Skull Coast Gallows Point at The CBG

I had the opportunity to attend the release of Gallows Point at the fairly new Cherry Bomb Grill in Raleigh. At the former site of a Raleigh establishment, I thought it would be a good chance to check out the new place as well as try a new brew. Pleasantly, both were a success. First, the CBG has retained a lot of the old feel of the restaurant before (down to the landmark, neon "Restaurant" sign outside), with some noticeable updates, including a new bar and flat screen TV's. The service was attentive, and the menu was a step up from your normal "pub grub". The craft beer selection was impressive as well, and will likely become a regular stop when downtown, up there with the Raleigh Times and Busy Bee Cafe.

As for the beer, it was a solid offering from the folks at Skull Coast. I had never had the opportunity to try one of their beers before, but if this is any indication, then it certainly will not be the last. Gallows Point is an imperial stout that smells of cocoa and malt. You can really taste the macadamia nuts used in the brewing process, and is also fairly malty. Even for an imperial porter, it was very drinkable, as me and my drinking buddy were not able to stop at one, and had to go for one more. This gave us the opportunity to try CBG's Hawaiian Tuna Wraps, which were tuna salad with toppings inside a lettuce wrap. Very tasty and light, and the spice held up well with the beer.

Cheers to the CBG and to Skull Point for a job well done, and here's to many more craft beer events in the future!

New Beer for Panthers Games

Panther fans will have a few new beer selections this fall! I've had the Olde Mecklenburg offerings, I'd be happy to choose their Copper to watch the 49ers beat the Panthers. I have not had any of the brews from Skull Coast, but having a true IPA as a choice at a sporting event is always a good thing!

Women - Better Beer Tasters?

While this Wall Street Journal article focuses on very large, corporate taste testers, it certainly can apply across the whole beer industry. I will admit that I don't necessarily think that the statement "Women are better beer tasters than men" is valid. It is more about the individual's ability to detect nuances and very specific flavors. Maybe more women have the ability to do this though. I wonder what percentage of the GABF judges were women? Or if there is an effort in homebrew competitions to have a mix of judges? Certainly it is an interesting topic that I had not really given any thought to previously.

Rare Keg Thursday at Raleigh Saucer

This week is a very special treat from the guys at Foothills Brewing. They are bringing a keg of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon barrel aged People's Porter. Finally I will have a chance to try some of the much hyped and talked about barrel aged beers from Foothills!

New Homebrew in Primary

It's been a busy spring, with not enough time to write around here, though there has been plenty of beer drinking. I'll get around to reviewing some places we stopped at during travels soon. Until then you'll just have to settle for a recap of my brewday yesterday.

I wanted to do a Belgian style ale, lower gravity, some light hops. Sounds perfect for a Belgian Pale Ale right? Close, I found a DeKoninck clone recipe on BYO.com. The beer is basically a Belgian Amber, with the amber coming from 1/8th of a pound of chocolate malt and dry amber extract. My recipe was:

2.5 lbs of Belgian 2 row (pilsener) malt
1.0 lb of Vienna malt
0.125 lb of Chocolate malt
3 lbs of Amber dry extract
2 oz of 5.8% AA Saaz hops for 60 mins
Wyeast 1214 Belgian Ale
1 tsp Irish Moss for 15 mins

The partial mash was done for 90 mins at 152 degrees with 5.5 qts of water. Sparged at 165 with appx 2 gallons. Then the dry extract had to be added ahead of the 60 min boil with all of the hops.

Minus a little snafu and 'doh moment involving the grain bag and kettle the brew went smoothly. The yeast had not taken off this morning yet, but from research it seems like some of the Belgian strains can take a while to get going. I did hit the target O.G. of 1.046, and the beer came out a nice clear brownish amber. It should ferment out for about a week. I'll probably let it sit a bit in secondary before bottling this one. The recipe recommended 3-4 weeks, but I probably will not go that long.

