Category Archives: Ale

Pumpkin Ale

I wrote about frost on the pumpkin this morning for my gardening blog…..a little more philosophical than usual this morning but came on the heals of racking my Pumpkin Ale into the secondary yesterday evening. I should really call it “Cinderella Pumpkin Ale” as it was brewed with fresh pumpkin puree that I prepared from one of my wife’s fall decorative pumpkins. They are usually discarded once the season ends but I chose to make use of at least one of them. Two more are still firm and available for rescue.

Back to the ale, it started at about 1.056 original gravity and checked in at 1.015 when I racked it into the carboy(uncorrected gravities). It should be an easy beer to drink at around 5.6% ABV plus or minus a little. I had my oldest son and wife sample the ale from the graduated cylinder and both agree that it is pretty tasty. I want it to clean up pretty well before bottling. There was a good two inches of yeast and puree debris at the bottom of the primary and still a bit cloudy. May let it clean-up until after Christmas before bottling.

Last night I was treated to a great evening by my wife…….no, not like that! She bought some tickets for the US Women’s soccer match vs. China here in Houston last night. My daughter and three good friends joined us for some pre-match beers at the Flying Saucer downtown. It always a bit crowded and noisy and we almost could not find a place for the 6 of of us to sit together. The evening chill wasn’t too bad so we grabbed a table out side. Quieter, except when the Metro Train whizzed by on Main St. I added three new beers to my list, tossed the keys to my wife, the DD and off we went to the match.

USA, USA, USA was the common chant and we weren’t disappointed. We missed the first 15 or so minutes circling to find a parking spot but arrived just in time to see Abby Wambach put a signature header into the back of the net. She had another unassisted goal in the second half as the US side ran away with a 4-0 win. It was cold enough that the 24 oz. can of Tecate lasted almost the entire match and stayed cold!

The Cinderella Pumpkin was huge so I wound up with puree to spare….so , rather than brew 20 gallons of Pumpkin Ale I put some in the freezer and used some to make the Pumpkin bread shown below. Pretty danged good….especially on day two and beyond! It seems that the flavors mature as it site….hmmmmm, kinda like good beer, eh?

Yum, very nice. Made two loaves and have plenty to make more!

Yum, very nice. Made two loaves and have plenty to make more!

Drink local and responsibly!

TTFN

Bishop

Beer Travels

My beer blogging efforts have been pretty slim over the past month or so but that does not mean I haven’t thought about, dreamed about, consumed or made any beer. I have been traveling, primarily to Bakersfield California, home of Lengthwise Brewing. I am a big fan of their Centennial IPA. It is not crazy hoppy, just a great balance of the bitter and the aromas. I have visited the pub out in the Rosedale area three times during this past month. Besides their offerings they always have a few guest beers from the western US. One of the guest beers was the Hop Notch form Uinita Brewing in Salt Lake City, Utah. Good but not as good as the home town offering!

This past week I was in Paso Robles for two nights. My occasional workmate, Alan would have been right in his element. Paso is becoming one of the best red wine districts in the country. For Alan, the Paso area would be reminiscent of our experience in the Margret River area in Western Australia….great wines, no crowds and a great tasting room experience – The Paso winery for fun, great wine and great service is Tobin James. Isn’t this supposed to be about beer? Oh yes, Paso, home to Firestone Walker and that is the real story.

I have enjoyed the Firestone offerings for many years now but have never made the stop. This trip my partner was Murray and he does love his beer. We went to the Taproom Restaurant adjacent to the brewery. It was a great casual place, brewery themed and staffed by some great people. Tiffani was assigned to us and she was delightful, knowledgeable and provided outstanding service. I started off with the Taproom IPA. How would my kids text it?….OMG!!!! ….. That sums it up. The first thing that I noticed was the heavenly hop aroma before it even touched my lips, I paused, savored the aroma and then let my tongue enjoy the beverage. I then tried the Velvet Merlin, an Oatmeal Stout, recommended by Erica at the Courtyard Marriott hotel. It was pretty darned good.

