Father’s Day –

Jun3

Father’ Day is less than two weeks off. Still enough time to plan for honoring the “Old Man” with something special! I already feel honored! Kathy and I were graced with our 4 kids back in the house for a visit this past weekend. No boomerangs in this gathering! Ashleigh, coaching soccer at UTEP in El Paso was in town scouting prospects at a tournament in Houston. Lisa lives 6.2 miles away so it was a short jaunt for her. Ben has a couple of weeks off before his last semester at LSU!!!! And Joe, graduated from HS a week ago and will head off to Texas A&M in the fall.

Planning for Father’s Day should include something grilled as well as fatherly beverages to go along with it. One of my recent blogs about Beer Butt chicken was included in this linked post;
http://www.babysitters.net/blog/25-blogs-naming-the-top-foods-to-fix-for-dad-on-father’s-day/
Yes, it probably is an ad of some sort but I felt honored to have it included in the 25 blogs naming Top Foods to Fix on Father’s Day! If you dig into my archives their is also a Beer Braised Chicken recipe using Brown Ale!

Beer Braised Chicken – Brown Ale Braised Chicken

My Father’s Day Ale will be a bit young to drink on the 16th. I started the batch two weeks later than I should have and I will just have to suffer. My only home brews on hand include the Pumpkin Ale, a Session Ale and my Stout. The Stout is 8 months old and almost ready to walk. Sampled one this weekend and it needs a little more time. I think I should be good!

I will be honest with those of you scratching your heads on what to do for your Father come June 16th. Don’t buy a gift that gets little or no use. The most precious gift at your disposal is time spent with the old guy! Reminisce a little, listen to a story he has told several times over and laugh at his jokes, even if it is old and tired. Best yet, bring a good beer over and share it with him! FYI kids, if you don’t remember – anything with IPA in it will be just fine for me!

One don’t on Father’s Day- don’t ask him to sing any of his old Rugby Songs!!!!! No, no, NO! Bad Daddy!

If you just have to buy something- a way to mount a trolling motor on my kayak would be good!

Drink Local and Drink Responsibly
Bishop

Raising The Bar With My Homebrewing

May30

I have just moved my home brewing efforts up a new level. This now allows summer-time brewing as well as creating an opportunity to brew some lagers. Lagers must be lagered…..yes, I know that really doesn’t paint a clear picture. Lagers are typically fermented at temperatures much lower than “room” temperature and then once bottled/kegged lagered for several months, i.e., held at say 35 degrees F. I can’t do that in my dining room!

What, do you ask is needed to up the efforts? I have purchased a small used chest freezer and a Johnson Controls, A 419. digital temperature controller. The current batch of beer I have been brewing was transferred into my 6L mini Tap-a-Draft kegs yesterday. The conditioning phase requires that this Father’s Day Amber Ale condition for 7 days at a strict 68-70 degrees F and then at 55-65 for two weeks. I cannot afford to cool the house to those temperatures, after all this is summer in Houston.

I had been watching the local listings in the “Kingwood Yardsale” website for several weeks. Yesterday I found a working small chest freezer for $ 70.00. The next step is to buy and install a controller that will keep the freezer temperatures in the range I need for my purposes. The Johnston Controls controller has a very wide range that will more than adequately cover my needs.

Stable fermenting temperatures provide the best environment for the yeast to work its magic. The conditioning process is many times aided by a reduced temperature to allow the beer to best express its flavors. In the past I have used a big plastic tub filled with water in the corner of the dining room. My wife is both tolerant and patient with my hobby but I can now give her most of the dining room back…..it is still a bit of a home office for my consulting business.

The Controller set at 68 degrees F

The 3 six liter bottles. I added a lot of my glass bottled home brew to create some additional thermal mass to aid in managing temperature swings. I will also use this as my “cellar” after this current batch has conditioned. I added about 60 bottles of beer ……. Seems to be wrking pretty well.

Two of the 3 six liter bottles sitting in the freezer this AM.

Drink Local and Drink Responsibly
Bishop

Beer Trumps All

May27

I spent last week in California, more precisely, Coalinga, Paso Robles, Bakersfield and San Ardo.

