There was a surprise waiting for me when I got home from work today! Another special delivery (Beer-Mail) from FlyingDog Brewery.
True to her word, Stephani Kerchner, FlyingDog's PR and Event Coordinator, was kind enough to send me yet another sample for my online reviewing purposes. Thanks Steph!
This time around, I was treated to a bottle of Garde Dog, Biere De Garde, a farmhouse ale brewed this month for spring and summer time enjoyment. Good thing it's finally spring, I'm not sure how long I could hold off...
That being said, I'm letting the beer chill tonight, and plan on sampling and reviewing it tomorrow, so stay tuned!
Oh yeah, one more thing... I may get an opportunity to interview Flying Dog's President, Eric Warner... But before I do that, I'd like to get some great questions from you. If you have any good questions, please post them in the comments of this post...
Welcome to review number 3, featuring Wild Dog's K-9 Cruiser Winter Ale, another fine beverage provided by Flying Dog Brewery for my reviewing purposes. This review should have been posted a month or two ago, but as you can see from the lack of recent posts, life has dictated that my time be spent elsewhere. My apologies to the folks at Flying dog for the delay. Not to worry, I'm back and so too will be the posts.
As with the last two Flying Dog beer reviews, my buddy Dave was kind enough to assist me with his own review offering a second opinion.
Some words from Flying Dog: The psycho in the pack. It is a dark, sweet and malty "Winter Warmer" that will captivate any adventurous microbrew drinker. A true Flying Dog original, K-9 Cruisers is the perfect brew to warm you up in those cold winter months. The malts used are 50/60 Crystal, Chocolate, Oats, Munich malt with Millenium and Saaz hops. 30 IBU's and an alcohol content of 6.4%.
Style: Winter Warmer
Style Description from our friends at BeerAdvocate.com: These malty sweet offerings tend to be a favorite winter seasonal. Big malt presence, both in flavor and body. The color ranges from brownish reds to nearly pitch black. Hop bitterness is generally low, leveled and balanced, but hop character can be pronounced. Alcohol warmth is not uncommon.
Many English versions contain no spices, though some brewers of spiced winter seasonal ales will slap "Winter Warmer" on the label. Those that are spiced, tend to follow the "wassail" tradition of blending robust ales with mixed spices, before hops became the chief "spice" in beer. American varieties many have a larger presences of hops both in bitterness and flavor.
Average alcohol by volume (abv) range: 5.5-8.0%
(In this case, the Horn dog boast a whopping 6.4% abv)
How was it served? From a bottle Glass: Standard pint glass Location of tasting: Dave's apartment Reviewers: Bryon & guest reviewer - Dave
Bryon's Review
1. Appearance - An inviting crystal clear display of an orange-red amber topped off with a big bubbly head.
2. Smell - A mild malty sent, with hints of biscuit. (A note on smell - I have a very limited sense of smell, that comes and goes, so my opinions on beer smells should be taken with a grain of salt...)
3. Taste - A sweet malted toasted flavor, with hints of roasted cinnamon, finishes clean with no after taste. The subtle "holiday seasoning" is nearly over powered by the malty flavoring.
4. Mouthfeel - A medium to heavy texture with a light and disappointing flavor.
5. Drinkability - While the K-9 goes down easy, I would say it goes down easier than it should. For a Winter Warmer, this feels like a very small beer. It seems like a novelty beer that fell short.
Drinkability Scale from 1- 10: A 6. (Would I have another? I COULD drink more than one, but would prefer something else. Although it might be better paired with food, and I may just not care for the style. Over all, this isn't my cup of tea, or beer I should say) Sorry guys, this one isn't for me...
And for a second opinion...
Dave's Review
1. Appearance - Dark amber in color, reminiscent of dark corn syrup or a light brewed coffee. Carbonation seems low, but the beer is clear with a well formed head.
2. Smell - K-9 has a nutty, malty scent with hints of roasted grains. It is a clean smell and is very inviting.
3. Taste - The taste is surprisingly light. It refreshes like water, and has mild tones of malt with a slight spicy finish. If you work for it, K-9 will leave a slight after-taste that is a little hoppy; like cinnamon that has a bitter tinge from being slightly burnt. Sweet and clean, but not great.
4. Mouthfeel - Another smooth, medium-weight brew, somewhat under-carbonated. The sweetness tends to cause the beer to cling to your mouth, but not unpleasantly.
5. Drinkability - This beer is very drinkable. It is good, but underwhelming for a winter brew. I think most will enjoy it, but there are a lot of better choices out there.
