Corona Familiar

Found a new beer at the store last night. (Well, technically I found lots of new beers but I only bought one because my fridge is pretty full of 22s still)

Corona Familiar

I believe the name is Familiar because it is almost exactly like Corona Extra. (as discussed on this blog) Basically it is normally sold only in Mexico but has made its way stateside I guess. My hope is that it will be more like the Corona you get when visiting Mexico, which always seems stronger than the imported stuff to me. I will find out tonight, last night I was already enjoying a 22oz Red Hook Pilsner and didn't feel up to 32 oz more beer while drinking by myself.

Also, hoping to have my computer back today or tomorrow and combine the couple versions of my beer list and finish it so I can get an accurate count. But I believe it's somewhere between 550-600 different beers, not counting those that I had the last couple years and don't remember so can't add them.

In the interest of not having more than one post each a day, a quick amendment here. While doing a little more beer list research I found a new blog thebrewclub and it has some pretty cool beer reviews, links and such. I will be adding it to the updated list to your left.

I am afraid that I keep searching for beers on my list, I will keep finding stuff to blog about. But I just read on Newcastle's site that they are making some limited release beers that might make mainstream stores. I love Newcastle Brown, and if their other beers are that good I will be a repeat customer. Even if my own brown is ready in a month...

And lastly I found another blog with plans for Nate's remodel of his storage area. The Pub Shed I even have a bar ready to be rehabbed. And if this won't fit in Nate's Storage shed I think it is time to remove our hot tub we never use and install a Pub Shed in its place. Thanks to the united nations of beer for the great idea. My planned spot would be close enough to the house that I could probably even splice cable out to this bad boy. And it would be right next to the deck for additional seating and right near the dining room doors which houses the liquor cabinet and the entrance to the kitchen, as well as a relatively short trip to the bathroom.

The Joy of Homebrewing




The Homebrewer's Bible

 I think I first read about Charlie Papazian's book two months before Gus and I brewed our first batch.  I was poking around on the Internet looking for home brewing tips and one of the first websites I saw recommended not only reading it but buying it so you will always have it.  I finally decided to take that advice and picked up my very own copy last night from Jim at Your Homebrew.
 
I had a pretty busy evening ahead of me so I wasn't able to crack the book open until late last night.  I read through the introduction and the history of beer and stopped just before the beginner's section.  Charlie has quite a way with words and I really enjoyed reading the first pages.  I'm thinking I'll really be able to tear into it tonight and finish my first read-through within the next week.

In other beer-related news, I have finally convinced my step-dad Bruce to start brewing.  He has talked about it for a couple of years now so he received a beer making kit for Christmas.  For his first beer he was interested in brewing a Deschutes Twilight clone.  While I was talking to Jim last night at the store he went into his binder and pulled out a copy of the Twilight recipe.  Bruce and I should be brewing it within the next week or two so the Twilight should be ready just in time for Summer.

no weekends

Again, no weekend posts. Too busy brewing as you can see, as well as finishing my beer list. Finally excited to have re-created my old list and start drinking new beers gains. What made that part of the weekend special super extra fun was finishing the list in excel at 1:30 Friday night/Saturday morning but not printing it. Then hoping online to make a few tweaks and look up some more breweries Saturday, only to download a virus and crash my computer.

Should be salvageable but if you get the Security Check Virus, it makes it look your hard drive is erased and actually just hides your info and likely will take about $50-100 to have someone remove this for me so I don't screw it up worse. Good Times.

Hoping I don't come up to a closet full of beer on the floor tonight, might have to go home at lunch just to double check. Crazy bubbling.

Also had the Creme Brulee from Southern Tier in New York (on tap at Hop N Grape, he just tapped another keg so get in there and get some!) and another glass of the Koko Brown from Kona. Both of these are as good as the New Belgium's I was raving about. I think I could be happy with just my xbox and a keg of each of these...

Batch #3

Trying to get all of the extract

So yesterday we had our third brewing day.  Gus and I both really enjoy Deschutes' Red Chair NWPA so we thought we'd do something similiar to that.  We made a couple changes to the grain build and substituted a different bittering hop then the one Deschutes uses so it'll be interesting to taste how it turns out.  I noticed that the NWPA had about twice the grains of our Amber Ale and a couple more pounds of extract.  I was thinking that once we added the yeast we would have no problem with fermentation with all of that sugary wort.  Sure enough Gus sent me a photo this morning of the primary and it's bubbling like mad.  I cannot wait til mid March-early April to try this bad boy!

