Groves Chill Tonic

Storm brewin'

2011-05-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

My plans to brew a dunkelweizen began long before thunderstorms and tornados moved through our area this afternoon but not wanting to have to leave a half-made wheat beer sitting on the boiler to take refuge in the basement I checked the National Weather Service to see if I had to worry.
Fortunately I didn't, although right after I fired up the propane burner lightning struck about a mile away, at least to my estimation. As the water heated the lightning moved farther and farther away. And now, about halfway through the boil, it's raining lightly but the storms have missed us.
I've never made a dunkelweizen before so I'm curious to see how this one turns out. Half Munich, half wheat and an ounce of Tettnang make this an easy beer.
Oh yeah, and the pale ale. Copper colored and creamy with floral notes and finish with Cascade and Kent Golding. Yum.

The Slacker

2011-05-10T14:19:00.000-07:00

I am not a dedicated blogger.
It's been too long since I posted anything. Six months to be exact.
And since then I've brewed another chocolate stout, a pilsner and a maibock as well as a gallon of dandelion wine and several batches of root beer for the kids.
So today while waiting for a pale ale to finish I felt guilty about not posting anything.
There you have it. I'll let you know how the pale ale turns out.
Eventually.

A Belgium holiday

2010-11-28T14:46:00.000-08:00

I like the holidays but for reasons far greater than visiting family and eating turkey. Getting out of town means an opportunity to expand my extremely limited beer sampling.
Belgian-style beers seem to top my last big-beer store visit. Among them are Boulevard's Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale from Missouri, Maredsous 8 Dubbel and Ommegang Abbey Ale from Cooperstown, N.Y.
Of course that was only half of the samples I picked up. The rest await me in the basement

Espresso Oak Aged Yeti

2010-08-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

It's been more than 24 hours since I first tried an Espresso Oak Age Yeti Imperial Stout by Great Divide Brewing Company in Denver and have fought every temptation imaginable to keep myself from driving 200 miles round trip for another one (or two cases) of this beer. It is that good.
Coffee and chocolate are definitely a part of this creamy, complex stout that makes the mouth say "yum." Yeti is aged on oak chips with coffee added to this 9.5 percent beer but it's so well balanced there's little to no alcohol warmth typical of beer this strong. Black as night with a dark brown head.
Suggested food pairings include breakfast burrito, eggs benedict, hash browns, cheesecake and creme brulee. Lacking all of these, Christy and I paired ours with rare New York strip steaks and fresh green beans hot off our charcoal grill and baked potatoes with butter and sour cream. Yeti went well with the smoked food from the grill. Also tried it with a handful of candy corn. Excellent.
This has to be one of my favorite beers. Ever.
Next time I'm in the city, I plan to pick up enough Yeti to last a while.

Three Philosophers

2010-08-03T16:27:00.000-07:00

Tonight we're sharing the Three Philosophers Belgian style blend picked up recently during our Kansas City binge. It's a "2007 quadrupel," according to the label, brewed by Brewery Ommegang.
I've had triples before but never a quadruple. It says it's 2 percent cherries but I'm not really picking them up. Dark amber in color, a bit cloudy although that might be because the yeast is stirred up. Very malty, sweet, Christy said, and definitely a good warm yourself up by the fireplace ale because of the alcohol — 9.8 percent it says.
Of course this is summer and today has been one the hottest days so far this year so I should probably be sampling something lighter, say, a Hefeweizen. But I've got Hefeweizen on tap and usually have one each evening after I've done the chores in the yard.
The Three Philosophers is on the opposite end of the spectrum and it reminds me of the Baby's Bath Ale I made 11 years ago for the birth of our daughter. I've still got a couple of those left, largely because they were bottled 24 ounces at a time, they're high in alcohol and one (or even part of one) is all a guy needs every so often. The starting gravity of my Baby's Bath Ale was 1.110 with a finish gravity of 1.034, so it too is a mighty, mighty beer. There's nothing wrong with that but mighty beers are needed only on special occasions.
I'll save the Three Philosophers for one of those occasions, like for a frigid evening when the electricity is out because of an ice storm and am reading a good book beneath the soft glow of candlelight.

