Santa's Little Helper... A Guest Post From Brewery Reviewery

I have a special treat for everyone today! Nate from Brewery Reviewery was kind enough to write today's post giving us all some great gift ideas for the craft beer neophyte. When you check out Brewery Reviewery you will see Nate knows his stuff!  The website is up to its 164th beer review! So without further ado, here are some great gift ideas from Nate....

Santa's Little Helper... Gifts for the Homebrewer

Do you have somebody in your life who wants to start homebrewing? Maybe you already have a homebrewer in your life and don't know what gadgets they may still need. Below I have outlined gifts any homebrewer would love at a range of price points so any gift giver can feel comfortable. As always, feel free to leave a comment with any questions you may have. These gifts are sure to bring a smile to someone's face, and if you are lucky, a few beers to you in return.

Pumpkin Beer

Every year we brew a pumpkin ale. For the last 5-ish years we served it at the world's largest outdoor cocktail party - the Florida/Georgia game. This year I was in DC for work that weekend so the pumpkin ale had to wait until now. Each year we tweak the recipe slightly to play with spices, ABV, hops, etc.... Here is this years recipe. Should be ready in time for turkey day.

Ingredients
29oz can Libby Canned Pumpkin (make sure it is 100% pumpkin, not pie filling or anything added)
.5 lb carapils
1 lb amber candi sugar
1 oz cascade hops
1 oz hallertau
16 oz molasses
6.4 lbs golden light malt extract
Wyeast American Ale 1056
2.5 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp allspice
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp Irish moss

Directions
Steep grains in grain bag to 180. Turn off burner and steep 15 extra minutes. Bring water to boil. Add malt. Return to boil. 60 min - add cascade. 30 min - add pumpkin, .5oz hallertau & sandy sugar. 15 min - add spices, molasses and irish moss. 5 min- add .5 oz hallertau. Move to fermenting bucket. Pitch yeast when cool. Ferment at least 2 weeks.

OG - 1.050
FG - TBD
ABV - TBD

Oktoberfest Bites and Brews

The second part of our European adventure was spent in Munich for Oktoberfest. Some fellow beer guzzling fun loving friends of ours from high school (yes we still talk 14 years later) met us there for the party cultural enrichment. Before I get to the beers and food I wanted to share a few things about Oktoberfest that surprised me. First of all Oktoberfest is kid friendly. We saw tons of kids in the beer tents, playing carnival games, riding the rides, etc. They even have family nights where they discount the rides. Second, somehow they keep the bathrooms decently clean. I have been in bars with under 100 people that have bathrooms worse off than a port-o-potty, but somehow the Germans manage to keep the bathrooms used by thousands of beer drinkers clean. Amazing! Third, everyone is a happy drunk. In the US if a drunk guy standing on a bar bench spilled a liter beer on the unfortunate guy below him, I am pretty sure a fight would break out. At Oktoberfest the spiller hugs the spillee and invites him to join his table. We sat and talked with more strangers than I can count. At times we didn't even speak the same language but we were friends by the end of the night. I love happy drunks! :)

As far as beer goes, the Germans mainly still stick by the 'Reinheitsgebot' or German Beer Purity Law, that states beer can only be made with water, barley and hops.  You are not going to find any IPAs or Blueberry Wheat Beers at Oktoberfest. And the food, well it IS exactly what you imagine, Meat and Potatoes. The only green on the plate is usually a sprinkling of parsley over your Knodel (potato dumpling). I hope you enjoy the picture tour!

Amsterdam Bites and Brews

I'm back from my European adventure. Did you guys miss me? Since I have been doing a lot of eating and drinking and not a whole lot of cooking lately, I figured I could share some of what I tried while on vacation.

Chick Beer? I Say Buy a Pink Koozie.

