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TOPIC: What's on Tap?
 

ben
What's on Tap?
2 Years, 3 Months ago
I know. I'm the beer guy, but I don't drink very often. I do have five five gallon kegs in the basement filled with a variety of beers, one of them Root Beer. But I probably only pour one once a week. Usually Thursdays right before DL Live.

So what are you drinking of note?

Anyone try Southern Tier's Punking? Incredible Pumpkin Ale. Very seasonal.
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Daddy Clay
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years, 3 Months ago
Ben,

I'm in awe of your brewing. I think it's such a cool thing to do. A great hobby that's crafty and has a curriculum on board; in life science, chemistry, and responsible use of alcohol.

That said. I drink Miller Lite.

I'm a wine enthusiast, big time -- going with the wife to the Napa Valley again next week. If I let myself love beer as much as I love wine, a problem could develop. I appreciate a good beer -- I love a skunky Pilsner Urquel or a hoppy pale ale from time to time, but only as a special treat. (I hope Dipak from Whip In doesn't see this.)

I asked Troy to add this category so that I can inflict my wine snobbery on everyone. Please do the same with your beers.

What do you love to drink when you're not sipping your own brews?
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ben
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years, 3 Months ago
Right now, my favorite commercial beer is Ommegang Rouge Cooperstown, NY. It's a Flander's Red, meaning it tastes quite a bit like a wine. It's sour from cask aging with bacteria. But the sourness is balanced by a complex maltiness.

I'm a wine guy, too. It's just difficult to have any when the wife's preggo. At the end of the month, we'll continue of celebrating the anniversary of our first date and a friend's passing by doing the Indiana Uplands Wine Trail. I'm much more "snobby" about wine in that I really don't care for Cabs, Merlots, Chardonnays, or anything with Chambourcin. I'm a fan of Zinfandel (the REAL one), Pinot, and Reisling. There are also some good grape varieties from the Midwest that make for some good sweeter white wines.

One of the wineries we frequent has made a solid port-style wine for the last few years. I think I'll have some now.


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bobjr79
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years, 3 Months ago
Here in Kansas City we have Boulevard Brewing Co. They make an unfiltered wheat that is my personal fave. I just want to take this opportunity to be snobbish and hate on the nationally/Belgian made Bud Light Wheat. I've tried it so now I can knock it.

@Ben I've always wanted to try and make some home brew. How does a guy get started? Any web sites or stores out there that you think would be helpful?
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Daddy Clay
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years, 3 Months ago
Bud is promoting the H*LL out of that new wheat beer. I was just in LV for the Blogworld convention and the whole thing was sponsored by Bu and they were practically shoving the stuff down your gullet. Give them credit for trying something new. I wish the beer was better.
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ben
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years, 3 Months ago
I'll make a new topic for brewing. That'll get me to start posting recipes again.

Clay, have you ever made wine? That's how Pete from Pete's Wicked Ale got started in beer. The wine took too long and wasn't better than what he could buy (living in San Francisco and working for Big Blue). He went on to form one of the first innovative beer companies and then sold out.

I've got a performance of Bruckner's Mass No. 2 tonight. I'm thinking about joining the chorus at the bar afterward. Don't know what I'll drink. It may be a Warbird, though. It's a brewery in town that went out of business two weeks ago.
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ben
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years, 3 Months ago

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That would be my Award Winning Belgian Pale Ale which I've named Beyond the Pale. Brewed it in March for Lent.
Last Edit: 2009/10/28 13:30 By ben.
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ben
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years, 1 Month ago

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Wanted/needed something to have at home after a day of childbirth. It's a beautiful beer. Absolutely brilliant. Tart note followed by malt, booze and fruit. Incredible. Only one bottle left in the city. This one's all mine tonight.

Got this at a coffee roaster that moved to a new location across the street from their old digs. They managed to snag a liquor, served and carry out, in the process. Also got a pound of their 9th of Darkness roast. We'll see how it compares to Stauf's (Columbus, OH).
Last Edit: 2010/01/06 09:31 By ben.
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mamasarah
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years, 1 Month ago
I know this is an old topic, but I loooooooooove talking about beer. And drinking it. And making it, though we haven't made a batch in a while.

