David and Walker are drinking a different beer each day* for an entire year, 365 beers in all, starting August 5th, 2010. We're writing about our daily regime to share the experiences and delicious discoveries with our friends and mild acquaintances to inspire YOU to bring previously unknown beers to your lips. (*limit one new beer per day consumed before midnight, no catch up days allowed)
With my brother Warren in town and me moving out of LA in 6 weeks (you
heard it here first), a trip to our favorite brewery The Bruery is in
order. I'm designated driver on the way back, so naturally I drink
several beers beforehand and plan to sober up while I'm at the brewery,
but nobody believes I will! I don't know what I could have done to give
them that belief...
After a detour to The Bruery Provisions store where Nick G, Warren, David, Aaron B, Jamie, Karl and his crew order some sampler plates and I stock up on beers from there store such as the Stone 15th Anniversary Imperial Black IPA, Iron Fist Velvet Glove and the brand new brew from The Bruery's Provisions Series, Snickelfritz, we're onto the main brewery.
Beer drinkers take blurry pictures. It's an occupational hazard
Upon arrival, I note a sign posted above the bar noting the Bruery produced 2500bbls last year - that's 31 gallons per 1 bbl - so 77,500 gallons. This year they produced 5000 bbls - 155,000 gallons - double! Wow. I've seen The Bruery in Chicago and New York, but I didn't realize until today after I asked the bartender, that this 4 year old brewery is in over 16 states. It's absolutely amazing. We started drinking their beer 3 years ago, and I suddenly feel like I've been at the epicenter of what will become one of the most renowned breweries in the United States. Bruery's a pretty damn special place. This will probably be my last time here which makes me sad - I might even miss the creepy babies hanging around here (Creepy Babies), so I'm buying a long overdue hat to keep me company in San Francisco.
The one beer I am going to have today is their seasonal Black Orchard Wit. The style is unique and I've never heard of a black belgian wit bier. It's 5.7% and chamomile is added for the aroma. This could be really amazing or Patrick Rue's day dream gone wrong, what will it be?
The flavor profile is fascinating and delicious, a subtle dark roast bitterness at the beginning that fades as the sweet belgian wit and spice (coriander and orange peel) subtle kick in. I'm going to use that word again because I don't know how else to convey this beer; it's so subtle. As far as unusual styles go, this is up there. I feel like the Bruery pulled of a hat trick here, combining all these ingredients to make a smooth and delicious brew. At the end of the day, we had already filled up our 3 growlers for the party at home with Loakal Red, Mischief, and Snickelfritz, when David walked away from the car and back into the brewery. He returned sometime later with a newly purchased 4th growler full of the Black Orchard. He bought (a probably unnecessary) 4th growler just to make sure we had more of the wit to drink this week because it was that good. A true gauge to the tastiness of any beer is the length a person will go to find and drink it. I think the 4th growler speaks to the power of this beer. BAD BOYS rating.
We're about an hour away from the crush of people coming to the Beer Every Day Great Success Party. David cracks open our last beer, the highest rated beer in the world, the Westvleteren 12, a quadruple. I'll let the video do most of the talking.
It really is the smoothest quadruple, at 10.2%, I've ever had. There isn't a whole lot of complexity, but jebus it tastes so good and smooth. BAD BOYS rating, obviously. I'm a little high on the excitement right now, I can't believe this milestone is happening.
A cookie and a cake, the best of both worlds. THANKS TIFFANY!
A lot of people didn't think we would actually drink a different beer every day. Most thought there weren't that many beers available, to which I respond with:
or:
I don't really blame them for thinking this, it's a huge commitment and required focused dedication. And let's be honest, my longest relationship with a girlfriend is 6 months. 3 years ago. This year has doubled my longest relationship and guess what baby? It's still go'n strong. So whoever out there thought that I would date someone for a year before I drank a beer for a year, you obviously didn't realize I had my priorities straight. Zing.
