Pilgrimage for the Tao Brewers Fellowship

The pilgrims

I mentioned in my post on Societe Brewing that the Tao Fellowship (one of the many brewing groups I'm in) was planning a pilgrimage down to see them.  A couple of weekends ago a group of us (Steve C, Steve S, Greg N, Daniel F and myself) got together and headed south in a rented mini van (complete with a free screw in a tire).  Our journey south of the Orange Curtain took us to several destinations, some good, some bad and some outstanding.

We met up at the historic home of Greg Nagel (world renown beer blogger) to assemble and try a few beers.  Once Daniel and his lovely wife HsiHou (who had graciously volunteered to be our DD) arrived we loaded into our "screwed" minivan and took off to sit in traffic for nearly three hours.

Pizza Port Bressi Ranch

Our first stop of the day was the brand new Pizza Port Bressi Ranch location which sometime this year will become their production location canning Pizza Port beers.  Hopefully one of the first through will be Poor Man's IPA but I highly doubt it.  It was a gorgeous and shiny facility, I want to say that they were still in the middle of a soft opening as I'd not seen any official grand opening announcement.  The only reason I knew it was open was cyber-stalking some of my beer buddies on Untappd.

I got two beers while I was there and split a pizza with Greg.  The first beer I had was El Toronado an IPA they brewed up for the San Diego location's 5th anniversary.  Overall it was a solid IPA loaded with pine and citrus aromas and a clean bitter taste.  The next beer up was a half pint of RuinTen from Stone.  I really enjoyed Ruination Tenth Anniversary last year, I even split a bottle with Bonnie to celebrate our Tenth Wedding Anniversary.  I therefore wanted to give RuinTen a try, however tracking down a bottle was proving tough so I was jazzed to find it on draft. Another top shelf dank IPA with even more resiny pine and citrus resin.  The pizza I paired the beers with was a brilliant jalapeno and pineapple that Greg suggested.

After filling up on pizza and beer we set out for our next destination. 

White Labs Tasting Room

I've been using White Labs yeast almost exclusively for the last couple of years and enjoyed what I've read in the Yeast book co-authored by Chris White.  I'd also noticed on their site for their new tasting room that they were offering pours of beers brewed with different yeasts.  I thought that was a great way to really understand the effect yeast could have on a beer.  It was therefore on my recommendation that a group of homebrewers stop by... unfortunately nothing that I drank there lived up to the promise of the concept.  

The biggest problem was the quality of the base beers did little to highlight any noticeable differences produced by the different yeast strains.  Overall it tasted like mediocre homebrew that was fermented without temperature control or water profile adjustments.  While I was glad to have gone it's definitely not a place I can recommend and if I was to do the trip again I've opt to go to AleSmith or Ballast Point instead.  

Leaving disappointed we headed to our next and final destination... 

Societe Brewing Co

There's not much more to say on Societe outside of my previous post but once again Societe proved to be one of the highlights of our journey.  I enjoyed a glass of the latest Bachelor, which is their series of single hopped IPAs this one with Mosaic hops. I also had half pours of Pupil, Apprentice and the Widow and got two fills to send to my Minnesota buddies.

Overall it was a great trip and I would love to do it again soon.

Skål

- SNB

Firestone Walker Invitation Beer Festival 2013 #FWIBF

Hanging out with my favorite brewer Todd Haug of Surly

I've been to a bunch of beer related festivals over the years and my hands down favorite is the Firestone Walker Invitation Beer Festival held annually in Paso Robles.  This is actually the first year I could use the word annually in the correct context as last weekend happened to be it's second annual.  It really is a fantastic fest both in concept and in execution with one of the greatest selection of breweries I've ever seen at a fest.  The basic concept is that Matt Brynildson, Firestone Walker's head brewer, reached out to brewers he knows and respects from across the country and invited them to participate by bringing a minimum of two beers, something rare and something session (low abv generally below 4%).  Also included with the ticket is a great selection of food offerings

For this year I was joined by my stepfather Hugh Hamm and my good friend Daniel Fernandez. Once inside we headed straight to Surly were I had hoped to bump into Todd and Linda Haug however they we're out and about doing their own exploring. While I was enjoying my first beer, Schadenfreude (a dark lager and one of the few Surly beer's that I'd never had) the OC's premier beer blogger Greg Nagel of the OC Beer Blog found us.  The four of us then set out to explore the tremendous offerings that had been selected.