Sunday night after the baby was in bed and the husband was at work, I finished off his last two Belgian Pale Ale homebrews, and it was so so good.

I've really been enjoying Scotch Ales/Wee Heavy style beer. I want to get a session kit and brew it up and take some to a women's retreat. Or just drink it up myself. Mmmm.
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ben
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years, 1 Month ago
If things go as planned this afternoon, I'll have a chance to do some kegerator repairs. I had a leak in a beer line a few weeks ago. I got most of the liquid cleaned up, but I need to do a thorough flushing. I also need to replace a couple beverage lines and convert from barbed to MFL (threaded) fittings. This eliminates a convoluted series of couplers and unions. I should have done it years ago.

In the course of that, I'll have the chance to sample bits of three beers and a cider that have really come into their own since I made them over the summer. Need to make room for a keg of stout in February and two more that are set to be ready in June.

So the tap list today is:

Saison du State
American Chicken Wheat
Closely Garded Secret
2010 Cider
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ben
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years ago
I need to do some work down in the cave tonight. Some bottles need filled with a stout that's nearly a month old.

But I have a special project I'm working on. A friend wants to make a batch of beer for a friend who likes Rolling Rock but has Celiac Disease. Making a Gluten Free American Lager wasn't as easy before Briess made a high quality Sorghum Syrup specific to beer. So it should be easy. But I bought a sixer today to see about getting the hops right. So, maybe one of those while I'm "working".
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groovedaddy
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years ago
Coopers Brew - Started it this weekend. Splitting the batch 3-ways. First one is a knock-off Heineken. We're going to do 3 more batches over the next 3 weeks to be ready for summer. I'm assuming that 4-5 months is ideal waiting time for this.

Any suggestions on this hobby would be appreciated.

Locally I enjoy Wild Rose Brown Ale. Local micro-brewery located in an old air-force hangar here in Calgary.
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Daddy Brad
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years ago
Although I love the Stone IPA and and the LongHammer from Red Hook, I am currently digging most things from Avery.
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halldur
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years ago
I'm on a lower beer intake lately as my wife is pregnant, but I've been really into the local scene lately. I've really been enjoying beers from Shipyard (Portland, ME), Smuttynose (Portsmouth, NH), and the occasional Red Hook as well (their Portsmouth brewery is even brewing Kona's beers for the East coast; Hawaii via NH). My favorite has been a Czech Pilsner from Moat Mountain (North Conway, NH). My father got me a bottle of Three Philosophers by Ommegang (NY) and one of Brooklyn's Local 1 for Xmas, both of which I can't wait to try. I was also really excited for the triumphant return of Belhaven beers recently to my local pub (and to NH in general). Cheers!
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ben
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years ago
I'll fully admit it. I drank a Rolling Rock with lunch. $4.99 a sixer. My water costs that much.

It was research, though. Planning to brew a gluten-free beer for a friend's Celiac Disease stricken friend. He liked Rolling Rock until it was found to be killing him. (along with anything else containing gluten.)
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Daddy Clay
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years ago
Kinda bummed. The root beer kit we got for my son failed. No carbonation. I loved the activity with him and would love to try again. Suggestions for a better result, oh master brewers?
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ben
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years ago
I think we got Clay's kids' beer problems solved...

I've only had 2 in the last week, but I'm already bored to tears with the 6 pack of Rolling Rock I bought. I sent more than 5 gallons of the stout we made home with a friend. He did pay for the whole project, afterall. He bought a PartyStar draft system (scroll to the bottom of the link) that uses MiniKegs that so many breweries are packaging these days. It made it really easy to send 5 of the 8 gallons we made. I'm trying to stay away from it since it's so, so good and don't have much, especially after sending it in for competitions.

So all told, I have two empty kegs and one that's nearly empty. I think that means that we'll be making some soda soon. It requires a really high pressure in the beer system, so carbonating quickly and then packaging in bottles and minikegs seems the way to go.

