Stone Double Bastard is one of my favourites.

Anybody pick up the Oxford Companion to Beer by Garrett Oliver? It's only $26 on Amazon (from $65) right now. I got it today and wow it is HUGE. 900+ pages, reads like an encyclopedia.

I got one for my old man for Christmas and have it on my own Amazon wishlist. Couldn't pass up that price.

I'm gonna try to review more Beers itt starting now, I'll include homebrew tasting as well.

Lindemans Kriek

350ML bottle poured into a Tulip glass

Deep ruby red color with a thin pink head leaving some lacing on the glass. A thin head lasts throughout.

Strong sent of sour cherries on the nose. At first it's a bit overwhelming, every whiff after gets more interesting.

Thin body medium carbonation. Sweet cherries up front with some slight sourness on the back, slightly tart. Pretty dry on the finish makes it more interesting to me. It might be a bit too sweet for my taste, I'm left wishing there was more sourness

Worth a try but I still don't think fruit lambics are for me, but I'm currently on a quest to try every type of funky I can.

Stillwater Artisanal Barrel Aged Stateside Saison

A: bright orange, very effervescent with a bright white head that lasts.

A: Brett on the nose, smells dry like champagne a little bit peppery.

T: very effervescent, not a ton of funk but it's there, crisp funky. Very dry, it's a well made farmhouse ale, there was some sort of creamy taste at first that I couldn't put my finger on.

I Like this quite a bit, A bit of age would bring out the funk for sure lucky for me I bought 2 on for now one for the cellar. If you see this grab it, very nice.

10/7/11

Passed my Final Exam in Beer Class. It was the Cicerone Certified Beer Server exam where minimum passing grade is 45/60 questions correct. I got 54/60 correct, weeee. I'd like to get BJCP certified and start doing some judging around FL really.

I've been thinking about preparing to take the BJCP as well. Let us know if you decided to do it, I'll do the same.

That's awesome wraths I'm mad jelly yo

Had a Surly Wet last night. Very intense aroma and taste. The can says that the wet hops were picked on one day and 4 days later put into the beer and I believe them.

My family is from San Diego so I'll be there for the holidays, can't wait for Ballast Point, AleSmith, Stone and Alpine brewery visits and all the Pliny I can drink.

Short's and Dogfish collab in my fridge right now. It's called Cornholio and I'm very excited. Had a sample at the MI beer fest and it was amazing.

Collaboration Series: Faster, Bigger, Better, Bolder
The Bruery and DogFishHead

Poured into a Tulip glass

Straw pale in color with a fluffy 2 finger white head. Highly carbonated, as you can tell from the photo.

Aroma: dry, smells slightly spicy, could be from the sake yeast. I cant smell the kumquats which isnt surprising bc I dont think Ive ever even ate a kumquat before.

Very effervescent, dry almost champagne like. Spicy with some green tea notes. slight alcohol hotness but it's actually pleasant. The sake yeast gives this a really unique character.

I enjoyed this. B+

I didn't realize there were so many home brewers ITT, it's been a while since I visted but I'll be checking in regular from now on. I made need some of your guys help in taste testing in the next year. Shameless plug, I'm starting a brewery in the next year

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/30...ewery-1096020/

My first review is a very nice surprise. I was out buying some seasonal releases recently and say a Porter on the shelf that I'd never seen before, being a Porter drinker by default I picked it up and brought it home.

Black Boss Porter 9.4% ABV by Browar Witnica of Poland

Pours very dark brown no head retention or lacing.
Intense licorice and strong coffee aroma.
No knockout alcohol sensation on tasting for such a high ABV very thin body and a little too much carbonation.
Almost espresso like aftertaste that lasts for a long while.

Now I've been paying a lot of money for supposed licorice porters recently, a 750ml @ $14 who's name escapes me right now and got not a hint of licorice. Then along comes this beauty running me ~$2.50 for a pint bottle!

Go give it a try, I've seen it in two local indy bottle shops so it may be available in a decent size area. Even if you hate it you ain't lost much.

4/5

Stu

Good luck Maltby, ever think about creating a kickstarter page to help raise the extra funds you need to get going? It's a great way to raise awareness in the community about your new business as well as raising the funds. 100k might be a bit much but it up to you.

Hey guys, I have 0% experience with homebrewing and am looking to get started, what do you think is a better starting point:

1.) buy a kit (and if so, which one) and use the recipe/instructions/equipment provided in that in order to gain experience first hand and learn as I go; and do these kits come with equipment I would have to buy eventually at not much of a markup when assembled together as a kit as opposed to buying them individually?

or, i already bought this book and plan on reading it soon: http://www.amazon.com/How-Brew-Every...3913101&sr=8-1

would it be better to just read this book in its entirety and then start buying equipment separately as well as buying the ingredients from a recipe separately and waiting to do my first brew until after I've already absorbed all the info from that book as a starting piece and guide on what equipment I will need and how to complete the process

Thanks for any help!