My beer of the day
Brandy Barrel Hunahpu

The first time I lost Hugh was when I stopped by to talk to Linda at the Surly booth.  While I was catching up she asked if I had ever met Mikkel Borg Bjergsø (Mikkeller) and Tore Gynther (To Øl), when I said no she asked if I wanted to. I've had a lot of really cool experiences over the years but having Linda introduce me to Mikkel and Tore was pretty damn awesome.  To it top off Mikkel himself grabbed me a glass of Lil' Mikkel and let me have my picture taken with him.  He also took a picture of me with Linda.

After I found Hugh we headed over to listen to Todd's Behind The Beer Session hosted by the Brewing Network. Ok I'll admit it, with Surly being one of my favorite breweries Surly, while not the main focus, was a big part of this years fest for me. Also, I did get to ask Todd a brewing related "homebrewer nerd" question on the difference between mash hoping and first wort hoping which I had been interested in for some time.  You can see the whole interview here with my question coming in at the 14:08 mark.

For the rest of the day we worked our way around the fest trying tons for great beers and food.  I lost Hugh again when he took off to use the restroom while I manned the abandoned Dogfish Head booth which I used to serve up "barrel aged high fives".  Once I found him we tracked down Greg and Daniel to finish the fest.  We ended up hanging out in the back with Linda and Todd culminating with me talking to Gabe and Julian of Beachwood BBQ & Brewing.  I'm trying to get Julian to be a part of QuadFest 2013 as his  Jean-Quad Van Damme is a nice clean example of the style.

Greg Nagel of the OC Beer Blog on assignment

It should come as no surprise by now that one of the highlights for me was getting to visit and hang out with my friends from Surly Brewing.  I love that in true Surly fashion they brought two of the lower abv beers to the fest; Bitter Brewer (a great american style bitter) and Schadenfreude.  Hopefully next year they'll pull out some Surly Mild and some Bender variants, who knows maybe even some Darkness? On the beer side, my favorite of the day was Brandy Barrel Hunahpu.  There was some much wonderful stuff going on in it with tons of vanilla and cinnamon mixing in and out with the brandy and the wood aromas, truly a wonderful beer. The main highlight however was bumping into and hanging out with friends within the community some of which were in from out of state.  There are two breweries I would love it see invited next year, Squatter's and Noble. I think they would be a prefect fit and I might even put up a post in the future outlining why.

I really can't wait for next year!

Cheers

-SNB

OC Beer Society 2nd Annual Chili Cook-off & Bottle-share at Peace Brewing

OC Beer Society 2nd Annual Chili Cook-off & Bottle-share

Wow, that title is quite a mouthful, but clearly articulates what went down over the weekend.  For the second year in a row I attended and entered chili at OC Beer Society's 2nd Annual Chili Cook-off & Bottle Share which was held once again at my buddy Brad's house (aka Peace Brewing).  If you would like a rundown of last year go check out the post Greg at OC Beer Blog put up.

This year the turnout was pretty much double what it was last year, and the competition for top chili honors was fierce. Where as last year I helped my wife make a kick-ass turkey chili with IPA this year I was really shooting for the gold with what I thought would be hands down winner - Barrel Aged 33 Brand Chili (recipe below).  To seal the deal I even went the extra steps of topping it with bacon.  Unfortunately in the end it was to no avail and Greg ended up taking the top prize with Daniel coming in second, but enough about the chili let's talk beer!

