Archive for the “Uncategorized” Category

We have some good posts coming up soon! Please hang in there as we are adding some new people to the blog to give ideas, thoughts and reviews.

Speaking of reviews, we will have some new ones up in the next week!

Stay tuned!

NOTE: If you have a blog about craft beer and want to be on my blogroll, please hit me on Twitter: @beercentric.

After completing an extensive interview and finding pics that didn’t make me look like a complete chubby louse (Thanks Rich!), DrinkwiththeWench.com has seen fit to feature me today as their Featured Beer Blogger.  This is a really cool honor.  I follow anyone she features in my Google Reader and appreciate the chance to be me in a different format.

Enjoy the read and special thanks to The Wench for this opportunity!  Cheers!

In a previous post, I proclaimed that my holiday Belgian ale had fallen victim to oxidation.  While that may still be partially true, I now have reason to believe that it may not be the case.  A few weeks ago, I brought one of my “failed” homebrews to Ernie (the webmaster of this site) so he could make an affirmation for me that “yes, this beer tastes like wet cardboard”.  To my surprise and his, the cardboard flavor wasn’t really there anymore.  The first impression when you smell the beer is “well, this is a Belgian alright”, but the taste was surprisingly refreshing yet bitter.  Remember, I brewed this beer with coriander, grains of paradise, and orange peel; therefore, there is going to be some bitterness to it.  Ernie seemed to enjoy this beer and I decided to give out a few more to some friends at work.  Because the bottles rattled around in my trunk while I was driving to work, their feedback will have to wait.  However, I decided to try one last night.  I was even amazed at how it had transformed.  My wife, who does not like bitter beers, even thought it tasted pretty good despite the bitterness of the orange peel.

So, the moral of the story?  Well, for starters, I need to stop being so hard on myself when it comes to my homebrews.  I have always been SO critical of myself, and this is a reminder that I need to take it easy and just enjoy the process.  Even though it’s a little bit of work, the best parts of homebrewing for me are the brew day itself and watching others enjoy the end-product.

I will be (hopefully) brewing a new beer this weekend. This is my 2nd attempt at crafting my own recipe. If this turns out as good as the Honey Amber, I will be thrilled! Here is the recipe.

Malts / Fermentables:
24 oz Blackberries
24 oz Blueberries
2 lb Gambrinus Honey Malt
2 lb Honey
3 lb Weizen Dry Malt Extract
3 lb Wheat DME

Hops:
1.50 oz Hallertauer – 60 mins
1.00 oz Saaz – 15 mins

Yeast:
Wyeast 3494 Belgian Witbier

The fruit and honey will be added near or at the end of the boil to preserve as much flavor as possible. Once again, I am going with a gambrinous malt that will be added to impart a honey sweetness. Heck, it worked last time!

Also on the horizon, Clint and I will be scheduling a time very soon to do our Recession Tasting. Anyone else interested, please let me know. The Mix-A-Six we will use will look something like this:

Bud Heavy
Miller Lite
Southpaw Light
PBR
Keystone Light
Coor’s Heavy

That’s my wishlist anyway. I figure I can get some and Clint can get different and if we do 4oz tastings of both batches…even with 12 beers, these things won’t even have us buzzing! It should be fun. I have never seen anyone do a complete tasting based on cheap crappy beer. Any suggestions or volunteers?

Because I am such a kind and dedicated employee, I decided to say “yes” when asked to travel to Brentwood, TN in order to help with a dilemma left behind by a dearly departing employee.  The good thing about Brentwood is that it is about 12 minutes from downtown Nashville and I did look forward to visiting a couple places when I was not working.  One place, my favorite restaurant in the world (as I know it) is the Big River Grille.  They are based out of Chattanooga and that is where I located this gem of a place to eat and fell in love with the meatloaf.  You say “meatloaf?” and I say YES!  It’s good.  As well, though, they are a brewery and brew their own flavors.  I haven’t had a horrible beer there.  The other place, which I had never had the pleasure of visiting, was The Flying Saucer.  Both are quality places.  The Flying Saucer has no rivals when it comes to beer knowledge by the bar staff…they love and know their beer.  That aside, I am not writing this to review the bars…

I took notes and am not going to embellish them much at all just because I don’t feel like editing. 

Big River Grille:

Seasonal Maibock – Nice hop flavor.  Not strong and a little bitter.  The Malt tastes a little sweet, but dry,  Nice malty aroma.

