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One man's adventures in the lands of homebrewing, cocktails, and other delicious liquids

Archive for category Beers

A House Great Divide’d

Feb 15

Posted by danielOut in Beers, Drink of the Day | 3 Comments

Drink of the Day #00017 from Daniel Auchenpaugh on Vimeo.

Three beers from Great Divide here in Denver. On the table today is their Hades Belgian-style Ale, Denver Pale Ale, and their Wild Raspberry Ale. All great beers, so check it out! Again, if your feed reader of choice (or facebook) doesn’t properly display the flash player, use the link to watch it over at Vimeo.

Sorry for the hiatus; I had guests in the house and a class to finish, but now we should be back on track. Well, at least for a week. Then I head to DC for a week, so if you know any places I should visit while I’m there for a quality beer, wine, or cocktail then let me know!

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Alcohol & You: A Healthy Relationship

Jan 31

Posted by danielOut in Beers, Cocktails, Drink of the Day, Wine | 3 Comments


Drink of the Day #00016 from Daniel Auchenpaugh on Vimeo.
In today’s Drink of the Day, I cover the Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout from Anderson Valley Brewing, the Belgian Framboise Raspberry Lambic from Lindemans Farm Brewery, and the Crianza 2006 Tempranillo from Campo Viejo.

There are a lot of horrible things that alcohol does to your body if you consume it in vast quantities. However, if you’re a responsible drinker, then alcohol can improve your health over non-drinkers. The key, like with many things is life, is moderation. So, to illustrate this, I’ll provide some fun facts. However, to give us a common groundwork, first let’s define one drink. One drink is 5oz of wine, 12oz of beer, or 1.5oz of spirits. Keep in mind that if you’re drinking some really high alcohol content beers (around wine levels, 12%+) or any spirit that is beyond 45% ABV (90 proof) then you’ll need to make adjustments to that calculation. Now, a “moderate drinker” is a female that has one drink per day, or a male that has two drinks per day. Sorry ladies, I didn’t make up the science, I just relayed it. Also note that this does not mean if you have no drinks during the week then you can stack up a ton of the weekend; that would still tax your body pretty heavily.

A moderate drinker, both for males and females, lowers their chance of heart-related medical problems. The alcohol can help with converting bad cholesterol to good cholesterol as well. The heart health issues are the most commonly known and studies proving the correlation have been around for decades. Also note that red wine contains more antioxidants than white wine, so studies show that it might be more effective in the heart health department than other drinks.

A few other fun facts about moderate drinkers over non-drinkers or heavy drinkers: moderate drinkers show a decreased risk for dementia, type 2 diabetes, and various anxiety disorders; moderate drinkers have a 35% less chance of contacting the common cold than non-drinkers; while moderate drinking has been linked to increased chance of some cancers, it has also been linked to a decrease in others.

So, these are just a couple handy health facts to illustrate that responsible drinking can be better than no drinking, and is certainly better than excess drinking. And always, drinking and driving makes you a fucking moron, and you should be dragged in to the street and shot.

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Purity vs Creativity: The Beer/Wine Debate

Jan 23

Posted by danielOut in Beer Brewing, Beers, Cocktails, Drink of the Day, Wine | 2 Comments

Tradition often comes in to play in the beverage industry, and most of us are guilty of being party of it. My own personal love of classic cocktails drives me to find new cocktail recipes that date back to the pre-prohibition era; for some reason that “traditional” way of making drinks just appeals to something inside me. Modern society has somehow pushed us to return to the classic way of doing things. Personally, I think some of this is good. When modernization degrades the quality of a product, then I believe a more classic approach should be used. However, if it helps the quality of a product (Scotch was never blended until the mid 1800s, and was only done to improve the consistency of flavors from one year to the next) then I think new and innovative approaches should be utilized to their fullest potential. So how does that relate to the beer and wine industry?