Beer!

I brought four beers this year; Cuvée Saint-Gilloise (Cantillon), Holiday Beer 2010 (SNB Brewing), Commander (Lift Bridge) and The Auroch’s Horn Aged On Rhubarb (Olvalde).  The Cuvée was excellent and was my 1,200th check in on Untappd. I was really surprised by how good the Holiday Beer 2010 had gotten, all the spices have really melded well into the beer to create something truly special. I've got two bottles left and I think I'm going to continue the tradition of opening them at this event next year and the year after.  The other beer I brought that I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it was The Auroch’s Horn Aged On Rhubarb (Olvalde).  I got a slight sour/tart note on it that reminded me of chardonnay.  I asked someone who knew wine what she thought and while she didn't get chardonnay she could see where I was coming from when I described why I was tasting chardonnay.

Some of the beers I thought were highlights of the event for me were; Four and Five (Surly - shocking I know), Rooster King (Beancurdturtle Brewing - really developing nicely with the Portola coffee), Murda'd Out Stout (Three Floyds - I'd wanted to try it), Kopi-Speedway Stout (AleSmith - score), Le Bleu (Ithaca - fantastic blueberry beer) and Black Note (Bell's - once I'm back from Europe and the frenzy dies down I'm trading for a 4-pack)

Here's the complete list of beers (red highlights = what I brought / blue highlights = highlights for me)

• Rooster King by Beancurdturtle Brewing
• Thumbprint Cran-bic Ale (2011) by New Glarus Brewing Company
• Totality (2012) by FiftyFifty Brewing Co.
• Cuvée Saint-Gilloise (Champions) by Brasserie Cantillon - Untappd Check-in 1,200!
• Trappistes Rochefort 10 by Abbey Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy
• 120 Minute IPA (2012) by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
• Five by Surly Brewing Company
• Murda'd Out Stout by Three Floyds Brewing Company
• Winter Ale by Kern River Brewing Company
• Four by Surly Brewing Company
• Holiday Beer 2010 by SNB Brewing
• Kentucky Dark Star by Fremont Brewing
• Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine Style Ale Aged In Bourbon Barrels (2010) by Stone Brewing
• Firestone 13 Anniversary Ale by Firestone Walker Brewing Company
• Earl by Hill Farmstead Brewery
• Commander Bona Fide Barleywine (2011) by Lift Bridge Brewery
• Speedway Stout (Kopi Luwak) by AleSmith Brewing Company
• Bourbon Abominable by Fremont Brewing
• Black Note Bourbon Barrel Aged by Bell's Brewery, Inc.
• Gingerbread Stout by Hardywood Park Craft Brewery
• Bourbon Barrel Aged Plead The 5th (2012) by Dark Horse Brewing Co.
• Excelsior! Le Bleu by Ithaca Beer Company
• Rodenbach Caractère Rouge by Brouwerij Rodenbach (Palm Breweries)
• Excelsior! White Gold by Ithaca Beer Company
• Ola Dubh 18 Year Special Reserve by Harviestoun Brewery
• Trappist Westvleteren 8 by Brouwerij De Sint-Sixtusabdij van Westvleteren
• Noyaux by Cascade Brewing Company
• The Auroch’s Horn Aged On Rhubarb by Olvalde Farm and Brewing Company
• 50 25 Sour Belgian Style Quad Ale by Stoudts Brewing Company
• Arthur by Hill Farmstead Brewery
• The Count by Grimm Brothers Brewhouse
• Eclipse - Heaven Hill Rye (2009) by FiftyFifty Brewing Co.
• R & D Golden Ale by New Glarus Brewing Company
• Ruination IPA with Habanero Peppers by Stone Brewing Co.

