brrrrrrrring on the beer!

In keeping with tradition, I have put this off for as long as possible.

Since then:

* the holiday ale has been bottled (bottle-conditioned) and I have sampled a few, as well as given (probably too many) away. We are going to call it "Reinbeer 2009" or "Reinbeer 2.0", the jury's still out. Leah has been working on the beer label with phenomenal progress. However, I am starting a 2nd batch this weekend that I'm going to have to push. Considering, in visiting a few of the in-laws in the last couple of months, there were still bottles of last years porter that still have not yet been opened, so I'm not too worried about not giving it enough time to mellow. Fermentation was pretty much complete by the 3rd week on batch 1, and I'm thinking I will reduce the spices on batch 2 by a hair. And no, no wort chiller yet, but we have a nice new refridgerator that has ice-making capability so my water-baths should go alot more efficiently.

*I attended Marble Septemberfest (linking to another blogger's experience because, frankly, he blogs way better than I do!!) but missed out on Hopfest. I loved the "From the Wood #2" by Marble at Septemberfest - a bourbon barrel cask-conditioned ale with a knock-your-socks-off ABV ~9% and smooth whiskey like flavor that I immediately c0mpared to Crown Royal. Leah, my better half and consummate Crown Royal afficionado, agreed, and we proceeded to burn our cold hard cash on pints of that for the rest of the afternoon. It is worth noting that subsequent visits to Marble and sampling the "Wood" (I couldn't help snickering when I heard a bonny lass say to one of the bartenders "Gimme the Wood") that it had mellowed significantly since that first sip.

*I had to take Leah out for Indian food, since she had never been and I was hunkerin' for some curry, and discovered this virtually unknown Kenyan (yeah!!! I know!!!) beer Tusker. A light, unfiltered American Adjunct lager, with sweet, floral notes. Sweet on the tongue, with little dryness. Cool, refreshing, a good contrast-pairing for spicy food.

*And I have made the commitment to

1)improve my beer knowledge and join Dukes of Ale - the local homebrewers and tasters organization.

2) Begin studying to become a beer judge .

And 3) plan 2010's brews incorporating some new kit (including a notebook) for an all-grain recipe - given space available in our tiny, yet totally comfy and cute, place.

4) I have visited most of the breweries/brewpubs in the state, but there are still a few outliers I have yet to try - Wellhead in Artesia, and Three Rivers Brewery in Farmington, and Socorro Springs in (wait for it..... wait for it......) Socorro!. I will be posting my reviews in the newly discovered Beer Mapping Project!

new kit for the christmas recipe....CHILL

For those of you who know me, and understand that planning ahead is not one of my strong suits. HA, thinking about Christmas? in August? Dude, come on, there's plenty of time.....





But I'm also a "routine" guy, and the last few years I have brewed a batch for gifts for Christmas. It's always gone over great, and as Leah and I are increasing our knowledge, and our kit, for brewing at home, this last weekend we started our first 5 gallon batch of Holiday Ale from Midwest Homebrewing and Winemaking Supply. When I mentioned it to the guys at our local pub, Chama River Brewing Tap room, they commented that it was a little late for starting a christmas beer whcih got me worried. They also commented about a wort chiller, which I had seen, but had never been advised about seriously, and figured that adding cold water would be sufficient; if I needed any more cooling, I would give the pot a water bath in the sink. So I trudged on.





So, after receiving the recipe kit, getting the 8 gallon stock pot, the 6 gallon bucket and some tubing and sanitizer and nylon stockings we were ready to make a huge mess in the kitchen.


The brewing went off without a hitch. I had planned well, sanitized everything I needed to use, and during the simmering I kept a watchful eye on my wort and temperature, more to enjoy that wonderful aroma of softly boiling malts than to make sure I didn't have a boil over. At the end of the boil I added the hops and the spices and got ready to do my water bath.