The craft beer industry has embraced a level of creativity in their products. New, unique brews are coming from craft breweries all the time. These brewers are not afraid to experiment with their recipes and add all sorts of unique things to mix: coffee, vanilla, oak, fruits, sours, and many more. However, the wine industry has stuck by their tried and true traditions of wine making. It is rare to find a wine that has had a spice or fruit added to it so a unique flavor profile can be created. The legacy of wine, and the tradition, has stifled the creativity of the industry. Image a coffee cabernet; the rich, acidic grape flavors mingling with a hint of earthy, toasty undertones from the coffee. Or perhaps an orange riesling; the sweet notes giving way to a slightly citrus finish. Rarely, if ever, can you find a wine that has been made with anything other than grapes, time, and yeast. They just don’t hold popularity these days, and who are we to question tradition?

Where am I going with this? Well, the real point is to see what your opinion is. How would you view a beer or a wine that has been made with unique additions to create innovative profiles? Is it acceptable in one genre, but repulsive in another? How would you handle being presented with a wine that was fermented with cinnamon in the fermenter? I’m very interested to hear your opinions on this post, as soon I would like to attempt another home wine brew. If you had the chance to make your own wine, and could go absolutely nuts with the recipe, what would you create? Perhaps, with the help of my awesome readers, we can create a wine that defies the tradition and comes up with something altogether more wonderful; or, perhaps, we shall agree to stick to the traditional method, because that is a better way of doing things.

In today’s Drink of the Day episode I cover two offerings from Shmaltz Brewing Company: Messiah Bold and Jewbelation Bar Mitzvah. I also open another one of my homebrews to compare it to last week’s opening. We will keep this trend up to see how the beer ages over the coming weeks! Also, in the video I mentioned I was curious what hops went in to the Jewbelation; well, if you check out the website it tells you what malts and what hops went in to the beer! How handy; thanks Shmaltz!

Also, thanks to my good friend Travis, over at SIEGE Films, who was kind enough to provide the intro for the episode. Much like my new love of homebrewing, Travis has recently fallen in love with film making. He’s recording his journey here, and I highly recommend you check him out. I’ve known Travis for 14 years, and can promise his creative prowess and perfectionist personality will result in some really great films. Please add their blog to your reader so you can provide him with comments and feedback, much like I request here!

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Beerfecta

Jan 17

Posted by danielOut in Beers, Drink of the Day | 6 Comments

So I’m a little torn; I enjoy doing the new video posts (more so since you guys seem to enjoy them) but they take longer. I need to work on streamlining the process a little more. Regardless, today will be another post that is merely a Drink of the Day video, since I spent too much time fiddling with that already. I hope you enjoy it.

The beers from today’s video come from Dry Dock Brewing, Deschutes Brewery, and Left Hand Brewing. Also, I’m sorry I screwed up the original idea of this episode, which was lagers. Again, if you’re having problems with the video showing up in Facebook, then jump on over here to watch it.

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Sour Hour

Jan 12

Posted by danielOut in Beer Brewing, Beers | 5 Comments

Two non-faternal beer twins

IPA on the left, hefe on the right

Welcome to Tuesday, everyone! Today we’re going to talk about beers that have gone sour… intentionally. Sour Ales are becoming easier to find, and I scored a new arrival at the local Whole Foods just yesterday. They are created in a process by which the brewer introduces Lactobacillus (also found in the vagina!) in to the brew, intentionally souring the beer. These beers are often aged for a long time, then blended with newer batches until the desired level of sour is reached. Really, it is a pretty interesting process. This is one of the (many) areas where brewers are starting to learn more towards barrel aging beers, akin to how wineries have done it for years. The type of barrel used, along with any previous liquids it might have held, imparts a unique flavor to the beer. All it takes is some tiny bacteria and you can have a beer revolution on your hands. If you’re interested (and you should be) in them, check your local brewery, bar, or retailer for beer labeled as sour ale, lambic, or Flanders-style red ale.

In homebrew news, my first adventure with liquid yeast proved… interesting. The hefe was a liquid, and after dumping it in I should expect fermentation to start within 5-15 hours, according to the package.

That shit was bustin out the joint!

The hefe went crazy in the middle of the night

Well, by the time I went to bed on Sunday it was still as a stone, and I was starting to see airlock action in the IPA, which was a dry yeast. It had only been about 5 hours, so I wasn’t too worried. The next morning before I left for work, nearly 13 hours after brewing, the IPA was going strong. The hefe… well, the surface was as smooth as glass and there had been no movement in the airlock overnight. At this point, I was ready to call the guys at The Brew Hut when I got off work and see what I had done wrong.