Tonight's definitely a beer night.
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ben
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years ago
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ben
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years ago
{Choose your own expletive}

I had in my possession 8 gallons of the stout that the DL boys enjoyed so much on Thursday. A bit more than 4 gallons went with the guy who I brewed it with as well as about 20 bottles. 20 bottles stayed with me and the rest was in the keg. Well, a slow leak out of the bev-out line put the contents of the keg in the bottom of my freezer. So, after sending off to competition and a few to friends, I'm down to ten bottles and a freezer to clean out. Sucks.

To celebrate, I had bottle #5 of my six pack of Rolling Rock.
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Daddy Clay
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years ago
I am uniquely positioned to understand the scope of this disaster.

Condolences.
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groovedaddy
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years ago
You shouldn't cry over spilt milk, but spilled beer, well, A tragedy indeed...


I've recently found a wonderful beer called Innis and Gunn. Oak aged. Using old bourbon barrels. Which sparks an idea for using the oak chips from wine, in the beer mix.
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ben
Re:What's on Tap?
2 Years ago
Our club has a couple beers on oak right now. One is a Russian Imperial Stout in a Goose Island barrel. The other is for a competition in July where they gave us a Woodford Reserve barrel to age beer in. We'll turn in a corny of it for the competition and that will be served at the award banquet. That beer is a Scottish Wee Heavy. I'm working on getting a couple bourbon barrels and a couple chardonnay barrels for my cave. I have a couple recipes that could stand some oak aging. Of course it's something very different to do them in 60 gallon batches. But I have some inside connections to get access that I'm working. We'll see.

Last night's club meeting before the game was good. Must have been 20 beers brought in. None really bad. I think my stout took the consensus title, though. There were some great beers shared, though.
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ben
Re:What's on Tap?
1 Year, 11 Months ago
Had a lot to drink this weekend. Let's start with the wine.

Some weird German Semi-sweet Red at the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth, MI, on Saturday evening.

Arcadia IPA from Arcadia Brewing somewhere in Michigan. Nice stuff.

Sam Adams Coastal Wheat and Noble Pils.

Those were all Friday at the Motel. An honest to Gawd MOTEL. The beers.

Saturday and Sunday:
11 English Milds, none very good.
10 Porters of varying strengths
6 Spice, Herb, Vegetable beers, assorted varieties.
8 Belgian Strong Ales
12 beer Best of Show flight for Belgian Strong
9 beer BoS flight for SHV.

Beer judging isn't always fun. There were some real losers in there.

But I sent in four and took awards with three. The Cider got a gold metal. The Biere de Garde got Gold. The stout got an Honorable Mention. It would have won it's category if I'd carbonated it better.

Nice weekend for beverages.
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Daddy Clay
Re:What's on Tap?
1 Year, 11 Months ago
@ben

Impressive, Ben. Very impressive.

And congrats on the performance of your own brews, though no big surprise there, based on my own tasting.

Actually had some decent beer this weekend. Bought some for a party that nobody drank.

Speaking of this party, it was a BYOB event for all the parents in my kid's grade. I was amazed how much of what people brought was imported (esp. French) and how little was traditional varietals (Cab, Merlot, Chard). Is that just because you bring cheaper stuff to bring to a BYOB party? Or is this a general consumer trend?

And these folks put away some wine. We went through a case in less than two hours.
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jonw
Re:What's on Tap?
1 Year, 11 Months ago
I've brewed a few batches myself. Some good, most not so good. I even went so far as to buy the domain brewingcommunity.com. Had a forum up for a while but I couldn't create enough content to keep it going. I decided that the professionals brew was much better than mine so now I just enjoy other people masterpieces.

That Sam Adams Noble Pilsner is one I find myself ordering a lot lately. I used to really enjoy the darker triple IPA's etc but lately the lighter more refreshing beers are what I'm picking up.

Wish I had a group of people near me who brewed, I'd probably find myself brewing more often. Good luck with the brewing, let us know if you want to send some fellow dadlab members some samples
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