Wisconsin

With the time off, a friend of mine suggested we take a short trip to Wisconsin during the day in order to grab some New Glarus beer.  Seeing as I thought it would be rude to decline such an invitation (as well as being a little too excited to have some New Glarus), I politely agreed to accompany him.  He may contest the "polite" part.

We didn't go to far past the border as we are both lazy and we needed to keep it a day trip.  Upon research, we stopped in Kenosha first at a bar called Captain Mike's Beer and Burger Bar.  We knew they had some New Glarus on tap and we figured why not get some while we were having food.  The menu was pretty limited to burgers, but tons of different choices.  The burgers had the option of Organic grass fed burger or kobe beef, yeaaaaaaah environment.  After that you choose everything you want on the burger, but I will let you leaf through the menu if you want to see all the combinations.  They also suggest throwing a slab of peanut butter on any burger that has bacon on it.  I thought what the hell, you only live once, and through a slab on mine.  Delicious.  Lastly, I went with New Glarus's Apple Ale, which I will update on later, but it is slightly like a sour apple jolly rancher.

After the food, we went to the closest liquor store to grab some New Glarus.  We both had to try and contain ourselves and try not to buy one of everything.  Since we were not allowed to mix and match, we thought it best to buy a couple six packs each and then swap three of each six pack with another so we got to try as much as possible.  The final decision were: Apple Ale, Back Forty Bock, Fat Squirrel, Moon Man, Road Slush Stout, and Wisconsin Belgian Red.  It really didn't come out as bad as it sounds since we shared with each other, but plenty of beer nonetheless.  Hopefully will be making the trip in the future again.

Well, it is now back to school and work.  It seems as if I should stop imitating the maturity of a five year old and grow up a bit for the sake of my schooling.                                                                         Life is a drag.                       

A New Beer Year

A new year full of new beer is here!  The past week has brought a lot of new things my way in the world of beer with many kindnesses as well.  The most notable is acquiring a bottle of Black Tuesday from someone who apparently had a lot of leftover Christmas spirit.  Thanks again, this was way too nice.  I only bring this up as I promised to make some bad jokes in exchange for the bottle.  Unfortunately, I won't be opening this bottle for a while as I am going to let it age so bad jokes will have to be put off for now.  Shucks, I'm worthless.  It certainly is a Black Tuesday I suppose (Crap!  It's Wednesday, why didn't I make this yesterday?).

Also, it seems as if I am starting to hoard bottles of beer from the Bruery in my parents basement crawl space.  I'm quite ok with this problem.  If anyone tries to correct it, I will cry uncontrollably.  Do you really want to see that?  Please don't answer yes.  I still have to pick up a bottle of 4 Calling Birds at the store to put away for this year, but that shouldn't be a problem.

In other news, I will soon be heading to Wisconsin for a short day trip with the one goal of buying New Glarus.  Luckily I have a friend (or at least someone is tolerable of me) that shares the love of New Glarus and invited me along.  I will of course update to my adoring readers what I got.  As well, a short post on fat washing will be coming along in the short future.  Mmmmm the beer of a new year!  And to think, I have to go back to law school in a week.  Anyone interested in funding a brewery for me instead?

As you can also see, Santa did not provide me with a camera.  Apparently, he is not an avid reader of the blog.  Pshhhh.  He can see everything?  I'm calling bs.

Maple Bacon Stout Brewing

I'm back!  I know it has been a rough month for the constant influx of viewers.  Unfortunately other priorities are supposed to come before beer (horrible, I know) and therefore have been suspiciously absent on the interwebs.  That being said, I am back to brewing!  Well... somewhat.

Over Thanksgiving I went home and was able to temporarily get back to brewing.  Since it was Thanksgiving and I haven't brewed in a while, I wanted to do something special.  BOOM!  Bacon.  What is more American than to brew a bacon beer at Thanksgiving time?  Nothing I say, nothing!  I thought about using smoked malt again but decided against that, and besides. I didn't want five gallons of bacon beer.  Instead, I remembered Rogue trying to make a maple bacon porter yet underwhelming most people when it was released as a maple bacon brown ale.  I decided to one up them and make a maple bacon stout.