I'm not sure if this is the best way to go in terms of learning, but what I would do if I was you would be to buy a 7 gallon pot, 6.5gal carboy with stopper/airlock, and an extract recipe. They are incredibly easy to make and you will more than likely not mess it up.

Get that batch going by following instructions, then while that is fermenting and is carbonating in bottles absorb all that information from the book (which is a very good one btw) and decide whether you want to do more extract batches, or you want to get into partial mash or even all grain.

Check your local craigslist for deals on the equipment you need, unless money isn't an issue. I find pretty good deals on there all the time, I got my Pot/Burner for 25$ iirc, my gatorade cooler which I use to mash for free, and a bunch of kegs for 20$.

www.homebrewtalk.com is like the 2p2 of beer forums as far as I've seen, browse around there and they got great tutorials and stuff. One of the sayings I see most often there is RDWHAHB (Relax, Don't Worry, Have A Home Brew). Ask as many questions as you have here as it seems like there are some really good homebrewers and a few pro ones as well.

Wraths is pretty much spot on with everything he said.

I went with this kit when I started and picked up a cheap pot at WalMart and I'm happy with it.

I started with extract, then added steeping grains, and now I'm at all-grain. You'll need to add more and more equipment as you progress, but you can get it cheap. HomeBrewTalk is awesome and has all the information you'll ever need and they're really helpful.

Good luck!

Beer Review from last night:

Rogue XS McRogue Scotch Ale


A - Deep brown with small white head that isn't long lived.

S - Grainy, and caramel, no hop aroma. Tinges of vanilla. Very inviting and welcoming.

T - Very malty, very grainy tasting. It taste like the smell of when you just walk into a homebrew store. Slight dark fruit towards the end.

M - Medium bodied with no harsh alcohol or carbonation features.

O - Great scotch ale. It is very rich but not overtly filling. Great taste to it and although it isn't a session beer I could get stuck drinking this for a long time happily.

A-

cberasi,

In general, the big online homebrew retailers - Northern Brewer, MoreBeer, Austin Homebrew - sell their kits for the same or even at a slight discount to what you would pay buying all of the components separately, so I think a kit is definitely the way to go. Something like this is what I'd get for a friend. I personally consider the autosiphon practically a must, and you'll use the carboy for as long as you take care of it.

Also definitely go with at least a 7g pot. The marginal cost in going bigger is pretty small, and the last thing you want is to have to buy a whole new pot two months into your new hobby.

I tried the Newcastle Winter IPA over the week and thought it was pretty good. Very little of an IPA taste though.

The Rye Brown Ale did not turn out 100% how I'd have liked it. Not a fan of the Delta Hops. There was not much flavor and a weird bitterness that lingers.

I like the mouth feel and overall taste. I will brew it again with different hops. May also change to a British yeast. A nice hint of chocolate and a nice spicyness from the Rye. The hops have this mintish bit to them that lingers and clashes a bit with the rye.

Will brew again for sure, just different hops and maybe different yeast.

The beer bottle is from a Swiss Brewery with a name similar to my last name. It appears they closed in the mid-80s.


Recipe:
66% 7 0 Marris Otter (Crisp) info 38 4 ~
9% 1 0 Rye, Flaked info 36 2 ~
9% 1 0 Rye Malt info 29 4 ~
6% 0 10 Chocolate Rye info 24 250 ~
5% 0 8 Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L info 34 40 ~
5% 0 8 Crystal 120L info 33 120

Hops:
2oz Delta at 60min, 1oz at 15mins, and 1oz at Flameout. AA was 4.5%.

Yeast:
WY1056 American Ale

Have been brewing like mad the last couple weeks, have 10g of an all-Zythos pale that is about ready to keg, 10g of a 1.065OG stout that's finishing up, a Pliny clone fermenting strong, and getting a tripel done tomorrow. Also built a brewstand, sorta. Good times!

The Zythos is intensely citruisy, tons of grapefruit and pineapple.

Zythos!

Ive been dying to try that hop, you must report back your results it sounds nice. What are your thoughts on how it could pair with Simcoe?

Ive been trying to brew a ton recently to, I want to be stocked up before we get snow since I brew outdoors. I have 10G of a Simcoe SMaSh beers thats ready for the keg, an Apricot Pale Ale that should be fully carbed by Christmas and I plan to brew on the 23rd and 26th.

Our N. Country rep said they were trying to get a replacement for Amarillo since they were cutting way back on everyone's Amarillo contracts (ours got cut ~30% )

Here's how I had been brewing: a couple empty half-bbls, a piece of plywood, some cinderblocks, and my MT.



Here's the little stand I made. I made it tall enough so my mash tun could gravity drain into the BK which gravity feeds into a carboy on the ground. Also has nice storage underneath it.





I've also put together this little guy. This'll be for a burner for a HLT, so it'll have cement board on the top. I think a true 3-tier stand is too tall, so this is a bit shorter than the MT stand and I'll need a pump to get hot liquor from the HLT to the MT.

Trying the Stone 11.11.11 vertical epic. Not a fan. It has a weird medicinal character that I just don't dig.