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.

Heinzelmannchen Brewery

Gnome Brewery

After a lot of convincing, my parents and I finally have Sarah half way beliving that if she’ll go rafting, she won’t fall out of the raft.  So my mom booked us a trip down the Nantahala in Western North Carolina.  The day before our rafting trip Sarah says we might as well go up a day early so we don’t have to drive at the butt crack of dawn.  So I happily said, “Ok let’s go!”  See I had done lots of pre-planning already.  I knew Nantahala Brewing Company was very close.  But, no hotels in Bryson City.  So I’m on Google Maps scanning around for hotels nearby.  That’s when I run across another brewery that I had totally forgot about.  Having seen their name countless times in the NC Brewers brochure, you’d think I’d remembered where it was, since it’s actually 30 minutes closer to Athens than Nantahala.

tap list

So we head north and arive at Heinzelmannchen Brewery around 4:30 Saturday.  It’s tucked away on the (for us) outbound lanes in Sylva, NC.  One would think that this time of day on a Saturday would be super busy.  We walk in and wonder if anyone is even there.  Then out of no where pops the owner and head brewmeister, Dieter Kuhn.  Dieter being from Germany sticks to his roots in all his beers and brews them in true Germany style.  North Carolina is different from Georgia in that they charge you for tastings, but can sell you a growler directly from the brewery.  Georgia strictly will not allow the brewers to sell beer to the customer.  With us not being in my manual shift car I was set, and even given permissions to sample all seven beers on tap today in 4 oz. samples.  For probably the first three or four samples the brewery is still only occupied by us, Dieter and Hannah, who is in the brewhouse working away in her ‘milking boots’.  I guess since this is a brewery and not a dairy farm those were actually brewing boots.  Finally a couple of guys walk in and get growler refills.  You can get free 2 oz. samples when getting a growler fill.  Again, better than Georgia in that, yes, we now have growler shops.  No you have no idea what those 64 oz. of craftbeer that you’ve never had before is going to taste like when you get it home.  North Carolina 2 – Georgia – 0.

Hannah mashing in

I can’t begin to describe how friendly and open Dieter was to us.  He had a steady flow of business the entire time we were there.  yet he would still educate and entertain us even as he’s filling their growlers.  We talked beers, beer styles, brewing, you name it for the next hour and half.  Hannah would step away from her work from time to time to get a drink of water or grab more ingredients as she was in the process of brewing another batch of their Middleworld Brown.  We start talking dark beers and hops while I sample the Black Forest Stout.  Which he tells us is actually a schwarz bier but he calls it a stout, well, because he’s the brewer, he can do that.  This was my first time having a schwarz, which is actually a pils base with dark malts to give it a dark color ofcourse and roasted type taste.  Yes, it too was damn tasty.  That’s when he tells me Hannah has brewed a black IPA on their 5 gallon SABCO system that they use for speciality brews.  He then goes over to her and asks for a 4 oz. sample, which was brewed 4 days ago.  Ha!  Not yet released beer score for me.  Super nice hop aroma and light IPA’eske body, and it’s only 4 days young.  He then brings over the hand written brew sheet (hand written = awesomeness!) so I can see the hop build after I asked about it.  Now how many brewers will do that?  Terrapin will only tell me that Sunray uses a German style yeast.  Lazy Magnolia will only tell you that they add pecans to their malts.  I don’t really blame her on that one though.  Dieter says it should be ready in another three or so weeks.  (I’m glad I can make it a day trip.)

growler

I was super shocked at home small the place was, but they certainly make it work.  Being in the brewery industry for eight years means something is working.  The location and the cute small downtown area just go hand in hand with one another.  Unfortunately for us, no t-shirts.  Although Sarah over heard him tell another group that was in for growler fills that he’d have some by next week.  So I hope they’re around when we go back for a fill of the black IPA.  After he spent so much undivided time with us, we couldn’t walk out empty handed.  Plus Sarah had commented several times on how much she likes the flip top growlers he was selling.  Once I told her that they’re functional for me other than just a growler, like making yeast starters, she said I could buy one.