Tiffani recommended the seared Ahi Tuna which Murray ordered and I chose the salmon. Both were excellent. The only question that went unanswered for the evening was which hops were used in the Taproom IPA. Tiffani didn’t know, the brewmaster had headed home 30 minutes before our arrival, Rob the manager also didn’t know and last but not least, Milt (capacity unknown) swung by and although very chatty, he didn’t know either! Tiffani brought by two small brandy snifters of a barrel aged DBA – oh my – it was superb. Now our interest was piqued and I asked about the Walker Reserve, Parabola, a barrel aged Imperial Stout – the 2011 was $ 55.00 for a 22 oz bottle and the 2012 was $ 35.00. We decide to go big! Before I could ask where I could buy it on the outside I was informed that I couldn’t…it has to be sold and consumed on site.

Parabola - Barrel aged Imperial Stout from Firestone Walker in Paso Robles, CA

Parabola – Barrel aged Imperial Stout from Firestone Walker in Paso Robles, CA – iPhone photo

It was absolutely outstanding. Murray noted that was akin to indulging in a very good Port after dinner. It felt so good in the mouth and the complexity of flavors was heavenly. All we needed was some good dark chocolate and it would have been complete. Note: Alan, the only non-beer drinking Australian I know, you would enjoy this “beer” – it really goes well beyond beer, We shared a glass with Tiffani, I hope the management won’t frown on her sharing a bit of this fantastic bottle!

A quick google search for the best barrel aged Imperial Stouts showed the Firestone Walker’s Parabola in first place amongst the voters and Goose Island from Chicago holding down the second place spot. I need to contact my nephew in Chicago to see if he can score a bottle or two for me!

I am drinking a test bottle of the Imperial Stout I brewed about 4 months ago. It is pretty tasty but will benefit from a few more months in the bottle. I will rack my Cinderella Pumpkin Ale to the secondary tomorrow. I have high expectations of this brew. Reading beer mags during the past week I discovered a brewing technique that I want to explore….. SmaSh brewing……single malt, single hop with a variation of maybe a single specialty grain…..could be an interesting experiment!

My young Imperial Stout - yum but has some time to go!

My young Imperial Stout – yum but has some time to go!

TTFN

Drink Local and Drink Responsibly!

Bishop

Will Travel for Beer

It’s Wednesday morning (well it was when I first started writing…it is now a week later) and I am sitting in lovely downtown McKittrick, California. Well, there used to be a downtown McKittrick but that was nearly 100 years ago when McKittrick was an oilfield boom town. Time has been hard on McKittrick. The old McKittrick hotel is still standing, barely. It is no longer being used as hotel but it still serves meals and whiskey and beer. First Post Office opened in 1910 for the town named in honor of Captain William McKittrick, landowner and rancher. A year later the town of McKittrick was incorporated. The oilfields were discovered due to an active petroleum asphalt seep near the town site. The petroleum deposits in the area go from the surface, seeps, through multiple petroleum bearing horizons to as deep as 24,000 feet in the Point of Rocks formation. At that depth hydrocarbons were present but not at commercial quantities. Improving technology has brought the McKittrick area from the days of surface mining the thick and heavy asphalt in 1866 to horizontal wells, steam injection to soften the heavy oils, fracturing the rock to increase the exposure to the reservoir and even going back into nearly 100 year old wells and re-completing them in 2012.