A few people I'm especially thankful for, who experienced so many of the beers with us, are Karl, Tiffany, and Nick G. You guys were incredible this year and I am so proud and thankful that you are my friends. Karl is the most mentioned person on the blog besides David and is tagged in over 40 posts, nearly 1/9th of the beer we had this year, which if you consider the number of nights David and I were sitting in our apartment or having beers across town or countries from each other, incredibly impressive.
And, if I can toot my horn for a minute, I'm freaking damn proud that I've written about each and everyone one of these beers. Half of life, some people say, is just showing up. Well I showed up, drank a beer, and then chronicled my experiences. Too-tooot.
Having a blog is a lot of work, but it's also immensely rewarding. 14 months ago I had never thought I would be a blogger, but I really encourage everyone if that have a passion, to write about it. Take a picture every other day. Express yourself. Even if you don't share the blog, just go online and write about anything and everything, your life will change for the better. Anywho...
THE PARTY
So for our party, Karl orchestrated a blind tasting of five different beers from the year for David and I to compete with. I'll let the video I put together tell the tale of that and the overall party. About 25 people came to celebrate and celebrate we did. The evening was an amazing way to end an incredible year. I joked the next day with David, that even though we just finished drinking a every day for the last year, apparently, we can still party.
I'm going to post in the forthcoming weeks additional posts describing my year and what it meant to me. In the meantime, I put together a video slide-show of photos created from freeze frames in the 60 minutes of footage to hold you over in the meantime until I can edit the film down to an viewable duration.
This was an incredible year, thank you following along!
Slide-show below:
Tomorrow, David is going to take his first day off in 365 days from drinking a different beer, but I plan on continuing the experience until I reach a nice round number, maybe 400 or 425. And after that, I will absolutely still be reporting on beers and experiences. I can't just get enough.
Also, subscribe to the RSS feed above,or like our page on Facebook (to the right) to receive posts as soon as they are published.
I'm dragging David halfway across town after his long drive back from Carlsbad in an open air and doorless Jeep for good reason. At the Surly Goat, and several bars even further away from us, Dogfish Head has distributed an IPA that don't come around heeear very often.There is a single keg of Dogfish Head 120 min IPA on tap. We arrive to find Nick G already mixing it up with the owner of the Surly Goat, Alan.
David just saw the evil monkey from Family Guy behind the camera
The bartender brings our pours out in Sherry glasses and I'm at first, a bit put off. Do you know who I am? A international, well known, vaguely familiar beer blogger and I deserve more...What's that? It's 18%?! Sweet Jesus Mary and Jebediah, I should've done my homework! I have only read about the mystery of this beer and for some reason didn't realize it's that strong. Touche bartender, touche.
I initially feel ridiculous holding a glass the size of a child's tea cup, but not after the first sip. If I hadn't known it was brewed by Dogfish Head, I would assume it's moonshine. David and I just had a discussion earlier this week about the perfect alcohol percent in beer, and we both agreed it was 8%. In our experience, anything over that and you begin tasting the alcohol. It's simply difficult to hide an element that intense. At 18%, how do you combat the sheer overwhelming power of alcohol? More hops of course.
A few sips in, I still feel like I'm drinking moonshine tea, but I'm extremely impressed with how well the signature Dogfish hops are hiding it. This is the strongest beer I've ever tasted (previous record, the 14.5% Bruery Cuir), but they have done an amazing job disguising it. Oh, be certain my face is turning red after a few sips, but wow, color me impressed. BAD BOYS rating.
Rogue's Chocolate Stout was released Valentine's Day 2001, and I could probably guess why; why buy your darling chocolates when you can buy her chocolate desert that can get her drunk?
My favorite coffee table book has some competition from my new favorite sweetheart.
This brew has 69 IBU's. All the Rogue beers have really high IBU
counts, which is really interesting because none of their beers are
hoppy. I think it's great they label their beers with an ingredients
list, which informs me they use their special in house Pac-Man yeast on
all their beers. Rogue also makes it available to home brewers,
which is twice the cool. This is the first American yeast, that I've run into, that doesn't
accept hops very well and produces a very neutral profile. It's really
cool discovering its potential across a wide array of different styles.