If you are anywhere near Sylva, or even want to experience a beautiful drive up highway 441 from Athens, stopping into Heinzelmannchen Brewery is well worth it.  I’m sure Dieter Kuhn will be just as nice to anyone interested in his craft made beers.

Cheers!

Beer Growler: Free Glass Wednesday

I read a quote from Jimmy Fallon the other day that went something like this.  “Thank you microbreweries for making my alcoholism seem like a cool hobby.”  (My wife is literally going to kick my ass for saying that)  The same quote can now apply to The Beer Growler if you enjoy drinking good draft beer, or have a glass collecting fetish.  This is from their latest email:

We just Tapped Lost Abbey Avant Garde Ale. We are giving away a free Lost Abbey glass ($6 Value) with a Growler fill of this delicious Brew!

A Fill is just $16. Glasses are limited so come on by if you want one of tehse glasses for your collection.

We will be tapping a special keg every Wednesday!  You will receive a free paired glass with whatever special beer we tap for that day.

 

Cheers!

The Beer Growler

I’m just returning from a business trip to Alabama, which was bust on the craftbeer front.  Then again, I went to get some work done, not enjoy myself.  So it was nice to receive that email and see the Facebook post just before returning home.

Lost Abbey Avante Garde

Once I was home, I changed into shorts, water the flowers then hit the road.  I hung out with Paul for a while since I haven’t been in lately.  He reaffirmed that this is a every Wednesday deal, dubbed, Free Glass Wednesday.  Several known growler shops out of state have a rare beer day during the week.  This drives customers in during the week, and not just on the weekends.  When you’re advertising free glassware, it may or may not be a rare beer.  Because some brewers may not keg some of their rare beers, actually saving them for bottle conditioning.

bierde de garde & saison

Speaking partically about this weeks beer, Lost Abbey Avant Garde, a biere de garde.  These are similar to a Belgian Saison, although this French version obviously uses different yeasts and ferment out before the heat of summer.  The Lost Abbey glass, as Paul puts it, is probably the less appealing glass that will be available.  I will say however, it’s made for drinking with a wide mouth and is easily held by the hand.

Something else new at The Beer Growler is the bottle rinser.  Used after sanitizing to rinse the growlers just before filling.  This saves water and it’s super cold water, so it gives the growler a nice chill to go along with the chilled kegs.  Keeping your craftbeer nice and cold aids to keeping it as fresh as possible.

I’m just returning from Alabama and leaving for England in two days.  Work has to go on, so the Belgian Siason homebrew has finally finished fermenting after 24 days.  Since it’s akin to a biere de garde, they had a family photo shoot.

growler rinser

England will be 10 hour work days and I don’t have international calling or data usage on my iPhone.  Which totally sucks not being to call Sarah or check in pints on Untappd.  I hope to take some pics when we are out for dinner.  I hear the hotel is worth a few pictures on it’s own.

Until I swim back across the pond,

Prost!

The Metric system exposed

New Belgium Metric 10/10/10

The vast majority of Americans shun the metric system of measurement.  The main reason why is most are schooled in English measurement system.  I wonder who has the easier time converting?  The metric users or the english users?

Recently The Beer Growler in Athens, GA had a New Belgium tap takeover.  I, along with others, were excited since there were brews that are hard to come by, and some never before sold here.  Somersault and Oh La La are new to their line-up.  Chops and Hops already had both on tap, though I made a point to not let Sarah try them.  The takeover was the day of her birthday and the day after.  She didn’t realize I had planned a party for the day after.  So last Friday I stopped by The Beer Growler and grabbed three fills of all New Belgium stuff.  Somersault, their new seasonal blonde ale, which was a hit during the party.  The Oh La La, a raspberry lambic, since Sarah loves New Glarus Raspberry Tart.  Then the hard part, what to get for myself.  Ranger IPA is a stable favorite.  Tripel is a new found favorite.  But I usually get hounded on trying new stuff when I’m getting growler fills.  So what’s the 1010?  After several searches, I wasn’t getting much.  Finally I searched 1010 on Untappd and find Metric 10/10/10 from New Belgium, which is listed as 10% and a Belgian Strong Ale.

