The real winner

This gallery contains 7 photos.

I brewed a beer that she likes,
Wrote a blog about it,
Now here it goes

Red Hare Brewing Co.

This gallery contains 7 photos.

We go #drunj de Mayo at a cute little brewery in Marietta that’s soon to be a nice canned addition to my fridge.

That’s some gold head

I’ve been a pseudo homebrewer for just over three years now.  This year is the second that I’ve entered homebrew into the Peach State Brew Off.   Last year I was comfortable with the professional judges critiquing of my beer.  Though none won medals, they all had positive feedback and some constructive criticism, just what I need at my early stages of brewing.  This year I brewed a pale ale recipe that I wrote shortly after I started brewing.  It was my fourth brew to be exact (3rd if you don’t count the porter that a former coworker brewed at my house).  I’ve changed the recipe slightly each time and I’m surprised at how much minor changes have a bigger effect.

After the comments I received last year from both the Peach State Brew Off and Savannah Summer Sud’s competition, I was feeling pretty good about brewing this beer again.  Only that I forgot when the entry deadline was and had to rush fermentation.  Well everything worked out ok and we landed our first homebrew ribbon.  Gold medal in the American Pale Ale category.

The video didn’t upload as clear as I would have liked, so I may replace it with a bigger version.  A link is at the very bottom if you’re viewing on mobile.  Now it’s time to tweak some more and brew again.  Beer sure does fly away when it’s good.  Cheers!

PSBO gold pale ale, posted with vodpod

Classic City Brew Fest Twenty Twelve

finish him patron
(photo credit DenverP)

I know this is well over due, but sometimes the joys of working get in the way of the joys of life. Plus it gives everyone time to get their feet under them (if they can stand) and opens the mind to joyful memories from days gone past. This year was the 17^thedition of the annual beer festival held in Athens, GA in early spring. The festival is always boasting many of beers from craft breweries around the world. Many of the breweries in the southeast and some that have distribution here will even supply a few kegs for draft sampling. This is has always been my favorite area of the festival. Well besides the socializing.

FIRST!
(photo credit DenverP)

Last year we were in pretty bad shape after wards, though not in the same kind of shape as the two guys here. Granted the previous day’s festivities took a tougher toll than last year (I blame it all on Terrapin’s Anniversary Carnival), every effort was made to enjoy as many beers as we wanted to that we don’t get on a regular basis. Thankfully we sampled a lot and don’t feel like we missed anything, most of the time, the wife and I spent talking with the Athens beer circle. We even ran into some non-local beer people, like Wayne Baxter who’s opening Monkey Wrench Brewing in the suburbs of Atlanta. We finally met Twitter beer buddy Ian, who lives two miles from us, two long miles apparently. He was pouring for Unibroue, so Sarah and our buddy Kathleen had to visit for some tastes. We kept running into all of our buddies from Leon Farmer and Co. Whether it was Pine, Cloudy or Leon himself, we made time to chat. Ort as always seemed to be everywhere, wholeheartedly.

Copper Creek Big Richard
(photo credit DenverP)

Some would think how could a beer festival not get old after 17 years? This year was the first for having a separate cask ale pavilion which provided around 15 different casks from almost as many breweries. Most were one-off creations and ranged from beer to good to amazing, I want more but it’ll never be duplicated. What made it even more enjoyable and engaging was people were allowed to vote on their favorite cask. One thing that is a love/hate for many is that Owen Ogletree doesn’t release the actual beer list until Friday night before the festival. One it keeps you eager to what will be there. While some may think, “Well if I knew what was pouring, I’d go.” I’m gonna go ahead and say there will be plenty for you to enjoy, regardless. For those of you that roll with the latter statement and don’t think to check back, here’s the cask list.

• COPPER CREEK BIG RICHARD – DOUBLE IPA W/ OVER ONE LB. OF HOPS IN TEN GALLONS
• EAGLE & LION BRASS MONKEY MILD ALE
• HEAVY SEAS / O’DEMPSEY’S PEG LEG STOUT W/ CRANBERRIES & COCOA NIBS MANZANO PEPPERS, VANILLA & CHOCOLATE NIBS
• HIGHLAND GAELIC ALE WITH WARRIOR DRY-HOPS
• JAILHOUSE SAISON REPRIEVE W/ KAFFIR LIME LEAVES
• LAZY MAGNOLIA BONNIE BLUE BOMB – SO. PECAN W/ BLUEBERRIES, COCONUT, LEMON & CINNAMON – SECOND PLACE PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
• MAX LAGER’S IMPERIAL MOCHA OATMEAL STOUT ON DARK ROAST COFFEE & GHANA COCOA NIBS – THIRD PLACE PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
• MOON RIVER SWAMP FOX IPA
• PEAK ORGANIC OAK AGED MOCHA STOUT
• RED BRICK SPRING HOP IPA
• RED HARE WATERSHIP BROWN W/ MAPLE SYRUP & VANILLA
• SWEETWATER HOPPY BROWN PORTER – IPA, EXODUS PORTER & GA. BROWN W/ CENTENNIAL HOPS
• TERRAPIN 10TH ANNIVERSARY ALE
• THOMAS CREEK RIVER FALLS RED ALE CASK – IRISH-STYLE RED ALE ON TOASTED OAK CHIPS & DRY-HOPPED WITH SORACHI ACE
• TWAIN’S SUPER STARBURST MAD GUAVA PEACHY PALE ALE
• WRECKING BAR SLAP-YO-MAMA SMOKED PORTER W/ TAHITIAN VANILLA BEANS – FIRST PLACE PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
• WRECKING BAR HOPPY HOBBIT SESSION IPA – 3.8% ABV BUT LOADED WITH MALT & HOP COMPLEXITY