Josh was true to his word and arranged for something special to be sent to me in the mail. Today, a package arrived from Stephanie Kerchner, PR & Events Coordinator from Flying Dog Brewery. Stephanie was kind enough to include not only a sample of the Collaborator, but also samples of both Wild Dog Barrel-Aged Horn Dog and K-9 Cruiser Winter Ale. I can't wait to sample and review these babies! (Guess what I'm doing tomorrow night!)
It was pretty funny, I was so excited to see the box when I got home from the gym, I didn't even wait to shower and change before I ripped open the box. My wife thought it was a little tacky for me to post a photo with my sweaty workout clothes on, but I say BAH! I was like a kid on Christmas, and I can't wait to try out my new toys!
Stay tuned for some reviews!
Also, Stephanie was kind enough to offer me an opportunity to interview Flying Dog Brewery's Head Brewer, Matt Brophy. I intend on taking her up on the offer, and here's where you come in.
Do you have a questions you want me to ask Matt Brophy? Perhaps a question about the company, or about making the jump from home brewing to pro-brewing. I'm all ears, and I'll be happy to share my interview opportunity with you, just leave your question in the comments with some way for me to contact you if I need more info. Or shoot me an email at bryon|@|homebrewbeer.net and share your questions with me...
New York is huge, and I think I may have bit off more than the three of us could chew when I put together our itinerary. We didn't even hit all the stops I was considering, and we didn't bother with the big beer festival that was going on that weekend. Note to self: Consider hitting that event next year, more beer to chose from and less walking... Less risk more return?
Even with the abbreviated list of locations, we didn't spend a great deal of time in one place. It felt like we were always on the move, and if the rough shape my shoes were in by the night's end was any indication, we certainly were very mobile throughout the night. Next time I'm wearing sneakers!
After we left McSorley's, we hoofed it over to the Hop Devil Grill for a few more beers. This place has a wide selection of quality beers on tap and in bottles. But I'll be honest, I was expecting more out of the place in the way of ambiance. Hey listen, I'm not saying the place isn't great, but the web site gave me slightly inflated expectations.
Kenn had a bottle of Three Philosophers, a delicious Quadrupel... The bottle was big enough for all three of us to have some. Thankfully Kenn is a generous man. I can't quite remember what Chris and I had... I really need to start taking better notes...
Part of the problem was that I sampled a number of beers, hence the small glass and the look of both deep thought in my eyes... I'll dig up my notes later and figure out what I finally settled on. But I will tell you now, I went through a few samples before I found something I really liked. (Either I developing a discriminating beer pallet, or I was just making up for the lack of freebies at Brooklyn Brewery... You make the call!)
Chris has that similar look of heavy consideration in his eyes... If my fuzzy memory serves me, I believe he tried a cider of sorts. Chris likes the ciders, ask him why my old college room mate nick named him "Wood Chuck" and "Sweet Chuck" some time...
Here's what I settled on, if only I could remember what it was. Looks beautiful though doesn't it?
I found my notes! I had an Ommegang, Rare Vos, which is a Belgian Dark Ale. According to my chicken scratch notes, I gave this tasty beer a big thumbs up for it's beautiful amber color, smooth flavor and nice head that clung to the side of the glass.
My sloppy notes indicated that Chris actually had an Ace Perry Cider, which he said was a good choice, offering a sweet pear flavor.
As stated previously, Kenn chose a bottle of Three Philosophers, which he said had a sweet yet complex flavor, at this point, my notes got very messy, and more or less unreadable. They do include something about the cherry flavor and something else that ends with the phrase, "but in a good way..." LOL! I really need to work on my note taking!
Kenn and I are looking a little worse for ware after a long debate with 3 Philosophers.
Random thought of the day: I wish I had a pet monkey to take with me on these adventures. I could equip him with a helmet cam and just let him run wild, I imagine the videos he'd produce would be similar to the one below...
And now for something different...
After we finished our round of beers, we made our way to the World Trade Center and took a quick look at the memorial that stands on the site at the opening of the subway station there.
Six years later this site is no less sobering. The sign in the photo above list those that we would be toasting in a matter of minutes.
Our next stop was the bar in the Millennium Hilton Hotel, over looking the site of the World Trade Center. Above is a very blurry shot, but it gives you an idea of how good the view of ground zero is from the bar.
This is a pretty cool shot of Kenn with 'Old Glory' in the background and the World Trade Center memorial/subway entrance all lit up in the far background. The three of us had a beer, made a toast, had some munchies, and then hit the road...
