I wrote a quick update on what’s been happening over at Dad on a Dime. I hope everyone is doing well, maybe I’ll post more as time allows, lots of beer stuff happening in the last two months!

I’ve been asked to brew a couple beers for a friends wedding this summer and finally got on getting those going. The first beer is Midwest’s Classic ESB. The thing I really love about shopping at Midwest is their stuff is super fresh. I picked up the kits last week and the Wyeast XL smack packs have the manufactured date in the first week of May. I took them from the front of the bin in the fridge too!

Next week I’ll be brewing Cranberry Wheat v4.0, this time using Hanks Hefe as the base with a slightly less aggressive wheat yeast. Should be good!

Cheers,
Tony

As some of you already know, we have a new addition to our family. Sadie was born on the 6th of May. We have had an interesting week though, click on over to Dad on a Dime to read more and see pictures of our stunning little girl. Check out the hair, too. We might have a little red-head on our hands!

My brewing schedule is full up and I need to light the fire soon or there will be trouble. I have a strong porter waiting since January, a California common intended for my wife, and two beers I need to get done for a wedding in August. We’ve decided on the cranberry wheat and an EPA… I think.

Wish me luck in finding the time to get these cranked out! Have I mentioned our bathroom remodel downstairs? That was supposed to be done before baby came. Not so much…

Cheers!
Tony

I was invited to join the Surly Brewing brewery tour last night. I was surprised at how many people they had there for the tour! It was easily over one hundred folks. When we first got in the front room reminded me of a college bar on a late night Friday happy hour. That’s alright though, once we made it through to door, we dropped off our nonperishable food item and picked up our beer tokens and headed for the samples.

The very nice thing about Surly is that the brewery is small enough that you can walk back to the bar to grab another sample while the tour is in progress. I might have done that a couple times. The other very nice thing is they don’t skimp on the samples. I was able to try several of the styles that I haven’t even seen in the stores.

We had about a half hour to work on diminishing our tokens, look around and peruse the Surly gear. Since I already have a pint glass, coffee mug and a couple shirts I just had to pick up a onesie for the baby and I was good.

On to the tour itself. I was surprised that it was done by the owner, Omar Ansari. He told us how he got started, about the building we were standing in, and his adventures in getting the brewery going. the second half was over by the brew kettle and grain mill and fermenters where he described the brewing process a bit and then we walked over to where they can the beers and fielded a few questions. I could easily see each spot from the center of the building and just as easily walk back into the bar area for another sample.

Overall it was a fun time. I wish there would have been fewer people as it was hard to hear unless we were standing right by Omar but the number of folks is a huge testament to how popular the beer is. They consistently run out of beers in the stores, demand is high for Surly. It was also really cool hearing about his homebrewing background and one quote that stuck with me “While my wife was at work I was watching our kid and thinking about beer…”

Cheers!
Tony

When we found out that we were expecting another baby early last fall I had one beer in primary and plans for a second that my wife wanted me to brew. I bottled half the cranberry wheat for her for after baby came and also bottled up about 12 of the IPA’s with my own hops in.

Fast forward eight months or so to me clearing out the back room and getting the crawlspace ready for spring storms. (Not to mention working on getting baby clothes found and ready to be washed… its getting close.) Pushing aside one box to make room for another I found the case of blue bottles with little “W”s and “IPA”s on them.

I could almost swear I heard a chorus of angels singing! I had forgotten about those back there. The last time I quality controlled either bottles was well before Lent.

Just in case anyone is wondering, the IPA is wonderfully carbonated and has a great hop aroma with a malty undertone strangely twisted in, great bitterness and just a tad on the sweet side.