Old Photo in McKittrick Store.
Source; http://www.handfamily.org/rssbrth3.htm

The town of McKittrick is essentially a ghost town, very few full time residents but literally thousands of workers show up every morning, commuting primarily from nearby Bakersfield and a number from Taft. The traffic coming out on Highway 58 as well as the infamous Highway 33, is a steady stream of headlights/taillights stretching out for miles like a 55 mph train with destination “oil patch” ahead. Come 4:00PM the train reverses itself and heads back to the home destinations. “Beer thirty” is the common reference to quitting time in the oil patch. Watering holes across Bakersfield and Taft start filling up with the thirsty folks migrating back form the patch. If I let my memories drift back to 1969, my first summer in the oil-patch, we started the “watering” process as soon as we drove off of the oil company property. At the bottom of the water cooler were 6 ice cold bottles of Coors beer. As part of that train heading back to town we tried to be responsible and deposit our empty bottles at the base of various road signs on the drive home. We had no time to stop to drop them off so we launched them hoping they would encounter the sign face and drop neatly to the base of the sign. Ah, the good old days!

Now, don’t think too poorly of me, the other night I stopped by the local Hooters on Rosedale Highway for a beer. Rosedale Highway is one of the primary daily migration routes to and from the Patch. I was a little disappointed by the lack of variety at “Hooters”, beer variety folks!!!! I also look around and I see oilfield logos galore. I see Chevron, Halliburton, Nabors, Key Energy, KSI, Oxy, Aera Resources and the list goes on. “Hooters” is just one of many watering holes located at reasonable distances from the “patch”. Besides the obvious head swivels and comments….there is a lot of oilfield talk. Who is drilling, who is hiring, what the pay is, moaning about the traffic and always talk of football!

One of my local favorites is Lengthwise Brewing Company – they make some very good beer, have a better variety than Hooters…….BEERS !!!!! and pretty good food. The two beers that I always enjoy when in town are the Centennial Ale, an IPA, and the Triple Hop Red Ale. I am in town for two weeks and I may do a little exploring on the weekend and scoot off to Kernville to sample a couple of their offerings. – Update….didn’t make the Kernville drive but I did make it back to the Lengthwise Pub on Calloway to sample a couple more good ones.

This week – tried the local BJ’s Brewhouse….a bit of a disappointment – My travel partner and I both like good beers and we had to get down to second and third choices….they had either run out, or changed the offerings and not updated the menu or just weren’t sure. Not a good thing…They do have a good looking list of guest beers but they do not seem to manage the process very well.  Service on this trip to BJ’s was not anywhere near good…..We were both disappointed! I was surprised because they weren’t busy but it could be that the young lady was new… I had their Piranha Ale – pretty tasty and an IPA from Healdsburg in northern California….Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA. That was a really nice beer.

http://www.bearrepublic.com/ourbeers.php

Bakersfield’s Best Microbrewers… and Our Food is Pretty Good Too!

Next stops – Camarillo, San Luis Obispo and eventually back to Houston.

Drink Local!

TTFN

Bishop

Just One Beer at a Time

Thursday night October 25th I was in Long Beach at the 555 East Steakhouse. As advertised – very good steaks but I had been wanting a local beer to compliment the meal. It seems like there are lots of San Diego beers, Northern California beers but LA is barren when it comes to local beers. I quizzed the waiter….he had to check, seems like wine is their thing at the restaurant. I was in luck, they had a new offering from a small brewery just up the road in Torrance, CA., called the Strand Brewing Company. I had a pint of the 24th Street Pale Ale. I was pleased with the aroma and it had a pleasant drinkable taste. So I had another! I did a little research….for some reason LA is way behind the craft brewery craze in my home state. Strand Brewing is a good representative of what LA needs more of.

I flew home to Houston, arrived a little after noon, repacked my bags and headed off to Baton Rouge. 283 miles later I pulled into the Fairfield Inn on Essen! My son Ben met me and suggested we dine at Twin Peaks. I was expecting a Rocky Mountains theme and it was more like Le Gran Tetons – if y’all know what I mean( that is really a lie, I knew exactly what Twin Peaks was all about). Anything to make the young lad feel good. I barely noticed the scenery! I tried the house brew – Naughty Brunette. It was Ok.