The recipe I used was based off the recipe I did for the pumpkin sweet stout (please do not judge me) earlier, but with some tweeks:

10 lbs English Maris Otter
0.75 lb English Black Malt
0.75 lb Briess Caramel (80 L)
0.50 lb Fawcett Pale Chocolate
1 lb Lactose sugar

Yeast: Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

Mash in: 152 degrees
Sparge: 175 degrees

Original gravity: 1.062
Final gravity: 1.022

Apparently all the time off from brewing made be a little lazy and forgetful.  I didn't have time to make a yeast starter and the yeast nutrient container in the smack pack wouldn't break upon smacking.  Sigh.  As well, I forgot to add the sugar to the boil and had to improvise adding it after.  That being said, upon moving to secondary it tasted dandy... for now.

12/30: Split the batch into two 3 gallon glass carboys and added 24-32 oz of maple syrup each.  Mosher's radical brewing stated that adding maple syrup to the secondary will give a bigger maple syrup smell.  I obediently listened.  Will be adding my bacon fat wash when bottling next week and will update with a post about the process.  The other half will just be a maple sweet stout.  Joy!  Happy new year!

1/4: Tried my first attempt at fat washing

Deschutes Fresh Hop Mirror Pond Pale Ale

Well I was lucky enough to be the recipient for a couple of beers the other week.  I guess I can temporarily hold off any sarcastic remarks towards you this week.  Don't expect this to last for long though.  Also, I'm aware that I haven't exactly been on top of getting that Chicago beer to you.  Uhhhhhh..... sorry?

Anyways, I have been wanting to try Deschutes for a really long time so when I saw the name on the bottle I jumped a little bit.  A little excessive?  Maybe, but I have been known for worse so you should be happy.

Deschutes Fresh Hope Mirror Pond Pale Ale

Appearance- Golden-orange in color with an off white head.  The head holds strong as sticky lacing grabs to the side of the glass with all its might.

Smell- The citrus hops attack the nostrils immediately with a bit of a pine and resin afterthought.  Although the hops are strong, there is a caramel malt balance to help remind you this is a Pale Ale rather than an IPA.  Beneath the citrus hops a little bit of pear also just inches through.

Taste- A delicious citrus hop flavor comes through in the beginning with hints of grapefruit dotted along the way.  A decent maltiness balances in the middle but the taste fades a little towards the end.  It almost taste a little woody, I’m leaning towards saying it has some astringency.  Bitterness builds towards the middle and continues towards the finish, only reaching moderate levels.

Mouthfeel- Medium to medium-light body with moderate carbonation that is slightly prickly on the tongue.

Overall- Nice start from Deschutes.  Now if only I could get everything else they offer…

Well Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I hope it is wonderful.  This time of year means I get to listen to my family explain how Notre Dame football has let them down for another year.  I must admit that the insults have not been as fun since Charlie Weiss left, but I suspect that this year could bring something special.  Call me an optimist.  I hope everyone else has wonderful conversation as well!

Haymarket Pub & Brewery

Apparently someone was so upset from not reading any new wonderful posts from me that he had to complain about it.  Unfortunately, being a real person is quite the drag and other priorities needed to be taken care of first.  That being said, I'm back after the short break so everyone can stop worrying.  I know my time away was detrimental to your well being.

Last weeks adventures brought me to Haymarket Pub & Brewery.  I had passed it multiple times and now I wish I would have ducked in much sooner.  The inside is pretty similar to any restaurant, but with the exception of their brewing system being quite visible behind glass and with doors open.  This does let some of the brewing smell out, but really not that much.  More importantly, it tempted me to sneak in.  My curiosity fortunately did not trump my not wanting to get thrown out.

Haymarket seems to have a focus on Belgian beers, and they do them quite well to say the least.  All of the beers (except for the barrel aged) are available in multiple sizes: 12 oz., 16 oz., 20 oz., and I believe a smaller sample but I can't remember at the moment.  I started with the ill-named Angry Bird Belgian Rye I.P.A. and needless to say I was blown away.  After tasting it, I wasn't surprised to look up and see the giant banner telling me it won the gold medal at the  2011 Great American Beer Festival for the American-Belgo -Style Ale.  I have yet to taste an example with better yeast flavor development and just enough hop balance without either being overbearing.  Fairly soon I looked down to find I drank mine at an alarming rate and needed another beer.  Opps...

The food menu was mostly burgers and sandwiches, once again keeping with the theme I have apparently picked up with the places I visit.  Unfortunately, their sandwiches don't come with any sides (fries, chips, vegetables, etc.) yet keep the same price you would expect them to have if they did.  I also think it was around $4 to add a side of fries.  Settle down, Haymarket.  Is there a potato shortage or something?  Adding on to that, a growler fill is around $40?  I want nothing more than to fill your sweet growlers with Belgian I.P.A. but you are making it quite difficult.  Don't you know I have no money?  More people should tailor to my demands.