Crazy in KC

2010-07-31T13:16:00.000-07:00

I hadn't planned to spend $100 in an Overland Park liquor store but all the yummy options overwhelmed me. I found myself going crazy, just like a beer geek in a beer store.
We stopped at a Sam's Club to pick some office supplies and I had planned to grab some Irish whiskey or bourbon to top of my flask before we headed out to a blues bar that evening. I forgot we were in Kansas where the laws regarding beer and liquor are kind of weird, at least when someone's used to Missouri or Iowa laws. Anyway a Sam's Club butcher said Sam's had no liquor and if I wanted beer I should probably go to the liquor store on the south end of the parking lot because all I would find in Sam's was 3.2 beer. I took his advice.
At the liquor store I found some Bushmills but alongside what I usually buy was a 10-year-old Bushmills single malt for about $15 more than I usually pay. What the heck, I thought, this is a vacation despite it's brevity.
With bottle in hand I could have simply headed toward the checkout and been done but no matter where I go if there's beer for sale I have to see if there's anything I haven't tried. I found an amazing assortment. Stouts, Belgian ales, IPAs, imperial stouts, pilsners and many, many more from all over the world filled a shelf about 8 feet tall and 12 feet wide. I picked up a bottle of Three Philosophers, a Belgian ale made with cherries, I thought I might try. Then I saw a Belgian triple. An then an imperial stout. I sat the Three Philosophers on the floor and began looking at all the untried beer when one of the guys working there walked up and said, "If you like Belgian beer, try that Maredsous."
So I picked one up, put it on the floor and said to him, "Do you have cart?"
The next thing I knew, I was headed toward the checkout with four big bottles of beer I'd never before tried, the single malt Bushmills and bottle of Pyrat rum, even though I hadn't even walked in for rum. I just like rum and can never find anything but Bacardi around here. Guess it was an impulse buy.
As I checked out, I knew I had gone way, way overboard and told the guy "Don't tell my wife I've been here." He said "I don't even know your wife, sir."
"Even better," I told him.
Of course my wife found out and I immediately fessed up. Right now we're sampling the Maredsous triple, a big 10 percent alcohol ale with a big creamy head, amber color, no hop aroma, and strong alcohol smell and taste. I guess it's not bad but somehow I wished it had been better.
That's OK though. The Pyrat was excellent. The best rum I've ever had. The Bushmills I'll try later. And we've got three more new beers to sample: the Three Philosophers, a Lagunitas Hop Stoopid (a high hopped — 102 IBU — ale that both scares me and intrigues me) and an Espresso Oak Ages Yeti imperial stout from the Great Divide Brewing Company that also just sounded fascinating. I'll keep you posted.
Oh yeah, and while in Kansas City I picked up a Boulevard IPA and pale ale because I've long enjoyed Boulevard and believe they deserve my support.
Let's just hope next weekend in KC I don't got crazy again but if opportunity arrises I know what's going to happen.

Basement brewpub

2010-07-24T19:02:00.000-07:00

It's small, it's dirty, it's in its infancy but my basement brewpub is taking shape.
I now have a bar, stools, mirror and a few odds and ends hanging on the wall as well as a foosball table, a two-person fast-food type table for seating, a sound system, a futon, bathroom and crude wine cellar. There's also room for a small band with a couple of amps already set up, room for a dance floor if I move the foosball table, a few types of liquor and wine for the bar, beer coasters and an assortment of homebrew but I still have to get an appliance dolly to move the homebrew 'frig from the garage to the basement.
I'm thinking of even giving it a name. Some under consideration are: The Bunker because I've got an Iraqi gas mask from the first Gulf War hanging on one wall; The Zoo because of my monkey mask, zoo photos and restricted area sign; or the Pub Down Under because I used to hang out at two different bars by that name in the two different college towns I lived.
All I need to do is decide before the christening.

Trappist ale

2010-06-13T15:10:00.000-07:00

Think I've figured it out with the Trappist ale
It's too sweet for Christy and ordinarily would be for me but there's enough hops (Hallertau and Styrian) to balance the Belgian candy. It is a sweet beer but the hops and the Wyeast 3787 give it a cleaner finish than from a sweet domestic.

Three beers behind

2010-06-12T10:10:00.001-07:00

Yes I am three beers behind on this blog. Well, at least two and a half. The kegs of Irish red ale and Trappist ale are going quickly, so quickly I've failed to post anything about them.
The red ale has been on tap since May 8 and has a great hops aroma and taste (Cascade and Fuggle). The red was a kit I got free from Midwest when I had ordered an Irish ale yeast and they sent the yeast along with an Irish red ale kit. It arrived with the LME oozing everywhere so I brewed that baby up quick. I like it but wonder what a red lager would be like.
The Trappist has been my favorite, although Christy doesn't care for fruitiness. That's all right. Leaves more for me.
I'm working on a Hefeweizen today and I'm betting she won't like that as well as some of the others either. That's all right too. I hadn't made a wheat beer in a while and was feeling lazy so wheat it was.
I'll try to keep you updated this time.