Thanks to the addition of chocolate syrup, this flavor dominates the beer and overwhelms any bitter roasted flavors. It really does taste like Hershey's syrup, but what's unique, is there's also hints of vanilla in the flavor profile which this taste like ice cream with chocolate sauce. The flavor, you can tell is added and thus has a 'manufactured' or unnatural feeling to the beer, but I can't deny it's deliciousness. TRANSFORMERS rating.
Nick G is in the house and loving the smell of this brew. Brown ale is my least favorite style of ale, but something tells me the Hazelnut Brown Nectar is different. Is it because Nutella is made out of hazelnut? Could it be the intense aroma? Perhaps it's the odd looking hippie on the front?
It tastes like it smells! Yayyy. Toasted malts up front and some great sweetness and subtle nuttiness. The label conveys Rogue won some big awards for this beer and I can believe it. Hazelnut makes a brown ale taste great. TRANSFORMERS rating.
Happy 4th o' Julie! This was one incredibly busy day that included dog sitting, bottling two home brews and entertaining people from 10am until 9pm. Only with the stamina gained through the spirit of Chuck Norris was I able to live through this day.
Nick G, Beth, AJ and Nic came over around 10am for some patriotic brunch. And by patriotic I mean coffee cake and Freedom Toast drowned in Vermont Maple Syrup. With Nic and Nick around I able to bottle both David and my home brews, which I've been dying to do because it's the highly experimental and unique, Sea Salt Caramel (Brewing Sea Salt Caramel). It was a wild brew day and I'm nervous about the taste, because I wasn't as OCD on keeping the temperature as constant as I have been in the past. Could this be my first bomb?
Hell no! This turned out perfect! My experience has made me aware that carbonating beer can lead to something completely different than what you taste during bottling, but this is pitch perfect. It has a heavy caramel flavor profile and the salt is at the right level. No weird ester or fruit flavors, which I was worried about because of the high percentage of Special B malt. The color is perfect, a dark brown reminiscent of caramel. This is one syrupy and dank dessert beer. I plan on cold conditioning three bottles in my refrigerator to experiment and the rest go in the beer closet to carbonate. David's Imperial IPA didn't fare as well however, it seems a little watered down. Hopefully carbonation will provide a fuller body. A big thank you to Nic and Nick for helping me clean and cap over 4 cases of beer in only 1.5 hours!
Tiffany and her crew brought over materials for bacon mac and cheese and jalapeno cornbread, as well as some phenomenal jello shots. Ridiculous right? Alyssa had some sort of jello shot contraption that allowed her to layer them. I may have had a handful...does that make me a super patriot?
YUP
Meanwhile, I'm getting to work on my Blueberry Chipotle BBQ sauce burgers with fried onions. I don't cook very often, but with David out of town in Austria, it's time to represent the apartment. The recipe comes from an article in the LA Times food section last week, and it turned out delicious! Check this good looking son of a gun out:
I still have 3lbs of meat and a bowl of bbq sauce leftover, will I be eating burgers all week?
Many people came by throughout the day and I poured a bunch of home brew to treat everyone, including Heisenburg's Honey Wheat, David's Imperial Red, and my Summer's Blonde Intern. Thanks everyone for coming out!
While I didn't choose an American beer for the special beer of the day, I did drink a bunch of Bud Light and Jose Cuervo, which is strangely more American than you'd think. Right? Sure.
I bought 5 beers from legendary Danish brewer Mikkeller on Friday and I'll be damned if I don't get to drink them before David returns from Austria, which is when we start our 7 straight days of Rogue Brewing beer. With the spirit of Chuck Norris protecting me, I pour this hopefully delightful Danish Imperial IPA
Who wears seersucker shorts with a chuck norris shirt while drinking Danish beer? This guy!
I Beat yoU is an Imperial IPA that clocks in at 9.75% and smells incredibly well, the piney hops really come through. It is full bodied and has a toasted malt that balances nicely with the piney, herbal hops. Everything is so well balanced that you don't realize this is an Imperial IPA. The more I drink, the craftsmanship becomes more apparent. This is a smooth IPA. THE ROCK rating.
