Birth of a Beer...

[Boone]

Heading to Mexico a week from Monday - woot! Going to be shopping for the best Tequila known to man to add to my 'Hopquila Double IPA' before bottling. I will reserve some of this for the BGO Tailgate. My goal is to bring about 7 or 8 homebrews to the game this year.

 

[tshile]

That sounds delicious.

Guess you'll just gave to taste lots of tequila

 

[HOF44]

Heading to Mexico a week from Monday - woot! Going to be shopping for the best Tequila known to man to add to my 'Hopquila Double IPA' before bottling. I will reserve some of this for the BGO Tailgate. My goal is to bring about 7 or 8 homebrews to the game this year.

Look for barrel proof. I hear Tequila is going the same route as bourbon and a lot of their best product is sold at barrel proof now. Just has more flavor than after they cut it with water.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

This could be so cool. Have to check it out from home, but it looks awesome!!

http://foodspin.deadspin.com/interactive-chart-shows-you-your-new-favorite-beer-1536978079/@Tom_Ley

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[Lanky Livingston]

The Code of Hammurabi decreed that bartenders who watered down beer would be executed.



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[Neophyte]

There is no backing out now. I just dropped off a package at UPS containing two of my own beer creations. The box is bound for the first round of judging in the National Homebrew Competition. I have offered up my Belgian Wit and my Marzen. Never having entered any competition before anywhere I think it is rather audacious of me to jump right to the big leagues. Here is hoping the judges are honest with me and I learn something about my beer.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

Anyone had anything from Toppling Goliath out of Iowa? Supposedly taking the craft beer world by storm.

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[Lanky Livingston]

https://mobile.twitter.com/FastCoDesign/status/445611100370141184/photo/1?screen_name=FastCoDesign

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[Boone]

I'll save some of this for the BGO Tailgate, but bottled a beer today - very malty ale that included a lot of mosaic hops (in the wort and dry-hopped), and the addition of about 10 oz of tequila at bottling time. I ended up just getting a good quality reposado tequila here in the US. There are some amazing anejo tequilas in Mexico I was tempted to use, but they are aged for several years (often in bourbon/whiskey barrels) and while they taste amazing (you bourbon lovers would like them), I wanted a traditional and recognizable tequila taste with the beer.

Looking forward to trying this one. I thought it was 'label worthy'.View attachment 1289

 

[Boone]

Going to take my old trellis I built (and used to grow grapes on) and use it to grow hops). Ideally, you grow hops straight up, but I think this will work - we'll see

 

[tshile]

if you get hops going then i'm going to have to drive down and pick some up sometime.

i'll pick up some honey too. i love making beer with honey that comes from actual farmers or bee keepers instead of giant food processing companies. same with syrup, i have a jar from my wife's coworker's family maple syrup business that i'm waiting for a chance to use in something. probably will have to wait until fall when i start making beer for next winter.

 

[Boone]

I am always glad to hook up a friend...

 

[tshile]

I'm serious, if it works out I'll happily swing by when I'm in NC, I go there quite often.

We'll have to do some bartering

 

[Goaldeje]

Going to take my old trellis I built (and used to grow grapes on) and use it to grow hops). Ideally, you grow hops straight up, but I think this will work - we'll see

The wine lover in me is saddened by this; the beer lover in me is excited.

Not sure which one wins out.

 

[tshile]

in the beer thread the beer wins out

 

[Goaldeje]

Seems fair.

 

[Boone]

Oh hell yes! Btw - I tried the Hopzilla last weekend and it was amazing- you can't taste a lot of the Tequila, but you can feel the Tequila

 

[Neophyte]

The results are in! Both my Belgian Wit and my Märzen where judged to be "Good" which is described as "misses the mark on style and/or minor flaws". While I am a bit disappointed this result wasn't completely unexpected and I think the judges were pretty fair. I got the impartial feedback I was looking for and will use it moving forward to improve my beer. All in all, not a horrible experience for a first time.

 

[tshile]

The results are in! Both my Belgian Wit and my Märzen where judged to be "Good" which is described as "misses the mark on style and/or minor flaws". While I am a bit disappointed this result wasn't completely unexpected and I think the judges were pretty fair. I got the impartial feedback I was looking for and will use it moving forward to improve my beer. All in all, not a horrible experience for a first time.

 

[Boone]

Made a partial mash version of Surly Bender tonight. Never had this beer, but it's an oatmeal based brown ale that sounded really good. Not crazy about 'partial mash' brewing, since it's almost as much work as all-grain so I guess I question why to bother with it. But there was a large enough grain bill I just treated it like an all-grain recipe. It looked and smelled great going into the carboy which is usually a very good sign. Mark - this will be a beach beer.