Bottling Chocolate Stout

2010-05-03T20:52:00.000-07:00

Bottling Christy's chocolate stout a few days ago was one of the more challenging bottling days I've experienced in years but it may be I've just grown a bit spoiled with the kegging system.
To start, I grabbed a box used for shipping some of the stout's ingredients to haul bottles from the basement upstairs for cleaning. The box contained nearly all my 24 ounce bottles but as I picked up the box the bottom gave way and only my panther like reflexes allowed me to quickly lower the box toward the floor as the bottles landed before a single bottle was broken.
That was only my first bottling mishap, though. As I went to cap a champaign bottle I broke the bottle's neck, wasting 24 ounces of chocolate stout and scattering tiny shards of glass across the kitchen counter top.
The damaged bottle came after nearly a good gallon of stout remained in the fermenter when my racking cane stopped siphoning sooner than I had hoped because of my inattention.
The stout has proved a challenge but I'm hoping to find out in a few days if the less than hoped for amount is worth the problems.

Christy's chocolate stout

2010-04-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

Christy's ale turned out to be a hit with Christy, especially when we paired with the smoked ribs we made. Spicy Cascade and fruity yeast seemed to be made to go with spicy pork rub and sweet homemade barbecue sauce.
So today I brewed a chocolate stout per her request. Dark and amber extracts, a bit of roasted barley, British chocolate and black malt, and a half pound of semi-sweet chocolate chips added to the fermenter.
I figure in a few weeks we'll try chocolate stout and homemade brownies, chocolate stout floats, chocolate stout cheese cake, chocolate stout, chocolate stout chili, chocolate stout and chicken mole — already I can see another batch of chocolate stout in a month or so.

Christy's Ale

2010-03-22T17:33:00.001-07:00

A weekend spent awaiting the results of the Iowa Brewers Union brought much more than a very good score for the stout I entered.
It also gave my wife Christy a greater appreciation of a wider variety of beers.
We spent Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday morning in Des Moines. Over the weekend we visited the competition itself, three Iowa brew pubs and (only) two different beer focused bars where we sampled more than 30 different beers.
We also visited Beer Crazy where I got ingredients for what I plan to name Christy's Ale. Christy's Ale is based on Raccoon River Brewing Company's Bandit IPA, a far more hoppy ale than Christy had fancied before.
Christy's Ale includes plenty of Cascade hops, 40L and 80L Crystal malt and Wyeast 1318. I'm anxious to see how it finishes.
I'm also anxious to see which other beers my wife enjoys. Seems since our weekend she's been more appreciative of the styles we've tried, including a stout and cream ale I've brewed, a chocolate stout picked up at Beer Crazy and Chimay also bought in Des Moines.
Maybe we need to get out of town more often.

IBU Results

2010-03-14T17:31:00.001-07:00

My dry stout entered in the 2010 Iowa Brewers Union Open earned no award and yet I am pleased with my finish. In my first competition, my beer finished with a final score of 31 out of a possible score of 50. That means the low end of "very good" out of the nine entries, well enough to leave me tickled.
Even better than the score, though, are the judges' score sheets. Those criticisms give me a somewhat detailed idea of how I can improve my beer. And at least two of those criticisms were my concerns entering the beer after sampling it myself so I feel better about my awareness of my own brewing faults.
The stout was over carbonated, as I expressed to some of those I shared it with before we sampled it. I used dried malt extract and upped the amount a bit after the last one seemed a little flat. It was also a bit sweet for the finish, as the judges said, I'm sure because of the brown sugar I used.
The overall impression by the certified judge was helpful. "A nice stout which has no significant flaws. Lacks somewhat in hop character and the roast bitterness is a tough sharp. Body is tough heavy w/a touch of residual sweetness. Not dry enough. Simple recipe mods will improve."
Next up, simple recipe mods. No brown sugar, more hops, less roasted barley and less carbonation. Of the 40 beers I've brewed eight of them have been dry stouts. I've been trying to perfect a dry stout for years and think I'm almost there. But of the eight I've brewed only one was quite as good as I though it should have been and that was years before I entered the last one in competition.
I'll begin tweaking the dry stout soon but first on the list is a pale ale for the wife, who helped me sample more than 30 beers over the weekend. Got to love a woman who's willing to sacrifice to help you reach the pinnacle.

Cream ale No. 2

2010-03-09T16:39:00.000-08:00

I think I neglected to update everyone on my first cream ale made back in November so I'll try to give an update with cream ale No. 2 I bottled over the weekend.

