Tag Archives: Beer

Homebrew and Venison Burgers – life is just too damn good!

Last night I made a variation of my famous hamburger recipe using some ground venison from a deer my son shot a few weeks ago. To aid in the process and because I didn’t have to drive, I had 2 pints of my IPA, just an OK IPA but still drinkable, and two pints of my Dirty Honey Blonde Ale, it gets better the longer it sits. It has just a hint of a banana flavor from fermenting too warmly at 75-76 degrees F. I need to solve that problem for future batches(CFO must approve the expenditure though). The current batch of pumpkin ale has benefitted from cooler temperatures and I chose yeast that works well at that temperature.

The burgers – the last grilling effort resulted in burgers that tasted great but did not hang together as well as they should have. This time around I used 2 lbs. of venison, two eggs, A1, Worcestershire, Lawry’s Seasoning salt and Garlic salt. I put the eggs and sauces in a blender for a bit to mix them well and added to the meat. Seasoned, mixed well and formed into 6 – 1/3 lbs. Bambi burgers. They were just simply awesome and made better by the pleasure of my homebrew.

Burgers almost ready!

Burgers almost ready!

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Dirty Honey Blonde Ale needing my attention.

Sizzling away. They smell so good!

Sizzling away. They smell so good!

In the kitchen now - Burgers were great!

In the kitchen now – Burgers were great!

Drink local or make your own!

Drink Responsibly!

TTFN

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

Billings Montana – Beer; Part 1 of 3

I am home from my trip to Billings and the research did not do the brewing community justice….Billings, Montana Knows Beer! Wow, I am impressed!

Part 1 – on the day I arrived I checked into the Crown Plaza Hotel…well located and walking distance to lots of food and beer. The other plus, they have a shuttle to and from the airport. Enough of that. After checking in it was time for food and beer. I wandered down to the Montana Brewing Company Restaurant and Brew Pub. They had 8 of their offerings on tap. I wanted to maintain my equilibrium so I ordered the sampler, 8, four once servings……that seemed to be manageable, 32 ounces of beer, really just two pints over a meal!

What caught my eye on the menu was the Gorgonzola Chicken Sandwich and of course the 8 beer sampler. So, how did it go? Well, I’ll tell you how it went.

The sampler arrived first. – Yee Haw Cowboy = served with a  placemat describing each sample.

I drank them in the recommended order. Yes dear, I do follow orders – sometimes!

The MBC Golden Ale was up first. It was a nice crisp tasting beer, one that you could probably drink all day long in the summer. A very refreshing beer.

The next in the sequence was their Happy Hour Hero – an English ale. They described it as a session ale and I would agree. It was also very easy to drink – a nice golden honey color and nice, nice taste. Two for Two on the Bishop-Beer-O-Meter!

The MBC Wheat was also a winner – I am beginning to see a pattern here! Comes with a lemon slice that compliments the mild citrus taste and aroma. I think my bride would enjoy this ale – nice citrus notes but they are in the background and no coriander/bitter orange that the Belgian Wit beers seem to carry. Low on the IBU scale but that is not a bad thing. I may want to try to clone this one for my bride!

Next in the recommended sequence was the Pomegranate Wheat. I was expecting something that might be too sweet and fruity but I was pleased with the offering. Yes there was the pomegranate flavor but it was really more of an accent flavor and not dominant. I am a lover of pomegranates….goes back to my childhood – my aunt Josie would make pomegranate jelly every fall and I loved it. My uncle worked for the water company in Taft and the Western Waterworks equipment yards were ringed with pomegranate bushes/trees. I loved to peel and eat the pomegranates…lots of work, small rewards but the flavor is awesome. Leaves me longing for some buttered toast and my Aunt’s jelly.

My waitress’ favorite MBC beer was up next. The MBC Amber Ale – first sip and I said to myself, “Oh my!” This was a good beer, nice feel in the mouth, nice aroma and enough malt flavor without being overwhelming. She knows her beer.

The MBC Pale Ale was next up and this was my favorite. The cliché popped into head – “Now that’s what I’m talking about!” it was that good – in my opinion of course! Nice hops flavor, pleasant aroma, copper-colored and slightly cloudy…..very nice beer.

The British Invasion IPA by MBC followed the Pale Ale. IBU rating of 50 but honestly I was a little disappointed – I was expecting something a little more bold in the hops aspect of the beer. Now, don’t get me wrong, this is a good beer but not what I expected as an IPA.

Last on the sampler list was the MBC Custer’s Last Stout – and oatmeal stout. Complex flavors – a bit of a bitter coffee flavor and a bit of a caramel aroma. A good stout but not quite and bold as I like. Still, very drinkable and a good beer to end an evening with on a cold Montana winter night….not sure I want to be out in the Montana winter cold at night, but this stout may stave off the chills if I find myself out!

My choice….I had a couple of bites of Gorgonzola chicken left so, I ordered a pint of the MBC pale.  I gues that makes 3 pints of beer – still a reasonable number and not overwhelming. I still found time that afternoodn to spend nearly an hour in the hotel gym….not napping, I really worked out- trust me!

Perfect philosophy –

I spent a little time watching the action in the brewing room behind the glass. Clean and well laid out.

 

Montana – who knew? The state is very well represented in the craft brewing category – Part 1 B – I did try a Big Sky IPA the next evening at dinner with my client….Missoula, Montana beer from the Big Sky Brewery – it was good enough that I had two! Check out the Montana listings in the link below.