Scott and Brian (Thee Beer Book)

It was a great afternoon of beer. Brad and Ron (OC Beer Society) really put together an incredible event that was a ton of fun.  I got to try a lot of great beer but more than that I got to hang out and really get to know a lot of the OC beer scene.  For me it was really a fusion of multiple groups; OC Beer Society, SBS (Scott, Steve, Ryan with David and Marisa) Brewluminti etc.  A few people from the OC Beer Society like Chris (Orangey) I'd seen only online while others like Nick (Miklos) and Jeff I'd met before but got to know this round.

I honestly can't wait for the 3rd Annual!

Cheers

- SNB

New Brew Thursday 3rd Anniversary - Woo!

Me hanging out with Stephen (New Brew Thursday)
and Greg (OC Beer Blog) who let me use the picture

On a nice January evening the SBS crew (Scott, Steve, Ryan and Scott), Scott's wife Jennifer and I headed North to Beachwood BBQ and Brewing to celebrate the third anniversary of my favorite online show - New Brew Thursday. 

We got there just before the 7:00 pm start time to find the place already pretty packed with fellow beer geeks anxiously anticipating the bottle share and revelry that was to come. We were told the wait for a table would be about a hour, so we figured we would stash our beer filled bags and grab a drink.  I headed straight back to congratulate host Stephen Johnson on 3 growing years of NBT and was fortunate enough to score one of the last commemorative glasses.  

3rd Anniversary Glass - woo!

After grabbing a beer at the bar we hung out socializing with other party goers while we waited for our table.  As with most cultural communities you tend to run into a lot of the same people over time at various gathering.  This is actually how I got to know the SBS crew.  The first time I met the guys was at the 2011 Bruery initiation party then a few months later at another event.  Phone numbers were exchanged and we started hanging out a couple of times a month. 

It wasn't long after we got a beer that my buddies Brad (from Peace Brewing) and Greg (from OC Beer Blog) arrived with their ever lovely wives. While I was talking with them Matt Becker came up to say hi to Brad and Greg allowing me the opportunity to congratulation him on the success of the show.

About a half a hour in, just about the time we were starting to get really hungry, we scored one of the best tables in the restaurant, a big U shaped table about midway in the which also happened to be right across from the bottle share.  To make things even better within minutes of getting seated the bottle share started! We quickly ordered dinner and started to hit up the share.  I bumped into another acquaintance Chris (beachstrength49) who hooked us up with some of the best beers of the night.

He's a rundown of the fantastic beers I got to try that night

• Alpha Supreme by Beachwood Brewing <Brewed For NBT>
• Fantôme Saison D'Erezée - Printemps by Brasserie Fantôme
• DBA Unfiltered 100% Barrel Aged Cask by Firestone Walker Brewing Company
• Ode to a Russian Shipwright by Olvalde Farm and Brewing Company
• 23rd Anniversary Old Ale by Karl Strauss Brewing Company
• Melange A Trois (Reserve Series, Chardonnay Barrel Aged) by Nebraska Brewing Company
• Eclipse - Elijah Craig 12 (2012) by FiftyFifty Brewing Co.
• Eclipse - Elijah Craig 18 Year (2011) by FiftyFifty Brewing Co.
• Victory At Sea (2008) by Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits
• Bolt Cutter (15th Anniversary Barley Wine) by Founders Brewing Company
• Spring 2012 Biere De Mars by Almanac Beer Co.
• Firestone 13 Anniversary Ale by Firestone Walker Brewing Company
• Papier (2009) by The Bruery
• B.O.R.I.S. The Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout by Hoppin' Frog Brewery
• Genealogy of Morals by Hill Farmstead Brewery
• Lambic by Rivertown Brewing Company
• Barrel Aged Alpha Klaus with Plum by Three Floyds Brewing Company
• Angel's Share (2009) by The Lost Abbey
• The Full Pint 5th Anniversary Ale by Firestone Walker Brewing Company
• Batch #1 by Crooked Stave Brewing Company
• Bourbon County Cherry Rye by Goose Island Beer Co. (AB-InBev)
• 2011 Rum Barrel Oil of Aphrodite by Jackie O's Pub & Brewery
• Mother of all Storms (2012) by The Pelican Pub & Brewery
• Diesel #2 by Cascade Brewing Company

Best shot I had of the party - thanks crappy phone

As luck turned out Stephen spent a good portion of the evening hanging out at our table, which given its location had also become a satellite to the main share. Just like when I hung up with him at the Stone Epic Festival: The Final Chapter I had a great time and learned a lot about various subjects.