When I got home from work that day, I was a little relieved. The IPA was going strong, and there was a little activity visible in the Hefe. This meant that it wasn’t a false start, but I was still worried that so little activity was going on. I had done everything right, hadn’t I? Made sure it was out of the fridge 5 hours before use, shook it a little to get the yeast mixed in the liquid, made sure the wort was well oxygenated… what more could the little yeasties ask for?

Time, apparently they just needed some quiet time. Heading to bed last night I could hear a faint whistling sound, and upon checking the beers the hefe was going batshit crazy. Since last night it has gone crazy-go-nuts and even passed the IPA in fermentation, already starting to slow down. I really didn’t think a blowoff tube was needed if I was fermenting 5 gallons of beer in a 6 gallon carboy, but I’m really starting to consider it.

Drink of the Day Double Whammy

Of course, I can’t just leave you with that. I’ve got to tell you how sour beer tastes, right? Well, you’re in luck. Tonight is a special night; my lack of posting topics has driven me to resort to a double-dose of Drink of the Day. Not only do we have Monk’s Cafe’s Flemish Sour Ale, but Breckenridge Brewery’s Vanilla Porter.

Behold, the sour pour hour!

Porter on the left, Sour on the right

The Sour won the coin toss, so it will be up first. The head is silky looking, composed of tiny bubbles that hang around for a while. They are surprisingly white, and the beer is a little darker than I expected. Against a stark white backdrop, such as my computer screen, it shows through as an amber color, with a lot of clarity. The aroma is… unique. It really does smell like it has spoiled, and you’d be best throwing it away. Not only does it smell sour, but the small amount of hops used leads to an almost sweet aroma as well. I can’t say it smells good; wet socks comes to mind on the nose. The taste really surprised me. They didn’t go too hard on the sour in it, and instead it lends to a really smooth drink. It has about the same amount of sour that you might find in a cranberry, with equal sweetness backing it up. The malty flavors really shine through while it is in your mouth, and the slight tart on the finish is awesome. This is a really great beer, and would be perfect for (not with!) desert. The body is silky, and the carbonation isn’t too strong. If you can find this beer, then buy this beer.

Up next is Breckenridge Brewery’s Vanilla Porter, since I’m such a sucker for porters. As evident in the photo, the head on this thing was glorious. That was a pretty controlled pour, too. To be fair, it didn’t do that the other day, but that’s what I got tonight, so that’s what you’re stuck with for a photo. However, the head does vanish rather quickly, but such is to be expected in dark beers. Color is super dark, but not quite black. Reminds me of a dark chocolate brown. The aroma is pretty weak, I nearly had to stick my nose in it to even start to pick up the roasted malt smells. The vanilla is pretty much absent from the smell, too. I like the big, rich smells of toasted woods and dark malts that are typically associated with porters, but this one lacks a little. However, the taste nearly makes up for it. The malt really shines through, and the vanilla is a nice undertone to the smokey flavors in the beer. Not the best porter I’ve had, but if you like porters (and really if you like vanilla porters) then you should pick it up. Also, without having the overpowering campfire flavors that some porters have, it might serve as a good introduction to porters if you haven’t had one. After all, Sam liked it and she typically doesn’t enjoy them.

UPDATE! Mike over at Mike’s Brew Review (just launched!) posted a review of the Vanilla Porter as well, so stop by and check out his new blog and see what he has to say about it.

UPDATE x2! Alex started a blog to chronicle his brand new homebrewing hobby as well, so give his blog, Alex Brews, an add if you need more homebrew stuff to read!

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Bottle Shock

Jan 10

Posted by danielOut in Beer Brewing, Beers, Drink of the Day, Winemaking | No Comments

The 'B' stands for BADASS BEER... okay, so maybe not.

48 bottles of the English Brown Ale

While unrelated to the post, the movie “Bottle Shock” is awesome. So check it out sometime. Moving along, I’m sorry for the lack of posting. things have been busy around here, but you don’t care about my excuses. You just want posts, I know. So I’m going to meet you needs, kind of. I’ll probably be on a more limited posting schedule for the next six weeks due to real life issues; sadly, you shouldn’t expect more than two or three posts a week during this period.

