big beers

But onto other news, I would like very much to find one of these.  I have a couple of vases that double as huge pilsner glasses.  Ashtown has a couple vases that double has huge pint glasses.  But I don't know anyone that has one this large, or one of those german boots from Beerfest.  I need to track one down so that I can limit myself to one beer a day.

We didn't get to brew last weekend, so the Judge and Abby's Hefe are still on the schedule for the upcoming weekends hopefully.  And I got my kegorator up and running and will put a nice picture of it once it has a couple kegs and a bunch of 22s and 12s hopefully tonight.

And I am up to 788 beers.  A couple days of drinking L-Town brews mixed with a few Full Sail, Pyramid and a others have me a step closer to 800.  I hope to get there by the end of the weekend.  Wish me luck.  If I can get to 807 I will be 7th on the alltime career match wins of the ATP Tennis Tour.  A stat Nate would appreciate from his days of high school tennis.  Federer hit 800 last fall and is the only active player still climbing, but I figure I can top him, and maybe even Agassi and McEnroe this year.

Jimmy Connors 1242-277 (81.8%)
Ivan Lendl 1071-239 (81.8%)
Guillermo Vilas 923-284 (76.5%)
John McEnroe 875-198 (81.5%)
Andre Agassi 870-274 (76.0%)
Roger Federer 830-189 (81.5%)
Stefan Edberg 806-270 (74.9%)
Pete Sampras 762-222 (77.4%)

Here Comes the Judge!

This weekend Gus and I will be attempting our first All-Grain Brew.  Since Gus bought the AG brew rig from a local retired judge and that same judge gave us multiple bags of hops that he had grown we decided to name our first AG brew after the judge. 

Get ready for The Judge GYO IPA. 

This IPA is going to be roughly based on Dogfish Head's 90 minute IPA.  We will be doing a 90 minute boil and it will be continuously hopped with a mixture of Zeus, Columbus, Cascade and Goldings hops with a couple other mystery hops thrown in for fun.  Basically it's just going to be a nice, light colored IPA that will be a hopsplosion!

While we are doing our brewing we will also be tasting a couple of other Imperial IPA's in a blind test to see which is best.  We've got our very own Stormtrooper IIPA, Southern Tier's Unearthly Double IPA and Hop Valley's Alpha Centauri Binary IPA to compare.  Instead of knowing exactly what we're tasting I think we'll go about it blindly to see which IIPA comes out on top.

The Apocalypso is also now ready to drink so I'll be filling up a couple of growlers of that to share with Gus.  All in all it should be a great brew day filled with some delicious brews.

Have a great weekend everybody!

The end is coming

Shock Top has a cool opening splash site with an End of the World countdown timer.  Then it says It's The End of the World.  Live Life Unfiltered.  Now I know Shocktop is made by AB, but still, it's not horrible, and I grabbed a couple bottles of their other flavors (raspberry and lemon with spice) from Hop N Grape along with about 14 other beers.  And when I went online I saw they have a Wheat IPA.  I am on the lookout for that now, curious to see what a wheat IPA would taste like.

I went in for a bottle of Unearthly IPA to enjoy tomorrow with the Apocalypso, and couldn't resist loading up on a bunch of 12oz bottles (and a few other 22s) of stuff I haven't had yet and didn't feel like buying six or twelve packs of.  Maybe a little more per bottle, but definitely cheaper than drinking them on tap or buying packs of them.  One of the many upsides of Hop N Grape.  Plus I needed a few empty boxes for 22s.  One could say I have a problem, because my fridge is still overflowing.  And if one said that, one would be correct.

But in addition to adding those to the "ondeck" portion of my list, I found a handful of others I have already had that weren't checked off or weren't on the list.  Shock Top for one, Wild Blue for another, Hop Devil by Victory was another.  So even though I had a Widmer tonight (the spiced IPA is good) that I have already had, I am still at 776 on the list.  Not to shabby, should hit 780+ by this weekend.

Deep Thought for the Day

"Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drank, I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, 'It is better that I drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver.'" - Jack Handy

Tap House Grill

So many choices, so little time

This past weekend I was in Seattle visiting my girlfriend Barbara and she suggested that we check out the Tap House Grill in Bellevue.  She told me that they had 160 different beers on tap and that was all I needed to hear. 

We got there yesterday early in the afternoon and I just stared in amazement at the selection that they had.  I thought for a brief moment that I had died and gone to heaven.  The bartender asked me what I wanted to drink and I asked if they had any Pliny the Elder.  I've wanted to try Pliny again after first sampling it four or five years ago at Brewfest in Oregon.  My heart raced as the bartender told me that she thought they had some.  My heart sank as she pulled the tap and only foam came spitting out. 

Instead I decided to try the Left Hand Brewing Milk Stout that was on nitro.  I made a terrific choice.  It was such a nice, creamy stout that I almost didn't want to finish it.  I say almost because I had other good beers to sample.  The other stout I tried was Elysian's Split Shot Stout that is also a milk stout but it's brewed with espresso.  This was also a terrific beer.