I plan to make it back to Haymarket in the future and hopefully they will let me to lay directly beneath their Belgian I.P.A. tap.  Please?  Also, their website apparently voices their support for Drinking & Writing.  Fans of Fitzgerald and Hemmingway, Haymarket?  I have a great idea, you support my writing by giving me growlers of your delicious beer!  That way I'll seem more like a tortured soul when I attempt (poorly) to write things down.

Also, a couple days following this I was able to see Paul Simon in concert because of the generosity of a friend.  Although it was missing a certain Garfunkel factor, it rounded out the weekend quite nicely.

Chicago Beer Hoptacular

On Saturday I went with a couple of friends to the Chicago Beer Hoptacular at the Aragon Ballroom.  Festivals are great and beer is fantastic, so adding them together could never go wrong.  I got there 15 minutes late to see a line stretching around the block and into the parking lot of a shopping center around the corner.  Luckily, this was not appreciated by the shopping center so someone from Aragon grabbed the end of the line and led us through an empty parking lot cutting off half the people in line.  This reaffirms my belief that my ability to show up late is a blessing.

Upon entering Aragon we were presented with our 2 oz. tasting glasses and let free to taste all the beers our heart desired.  The floor was absolutely packed with different brewery stands and people.  I think they may have been trying to push the limit with how many tickets they sold.

That being said, I was able to taste a good amount of local beers that I haven't had the chance to (I know I encourage drinking local, but making negative money doesn't give me that many chances to explore).  Piece and Wild Onion were both there along with Half Acre and I enjoyed all of them.  I apologize Piece, I have been saying I will go visit you for quite some time, but maybe my enjoyment of your beers will give me the extra push I need.  Maybe you should give me a free growler to seal the deal?  Yeah?  Wink wink, nudge nudge.  No?  Alright, I'll stop talking.

On the larger end, I was really glad to see New Belgium included two of their installments in the Lips of Faith Series instead of just Fat Tire while Goose Island included Matilda, Sofie, Lazarus, and Bourbon County.  I'm sure they had some others, but its safe to say were my eyes were fixed.

Besides the beer, a local coffee place called Dark Matter Coffee was there giving away free coffee.  Upon further investigation, the interwebs tells me it is from Starlounge Coffee Cafe.  They have a link for Dark Matter Coffee, but I'm not really seeing the connection...  Anyways, when I cam up they didn't have any coffee brewed so they offered me a shot of espresso instead.  Don't mind if I do!  It seems they are pretty dedicated to local preparation and such and maybe a future visit is in order?  I'll be sure to bring my computer and write the next Great American novel as I laugh at the uncultured people passing by.  Ha!  How sad are they?

Jak's Tap

New month and more importantly, happy no shave November (or Movember, whichever you please)!  Facial hair holidays are the best, unless you are anyone that has to look at me.  My school has a mustache contest for charity, so this year I can actually use an excuse.  Take that family at Thanksgiving!

I have been meaning to post something about Jak's Tap seeing as it is right next to me, but it has slipped my mind the past couple of weeks.  I wandered into Jak's Tap shortly after I moved to Chicago for a quick bite to eat and found a selection of beer that was a pleasant surprise.  A place next to me that sells delicious beer?  It is only with the greatest self restraint that I am still in school and possess money.

Jak's is the first place that I had Lost Abbey and can supply a nice fix of Gumballhead should the occasion arise.  Hey, when's the last time you had Gumballhead constantly on tap right across the street from you?  Never you say?   Bummer.  A good amount of the American craft beers linger around $5 with some dipping below, a surprise I wasn't expecting.  Apparently Jak's makes up for this by gauging their prices for any beer with the label "import".  $8.25 for a Weihenstephaner hefe is the most expensive I have seen the beer in the city so far.  It makes it even worse that I like this beer, but I might as well get it somewhere else.  Come on Jak, step your game up.

On the food side, there is a selection of the basic bar food that most people are used to.  I haven't ventured to far as a result of not possessing vast amounts of money, but the carnita tacos were loaded and delicious while the burger was nothing special.  The burger did come with the option of jalapeno mac and cheese.  Anything with peppers in it tickles my fancy, but it seems there may have been a slight mix up between "jalapeno" and "pepperjack."  *Sigh*

With everything said, Jak's is a solid place if you are looking for more mainstream bar with more selection, but lacks what makes a great beer bar.  Don't worry, as long as you keep the Gumballhead a pumpin', I'll keep a comin' (I hate myself).

Now.... let the beard growing begin!