Yesterday Sam and I set out to tackle the task of bottling the English Brown Ale; naturally this started with lots and lots of cleaning. Cleaning bottles, cleaning caps, cleaning hoses, cleaning cleaning cleaning. Not sure if you’ve noticed a trend with this brewing stuff, but cleaning is pretty high priority. Next, while I was still working on cleaning all those bottles, Sam got the primer ready.

If you don’t have a method of force-carbonating your beer (read: a kegging system with CO2) then you need to do it the old fashioned way: create fermentation in the bottle. Called bottle conditioning, this is done by dissolving some fermentable (sugar, malt, etc) in to some water, and adding it in to your bottling bucket. Next, siphon the beer in to your bottling bucket with minimal splashing, bubbling, etc. as to not get oxygen in the beer. So now the yeast is going to have a little (very little) more sugar once it gets in the bottle, and will release CO2. Eventually the pressure will make the CO2 mix with the beer, carbonating it. Hooray for science!

CRAZY DRILL POWER, ACTIVATE!

Using the drill to stir up CO2

Then attach a bottling wand, which is essentially a plastic tube with a spring-loaded stopper at the end that only releases beer when depressed, to the spigot of the bottling bucket. Open the spigot, grab your first bottle, and start bottling. Our assembly line was me sitting on the floor of the bathroom with the bottling bucket on the counter. Next to me was the caps, and next to them was Sam with the capper. I’d fill the bottle, pass to her, and she’d cap and put in the box. We got pretty good, and knocked out 48 bottles in less than a half hour once we were up to speed. Now we just wait 2-4 weeks and let the magic of fermentation happen, and we’ll (hopefully) have some awesome English Brown Ale.

Next I needed to add clarifying agents to the wine. Over the past couple of days, I verified that the SG wasn’t dropping any more (it stabilized at 0.993) and so it was time to clarify. Adding some clarifying chemicals isn’t all; for them to do their job effectively you need to drive off all the CO2 from the wine. This took forever in the carboy, and I ended up having to transfer it back to the bucket to get it to clear the CO2. So that’s sitting around in the bucket for another couple weeks while the chemicals drag all the particulates down to the bottom.

Also, I started two more beers today. Sam really wanted an IPA, and demanded that I start one. Being a husband that enjoys sleeping in the bed and not on the floor, I agreed. I’m using the American IPA kit from The Brew Hut. I also started a Hefeweizen for my class; by the time we’re done in six weeks, the Hefe should be ready. However, when I was at The Brew Hut they only had the hops I wanted in 2oz bags, and I just needed 1oz for the Hefe. Now, luckily you can keep hops in the freezer until you need to use them. Of course, I didn’t do that. I tossed the extra in to the IPA, since Sam likes her IPA’s to have killer levels of hops. So the Hefe has 1oz of hops, all used as bittering hops. Where as the IPA has 2.5oz of bittering, and 2oz of flavor hops. I think the difference is pretty clear here. However, I should note that the hops I bought were my first experience with whole hops, rather than hop pellets. Really, there didn’t seem to be much difference either way.

Someone stole that glass from a resturaunt; I think it was one of Sam's friends

U-Boat Hefeweizen from Dry Dock Brewing

Drink of the Day

Dry Dock Brewing doesn’t bottle their beers. This is a sad and terrible thing, but I understand. They’re a small brewery, and they can only do so much. However, thankfully, you can get a growler (64oz jug) if you stop by their place. It will start to go flat after a weekend, but with the quality of their beers I doubt it will stay in your fridge that long anyway. The photo illustrates a “sloppy” pour to generate head; I wanted to highlight the impressive head retention of their U-Boat Hefeweizen. In the glass on the right you can see the beautiful golden color, not impeded by a poor pour.

This beer smells like summer. Bananas, flowers, and maybe a little like the beach. Really, though, the banana aroma and flavor is pretty strong in this hefe. It blends well with the small amount of bitterness present, and the creamy body. It finishes strong and refreshing, and really does well on the tongue. Sam and I both enjoyed this beer this weekend, and will take the empty growler back again for some more sometime. Maybe next weekend while she’s gone I’ll fill it with their Baltic Porter… mhmm….

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Cocktails, wooo-oooh!

Jan 2

Posted by danielOut in Beers, Cocktails, Drink of the Day | No Comments

12 beers enter... and they all win?