We did have a little bit of a scare yesterday when we checked our secondary fermenters.  The Beach Dog Brown looks great but when we checked the Sacajawea Pale it appeared like there was some little mold spores growing on the top.  I was pretty distraught about this turn of events.  Gus hopped online and searched for a solution and what we thought was the start of some mold is actually some more CO2 being released.  Luckily the beer is safe!

We also did a little talking about what we plan on brewing in the future and we have some good beers planned.  Next up will be our St. Helens Stout that will be nice and black with a hint of vanilla.  Abby also requested a Hefeweizen so this Summer will be brewing up a batch or two.  We're also going to brew a Raspberry Ale and a Hazelnut Brown that should be ready for Summertime.  I'm also constructing a recipe for light bodied golden ale that will have apricots and scotch bonnet peppers added to the secondary fermenter.  My inspiration for the peppered beer is Calypso, an old summer brew from the now defunct Roots Brewery in Portland, OR.  I plan on honoring the inspiration and naming mine Apocalypso.

Hop N Grape

I am perplexed. I don't know whether I like the Hop N Grape Beer Store more, or the Hop N Grape Tasting Room and Smokehouse BBQ. I had two New Belgium beers last night that I don't think you can normally get around here, and they were both lighter beers that were 8.5% ABV. The first is a collaboration with Elysian according to their website, and both are part of the Lips of Faith Series, whatever that means. I think its the name of the limited releases. I will have to seek out more of them.

I thought most strong beers were darker, but I was happy to find out I was wrong. New Belgium Kick was a cranberry and Pumpkin Sour that was sooooo good I almost ordered a second one instead of trying something new. But luckily I ordered the New Belgium Prickly Passion which was Prickly Pear and Passion Fruit, and it was just as good. They weren't too fruity, went down smooth, and had me a little tipsy just from two beers. I mean, I still had a Kona Koko Brown since you also can't get that around here and it is one of my favorites from Hawaii, but a guy could do alright with just the New Belgium beers.

There is also a rumor we may brew a third batch of beer this weekend. A NWPA named after the wiffle ball league, the CCWA NWPA.

1st Two Brews

2nd LTB Brew is transferred. The Lake Sacajawea Pale Ale along side the Beach Dog Brown. Probably going to let the Brown sit longer for more potency as we did in the primary fermenter. So we plan to bottle both in February and enjoy both in March. Should be good times.

Also we had a couple cans of beer from 21st Amendment to celebrate Beer Can Appreciation Day (which was the 24th). The Back in Black IPA and the Brew Free or Die IPA are very tasty. Whoever thinks can's are not as good as bottles is wrong.

Parkers Honey Wheat

The trip to Parkers was a great success. Their Honey Wheat was outstanding. I was expecting something like a Hefe, but it was more Honey than Wheat and I had multiple it was so good. Even might go back just to have another before they brew something else and switch it out. Maybe take a growler with me to see if they sell em to go.

Also, thoughts of brewing in my head, I came up with some more prospective beers to brew. Besides the Ruby Clone we are brewing for sure, and a few other clones we are looking for recipes for, I have the most important part down. Names.

Kelso Scottie-ish Ale
Monarch Golden Crown
Lumberjack Dark
Devil Red Ale (could also be Red Devil Ruby Red???)

Oh the Humanity

All I had yesterday was a fat tire at my meeting. Don't get me wrong, fat tire is great. They just didn't have anything new and I didn't want to drink a 22 at home powering it down just for the sake of trying something new.

But tonight I have a lions meeting at Parkers who brews their own beer, so I will have two new things tonight and get back on track. They don't list their beers online but I am sure they will have a good brown or stout I can enjoy with a steak.

And Thursday I will be at Hop N Grape, and I will be happy and trying at least a couple new beers.

Also, just saw on Rogue that today is Beer Can Appreciation Day in celebration of the first beer can produced back in 1935. I think I will stop and buy a fancy beer in a can since I probably can't find the 5 Liter container of Rogue they advertise on their site.

And a little off the subject of beer, if you haven't had any of Rogue's spirits, the hazelnut spiced rum is very good and I look forward to trying the dead guy whiskey soon.

Weekends

No post over the weekend. Probably a common theme going forward. Even though I thought about beer all weekend, and had a handful of new beers and started to resurrect my beer list that was lost with a computer failure back in 07-08, I completely forgot to post about it.