I hope everyone had a an awesome and fun 4th of July!
Two years ago David, Nick and I went to the first LA Beerfest at Sony Studios (which has since turned into a shit-show) and amidst a hundred vendors, bumped into these two guys set up next to Fireman's Brew pouring two beers from "The Bruery."
I think the first beer we tried was either a Saison de Lente or a Rugbrod, but their second beer was a summer seasonal made with Thai Basil which was astounding. Our minds were blown and we had just crossed a threshold; in a very unlikely place we'd stumbled upon one of the best breweries in the U.S.
Since then, neither David or I have tasted Trade Winds - until today. And we have a growler of the stuff! Two years later and we're having a homecoming for our threshold beer to The Bruery.
The Bruery's brewers are Promethean with many if not most of their beers and this one is an excellent example. Who woke up at one day and said, "hmm, I'm going to make beer with basil, thai basil to be exact." Truly Amazeballs. The beer's base is a belgian golden ale, but instead of using candi sugar, typical for the style, they use rice in the mash to lighten the body and increase the gravity and then spice with Thai Basil. The result is a beer that is subtle and earthy, with a hint of spice from the Thai Basil, which is evident in the first sip. The result is a basic golden ale that's easily drinkable (too much so) and a complex flavor profile. Some might argue that this is like their Mischief, only better. For me, how can you pick between your two kids? Well, for my parents it's obviously me and not my brother Warren, but I made that easy. Here it's much more difficult :). BAD BOYS rating.
Melissa R, Nick G, Lisa, Jake, Jenny and Tiffany are coming over to eat and watch the 3rd game between Dallas and Miami. I'm using this excuse to do a flight of my homebrews, as everyone except David and myself haven't had all three of my beers.
I love this, because I'm able to stand up and give a spiel about how each brew was made, funny tidbits, and how clever I think the names are (self absorbed much?). To my surprise though, Heisenberg's Honey Wheat, a winner at previous parties, is not the leading man here. My first brew, King Moonracer's Revenge made with clove, probably got the highest all-around rankings. Lisa's favorite was King Moonracer, Jake's the Red Headed Step-Child (because you just can't beat it), and Mel's was the Honey Wheat. The super hoppy Double Dutch Rudder (a belgian IPA, a beer where two different styles rub off on each other) and one of my personal favs, Jake loves but is probably too hoppy for the ladies' tastes.
Overall, everything but the Mavs loss was a great success! This entire weekend was filled with beer and breweries and great friends - another stellar weekend thanks to beer!
I'm at The Other Room with Karl and we're killing time until David and Nick G are able to join us to kill a growler of Iron Fist and hopefully some ice cream, which if they don't eat, will eventually turn my inner fat kid into an outie. In the meantime, I'm surprised to discover I've unfortunately covered a good portion of The Other Room's beer menu, and I'm settling down on the fairly easy to find Anchor Steam Porter.
Anchor Steam's brewing process, is called steam brewing, and during the first half of last century, it was pretty common on the West Coast, but now Anchor steam is the only company which still brews in this manner. The result, if you've ever had an Anchor Steam, is a creation similar to a fruity Sierra Nevada.
Accordingly, the Anchor Steam Porter has very dark fruit notes that are unique to the porter style. Porters are known for their roasted and toasted malts - chocolate, nutty flavor notes. The steam process has really differentiated this porter from others in the style. While unusual, I like it. It's a drinking porter and perfect for summer. TRANSFORMERS rating.
Back at the homestead, we open Iron Fist's Velvet Glove, which I've had before as the beer of the day and scooped some ice cream (Velvet Glove is pretty heavy). This beer is just phenomenal, and with ice cream it's like chocolate alcohol syrup. It's so good I had seconds of both, just to enjoy the pairing.
Nick G also brought over some Gunga Galunga, one of David's favorite beers, made with ginger and named after a Bill Murry line from Caddyshack. Could it get any better? Only by sharing it with great friends like Karl and Nick G. Freaking great guys night of drinking and non stop laughter.