$12 for 12 samples (3oz) of beer? Yes, please!

This is the biggest problem I’ve ever had. I was all set to write a post today on bitters… I knew what cocktail I would make, I knew what I was going to say, and then a terrible thing happened. I went to make the drink (always a requirement before a post) and realized that I had no whiskey. Truly, a tragedy has stuck our home today. So, I’ve had to improvise. I’m going to, instead, write about the experience Sam and I had yesterday at Dry Dock Brewing and do a Drink of the Day. The main event, however, will be to touch on what you really need to know to start making cocktails at home.

First, and I would be remiss if I let another day happen without discussing this, I went to my local homebrew store yesterday. Interestingly enough, The Brew Hut is attached to Dry Dock Brewing, a local Aurora brewery. After purchasing our supplies, Sam decided we should at least have a beer there, since we seem to be stopping by often. After sitting down at the bar, the bartender gave us great news. They had 13 of their beers on tap (yes, you read that right, 13) and they did $6 sampling trays of 6 beers each. So all we had to do was pick one not to try, and there we had it. We omitted the Pumpkin Ale, because it isn’t October and I don’t like pumpkin. I could devote multiple posts to describing these beers, but if you’re in the Denver area you can check them out yourself. If you aren’t in the Denver area, then I’d just be cruel to taunt you with them. However, the highlights were a great Double IPA, a silky smooth Vanilla Porter, and a Apricot Blonde that just screamed to go with wings. There wasn’t a single “loser” out of the 12 beers that we tried; the guys over at Dry Dock really brew great beer.

Now, I know a lot of you like an occasional cocktail. Maybe your current favorite is Jack and Coke, or perhaps you really like a good martini. These things are really easy to make at home, I promise. You just need a couple of things, then you can probably make them better than a generic bartender. Of course, don’t get me wrong, a quality bartender with a whole commercial arsenal of tools, mixers, and knowledge at their fingertips will still out-do me any day. However, I can still make some pretty mean drinks at home. First, get a Boston shaker, please. They look badass, add a nice authentic feel, and really seem to keep the best seal when shaking. You can use any pint glass for the other half, though I have just an unmarked one for my shaker. The next thing you’ll need is a jigger, and the stepped variety is easier to read from above. However, if you’re like me, you think the stepped ones are ugly. I use a double-sided jigger that has half ounce on one side, full ounce on the the other. For quarters and eights, I guesstimate. Horrible, aren’t I? However, in reality, that small amount of liquid doesn’t have to be exact in a 5 or 6 ounce drink. Really, that is all you need in a bare-bones sense. However, getting a few bar glasses will really help your drinks stand out. My first, and still favorite, are these glasses from World Market. I really think you can get away with putting anything but a martini (or other non-iced drink) in them. They’re simple, feel good in the hand, and look like a classic. A few martini glasses for good measure, and then you can expand slowly over time.

Now, you have your shaker, jigger, and glasses. What else do you really need at your bar? Knowledge. I know, you’ve been making Jack and Cokes out of your fridge in your dorms for years. What could you possibly need to know? Well, what if (gasp!) you felt like something other than that one beverage some day? There are a mass assortment of quality cocktails out there, and playing around with various ingredients is part of the fun. One of the best parts of cocktails is the instant gratification; mix them up and you’ll know instantly if you’ve got a hit or a miss in the first sip. I’ve learned a lot from Imbibe magazine and from watching The Cocktail Spirit over at Small Screen Network. Sure, a lot of the recipes may include things you don’t have handy. Look for what you can accomplish, and try your best to adapt where you are missing ingredients. Really, I think cocktails embody the essence of this blog the best. They’re playful, they’re fun, and they’re about trying new things to see how it turns out. Also, and this may be a little too far too fast, but they’re a great way to see how flavors can intermingle and compliment each other. Plus, making a whiskey sour at home means that you’ll know you’re getting fresh simple syrup, fresh lime, quality whiskey, and any other personal touches you like (I put egg whites in my sours; ask if you’re interested) which may or may not happen at your local bar. So go forth, spend about $20, and let me know how your cocktail trials go!

With real cat pee scent!