In Coalinga we stayed at Harris Ranch Inn. Great beef, great ranch style rooms and good beer to. Tuesday night we shifted locations to Paso Robles, 27 minutes south of San Ardo oilfield. We were in the midst of some of the finest red wine growing and nearly 300 wineries, from little tiny to very, very big! Just a note, we should have had a 27 minute drive but due to cattle guard issues with a local rancher and some drilling activity we had to drive another 8 or 10 minutes north, hook back across the Salinas River and meander through some lush produce fields adding 15 minutes to the drive. We witnessed seemingly endless vistas of vineyards, cattle grazing on the rolling hills, cabbage harvests and lettuce planting….This stretch of Highway 101, El Camino Real that parallels the freeway is the most amazing display of the earth’s bounty.

Harris Ranch Inn pool vista. Actually pleasant arounf the pool - the wind from the Harris Ranch feedlot was not tracking toward the hotel!

Harris Ranch Inn pool vista. Actually pleasant around the pool – the wind from the Harris Ranch feedlot was not tracking toward the hotel! Thank Goodness

The altar at the San Miguel Mission near Paso Robles. Built in 1794!

My workmate, Murray and I had worked in the region this past December. While in Paso Robles we dined at the pub associated with the Firestone Walker Brewery. Great beer and now great food to boot. We treated ourselves in December to a bottle of Parabola, a barrel aged Imperial Stout. We shared the 2011 “vintage” – I think it is ok to use that term since we are in an incredible wine growing region! The 2011 bottle was amazing! We both agreed that it treated the senses to a mouth feel, taste and aroma that could be used to describe a great Port! I would love to have hauled an unopened bottle back to Texas but they wouldn’t agree to sell one to me for that purpose. I tried to explain that I was Bishop Decker, world famous beer drinker and blogger extraordinaire! I guess my fame is restricted to Texas!

Murray’s good side with his 4 beer sampler at Firestone Walker Pub.

Surrounded my great wines, vineyards and wineries, so what do Murray and I drink? Beer!! We had the DBA, the 805, a 4 beer sampler – see Murray’s good side, and of course the Parabola. Rules seem to have change or maybe Murray and his west coast of Canada charm worked some magic – the rascal convinced them to sell him a bottle of the 2011 Parabola in a “to-go” box. In fact it was the last bottle and stamped as the No. 2 bottle from that batch. We shared the 2013 bottling on the advice of our server….he said the 2012 was a bit too sweet. The 2013 is superb!

The Parabola 2013

I treated Murray to a dinner with my Mother on Wednesday night at her favorite seafood place in Morro Bay. She ordered her favorite meal – the chicken breast – FYI the old gal doesn’t eat fish. She was her usual perky self at 84-ish. She conducts a Tai Chi class 3 days per week – as much a social gathering as it is fitness – a mix of mind and body. PS – Mom, Murray thinks you are pretty special. I hesitated putting that comment in because it could go to her Head!!!!

Friday we trekked back to Bakersfield the long way, through Santa Maria, similar vistas as the 101 north of Paso Robles but now strawberry fields add to the mix. We took Highway 166 through Cuyama…endless vistas of carrot fields! We continued our beer sampling at Lengthwise Pub out on Calloway in Bakersfield with their Centennial IPA.

Saturday on the plane very early, fingers crossed for an on time flight….My youngest son was graduating High School with over 600 of his classmates. The event was held in one half of Reliant Stadium…the same place that the NFL Texans play their games! At the celebratory graduation I tried a bottle of beer from Bear Republic, Red Rocket Ale – I really liked it!!!!!!

COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION
Red Rocket Ale is a bastardized Scottish style red ale that traces it’s origins to our homebrew roots. This full bodied and hoppy brew finishes on the palate with sweet, caramel malt flavors. 2009 California State Fair – SILVER 1999 Great American Beer Festival® Other Strong Ales or Lagers – SILVER 1998 Great American Beer Festival® Other Strong Ales – SILVER

Drink Local and Drink Responsibly – I am sipping on a Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale as I write….made with fresh hops…Murray has promised to bring me some fresh hops for my home brewing efforts next fall – Grown on the island of his residence, Salt Spring BC – said that he would supply me a kilo of the good stuff! A KILO OF HOPS Y’ALL!!!!!

