It'll git ya DRUNK!

Another Tuesday night, another BBC beer club gathering. Now 50 members strong the group takes up quite a sizeable area. Distributors are giving floor talks now it seems.

onto the money. had rep Shaun Dunn from Global Brewing distributors to shoot the shite on quite a few brews from various breweries on this side of the pond and the other. Must have had 12 different samplings if not more. Quite frankly, just see the pic.

First off, Wells brewery. Bombadier, Banna Bread, Mild Stout. All alright, nothing too special here. Perennial Classic Young's Double Chocolate Stout was brought forth next. something i hadnt tried in a good long while. Still got it. strong dark chocolate flavors, dry roastiness without a hint of residual sweetness, very atypical of mocha or sweet stouts with chocolate. very very nice and rather refreshing for stout as it is.

Ran though a series of Batemans Brewery, XX Bitter, IPA (weak sauce, skunked) and more that were not memorable in the least. Their Porter had some good notes to it but was not as robust as i would have liked. Ended the night with a sampling of 21st Amendment Brewery wares. First, Live Free or Die IPA. nice and bitter, beautiful aroma, decent body. then were treated to Back in Black, Black IPA/ Cascadian Ale. Very nice indeed. Like a porter and IPA battling it out in your mouth. Definitely a fan of the style. Finished up the night with Fireside Chat, nice winter warmer with spices of classic cinnamon nutmeg and ginger, though not overdone, nor with too much pie-like sweetness to put a damper on the flavorings. spices came out with a dry finish and without a heavy hand. was happy happy.

last club of the year, 2011 will bring many more to report on.

C

Manifest Destiny Brewery Goes Live 10/31/10

The Beast Lives

Yesterday marked the Opening Day celebration/ inaugural brewing for the MD all grain system in the just opened brewery. The past year saw MD acquiring a propane kettle burner, 30qt SS brewkettle with ball valve/ thermometer direct coupled, copper wort chiller and home-built 40qt mash tun with copper false bottom. and as such we've put those all to good use.

The past year also saw the cleaning, gutting and utterly messy rebuilding of what was once a burnout stand alone garage into a functional brewery workshop. Garage door torn off, floor re-cemented and leveled, dual basic sink and plumbing installed, electrically wired and grounded, insulation and walls established, pain in the arse skylight installed, re-shingled, ceiling fan in and painted and new brewgate updated this project has consumed the days and nights of MD's chief of contracting and building supervision. but as the pics show it was all worth it. now for the decor...

Wont go into the details here, I'll let the pics do the rest. Brewed an all-grain version of last winter's smash hit Imperial Stout with anise, Durin's Bane, now reborn as Durin's Grain. things went wonderfully smooth, gear was great, strike temps hit on the nose, specific gravities pinged and dinged at each measure like clockwork.

nice when all the right tools function in a well oiled machine.

and damn, it feels good to be a gangster.

-C

Worcester Homebrew off DEUX

Event enjoyed by some.

the Second Bi-Annual or so Worcester Homebrew Competetion was held last Saturday and while I was not able to attend the event, the latest creation was delivered for sample and I've hurd the wurd of how things went. So lemme break it down for ya.

a bit smaller than the inaugural brewoffen with only 6 presenting this time, but no matter, things were scaled as such and epic fun still had. the best wheat/ stout categories were forgone in favor of just a single best in show ranking.

The rumors go as such, Jean et Jacques took the lead prize with an oatmeal/ chocolate stout rich and robust. wish i couldda give my word, but meh i trust the members of the high brew council. Perrenial forrunner Charles Nelson took second with a dunkelweizen i have yet to try though I expect big things considering the subtle and delicate notes he gets out of his well crafted beers. Yours truly nabbed the 3rd slot despite not being there for the properly named Rauchendoppelweizenbocken (Weizenschaaft ist cool!) bier. though by now its basically evolved into a slightly smoked doppelbock style that is kinda cloyingly sweet. not what I was intending, but i guess half wheat just aint enough anymore to cut though a mass of german malt.

so overall reports were good, the stuff will get you drunk and it seems to have done its job nicely.

cant wait for the next whenever it may be. That wooden stanley cup ist mein!

-C