Sunshine, with applicable sunshine yellow color

Drink of the Day

I like wheat beers. I really, really like them. I’m not even sure what lured me in at first, but they’re some of my favorites. Considering I’m typically a dark beer guy, this is really strange. As you can see, this wheat beer was really light. Most Belgian wheat beers have pronounced citrus flavors and a heavy orange nose; nearly all are spiced with coriander and orange peel. Tonight I sat down with New Belgium’s Sunshine, which was a leftover from the variety of beers I grabbed on New Year’s Eve. As evident by the giant blue sticker I forgot to take off (sorry!) it was off the Whole Food’s “create your own six-pack” shelf.

The first thing I noticed after pouring the glass was the really poor head retention; typically it is really easy to get a nice, fluffy head off the light beers. This one barely formed, and I was worried I wouldn’t get the picture taken before it had time to vanish. Also, it smelled like cat urine. We have three cats; I know this smell. This beer smelled like cat urine. Bad start. However, after the first sip, I was much more hopeful. The beer was light, crisp, and had just a hint of orange. Now, I’m a citrus fanatic; I know it, I accept it, and I deal with it. I would have loved a more pronounced orange flavor, but that is just a matter of taste. They really managed to blend the flavors well, even if it wasn’t exactly how I would have done it. After being nervous at first, I was rewarded with a really refreshing beer that would be great once it warms up outside. I trust, and enjoy, New Belgium, but I will disagree with them on this beer. They offer it to be an all-season beer, but I really think you should save this for hot summer day when your A/C breaks. It would be the perfect summer heat wave remedy.

Have a drink I should try for Drink of the Day? Want me to cover a topic on the blog? Just let me know, and keep on trying new drinks!

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Any Porter in a Storm

Jan 1

Posted by danielOut in Beer Brewing, Beers | No Comments

Porter? I barely know her!

Brewer's Best Robust Porter kit

Well, it is 2010. I thought I wasn’t going to update today, and I suppose (according to the clock) I still have no entry for 01 Jan. I’m a few minutes too late, but oh well. This one will count anyway. Deal with it, shesh! The reason there was no entry today is because I’ve been a little busy. You see, I went to The Brew Hut to get a few supplies for bottling, and ended up getting the supplies to make a porter while I was there. This will (most likely) be my last “brew from a box” so to speak, as Samantha picked up a great scale today. Since Samantha was here tonight to help with the brewing, I took a ton of pictures. Thus, you get the “read more” link. Also, I changed the blog theme. Let me know what you think. Which reminds me… if you’re reading this on Facebook, that’s great. However, the problem with reading on Facebook is that it doesn’t format the posts correctly. So if things look a little funky, just hop over to the actual blog and see the post how it is formatted there. Anyhow, off the races…

Read the rest of this entry »

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Status Update, Soda, and Sippin’ Beer

Dec 30

Posted by danielOut in Beer Brewing, Beers, Drink of the Day, Soda, Winemaking | No Comments

I've really got a handle on that wine, you see...

If they were brother/sister, the wine would be the girl

Well, it is Wednesday. That means my beer and wine have been fermenting away for almost four days in my basement. Please ignore the ugly wood-paneled walls, as the house was built in 1968. I hear it was all the rage back then. Speaking of history, let’s throw down with some fun homebrewing facts for you. Of course, during Prohibition, brewing at home was illegal. After prohibition, the home brewing of wine was legalized. However, a stenographer’s omission resulting in the words “and/or beer” being left out. This meant that it was illegal to home brew beer until February of 1979. That means modern homebrewing is about to turn 31, which is only slightly older than me. Current laws allow for an adult, age 21 or older, to brew “not more than one hundred gallons of beer in a year.” Thanks to the fact that my wife also lives in this house, our house can legally brew 200 gallons per year. If I continue with 5-gallon batches, that means I would have brewed 40 different beers in one year. It is good to have goals. Interesting historical homebrewers of note: Washington, Jefferson, Franklin. Seriously, ole Benny boy harnessed the power of lightning. If he did that, and still found homebrewing interesting, then it is a good enough hobby for me. Lastly, as shout-out to my (theoretical) international readers; these dates are all based on US laws. Look up the homebrew history for your own country, and add it in the comments. I’m curious like that.

