medical school is not about forcing yourself to learn as much information as you can in as little time as possible. Instead it is about creating unbreakable bonds with people that will do whatever it takes to make you laugh even if it is 12:30 in the morning and all any of us want to do is go home or brew some more amazing beer (because it doesn't matter what time of day or night or how little sleep I have had, I will always want to do that). In closing, I am proud to say I am one of only two people on Planet Earth that has been mooned by the Menendi. Watch out, you may be next...

Where is Paul Linsky a.k.a Harry Bear?

I need my partner in Fredo crime to be on the blog.

P.S. Vote for Teddy bear because he has a really low self-esteem and needs this win.

Blood and Thunder!

Having just returned from the first of many viewings of 300, I felt obligated to share my initial impressions with my fellow blogmates. I would have started this post sooner had I not come home and immediately done 1000 push-ups, 1000 sit-ups, and made love to my wife (3 times). I was most pleased with the ubiquitous violence and seemingly infinite number of casualties. I also enjoyed the aggressive use of "upper man-thighs" and gratuitous nipple shots. Sadly, between work and worship obligations, I will only have time for another four viewings this weekend. A new age has begun gentleman, AN AGE OF FREEDOM!
http://www.warnerbrosrecords.com/300soundtrack/

Beer Launching Refrigerator, Enough Said....

Alright everyone. A source of mine in the beer industry sent me this link and I think it is completely do able for us to make this.

http://www.duke.edu/~jwc13/beerlauncher.html

If we could make a beer this awesome. . .

we'd be inside the golden gates.

The 3rd Place Winning Arctic Oatmeal Stout

While trying to perfect our beers now. . . would anybody else be interested in entering them in a competition to see how on the mark we are with our assessments?

http://www.hbd.org/carboy/shamrock.htm

How I hate blogging

But I do it for the love

Of beer men everywhere

Haiku contest reminder

Just a reminder about the ongoing beer haiku contest. The deadline will be 10pm Sunday night (CST). So far, we have three entries. Two by polar bear (aka pothead) and one by "anonymous." Voting will take place on the website next Monday.

Polar Bear said...
Beer, delicious beer
Enhanced enjoyment comes with
Two words: Pot also?

March 5, 2007 9:59 AM
Polar Bear said...
Hops, fruit of the earth
aroma, taste, bittering
so simple so good

March 5, 2007 10:44 PM
Anonymous said...
Home brew stinks for days
Can I have my bathtub back?
This girl's earned her share

Desert Bear Has Arrived!

It is an honor and a privilege to blog with the likes of Mark and Polar Bear. I have choosen the name Desert Bear because it accurately reflects my beer drinking lifestyle and my sense of humor -- DRY. Despite my complete indifference to beer and the brewing process, I am always up for a good laugh, and the very thought of this blog is good for at least one laugh a day. I look forward to working with you gentlemen to make this blog the best that it can be.

Blogger of the Week!

We're excited to award this week's blogger of the week award to

Drum Roll Please.............................................

How Havidson (name has been changed to avoid people finding this picture accidently since he is a "respectable" lawyer)

Congratulations!!

Brew Fredo and Beer Fredo

I think we might have to call both Linsky and Reid Fredo Corleone for various misdeeds. Neither of them have any activity on the blog, Linsky hasn't been to a brew session for some time and Reid gave up beer as a New Year's resolution. Thus we have the two Fredo's.

Selfrighteousness is ok when it's about beer

I am not a beer connoisseur. . . yet. I was deep in one of my day brewdreams today and I got a little glimpse of the direction I'm heading. When I interview for residencies, I'm going to get the question "So, what do you do outside of medschool?" Will I answer, I'm a beer connoisseur?? Could anyone who hasn't stood where we as new homebrewers stand understand what that means?

I don't want to get selfrighteous about this, but I am. We went to dinner with my wife's parents, and I usually get a beer. They didn't have a beer list, nothing on tap, and I panicked and ordered my former old stand-by Newcastle. I was appalled!! This used to be my darker beer, and I did not enjoy it at all. It's smooth and has good mouthfeel but has a decidedly uninteresting bitterness and grainbill. I think I'm switching to Guinness with the inlaws.

On a lighter note, would Newcastle Ale Ice Cream be good?

The Longstanding March Beer Haiku contest!!!

So, it's that time again! After the past years' (Note: use of creative license) contest successes, it's time for the March Beer Haiku Contest. You may still remember last year's winner.

Sweet Nectar of gods
Froth my uvula slowly
Burp to taste again

or 2005's

guzzle guzzle guzz
le guzzle guzzle guzzle
guzzle guzzle. . . Ahhhh!

Winning entry will receive a 2 pack of BBB's Brown Trout Ale (must be 21 to be eligible). This year's theme. Best original Beer Haiku:

So let us hear it
read it see it breath the words
your best beer haiku

Deadline: Soonish

Saki bombs and Icebergs

Is it kosher to post twice within a 10 minute period? Regardless. . .

While saki bombing last night with fellow brewmeister polar bear, we got to thinking about all the things that people put in beers to make new drinks. The boilermaker, the carbomb, saki bombs, the Iceberg?? What you say, you don't know the iceberg?

"Aw GIRL!"

The A'bama Iceberg is a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream (nothing but the black box with the bean specks) with an Arctic Stout from the boys over at Bear Bait Brew. Is it good? I have no idea. Could it be good? Well SURE! So, next time you're flaunting your ice at the local pub order an iceberg (or I-berg for short). Will the bartender fill your order? Probably not. Will he know what it is after you tell him? Again, probably not. But you'll know you ordered the best.

Shout back with any other favorite combinations of Triple B beers.

Stoudts Double IPA

I recently received a gift of a couple of Trappistes Rochefort and this double IPA. Needless to say, I was excited about the trappist beers and am awaiting the right occasion to drink them. This beer, however, was a pleasant surprise. The Double IPA from Stoudts is extremely complex. It is a soft amber with golden hues and a creamy head that anticipates the smooth velvet mouthfeel. It has a nice floral aroma with hints of red wine. It's surprisingly malty with citrus undertones ending in a pleasant bready waft. The hops are layered extremely well with the cascade/fuggles being the most present. I was not expecting to love this beer, but by the end of it, I was sad that I had only been given one.

A Sippin' Beer

Tonight I planned a date with an Arctic Stout. . . and I realized how much I love it. I did not drink it, but I realize how much I love it. "How'd you realize that without tasting it?" Well, since you ask. . . I let time slip away from me and realized it was 20 minutes until time to go. I'm not skeered of drinking a brew-ha quickly, but I realized that I would not have time to give the Stout the justice it deserved. I love this beer. . . oh, and 100 beers really isn't that many.