The Dust Has Settled

We take some time to appreciate some of the more entertaining news leads and headlines from the most over-analyzed beer event since this magic elixir was first created. Cheers!



"The Morning After the Beer Summit, I'm Still A Bit Hungover "
-NY Daily News

"Great Moments in Journalism: MSNBC's Beer Summit Countdown Clock"

"Beer Diplomacy"
-CNN

"Backyard Beers"
-CNN

"White House 'Beer Summit' Becomes Something of a Brouhaha"
-Wall Street Journal

"The Beer Heard Round the World"
-Time

"It's Happy Hour at 'Bams Beer Summit"
-NY Post

"Beer Diplomacy: What Would Jesus Brew?"
-Chicago Sun Times

"Beer Summit to Toast Race Relations"
-Fox News

If only we could recall where we saw these headlines:

"The Beer Summit"

"Ale to the Chief"

"The Audacity of Hops"

How they Grow it in PA

Our friends in Harrisburg, PA reaping what they sowed. You are looking at recently-harvested Cascade hops we featured in an earlier posting. Over 2 inches in length, they look ready for some home brewing. Cheers!

It's Hop-tastic

There was a time when an India Pale Ale (IPA) was noted for being hoppy, bitter, and a bit malty. Then Dogfish Head pushed IPAs to the extreme. First a 60 minute, then a 90, and finally the ridiculous 120 minute IPA - that's 2 hours of continuous hopping for those keeping score at home.

That was the beginning of the end. Before long we had the double IPA (we won't get into the "double" trend here today). Everything is extreme. Today it's increasingly difficult to find an IPA that has hop character where you can still find the malt. So, is there a brew out there going by the IPA moniker that doesn't feel like your drinking some sort of hop-grain alcohol?

The Blue Point Brewing Company's Hoptical Illusion is retro in every way - including the label, it's psychodelic people. Behold the all seeing eye and with any luck the Free Masons are not onto this blog.

Hoptical Illusion has a hoppy front end but it's heart is malty, like a good IPA. It really is a classic American IPA. It's not going to meet the standard if you are all hops all the time. If you like hops, if you like something with character and a bit of complexity this is the IPA for you. You can have more than one (like we have tonight) and go back for more on your own accord - and not because you lost a bet.

Cheers!

What We Did Last Night

At the Birchmere with our trusty assistant, a few friends and some Yeungling. That's what you do on a Monday night.

Cheers!

A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste

Jason Nesbitt of Vero Beach, Florida, has been pulling double duty in the criminal world these days. A police officer responding to domestic battery involving Mr. Nesbitt noticed he fit the description of an individual wanted for an armed robbery at Kwik Stop.

Said the article:

"A white male entered the store, grabbed a can of beer from a cooler then approached the cashier.

The man appeared to be holding an object that looked like a firearm, according to police. The male then instructed the cashier to give him all of the money.

The suspect was handed the cash and exited the store, riding away on a bicycle, leaving behind his beer can at the counter.

Jason Nesbitt's fingerprints matched with the fingerprints lifted from the can of beer left at the scene by the suspect."

Cheers!

Oktoberfest in July

Despite being on the 40 week disabled list, we pulled our trusty assistant off the bench to pinch hit and help us pull off our most patient brew. Several Octobers ago we promised to brew an Oktoberfest. We renewed that promise year after year until this year when our trusty assistant cracked the whip and forced us to make good. Here is our very own Josie Brand Oktoberfest-Marzen.

If you don't have central air and live in a part of the country known for it's summer heat and humidity we don't recommend you brew in July. While brewing we cooled off with our own Firenze Pale Ale. The ale helped but it was quite warm in that kitchen and we paid for it later.

Original Gravity: 1.043
Final Gravity: 1.013 - 1.016 (or thereabouts)
Primary Fermentation: Approximately 7 days
Secondary Fermentation: Approximately 8 weeks
2 lbs Pilsner Malteries Franco Belges Malt
2.o lbs Munich Malt
.5 lbs Briess Dextrine Malt
4 oz Briess Crystal 80 Malt
3.3 lbs Mount Mellick Light Malt Syrup
.5 lbs Briess M&F Light DME
1.4 oz Kent Golding Leaf Hops (4.3% alpha)
.25 oz Liberty Hops Pellets
1 tsp Carlson Irish Moss
White Labs German Lager Yeast
1.25 cups extra-light DME for priming

Add 1.5 gallons of 150 degree F water to the mashed grains and hold at temperature for 90 minutes. Strain and sparge the grains with .5 gallons of 150 F water. Add water to the brew pot for total volume of 1.5 gallons. Bring the water to a boil, remove pot from the stove and the malt syrup, light DME, and leaf hops. Add water until total volume is 2.5 gallons and boil for 50 minutes.

After 50 minute boil, add the hop pellets and Irish moss. Continue boil for 10 more minutes (total boil time is 60 minutes). Remove pot from the stove and let cool for 15 minutes. Strain the cooled wort into the primary fermenter and add cold water until the total volume is 5 gallons. Aerate the wort and pitch the yeast at 73.6 degrees F (70-75 degrees F).

Check back in about 2 months for an update.

Cheers!

Badass on the Block

Kid Rock is giving up on the Coors. On July 4th, Drinks Americas Holdings announced it started brewing and kegging beer for Kid Rock's American Badass Beer Company. The initial brew, an "easy to drink" American style lager, will be available first at a two-night Kid Rock show on July 17th-18th at Comerica Park. "Easy to drink" sure sounds like a nice way of saying you taste like Coors.

After the shows, the beer will be distributed throughout Michigan. According to one report, kegs will come first, then 12 and 22 ounce bottles. Sorry G's, there is no plan for the fortie.

We like Kid Rock. We also like beer but if you have to put the word badass in the name, it probably isn't badass. And we couldn't help but throw in this video report from the folks at truecountry.tv. Seriously, we dare you to watch it.

Pride of Pyongyang

We can only be referring to Taedonggang Beer. Named for a river that runs through Pyongyang the Korean News Service reports that "[t]he citizens call Taedonggang beer 'cold yet warm beer' as it is associated with the warm care of General Secretary Kim Jong Il for the people." Distribution vans get traffic privileges on the streets of Pyongyang - and there is nothing worse than Pyongyang traffic.

This 2.5 minute commercial for the people's brew verifies that Kim Jong-il can target an audience - even if he can't target a missile. Stealing a bit of marketing genius from the big American brewers, Taedonggang promises to "relieve stress, improve health, and even lengthen your life" in what The Big Money reports is the NK's first television commercial. We wonder what else it can lengthen.



According to a BBC report, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has a "personal interest in the brewery. 'Watching good quality beer coming out in an uninterrupted flow for a long while, he noted with great pleasure that it has now become possible to supply more fresh beer to people in all seasons,' North Korea's state news agency, KCNA, said after he visited the brewery in 2002."

Cheers!

Happy Days, Oh Happy Days!

The European Journal of Clinical Nutrition confirmed today what we suspected was always little more than urban legend. The oft-dreaded pot belly is the result of genetics and not beer.

Sure, those who drink more than 33 ounces* of beer daily will gain weight. According to Fox News, "An eight-year study of more than 20,000 beer drinkers found that although heavy drinkers put on weight, it wasn’t necessarily around the belly."



*For those counting at home, 33 ounces is just under 3 bottles of beer.