'Cuegrass '10

April 17, 2010 brought us the opportunity to enjoy the second annual North Carolina 'Cuegrass Festival. Put on by The Pit and local bluegrass bands and brewers, the event is a great way to enjoy some nice spring weather. They set up a stage outside of the restaurant for the bands, and 2 tents, one for beer and one for barbeque. Sandwiches and beer were both $5, with some amount of the proceeds going to the Future Farmers of America. Beer and food could both also be ordered inside.

The beer tent selection was a downgrade from last year, with only four taps, Mother Earth Weeping Willow Wit, Lone Rider Peacemaker Pale Ale, Big Boss Blanco Diablo, and Carolina Pale Ale. We tried the Peacemaker and Blanco before ordering other beers from the bar inside. The Big Boss and Lone Rider offerings both were great for the atmosphere, easy drinking, but not bland. If anything they went down a bit too quickly, which at $5 a pop can add up quickly.

Inside we tried out a Smuttynose Robust Porter and then finished up with a couple of Highland's Seven Sisters Dubbel. The Porter was light enough to drink out in the sun, but still had a nice roast flavor and not too much sweetness. The Dubbel was maybe a bit heavy for the afternoon sun, or maybe that was just because I was getting full of beer and barbeque! Regardless it was very tasty, with some nice spicy yeast flavors that complemented the malt base well.

Keep an eye out for this event next year, it's sure to only get bigger and better!

Big Oak Release Party

At Brixx Brier Creek yesterday, I found out about a new beer that is being brewed by Red Oak. It sounds like basically an Imperial Red Oak. The beer is described as a Vienna style lager brewed to the strength of a bock. I am curious to see what this tastes like, as I can't say I've ever tried a style like this. Although it will probably share some characteristics of regular bock beers, which is a pretty wide ranging style.

The release party is all day Tuesday, April 13 at Brixx Brier Creek. The party is also going on at The Flying Saucer Raleigh. Stop by either place to taste the newest beer from Red Oak!

Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout

Thursday April 1st brought us the opportunity to enjoy a 2 year vertical of the highly acclaimed Founders KBS. The tasting was hosted at The Flying Saucer in Raleigh, and featured both 2009 and 2010 versions of Founders bourbon barrel imperial stout. According to the brewers this beer is has "massive amounts of coffee and chocolate". It is then cave-aged in oak bourbon barrels to add even more taste and complexity.

Both beers looked almost identical in the glass, a dark black, with a thin, light mocha colored head. The smell is intense chocolate and a touch of coffee, I was surprised at the lack of roast or coffee notes in the nose.

Tasting them though, the beers differ a good bit. The 2009 is much smoother, with much better balance between all the flavors. You definitely get a little bit of bourbony oak, but the chocolate is what stands out. The sweetness masks most of the coffee in my opinion. The mouthfeel of the 2009 is a bit creamier and thicker than the 2010, which adds to the experience.

The 2010 version is way too fresh, with just an explosion of flavors and tastes that does not meld well together. You can tell it's the same beer, but very harsh around the edges. This is really a beer that you must force yourself to age. I think the 2009 version was even a bit hot with alcohol, and would be really curious to try a larger vertical that left out the current year's version.

Imperial Pilsner Cask

Natty Greene's Raleigh is having a special cask of Imperial Pilsner on Friday April 2nd. The cask will be tapped at 5pm. Be on time, I'm sure this one will go quick. They will be charging $5 for this instead of their regular $4.

Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary--Fritz and Ken's Ale

So last night I went with BeerMechanic and Hopslam to Tyler's in Durham for a taste of the new release from Sierra Nevada. This Imperial Stout weighed in at 9.20% ABV, and was very tasty! The brew had a very aggessive coffee flavor, so this would not be for those who do not enjoy a strong mocha flavor. A very dark beer, and was completely drinkable and very enjoyable. Try it if you get a chance!