Left Hand Milk Stout

After polishing off the stouts Barb and I decided to split a four beer sampler.  I picked two beers and she chose the other two.  For my first choice I went with Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale which is even more delicious on tap then it is out of a can.  My second choice was the Hoppy Bitch IPA from Trade Route Brewing.  Now I consider myself a bit of a hop-head and I was hoping for a super-hoppy IPA.  And honestly, I was left a little disappointed by the Hoppy Bitch.  Not quite hoppy enough for my tastes. 

Barbara went with Eel River Brewing's Double IPA and it was pretty good.  I was once again expecting a super hopped beer since it was a double IPA and I was left a little disappointed.  Her other choice was a Scotch Ale from a brewery whose name escapes me at the moment.  It was pretty good for a Scotch Ale but I've had better, like the Wee Heavy I enjoyed with Gus a few brew-sessions ago.

All in all it was a great time and I was almost overwhelmed by the sheer amount of selections.  I'll definitely be making a return trip in the future in search of the ever elusive Pliny.  If you are in the Seattle or Bellevue areas you should definitely check this place out.  And if by chance Pliny is back on tap enjoy one for me.  Cheers!

We Be Famous

http://bottlemark.blogspot.com/2012/05/l-town-brewery.html

If you haven't yet had our beer or seen our caps, you are missing out.

And I am at beer 771 still since I spent Saturday in the yard and then couldn't resist picking up another 25.4oz bottle of Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Harvest Fresh Hop Ale which is just so f'ing outstanding I can't wait to do a fresh hop ale this August.  Sunday I spent drinking our beers and no new ones and letting a few more people try them.  I also brewed with some of the Judge's hops, so now we have the GYO CCWA NWPA in the primary and bubbling away nicely with some Hef Yeast for a change of pace.  But there are still plenty new beers in the fridge just beggin for it.  I am thirsty already...

Untappd

Yesterday I heard about the beer drinkers social network, Untappd.  Five minutes later I had it downloaded and was signed in to start recording my beers.  Basically you earn badges for drinking different beers, different styles and visiting different breweries.  I'm just now getting started on it so I'm not sure how it works completely but if you're on there look me up, Nate_LTB.

Brownie Ale or Brewnette?

We need your votes.  Should the brown ale made with cream ale yeast be called Brownie Ale, or Brewnette.  Both are creamy browns, and both are tasty.  Any votes?

I get to add that to the beer list, along with the Apocoweizen.  Plus checked off a few from the list and had a few others with Shaun and my dad.  We had the Double Chocolate Stout from Rogue that was outstanding, a bottle of the Biere De Garde from The Commons, also outstanding, a couple sam adams new beers that the other guys hadn't had, one of our pale ales, still excellent, and the new Oregon Brown from 10 Barrel, also great.  All in all a good night, but weeknight beer making days are tough, we were still cleaning up after 10.  But it's all worth it.

After going through the list, I am at 771 now.  Outstanding.  This means I just passed Chris Anderson on the all time blocks list.  Since the birdman reminds me so much of Nate who is also good in the key and has tattoos and likes crazy haircuts, I thought this was a fitting record to break.

the Apocalypso is Coming!

Last night Gus and I kegged the Apocalypso.  I made sure to get a good whiff of it as it was filling the keg and it had a very nice spicy, sweet aroma to it.  I don't think it's going to be exactly what I was hoping for but it's definitely a step in the right direction.  I can't wait until next Thursday when I'll finally get to taste it and see what we have.

Last night we also got the batch of FergieWeizen bottled up.  We ended up with twenty-nine 22 oz bottles of some honey-wheat goodness.  This one will take a little while longer to be ready since it's bottled but I can't wait to crack one open, fill up a pint glass, throw a lemon in and enjoy!

We also transferred our Brown Cream Ale into the secondary fermenter to let it age a little more.  This beer was another experiment since I don't recall ever having a Brown Cream Ale so I'm hoping it turns out alright.  From the looks of it and the way it smelled we should have another tasty beverage here.

After bottling the FergieWeizen we noticed that we had some left in the bottling bucket.  We also had about forty ounces of Apocalypso left that wouldn't fit in the keg.  So we threw them together in the bottling bucket and ended up with a sixer of twelve ounce ApocaWeizens.  Who knows how this beer will turn out since it's a little of this and a little of that. 

Below is a picture of our President of Bottling & Sanitization Gus checking out the work we had ahead of us.

American Craft Beer Week

So this week is American Craft Beer Week.  I've been doing my part to support my favorite American brewers all week.  Of course I've been drinking my fair share of LTB brews but I've also had some Ninkasi, Fort George, New Belgium and Deschutes beers.  And they were delicious.  America.  Fuck yeah.

Gus and I are going to bottle our first batch of FergieWeizen tonight, keg the Apocalypso and maybe transfer the new Brown ale so I'm sure we'll also enjoy some craft beers.  And then in one week I'll be enjoying some delicious Apocalypso out of my kegerator.  I think we'll most likely be kegging the new Brown that we have fermenting so we can get Gus's kegerator working.