Dinner at son Joe's graduation - he is far right, my big maroon body with my Red Rocket Ale is near right.

Dinner at son Joe’s graduation – he is far left, my big maroon body with my Red Rocket Ale is near right.

Bishop

American Craft Beer Week

May15

At least this reflects something positive on the news wires this week! I apologize to Nathan Berrong who writes Eatocracy’s Beer column, “Berrong on Beer” beacause I am stealing a piece out of his column’s headline…. when I think about craft beer or homebrewed beer I have a new phrase to use when offered a “real” beer – I can exclaim, “Ale Yeah!” So this being American Craft Beer Week – thanks to Mr. Berrong and I stand up and shout “Ale Yeah!”

This is a great opportunity to set down your Coors or Bud or other variation of yellow fizzy water and broaden your horizons. The variety of offerings in the craft beer section of the store is very broad.You can take a small step out and go with a Blonde Ale of some sort. You may surprise yourself and find that Amber Ales can be surprisingly easy to drink…..don’t be misled that an amber color equates to “dark” flavors….. Dive a little deeper and try a Brown Ale.

Now there are some lessons to be learned…A Pale Ale can have a very broad spectrum of flavors and aromas. The spectrum is influenced by the varieties of hops and yes by the malts too, yes there are a myriad variety of hops, which lend the beer the bitterness and aromas. The hops are my real focus when sampling Pale Ales. If you are a bit of a geeky numbers person find the IBU designation on Pale Ales. If the number starts creeping north of 40 or so it indicates a more “hoppy” beer. I like the Pale Ales designated as IPA – India Pale Ales – they are higher in both alcohol and bittering – historically made to survive the boat trip to India. The style has survived and thrived. If you didn’t figure it out, I love IPA’s.

The choices for broadening your beer experience include Stouts, Porters, Wheat Beers, Belgian Styles and more. If you see the word “Imperial” in the name be prepared for a higher ABV – Alcohol by Volume. Some can even approach wine levels…10-12% and sometimes more. Then the craft industry is using barrel aged beers and “oh my” the complexity of flavors goes through the roof. Firestone Walker in Paso Robles California has a barrel aged Imperial Stout labeled “Parabola” that is just out of this world….unfortunately it is not sold retail!

From Mr. Berrong’s article here are some suggestions he gleaned from others;

The Brewer’s Association, a not-for-profit trade group that represents small and independent brewers, is the driving force behind ACBW. Below are some tips from them on how to get the most out of this year’s beer week:

• Conduct a craft beer tasting or pairing. • Visit your favorite local brewery, restaurant or tap room and enjoy local craft beers. • Host a tasting at home featuring craft beer from small and independent producers. • Tweet your pride for U.S. craft brewers using the hashtag #ACBW. • Seek out other like-minded folks by attending an official ACBW event. Use the official ACBW events page to find an event in your area. The link below takes you to the full article.

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2013/05/13/berrong-on-beer-ale-yeah-its-american-craft-beer-week/?hpt=hp_c4

My weekend sampling will include my homebrews – a Pumpkin Ale, Imperial Stout flavored with roasted oak and bourbon, a 4.2% Pale Ale and my share of a batch of Raspberry Wheat Ale. I will also be racking my Father’s Day Ale over into my secondary fermenter this weekend. I will look to local beers to add to the weekend mix….Mom I will not drink all of them – just a nice smattering of beers. Karbach, St Arnolds, Southern Star, No Label, Buffalo Bayou and ????

Guys, your GF or wife may enjoy some of the Belgian Wit Beers that have a hint of orange peel and coriander – they also tend to have a broad spectrum of how spicy they come across. I have to pat Coors on the back because their Blue Moon Belgian Wit has helped many of the fairer sex wander away from Miller Lite!

The list of beer styles is extensive…I have only scratched the surface – follow the link below to see what beer nerds love…beer styles listed and IU ranges for reach style.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/2009/01/24/beer-styles-ibu-chart-graph-bitterness-range/

Plan your week and your weekend….be adventurous!!!