Several of us actually got pours of Metric without knowing anything about it.  So I do just what the wife orders, try something new.  I actually go a few days without even opening it.  It’s still pouring plenty of head seven days later.  For those that say you must consume a growler within 12 – 24 hours, don’t know my boys at TBG.  I instantly start texting others as to what that taste is.  I was thinking juniper at first for some odd reason.  After reading the brew sell sheet and recalling the homebrew I did last summer with Seeds of Paradise and lemonzest, I instantly recall the taste of the seeds.

After a brief email, I was greeted with a pleasant reply and the brew sell sheet.  Very nice of New Belgium and Bryan Simpson to offer this.

10.10.10

Sell Sheet Text

When New Belgium brewmaster, Peter Bouckaert, decided to leave old Belgium for
New Belgium, he had to shelve his preference for the metric system and embrace
the English standard in the US. Liters and hectoliters, divisible by ten, were replaced
with gallons, barrels and “case equivalents”. Bouckaert realized that October 10th,
2010 represented an opportunity to celebrate his beloved metric system with a
beer conceived, brewed and fermented by the Tens. The result is 10.10.10, a beer
made from 10 ingredients on 10/10/10 at 10:10 in the am, then fermented in
Fermentation Vessel # 10 for 10 days resulting in an abv of 10 %.

“I realized I had to do something special for this metric year and brewing a beer
is the easiest way for me to celebrate,” Boucakert said. “I also wanted this to be a
simple beer – as simple as the metric system itself.”

10.10.10’s 10 ingredients include a lager yeast, Polish noble hops, multiple malts,
black pepper and grains of paradise. Though relatively high in alcohol at 10% abv,
the beer finishes quite dry with a fruity nose from spicing.

Sometimes the simplest things come in Tens.

Abv 10%

In keeping with this theme, this sell sheet is exactly 210 words long.

 It’s amazing how after knowing what to expect, the pleasure that comes with it.  Fact proven, that we don’t like surprises in our beers.  Now, time to crack this Terrapin Beer Co. Indiana Krunkles.

Prost!

If you open a growler shop, they will come.

5 Pts Growler chalk board

Way, way back before the start of life as we know it, sometime Pre-November 2010 times, there were no growler shops in Georgia.  Fast forward six months, and now Athens, Georgia has it’s second growler shop.  There are no others in the state due to some post Prohibition laws that says a growler is an open container.  The guys over at The Beer Growler on Baxter Street did a demonstration for state law officials on how to seal a growler as a closed container.  April 1, 2011 and arguably Athens best beer store opens a growler shop.  But not only a growler shop, but also one that includes homebrew supplies.  While I love the idea of homebrew supplies in a shop that also offers fresh draft beer for R & D purposes, my wife disagrees that I can homebrew or buy.  I tend to remind her that I’m looking for a beer of the same style that I’m preparing to brew.  It usually doesn’t go over well, but she succumbs and reminds me she has all I want and manages the check book.  LOVE YA!

5 Pts Growler kegs

So on my first visit during a random day in the middle of the week, the guy working is nice and super informative.  I know I’ve talked to him before at Trappeze Pub.  We always talk good beer and I know he’s an all grain brewer.  One thing that stood out just before he filled my growler was what I thought was a pre-rinse.  Later I learned he was actually purging the growler with CO2 to keep the beer fresh.  Nice addition.  I could tell it helped on this visit.  I’m not sure it helped on the next two trips after more head left the growler than beer that stayed in.  I must say walking in to a chalkboard with 40 or so beers of all types is quite overwhelming.  Anything from a Sam Adams to a Terrapin to a Petrus Aged Pale or a Mikkeller.

5 Pts Growler malt selection

I must say though, their homebrew supplies are great for just starting out.  Almost every type of malt imaginable.  While I haven’t checked every single container to see what it is.  It looks like plenty to keep me busy brewing for awhile.  They have some day to day supplies that the average brewer may need.  Like auto siphons, muslim bags or even dry malt extract.  Dry malt extract, DME, is something the other homebrew store in town is lacking.  It’s obviously stocked towards the all grain brewers, where as 5 Points Growler and Homebrew Supplies is stocked for most brewers.  However, a few friends that are all grain guys have pointed out that three to four AG guys in a single day could easily wipe out their supply of base malt.  I would concur as well.  I haven’t looked in the hop freezer, but have noticed they are lacking in the liquid yeast choices.