Cask Conditioned Dry Hopped Brown – What a long name!  Lighter on the tongue than any brown I have had. Nice hop bite on the back of the tongue, but not overly hoppy.  Aroma is of roasted malt and sugar.

The Flying Saucer:

Note:  I had a flight sampler of 5 4oz servings.  I didn’t sit there and get hammered.

Belhaven Scottish Ale – This is one of my favorite beers ever…had never had it on tap.  On tap it is perfect.  Absolutely perfect in every way.

Yazoo Hefeweizen – WEAK hefe.  Looks almost clear..almost like a ginger ale but a little darker.  Not a great taste for a wheat…no real wheat taste.   Too much carbonation.

Schafly APA – No real hop aroma.  Dry taste with a little bitterness.  This was not a good offering either.  0 or 2 on the flight.

Paulaner Oktoberfest – Perfect marzen flavor.  The balance between the malt and hops was right where it should be for this style.  This should be the marzen anyone tries first to fall in love with the style.

Guinness 250 – 250th anniversary of the Guinness brewery.  A little more chocolaty tasting that “normal” Guinness.  Great aroma of roasted malts.  Smells like an Irish home. 

Terrapin Wake n Bake – I didn’t note this as I drank it because I was having a conversation with locals.  Tasty goodness tho.  One of Terrapin’s best offering. 

Sam Adams White – I have had this a thousand times and it is a tasty brew.  Sam doesn’t let me down that often.

I Am A Craft Brewer from I Am A Craft Brewer on Vimeo.

Intro

Through our church, I have made some new friends that, while being beer lovers, do not know the in’s and out’s of stylings, what makes a certain beer fall into a certain style or what make up the basic characteristics of a particular style.  While these people are beer lovers and for the most part love trying new things, I have found it makes beering (I am calling my hobby that now) more enjoyable to learn the history of the beers you enjoy the most and gives you a great idea of what styles you may not have tried that might fit your taste best.

Let me first say this…I am nowhere near an expert.  I know a little.  I know probably enough to be dangerous.  What I do know for sure is my favorite styles and what makes them the tastiest to me.  Perhaps that is the most important thing in the world for a beerophile.  So before I start any long (and it might be) series about beer stylings, let me preface it with a couple things so that you know where I stand when it comes to my own personal opinions and how you can expect this series to go down.

1.  I love hops.  I really really do.  I find the different hop flavors, aromas and the bitterness related to them makes me happy.  Perhaps it’s because hops are part of the cannabis family, but I doubt it since I have never honestly even once been tempted by it’s cousin.  What I do, when beering, is look for those brews that incorporate hops in old fashioned “tried and true” methods OR in new ways that will challenge my taste buds.  With that said, my opinions of beers lie heavily on the use of hops.  So if you ask me for an opinion, I can discuss taste and flavor and what made that beer, but my mind is going “yeah…but the hops were off” or “wow…it kicked my tongue in the ass and I loved it!”  This will come into play in just a bit when I intro the 2 major styles of beer.

2.  I am not an expert, but I will try any beer set in front of me and give an opinion.  I am opinionated and I love tasting beer.  The 2 work well together for a site like this.  While I am basically doing a history/home economics lesson on beer here, my opinion will be on display.  Please do not take my opinion for the gospel of beer.

The 2 Major Beer Styles

Essentially, there are 2 major types of beer, Ales and Lagers.  There are 2 major differences in these styles of beer:

1. Fermentation Temperature – Ales are fermeted around 65-75 degrees F.  Lagers are fermented colder at 46-55 degrees F.
2. The Fermentation Process – In Ales, yeast is “pitched” and remains at the top of the wort while fermenting until it settles to the bottom.  With lagers, yeast is bottom fermenting meaning it does not float to the top and remains at the bottom of the brew.

Ales are probably the one I gravitate towards the most.  First off, I make ales in homebrewing, at least thus far I have.   In beering as well though, I tend to appreciate the pale ales, belgian beers and barlywines the most.  I prefer stouts and wheat beers when I am not feeling the need to have a more bitter experience.  I am an ale guy.  Lagers tend to be your more Germanic beers.  Bocks, helles and marzens are probably my favorites from that group.  Here is a quick and short breakdown of a few beers from each style:

Ales

• Sierra Nevada Pale Ale – American Pale Ale
• Guinness – Dry Stout
• Maredsous 10 – Belgian Tripel
• Boulevard Wheat – Wheat Beer
• Left Hand Milk Stout – Milk Stout
• Bell’s Two Hearted Ale – American IPA
• Heavy Sea’s Red Sky at Night – Saison Ale
• New Belgium Fat Tire – Belgian Amber Ale

Lagers

• Smokey Mountain Brewery Capricator Bock – Bock
• Rogue Dead Guy Ale (I know…confusing) – Mai Bock
• French Broad Oktoberfest Marzen Beer – Marzen
• Pilsner Urquell – Pilsner (Pale Lager)
• Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock – Doppelbock

To sum up this intro, I want to give any beerginner a good piece of advice…join BeerAdvocate.com.  It is an incredible community of beer people who review every beer you can think of.  Think of it as carfax for your beer.

