Beer Diary...

This last Sunday, I ended another great series of homebrewing classes for the Brew School conducted at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California. We had a potluck and homebrew pairing to celebrate. We enjoyed the Hefeweizen, American pale ale and the Dry stout that we brewed during the early classes in this intensive course on homebrewing. And the consensus was that the quality of the beers were in the 6 or 7 range on a scale of 1-10. The judges may have been biased. Additionally, the students brought in food that they thought would go well with the beers and most of the dishes were home made and delicious. One student brought in an exceptional plate of brownies that were made with Guinness stout. Class of Fall 2009 Most of the students are trying out the lessons learned at school in their own homes and several already have beer in the fermenters or bottles. I look forward to sampling some of these new beers. In the mean time, I will take the lessons that I learned in teaching this class ...

I was in the neighborhood of the Shoppers Corner market and took a look at their selection of beers just for the hell of it when I came across a bottle of Vertical Epic Ale . Stone Brewing Company the makers of 'Arrogant Bastard' in Escondido, California is responsible for this beer. I haven't seen this in any of the other local grocery stores so I picked up a bottle to sample. First I'll tell you my experience with this beer but you can hear all about it directly from the brewer Lee Chase at Stone by clicking on the video at their site . This is a Belgian style Wit beer with plenty of yeast induced phenols along with peppery spiciness, coriander, juicy fruit gum, sweet orange, light caramel,a hint of alcohol and a lingering bitterness. Moderately carbonated, the head on this beer is small and dissipates rapidly. I fairly enjoyed this beer although from the website I discovered that it is best after aging for several years. In fact the whole premise behind this beer ...

For all those familiar with my now famous 'beer and popcorn diet', that I developed for reducing increased weight due to the consumption of vast quantities of home brewed beer, you will be pleased to know that I have developed a new and improved diet that is vastly more effective on a number of levels and satisfactorily replaces the 'beer and popcorn diet' . Introducing the new 'Beer and Meat Diet' . I have found this new diet to be superior in that it provides the important vitamin, mineral and energy that the popcorn lacked. If you are still on the 'beer and popcorn diet', I apologize for this inconvenient and unexpected announcement, but I think you will find that the 'beer and meat diet' is more effective for reducing the unwanted pounds associated with homebrew consumption. Like the 'beer and popcorn diet' plan, do not consume any calories from carbohydrates other than those provided in your beer consumption. That's right, just...

While wondering around the convention center watching the crowd move about in beer induced euphoria, I was intrigued by the fact that a relatively large line was forming around the Coors booth. "What the..?", I asked out loud to no one. With all the exciting, amazing, unique, and mostly delicious varieties of beers available from every state in the Union, why would anyone choose to queue up for a mainstream light American lager that you can get at safeway or 7-11 anytime of the day or night? Well, I had to ask. Super cold draft? The answer I got back from a genuinely sincere (if not a little defensive) woman in line was, "...it's just what I want right now." "O.K. I get it." Was my response. "For you it's the right beer at the right time. I can't argue with that." Although I desperately wanted to. But I wasn't here to point out the great opportunity to experience a hard to find American lager produced by a micro brewery. I was si...

I came across this as I was leaving the Great American Beer Festival on its final day. It was early Saturday and the throngs had not fully arrived yet so I was able to easily navigate my way past the different vendor booths. My attention was drawn to the BrewBalls display, which at first I thought it was a gimmick until closer inspection when my thoughts were confirmed. Tom Merline, the representative for BrewBalls was on hand to deflect my suspicions and tried earnestly to stifle my laughter and finger pointing. He's a nice guy and very sincere about the value of his product but still, it was difficult not to tease him. The idea behind BrewBalls is that as the beer ferments in your carboy, the different density balls sink as the malt sugars are converted to alcohol. This gives you clear evidence that the beer is fermenting properly as you peer through the carboy and observe the sinking balls. Each ball is labeled to indicate the sugar gravity without you having to take a hydrome...