I think we're going to finally break out the all-grain brewing rig next weekend and brew up a new hefeweizen.  I'm hoping we can also brew another IPA with all of the hops that we have.  I've been reading up on Pliny the Elder and 90 Minute IPA clones and I'd like to make up a new recipe combining some of the things that go into both of these beers.  Maybe next weekend we'll brew that bad boy too.

Remember to support your local micro-breweries this week!  Freedom isn't free.

Going, Going, Gone

And just like that, I am the all time leader in home runs at 766.  Thanks to the fort george class brew (dark IPA) I tasted tonight and the 4 beer sampler tray I also had at Hop N Grape (two firestone walkers, a stone, and a widmer) I am now the king.  Combine that with playing some softball and sharing a president and emperor with a friend tonight (he approved, but like the president better), I would say it was a good day.  Didn't even have to use my AK.

And I got my keg fridge finally from the judge.  I also got my cell phone back finally late last week, so re-learning how to use that and getting my beer list back on my phone is another plus.  There are a ton of beers still at hop and grape I haven't tried (a long list of belgians was added to the list) but with $100-200 in beer in my fridge already, a new keg fridge with 4 taps just beggin for some keggin, and 4-5 half racks of 22s still in the closet, me thinks the new beer purchases will have to slow down.  I want to thank all that have made 766 possible.  If you are thirsty, I've got beer. :)

and another one

The Bridgeport Stumptown Tart is good.  You should get some.  It's a strawberry beer, but not overpowering with the strawberry.  I plan to get some more.  It also put me at 759.  Here I come Barry.

And I made a trip to hop n grape to get the 4th beer of the apocalypse from Elysian, Peste.  It's a chocolate Chili beer and since the Sam Adams one wasn't all that special, but Cocoa Mole from New Belgium was awesome, I am planning to drink all four of the first beers of the apocalypse soon and will let you know how that one is.

Also, bottlemark is going to feature us on their blog, which is cool.  Will let you know when it hits.  And we brewed another beer, the beach dog, but this time re-using our Cream Ale yeast.  And the new name...Brewnette, since its a creamy brown.  Combine that with the Fergieweizen bubbling away in the closet with the 2nd batch of Apfelwine and the Apocalypso, I have a happy closet again.

2nd place

With the partaking of Barb's Birthday Brew and Southern Oregon Brewing's Black Heart Imperial Stout, as well as a glass of Ashtown's Raspberry Wheat, I have surpassed Babe Ruth on the career home run list with 756.  Only seven beers to go to pass Barry Bonds and get to 763* (the astrix not because I use steroids, but because I am drinking beers and not hitting home runs, but that's all semantics...)

Barb's cream ale was good.  I also tasted SOB's imperial stout against our St Helen's Stout.  The imperial was better, but that was too be expected.  Next I will taste ours versus a regular stout.

And Ashtown's beer was good, I can see why they want to open a brewery.  They have a cool 30 gallon home brew set up for the time being but have their permit application posted and are hoping to get into their actual home this year and finally be able to produce larger quantities and actually be able to sell some beer.  I also found out it will be on my way home, which could be trouble.  And that our other brewery hoping to open this year will also be on my way home.  So I can either drive down 15th to get home, which means I pass Hop N Grape.  Or take 12th home which means I will pass two new breweries.  I hope they have growler clubs...

Happy Cinco De Drinko

I know it's only the 4th, but Cinco De Drinko is kind of a weekend long holiday.  So tonight after a couple 32 oz Corona Familiar's, tomorrow I have a company party and some more corona, dos equis, margaritas, and a hot food/pepper eating contest to contend with.  Then maybe Sunday I will catch the babe.  Or have some more Corona.  Or maybe just recover from drinking Mexican beers.  I'm not sure yet.

I bought these for two purposes.  To drink.  And to re-fill with Apfelwine once it ferments.  I think they are cool bottles. And it's hard to get cool bottles that will hold 32 oz of home brew for only $3 anywhere else.

I'm coming for you babe

My dad had a box of New Belgium in the fridge, so I got to try Dig, their new spring beer.  I also had another Southern Oregon Beer Monday night, the Pin-Up Porter, which was good.  I would drink both those again.  And last night I had the Wilco Tango Foxtrot, A Malty Robust Jobless Recovery Ale by Lagunitas.  It was copper and it was pretty good also.  Plus the label was funny, and they always do a good job of that.  I believe the name was fighter pilot code for WTF, as in WTF is going on with this economy.

And with those beers (and me realizing I had already had another from the fridge I hadn't checked off yet, I am at 752.  Which if my calculations are correct has me three beers short of The Babe's home run record of 755.  I plan to get there before Cinco De Drinko this weekend, since I will be having Mexican beers and limes for two days.

With the beers bubbling nicely, and our first try at re-using the yeast cake from a prior batch working out nicely, this has been a good week for LTB.  I plan to re-use another prior yeast-cake this weekend and try to mess with one of our previous recipes to see what happens.  Wish me luck.

And a quick update with a picture from the Brewvana tour I went on a few weeks back.  This was taken at The Commons in Portland.  I'm way in the back with the Fort George Brewery hat on backwards.