Saturday night found us at the Kona Grill for a meal before catching the movie Argo….decent movie, suspenseful but you knew they were going to get out…. The poor young gal couldn’t pour a beer. I tried to coach her but she didn’t get it….oh well. No sushi for Ben nor me either. Just one beer – she forgot my second beer so she only had one chance. We did eat fish…Ben is growing up, no bacon cheeseburger this night…. sea bass, couscous and some interesting vegetables.

Sunday Brunch at Chimes just off the LSU campus. A noon start….Ben needed some beauty sleep. An amazing selection of beers on tap and in bottles. I had an IPA from NOLA Brewing, the Hopitoulas IPA – best beer of the weekend. They serve Imperial Pints so one was enough before the long drive back to Houston. The breakfast/brunch at Chimes is just simply outstanding! I am looking forward to an excuse to go back so I can do a proper critique of the offerings! I just need a driver and a bed!

This week at home, I had to sip on my homebrew IPA….so good!

My IPA in a St Arnold’s 12 ounce glass…..trying to stretch it out a little longer. I have 6 L remaining of the original 18 L batch.

Grilled some chicken the other night along with a Karbach Hopidillo in hand – this local brewery is so good! Last night I chilled one of my Imperial Stouts…..it has been bottled maybe 6 weeks. it was a little early but I just had to know. I bottled about 6 – 12 ounce bottles as the sacrificial offerings. It was good but I know that it will just get better with age. December 1st is the next scheduled sampling.

Just finished that little 12 ouncer of my IPA as I sit here tapping the keys and listening/watching the CMA Awards…..life is just so damn good!

Drink Local

TTFN

Bishop

Long Beach – Beers with the Queen Mary

I forgot to bring the battery charger for my newly repaired Nikon J1 so the photos are 3g iPhone quality. My work travels this week took me to Long Beach, California. I decided to suffer a little, leave the Houston heat and humidity behind and struggle with cool ocean breezes, nice scenery (!!!!!!) and some good beers.

At Parkers’ Lighthouse in Long Beach I had a Green Flash IPA – ALC. BY VOL. 7.3% | IBUS: 95 – Brewed in San Diego California….I really liked it and did not find it overly hoppy. The brewer says, “A menagerie of hops is layered throughout the brewing process: Simcoe for unique fruitiness and grapefruit zest, Columbus for strong hop pungency, Centennial for pine and citrus notes and Cascade for floral aroma. A multi-dimensional hop experience.” I do indeed like Cascade and Simcoe hops!!! They blended well with the rest of the hop schedule

The patio offered up a really nice view the evening my work buddy and I visited the Parkers’ Lighthouse restaurant. They have a good solid seafood menu and they also house a steak house on the top floor. Below is the view from the patio sitting under the overhead heater….just enough to take the chill off. Gosh I wish I could be on my patio in Houston …. swatting mosquitoes, wiping sweat off my brow and listening to the sound of the AC units kicking on and off, off and on, on and off………….

Queen Mary from across the water on the patio at the Parkers’ Lighthouse Restaurant.

Another view from the patio at the Parkers’ Lighthouse restaurant – beautiful sunset.

On another evening we dined at the Yard House in Long Beach – they have an overwhelming variety of beers on tap. We found a seat where we could catch a bit of the first game of the World Series – so while in Rome do what the Romans do….we cheered for the Giants. I sampled a couple of California IPA’s, the Speak Easy Double Daddy IPA from San Francisco was first down the hatch and it was – in my opinion – awesome! For my second beer I went south and tried a San Diego offering from Mission Brewery – the Shipwrecked Double IPA. Good beer but my choice between the two would the Double Daddy IPA…The food at the Yard House – typical pub grub.. I had a tasty Halibut but it was a little dry, the beer helped.

I have been good all week, three nights of fish, one night a flank steak salad –  so tonight will be a steak, a real steak….and probably a good beer. I catch the early flight out in the morning from LAX and back to the warm and humid embrace of the lovely  Houston weather.