The two served as a comparison between two hops, clusters and cascade. In November, I used cluster because in my early notes (Feb. 17, 1999, to be exact) I'd written "Remember — you loved smell of cluster hops." That note came from when I'd made a porter with wheat added and only an ounce of 6.8 AAU clusters.
The Nov. 20, 2009, cream ale included an ounce of 7.5 AAU for bittering and another ounce for finishing. My final notes from that say "even a month or more lagered the clusters is still strong. Hops may be historically accurate but a different choice or less clusters would make a better cream ale."

Today I tried the Feb. 27, 2010, cream ale using cascade. It hasn't lagered long enough but I knew I still had to try it. The hops taste is there but not as strong as with the clusters. We'll see what happens in a few weeks.

And by the way, I know my hops are too strong to be true to style for a cream ale but that's the way I like them. I'll try to hit the guidelines if I ever enter one in a contest.

Iowa Brewers Union Open

2010-02-17T17:14:00.000-08:00

Well I've finally done it.

I've finally bottled a beer for competition. This afternoon I capped a stout I've been pleased with and slapped entry labels on a couple of bottles for the Iowa Brewers Union Open, which is scheduled for March 13 in Urbandale.

I've been brewing since 1998 but have never entered a competition before. I'm interested to find out just how close to style my brews are, especially this stout.

We — C and I — plan to head to Des Moines that weekend, not so much for the competition but because it's a good excuse to get away without the kids for the weekend. Of course there are a couple of brew pubs there I hope to visit, as well as guitar store or too and a blues bar downtown we're probably going to have to try at least one night.

Any excuse for beer and beer for any excuse, I say.

You say you want a revolution

2010-02-04T17:49:00.000-08:00

I know this wasn't what John Lennon was talking about but hey, I like this even better.

http://www.thisisbrandx.com/2010/01/las-craft-beer-revolution.html

Brown ale, er, I mean stout

2010-01-21T18:15:00.000-08:00

My attempt at my first brown ale using leftover grains didn't quite finish true to style. I was hoping for something along the line of Newcastle but came far closer to Guinness.

The problem is, I believe, is the addition of the roasted barley. Even at just a 1/4 pound the 500-600L was just too dark and too bitter for a brown ale.

Even so it wasn't exactly a failure. I didn't get the the brown ale I'd hoped for but I did turn out a pretty damn good stout.

That's the joy of homebrew — even when you miss your target you still usually end up with something at least, as they say in the movie Fargo, pretty good.

You know it's too cold when …

2010-01-06T14:29:00.000-08:00

Snow falling again today as birds sample the feeders on the tree outside. Mmmm, a stout would be good, I think, so step into the garage where's it hovered below 40F for several days. I pull back the tap and — nothing. Inside the frig, I discover the line to the tap frozen.

Of course my next step is to bring the keg inside to defrost and discover the line out is depressed (as am I) so after bringing the keg inside I get a short shot of stout right in the face.

Unfortunately, it's still too cold for a beer and all I get is the smell of stout on my shirt.

Good thing I've got a few cream ales bottled elsewhere.

Beer bonds

2010-01-04T18:44:00.000-08:00

Too much beer, too much trouble.

See http://www.wlwt.com/news/22121149/detail.html and http://www.bnd.com/breaking_news/story/1074238.html.

A woman earns a $10,000 bond for swinging a beer mug and a man earns a $10,000 bond for drinking (apparently) too much beer.

Let this be a lesson.

Beer and Women

2009-12-28T16:22:00.000-08:00

"Beer smells good," beer drinker Conrad Eaton said. "A lot of people like beer, and a lot of people like women."

If you're me you love them both — but not equally, honey.

Great quote but read the story first at http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=11737177.

Is that a hint of black sludge, rancid beer grains and green slimy stuff or are you wearing Guinness behind your ear?

Beyond Selfishness

2009-12-15T16:10:00.000-08:00

Since beginning as a homebrewer, my aim has to been to recreate the styles of beers I enjoy most — mainly pale ales and stouts with a few forays into lagers, wheat beers and oddballs such as cherry-apple cider, blueberry wine and lime ale (a few of which, I should add, were train wreck failures).

So for the last few batches I've focused more on converting non-beer drinkers, the ones I've tried to win over with what I call "pussy beer," by creating a few cream ales, pilsners and, more recently, a brown ale. Not everyone shares my love of hops and bitter beers and I feel a responsibility to let others know great beer exists if they are willing to experiment with something other than the domestic mass-produced almost flavorless Coors, Miller and Bud.