Our next stop? Starbucks...
We moved on to The Blind Tiger after a brief stop at Starbucks to get Kenn a caffeinated beverage along the way. Kenn had put on a brave face, but he was starting to crash, and we still had a good portion of the night ahead of us. As you can see Chris was still smiling.
No coffee or tea for this guy by golly! Although, from the looks of me, a coffee may have been exactly what I needed, we did a lot of walking that day and we were all tired. I can't recall what I ordered, but it was something local to NY and it was good. If you hold the pint glass up to your ear, you can hear the brewery... No really, try it some time...
The video clip above shows some great street performers doing what they do best somewhere out there near the Blind Tiger. These guys could really sing! You gotta love New York!
Long story short, we didn't spend a lot of time at the Blind Tiger... After pumping Caffeine and NYC pizza into Kenn to revive him, we made our way to a bar Chris and I always visit when in the city, Off The Wagon.
Why do we go there so often? Not because of it's great beer selection or historic significance (because it has neither!), but because we get to relive a small portion of our college days when we visit. This place is your basic college bar, full of college aged people, do what college people do. Not really my scene any more, but...
But they have a number of beer-pong tables set up and allows for informal tournaments. At one point, Chris and I were quite skilled at the beer pong. And if bowlers are athletes, well then darn it, so too were we!
We stood there and provided an audience for a couple of games waiting for our turn at the table. When we were about to throw down the gauntlet and challenge the reigning champs to an ass whooping, the bar staff kicked everyone out of that room, a private party had reserved the area, so no beer-pong for us. It was probably just as well, the night was getting late, and we needed to make our way back to Brooklyn. As the lyric goes, "NO SLEEP TIL BROOKLYN!"
Once we got back to Brooklyn, we made our way to Barcade one more round of local brews and a lot of 80s arcade goodness. Yes, that's me having a beer at Barcade in the photo. I was also using my herculean strength to ensure the bar didn't float off the ground and escape. What can I say folks, I'm a hero...
I'm not sure, but I think in this photo, Kenn is barely able to keep his eyes open and is giving me the international sign for, "Please kind sir, do not photograph me, I'm not in the mood, photograph that guy there instead!" That crankiness was nothing that couldn't be solved by a few rounds of Digdug and a nightcap.
And just like that, Kenn was back in the game, both literally and figuratively, with one hand on his beer and the other on the joystick...
Chris, having located the bar and it's vast array of quality beers on tap was once again smiling. Unbeknonwst to him, a strange localized version of the famed Northern Lights was now presenting itself behind him across the bar. A strange phenomenon believed to be cause by poor lighting and amateurish photography. Nature is amazing isn't it?
I really wanted to play the Star Wars game they had, but it was out of order that night. So, I thought a round of Tapper seemed more than appropriate... I know what you're thinking, "My god he has a beautiful head!" And I know what question you are dieing to ask... But no, I have not previously served as a professional head model... At least not yet. But I am available for photo shoots...
Nothing like playing Tapper while enjoying a delicious beer fresh from a real tap... This was how the game was meant to be played.
Chris schooled me with his Tapper prowess, the lad is a natural.
I call this one, "You look beautiful in the Galaga glow!"
We wrapped up the night with a little billiards, to make sure Chris was not affected by the beer... Then, it was a forced march, AKA 'The Brooklyn Death March', back to Chris' car and a long sleepy ride home for me.
And that is more or less it... We had a great time, but I think our scope was just too wide. Next time, less stops, less walking and more laughs...
In the future I want to do just a Brooklyn trip, which will of course include Barcade and Brooklyn Brewery. I'd love to get more suggestions from some of my fellow beer travelers out there. (hint hint) What else is good in Brooklyn? Does anyone know if Green Point (Kelso) gives tours? They wont return my calls or emails...
If you have any other suggestions please leave a comment on this post with your thoughts.
In case you missed the early parts of this tour check them out here!
Check out Part 1 and Part 2 if you haven't already done so...
My original plan for the Boston Beer Tour included some stops at historic pubs along the way. A great way to sample some of Boston's bar scene, while learning a little about Boston's past. But, the best laid plans of mice and men...
After our Boston Brewery (Sam Adams) tour, we skipped Doyle's Cafe and high-tailed it across town to the Harpoon Brewery. Some of our fellow travelers were too anxious to wait for the next tour. I was a little annoyed at my master plan being altered, but that's par for the course when it comes to group activities and group dynamics.
The gang in the Harpoon tasting room.