Mikkeller Single Hop Series

Carrboro Beverage Company hosted a unique tasting a few weeks ago. It featured 5 of the 10 Mikkeller Single Hop beers. The beers are all IPAs, and have the exact same recipe except for the hops. Each beer uses only one type of hop, so it is a great chance to see how different hops can influence a beer's flavor. I will go through the beers one by one:

Nelson Sauvin: This was a hop that I had not heard of, and produced a very unique flavor. The IPA was almost wine like, with the hop imparting a tart sweetness not unlike a white wine.

Centennial: This hop is used in some very popular beers, including Founders Centennial IPA and Bell's Two Hearted. Citrusy but not in a way that dominates the palate, the hop gives some slight floral aroma as well.

East Kent Goldings: I went into this beer thinking I would like it, since I do like English Pale Ales and ESB's that this hop is frequently used in. I came out of it realizing why I like those beers, and it's not the hops! The Mikkeller IPA was not very tasty, a little harsh bitterness, with a lot of dirty, earthy flavors. This hop obviously works very well in the background, but not as the main flavoring hop.

Cascade: Well known from Sierra Nevada's flagship Pale Ale, this one tasted pretty much as expected, tons of citrus and floral notes dominate this hop profile.

Chinook: This hop variety is typically used just for bittering purposes, so it was interesting to get more of the aroma. It imparted a very strong, piney, spicy flavor. Very interesting combination.

For those that do not know, Carrboro Beverage is located next to Tyler's original Carrboro location. They do weekly tastings on Thursday nights and keep a fantastic inventory of beers. You can follow them and their events on Facebook.

Duck Rabbit Brunch

The Borough hosted their second beer brunch on Sunday, March 14th. It featured four of Duck-Rabbit's beers, paired with four brunch courses. The beer highlight was the Barleywine, fresh from Farmville. I was worried with it being so fresh that it would be a bit rough, hot with alcohol, and not very good. Lucky for us I was wrong. The beer was actually very balanced (for a Barleywine) and a good hybrid between English and American styles. Paul, the head brewer, called it a "Farmville" style barleywine. It was nice and malty, with plenty of caramel and sweetness to back up the hops. The hops were noticeable, but far from overpowering, a great combination of flavors. Now that was only the second beer, which left me wondering how the transition to the next beer would go. They chose the Brown ale, which is a hoppy American style. It actually worked, and did not taste weak or bland even after the Barleywine which was my concern.

Overall it was a good experience, although four full twelve ounce beers was a bit too much compared with the size of the food courses. The food was excellent, with the most enjoyable course being the black cherry tart, which was paired with the Milk Stout. The courses and beers are listed below:
Smoked Tomato Soup with Porter
Herb and Cheese Potato Gratin with Barleywine
Roast Chicken with Herbs and root vegetables with Brown Ale
Black Cherry Tart with Milk Stout

The next brunch we attend, we will make sure to have a more formidable breakfast, so that one of us does not get a little too tipsy from brunch...

Natty Greene's Raleigh Now Open

We stopped into the new Natty Greene's location for a few afternoon beers yesterday. They have renovated the former Southend Brewery and Prime Only Steakhouse location into their second brewpub. The place has a great feel, and is very close to the original Natty's in Greensboro. Plenty of space, while still having plenty of seating, it should be a great place to go even if the bar is crowded.

On to the really important stuff though...the beer! They had their standard year round beers and a multitude of seasonal offerings. Two were brewed here in Raleigh, the others were trucked in from Greensboro. Slowly they will transition all the beers to being brewed in Raleigh. I tried the Smoky Mountain Porter, Gunsmith's Dark Munich Lager, and Lighthorse Belgian Pale Ale. The porter and lager were both very good, and I'm always glad to see more Dark Lagers out there. I really enjoy that style, but there are not too many available, especially on draft. The Belgian Pale could have used a little more hop presence in my opinion to mask some of the fruitiness from the yeast. Based on my experiences with Natty's I don't think you can go wrong with any of the beers they offer, assuming you like whatever style you order. The best part was that their regular pint price is $4.00, for everything, including seasonals. This place could fast become a new favorite.