After discovering Dogfish Head’s 90 min IPA last week at Mom’s Bar, I joined Matt and Nick G there to play pool and drink beers, ones that I couldn’t count as tonight’s beer. I’m going to perceive this week as a continuation of my birthday and pretend that 4 beers plus my beer of the day is defines a health conscious and socially acceptable evening.
The highlight of the night, however, was meeting a special lady. Not that kind of special lady. Nick G figured out this lady sitting next to us at the bar was connected in way to me. Through a couple of carefully phrased questions, we realized that she had dated this guy, let's call him Jeff (not his real name). This really surprised me because Jeff had dated a former boss, who was gay, for the last 5 years (up until my old boss died this summer, sadly). Throughout this process, I'm incredibly excited - like, wave my hands in the air while I talk excited - because she doesn't know what I know, which is the above information. She only knew Jeff as being straight. Things could get really juicy here in a minute. However, I do know that 'Jeff' was also in the company during some times of my boss' relationship with him (personal assistants deal with this crap all the time and know too much). Where does she fit into the time-line?
So I let her know that Jeff was gay, or at the very least bi. How do I know this? 5 years ago acquaintances of my boss saw him do things in a shower during a pool party, that would preclude him from being defined as straight (to drop some mild sauce on it). You should've seen her face! I just slapped a'ho with some knowledge. So, when did you date him? I saw the wheels turn as she figured out the dates and did the math, and it was priceless. 5 years ago. She even broke up with him because he was buying her flowers using my boss' credit card and being picked up using his limo. HAHAHA. God that must suck. This realization, even from events years ago, must be really awkward for a woman. She was probably sleeping with him whilst he was doing things with men that weren't even allowed in the Old Testament.
She was pretty shell shocked at that point. And I have to say, that moment was priceless. I didn't laugh out loud because I didn't want her to feel any more weird about that truth, but inside I was rolling. Afterward, she proceeded to play really terrible pool, so good work me for getting inside her head. But seriously, best night ever. Nick G, excellent work. People don't describe me as being a dick, but I did tell someone the truth when maybe they didn't need or care to hear it. To that I say, eh, tough shit. That was hilariously worth it.
The beer has a body that is lighter than typical hefeweizens but does include the banana and clove flavors from a German yeast. It tastes immature though and isn't well rounded. THE ISLAND rating.
Nick G, Beth, David and I head north to Paso Robles to watch our close friends Nic and AJ tie the knot. David and Christi rearranged the hotel sign in hilarious tribute.
Wedding was damn beautiful and so was the bride.
Here is the new couple, Nic Ewok and Amdrea Bear
I had my emotions on lockdown but the groom (who is a screenwriter) wrote vows which weaved a line from TRUE ROMANCE, "You are so cool," to become a metaphor to say "I love you" to his bride. It was pretty brilliant and I'll be damned if David and I almost succumbed to what many men refer to as, "as expulsion of eye water due to female-like irrationality." But we held it together.
The Beereverday boys dressed to impress.
After we helped the caterers dispose of their wine, the ceremony moved to the barn dance floor and we popped open a special Mischief 'Gone Wild.'
Someone brought a bomber of Pliny the Elder out to party as well. Love that Mischief label
The good fellows at The Bruery brewed up a batch of Mischief but rather than use their typical yeast to ferment the wort, they used Brettanomyces, a type of yeast used primarily in lambic and sour ales ales but is also popular among several Belgian brewers, including the trappist beer Orval who introduces the yeast at bottling. Many American craft breweries have had great success utilizing it, but brettanomyces is a notoriously difficult yeast for a homebrewer to cultivate and use correctly. It's not as easy as popping a smack pack or unscrewing a White Labs yeast; rather, people buy barrels which already have the yeast in it from older sour ale fermentations and then capture airborne yeast which is then cultivated and then saturated in the oak. Here is an interesting article from a blog I subscribe to: ambient spontaneous yeast starters.