Overall it was one of the best anniversary parties I'd been to and we ended up staying deep into the evening hours (technically when we left it was the next day!) enjoying great beer, hanging out with quality people and having a fantastic time.

Cheers to another year NBT crew - woo!

-SNB

Sydnie IPA

The labels from the first 2 Sydnie IPAs

As I've mentioned before in 2009 my mom bought me a Mr Beer for my birthday.  After sitting on it for a few weeks I ordered the American Devil IPA kit as I wanted my first beer to be an IPA.  It was with that in mind in that I brewed my first beer in my house in January of 2010.  I called this beer Sydnie IPA after my still incubating offspring and as legends go it turned out really bad.  Somewhere along the way it got an infection (probably from the water I found in the back of my fridge) and was never really drinkable.  Despite the disappointment of the first try I really loved the process and continued forward.  For those saying it was probably because I used Mr Beer I disagree as I went on to make dozens of success beers using Mr Beer products. 

Later that year after getting 20 odd beers successfully under my belt I decided to give Sydnie IPA a second go and again I was left with a less than stellar brew.  Was the name cursed?  I had made a bunch of really tasty beers since my first outing. I'd followed the directions to a tee and had again failed. Again I put the disappointment behind me and continued forward honing my brewing techniques. While I made several IPAs and worked on a few IPLs over the last couple of years but none of them carried the name Sydnie IPA.

That was until October of 2012.

On October 21st I did a brew demo for Addison Homebrew Provisions.  Leading up to the demo I created a poll on the forum asking people what they wanted to see made.  I had five ideas in mind each would included a presentation topic to discuss during the downtime between steps. 

• IPL – Discussion Topic: Lagering 
• IPA – Discussion Topic: Hop Additions 
• Imperial Stout– Discussion Topic: Brewing BIG Beers 
• Vanilla Porter – Discussion Topic: Flavor Additions 
• Split Batch – Discussion Topic: Creating Two Beers from One Wort 

In the end IPA won with 24% of the vote. 

My buddy Daniel from BeancurdTurtle Brewing pouring
some of his outstanding beer during the demo

When it was clear that IPA was going to win I started looking for a recipe. Like a lot of brewers I tend to have a lot of beer recipes floating around my brewing software.  Some of these are scribbles of recipes, a few are recipes I've come up while others are ones that I'd found online. They all fall into the "someday" I'll get around to brewing them.  One in particular stood out - Sydnie IPA... 

I'd always known that one day I would make another go at a beer called Sydnie IPA it was too sentimental of a name for me to never use again.  I also knew that I would need a new recipe for it, just start completely fresh carrying over just the name.  The recipe I'd been toying with was based on an old Melrose IPA homebrew recipe that Julian Shrago had posted back in 2007.  I'd made a few modifications along the way (converting it to extract for the demo and including a little carared for color).  Mostly I was evaluating the hop bill for a new IPL style recipe I'm working on.

The demo went off pretty well,  a few oh my gosh (as Sydnie would say) moments but overall it went really well.  

One of the few benefits that not posting for over 6 weeks has afforded me is time.  Normally I would post about only the brew aspect of the beer and never really report on how it came out. In the case enough time has passed between brewing and posting for me to report on how the beer turned out.  It turned out really great, probably the best IPA I've brewed.  The hop bill worked really well and is a lock to make it into my forthcoming IPL. Curse = Smashed

Cheers

- SNB