Now I did make sure my stock pot fit in the sink...and it did, just barely. But what I hadn't realized was how much it needed to chill. I had never brought 3 gallons of boiling water down to 80 degrees F. The first water bath was..... short. The 2nd water bath....short. The fourth was a little longer, and an hour later was cool enough to drop some ice packs in the water along the side of the pot. 12:30am (hour 3.5) - the 7th water bath; thermometer reading 97 degrees. OH EMM GEE I AM SOOO GETTING A WORT CHILLER!!!





About 1:30 I added the remaining cold water, transfered to my primary, and pitched the yeast. Sealed it up, checked my hydrometer reading (I.S.G. = 1.063 @ 80 degrees), put in my drain hose and went to bed.



Now that I've had a few days to suppress my anxiety about it all and relax, and reading Papazian's book has helped, I am excited for the day of transfer to the secondary.

Lessons learned: wort chiller, wort chiller, wort chiller!

burger wars!!!!

Burger wars abound... turns out Bobby Flay has been to New Mexico recently for some green chile cheeseburger cookoff here. But as a self-proclaimed connoisseur of the beef patty, I have three picks that, if ever in Albuquerque-Santa Fe area, one should definitely get to try.

In no particular order, the three are:

Green chile cheeseburger at Bobcat Bite

Bourbon butter Burger at Standard Diner

Angus burger with Foie-gras mayonaise at Nob Hill Bar & Grill

Last night Leah and I ate at Nob Hill Bar & Grill, and I was blown away at the utter juicyness of the burger, the subtlety of the Foie-gras mayo, and the lucky pairing with the bottle of Samuel Smiths Organic lager, which had great fruit notes that contrasted very well with the fat of the burger. Now that I've had a chance to look again at their bottled beer offerings, I'm quite impressed.

Now the burger at Standard Diner was equally juicy, and if you can imagine, that lovely feel and taste of sweet bourbon flavored butter trickling down your fingers and smothering your lips as you bite into this huge morsel of gobbledeegoodness. I've been here 3 times, and 2 out of the 3 the service has left something lacking.... but if yer going during off-hours, a late-lunch or early dinner, definitely fill up on this fat boy; you won't be dissapointed.

Much has been said about Bobcat bites burgers, and when I finally got to try this roadside joint's prize-winning beef, I was impressed. The patties are thick..... like an inch-and-a-half thick after cooking. And the beef is fresh, different, and well cooked. Expect to wait, and sit by the back window at the bar to watch the birds battle eachother over the feeder. I was very happy with the experience, but there's something lacking - its a great, great burger, don't get me wrong, but maybe i was expecting something different, more exotic. Definitely worth the stop and I will be definitely making it a stop in any future travels to Santa Fe in the future.

By the way, bottle my Mr. Beer Irish Stout on Monday. Had to use corn syrup for my bottle conditioning due to a drastic oversight on my part - I really hope it works ok. Also, ordered some ingredients for a Holiday beer recipe from Midwest; Leah and I will be doing a pre-test to see if this beer will be suitable for the 20 or so people we'll be giving these beers to.

Bad blogger.... BAD!!!

So, if you've come across this blog and noticed I haven't been on much... Well, I have been busy, but really don't have much of an excuse. However, that isn't because I have not been sampling beers when I could get the chance.

To summarize, most of my tastings are centered around certain events, so I can vaguely remember things:

Memorial Day; Leah and I camped up in the Manzano mountains at the Fourth of July campground. We were planning on doing some mountain biking, but because of the torrential downpour that the southwest had experienced this late spring/early summer. Well, to celebrate the warm weather, I decided to make it a "fruit beer weekend". The sampling:

Wild Blue by Anheuser-Busch

Wailua Wheat by Kona brewing

Orange Blossom Kream Ale by Buffalo Bill's

Blue Paw Wheat Ale by Sea Dog Brewing Co.