Triangle Brewing Beer Release: Imperial Amber

Last Tuesday was the release party for the new Imperial Amber at Triangle Brewing in Durham. For a windy, rainy, and cold night, there was still a devoted crowd that came out to support Rick and Andy and sample the new brew.

The beer itself is another solid offering from the guys at Triangle. Being that it is an "imperial", the increase in alcohol was evident, but not overpowering. Also, they resisted the urge to overhop the beer, resulting in a well balanced beer that was very drinkable. Based on the number of growlers being filled with the beer to take home, I would say that others felt the same, too.

With the weather improving and getting warmer, get out to the brewery on a Saturday and sample one for yourself!

French Broad Altbier Cask at Busy Bee

After enjoying French Broad's quaint tasting room last week, I was excited to hear that they would be bringing a cask of their Altbier to the Busy Bee here in Raleigh. Altbier is one of the rarer German styles, and unlike many other is actually an ale. The name actually means old beer. Now this doesn't mean old as in bad. It has a couple of implications, the first being that altbier is traditionally fermented longer than normal. The other is that the beer is brewed in the "old style" which means using ale yeast, as lagers had not been developed yet.

French Broad's version was poured with a nice creamy inch of head, no doubt that this one came out of a cask. The color was a nice deep amber and slightly cloudy. Drinking this beer was an absolute pleasure, it was very drinkable, with nice bready and caramel flavors accentuated by some light floral hops. I've had this beer in bottles before, and the cask version really stands out in my opinion.

As a final note, it appears that Busy Bee has installed a beer engine, which should mean that they will begin having many more cask events such as this one. Looking forward to their next surprise for sure!

New Tribeca Tavern in Cary

Yesterday was opening day for Tribeca Tavern, the new creation of Rocky Top Hospitality. It is billed as a place to go for microbrew beer and food. I did not try the food, but did have a chance to sit at the bar with a client and sample the offerings they had on tap. All of their draft selections are NC beers, with the line up being:

-Big Boss Angry Angel
-Carolina Pale Ale
-Aviator Old Dog ESB
-Highland Gaelic
-Duck Rabbit Milk Stout and Brown Ale
-French Broad Ryehopper
-Foothills People's Porter
-Lonerider Shotgun Betty

They also have their line of Mash House beers. Prices are on the high side of reasonable, at $5/pint for their draft selections and also $5 for the Mash House beers, but they come in a 23 oz. serving.

I sampled one of the seasonals, the Aviator India Brown, which was very good, and the Mash House stout, which was definitely drinkable, but not outstanding. Noticeably missing from the tap list was anything from Durham's Triangle Brewing Company. Perhaps in the future they will be available on tap there as well.

Also, a bit disappointing was the lack of any great beers in bottles. The most adventurous they get in bottles is Fat Tire and the 60 minute IPA from Dogfish Head. For a place that bills itself as a microbrew establishment, they could stand to carry a wider selection in bottles, from more than your standard Harris Teeter and Food Lion fare.

The menu looked creative and reasonably priced, from their made to order guacamole, to a more gourmet version of "Cheesy Poofs".

For the first day, all drafts were $3, and the bartender said they would be offering a different style of beer each day as a special, so all IPA's on Wednesday might by $3, Pale Ales Thursday, etc.

All in all, it is nice to have a place for NC beers on draft on this side of Cary. With plenty of TV's and a good menu, this is a solid start, but will have to do more from a beer selection standpoint to keep those who don't consider Sierra Nevada a microbrew satisfied.

French Broad Brewing Tasting Room

I'm currently enjoying my afternoon with fresh French Broad brew at their tasting room in Asheville. The brewers are working away in the background, and the smell of fresh wort is permeating the atmosphere.

