Monthly Archives: October 2022

Karbach, Nice Family Visit

My son and wife came into town for a quick visit. He is also into homebrewing and he and wife both love to explore craft beers. The doors on Sunday open at 11:00 and we were nearly first in line. We had an early lunch to facilitate their drive back home to Corpus Christi. They do have a very good food menu and a nice selection of beers.

I am a fan of their barrel aged selections and chose to do a flight. Everyone else selected a good pint.
My selections and yes I do go big on the ABV scale…..and I had a designated driver.

If you noticed my selections for the flight I ordered were on the heavy side for ABV, Double and Imperial IPA’s…..I did have a driver LOL. I decided to educate myself so I am including a description from bsgcraftbrewing.com

“Double IPA or Imperial IPA? What’s the difference?

Short answer? Nothing.

Double IPA and Imperial IPA are in fact the same thing; an IPA that’s been turned up to eleven. Some believe the origin of the name “Double IPA” comes from the extra “I” in the abbreviation of Imperial IPA (IIPA). Imperial on the other hand is a term often used in beer to denote big flavor and high alcohol.”

https://bsgcraftbrewing.com/the-imperial-strikes-back/#:~:text=Double%20IPA%20and%20Imperial%20IPA,big%20flavor%20and%20high%20alcohol.

My impressions….The Rodeo Clown Double IPA, good but almost ordinary in flavor. It is smooth to drink but I wouldn’t put it high on my go to list. The Rodeo Clown Imperial Tropical IPA comes through with Citra, Galaxy, Comet and Mosaic hops. The impression I picked up was more to the citrusy side with a pleasant bitterness. . The Rodeo Clown Imperial Hazy IPA was my favorite of the the first three. The hops were a broad mix including Motueka, El Dorado, Mosaic, Sabro, Melon, Citra and Amarillo. These are a good mix of aroma hops and dual purpose hops that work well for this nice hazy IPA.

The BBH, Bourbon Barrel Hellfighter, choices were very good. The first, BBH Eggnog, brewed with Katz Coffee eggnog flavored coffee and aged in bourbon barrels. Very smooth and easy to drink. this one is one of those evening ending beers to be shared in small glasses LOL… especially at 11.5% ABV. The BBH Mole was my favorite and it comes in at 11.8% and slightly more dangerous, but already well into the dangerous range. This ale is brewed with chilis, cinnamon, clove, and chocolate. Very well done! Karbach does a great job with the BBH series but in my professional beer drinking experience/opinion, the Firestone Walker Brewery in Paso Robles has the very best selection of barrel aged beers and an amazing mix diversity of offerings…….sorry Karbach, but, that said your BBH series ales are top notch.

On the lower end of the ABV scale Karbach has many great offerings and Hopadillo is one of my favorite beers…..consistent, hoppy in a very good way and pleasant to drink. Love Street is a nice summer beer and in honor of the Astros going to the World Series again, the Crawford Bock referencing the Crawford Box Seats…..Left field and recipient of many Astros dingers. Oh yes……it is and excellent beer to drink at Minute Maid Park. The Karbach Clutch City links back to the glory days of the Houston Rockets. It too is a nice easy drinking beer.

Gotta give a thumbs up to the food menu at the brewery. Good choices, portions are reasonable and they pair well with many of the beers. I had family with me on this visit, wife, daughter and youngest son with his bride. The beers ordered were diverse as well as the food choice ordered. Overall a great place to bring family and friends…..and yes we will be back.

Drink Local and Drink Responsibly

Bishop

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Back At It Again

I apologize a bit to a beekeeping acquaintance of mine here in Texas as he has named his business “At it Again Apiaries”…….so, I just appropriated a portion of the name. That said, it has both been too long since I last brewed and also too long since I last posted. Up date, I have an Avery IPA clone sitting in the secondary, dry hopped and I started the cold crash yesterday before kegging tomorrow. The gravity targets from the recipe were hit dead on. It was 1.056 for the starting gravity and 1.012 for the ending gravity…….sample tasted wonderful.

Sadly my local beer supply store closed a few months ago and I have resorted to online ordering. The online experience has been hit or miss. I have tried Austin Homebrew Supply and Northern Brewer. The excuses revolve around labor shortages and supply chain issues……I am more concerned about having room in my kegerator for two more beers so, I am learning to be more patient. Tomorrow I should be carbonating the Avery clone but the next beer, or should I say planned beer is a SMaSH with Golden Promise grain and Simcoe hops…….dangit…..may not get it started until sometime next week. That is if the remaining ingredients show up.

I hate to say it but part of the delay is my fault. The grain bill calls for 12 pounds of Golden Promise, in the drop down box I apparently did not click hard enough on 12 and they order went out as 1 pound. I did have a second chance to review my order at checkout, but guess what, senior moment, and I did not correct my mistake. So I have compounded the delivery issues……nuff said and you can stop giggling any time you want!

The Avery clone was an all grain kit from Austin Homebrew Supply…..they did a decent job getting the supplies here on a reasonable amount of time. A browse through the products section does highlight notable amounts of “out of stock” tags but over all not too bad. I did resort to going to the “Grainfather” site for parts I needed before brewing the Avery clone. The connections on the inlet to the pump and discharge side of the pump had gone bad. Fortunately the discharge tube leaked badly as I was cleaning and prepping and not during the brewing process, averting a catastrophic event!. It delayed the Avery IPA clone by about a week.

Final Gravity…..Dead on Target – Love my new hydrometer…..yes, I dropped and broke one…..word of advice, always have two in your brewing kit. Fortunately I did.
Dry Hopped and I cold crash everything should settle out. One of these days….I dream of having a dedicated brewing area and use SS conical fermenters and a well sized walk in cold box and a 10 tap kegerator andddddd so much more!

I will promise to update all y’all in a timely matter once in the keg and properly carbonated….and wish I could share some with y’all – you will just have to rely on my words and your imagination. Trust me…

Drink Local and Drink Responsibly

Bishop