We had had the Blue Paw at a local restaurant with a roasted artichoke, and I do say that that pairing was wonderful - something we will be trying at home at some point. I have mentioned Leah's fondness for the Orange Blossom, so a six-pack of that was the first to go that weekend. I was pretty surprised by the Wailua Wheat, which is infused with passion fruit. The Wild Blue was our favorite, mainly because it suited our desire for a syrupy sweet high alcohol beer to drown our sorrows with the rain. I loved the rain, it was just wet..... everywhere.

At the end of May, we took a rafting trip up to Canon City, Colorado. We camped with about 8 other people, and along with Marble's IPA, I brought a growler of their Double IPA. I do have to mention that it was not near as hoppy as I had expected, with a nice balance of malt characters, but an overall strong character. Needless to say, I drank most of it.

June we set out for San Francisco, and I would have loved to see more breweries while there, the highlights were the following:

An "Irish" pub in downtown San Francisco where we had a nip before a movie and some shopping. No matter what, Chimay tastes good anywhere!!!

Sipping Half Moon Bay Brewery's Brown in my stylish new HMBB knit cap. The beer left something to be desired, I got the impression that this place was more concerned about their sea food (and being located right on the coast, what's there to be concerned about) than their beer. Meh.....

Then we hit Triple Rock Brewing and Jupiter, both located in Berkeley. They are both small craft brewers that have their own enjoyable clientele.... the picture on the right was taken @ Jupiter, it was a Tuesday night, a two story place, and we could barely find a table. Try the Red....

Triple Rock had better beers, and was a more traditional bar but you really can't go wrong with a taster tray.

That's about it for now. Got some irish stout fermenting, and will bottle it next week. I've got some lofty idea of doing a Gingerbread porter for christmas, I'm currently looking for a recipe. Drop me a line with any suggestions.

a half-day off; Marble IPA, Marble Apricot Sour and brainstorming

Since I worked saturday, I was able to get off at noon yesterday. Leah and I HAD to get our registrations renewed, including getting our cars emissions tested, which prompted our afternoon with some responsibility. Despite our great attitudes, we were still expecting a stereotypical experience at the NM MVD - the lady that helped us was actually, in one word, great! Leah even said "We really appreciate how nice you were". The lady, increasing her coolness, replied "Oh great, there goes my rep!". Small things, but it got our afternoon off to a great start.



We vacated MVD by 3pm, and were promptly looking for a decent place to eat that wasn't fast food. We saw that in Old Town, there was a new pizza place that took over a place that formerly was one of the premeir fine dining establishments in Albuquerquer. Old Town Pizza is a clash of styles and textures on the eyes, but they make up for it with their food and beer offerings. Marble Brewing, our local, hot new microbrewery is really making waves in town after only a year, and seems to be doing a great job at promoting itself through the local restaurants. Along with Marble's IPA, Wildflower Wheat, and their Amber, they also had a decent selection of Italian imports next to their domestics. Being a homer, I stuck with old faithful, the Marble IPA.



The Marble IPA is a super hoppy ale that sometimes can be harsh to the uninitiated. I am new to beer fandom, and am learning to discern what is a good IPA, a great IPA, and a misnamed IPA - since I cut my teeth on these bitter monsters, I sometimes find myself scowling at IPA's that have just a subtlety of hops. But I digress....



Old Town Pizza; bottom line if yer in Albuquerque - check it out. It's medium on price, and the service was good.

Sooooo, we are planning a dinner with some friends and Leah mentioned doing a beer pairing.... Well I took off on this idea and we spent the next three hours (or was it 5?) researching ideas. I will take this oppurtunity to apologize to my lovely Leah for exploding with ideas and getting so far off track from what her original idea was that I felt like a heal. But we had fun talking about recipes and beers, and trying beers - and that what this is about....

so you blogosphere addicts, here is what we've got so far....

An Apple and Bacon Spinach salad paired with a Apricot Sour from Marble. We weren't sure how long this seasonal brew would last, so we invested in a growler for this purpose.

