Coast-to-coast connections

I got a personal message on the MoreBeer forum from a member in California asking me to brew an Irish Stout for his buddy that’s getting married. I hope I can help him out – would be cool to make a connection and friend on the west coast. Besides… Another opportunity to brew? Heck yeah!

I’m down in Atlanta… been drinking some good beer. Had the “Oak-Aged Yeti Imperial Stout” from someplace out in Colorado, been sipping on the “Oatmeal Porter” from Asheville NC’s Highland Brewing Co, and am going out to the Buckhead Backlots tonight to drink some beer and watch Star Wars Episode III. Tomorrow is Shrimp & Beer at my fraternity, however I fear it will be keg upon keg of Miller Light… *groan*. At least on Sunday we’re going to the 5 Seasons brewpub…

HOWTO make your own Guinness popsicle

Or, as the Brits are calling it – the Guinness Ice Lolly

RIP OAVIP

After the meeting on Friday, I promised myself that I would use my counter-pressure filler to bottle some of the Oak Aged Vanilla Imperial Porter. Jerry Carney was adamant that the First State Brewers should submit it to a contest or something, and I really wanted to be able to give out a few to people (Donna’s grandmother, etc).

So I went and sanitized a case of bottles, figuring I’d bottle about 18 or so with a few extras.

I managed to get 9. Not because beer went everywhere during this inaugural use of the CPBF (and it did, probably about 6 oz all over my countertop and backsplash), and not because I stopped early (there was nothing left in the keg), but because my friends and family hit it so hard Friday thru Sunday.

I’m not complaining – I think it is fantastic that people love it so much. And I will definitely be brewing it again here very very soon, since it takes about 2.5 months to age out. Should be interesting brewing it all-grain instead of minimash, as I did the first go-round.

But it still makes me sad that there is no more kegged OAVIP for now… and I will have to ration my bottles. I will count my blessings if I can ever recreate it.

Another week draws to an end…

Good meeting friday. I’m glad so many people made it… we had a good time. Hopefully everyone enjoyed themselves since our only order of business was… drinking. I showed off my refractometer, we kicked the keg of Scotch Ale, and I put on the Oak Aged Vanilla Imperial Porter – And people were sucking it down even though it was warm and foamy. That stuff is just amazing.

I brewed a scotch ale on Saturday – Took a while for the yeast to kick in and start fermenting it (It was yeast from a previous batch that was in the fridge for 5 days), but its going like mad right now.

I lined up my next 5 beers, I think. I’ve still got a Hefeweizen extract kit to brew one of these days, but the next 5 I drew up recipes for are:

• Native Rage IPA (~8%ABV)
• Rise & Shine Oatmeal Stout (~5%ABV)
• Amarillo Pale Ale (AG!!!) (~5%ABV)
• Oak Aged Vanilla Imperial Porter (AG version)
• Iron Hill Porter clone #2

Depending on when my 14 gallon kettle gets here, the Amarillo Pale Ale might be a 10 gallon batch…. speaking of which I need to catch up and get those pumps from him I bought back at the Belgian beer tasting at State Line… I don’t have much interest in trying to lift a kettle with 12 gallons of scalding hot wort in it.

Off to Atlanta this weekend for Memorial Day. I’ll be going to the first big Alumni Event since my fraternity chapter was allowed back on campus – Shrimp & Beer. Granted, its alot of really nasty beer that I normally wouldn’t drink (Miller Lite), but hey… Its college. I haven’t actually been back on Georgia Tech’s campus for some time. Should be interesting. We’re also going to meet some friends at the Five Seasons brewpub, which totally rocks. I recommend anyone passing thru Atlanta to check it out.

9,000 year old beer

Dogfish Head brewer Sam Calagione recently brewed what’s considered to be the oldest fermentable beverage.