Homebrew Labels.

I was playing around yesterday with some ideas for some basic labels we could use to make our bottles a little more exciting. It's a very minimalist design, but I think it looks pretty cool. I slapped them on some bottles of our stuff I had in my "cellar" last night.

Here's some photos...

This Week In Beer - 2/8

A few more additions...
* Southern Tier Gemini - Blend of Hoppe & Unearthly IPAs.
* Brooklyn Schneider Hopfen Weisse - Collaboration between two of Germany & America's best breweries.
* Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast (At Whole Foods)

EDIT-
Here's the new stuff so far for this week:
* COAST HopArt IPA - This stuff is incredibly good...so fresh. This batch was bottled Jan. 29th.
* Weyerbacher Insanity - Barrel Aged version of their Blithering Idiot (Barleywine)
* Weyerbacher Heresy - Barrel Aged Imperial Stout
* Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout
* Sweetwater Tackle Box - Mix 12pk (420/Blue/IPA/Happy Ending Imp. Stout)
* Boulder Mojo Risin' Double IPA

** Big event tonight at Barley's -- Foothill's Sexual Chocolate release party. They'll have the 2010 & 2009 versions of their much lauded imperial stout on tap, as well as their barrel aged Total Eclipse Stout and their Seeing Double IPA. I'm going to do my best to make it down there. Action starts at 7pm. **

-

This week I'll include what I saw out there last week as well, since I didn't get around to posting then. Here we go...

* New Belgium Ranger IPA - New year round offering
* New Belgium Mighty Arrow Pale Ale - Spring Seasonal
* Brooklyn Black OPS - Bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout
* Leinenkugel's 1888 Bock - Spring Seasonal
* Sierra Nevada Bigfoot - Barleywine
* Coast 32/50 Kolsch - Local from Charleston; one of the highest rated kolsch beers on beeradvocate.com
Magic Hat Vinyl Lager - Spring Seasonal

This Week In Beer - 1/26

Got some interesting stuff in already, and tomorrow we're expecting to see Bell's Hopslam finally show up. Here's what we've got so far...

* Abita Jockamo IPA (6pk.)
* Flying Dog Garde Dog (6pk.)
* Harpoon Celtic Ale (6pk.)
* Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout (22oz.)
* Budweiser Select 55 / AKA "The Lightest Beer In The World" (2.4% ABV)
You really need to check out what they're saying about this guy on the interwebs... as one RateBeerian put it, "tastes like water that a beer came by and dunked its balls into".
Damn.

This Week In Beer - 1/18

Got some more tasty beverages into Total Wine this week; here's a rundown of what's new...
* RJ Rocker's First Snow Ale (winter seasonal)
* Sierra Nevada Glissade Bock (new spring seasonal)
* Terrapin Hopsecutioner IPA (new hoppy IPA in 6pks - delicious!)
* Terrapin Side Project #9 - The Dark Side (Belgian-style Imperial Stout)
* Lagunitas Brown Shugga
* Breckenridge Agave Wheat
* Bell's Double Cream Stout
* Allagash Four (Belgian-style Quadruple Ale)
* Sam Adams Noble Pils (new spring seasonal)

Back in stock:
* Bell's Expedition Stout
* Bell's Third Coast Old Ale
* Bell's Java Stout

And finally, coming next week - - Bell's Hopslam!

The Scotch Ale is CARBONATED

That maple syrup did a serious amount of bubbling on that thing.  Ryan and I got a good 6 inch head out of that thing.  We might have overshot the amounts on that thing...good thing we haven't had a bottle bomb yet!

Brew Day. Batch #12.

Saturday afternoon & evening was a busy one...racking & finally bottling our Belgian Abbey Ale, including corking our first batch ever, as well as brewing the African Amber Ale. We popped the cherry on our DIY mash tun for this recipe, and it worked pretty great. Efficiency was up, and it made things so much easier. Hard to believe just a short time ago we were smashing grain bags with plates, lids and any flat objects we could find to mash and sparge. After a couple misfires, we were also able to bottle most the Belgian into champagne bottles with our new corker (thanks, Andre). Looking forward to uncorking the first bottle in the not-too-distant future. Here's some photographic documentation of the day's work...



Racking the Rogue Dead Guy Ale clone.



Bottled! In a badass Deus bottle, no less.



Not the best job, but it'll do.



The new mash tun at work.



Garfield food.



Sweet goodness.



In the carboy.



People need sunlight! Sunlight!

Mac and Jacks African Amber

A staple of the Northwest!

Beer Advocate Reviews

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 77.27 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 9.09 %
1.00 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 9.09 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 4.55 %
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (60 min) Hops 29.2 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (5 min) Hops 3.2 IBU
1.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (0 min) Hops -
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (dry hop) 14 days
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.054 SG (1.045-1.056 SG) Measured Original Gravity: 1.055 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.014 SG (1.010-1.015 SG) Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG
Estimated Color: 12.0 SRM (11.0-18.0 SRM) Color [Color]
Bitterness: 32.4 IBU (20.0-40.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 10.0 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 5.16 % (4.50-5.70 %) Actual Alcohol by Volume: 6.52 %
Actual Calories: 240 cal/pint


Mash Profile Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge Mash Tun Weight: 9.00 lb
Mash Grain Weight: 11.00 lb Mash PH: 5.4 PH
Grain Temperature: 72.0 F Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
Sparge Water: 5.13 gal Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE

Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 13.75 qt of water at 167.1 F 155.0 F 60 min


Mash Notes
Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage Carbonation Type: Corn Sugar Carbonation Volumes: 2.4 (2.3-2.8 vols)
Estimated Priming Weight: 4.2 oz Temperature at Bottling: 60.0 F
Primer Used: - Age for: 4.0 Weeks
Storage Temperature: 52.0 F