Beer Tour Tip # 1 If you're really into beer, and the plan, beware who you take with you. And if your friends are single guys, keep in mind the single females that are with you will have more influence than you will. That maybe true if the genders are swapped, but I couldn't be sure. If anyone has any insight, feel free to chime in.
What did we miss? Not really sure... Doyle's Cafe has supposedly seen quite few famous people, including politicians, enjoying a good pint. It's also served as the backdrop for different TV shows and movies. My thought was it was near the brewery, it's recommended by the brewery, it's a well known cool place to grab a brew and some good bar chow, and it's historical. Why not stop in? I thought a bite to eat would slow the pace of the day down just enough so we could get Harpoon with out the fear of too much beer, too early in the day. But "they" wouldn't have it... So off to Harpoon we went, while I bit my tongue...
It was intended to look like we were holding the sign up, instead we look like Barker's Beauties from the Price is Right.
We got to Harpoon a little early for the next tour. Too early for the anxious females in our group, although they were in a hurry to get there and skip Doyle's Cafe. If we stuck to my plan, we would have had a good lunch and then made it to Harpoon for the slightly later tour at exactly the right time, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
When we last left our hero, he was battling the diabolical Lobster...
A brief interlude We were there early enough to walk down the street and grab a beer at a small deli, but not early enough to sit and eat. The funny thing was, they wouldn't serve us beer unless we ate something. So we ordered a small order of coleslaw and a handful of plastic forks.
May I have this dance?
We didn't eat the coleslaw, but after a few dances with the giant lobster in front of the place, we drank the beers over a brisk walk back to Harpoon. This was a little challenging as we had to avoid the attention of the nice Boston Police Officer in the next parking lot who would probably take issue with us drinking beer on our walk. We got back to Harpoon just in time for a quick pit stop and then we were ready for the tour.
Onto to the Harpoon tour! Now to be clear, Harpoon doesn't really do tours, not really. We could look at brewery floor from behind a red rope, and the folks that worked there gave us a run down of the company's history and current state of affairs. After that, they opened the tasting room and gave us nearly unlimited free samples of 12 different beers they had on tap. (Remember kids, drink in moderation, it's about quality and no quantity!!!)
Harpoon has this cool wall of beer set up. Beer cans from a tone of different companies, it was beautiful, I had to take a few photos.
Man! We look a little light in the loafers in this pic!
It was at this point that Dave, Erik and the ladies chipped in and purchased me a cool Harpoon tap handle as a thank you to me for planning the day. What a cool surprise! Frankly I was touched... I felt like Sally Field wining the Oscar, "You like me, you really like me!"
"You like me, you really like me!"
Just a cool photo I took of a ship just out side where we had lunch
The gang at lunch, and more or less the untimely end of my Boston Beer Tour...
When the party, I mean tour, was over, we went to a restaurant down the street, instead of the Bell in Hand, the next stop in my original plan. Apparently the girls were in a hurry to eat, and then move on. Much to the chagrin of my buddies, they had other plans for the evening. Plans that didn't include the rest of my beer tour, or any of us, but did include visiting an ex-boyfriend and crashing at his apartment after a night on the town with him. We discovered all of this as we ate our lunch. They were rushing us, so they could move onto phase 2 of their diabolical plan.
"Don't make me destroy you!"
Now don't get me wrong... Dave and Erik weren't trying to have a romantic interlude with our female friends. And the girls were a lot of fun, I'm exaggerating here for comic effect. (mostly) A little artistic license if you will. But they did kind of alter our plans significantly and they did end up more or less ditching us for the ex... But to be honest, we all had a hand in ruining the day. It all happened the night before...
Beer Tour Tip # 2 Don't go out really late the night before an all day beer tour. Because that's exactly what we all did the night before this tour. A friend's sister was leaving for her home country the next morning, so we treated her to an American night out on the town. Completely stupid. The lack of sleep, the heavy meal, it all kicked in, and it was time to take a nap.
The plan is all history now... I had planned on taking the lead from this guy, and finishing the day off with a historic walking beer tour. We weren't going to take his tour, but we were going to wing it and do it on our own. Instead, we ended up getting a couple hotel rooms, napping and then hitting a dueling piano bar near Fenway (LOL!). The next morning we drove home. Anti-climactic isn't it?
On our way to the hotel we drove by "Cheers"...
Looking to the future... I still think the over all plan is a solid one. And I will make another attempt at the historic beer tour starting with the Bell in Hand. But I think I'll hold off until next year. Now, I have my eyes focused on Connecticut and New York City.