Drink Local and Drink Responsibly

Bishop

Karbach Brewery and Beer Butt Chickens

May2

Please be advised that I am still enamored with all things beer, ale or homebrewing involved. Work sometimes gets in the way of my Beer Blogging efforts but the desire never wanes. I worked in Lafayette Louisiana two weeks ago and was introduced to an Abita Seasonal. The Abita Spring IPA is outstanding!!!!! My wife and daughter are drinking a very Abita like Raspberry Wheat Ale tonight that was a shared effort with my friend Mike…..he did most of the work and I absconded with 2.5 gallons of a very nice tasting beer. I carried mine home in my 6L Tap-A-Draft mini-kegs. Sorry Mike…I couldn’t wait and charged up the mini-keg and my wife is happy. She says it is smooth and silky on the tongue!

Abita Spring IPA….my vote would be to add it to the full time line-up

Ok – back to the title – My wife went to Sam’s Club and brought home a couple aof big fat roasting chickens and a hankering for Beer Butt Chicken. I normally use cheap beer in cans for the effort but decided to go gourmet with the recipe. In the fridge were a few cans of Karbach. I said, “Why not!” I use about a half of a can for each chicken. I pulled a chilled glass out of the freezer poured half of each can into the glass – it was then I realized that I had sinned. See photo below;

Oops – Sympathy for the Lager mixed with Rodeo Clown IPA!

I will have to admit that the two beers blended in the glass sitting on the counter were complimentary. Maybe Karbach could see if a blend may be commercially viable. They blend wines don’t they? It was a busy kitchen day, over on the left is my chunky strawberry jam. Into each can I add my secret rub seasoning….not really secret – I am a simple man so I used garlic salt and a hometown blend from Luigi’s Deli, Oh, by the way, I have tried using the Luigi’s on scrambled eggs for my son the way his Aunt Denise does and I fall short….she must be hiding things from me. I think she still resents that I am the favorite child!

I really like these combination pan and stands for holding the chickens upright. They also captures the dripping grease preventing massive flare-ups. That can ruin your day and your chicken. We found these at Walmart. A bit of advice….spray the metal parts with lots of oil. it will help with clean-up! Now slip the chickens over the stand and beer can like so.

Dressed and ready to go to the BBQ!

I try to keep the grill in the 400 F range as they cook. These big boys took about 75 minutes before the legs and wings had that floppy looseness that indicates they are done. I also removed juices from the catch pan at the bottom using a turkey baster before they over flowed and caused a flare up. The chicken was so moist that it pretty much fell off of the breasts. The serving photo was not taken….the meat disappeared too quickly for me to get the shot.

On the grill and ready to transform into yummy goodness!

Now, in answer to my wife’s question after the new beer kit arrived, “Yes Dear, we have room for more beer.” Secretly I hope that I am right. I will document my efforts today! It is a Father’s Day Ale.

Drink Local and Drink Responsibly

Bishop

Getting my Groove Back

Apr9

After a break in brewing and writing I am getting back into the blogging groove and actually the beer making process. Sunday morning I met with fellow brewer Mike and his wife Annette. Mike made a piece offering beer, a lawnmower beer, a lighter alcohol beer with a starting gravity of 1.040 plus and a final around 1.013 or so. Works out to something very close to 4%. Annette can safely consume one beer prior to mowing the lawn for Mike. This not a beer that I would drink a lot of, it is a Raspberry Wheat Ale, but it is one that my wife would enjoy! We split this batch. Mile kegged 2.5 gallons or so and I took the remainder and split it between my 2 – 6 L mini plastic kegs. The sample I tried without the raspberry flavoring added was pretty darned good.

I may be brewing on Sunday, a Father’s Day Ale. A dark Amber Ale that will come in around 6.2% ABV. I may include some specialty grains stored in the freezer that I may use to add some character to the beer. I will keep y’all posted.

