Why Guiness Tastes Better in Ireland

While reading Jon Udell's technology blog this morning, I was pleased to run across this digression on Guiness: http://blog.jonudell.net/2007/11/22/why-guiness-tastes-better-in-ireland/

Recent Brews

We've brewed two more batches since my last brewing status report. On September 1st, we brewed a 10 gallon batch of our Celebration clone and named it Festivus. It came out very well in my opinion, very hoppy and somewhat bitter. Since we forgot to measure the original gravity, we don't have an estimate for alcohol content, but I think the vast quantities of hops provide a significant psychoactive component. A very relaxing brew.

While we were brewing the Festivus, we were admiring the Chinook hops growing in my yard, approaching readiness for harvest. We decided to brew a fresh-hopped ale and scheduled another brew date just two week later to coincide with harvest. We gathered about a pound and a half and used it all in the brew.

When kegging the Fresh Hopped IPA, we only dry hopped one of the kegs (because we only had one hop sock free). The non-dry hopped keg was tapped a couple days ago, and the dry hopped keg was tapped this evening. I definitely prefer the dry hopped version. The difference is very noticeable. The hoppines of the batch that wasn't dry hopped is so much less pronounced, it may not even qualify as an IPA when measured against the style guidelines. But it's still a good brew.

Oktoberfest in Palestine

Ran across this story on the BBC's site the other day. I found the closing paragraphs most inspiring:

At one point, a young man who has come from Ramallah confides to me that he is a member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant offshoot of the Fatah faction.

This shy young man tells me why he - a Christian - wanted to join the quasi-Islamist group, branded a terrorist organisation by Israel and its allies for a string of suicide bombings in Israeli cities.

Then he looks down at the glass of beer in his hand, and around at the smiling crowds, and says it is the first day he has been truly happy for many years.

Ribbons

Our homebrew competition entries, proudly wearing their ribbons.

Recent Brews

Lots to report since the last post, here's a quick catch-up.

Went to the Evergreen State Fair over Labor Day weekend to check out the judging of our entries in the homemade beverage competition. I was pleased to learn that our IPA earned a red ribbon and our wheat beer a white ribbon. White is nothing to boast about, of course, but then neither was our wheat beer, in my opinion. The IPA on the other hand was pretty good and earned a total score of 37 out of 50 points, just one point away from a blue ribbon. I think we'll enter again next year, and hopefully go home with a blue.

Here are our display bottles at the fair:



That same weekend, we brewed a 10 gallon batch our Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale clone recipe. We're calling it Festivus Ale. Kegged it last weekend. Looking forward to trying the finished product any day now.

After recently learning about fresh hopped beer, we decided to brew again when my homegrown Chinook hops were ready for harvest. We used the Hopitat IPA recipe and substituted the fresh hops for the Magnum that would normally go in at the beginning of the boil. That was on Sunday the 16th. Racked it last weekend. Very much looking forward to trying this one.

Michael Jackson, 1942 - 2007

The New York Times reports that Michael Jackson has died. I'm not as familiar with his work as I should be, but he is well known as a friend of beer. More on his passing and his legacy is at beerhunter.com.

From the caption to a photo on flickr :

Michael liked to joke, "They say abstaining from beer will make you live longer. It's not true. It just feels like it."

Homebrew Competition

We decided to enter the homebrew competition at the Evergreen State Fair this year.

Our entries ended up being Batch #3, Hopitat IPA, and Batch #5, Denny Creek Wheat. Didn't enter Batch #4, Weihenstephan Wheat, due to various factors, basically lack of preparation.

On Saturday, Thorly and I bottled up as much of the #4 and #5 as we could, given our somewhat limited bottle supply. But the end result of our efforts was a brew fridge chock full of kegs and bottles.



Here are the display bottles we submitted to the competition:



And here are the actual entries containing the beer to be tasted by the judges:



Judging is this coming weekend, and results will be available when the fair starts later this month. Looking forward to hearing what the judges think of our efforts.