5 Pts Growler liquid yeast

My only complaint so far is how fast the growlers have been going flat.  I’m suspecting the extreme amount of head, possibly due to too short of a filler hose.  I like the hours, 10 – 10 Monday through Saturday, because we’re often pressed on Fridays and Saturdays for time as the day winds down.  I’m sure I’m going to use them for a homebrew session in the very near future.  As with many things, it takes time to find and fix the quirks that are associated with the opening of a new business.  Looking forward to some rare taps and building a brew session from scratch.

Great job again by the Five Points Bottle Shop family.

Cheers Athens!

Finally something worth blogging about

After a long hiatus from this here blog, something has finally happened worth talking about.  This is ofcourse all beer related happenings.  My birthday at the end of January was quite enjoyable.

Birthday growlers

We had quite a few over and most if not all gifted me with beer.  The best of that bunch would have to be the Pseudo Depth Charge bought by our friends Jason and Kristy Bro, along with the growler koozie.

Shortly after the birthday we went on a trip with friends to NC.  So once again I went calling to Beer Growler for some fills to share on the trip.  On a whim I had Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout blended equally with Terrapin Moo Hoo Stout.  It ended up being quite tasty and everyone enjoyed it.  I had to rush home to finish packing and get on the road.  But the next day this picture came across the interwebs.  Quite nice having my Twitter name on the slate for all to see.  I can’t 100% confirm, but I might be the first to be posted.  But I know I’m not the first to have a blend.

RLShock blend

My last blog was on batches 12 and 13, an American Pale Ale and a Cherry Wheat, respectively.  I’ve entered the pale ale into the Peach State Brew Off.  Not with high expectations, but mainly for a professional grading.  I’ll blog a review on both of those later.  As well as some reviews of a recent homebrew swap with my buddy Denver.  But on to the real worthiness of this blog.

Last night was a real treat for those of us in Athens gee-aye (G.A.).  It was the release of Lazy Magnolia‘s entire beer line-up at Trappeze Pub downtown.  Being, as they quote, Mississippi’s Brewery, they are restricted to 6% ABV by state law.  This makes their beers enjoyable by the masses.  Masses as in getting more people into quality craft beer and masses as in multiple.  While I wouldn’t consider 6% sessionable.  I would consider it enjoyable by a few +/- 3.  (That’s six to me.)  I of course started with the signature Southern Pecan.  A brief history profile on me.  I don’t care much for brown ales, wholly because I really don’t like nuts.  Pecan, being Southern by the grace of God, would be my most enjoyable nut.  Macadamia, after honeymooning in Hawaii, would be my next favorite.  After being introduced to owner/head brewer Leslie Henderson, Denver and I asked about this great brew and how she pulled it off.  Her secret, which she didn’t speak much about.  Not that I blame her, but was to lightly roast the pecans and mash in with them.  Next I went for my passion, the Reb Ale, their pale ale.  Nice, solid example of a pale ale.  Then I chose the Jefferson Stout, which is brewed with… sweet potatoes.  I’m starting to like stouts and porters more than ever and this one really shined.  It was obvious upfront you could get the sweet potato.  Lots of people were saying how good the Indian Summer was.  I should have tried it, but then again, I was driving home (way later) and glad I stopped there.

Eric Johnson & Leslie Henderson *photo courtesy of Leon Farmer and Co.

The other treat was to finally meet Eric Johnson, owner of Trappeze Pub and co-owner/brewer for Wild Heaven Craft Beers.  I’ve seen and spoken to Eric on numerous occasions at Trappeze, but never actually met him.  Great guy, no doubt.  He was saying they’re a couple months away from bottle distribution.  So even more exciting news during the night.

After Sarah showed, we had a great beer conversation dinner with Denver and Calib.  So that’s pretty much the gist of last night.  I plan to blog again soon.  Next might be reviews of Denver’s homebrews.  Then follow that up with reviews on batch 12 & 13 along with the review of batch 12 from The Peach State Brew Off.

Cheers!