Samuel

Arguably, American beer, wine, and liquor are a lesser cousin to their European counterparts, and Americans do seem more prone to alcoholism and binge drinking than our European friends. However, I place the blame for these problems not with the producers of alcohol but rather prohibitionists and temperance crusaders. When alcohol and its consumption are viewed as normal parts of life, they are less likely to become problematic. When they are enshrouded in mystery and taboo, we end up with the distortions that we see in 21 shot birthday parties and other truly excessive events.
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The title of this blog post is, as far as Google knows, the only place on the internet where that particular phrase appears. It is a glorious day.

This post was inspired by the chicken liver juice marked 4/10/03 that was recently found in our office break room fridge.

It landed at 1.013 or so, which is right around where I wanted it. Tasty sample, no distinct off flavors. Lots of good notes too, but I’ll wait until it’s cold and fizzy to comment further.

At an earlier time, I wrote that people who post and share beer tasting notes that run down the various characteristics of the beers they’ve had are incredibly pretentious. I still feel that way, and I welcome your accusations of pretension. That said, I think that the best way to start brewing better beer is to really pay attention to the beer I’m drinking. That said, here are my tasting notes for the Old Godfather barley wine style ale from Speakeasy Brewery in San Fransisco. I am currently enjoying a 12 oz bottle.

Appearance: This beer poured with a rich inch and a half of off white head which dissipated to a light film of bubbles within a few minutes. The beer itself is cloudy, and richly caramel colored. As I drank from my glass, there was a moderate amount of foam lacing left on the sides.
Aroma: Like sweet bread with honey. Overwhelmingly sweet. Hop nose barely present. A lot of what seems like maybe biscuit malt.
Flavor: Moderately booozy, hops well balanced with malt, caramel followed by a strong hop finish.
Mouthfeel: A little overcarbonated. Othewise, fills the mouth up with an almost chewy sensation.
Drinkability: I could sip one all night.

Here’s the recipe for the beer that’s currently fermenting in my balmy guest room. I’m keeping it hot in there to encourage all the wonderful spicy, fruity flavors that the Belgian yeast I’m using is likely to produce.

After about two days of vigorous fermentation, and another two days of increasingly slow bubbles, the yeast stopped. It seemed quick, but I checked the specific gravity. It was 1.033; the yeast had stalled. On researching, I identified two potential problems. One; the temperature on my carboy thermometer fell to 21°C from the balmy 25°C at which fermentation had started. Two; the beer has a fair amount of sugar and honey as adjuncts, which don’t have the right mineral nutrients for yeast the way grains and malt extracts do.

The actions taken; I wrapped the carboy in a blanket and turned the heater up. The temp is now back in the 24°C range. I also pitched in some yeast nutrients. The bubbling has started again. I’m not sure if it was the temperature or the nutrients that fixed the problem, so I’m keeping the heat up. Better for esters anyway.

Lately I’ve been enjoying the New Belgian 2° ale. Tasty strong winter brew to warm your cockles. I also just got a sixer of Rogue Santa’s Private Reserve. I think it needs some pretty particular food pairing, as the spruce flavor is a little much.

Do a google image search for the following; Stage IV Decubitus Ulcer

Better yet, just click this link.

Sometimes I wonder why I do the work I do.

In addition to loosing every ballot measure he put on this year’s ballot, Bill Sizemore is now in jail. It don’t rain but it pours.

((Happy Dance))

You have 7 time sensitive items on your desk. You are going to be in meetings all afternoon. The network freezes up, and you can’t access the key application that you need to complete the work in front of you. Everyone in the building is having the same problem. What do you do?