Full Sail Sanctuary is good stuff. As was the Pelican Bay Doryman's Dark Ale, and two new kinds of Guinness I hadn't had before, the Foreign Extra and the Black Lager.

I had more new beers last week also, and once I get the list finished maybe I can do some kind of cool update and then post regularly to see where my count stands of beers that I have tried. My guess is I am at about 500-750 somewhere and will set a goal of 1000 to reach someday.

Also, the pale ale is bubbling nicely. Might be ready to transfer later this week in between work, 2 lions meetings, and a birthday party scheduled at Hop N Grape on Thursday. I am pretty excited about the party, and look forward to spending the gift card I got as a Devil Pong (like beer pong) prize at the LCC auction Saturday. I see more 22s in my future, maybe even a growler of Manny's because it is awesome beer that you can't usually get unless you drive to Seattle.

Also stoked about the Superbowl match up, I had NE in the playoff pool and my dad had NYG so we are guaranteed to take home the money, which means more money for beer. After dropping four out of five in the college bowl pool I had a shot at, and watching first and then second slip away, I was itching for some good news on the wagering scene.


Man Institute.com

Addicted to thinking about Beer again

But, William, you could get drunk. - You could get addicted. - Can't Hardly Wait

I am hopelessly addicted to thinking about beer again. Blog, stopping by the store, emailing Nate non-stop. Not sure if that is a bad thing, but I think I would scare these guys...

Also found a sweet blog its-pub-night when wondering about Growler prices. The link talks about growler prices in Portland, but is good for a general idea. It's not cheaper to buy a growler, or for that matter 22s, but you can get beer sometimes not available in bottles.

WSU: A Great Place to Drink Beer

Hit up Hop N Grape last night. They have the tap room restaurant open as of Tuesday and I saw a number of people I know coming and going while I was buying a case of 22s. Pretty exciting.

The brown is aging nicely and the pale is bubbling. We designed bottle caps for the first two beers as well as the next couple planned beers. Hopefully they are still saved on the computer since my 2 year old found the button to the power strip. Right before he punched Nate in the nuts. Needless to say back to back timeouts were fun for him.

And if you are looking for a super fancy place to drink your beer next fall, check out the new luxury seating going in at Martin Stadium. thecougarfootballproject.org

Ninkasi Brewing

Gus's current favorite Sleighr is by Ninkasi. (going to the specialty store and Safeway tonight to see if anyone still has some). Ninkasi makes excellent beers, but I'm sure you already knew that if you are reading this.

The ancient Sumerians worshiped the beer they made, and praised the Goddess Ninkasi for the miracle of fermentation. Beer is a staple of civilization. Worship the Goddess. ~ Ninkasi

(I find it kind of funny that I cut and pasted that saying from their website and spellcheck corrected worshiped. I wonder if they have it spelled wrong on their beers too? I will have to check it out.)

This double dark alt is a thing of beauty. I would brew it next if anyone could find a recipe. It might be as good as Gunnar's Bad Santa. In fact, I wonder if he still has any on tap? He has been brewing for a year or so and lives a few houses down. Which is very handy since he has three soda kegs of beer in his garage and I know the garage code...

And Nate found another site.
Beer Labelizer

And has our first two beer labels.
(work in process)

Now we just need to figure out the bottle cap designer for our LTB bottle caps.

HOLY CRAP

Wow, I actually remembered my login and password. That's crazy talk.

I am back. We are now brewing beer. So what better reason to try and catch up our lists and see where we stand, and start blogging about beer again? Well one reason would be all the new beers out since 2008.

The only downside will be trying to figure out what I missed listing since 2008. But maybe between batches Nate and I can figure it out. And once we start adding the beers we have tasted from other home brewers we should start growing our totals exponentially....

My Own Labels.com
Custom Bottle Caps at bottlemark.com

We are coming up with all kinds of fun names for our brewery, fun names for our beers, etc. and really hope to have something to try by Nates birthday in February.

Fear No Bear Blog: Hop N Grape

Above is an article about a local beer store (the guy who previously had the beer section at Olympic Drug). And of course the fearnobeer blog is pretty cool so hit home and check it out after you read that article.

Hop N Grape on Facebook

and of course Your Home Brew on Facebook where we get our supplies as does my cousin Gunnar and a lot of brewers in Longview/Kelso.