I must say that Sarah and I, along with others voted for the Jailhouse Saison with Kaffir Leaves. We were hoping it would win, as it was fantastic. Sarah really liked the Twain’s Starburst guava peach pale ale. So much she might have had 3 pours. The Moon River Swamp Fox IPA is always good, though I prefer the rosemary cask version. I also dug the Copper Creek Big Richard DIPA. I’m going to have to suggest a version for Athens only brewpub, as it was worthy of seeing a regular tap placement there. Here are my other favorites of brew fest.

• Eagle & Lion mild ale – really enjoyable, even for a true real ale. Glad to see the state brewpub law has been changed and we’ll see casks around town soon.
• Peak Organic oak aged mocha stout – nice roast notes with that hint of oak. Wish we’d see some bottles of this.
• Rogue Good Chit imperial pilsner – my first sampling of this. Always nice to have big & light in the same bottle.
• Twain’s Tropicalia IPA – if the name doesn’t give it away, big tropic fruit notes from the hops. We could see these guys in Athens soon if they start distribution under the new laws.
• Twain’s Hell for Society Stout
• O’Dempsey’s Your Black Heart RIS – I’m just starting to see these bottles around Athens so I’ll have to grab some. Another new GA beer!
• Moon River Wild Wacky Wit
• Monk’s Mead – yep, it’s mead and not beer. But they are brewing out of Terrapin, so it’s local and it’s good.
• Heavy Sea’s Plank II doppelbock – aged on Poplar wood I believe and it’s as intriguing as you can imagine.
• Southern Tier Pumking – what can you say? It’s Pumking in April.

The day didn’t end after brew fest though. I had a great conversation with Leon walking what seemed like up a mountain to Trappeze Pub. We talked about beer, the industry and even Georgia football. Hey it’s Athens, fall isn’t the only time we talk about football, plus the spring game was the day before. When we arrived at Trappeze we were greeted by Kathleen saving us a huge table with a bunch of others. This was the first time I had a burger here and I’m ashamed to say that. They had a cask of Terrapin’s new session ale Easy Rider. It kicked quick at Terrapin the day before, but I grabbed a pour at CCBF. But I must say, the cask version was awesome. It poured a nice straw color with a thick haze and drank even better than it poured. Brian had made his way in later and was chatting with Spike when he grabbed this photo.

Easy Rider Spike
(photo credit Gratis Brewing)

We made it home and quickly climbed in bed but it wasn’t as near as late as last year’s brew fest. We had an even better time this year than last and didn’t over indulge. It might have been because Sachin wasn’t feeding us salt beer like last year, though I missed hanging out with him at Trappeze. I did see him at CCBF and he had kind words to say about me winning a gold medal in the Peach State Brew Off in 10-A, American Pale Ale. Oh, I haven’t mentioned that yet? The medal should be in the mail today finally.

Cheers to Owen, Kerry, Brian, The Foundry and all volunteers. We’ll drink to you!

CCBF tailgate

lambic vessel
(photo credit of DenverP)

Just as last year, we honor Classic City Brew Fest by brewing over at Gratis Brewing.  This year was a lambic that’s surely to wreak havoc on all the brewing equipment.  Not so fast Rhino-virus!  Brian got smart (sorry if this sounds like a recent accomplishment) and acquired a ceramic vessel before used to ferment sauerkraut in.  I just realized we need to name it, since we have so much fun naming all the brews out of Gratis.

For instance the last brew that Brian and I did together was a Belgian IPA.  We were talking about being politically correct while bottling.  Later he manages to tug so slightly on the bottling hose and pull the bottling bucket off its perch some 3′ – 4′ in the air.  In super slow-mo (from my vantage point) he reaches out with a bent arm and catches the bucket inside his elbow, kicks his pint glass 6′ half full without it tipping over and realizes the bottle with the wand in it has fallen over with a single drop out of it, that I quickly stand up.  We later decide via some back and forth text messages that “One Arm Snatch” isn’t ‘pc’, so we called it “Single Arm Snatch”.