Drink Local and …

TTFN

Bishop

Beer Drought in Midland is Nearly Over

Why do I claim that the beer drought in Midland is nearly over? The local HEB supermarket on Wadley has just overwhelmed me with their stock of craft beers. I have visited a couple of the package beverage stores in town and the pickin’s were slim! HEB not only offers variety but they also offer the ability to pick and chose single bottles!!!! They even supply the wine carriers – six-pack style to haul your treasures home. I ran across this mix and match concept this summer in of all places – Biloxi Mississippi! Shown below is a rack, four shelves of very nice choices.

So many choices!!!!

I was in Midland for three nights staying at a Residence Inn with my own little kitchen and refrigerator in the room. I picked up a small selection as shown in the photo below. Two out of three will stay on my play list…. the Alaskan White would be of interest to my wife…it is Blue Moonish/Shock Toppish in flavor.

My selection for the three nights in Midland. The glass held the Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA.

I also found an establishment that is also putting a dent into the Midland beer drought. Double Dave’s Pizza has a cooler full of a nice variety of craft beers….Two thumbs up to the guys at Double Dave’s…. I had a Deschutes Porter – the Black Butte Porter to be precise. It has a nice velvety feel in the mouth with a nice roastiness and with a hint of chocolate. I my brain this phrase resonates –  “I’ll be back” – with an Austrian accent.

Back to HEB – a good selection of the 22 ounce bottles and a selection of Belgium offerings.

Belgian style too boot!

Now, if only they can get some consistent rain the area will be well on its way to recovery!

TTFN

Oh, and Drink Local!

Bishop

 

Oh My – The Choices are Overwhelming!

I was needing a new blog that I just started following and I pulled some category winners from his posting…

84 categories of beer styles, 85 if you count the ProAm category, at this year’s Great American Beer Festival. I need to block some time in my schedule next year to fit this festival in in. What would it cost to sample all of the gold through bronze winners in each category???? That is 255 beers…a little more than enough to get my platter hung on the wall at the Flying Saucer. At say $ 4.00 per beer, that may be a little high, that works out to about $ 1,020 not counting shipping, travel hotels, meals and aspirin! I wonder if I can contact “beerjobber.com” ( http://www.beerjobber.com/ )and set up a weekly delivery to work my way through the 85 categories…that would save on the travel costs…. Hey Hun – what do you think? http://www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com/

I have highlighted a few categories that caught my eye. I am in the research phase of some new homebrew attempts. The “Session Beer” category has caught my eye for my next homebrew. A little lighter and around 4% ABV vs a lot of my brews that are 5+% to nearly 10% for my Imperial Stout. One of my favorite California breweries seems to have done well – Firestone Walker in Paso Robles…Next visit home I may need to get a room at the Courtyard Marriott there and sample, sample, sample!

Category 1: American-Style Wheat Beer, 29 Entries
Gold: Wagon Box Wheat, Black Tooth Brewing Co., Sheridan, WY
Silver: Shredders Wheat, Barley Brown’s Brew Pub, Baker City, OR
Bronze: American Wheat, Gella’s Diner and Lb. Brewing Co., Hays, KS

Category 12: Session Beer, 67 Entries
Gold: Twerp, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA
Silver: Dock Street/Thiriez Table Saison, Dock Street Brewery, Philadelphia, PA
Bronze: Bitter American, 21st Amendment Brewery, San Francisco, CA

Category 15: Fresh Hop Ale, 34 Entries
Gold: Estate Homegrown Ale, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA
Silver: HopTime Harvest Ale, Russian River Brewing Co., Santa Rosa, CA
Bronze: Colorado IPA Nouveau, Tommyknocker Brewery, Idaho Springs, CO

Category 21: Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer, , 51 Entries
Gold: Jerry Maker, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery – Chandler, Chandler, AZ
Silver: Bourbon Barrel Aged Night Sail, Island Brewing Co., Carpinteria, CA
Bronze: Local Species, Blue Mountain Barrel House, Arrington, VA

