Skiing and Homebrewing on the Horizon

Season's Greetings!

With true winter three weeks away, I am gearing up for an exciting next couple months. Not only will I be spending weekends on the slopes of a couple Lake Tahoe resorts, but I will also be taking my interest in craft beer to the next level. Starting at the beginning of next year, I'll begin my adventures in homebrewing. I have some great creations in mind, and hopefully I will get a chance to see at least one of them come to fruition.

There is much to prepare for aside from getting the right kit, so to start I'm diving into John Palmer's third edition of How to Brew. This guide provides readers with a basic understanding of the ingredients and processes that go into brewing--not to mention you can learn a lot about cleaning and sanitizing solutions! What I appreciate about Palmer's third edition is that you can understand the fundamentals without reading more than 20 or 30 pages, but if you want to see the art behind the science, read on with gusto.

In recent weeks, I have engaged in much beer tasting and beer appreciation. The craft beer scene is starting to come alive a little in American society, but it is booming in cyberspace. The learning and interaction potential in sites such as BeerAdvocate and CraftBeer.com will get you buzzing in a matter of a couple minutes. So will tasting a unique spectrum of beers! I myself have picked up a couple favorites from Foam Fest as well as some unfamiliar brews, such as this fantastic smoked Rauchbier I learned about in Randy Mosher's Tasting Beer. You can read up on Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock here on BeerAdvocate. 

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on what I'm thinking about in light of homebrewing, new brews in my glass and everything else beer-related.

You Stay Hoppy California,

Pink

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Foam Fest Pt. 2

This is a continuation of Foam Fest pt. 1 for those who would like to read more!

I’d especially like to bring up how a couple breweries, by whom I was previously not impressed, dazzled me with different selections and even some “Beer 101” advice. In my previous entry, I documented my first encounter with the Tied House Brewing and the Blue Frog Brewery, reviewing their Blond Ale and Hefeweizen, respectively. However, despite not caring for either brew, I approached the breweries’ booths and struck up some good conversation. 

With Blue Frog, I learned that briefly inverting the bottle of a Bavarian hefeweizen prior to pouring will allow the yeast sediment at the bottom to disperse evenly enough to give you that great banana/clove/bubblegum flavor. Why I don’t need to do this with a Franziskaner I don’t know, but I do know that April and the rest of her posse at Blue Frog are spoiling the Northeast part of the San Francisco Bay Area with a diverse selection of beers. In short, I’ll give them thumbs up for a crisp, clean-finishing IPA and a raise of my glass for their sweet and spicy, but certainly not overwhelming, La Rana Pazzo (“the crazy frog” in Italian). “Pazzo” alone warrants a brewery tour. 

I also redeemed my experience with San Jose’s Tied House/Hermitage Brewing upon the very aroma of their oak-aged season that, for beer competition purposes, is deemed an “IPA.” With an aged hoppy pale such as TH’s Ale of the Hermit, you discover some unique hop characteristics and less of a bitterness; conversely, you get a little more of a spiced, toasted finish. In addition to Ale of the Hermit, I took my chances with TH’s Ale of the Two Tun, a rich double-porter/imperial stout. A current San Jose resident, I look forward to learning more about the Tied House/Hermitage when I visit them in the near future. A big thanks to Carolyn and her colleague (come on I can only remember so many names in a night!).

My sincere thanks to these outstanding breweries, large and small, and the people of Disabled Sports USA Far West.

You Stay Hoppy California (especially after imbibing your dankest of nectar),

Pink

Foam Fest 2010 pt. 1

Good People of Beer Nation,

I come bearing fruitful wisdom and enlightenment following last night’s Foam Fest beer tasting in Truckee, CA. This was a wonderful event put on by Disabled Sports USA Far West, the Truckee community and the top-flight craft breweries of the West Coast. At Foam Fest one can sample a plethora of beer styles from dozens of unique brewers. You’ll find your staple craft ales bursting with Cascadian hops, complex, rich Belgian varieties and awoken traditions in the form of 45 million year old yeast. Looking back on last year’s affair just across the Nevada border, I can assure you that Foam Fest has become a beer-laden farmer’s market, combining passion, education and style. Regardless of where you are in the Golden State, you should attend this event. 

I rolled up to the Truckee Recreation Center last night with my beer brethren expecting an evening with Northern California’s and Oregon’s main craft beer players—Sierra Nevada, Full Sail, Deschutes, Gordon Biersch, Anderson Valley, Lagunitas etc. Indeed they all made an appearance, showcasing a few of their year-round brews and a couple delicious seasonals and specialties; Sierra Nevada’s 30^th Anniversary Ale and Deschutes’ Jubelale immediately come to mind. However, what distinguished this year’s Foam Fest form last year’s was the innovative nature of the lesser known breweries. I had some of the best beer tasting experiences ever in sampling craft beer’s hidden gems. Brews such as Tied House Brewing’s Oak-aged “IPA,” Knee Deep’s Vanilla Bean Porter and Buckbean’s Orange Blossom (that’s right alpha males, I said ORANGE BLOSSOM) opened a new portal for me and my exploration of the versatility and endless possibilities of beer.

Some of my favorite beers from the night:

Knee Deep’s Vanilla Bean Porter: liquid ice cream!

Alaskan Brewing Company’s Winter Ale: brewed with hand-picked spruce roots!

Stone’s Self Righteous Ale: lovely dark but hoppy ale, perhaps a “Cascade Dark Ale” style

Tied House/Hermitage Ale of the Hermit: oak-aged pale that opens a new frontier

Blue Frog’s La Rana Pazzo: Belgian Wit with notes of honey, coriander and other spices

Mt. Tallac’s Konehead: fresh hop light ale that is German-inspired, grainy and very well balanced

To my personal fortune, I learned to never judge a brewery based on one beer you taste. Two breweries I’ve previously written about threw my judgments out the window and dazzled me with their Foam Fest offerings. I explain this in my pt. II entry.

Foam Fest drew a broader scope of breweries and, to the benefit of craft beer, drew far more people than it did last year. At least 300 people packed the Truckee Rec Center’s gym, going from brewer to brewer and filling their commemorative glasses with something completely different every time. The live music, beyond-the-ballpark food options and welcoming vibe from all attendees made Foam Fest a quality evening for any kind of beer drinker. And, for a beer geek in the making, Foam Fest left me starry eyed and desiring to cuddle with a bottle from each brewer as if it were a stuffed animal.

You Stay Hoppy California,

Pink

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My enthusiastic brew buddies who just couldn't get enough of Foam Fest and its...offerings!