Growlers...

For those who like to pick up their beer in large glass jugs, here's what's out & available in Greenville this week:

Total Wine -
* Kona Pipeline Porter - (brewed with 100% Kona Coffee)
* Terrapin Hopsecutioner - (new IPA from the Athens, GA brewery)
* Yuengling Bock - (spring seasonal)
* RJ Rockers Star Spangled Stout - (draught-only release from the Spartanburg brewery)
* Stella Artois

Green's -
* RJ Rockers Star Spangled Stout - (they've got it too)
* Bell's Oarsman - (berliner weisse styled brew from the Michigan brewery)
* COAST Harold Stout - (one of the newest offerings from the Charleston brewery)
* COAST Boy King DIPA - (tasty & highly-rated limited brew from COAST)

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. **

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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

Best. Sweater. Ever.

Found this and had to post it:
Other cool ones found here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36098170@N06/page2/

Activity!

Pitched a little high last night...but it's bubbling away now!  Stupid frozen wort chiller.

What is the plan?

We probably need to at least rack the Ommegang sometime this weekend.  Visible signs of fermentation have ended on the Ale we brewed last weekend.  What is on tap for the Beer Brothers?

Update me!

Holy shit, we're behind.

Where are we?  We bottled the Scotch Ale (final gravity was approx 1.019), using maple syrup (1.5 cups, with .5 cups water added, brought to a boil for a few minutes).

We brewed the Red Seal clone, and that has been racked into the secondary (gravity was about 1.010).

The Ommegang Abbey clone is still in the primary, and should probably be racked soon.

The non-traditional Ale that Andrew found on Homebrewtalk is in the primary, and is fermenting like crazy mad.  It's original gravity was 1.045, I believe. 

We had a large group sample our wares last weekend.  The Hibernation is a big hit, but there were also few of them in existence...I think there is one bottle left in my house, but Andrew claims to have some held in a secret cave, somewhere.  The coffee/pumpkin porter was also a big hit, and surprisingly, the Winter Belgian has nothing but fans.  Easy Plateau is drinking as well as it ever has, and the Rye is a delicious, fruit bomb of a beer.  Don't ask about the Saison.

This Week In Beer... Pt. 2

Another installment of what sorts of liquid goodness have been seen around town lately:

At Total Wine
* Affligem Noel
* Delirium Noel
* Avery DuganA IPA
* Avery The Czar Imperial Stout
* Southern Tier Krampus Imperial Helles Lager
* Southern Tier Old Man Winter Ale
* Magic Hat Howl Black Lager
* Bell's Winter White Ale
* Bell's Java Stout
* Bell's Cherry Stout
* Victory Old Horizontal Ale
At Whole Foods:
* Bell's Two Hearted Ale 5L Mini Kegs
* Avery 16th Anniversary Ale

The Sierra Nevada / Dogfish Head collaboration "Life & Limb" sold out quickly at TW, but rumor is the Drop In store behind Horizon Records is getting a case in today...

So...had any of these yet? What did you think?
-Ryan

When are we bottling?

I think the Rye needs to go in the bottle.  Likewise for the Saison.  Prob can't even happen until early next week, but we need to be thinking about this!

An Update!

Took the week off, so this place died down to nothing. You know, other Beer Brothers...you can post too!

Anyway, quiet here doesn't mean quiet in the fermenter. Here's a brief summary of what has gone on, with more details to come:

- The Pumpkin Porter has been bottled, and is carbonating away.
- The Saison has been racked, though it tastes funky...hopefully a spice bag/dry hop will fix us up.
- We have brewed batch #6, a Rye Ale. It's about done with fermentation, and could be bottled soon.
- We have brewed batch #7, an Ommegang clone, and that is fermenting nicely.
- The Hibernation Clone and the Winter Belgian have both been enjoyed. More on these later.

Obviously, that's a lot to talk about. Hopefully I can do so, today through Wednesday...then it's back underground for a few days, as I prepare to cook for 100+ people on Saturday.

As The Gall Bladder Turns

With a vital member of the Beer Brothers recovering from a trip to the opium den, we opted against brewing the Rye, and instead transferred the Saison to it's secondary.

A taste left us scratching out heads. It was certainly flavorful, and interesting, and maybe good...but it had a smokiness that was a little weird on the palate. Some more aging + carbonation will hopefully tone that down some. Not sure where a smoky flavor profile would come from. Peppery, maybe, but smoky?

I want a full review

I missed the big event at Barley's last night. I want you to make me feel like I was there, down to how the bathroom smelled, and whether 'Machine Gun' was played on the Jukebox.

Also, how many bottles did we get?

Brew Day?

So, when is it going to be, fellas? We also need to rack the two batches we have in the carboys right now...

We could just bottle age the porter, but we do NOT have enough bottles at the moment. That Saison needs to come off the trub for a bit, I think.

We Bottling This Weekend?

If so, we are probably 10-20 bottles short of being able to rock the Winter and the Hibernation clone, which both need to go into the bottle.

DRINK, DRINK, DRINK

Let me know if Saturday or Sunday works better...I'm going to give the new bottles an Oxyclean bath tomorrow (taking the day off).

Quick Update

Our weekend double batch is still chugging along, as far as I saw last night. The Saison is roiling, and pumping the airlock, but has definitely peaked it's fermentation. The Porter is slowing, slowing, slowing, and will probably stop bubbling in the airlock today or tomorrow, I'd guess. In both cases, I think we're getting solid fermentation, and I believe both will turn out.

Recipe #6 - Ryan's 'Baby'?

Ol Ryan was discussing his 'Baby' yesterday. He's leaning towards an Imp Stout. I think that would be pretty awesome. Sample recipe we looked at in his book (extract) had an OG of 1.090. It'd be pretty impressive if we could get that kind of sugar out of an All Grain recipe.

Updates coming!

Gotta settle into my Monday morning, but I should have some updates from the two Saturday batches in just a little bit.

We should enter competitions...

This one is in Columbia.

What was that homebrewing association Ryan was saying we should join?

I can't remember...what was it called?

Brew Night!

When are we kicking things off? I'll be home around 5, feeding the baby and prepping the kitchen.