My previous Mischief post is here: Bruery Mischief. It's easily one of our favorite beers this year and we're both looking forward to this twist on the classic. True to the original Mischief, the Gone Wild has the belgian strong pale ale body with exceptional carbonation and the Brettanomyces add a lively fruit and floral flavor as it goes down. Lively is putting it mildly, it's like a floral left cross to the tongue. The more I drink, the more I feel like describing it as Mischief on Redbull. It's got an "oomph" to it that's hard to describe. Turbocharged? You get it. I feel privileged for being able to try this limited run. I wouldn't trade the Gone Wild for the original Mischief, but but I certainly enjoyed it. TRANSFORMERS rating.
We certainly weren't done drinking yet (not by a long shot). One of Nic's best men Dallas Hammons was awesome enough to bring out his first homebrews, a bold Imperial Wheat. Check out his blog here. http://www.hammonshomebrew.com/
This was a fantastic weekend spent with close friends and their beer. Loving life.
Spent the last hour boxing/sparring with Nick, who is teaching me the old fashioned way - WITH HIS FISTS. I've never sparred before but after 2 years of Krav Maga, it's time I learned. Apparently Nick thinks my face and brain are both beyond repair because we're not using our head gear. At least I'll have my sparkling personality to fall back on when my face looks like the Seal.
Nick's boxing background is impressive to watch, up until the point when I don't block a right hook that connects with my chin and my neck pops 5 or 6 times. Paging my chiropractor Dr. Tennenbaum. Even though I pop his nose enough for it to bleed a bit, I still feel like he put on a demonstration using me as the dummy. He was Batman and I was Robin...yes, the Chris O'Donnell Robin. Three times as bad as any other Robin.
I'm thoroughly worn out now but focused on continuing the chain of violence by watching Dexter, which I recently started and have now become obsessed with.
Who is your daddy and what does he do?
I love the color, and the coffee and roasted malt smell are stomach tickling. Unfortunately, the buck stops there. The alcohol comes on strong like a bad cologne and it's flavor isn't as good as I'd hoped. Granted, my expectations were based on my love for Ninkasi and the nostalgic affection of the Otis Spunkmeyer cookies our high school made fresh every day, served hot and gooey with a carton of milk....I just went to a happy place. ARMAGEDDON rating.
Hey Otis, that's the same advice yo momma tells her first time customers...Ha, yeah yeah she is SUCH a hooker
Nic R had the greatest idea for his bachelor party. Take a couple guys out and be taught be the best in the country on how to tactically use a shotgun. These guys were rated #1 in the world by Homeland Security (or so they say) http://www.americandefenseenterprises.com/index.htm
First, the beer. I wasn't a fan.
My new entrepreneurial book by the creators of the Brooklyn Brewery, a fascinating read
It was brewed in the 'San Francisco' style, which means it used the same style as Anchor Steam. This attributes to the fruity flavor I'm tasting, but overall it's a pretty simple beer and there isn't much here really. Easy drinking I suppose. THE ISLAND rating.
We learned everything from handling a shotgun, reloading, firing moving forward and backward, firing at multiple targets using cover, reloading on the run (the first picture above) and then house clearing, which was a little nerve racking.
The bachelor himself takes on three targets
Reloading
We shot over 120 shells over the course of the day and earned a terrible sunburn. We all agreed that this was a fantastic bachelor idea and party. I'm not a huge gun nut, I'll never own a gun, but I loved doing this. The instructors were serious and intense. The whole day was intense, from beginning to end.
Safety on!
There were other people firing nearby us and even though you we're protected by dirt mounds (in the background above), high rounds whizzed above our heads. We were obviously never in danger but it was certainly unnerving. I didn't even know how to shoot a shotgun at the beginnig of the day. The first two shots we fired as a group, I didn't even shoot because the safety was on and I didn't put one in the chamber. I was a total noob. But by the end of the day reloading on the run and firing at multiple targets was mechanical. I can only imagine what doing this everyday in the army could turn you into.
This was my favorite exercise, firing at 5 targets while moving between cover
I was given an Benelli M2 Semi-Automatic shotgun, which means I didn't have to pump it to fire. This terrified my initially, fearing that I'd accidentally put some buckshot into someone's leg. But as soon as I learned how to use it, God I was loving it. Not having to pump, I ran through some courses like a ninja. Once I returned it to the trainers, I already missed my Benelli. Single tear...