Category 25: Aged Beer, 24 Entries
Gold: 2010 Old Trainwreck Barleywine, Silver Moon Brewing, Bend, OR
Silver: 2004 Triple Exultation, Eel River Brewing Co., Fortuna, CA
Bronze: Lovely Cherry Baltic Porter, Bend Brewing Co., Bend, OR

Category 44: Golden or Blonde Ale, 67 Entries
Gold: Steelhead Extra Pale Ale, Mad River Brewing Co., Blue Lake, CA
Silver: Firemans #4, Real Ale Brewing Co., Blanco, TX -one of my wife’s favorites
Bronze: TAPS Cream Ale, TAPS Fish House & Brewery, Brea, CA

Category 52: American-Style India Pale Ale, 203 Entries
Gold: IPA, Tap It Brewing Co., San Luis Obispo, CA
Silver: Pallet Jack IPA, Barley Brown’s Brew Pub, Baker City, OR
Bronze: Duet, Alpine Beer Co., Alpine, CA

Category 53: Imperial India Pale Ale, 128 Entries
Gold: 2 X 4, Thai Me Up Brewery, Jackson, WY
Silver: Café Racer 15, Bear Republic Brewing Co. – Healdsburg, Healdsburg, CA
Bronze: Double Jack, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA – one of my favorites!

Category 81: Imperial Stout, 58 Entries
Gold: Anastasia Russian Imperial Stout, Weasel Boy Brewing Co., Zanesville, OH
Silver: Imperial Stout, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA
Bronze: Russian Imperial Stout, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant – Media, Media, PA

2012 Great American Beer Festival Pro-Am Competition
Gold: More Fun Blonde, New Belgium Brewing Co., Fort Collins, CO
Brewmaster: New Belgium Brewing Company, AHA Member: Jay Shambo
Silver: Pointon’s Proper – An English Mild RAM Restaurant and Brewery – Wheeling, Wheeling, IL
Brewmaster: Lanny Fetzer, AHA Member: Scott Pointon
Bronze: Classic American Pilsner, Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery, Minneapolis, MN
Brewmaster: Mike Hoops, AHA Member: Kyle Sisco

The new blog that I am following, check it out at……..

http://bavarianairforce.wordpress.com/2012/10/18/gabf-bling/

TTFN

Drink local and if unavailable drink craft beers!

Bishop

A Bit of Drought Relief

While in Midland this past week I passed on beer drinking pretty much all week. I was being stubborn, a trait rarely seen by those that know me. Thursday night my work partner and I decided to dine at KD’s BBQ in Midland out on the Garden City Highway near I-20. It was one of my favorite lunch spots when I lived in Midland for several reasons – I liked the meat, the building and decorations are a hoot, but most of all, the serving line.

You enter through what feels like the back door to your grandmother’s kitchen. You go up the steps,  open the old wooden screen door and walk up to the row of stove tops. You grab a serving tray, add a sheet of paper and start pointing. I was a bit restrained in my selections. I went for the ribs and brisket. Other offerings include smoked turkey, hot links, regular sausage, jalepeno sausage and pulled pork….see what I mean by restraint. I did add a couple of grilled jalepeno peppers ( in West Texas I think they are called hallapenyas) either way they are tasty and pack a little bite.

I added some coleslaw, sauce and pickles to my tray. All the usual BBQ fixins are available. See my tray and yes it says $21.17…..you pay by the pound! iPhone photo.

Ribs, Brisket, coleslaw, sauce, hot peppers and no it wasn’t sweet tea.

Beer selection was a bit week, I had been craving a good local ale and kept striking out all over town so I just had to settle for unsweetened tea. Then I had a brain…………a brain flash! We took a different route home and tried the Western Beverage package store on Loop 250 and Midkiff. I went in looking for a local beer or at least something brewed in a craft brewery in Texas. I spotted Alamo Golden Ale – the deal was done. I was able to satisfy my need for a good ale to follow up the BBQ.