I've had great success with my pilsner made from a kit with the addition of German Tradition hops (which I plan to tweak again next week) and the cream ale I created from earlier notes and other recipes. The five-gallon keg of pilsner lasted just over a month and the cream ale I plan to hand out over the next couple of weeks for Christmas.

My goal is to get the people I share my beer with in trying new brews, something other than the big three they are greeted with at every bar, convenience store, grocery story and restaurant they visit. Hopefully, gradually, others' education of beer will create a greater market for locally produced and more obscure beers.

People should still like what they like but they should also step outside of the familiar. Who knows, you might even discover something you like better.

Schwartz bier

2009-12-10T18:01:00.000-08:00

Picked up a six of Sam Adams black lager today because I've been craving a dark lager.

It was a dark lager, Lowenbrau dark, that helped lure me away from domestic bland beer years ago as I reached drinking age.

Lowenbrau was my first foray into "exotic" beer. The dark was a welcome new experience for someone who thought exotic was Heileman's Special Export.

To be honest, I don't remember precisely how Lowenbrau tasted. All I remember is it had a "true" German name and was darker than anything I'd sampled before.

Sam Adams' black lager is, I'm sure, more of everything than Lowenbrau dark was then. Sam's is malty with a strong chocolate flavor, everything an American lager isn't.

It's more, more of everything, and a reminder of my early realization that beer can be better than Old Style, Busch or Miller.

Hooray for my favorite drinks

2009-12-09T11:39:00.001-08:00

More good news about a couple of my favorite beverages. Seems men who drink coffee and beer have reduced chances of getting prostate cancer, according to an article on eFitness — http://www.efitnessnow.com/news/2009/12/09/beer-coffee-exercise-may-help-prevent-prostate-cancer/.

"Studies now show that drinking coffee and beer with a normal exercise routine may be healthy habits for men after all. Men who workout at least 15 minutes a day and drink more than 6 cups of coffee a day reduces their chances of getting prostate cancer by 19%. The same combination reduces the risk of men developing an aggressive form of prostate cancer by 41%."

There you have it. Coffee in the morning, exercise in the afternoon and beer in the evening. To think I've been doing this before I even discovered these findings.

I feel better already. Think I'll have another homebrew.

Christmas Cream Ale

2009-11-29T12:35:00.000-08:00

Bottled a batch of cream ale to give out as Christmas gifts as I waited for my sourdough wheat bread to rise. I wanted to make a lighter homebrew to share with family and friends who favor commercial domestic brands. With less than enough in the fermenter to fill a 24-ounce bottle, I tasted a flat, non-lagered sample today. The maize and corn sugar make for a light beer that goes down easy but the Cluster dry-hopped give a flavorful finish. Wish I could lager it a couple weeks longer before Christmas but I didn't start soon enough. I don't think it will matter. Christy seems to be pleased with it.

Nuts

2009-11-24T15:56:00.000-08:00

Tonight as I tap my first taste of pilsner I encourage you to visit http://brewvana.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/we-had-a-ball/. Corning, Iowa, is a great town with great people who are always ready to help out for a good cause.

More Music and Beer

2009-11-19T18:58:00.000-08:00

My ale supply both bottled and tap is rapidly dwindling while my pilsner is still at least a week away and the ingredients I've put together for a cream ale sit on my desk in front of me and in rough written form in my notebook.

On top of that, I find myself remiss in my Chill Tonic blog. I've dreamed a lot about beer lately, studied ways to brew, ordered supplies and equipment, pored over a variety of recipes in books and magazines and online and yet I've posted nothing in more than week. Even as I write this I hear water beginning to boil for tomorrow's batch (hard water and too much chlorine without boiling first) but nothing new to say.

Perhaps I'm boring but more accurately I've been distracted and lazy. With no new brew I've little to say, that is until I discovered Donnie Iris's King Cool Light will debut tomorrow in Pittsburgh (http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/21667655/detail.html).

Nothing about what the beer is like, although "light" has me a bit concerned. Somewhere in my collection of cassettes is a copy of 1980's "Back on the Streets" and though it's dated I'd hoped someone whose songs I enjoyed as a young lad and even today sing along with and play along with on the Ibanez would have more to offer than light beer.

Magic Beer

2009-11-08T14:03:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while I come across a magic beer.

Although a magic beer isn't something extraordinary, it can be at times. A magic beer is simply one overlooked in the frig, one from a six-pack tucked away but forgotten. Well this evening I found a magic beer as I was clearing the garage frig for space to lager a pilsner that's almost ready to be chilled.

