Questions?

Just an fyi if anyone has questions about events or home brewing issues or even ideas for topics please post them.

The tale of a disappointing Raspberry Stout

Once upon a time lived a home brewer who dreamed of one day creating a fruity flavored beer that would blow the mind of even the most traditional beer connoisseur. He pondered all day and night looking at recipe after recipe until one day he found it! Oatmeal, Chocolate and Raspberry together? Can it be done? Would this small one gallon test batch really be the beer that he has searched for all these months? So he broke out his pot, he dug out his fermenter, and he pulled out his grain bag. He brought his water up to a temperature at 165 degrees and then added the ingredients:

The Joy of Home Brewing

 Home brewing beer can be one of the most rewarding experiences in a beer lovers life. Making beer that actually tastes good is not only satisfying, but it will also bring you numerous friends who just want to hang out and drink your beer all day which is completely okay because then you get to brew again. Extract brewing is the easiest way to get started on the adventure of brewing your own beer right from your house. Extract is a syrupy, gooey, molasses like substance that is the base for your beers. Just add water, boil, then toss in a few hops maybe add some specialty grains and presto beer is made (I know I sound like a late night infomercial but it's true its that easy).

Coming Soon!

Next week I will be talking about how to get started brewing your own beer and the best place in the Northwest to get your home brewing materials!

Oregon Organic Brewers Fest, A Mouthful to Say The Least

 Beer festivals in my book are usually one the biggest let downs I have all summer. Oh sure it sounds like a great idea: get as many brewers together as possible to make some extraordinary specialty beers and get people interested in the microbrewery movement. In theory that is a great idea unfortunately, what usually happens is a mob of drunken patrons swarming the beer tents like... well like a drunken mob. The beer runs out fast and the lines are so long you are forced into an endless circle of ordering your beer then immediately going back in line. While you are circling about the smell of all those people hits your nose like a mallet hitting a sealed can of rancid dog food. So usually I try to avoid the big water front beer festival in downtown Portland.

Coming Back!

Alright everyone I know it's been awhile since I have been doing this but I am coming back! There are a lot of events this summer that I will be writing about and I will do a brewery of the month bit as well. So look forward to all those things and more!

Well it's done but not finished Part Deux Calling all drinkers

Well I was unhappy with my last posting so I thought I would write a sequel that would answer the unsolved mysteries that may have been left out in the first round. In the last post I might have dug a little to deep into the english major part of my brain and in doing so produced a some what of a cheesy description of my beer. To summarize my last post, my beer was good but not what I was going for. It has this great hop aroma and flavor but it's missing that malt balance that I really wanted. Its insanely light with only about 3.25% alcohol which means you can drink a lot of it and thats good because there is a lot to drink.  I am closing this entry with a sort of call to arms for my beer drinking friends to come over and drink my kegs until they are dry so that I can brew again before the spring is over.