I dug a little deeper – I also try to find a bit more about the beer, how it  is brewed and any details that the brewer would offer up.  What did I learn? The beer is very nice, great flavor and yes a beautiful golden color. The beer is brewed under contract with Real Brewing Company in Blanco, Texas……it still fits the drink local mantra I try to follow when traveling.  The founder and president for the great beer is pursuing the establishment of a new brewery in San Antonio to expand his offerings.

It seems that a great many hurdles,  not insurmountable but hurdles nonetheless need to be resolved befor the brewery is built in San Antonio…..I just hope that the Golden Ale stays in production and on the shelves.

Alamo Beer Company

Drink Local

TTFN

Bishop

Beer and Domestic Harmony

I bottled my Imperial Stout yesterday. The sample I took for the gravity reading was very nice. Just a hint of bourbon from the oak and a taste of both coffee and dark chocolate. Can’t wait to see how it matures. While prepping for the bottling exercise I cleaned up the counters and floors to eliminate potential cat hairs from invading the beer and infecting it. I had all of the chairs moved out and mopping when my wife showed up. She was so pleased that I was mopping the floors for her! Her admiration for my efforts was not long-lasting. She quickly spotted the bottle tree, the priming bucket and other paraphernalia. Then she let know exactly what she thought….

“You’re not mopping the floors for me! You are doing it for your beer!” she said and then walked away.

My beer bottle tree = clean and sanitized bottles!

Guys, can we ever win? On Tuesday of this week we were down at the St Arnold’s Brewery and she put me in a tough stop then. We were sitting at a table near the bar. There was a woman near the same age as my wife standing with her back to us. She was wearing fairly snug jeans. Kathy asked me the no win question.

“Hun, does my butt look as big as hers?” – I looked and honestly didn’t think the woman’s butt looked that big and Kathy’s not as wide as the woman’s butt. I replied, “Hun, your butt is shaped much nicer than hers!” Not quite the answer she wanted to hear.

Then she said, “let me go up and stand next her. You use your phone and take a picture for me.” Oh boy, I really can’t win this one…..fortunately she decided against having me take the picture.

I did remop the floor because I did make a bit of a mess……still did not make too many points because as she points out….I will probably just track in more muck. She normally waits for me to go out of town when she mops so the floors stay nicer – longer!

Had a nice lesson in brewing today down at the Backyard Homebrewers Education center in Humble TX – the H is silent!. I learned a few more tips and techniques to improve the brewing of my next batch!

My homemade toasted oak dowels – hand turned in my shop. They were soaked in bourbon for two weeks before being added to the secondary fermenter.

TTFN

Drink Local

Bishop

Imperial Stout- bottling day

Prepared on on iPhone so it is a bit of a challenge. I spent some time yesterday cleaning bottles in order to bottle my stout today. I have a bone to pick with some of the craft brewers out there. Labels and the glue used are the issues.

I give very high marks to two brewers, Back Forty Brewing – Naked Pig, good beer and the label slips off with minimal effort. Pappadecker Brewing, that’s me. My labels purchased from the Defalco supply store in Houston are close to perfect.

Sam Adams – you are a close second. Thank you! You are also a home brewers friend. Abita, y’all are close behind. Keep up the great work crafting gear beers and never, never go to twist off caps!

Now I have a problem with Real Ale bottles. Your labels are a real bitch to remove. Your beers are good and made in Texas but help us cheap guys out. I am trying to save money and recycle your bottles but your glue makes it a challenge!

Craft brewers, please help out your homebrewers as we tend to purchase your products over the mass produced yellow fizzy waters in the stores. We compliment you as well, as we try to emulate your styles so – help us out! Use glue and labels that will release in 20 minutes immersed in water! PS – I hope your ink is nontoxic – the labels go into my compost pile!!!!

One of my labels just sliding cleanly off the bottle! Enjoy and drink local! TTFN – Bishop

20121005-100110.jpg