As I moved a six-pack of what I believed to be homemade stout, I came across a bottle of Boulevard Pilsner brewed in Kansas City. Now Boulevard is one of my favorite breweries because number one it's located in Kansas City and number two Boulevard turned me on to my first pale ale, which got me hooked on ales of all sorts.

Now the Boulevard Pilsner isn't quite as hoppy as other pilsners such as Pilsner Urquell or other European pilsners but it does have a nice malt flavor that beats the heck out of most domestic lagers.

My wife and I sampled our homebrew pils today. It has a bit more character than the Boulevard but I'm still not going to complain about a magic beer.

Beer in the News

2009-11-03T16:21:00.000-08:00

Because I'm not ready to brew my next batch of beer (a pilsner this time unless of course the weather remains in the 70s for too long) tonight is the latest edition of beer in the news.

Tonight's news comes from AdvertisingAge, which deals of course with advertising. A Nov. 2 story published on the Website http://adage.com/article?article_id=140106 claims a person's choice in beer has much to say about one's personality, politics and purchases. Some of the findings include:

Budweiser drinkers are 42% more likely to drive a truck than the average person, 68% more likely to choose a credit card with flexible payment terms and 42% more likely to use breath-freshening strips every day.

Bud Light drinkers are also 48% more likely than the average person to play the lottery every day and 34% more likely to never buy organic products.

Michelob Ultra drinkers rate high in superiority; that is, they think highly of themselves and can be a little bit conceited. They care what other people think about them and want to appear perfect. They also tend to be take-charge types with strong opinions, and can even be confrontational. Michelob Ultra drinkers are 43% more likely than the average person to consider sustainability a priority, and 34% more likely to buy life insurance.

Corona drinkers are 91% more likely than average to buy recycled products and 38% more likely to own three or more flat-screen TVs.

People who choose Heineken as their favorite beer are 58% more likely to have American Express cards, 45% more likely to be early adopters of new mobile phones, and 29% more likely to drive sports cars.

People who drink Blue Moon beer are 105% more likely than the average person to drive hybrid cars, 77% more likely to own Apple Mac laptops, 65% more likely to purchase five pairs or more of sneakers every year, and 32% more likely to not be registered voters.

Craft-beer lovers are 153% more likely to always buy organic, 52% more likely to be fans of the show "The Office" and 36% more likely to be the ones to choose the movie they are going to see at the theater.

People who turn down beer are 50% more likely to call themselves Republican, and are 30% more likely to never buy organic products.

Despite the generalizations, I'm willing to accept most of these findings but I wonder what it means for a person who brews his own beer, drinks Natural Light regularly as his cheap domestic go-to beer and enjoys a shot or two of Irish whiskey with his beer.

Beer tunes

2009-11-01T12:42:00.000-08:00

I regularly (daily, perhaps?) pour myself a homebrew and listen to a few tunes or even strum a few of my one. Beer and music go together as much as or more so than beer and pizza, beer and pretzels, or beer and Mexican food. Seems it also goes well with a win by the Hawkeyes, according to a Des Moines Register article found at http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20091101/NEWS/911010337.

A Hawkeyes win brings the lyrics:

In heaven there is no beer

That's why we drink it here

And when we're gone from here

Our friends will be drinking all our beer.

Makes sense to me, as I'm sure it does to my Iowa friends. But apparently the University of Iowa administration allows the tune only following a Hawkeye win. The university administration says the band and the students have to earn the song about beer. I like that and would even apply it to imbibers — if you want a beer, you need to earn it. Believe me, you'll appreciate it that much more.

Life Without A Turntable

2009-10-30T14:45:00.000-07:00

'Tis a sad day. The stylus on my turntable died last night as I just pulled a pint and prepared to put on Tres Hombres and Waitin' for the Bus. Instead I turned to iTunes, put the DJ on random and treated my sorrow with ale. Oh well, the beer was still good but would have been better with old ZZ Top.

Ale on Tap

2009-10-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

Finally homebrew on tap at Groves Chill Tonic. Still trying to get the carbonation right but the flavor is there. Above is a photo of my second pint. The first one wasn't quite as carbonated as I had would have liked. In fact even No. 2 isn't quite what I'm after but, you know what, I've got all night and almost five gallons of ale to get it right.

Cheers.

Kegging day

2009-10-25T10:26:00.000-07:00

Finally kegged the Copper Ale (German-style ale) I made using a kit from Midwest Supplies. I've got to say it's lot less hassle then cleaning a couple of cases worth of bottles, filling each one and then bottling them. Plus instead waiting a couple of weeks until I can try my beer I should be able to draw a pint in a couple of days. Here's a photo of the actual kegging. OK, the photo's not so hot. I only had my cell phone on hand.