I saw this beer featured on the Today show yesterday and decided to google it and find out more. According to their website "Chick Beer is a craft-brewed light beer that doesn’t taste like a light beer.  The flavor is soft, smooth and full-bodied.  Yet Chick Beer magically has just 97 calories and 3.5 carbs." Their website goes on to point out the obvious fact that beer has historically been marketed to men even though women consume 25% of the beer sold in the US.  Chick Beer somehow thinks they are empowering beer drinking women by marketing to them with a pink beer bottle and little black dress label. I would rather women buy and drink beer based on flavor rather than a pink label. (To be fair, I have not tasted this beer and if women want to buy it because it has a cute label AND tastes good, so be it). I actually find this approach to be a bit degrading. To me it says that women don't care what their beer tastes like as long as it is dressed up pretty. What do you think? Is this company just as guilt as the big boy beer retailers they make fun of , marketing their beer to men using cheerleaders and football? Do you ever choose your drink based soley on the packaging? I say drink the beer you like and if you are worried about how it looks, just buy yourself a cute pink koozie.

Mango Double IPA Update

My Mango Double IPA ended up winning 2nd place in its category at this weekend's Savannah Craft Brew Festival! In the past I have received complements from friends on the beer we make, but I always wondered if they were just being nice. It is kinda reassuring to have a professional judge try your beer and like it. I am still waiting on my score sheet and will share it as soon as it comes in.

Beer + Vacation = Brewcation. A Dogfish Head Brewery 360 Degree Experience.

In honor of some upcoming trips I have planned (Savannah Craft Brew Fest and Oktoberfest) I wanted to share the Brewcation that started it all. Before this trip I had visited breweries while on vacation, but not until this trip had the ONLY purpose been to drink beer. What a great time!

The beer delivery truck guy actually pulled over to take this picture for us

It Takes 2 to Mango (Mango Double IPA)

My new mango obsession along with an upcoming trip to the Savannah CraftBrew Festival recently inspired me to brew a Mango Double IPA.  This morning I finally got the finished product into bottles and shipped off to  the homebrewers contest at the festival. I will let you know the results when the come in. I tasted a bit before I sent it off and I am very happy with the results so far (beer changes flavor a bit as it ages so hopefully it will still be awesome when the judges taste it). There are an INSANE amount of hops in this beer! I am a hop head though, so the more hops the better for me. The mango is pretty mellow and comes out more in the smell than in the taste. You can also taste the citrus hints from some of the speciality hops I used. Overall, its not too sweet and not to mango-y. I am even more excited than usual about this beer because this is the first beer I brewed all by myself (Ron was working late) and it is the first beer I will ever have professionally judged. Hopefully its a winner! 

Bellini

Perfectly simple...

Puree some peaches and simple syrup in a blender. Stir into a glass of Prosecco or Champagne.

Savannah CraftBrew Fest

Still looking for Labor Day travel plans? You should check out the Savannah CraftBrew Fest, a three day festival set in the gorgeous city of Savannah, GA. What could be better than a long weekend, southern food and craft beer!? Some of the breweries (there are MANY more) attending are Abita, Brooklyn, Dogfish Head, Harpoon, Magic Hat, Sweetwater, Cigar City, Left Hand and Terrapin. There is even a homebrew contest! I have a Mango Double IPA fermenting right now that I hope is ready in time to enter. (I will share that recipe later if it turns out like I planned.) Fingers crossed.

Will I see you there?!

Hoppy International #IPADay

Today is International IPA Day! This is a grassroots movement started by the Beer Wench and Ryan Ross to celebrate craft brewing. They picked IPAs because the "style represents the pinnacle of brewing innovation with its broad spectrum of diverse brands, subcategories, and regional flavor variations – making it the perfect style to galvanize craft beer’s social voice." There are so many varieties of IPA out there you are bound to find one you love. So tonight after work, or while at work if you can get away with that kind of stuff, grab your favorite IPA (none of that fizzy yellow cr@p) and join me in a virtual toast to craft beer. Cheers!

Mango Peach Daiquiris. My New Obsession.

Ever since moving to South Florida about 8 months ago I have been surrounded by and obsessed with mangoes. And bonus! They make the perfect daiquiris! Here is our approximate recipe. Feel free to change it around to suit your tastes (more or less rum, different fruit juice, whatever you have on hand!)

The ingredients

• 1 mango, sliced
• 1 1/2 cups frozen peaches
• 3 oz rum (I use Mount Gay)
• 3 oz juice (I use a mango, peach orange blend)
• 1 cup crushed ice
• Dark rum (for a floater, I use Myers)

Blend everything expect the dark rum. Pour in a glass, add your dark rum floater to the top,  strategically place a paper umbrella if you have one, and enjoy!