I have had their Belgian Stout and Wee-Heavy-est, a Scotch ale brewed with Belgian yeast. I believe I will take home a growler of the stout, as the rest of their lineup is available in the Raleigh area.

The tasting room is small and really just a portion of their brewhouse. They do however host a lot of live music events. Very laid back and a great place to just relax with some great brew and music.

Pisgah Brewing, Black Mountain, NC

I'm in Asheville for a few days tagging along with my better half for work duties. On the way in last night we stopped by a place that we should have gone to a long time ago. Pisgah Brewing is located outside of Asheville, in Black Mountain. While I've had a couple of their beers that were picked up at Bruisin' Ales (and have a few more aging gracefully), their tap room offers their whole lineup along with seasonals and also a few guest taps.

It is currently their "Stout month" which meant that the guest taps included Bells Expedition, Oskar Blues Ten-Fidy, Brooklyn Black Chocolate, Highland Black Mocha, and French Broad's Belgian Stout. The Pisgah taps included their Nitro Stout, Pale, Porter, IPA, Endless Summer, Brown, Roast Chocolate Stout, Vortex I, Vortex II (2009 AND 2008), Solstice, Baptista Noel, and Hellbender.

We went through almost all the beers with $1 to $2 samples. The fresh Vortex II was the winner of the night, even outdoing the Expedition Stout side by side!

The taproom itself is very unassuming, located in an industrial park of sorts, with only a very small sign letting you know you're in the right place. This lets the focus be directly on the beer, as it should be. All Pisgah beers are certified Organic as well. Our tasting went a little backwards, as we worked from strong, high alcohol beers down to their "standard" lineup. This did make it a little hard to really experience the taste of say their Porter, but for the most part they held up on their own even after the big beers.

All in all, the taproom was a great experience where we got to try some amazing beers. It is definitely worth seeking out the next time you are in the Asheville area!

More info on the brewery can be found at their website.

Raleigh Times Belgian Tasting Night

On January 27, 2010, the Raleigh Times Bar teamed up with Brian Ewing of 12 Percent Imports for a night of Belgian beer tasting and the North Carolina release of the Grand Cafe Emelisse Imperial Stout.

It was a three course meal, served family style, with each course paired with two unique Belgian beers. Belgian beer has become very popular in the US, and yet 12 Percent Imports has managed to distinguish themselves from the more standard Belgian offerings by focusing on very small breweries. Many of the beers they import are brewed by people who have other day jobs and make beer on the weekends and holidays. The breweries were discovered by Brian Ewing on his many excursions to Belgium. Many of these beers are the essence of "micro" brew in Belgium.

During Brian's presentations, you could tell just how much passion he has for these beers. They were easily some of the most detailed and informative beer introductions and descriptions I've been exposed to. You can see the menu at the top of this post. The Times did a phenomenal job on the food, some of the best offerings I've had at their bar easily. The pate or the seafood boil were the highlights of the night. As far as beer goes, all six of these were new experiences for me. If I had to choose a favorite of the night, it was probably the Brouwerij't Gaverhopke Extra. While the menu classifies it as a quadruple, it is not exactly true to that style. It is really just the breweries "house" strong ale. Wild yeast is even used to brew it. The beer was one of the most unique I've ever tasted, with massive malt, some dark fruit flavors including raisin, and to top it off a little tartness from the yeast. I also really enjoyed the De Dochter Van De Korenaar Emrasee, a 9% dark strong ale. The menu references it as fully malted, which simply means that all of the fermentables come from malt - as opposed to additions of things like candi sugar that are common in a lot of Belgian beers. This beer was served at room temperature, and was a plethora of malt flavors.

The grand finale of the night was the NC release of the Grand Cafe Emelisse Imperial Stout. With releases previously only in New York and Philadelphia, we were certainly among the first in the nation to try this beer. It was very dark, with notes of dark chocolate, a touch of coffee, and wonderful thickness and mouthfeel.