And below is a look at the keg inside my frig. (Yes, that is Natural Light and Natural Ice in there. When I buy domestic I buy it cheap. Besides, I've got a keg of ale, about a case and half of homebrewed pale ale and about two six-packs of homemade stout.)

Boston Beer Co., Weihenstephan to brew new beer

2009-10-21T19:29:00.000-07:00

FREISING, Germany — Boston Beer Co., maker of Samuel Adams, will team up with a venerable German brewery to jointly brew a new craft beer to be marketed in Germany and the U.S. next spring.

Boston Beer CEO Jim Koch and Josef Schraedler, managing director of Weihenstephan, told The Associated Press Wednesday that their two companies have been working together for two years on the beer, which they will make and market jointly.

It has yet to be named, but will be marketed in bottles with corks instead of the usual metal caps. It will pack a punch, with 10 percent alcohol.

The Weihenstephan brewery, owned by the state of Bavaria, dates back to 1040 when Benedictine monks began making beer at their cloister outside Munich.

The new beer will also follow Germany's famed Reinheitsgebot, an ancient purity law — since 1516 — which stipulates that beer can be brewed with only four ingredients: water, malt, hops and yeast.

"We're creating a brand, a product that never existed before, a very premium brand" Koch told AP.

"Beer can stand with dignity and respect with the best of wine and spirits," he said, without elaborating on brewing style or price.

Grove's Tasteless Chill Tonic

2009-10-20T15:05:00.000-07:00

Here it is. The ad that helped name my homebrew and this blog. Madison Avenue should learn from this classical ad. A hog with a baby's head — beats the heck out of a talking lizard.

Tanks a lot

2009-10-19T16:31:00.000-07:00

So close yet so far away. Filled my 5-pound CO2 tank today, hooked it up to the rest of the kegging system and hoped to take a gravity reading on my Copper Ale. Alas, the beer is not ready. Guess the Wyeast 1007 isn't as quick at eating sugar as the Muntons yeast I used on my last ale, which was ready to bottle in about four days. Oh well, even if it does take a few days longer to finish fermenting it's still going to be faster from fermenter to pint with a keg instead of bottles.

Guess I'll have another Shiner for now.

Wisconsin's craft breweries :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Lifestyles

2009-10-18T18:59:00.001-07:00

Wisconsin's craft breweries :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Lifestyles

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A Bear Walks Into a Store and Heads Toward the Beer Cooler

2009-10-18T18:46:00.000-07:00

Only in Wisconsin:

HAYWARD (WKOW) — Grocery stores usually don't turn away customers, but it's a little different when the customer is a 125-pound black bear.

In Hayward, a black bear wandered inside and headed straight for the beer coolers.

The bear made his stop Thursday night at Marketplace Foods in Hayward, walking through the automatic doors and heading straight into the liquor department.

The bear climbed a 12-foot shelf and sat there for an an hour until employees evacuated customers and called wildlife officers.

The DNR tranquilized the bear and removed it from the shop.

The bear did not consume any beer.

Visit http://www.wkowtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11335250

or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jenROd2_5w4&feature=player_embedded

Craft brewers rethink rice in beer

2009-10-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

I came across a story on the LA Times website, http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-beer30-2009sep30,0,2785799.story, that says more brewers are using rice in the beers.

Now rice isn't new to beer, especially Budweiser here and Tsingtao from China, to name a couple. And, as the article says, beers like that have given rice a bad name.

My brew log includes four uses of rice in beer, one a steam-style beer, another a cream ale and two different types of American lager. I failed to include tasting notes for the steam beer and one of the lagers but the other lager and the cream ale were less than expected. The cream ale, which came from a Brewer's Best kit, eventually found its way down the sink. The lager, which included hop-flavored Premier Malt Extract bought at a grocery story in Gravette, Ark., also wound up in the sink with the tasting note "!!DO NOT USE PREMIER EXTRACT!!" I tend to be understated so the use of four exclamation points must have meant I had a bad, bad experience with this lager.

I don't remember much about the steam beer because, as I said, I failed to include notes. That first lager with rice in it, though, was quickly drained by one of my Corona-loving friends. It's interesting to note I also used flaked maize in this light beer.

I don't know for sure using rice and maize in the same recipe made my wimpy beer a success but I guess there's only way to find out. Looks like it's my turn to rethink rice in beer, too.