Nick G makes short work
The last sequence below was a lot of fun. Shoot three targets, then 'under fire' move back to cover, port-load a shotgun slug (enter a musket round directly into your chamber), take out the back target, then reload with buckshot for the final two. It was such a blast!
For our traditional Thursday night brew with Karl, we're at The Father's Office in Culver City with Karl, Laua, Nick G, Nic and AJ for some amazing burgers and brews. This burger never gets old!
We tried an "Altbier" at the brew store while picking up supplies for my last homebrew, the Heisenberg, and tonight I figure it could compliment the burger.
Here is the definition of an "Altbier" from beeradvocate.com
A Düsseldorf specialty, an Altbier is a German style brown ale, the “alt” literally translates to "old" in German, and traditionally Altbiers are conditioned for a longer than normal periods of time. Other sources note that "alt" is derived from the Latin word "altus," which means "high" and refers to the rising yeast. Take your pick, but the extended conditioning mellows out the ale's fruitiness and produces an exceptionally smooth and delicate brew.
Brown ale is the perfect pairing for meat! Deliciousness prevails. The beer has a clean and subtle lager-like profile. I'm tasting toffee and caramel and a bit of heavy roast/chocolate at the end. If I owned a restaurant, I would pimp this style of beer out (if I could find my hands on any - who else makes this style?). TRANSFORMERS rating.
Great to see everyone tonight! Goodbye March and hello April.
Oh Saturday, I love thee. Time is on my side today. In one week from now, I'm able to taste my Belgian Red. But today, I'm charged with transferring my Heisenberg's American Wheat that I brewed last Sunday (Heisenberg's American Wheat Home Brew) from the bucket to the carboy. The sample tastes fine, but it's a little early still to draw assumptions. However, let the record state that I'm patting myself on the back for the temperature control exerted while this is fermenting. I've definitely been sleeping in what little cold weather clothes I own. The Kolsch yeast works best between 55 and 70 degrees, but the first 24 hours after brewing I brought the temperature up to 72 degrees (to get the yeast working). Then over the course of the week I've slowly decreased the temperature in my room to from 72, to 70 and down to 66. When it's in the carboy I'll sustain a 64 degree temperature and Let It Ride like Bachman-Turner Overdrive.
I realized this is my 4th home brew in as many months, and I've never posted a picture of the trub. You'll see why in a second. Trub is the output of the yeast interaction with the fermentables and what's left after transferring the brew to the carboy. It's essentially heavy fats, proteins and inactive yeast. If left in the bucket for too long, the trub can impart off-flavors.
Yep. Like staring into Satan's butthole
So in transferring the beer to the carboy, we separate it from the trub and allow it to settle, which creates additional color clarity in the beer and precludes the trub from imparting any off flavor.
Wallah!
So now I wait a week or two and then bottle it. It should settle to become a dark yellow - light gold color.
Nick G is coming over for dinner and that means a guys night out filled with Chile con Queso, Steaks, Beer and Mush-Shrooms.
Unlike David, I rarely cook nice meals but fortuitously for me, this beer was actually created to be paired with food. Hailing from Spain, they probably thought we'd be pairing it with more complex food but whatever, American Steak rules. Also, Estrella has a beautiful bottle and I love its shape.
It pours a golden goodness and it's malty smooth. The Damn Inedit is a wit / lager chimera and it definitely has the wit spicy floral and citrus notes and finishes like a sweet lager. They were right about pairing this with food, but steak wasn't the best choice.
Problem is, the beer is decently unique but it never really grabbed me. If this beer was a stranger, it would be someone who had a great ice breaker but was a mediocre conversationalist. Still, it's worth introducing yourself to one mister Estrella Damm Inedit. ARMAGEDDON rating.