I subscribe to others in the blogging world and find this weekly effort great fun to read. Check it out;

http://www.weeklypint.com/

Here is another fun read about our love of beer…..some nice photos too.

http://thegirlandherbeer.com/

Another fun read

http://i-love-beer.blogspot.com/

Drink Local and Drink Responsibly

TTFN

Bishop

Long Hiatus is Over

Apr3

I have been absent from my Beer Blogging duties for quite some time now. It is approaching a month that I have been quiet, at least quiet on the blogging side of my activities. If you visit my garden blog(http://bishopsbackyardfarm.com/2013/04/02/1665/) you will see that I have been active over there….strawberries have occupied most of the harvest efforts and then making strawberry jam……

That said,I think I see a strawberry blonde in my future. Tall, absolutely – a long neck, quite possibly, comfortable to hold, yes, intoxicating to the senses…..yes, but in moderation – you should never overdo a good thing….I will definitely have to ask my wife for permission…..How will that go over?

“Hey Hun, can I brew another beer?” I may be testing the boundaries here….I have a case and a half of Imperial Stout aging, a case of Pumpkin Ale – just a one at a time kind of beer, 6 liters of a honey blonde in my mini keg and about two cases of a session ale that is now drinkable and…..Sunday I am splitting a batch of a Raspberry Wheat Ale with home brewer Mike, “kinda” like an Abita Purple Haze, about 9 L is my share! I think I need to have a party to reduce the inventory before I get an affirmative answer for my efforts!

Young Ryan(over 21) has asked for a lesson in crafting beer. Maybe I can work out a deal and kill two birds with one stone here. Hopefully this will work for all involved. Hope he and his crowd of friends will cotton to a Strawberry Blonde Ale.

Talking about craft beers! Read the article in the attached link. The craft beer wave continues to grow. A quote, a rather long one from the article linked below;

“Craft brewing continues to surge, producing 15% more beer and $1.5 billion more sales.

Craft brewing is clearly outpacing the rest of the beer market, producing 15 percent more beer in 2012 than the year before while the total U.S. beer market grew by only 1 percent, according to the annual report released today by the Brewers Association.

In total, craft brewers produced 13.2 million barrels in 2012, a 1.8 million barrel increase from 2011.

Craft breweries now make up 6.5 percent volume of the total beer market, up from 5.7 percent the year before. And craft beer also makes up 10.2 percent of the total U.S. beer market for a total of $10.2 billion in sales, up from $8.7 billion in 2011 or a 17 percent increase.”

I subscribe to this blog and always learn a little! Check it out!

http://craftbrew.cirqlemedia.com/craft-brew-continues-to-surge/

Remember

Drink Local and Drink Responsibly

TTFN

Bishop

Will Walk for an IPA or Two or Three

Mar8

My daughter Lisa is prepping for the Avon Walk in Houston on April 20 & 21, 2013. It is 26 miles on day one and the strong and fit walk another 13 on day two. We have been walking together four or five times this past week. Today we decided to do a triple digit day – it wound up being 11 miles out at Lake Houston Wilderness Park. The park is a bit of wilderness heaven that is relatively unknown. Eleven miles is about 5 more than our previous best distance…..but it turned out to be a great walk, trek, hike and challenge. The park is amazing and filled with wildlife. While walking we saw 2 coyotes, a bald eagle soaring overhead and a wild sow with 8+ piglets crossing the road in front of us. I carried several cameras on this walk but only captured images of the sow and piglets.

Here is mom….look closely and you can see she has been nursing the mob following behind her.

Unfortunately I missed the line of little ones following mom...not familiar with the continous shooting function on the Nikon J1....I know now!

Unfortunately I missed the line of little ones following mom…not familiar with the continuous shooting function on the Nikon J1….I know now!

The walk was scenic and fortunately devoid of mosquitoes – a real blessing. Just past the 5 mile mark on the Ameritrail Loop was a little lake ringed by Cypress trees – the photo doesn’t do it justice. At the turnaround area we discovered a guy in a little “boat” with a trolling motor casting for ??????? fish of some sort.

Beautiful reflections across the water. The Cypress trees were just awesome….click to view larger!

Tiny boat but probbaly perfect for that part of the lake.

Tiny boat but probably perfect for that part of the lake.

We were thirsty upon returning home……brief stop at the Kingwood Town Center Farmers Market – fresh sourdough and some grass-fed Beef

T-bone steaks. Yum – and the piece de resistance was the trio of IPA’s during the dinner prep, grilling and dining.