Once I get done blogging about my recent Boston Beer Tour, I will begin to plan the next big Beer Tour.
The Big Apple Beer Tour I plan on setting something up for New York City, so if you have a favorite micro-brewery or brewpub in NYC, please let me know and I'll consider it for the next road trip.
The Connecticut Beer Trail Living in CT, I've heard a ton about the so called CT wine trail. They have a website, and signs all over the state. The different wineries actually work together to drive customers their way. I just don't get why the beer makers don't do the same thing. this is where I come in... I'm going to do my own CT Beer Trail thing right here on this site. Here's a sneak peek at the brewereis in CT and where they are in the state. My plan is to hit a couple of these individually as a fact finding mission, and then set up a weekend deal where I hit all of them and maybe a few choice pubs along the way.
Now there are a few other so called contract breweries in CT, but I'm not really sure what that means. Do any of you? Like what's the deal with Streichs Brewing Co, tehre's a few more but they seem to lead to dead ends on the internet... Anyone have a clue? Did I miss any breweries in CT? Please let me know!
Living so close to Boston is great thing for a beer lover. Boston has scores of great pubs, bars and two major breweries. Back in Feb, I set out to tour both breweries and then check out some of the local pubs. Unfortunately I was pressed time, and only hit the Sam Adam's brewery and have few more pints at one of the local bars. But I vowed to return and tour both breweries in one day.
A couple of months ago, I returned to Boston with a few friends in tow and with a 2 phase plan.
Phase 1: Tour both Sam Adam's Brewery and the Harpoon Brewery.
Phase 2: Initiate a mini pub crawl touring some of the more historically significant watering holes in the city.
Sneak peak, the gang at Harpoon's tasting room! From left to right. Erik, "Mo" & Nicole, Me in back and Dave on the right.
I'll be blogging about this trip as the week goes on, so stay tuned! In the mean time, check out this Google Map I made for my "Boston Beer Tour". The map is a work in progress. More to follow!
I recently started talking to Josh Mishell, the Creative Manager over at Flying Dog Ales. Josh stumbled upon homebrewbeer.net and left a comment one day, and the emails below resulted. Read below and learn more about Josh and Flying Dog Ales!
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From: Bryon Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2007 1:45 PM To: Josh Mishell Subject: Greetings from HomeBrewBeer.Net!
I must admit, I was excited to see someone from the actual brewery comment on the post I did about the Open Source Beer Project. In addition to loving quality beer, I also come from an IT background, so I’m familiar with the Open Source concept. I’m sure this idea has and will continue to endear your brewery to the hearts and minds home brewers and beer lovers alike. Great marketing idea and a good thing for quality American beer!
Could you tell me a little more about yourself? What do you do for Flying Dog Ales? How did you find my blog? And what’s a guy got to do to get a drink around here?
In response to your last comment, I would be honored to receive some of your fine products for the purpose of reviewing them on my blog. I’m specifically interested in getting my hands on some of the Collaborator, if at all possible. But I’d be more than happy to have my crew of beer lovers review any of your other fine products as well…
At any rate, I love the unique concept that is Flying Dog Ales. You guys really do stand out from the rest of the pack. Keep up the good work, and stay in touch!
PS: Do you mind if I post this email and your response to my blog? Just let me know… Thanks again!
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From: Josh Mishell Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 12:46 PM To: bryon@homebrewbeer.net Subject: Re: Greetings from HomeBrewBeer.Net!
Bryon,
Sorry it's taken a few days to get back to you. Good news, we just bottled the Doppelbock recently and will be sending out samples in the next few weeks. If you email me your mailing address, we can get a 12oz bottle of Doppelbock out to you. We're definitely excited about the Doppelbock, and after drinking some on Monday, it's pretty damn tasty! Feel free to post this to your blog, that sounds exciting!
Thanks for the kind words about our brewery, too. We're trying hard to be the leading brewery on the internet (through our online newletters, blogs, microsites, and the like), and it's good to know we're being noticed. We answer every email that we receive from consumers, and I think people really like the personal touch.
I was hired about a year ago to be the Creative Manager of Flying Dog Brewery. In the past year, I've redesigned many of our printed goods. The most exciting part is that I redesigned our labels, carriers, and case cartons (look for updated labels to hit shelves by December). The new labels keep Ralph Steadman's iconic illustrations, and we've enlarged the illustrations and better organized the rest of the information in a better way. You can see those changes here:
It's pretty much a dream job for me. I grew up in Colorado, and the Colorado Craft Beer explosion of the 1990s. Granted I wasn't 21 until 1999, but I remember how it defined Colorado (which just became the #1 beer producing state in the country, by the way). I went to college in Upstate New York and loved bringing my friends great Craft Beer from all around our state. Never in my life did I expect to work for a Brewery, and I'm pleased as punch to be working for a brewery with such cool branding. It makes us unique in the world, and I'm loving every minute of it.