No matter your “favorite” beer, it will change.  No matter what style you gravitate to the most, the other’s are just as good depending on the sample you try.  Don’t be scared of any style.  Do not peg yourself a “dark beer guy” or an “American beer guy” cause you are leaving out an entire world of great beers.  Enjoy them all for what they are, ignore the ones you have tasted and don’t like and always always have more of your current “favorite” than the rest!  Never dislike a beer without tasting it first!

In the next post, I will start exploring Ales with a few of my favorite styles.

References:

http://www.humanflowerproject.com/index.php/weblog/comments/hops_a_relative_of_cannabis_you_dont_say/

http://www.drinkingbeer.net/BeerArticles/Beer_Types.php5

http://www.beeradvocate.com

It really has been a long time since I have sat down and thought about posting on this site.  That is my bad.  I won’t apologize because life goes on and things happen, but I do hate that I have not had the time to talk about one of the greatest things in the world…beer.

Of late, I have made some strategic purchases that I hope will lead to some interesting reviews or at least one sided conversations concerning some beers I hope will be as tasty as they are “cool”.  Bear with me.  When I started this site, it was intended to include more than one author, but that hasn’t worked out because of busy-ness.  Life happens, so we must adjust.

I hope to be back soon with a tasting of my very own Frisky Valley Honey Amber.

It’s been a little over a week and this has become the only post I do here on beercentric.com now.  It’s sad…I should do more, but in the last week, quadrantrush.com has also fallen off a bit.  I hope to pick up a little bit in the next couple weeks after I make another trip to Bruisin Ales in Asheville, NC.  I will say that later this week I will have some tasting notes on a couple beers that I recently partook in.  I know the suspense is killin ya.

Old Sierra Nevada Beer to Become Ethanol Gas [Gasoline] - What a great idea!  Re-using the yeast from old beer and from the brewing process to create ethanol!  I have been trying to tell people that beer is good for the environment and the economy.

Can We Try Twittering the Next Session? – Great…another reason to tweet.  I am just starting to do it more often, now they throw beer in the mix. I am not sure I even have a Tripel to work with tomorrow, but I may give it a go if I do.  I will check the box I have hidden in the pantry.

How To Make A Poker Face Cocktail – Not really beer related, but I do love a reason to drink tequila.  Not sure I would use my good Patron in there, but it still looks like a decent enough cocktailia.

Mixing Fuller’s Porter – I came across this a while back and hadn’t shared it.  A lot of times I have bellied up to the bar and ordered a black and tan.  I have also ordered a half & half, snakebite, blarney stone and even a trailer park f**ks**t (Miller High Life and Guinness).  I had never really considered mixing other beers to create good taste until I saw that Leinenkugels actually has recipes for doing this with some of their offerings.  Then I saw this article…great stuff and well worth considering.

And lastly, I give you a mystery link.  It’s hilarious (well to me anyway) so enjoy!

Weekly Drink Mystery Link

So “weekly” was a stretch from the get go, but Google Calendar didn’t send me an email to remind me.  I am up for any other calendar service you might suggest.

Beer Sales Fall With Economy – We had to see this coming.  People have less money, people are losing jobs, the need for beer goes down.  As things go further into the tank, I wonder if liquor or other “harder” solutions to stress pick up…

Exciting Beer News! – I literally chortled when I saw this.  This is a few months old, but I hadn’t seen it yet…so it’s news to me.  I haven’t seen Rockweiser or whatever they are calling this train wreck in stores yet, but I am already rueing the day.

Ancient Yeast Reborn in Modern Beer – I love when brewing meets science.  Many people dismiss the link between chemistry and beer.  A lot must be done to correctly make a beer.  It is amazing to me that yeast this old (however old it actually is) can be salvaged and used.

Marinate Steak in Beer, Fight Cancer – See!  It is good for you!