The Celebration form Sierra Nevada was my favorite the other two were dang good!

The Celebration from Sierra Nevada was my favorite the other two were danged good!

http://www.houstontx.gov/parks/ourparks/lakehoustonpark.html

Lisa is getting close to her fundraising goal so if you are inclined to help her out click the link below.

http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk/Houston?px=6400511&pg=personal&fr_id=2180

Drink Local & Drink Responsibly

TTFN

Bishop

Session Beer Is Conditioning

Mar4

My session beer is conditioning and my wife has asked my several times, “When will it be ready?” I take that as a very positive comment. She has sampled it on several of the steps…Primary fermenter to the secondary and again when I bottled it. I have been attempting to capture the step by step process to share here but work got in the way. I am really trying to keep that nuisance of work impacting my hobbies but it does pay the bills!

I think I mentioned a while back that this was a SMaSH recipe. Single Malt and Single Hops. It was intended to beer and not too hoppy. Based on my wife’s feedback it meets the minimal hops criteria and it is light in color…..she usually equates flavor with color but her education on better beers is opening her eyes a little.

I started off with the guys down at the Backyard Homebrewing and Education Center. Laid back bunch of folks and passionate about beer – puts them near the top of my list! If you are a local – check them out. I used to go down to Defalcos on the southwest side of Houston. They are a good bunch of folks too but too far away.

I left the beer in the secondary an additional week – mostly because I was lazy and busy….any excuse will do! That is not necessarily a bad thing. The beer is beautifully clear……a color that my wife likes and very easy to drink…..based on the samples and needs another few days hun! We can drink it his weekend, March 9-10.

The single malt extract is being weighed out.

Nice selection of grain along the wall….. next batch will be all grain. I think I have said that before.

Something to make the visit to the store worth the effort!

Nice color….for my wife….final gravity down to 1.011…Perfect!

Drink Local, Drink Responsibly –

TTFN

Bishop

Karbach Brewery Tour

Feb9

Sorry for the delay in getting out this post. Life sometimes throws some lemons your way and even with the best intentions to make lemonade, life gets a bit overwhelming! An old saying that I picked up in Texas, I’m sure it is used elsewhere, is to realize that “This too shall pass!” And, yes it does but sometimes the pace of the passing is painfully slow. I do need to remind myself that I can look in the forward direction and influence what is yet to happen!

About the tour……My good friend John tagged along with me – We were really pleasantly surprised, surprised in several ways. The crowd was so much larger than I had expected…see slide show below. The atmosphere was like a festival, games, food, scenery, interesting people and obvious enjoyment of the day. The beer was not much of a surprise, I have enjoyed Karbach offerings for quite some time. A little over a year ago I sampled the Hopadillo and Sympathy For The Lager at a pub down on Richmond. I am an IPA fan and the Hopadillo was added to my list of favorites. I bought the Tshirt……should have listened to my buddy….If I spend a few more hours( the number may actually exceed the several hundred figure), in the gym I think I could look good in it!

Dave Graham – a marketing guy gave the tour that John and I went through – 90+ % of the crowd was there to sample, soak in the atmosphere and sample the brews, thank goodness – otherwise the tour portion would have been exceptionally tight! Take a look, plan a visit or look for the beer on the local Houston area shelves.

http://www.karbachbrewing.com/home

Good to know:

All guests planning to sample our brews must have a valid form of identification and be 21 or older
Children are welcome, but must be accompanied and supervised by a guardian at ALL TIMES (kids found wandering without parent will be given espresso and a free puppy)
We welcome you to bring your own food/chairs but please do your best to see to it that your garbage ends up in the trash cans
Absolutely NO OUTSIDE ALCOHOL is permitted inside the brewery or on brewery property

I sampled the Pontificator, Weekend Warrior(nice smooth beer), the Hopadillo and the Weisse Versa Wheat. I believe John had the Rodeo Clown, Weisse Versa Wheat and the Weekend Warrior. He had one token left over and gave it up to the gal that worked the mobile catering truck – brisk business and ran out of food early – must have been good. She looked like she needed a good beer.

Check the weather, gather up some friends and enjoy a nice outing.