The day has finally come that Nick G can make it to The Bruery. This man is one of the biggest fans of this heavenly beer and now, he pilgrimages to his Mecca. What's the occasion? He and AJ share a birthday and to celebrate, we're doing a brewery tour. We're joining several of Nick's coworkers as well as Karl who is coming up from Temucla after wine tasting, if he's still vertical. On the way up, we listen to a birthday mix I made for Nick and AJ and in case you were wondering, Oingo Boingo was definitely on it. The video is one of Danny Elfman's finest moments -
The timing of this trip is excellent, because according to The Bruery newsletter, they're releasing their fifth and latest Provisions Series batch today (Provisions is a limited one time only release) AND Bootleggers Brewery is releasing their greatest creation ever, the very limited release Knuckle Sandwich DIPA. Victory is ours!
Best Friends and Beard Brothers - at least that's what it says on our eharmony profile
Going brewery tasting is fun for the obvious reasons, but this trip doubles the fun for me because all the people except for Nick know nothing about The Breury or Bootleggers, so I'm allowed to ramble on and wave my hands uncontrollably while explaining everything I know about their beer. Imagine if you gave a 10 year old kid Redbull and a plate of cookies and that's how excited I am. Finally, someone clubs me over the head like a baby seal and my I shift my focus to the beer of the day, the Cornballer.
Bruery has some pretty great names for their specialty brews (Gunga Galunga, a Caddy Shack reference, being the best) and this one brings back fond memories of infomercials from Arrested Development (unfortunately the above is the best I can find)
And let me tell you how much I enjoyed it...eeeeeeee not so much -
Eat sink, cornballer (I didn't flush it, but God I wanted to)
I love The Bruery. I have been there four times. I own two growlers. I have several of their beers saved under my bed. I even own a shirt and will probably buy a hat next trip. Yay merchandising. I'll probably name my second born son Mischief after their finest brew, but this beer makes me cringe.
The Cornballer is their attempt at a malt liquor and it's 50% of it is made out of corn and the other 50% made out of 6 Row Malt (2 Row Malt is typically used to make beer). It smells like citrus hops mixed with a mildew sock. It tastes similar, with a dash of sourness. There's just something rotten about it. Everyone except for Karl agrees with me. Karl likes this, but he's also high on mescaline and wine. I love so much about brewery, but not this. This was hard as a horse to put down. I never thought I would bestow the worst rating to a Bruery beer, but stranger things have happened. PEARL HARBOR rating Thanks goodness they still have the Cuadruple on tap, because I'm gonna need a 'forget me now' after this one.
On another note, happy birthday Nick and AJ! I've known them both for over 9 years and they're my two favorite people and I wish them the best birthday and in the year to come!
I bought a Loakal Red and a Cuadruple to add to my cellar/bed collection. Nick G went certifiably awesome and bought a CASE of Bruery beer, a baker's dozen to be exact. On a side note, he will soon be the proud owner of a shotgun. Who has two thumbs and can't wait to combine both? THIS GUY
At The Old Place to celebrate Nick G's 29th berfday with his family. The restaurant is hidden deep in the Santa Monica mountains East of Malibu in the small town where they filmed shows such as M.A.S.H and Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman (David's 2nd favorite rerun show behind The Wonder Years).
The restaurant has been cooking steaks for the last 50 years on the same grill, and their meat has quite the distinctive smokey taste. Also, there is a winery next door which I'd love return during the day and have some wine then follow up with more Noodle & Cheese Bake and Steak - The Old Place menu.
They have a surprisingly pleasant beer list. I dive into one worthy of a steak joint and a Brewdog I haven't seen before.
Um, a little more mood lighting please? I need more darkness
First off, 5am Saint is a great freaking name. Iconoclastic Amber Ale, which is labeled at the bottom, is a bold statement but it's totally backed up. This beer is smooth with a nutty bite and just the right amount of sweetness. The more I drink the more excellent it becomes. This is the type of Amber Ale I want every other Amber to be. Itg oes well with food too. THE ROCK rating
I finish of this beer before the main course and order an Oaked Arrogant Bastard for the steak, which is a brilliant move on my part. In the future when you grill, find a six pack of the oaked bastardo, it'll do your bbq wonders.
Nick's been my closest friend for 9 years and counting, and like a fine wine or 15 year-old girls, he only gets better with age.