Shiner 100 Commemorator

2009-10-17T16:40:00.000-07:00

Stopped by Wally-World today on the way home and picked up a six of Shiner 100 Commemorator. A nice, malty dark German-style beer, the kind that first wooed my away from domestic light-style lagers. Commemorator was brewed to celebrate Shiner's 100th anniversary, for which I'm thankful.

I'm a bit confused about the info available about Commemorator on the Shiner website, though. The label on the bottle proclaims it's an "anniversary centennial ale" but the website claims it's "arguably one of the tawniest lagers around." Maybe Shiner's web master (or PR dude) knows little of beer. Too bad. Anyway, here's the blurb from Shiner.com.

Brewed in the traditional Doppelbock-style, this mildly-spiced, toasted-caramel ale is arguably one of the tawniest lagers around. It is a malt beer brewed for consumption and sometimes dubbed as "liquid bread" since monks developed this style of beer to help them fast during the Lenten season. The Commemorator is as rich and robust as the 100 years of Shiner heritage it represents. Available for a limited time only through the end of 2009. Savor a pint while you can.

Well, even if the web writer knows not ale from lager what's important is the brewery itself. Shiner Bock, Blonde and Hefeweizen appear in my refrigerator from time to time. I drink a toast to Kosmos Spoetzl and Shiner's 100th anniversary. This country needs more breweries like Shiner.

CO2 Blues

2009-10-15T14:49:00.000-07:00

The ale pail (not to be confused with pale ale) is bubbling and the components of my kegging system sit on my desk tempting me. It should be an easy installation. I've got to find a drill bit large enough to knock a hole in the frig for the faucet shank to pass through, which shouldn't be too difficult. It looks like the most difficult thing is going to be finding a nearby CO2 supplier. It's already after hours at local farm supply stores so I'll try calling them tomorrow but a call to a farm store in a nearby town was fruitless. I hope filling up doesn't turn into a 60-mile one-way trip but I guess I'll take what I can get.

That being said, the good news is it looks like I'll be able to fit three kegs in the refrigerator. Hopefully I'll be able to add on over the next few months until fresh homebrew pushes Mountain Dew out of the garage frig.

Food chain

2009-10-14T16:01:00.001-07:00

I don't believe humans are at the top of the food chain. I've got three hens in the backyard that provide more than enough eggs for the four of us as well as entertainment for me and the girls (Christy doesn't like chicken unless it's fried). When we have scraps from veggies and fruits they go to the chickens. The grains left over from my just brewed ale became feed for the hens, which they quickly and apparently happily ate. What the hens eat eventually becomes compost for my vegetable garden. What we don't eat from the garden again becomes chicken feed. When it's my turn I hope to eventually become worm turds and compost for the garden again. It's a viscous cycle. Who's to say he's the top of the food chain.

Back to brewing

2009-10-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

After a more than year hiatus, I'm back to brewing. Brewed a batch of bitter (is that a nursery rhyme?) about three weeks ago and for the most part am pleased. Malty, sweet as Christy said, with a strong Kent Golding finish. Today brewing a Copper Ale kit from Midwest, which sounded good. I'll let you know in a few weeks. Or, hopefully, sooner. After 11 years of brewing I bit the bullet and ordered a kegging system for my refrigerator in the garage. Should arrive tomorrow, so the Copper Ale will be the first of my 33 batches to be kegged.

I started brewing in November 1998 when we lived in Iowa. My first batch was simply a single can of Edme Red Ale because I didn't want things to be too complicated. My next batch was an experiment that went bad. I bought 2.2 pounds of Premier Malt Extract at Hy-Vee and added 12 ounces of Grandma's Molasses. My hydrometer was messed up and I thought the starting gravity was too low so I added 3 pounds of brown sugar when I added the yeast. My notes two weeks after brewing read "Gravity well below scale, below zero. Think hydrometer is screwed — it has water in it — beer has strong alcohol and brown sugar flavor."

That wasn't my last failure but I've improved since then. My third batch was a dry stout with the comment "nice flavor." Since then I've returned to stout recipes many times.

As you can see, the name of this blog is Groves Chill Tonic. Why? Because while we lived in Wiggins, Miss., I discovered an ad from an 1899 newspaper touting the benefits of Grove's Tasteless Chill Tonic. "Makes children as fat as pigs" it promises with a woodcut of a small child sitting on the body of a hog. "Cures chills, malaria and biliousness. Delightful to take. Warranted. No cure no pay. Is just as good for adults as for children."

Well I can't guarantee Groves Chill Tonic is as good for children as it is adults but I know my tonic is not tasteless. It is, however, delightful to take. After all, everyone knows sometimes you need a good chill tonic.