Cheers!
Tony

Two months ago I tried New Holland Brewing Company Dragon’s Milk and had what turned out to be quite the anomaly in my bottle. I wrote to the company and got a great reply back describing what likely was the cause and source of the blob of goo in my beer. As I wrote in my blog as well as in my reply to the email, I was impressed with his thorough response:

I am truly surprised by your frank and thorough reply to the glob I found in my bottle of Dragon’s Milk. As a long time homebrewer and beer lover I value feedback on my own brews, and am very happy to hear you approached my issue with the same passion I would have. As I prefaced my initial contact with you, I very much enjoyed the first pour out of the bottle, it was an epic beer!

It has been well over a month since that initial email was sent to me. I was left with the impression that our conversation wasn’t over, but apparently I was mistaken. In a nutshell, there is no update, no further contact.

Cheers,
Tony

Charlie Papazian, author of The Complete Joy of Homebrewing and originator of the brewing acronym RDWHAHB, posted on his blog a great summary of the recent health studies that came out and comments succinctly:

Beer, bones and liver – It’s a battlefield. The unintended causalities of war are real both on television and within the glass of beer you may or may not have the opportunity to enjoy in the future.

Give it a read, I was impressed (and made thirsty for a coffee porter.)

Cheers!
Tony

In my last post I wrote about an issue I found with a bottle of Dragon’s Milk.

I received a reply just now that has renewed my faith in the brewery!

On behalf of the brewery, I apologize for your unpleasant experience with our beer.  Dragon’s Milk is a beer we’re exceptionally proud of, and we work hard to deliver an enjoyable experience with every bottle or glass.  Of course, we were sorry to hear that your experience was less than satisfactory.

I apologize for taking a bit longer to respond to your email than you would have liked. This situation is considerably rare, and I wanted to be sure and have an understanding of what may have happened, which unfortunately delayed my response.

The rest of the email described exactly what he thought the problem was, why it might have occurred and what they have done in the time since to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Honestly, the thoroughness of the response specific to my complaint is down right impressive. Someone not only read my issue but actually took the time to follow up on it and get a complete answer without using a canned reply. These people care about their beer!

Cheers!
Tony

A few weekends ago I was able to sit down and enjoy a bottle New Holland Brewing Company’s Dragon’s Milk. The first pint poured from this fairly expensive bottle was amazing. It was very dark with great coffee and chocolate flavors, alcohol warmth all added to a wonderfully complex glass of beer.

My problem came in pouring out the rest of the bottle. Here is the message I left for them on their web site.

I recently bought a bottle of Dragon’s Milk and just opened it this Saturday evening. The first glass was phenomenal, I loved the complexity and depth as well as the warmth. It is a great beer!

Unfortunately after that first glass, in the last of the beer was some glob of gelatinous… something. When I sipped it into my mouth from my glass it was almost like a large wad of phlegm. Honestly in all my beer adventures it was the second nastiest thing I’ve ever found in a bottle of beer. (The first being a rubber grommet in a bottle of a long since closed brewery.)

I just couldn’t finish drinking the beer after that and had to dump it out. I hope I can find Dragon’s Milk on tap somewhere to enjoy it again, but I don’t think I’ll be buying another bottle any time soon.

Just wanted to let you know and maybe hear back if you had any idea what that was in there. The black writing on the bottle is  K059 if that helps.

Thanks much,
Tony

So here I sit two weeks later and I haven’t heard anything back from them. I was being very patient, I thought. I didn’t want to bash a brew without giving the brewer a chance to respond. Maybe it was just a fluke, I don’t know.

Cheers.
Tony

Another article has been floating around about how healthy it is to drink two beers a day! I had it sent to me in my email three times and two completely unrelated forums that I frequent had posts about it. I’ll credit the msnbc.com version to prove I’m fair.

I always knew IPA’s were great, so there a sense of vindication in finding out they are good for me too!

Hops were the stars of the beer ingredients, showing as much as four times more silicon than was found in malt. The downside: Hops make up a much smaller portion of beer compared with grain. Some beers, such as IPAs are hoppier, while wheat beers tend to have fewer hops than other brews, the researchers say.

Crack a beer, folks, it’s for your health!

Cheers!
Tony