Montana Breweries – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

TTFN

Bishop

West Texas is still too Dry

After my last blog and lament – about the persistent rain and draught beer drought in West Texas my wife shot me a note….”Try Murray’s Deli Hun!” – the only acceptable reply to her request is and was “Yes Dear!”

A night later Pat McAdoo and I tried Murray’s Deli in our search for good beers. At first we thought that my dearest one had been omniscient! Well, – they offered draught beers in three sizes, 12 oz, pint and 22 oz…..that was a good sign.

The waitress asked what I wanted and I responded with my usual” I’ll have a cold beer!”

She gave me that squint! “Ok” she said, “we have cold beer. What flavor do you want?” Then she asked. “Domestic or imported?”

“It all depends. I don’t want anything like Bud or Coors!”, I told her.

She ran off a list of a few, Guinness was first and she had Bass Ale, Shock Top, Shiner, Blue Moon, Miller and a few others….. I told her that I like Guinness but that was a “one and off to bed beer” at the end of the night so I will have a Shock Top – oops, she was back a few moments later…..the keg was dry then the second choice – the Bass Ale was dry….. I then asked about what they had in bottles?

She grabbed me by the arm and dragged me up to the beer case (gently of course) and said “Take a look and pick out what you want!” Even though she is not my wife I couldn’t help myself and said, “Yes Dear!”

She dropped me off at the case and I grabbed a Shiner “Wild Hare” Pale Ale….nice bit of hops but not too hoppy – insert chuckle here for the subtle humor –  It really was a pretty good beer. In a bit she came back by and informed us that the Shock Top was up and running again, yes, I just had to have a real pint! Still no Bass Ale keg in the back but….. Hun, Murray’s was a bit better but it looks like Midland is in a craft beer drought.

With the flood of workers to the Oil Patch Boom going on in Midland – a quality establishment with a good selection of great beers would be a boon….A business opportunity maybe????? The guys at the hotel bar thought that it sounded like a great idea! I need to take their advice with a grain of salt…It was obvious that they had been there a long time and several were managing to stay on their bar stool when we returned from the AA baseball game at the local stadium near 10:00 PM. By the way, the stadium has Ziegenbach and Dos XX on draught …. a good sign for beer lovers. Go Rockhounds! Who would ever name a baseball team like that…. I guess “Rockhounds” make a bit more sense from the geological side of an oil town…. They could have named them the “Doodlebuggers” – a term applied to the seismic folks that listen for acoustic waves bouncing off of rock formations deep below their feet. I wonder what the mascot would have looked like?

Bishop – me – on the left, Cash Owens, Aurora Owens, family friend and Jamie Owens. Photo by Pat McAdoo at the Rockhounds game. Any beer visible?

TTFN

Bishop

Brewing Day has Arrived

Finally dug through my brewing kit and found a “roundtooit”!!! I always seem to be saying that I will scratch this or that off my list once I get around to it! I found “it” and the brew is in the kettle!

The batch is 5 gallons of an American IPA. While brewing I decided to try a Sam Adams ” Grumpy Monk” Belgian IPA. Pretty tasty! I thought I tasted cloves in addition to the hops- read the label and I guessed right! On my tongue is a lingering citrus, bitter orange taste. A bit like a beefed up Blue Moon. Not a Blue Moon that my wife prefers but one that is savored and enjoyed by my increasing fondness of all things IPA!

My next challenge will be fermenting temperatures! Last year’s AC work on the house has left my bedroom 6-8 degrees cooler than the rest of the house and the electric bill is nearly cut in half – two very good things in Houston. Now the dilemma!

Sweetheart, dearest one, we will need to share the bedroom with the fermenting vessel for a couple of weeks. I promise that it won’t cause any problems! I promise to not let the 6L mini-keg leak out into the back fridge like a recent event. I promise to provide back rubs on demand until this batch is properly kegged and conditioned!

Guys, did I over commit? I will look at the cost benefit ratio over the next few months. I may or may not be able to report back in much detail.

The Sam Adams with the brew kettle steaming away in the background. I also enjoyed an Amber Ale brewed by a local friend while making sure the watched pot continued to boil.
TRFN
Bishop

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Lost Coast Brewery revisited!

Sampled two very nice beers at the Lakeshore Lodge Saloon last night. Both were from the Lost Coast Brewing Co. In Arcata, California. My wife tried the Tangerine Wheat Ale with a slice of orange. She reluctantly shared a sip with me and I liked it better than here usual choice of Blue Moon Wit or Shock Top.
I had the Downtown Brown – awesome beer. Kathy tried it as a sampler and didn’t care for it. I would have that one again and again and again!
Huntington Lake is just perfect. You have to sit in the sun to stay warm. It was 40 F this morning. Probably a 100 F and humid in Houston. Do I miss it? No!

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An Equal Opportunity Post

Most of my posts have beer, beer consumption, beer drinking, beer making and belches as the common thread. Well, I just copied from a friends Facebook post a serenity prayer that includes wine in its amazing bit of wisdom – and beer!

Wine is another one of God’s gifts that can be made at home just as homebrew and the skill set that home-brewers have can be easily transferred. So, pull a cork, pop a cap or pull the draught handle, sit back and enjoy the serenity induced state. No Hun, I am not drunk, it is just a blissful state of serenity – and besides you know that you love frogs…..you kissed me didn’t you?