Jolly Pumpkin-Oro De Calabaza

As you can see from the pic, we were celebrating. It was my 30th bday. Alex made me a delicious Spanish tortilla. Along with the meal we shared a bottle of the Oro De Calabaza. This Biere de Garde from Jolly Pumpkin is great. It has a light fruity tartness. There's a citrus note and some pepper at the same time. Very light and crisp. It was a complete surprise that it complemented the meal so well. Those guys make some good stuff.

Lagunitas-Pils

I can't say that I drink allot of pilsners, but I really liked this one. My friend Tom brought this over. It's a great session beer. Nice and light, with a mild hop and malt flavor. i'll be drinking more of this when the weather gets hotter.

Sprecher-Scottish Style Ale

Whooo. This one has some bourbon in it. Its a Scottish ale that was aged in bourbon barrels. I wasn't too impressed. You can't really taste the scotch too much, the bourbon flavor takes the whole beer over. Allot of maltyness too. Hey it was worth a try and I got a bottle that will be reused when brewing.

Irish Red to the Secondary

I know it's not that big of a deal. The beer moved from the primary to the secondary. But this time is a little different. This will be the first batch I dry hopped with whole dried hops(1oz.). These Fuggle hops have been stored in my freezer since last falls harvest. In addition to dry hopping with them they were also included in the wort boil. I like the taster of the red I had this evening. This could be a winner.

The Hops are Planted

I finally got around to getting the trellis up and the hops planted. The trellis looks kinda bare and weird right now. I wonder what my neighbors think of it? Well there are 3 varieties in the ground. Cascade, Willamette, and Nugget. Chicken wire has been placed around them, so the rabbit Ben can't catch wont eat them. I have my fingers crossed that these things will grow.

Brewing and Tasting

I had a little brewing and tasting at my house last week. My cousin Sean and friend Tom came over. We cooked up a batch of Irish Red Ale. This was the first time either of them have been through the brewing process. It was a lot of fun to explain the how and why of brewing. We tasted some great beers while the boil was going on. Titan IPA-Great Divide, Corsendonk Xmas Ale, Unplugged Imperial Weizen-New Glarus, Horn Dog Barley Wine-Flying Dog, Mild Ale-my homebrew, ect. I think that we all benefited from this. Sean is totally new to the craft brew world so we completely overwhelmed his taste buds and brain with beer knowledge. Tom has an extensive knowledge of wine and with that had some fantastic adjectives for flavors that I would have never thought of. I just had a good time drinking and talking about beer.

Happy Holiday-Enjoy the PEEP Show