Overall it was a great night, and a good price for all that we got as well. It sounded like The Times was going to start offering more nights like this, as this was deemed "Part 1 of a series". I will certainly be on the lookout for the next one!

Porters City Tavern going all "NC Brews"

In another example of the craft beer scene taking off in Raleigh, Porters on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh will be changing all of their taps over to NC draft beers. Already an outstanding place to eat, and boasting an above average beer list, this will push Porters over into the "must go" category. Beers that should be available as of the end of this weekend are (courtesy of the New Raleigh blog):

Mother Earth ‘Endless River’ - Kinston
Triangle ‘XPA’- Durham
Lone Rider ‘Peacemaker Pale Ale’ - Raleigh
Foothills ‘Hoppyum IPA’ -Winston Salem
Red Oak ‘Amber Lager’- Whitsett
Aviator ‘Hot Rod Red’-Fuquay Varina
Big Boss ‘Hell’s Belle’- Raleigh
Carolina ‘Nut Brown Ale’- Holly Springs
Highland ‘Oatmeal Porter’- Asheville
Huske Hardware ‘Sledgehammer Stout’- Fayetteville

NC In Beer Advocate

Browsing through the latest issue of Beer Advocate, I was pleased to find quite a few mentions of our home state. Foothills Sexual Chocolate was featured on a few of the "Top Beer" lists. The beer review section was where the most action was - with the following reviews:

Olde Hickory Brewing - Hickory Stick Stout and Table Rock Pale Ale
Mother Earth Brewing - Dark Cloud Dunkel and Endless River Kolsch
Olde Mecklenburg Brewing - OMB Copper

None of the beers received a score less than a B!

Then to top it all of, the beer destination was Asheville, NC. With places like Boston, Philadelphia and California getting a lot of beer press, it is both refreshing and encouraging to see our local scene get some coverage.

Mother Earth Beer Dinner tomorrow night at Dos Perros in Durham

From the ncbeer.org web site (www.ncbeer.org)

"Mother Earth Brewing
Tuesday, February 9^th, 2010
7pm
$35

We’re happy to help welcome one of North Carolina’s newest breweries into the market. Mother Earth Brewing of Kinston has taken a very devoted approach to the environment through both the construction and operation of their brewery. Of course, they’ll be here on the 9^th to give you the details, but if you’re curious, check out their website www.motherearthbrewing.com. As for the beers themselves, I was really impressed. The Wit had a beautiful citrus quality, the kolsch made me pine for baseball season (hence the hot dog, which btw, is a classic Mexican street food), the IPA actually reminded me of a Southern Rhone red wine, and the dish I wanted for the Dunkel popped into my head right away. I’m really looking forward to this one.

Ceviche con pomelo, nopales, y salsa de tuna verde (Citrus-cured grouper with grapefruit, cactus, and prickly pear coulis)
-Weeping Willow Wit

Perro caliente de tocino-envolvió (Mexican-style bacon-wrapped, house-made hot dog)
-Endless River Kolsch

Frijoles “Flor de Mayo” con pato y chorizo (Mexican “Cassoulet”)
-Sisters of the Moon IPA

Lomo de puerco en salsa de ciruela (Pork loin in prune sauce)
-Dark Cloud Munich-style Dunkel"

Sounds tasty...if i could make it, I would be out there. There still are spots available, so get a seat while they last.

Exciting News from TBC

From an email today:

"This Thursday, Feb. 4 Triangle Brewing Co. will be participating in the unveiling of Durham's first operational Beer Engine. We are positive that it is functional, cause Andy and I spent the better part of the day today installing it. Yes, it was a pain in the arse, but nothing is too much for our beer. The plan is to tap weekly casks of TBC everything Thursday and run it thru the weekend (or until it goes dry). The first cask that will be tapped is our IPA. So come enjoy beer at its finest. The event is also a fundraiser for a young man with autism, who will be receiving a special bike. The cask tapping will occur at 5:30pm, so swing by for a pint to two. We will also, be pouring at cask of our Best of Both Worlds Stout. Cheers and see you Thursday."

