Hombrew Review #1: Witbier Kit

I couldn't wait anymore. Nearly two weeks of our first beer bottle conditioning on top of my refrigerator, I cooled down two so I could give it a try.

Appearance: Pours deep orange, cloudy, with a nice half-finger of creamy white foam that dissipates quickly. I have to say, if nothing else, it looks beautiful.

Aroma: Orange, orange, orange. Orange and candy sugar. It's almost absurd how much it smells like candy.

Taste: More of the aroma. Not sure what happened to the coriander...but I hardly care. It's like drinking a piece of orange hard candy. And I like it.

Overall: It certainly doesn't taste exactly like other wits I've had, and it's not something I'd want to drink all the time, but I think for a first effort, we've created something fairly delicious. It's easy to drink, enjoyable to drink, and, really, it's just so much damn fun to drink something you've created. Nice work us.

The Beer that Made Milwaukee Famous Returning to Milwaukeehat

Schlitz, it seems, is doing all it can to return to it's once golden state as The Beer that Made Milwaukee Famous. This past summer, Pabst (who owns Schlitz), relaunched the brand with the original 1960's formula. And now, under contract with MillerCoors, have returned the brewing and bottling back to Milwaukee. Ah nostalgia. I mean, for those who have been alive long enough to have nostalgia about this.

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New from Great Divide

Hells yeah! With that label, I feel like I need no words. If you want words, go read all about it it here.

Reminder: Festival of Hops

Head on over to the Muddy Pig! Starting tonight (Thursday) and going through Sunday, they will be putting on the first annual Festival of Hops.

We will have 40+ hopped up beers (pale ales and up) on tap throughout the weekend and we hope to rotate through 55 or more different beers in four days.

I'll be there briefly tomorrow and again on Saturday night. Huzzah!

Pro-inconsistency: Drinking Knot Stock

Consistency in brewing has to be the most difficult thing to achieve. Working with active ingredients that are affected by the slightest environmental change creates a task that seems nearly impossible. Brewers have to worry about storage temperature, storage conditions, water temperature, water quality, the consistency of the boil, when you add the ingredients, the condition of the ingredients, and on and on and on. I am amazed that brewers can continually put out beers from different batches and different brewing facilities that taste identical. This is truly a remarkable feat.

I'm drinking a Furthermore Knot Stock right now, the strange and delicious APA brewed with black pepper. The first time I drank the beer, the black pepper hung around in the background, slowly growing into a slight tinge of hot spice that lingered after the beer was gone. Never quite crescendoing into a overwhelming surge of harshness, but making itself noticeable. I love it. I love the idea of a growing beer, a changing beer, a flavor that builds upon itself to create a full dynamic experience.

Age of the beer aside, I typically know what to expect when drinking a beer that I've had before. But not so with the newest batch of Knot Stock that I cracked tonight. Full-on barrage of cracked black pepper pushing the spice and heat through the beer at first sip. And, right now, tonight, with the temperatures plummeting toward -25F, this is what I want. I want the pepper to kick in screaming, keep screaming, and never back down.

I could chalk this up to brewing inconsistencies. I could allege that Furthermore can't keep their conditions straight. I could, but this is part of what makes beer so wonderful. It is a living, active thing: constantly changing, moving, shifting. This is why I can buy the same beer over and over and still have the chance at being surprised. There's a time for something familiar, something standard; but, more often I think, there's a time for a beer to get in your face and challenge the way you perceive it and the people who make it.

Beer News Roundup via Beernews.org

I just got around to reviewing the beernews.org posts from the last few days. I found so much great news that I thought I'd provide a beer news roundup for those who don't peruse the beer websites as often as I do:

• Tyranena's next Brewers Gone Wild will be a cherry porter called Paradise by the Dashboard Lights (7.5 to 8%). It'll be out late January or early February.
• Southern Tier is releasing a "Black IPA," called Iniquity Imperial Black Ale. No release date. 9%.
• In March or April, Southern Tier is releasing an Oak Aged Unearthly IPA
• Left Hand has released their 2009 seasonal beer schedule.
• Sierra Nevada is tweaking their labels.

If you check out nothing else, go take a look at the Southern Tier Black IPA label...as with all of their labels, it's the best.

Surly Three + Mild News

Straight from Surly's Brewer's Blog:

Ok! now that 16Grit is gone what's next?

Surly Mild will be released Jan 19th,look for it at your local.Expect a light bodied,low alcohol brown ale with flavors of lightly sweetened biscuits,tobacco and a dry finish.
26IBU
4%abv

Surly Three is our anniversary beer.Try it first at Winterfest!(Feb 6).Look for it DRAFT only the week of Feb 9.Brewed with 50%Honey and 50%German Dark Munich malt,fermented with a Belgian yeast strain and aged on toasted White Ash.
Lots of honey aroma intertwined with rich caramel-cracker flavors,the Ash adds a cinnamon,nutmeg and vanilla aroma and a dry finish.Smells like bourbon to me.
16IBU
10%abv

Thought Mild was great last year; thinking it'll be great this year. Also...the Three...so excited. I've loved both the One and the Two and have been waiting for the Three quite anxiously. I'm sure this won't disappoint. I mean, really...honey, dark Munich malt, white ash, 10%...sounds nothing if not fun.

Magic Hat Coming to MN!

I'm back! Holidays, busy, blah blah blah sorry for no posts blah blah...here's the good news:

According to a post on Beeradvocate (that seems quite reliable), Magic Hat Brewing Company will begin distribution in MN in February. Why, you ask, should you care? Because it's awesome, that's why.

I had the chance to try both the #9 and Circus Boy when we were in Boston last May, and I thoroughly enjoyed the beers and couldn't wait until we could get some love here in Minnesota. Also, it's the only brewery I know of where you can buy both a 12-pack of branded condoms as well as a baby bib. Mixed signals, to be sure, but they still make great beer.