Rambling is not as cool as shuffling, sorry.  The lambic had some crazy 5 step mash process with increasing steps of only a few degrees for 15-20 minute ranges followed by a two-hour boil.  With all the extra hands hanging around though helped finish brew day after the 6:30am start.  The vessel didn’t want to play well when it came time to chill the wort and pitch the yeast.  So we did that later in the night.  The two-hour boil gave us plenty of time to enjoy the huge lunch Jen Rawlph supplied of burgers, brats and wieners while sharing some homebrew and popping some good craft beer, although the libations were kept to a least because we had somewhere to be.

Terrapin 10th Anniversary glass
(photo credit of Gratis Brewing)

And there’s nothing better than being on the VIP list for a beer festival, no matter how small it is.  Whether you call Terrapin Beer Company’s 10th Anniversary Carnival a blown-out brewery tour or a beer festival is up to you.  They didn’t bother to hold anything back and if they did I can’t wait to be there when they let it all out.  Even the glasses were representative oh just how big of a deal this was.  If you kept count last week you know they had 500 pre-sale vouchers and would release 1000 at the door the day of.  Terrapin kept Tweeting and updating their FB status on their suggestion to arrive early.  I have to be honest, if I wasn’t lucky enough to be with the crowd that I was with and saw that line wrapped down the front of the building, along the side of the building.  Then turning a 180 all the way back to the road almost making a 90 degree turn going away from downtown and stretching to the next road where people were walking up from parking down the road from the brewery, I’d kept driving until I got to J & J Flee market and looked for a beer there.  While I’m not complaining one bit, I was a little shocked, disappointed and in awe that beers were gone by 4:30 with more gone by 5:00.  But by the time we made it behind the cask tent with everyone else of the local ‘elite’ beer community all my sorrows were gone.  My glass was kept full by the awesome beer community that we have here and those that made the trip to enjoy it with us.  Cheers to everyone at Terrapin for having us.  We thank you for what you do for the Athens Craft Beer Scene, even if we are second sometimes to our big drinking brother known as Atlanta.

Gustungling
(photo credit of DenverP)

Once back at Gratis and after a great dinner, the fun continued around the fire pit.  More homebrew and great craft beer began popping and being passed around for everyone to have a pour.  Earlier we had fabricated up a couple of new copper gustungling rods.  Gustungling is the old colonial error method of inserting a hot rod into beer after being poured to caramelize some of the malt sugars.  Its super cool when doing it as the head will begin to climb your glass you hear the rod making a dense boiling noise while in the beer.  The beer remains cool and the flavor can change from slight to extreme.  I suggest everyone try it, CAREFULLY!

Sarah later decided I needed to go home and made me start walking.  No, she was nice enough to hang out with us and bring me home.  She was even nice enough to take me to CCBF the next day where the weekend would climax (I just wanted to say climax in one post, so deal with it).

As great as CCBF was last year and this year, the close-knit friendship we enjoyed on Saturday far outweighs it.  Cheers to great beer and greater people!  Pints Up.

Classic City Brew Fest weekend kicks off

Last night kicked off the weekend leading up to the Classic City Brew Fest on Sunday.  If you’ve followed along then you know it’s four days of great craft beer at different venues just begging for good companionship.  Sarah and I headed down to Trappeze Pub to sample the 3 pins of Phlux Capacitor, Terrapin Beer Company‘s new side project offering.  Each cask was flavored using differently ingredients.  Vanilla beans, maple syrup and Nelson Sauvin hops were used to produce three different beers from one.  Trappeze never disappoints with rare and unique beers either.  We met up with Kathleen who chose the Evil Twin Ryan and Beaster Bunny.  While Sarah was excited for the New Belgium Valentines.

Terrapin Beer Co Phlux Capacitor cask flight

Denver made it over to Chops and Hops for the Randall of Terrapin Hopzilla plus taco and pint night.  The Hopzilla was randallized through guava, lemons, ginger and vanilla beans.  This may be one of the prettiest Randalls I’ve seen.  The comment was made that Hopzilla never tasted so good.  The featured pint was newly released to Georgia, Blue Point Hoptical Illusion paired along side hickory smoked Wagyu tacos with pickles and Dijon.

I may not make it out Friday but hope to get some reports from Aromas during their barrel aged Brewhaha.  The list looks amazing, but to see the full list you’ll have to visit in person.  The surprises will only be on the tap board.  Who knows what Saturday will bring.  Not sure what to do?  Here’s the full list of events.  Athens Craft beer weekend

Stay classy Athens.  Prost!

hickory smoked Wagyu with Blue Point Hoptical Illusion
(photo courtesy of DenverP)

Terrapin Hopzilla Randall
(photo courtesy of DenverP)