I found your blog because I have an RSS feed that alerts me whenever a blog writes something with the term "Flying Dog Brewery". But now I've subscribed to your RSS feed and will be reading everything you post. Thank God for Bloglines. I'm following over 50 beer blogs right now, and that list is increasing every week as we find new bloggers who are writing great stuff about Flying Dog.
"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." - Benjamin Franklin
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From: Bryon Sent: Saturday, October 04, 2007 6:45 PM To: Josh Mishell Subject: Greetings from HomeBrewBeer.Net!
Josh,
Thank you for the response, and thank you for agreeing to send out a sample of the Doppelbock. I’ll be sure to write up a nice review and post it to the blog.
I’d be more than happy to sample and review any of the products from Fly Dog Ales any time you want. Please keep in mind I have a core group of beer loving friends that would also love to write some reviews of your products. So feel free to send a six-pack or a case next time. :-)
This may sound odd, but do you have any plans to release any new lite beers in the near future? By lite I mean low on the calories and/or carbs… We’re on a new health kick here and are on the hunt for quality lite beers for those days when we want to go easy on the calories. It’s just something to keep in mind if you release a new product along those lines and are looking for some bloggers to write up reviews or if you need some one to beta test on.
I was at one time a graphic artist employed by the US military, and I worked as a web designer in corporate America for a number of years. Now I just do that sort of thing for a hobby. Based on my experience, it does sound like you have a dream job for a beer loving graphic artist. Congrats! Are you guys hiring? J
Well, Josh I sincerely appreciate your generosity and time. I look forward to trying the Doppelbock and to hearing more from Flying Dog Ales…
Cheers!
Bryon
More to follow once I get my hands on the Doppelbock! Stay tuned!!!
For years I thought about making my own home brewed beer, but thought it would be too difficult. Now I'm finally giving it a go! I will be documenting my experiences here in the hopes of enabling others to learn from my mistakes and hopefully have some fun in the process.
In addition to discussing my attempts at home brewing, I'll also occasionally write about other related topics. Anything from home brew kits, beer reviews & brewery tours, to religion, healthy diets and responsible drinking will be fair game. In the mean time, I invite you to join me as I embark on a brave new journey into home brewing! Cheers!
Soap Box: Beer should be enjoyed responsibly! Drink quality beer and drink it in moderation! Nobody likes a drunkard!
Enjoying quality beer is about taking the time to savor its taste, color, smell, texture and over all quality. Over indulging impairs your ability to do so, and should be avoided.
Homebrewing for Dummies is a clear, concise, how-to guide for the do-it-yourselfer. As it turns out, making beer isn't hard to do if you have a stove, some basic equipment, a little time on your hands, and a wife that wont divorce you if the kitchen smells like a brewery.
Feel like diving into home brewing head first? You should, but don't go it alone. This book will get you on the right path towards making your own Hefeweizen or India Pale Ale with ease. You'll get the recipes and solid step-by-step instructions. This book covers just about everything, but you're on your own when it comes to your wife.
The Basics of Home Brewing
Considering making your own beer? Wondering what it involves? Here's the skinny... The entire process will take about four weeks or so. Once completed, you'll be able to enjoy and proudly share your beer with friends and family. Now, what could be more rewording than that? Here's a high level view of the entire process:
Brewing
Get the equipment and buy ingredients. Your best bet is to grab a starter kit online or from your local beer making supply shop. (30 minutes or so, not including shipping times)
Clean and sanitize the equipment (15 minutes or so, but do a good job, this is very important!)
Brew the beer and start the fermentation (60-90 minutes the first time, my first batch was closer to 90 minutes, that wort takes a long time to boil!)
Fementation
Waiting, waiting and more waiting. Look at the pretty bubbles! (typically about a week)
Bottle Your Beer
Takes about an hour once fermentation is complete. (don't bottle too early, they could expload!)
Bottle Conditioning
Waiting, waiting and more waiting. Look at the pretty bottles! (usually two to four weeks)
There was a surprise waiting for me when I got home from work today! Another special delivery (Beer-Mail) from FlyingDog Brewery.
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