I want to make a grilled Salmon dish - I found this recipe in a wild game cookbook years ago and have made it several times with success. It's called Koni Salmon, supposedly a Hawaiian dish, but have never found its like elsewhere. The best description for the marinade is "it is like Teriaki with green onions, sesame seeds, and alot of garlic". I'm hoping that if I can find some Moose Drool locally, that it will pair well with this, but...... any ideas?

Thats about all we got so far - we have other ideas, but I think thats all that's formalized. And baby, if I am mistaken about this.... I apologize.

Any other pairing ideas out there? I'd love to hear about 'em!

made in Voyage!!!

Well, I'm not big on blogging, but I wanted to do this to create some sense of balance with "leah says...."'s blog. Not to give you the impression that I will be presenting some alternative sense of perception of life in contrast to hers.... I'm just expanding on her stuff, at the same time as promoting her blog. Leah is my girlfriend, who I looooooooove dearly, and I PROMISE!!! to make you vomit at times with my gushing over her.

So, we just got back from Taos' Spring Beer Fest held saturday night, March 21st at Taos Ski valley. I was a smidge skeptical because I really couldn't find out prior to the event which breweries were gonna be there... Let me tell ya, I was impressed!! Here's a short list (from what my beer-befuddled mind can muster, my apologies if I forgot anyone) of who was there:

New Mexico Breweries

• Chama River
• Marble
• Blue Corn
• Santa Fe
• Eske's
• Rio Grande

Colorado Breweries

• Left Hand
• Breckenridge
• SKA
• Odell
• Great Divide
• New Belgium

California Breweries

• Stone
• Pyramid

Oregon Breweries

• Full Sail

Montana!!!?!?!?

• Big Sky

Others

• I saw a table that was promoting Guiness and Murphy's, but never visited it...

Some favorites you ask? Well I had never tasted Stone's Porter ( http://www.stonebrew.com/tasting/smoked/index.html) and walked away really impressed with it. Also the Big Sky "Moose Drool", ( http://www.bigskybrew.com/index.aspx/Our_Beers/Moose_Drool )I was uber impressed with - I think I went back 3 times. Also, Session Lager by Full Sail ( http://www.fullsailbrewing.com/session.cfm?CFID=6421463&CFTOKEN=50713031) was really tasty and I DO intend to pick some up for our next dinner on the patio.

Leah was in love with Marble's Apricot Sour, a seasonal they had just released this last week. And I did hear some buzz about a Raspberry, I do remember tasting it, but can't remember who produced it - probably because, I'm sorry, it just wasn't that memorable. Some other Fruit or Vegetable beers that I was fortunate enough to try were a Ginger beer, unfortunately I can't remember the brewery... And Eske's Green chile beer, which WAS spicy, and very interesting - I just can't see myself drinking a whole pint of it - but in the spirit of open-mindedness, when I do visit Eske's I will ask them what type of pub fare they like to pair with it. I was floored though when Leah's mom Linda said she "...really liked that 'bastard' beer up on the second floor". We both LOL'd when we realized she was talking about Stone's Arrogant Bastard ( http://www.arrogantbastard.com/index2.html).

On the way up to Taos on Saturday, Leah, myself and her mother stopped at 2nd St. Brewing ( http://www.secondstreetbrewery.com/ ) in Santa Fe for an early lunch and to sample the fare (er... tranlated "beer'). We did a sampler, which for those of you who don't make breweries very often, is a tray of small samples of a brewery's offerings. We all really liked their Old Pecos Porter and the Cream Stout. I did have their Irish Red with my reuben, which was very drinkable (the beer, not the reuben). I also had to get a t-shirt!!!

We came back a little hung over on Sunday, but had to stop and eat at Michael's Kitchen in Taos. Apparently alot of the locals go there, as well as the tourists, 'cause the place was packed!! and after our late breakfast we made our way home to 'Burque. Despite our condition, Leah and I worked on our patio garden when we got back.

Not bad for a weekend if I do say so myself.... Until our next adventure.