Very nice that we finally have a beer engine in the area that will allow us to enjoy cask beer more regularly. Props to Triangle and Alivia's for making this happen!

Events coming up this week at Big Boss

--THURSDAY--*BIG OPERATOR CASK @ REVOLUTION PIZZA-Charlotte* When- Thursday @ 7pm Where- Revolution Pizza / 3228 North Davidson St/ Charlotte / 704-333-4440 More - http://www.revolutionpizza.com/JJ is headed down to Revolution Pizza in Charlotte for a Big Operator Cask. He’ll tap that thing at 7pm. Don’t be late!

--SATURDAY--*SLACKERS & DOCO @ TPHMH - Raleigh* When- Saturday @ 10 pm Where- Pour House Music Hall - Raleigh More- http://www.the-pour-house.com/ Music- http://www.theslackers.com/The Slackers bring their “Jamaican rock n roll” sound to Raleighwood with local support from DOCO. The Slackers are the real authentic deal and have shared the stage with Rancid, Joe Strummer, Floggin Molly, Jimmy Cliff, Pennywise, Toots & the Maytals and The Pogues Show support for the Rude boys!--

FEBRUARY @ Tolliver’s Crossing – Asheville--At Tolliver's, Big Boss is the brewery of the month for February!! Celebrate Groundhogs Day, Valentine’s Day, President’s Day and all days in between with Bad Penny/ Hell's Belle Draft specials- $3.25 plus Angry Angel Bottles- $3.00 all month long.http://www.tolliversirishpub.com/

Advance notice:February: Broadstreet Beer Dinner/ Bark and WineMarch: St Patricks DayApril: Cuegrass Festival / Hickory Hops / World Beer Festival

http://www.bigbossbrewing.com/event.php

On draft in the Big Boss taproom: -ANGRY ANGEL Kolsch Style Ale -BAD PENNY Brown Ale -HELL'S BELLE Belgian Blond Ale -HARVEST TIME Pumpkin Ale -BIG OPERATOR Belgian Black Raspberry -SACK TIME Amber Rye- LTTLE LARRY Belgian Pale ale

Holiday Spice Homebrew

I was lucky enough to get the ingredients for a 5 gal batch of homebrew for Christmas. The beer is American Brewmaster's Holiday Spice Ale. I was hoping to brew it a bit sooner than the 3rd week in January, so that it would be ready while we still had some colder weather. The full body and spice additions make this style of beer perfectly suited for cold winter days.

Out of the box, the kit was designed for an all-extract recipe with slightly under a pound of specialty grains to steep. Since the last brewday was our first attempt at a partial mash, I decided to add some 2 row barley to the grains and make my own mini-mash. In some leftovers from previous recipes, I had 10 oz of melanoidin 2-row malt. Melanoidin is typically used in German style lagers, to add malt character and flavor. The kit included a spice bag that was added to the boil for the last 10 minutes. It contained a stick of cinnamon, a small chunk of ginger, and a few cloves. One pound of light clover honey was added after the boil was complete as well.

Everything went smoothly, and it was maybe my cleanest brewday yet. Original gravity was measured at 1.073, slightly higher than the 1.071 target, because of the change I made to add a partial mash to the recipe. The Holiday Spice Ale should stay in the fermentation bucket for a little over a week. Hopefully it will still be cold enough to enjoy this beer after it carbonates.

Lexington Avenue Brewery opens in Asheville

I was in Asheville over New Years, and heard a lot of buzz about the new brewery about to open, Lexington Ave. According to ncbeer.org, it appears they opened on Jan. 7. Looks like they are going with the "gastropub" concept and are going to be brewing naturally carbonated brews. This just adds to the already robust craft brew scene in Asheville. They are located at 39 N Lesington Ave., and should be added to the list when visiting western NC in search of good beer.