Now, back to my beer and wine. The wine you can’t see, because of the dumb plastic bucket. Seriously, I really need to get some more of those carboys from Better Bottle. I like being able to see the process in action. For the first couple of days of fermentation

This is what babies look like

Fermentation photo from 4 days after cooking.

I was worried about temperature. The wine kit says 65 to 75, and the beer kit said 60 to 75. Despite trying to adjust the temperature of the house to be warmer, I was still showing 62 to 64 on the wine for the first two days. This didn’t seem to slow the fermentation process of the wine, though. It was chugging along full speed ahead, or at least what I could tell from the CO2 escaping the airlock. Yesterday and today have been better, hovering in the 65 to 67 range when I’ve checked. Hopefully a couple of degrees won’t impact the flavor too much. Regardless, you can see a clear head forming on the beer. Until this morning, it had been growing steadily in the carboy. I think it has gone back down a little since yesterday, though. This means we’re starting on the downhill side of the fermentation mountain. At this rate, we’ll be on pace to bottle Monday or Tuesday. After bottling, though, I’ve still got a couple of weeks before drinking. So don’t get too excited yet.

So far I’ve primarily talked about beer and wine here, and I wanted to touch a little on something else. A fantastic, bubbly beverage that most people have been drinking the majority of their life. Soda. Now, we’re all familiar with a variety of mass produced sodas out there, so I don’t think I need to go over those. However, there are a variety of awesome sodas out there. Lately I’ve been grabbing different flavors of Oogave sodas from Whole Foods, which use agave nectar as their sweetener. I’m particularly fond of their Mandarin-Key Lime. However, the real king here (and those who know me should find no surprise in this) is Virgils. Their root beer is hands-down the best soda I’ve ever had. Plus, it even comes in mini-kegs! What is not to love? Their cream soda is also a clear category winner. If you like root beer or cream soda, even a little, then go get some Virgils. I often buy them at World Market or Whole Foods, but (at least the root beer) shouldn’t be hard to find. And as a little aside, the company that owns Virgils is called Reeds, and their ginger sodas are really good if you like ginger. Their “Extra Ginger Brew” packs quite the ginger punch. Of course, in the realm of fruity or citrus sodas, it is really hard to beat out IZZE. They have quality drinks in a variety of interesting flavors. In fact, though non-fruity, I have some “Birch” flavored IZZE in my fridge right now. It sounds weird, but actually is quite good. Their Clementine is also one of my favorites. Now, I’d be really slacking if I didn’t mention that making your own soda at home isn’t hard at all. In fact, it is very much like brewing beer. Only you don’t want to give this yeast but a day or two to eat the sugars, naturally carbonating the soda, but not eating all the sugars and producing alcohol.  Now, since I’m contemplating a batch of soda sometime in the near future, I’d really like to hear what your ideal soda flavors would be.

In a New Belgium glass, which is also good!

An American Pale Ale, to be specific.

Drink of the Day

Occasionally, I’ll be adding a “drink of the day” to the bottom of a post. This highlights what I’m drinking while I write the post. After all, it would seem a bit silly to have nothing to drink while writing a blog about beverages. Our local Whole Foods has a Merchant of Vino, where they sell a great variety of beer, wine, and a small selection of liquor. Handily, they have a “create your own six pack” wall, and that’s where I first had something from Boulevard Brewing, but I’ll touch on that specific beer later. I recently grabbed their sampler case, and decided to break out their Pale Ale for this post. I’m more typically a wine guy when it comes to really identifying flavors, aromas, and complexities. So this will be a learning experience for me as well.

American Pale Ales are characterized by dominate hoppy bitterness, flavor, and aroma. They’re also fairly low on maltiness, and have a medium body. I like hoppy beers, but I’m no crazy hop-head like some are. The aromatic hops used in this pale ale really do a great job, really adding some wildflower and fresh green aromas on the nose. This is what I like hoppy beers to smell like; a green, herby floral aroma. The bitterness is crisp, and I would really love this beside some good BBQ. A sweet, smokey BBQ sauce would really be awesome next to the bitter, green taste of this pale ale. Just a hint of sweet on the finish adds a little complexity that makes this a solid Pale Ale. Perfect with a lunch, or when you’re in the mood for something not too heavy. Well done, Boulevard. Glad my faith in your sampler pack was not misplaced!

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