Infuse Your Illusion

We've turned a corner, referring now to early 90's albums instead of movies. I suppose it was inevitable. Before proceeding on to discuss matters actually pertaining to beer, it's worth mentioning the particular significance of the song 'November Rain,' from Guns N' Roses' album Use Your Illusion I, to our formative years. To this day, we remember this song not for its impressive guitar solos or rain-soaked video imagery, but for the sense of dread it evoked at Junior High School dances. When those first few piano notes sounded, joined quickly thereafter by stirring strings, you knew you had to find someone good to dance with. Because if you didn't, you'd be stuck with whoever else you could find (or often worse, whoever could find you) for the next nine minutes.

Nine minutes can be a really long time, I assure you, but are nothing compared to the time required for beer to go from grain to glass. It had been two weeks since we brewed our Magnitude IPA, and it was time to transfer it into a secondary container (glass carboy) for final conditioning. To enhance its citrus aroma, we planned on dry-hopping with four ounces of Cascade. We figured that we could effectively infuse the 'good stuff' from the hops (alpha acids) if we first added the hop pellets to the carboy before transferring the beer from the primary fermenter. (This might not have been completely necessary, as the hops and beer will have a while to co-mingle, but it seemed like a good idea.) The end result was a swirling green mass atop a brown sea of IPA-in-training.

Sooo... all that green stuff will settle out in 10 days, right?

A preliminary tasting prior to transfer revealed Magnitude's potential. Bitter for sure, but not enough to completely overpower the malty sweetness. We tried a couple of specialty malts in this beer - Victory and Munich (both in relatively small proportions) - and so are very interested to see how they're manifested in the finished product. We should be good to keg in about 10 days, which can't come quickly enough... much like the end of 'November Rain' when shared with an unsavoury dance partner.

Stouter Limits

Good morning from the Condo Brewery! We're at it again, as the previous keg of stout has almost run out and the Kolsch is long gone. I've gotten way too used to having beer on tap at all times, so we definitely need to get another batch on the go.

As you may recall from previous posts, our first attempt at a stout was also the first legitimately good beer we brewed. While there was definitely room for improvement, we didn't want to mess with the original recipe too much, fearing that we might actually make it worse. We really liked the hop profile from before, so decided to stick with an ounce and a half of Northern Brewer hops. We wanted to up the overall roastiness though, and so upped the amount of roasted barley slightly. To add a little more complexity, we put in a little chocolate malt as well. The body was great last time, so we stuck with the same amount and type of oatmeal.  

Worst scale ever, but the hops are fantastic!

Tweaking the previous recipe was fairly easy with Beersmith, and in our usual fashion we took the ABV, colour and IBUs to the upper limits set for an oatmeal stout. For anyone who is into making their own recipes, we highly recommend Beersmith. We might not be using the program to its fullest, but it has been fairly straightforward to use for coming up with recipes. It's free to try the software for 21 days, which provides ample time to play with it and decide if it works for you. Another option for recipe creation we've found is Beer Calculus, which is also easy to use.

I promise you, it's roasted barley and not mouse turds

Anyway, mashing has finished and we're now on to the lautering phase. It really is amazing how much colour can come from what seems like such a small amount of roasted barley in comparison to the two row base. In order to make sure the colour was right, we decided we should compare it with a few pints of the first batch of stout. Now that they're poured, I guess we have no choice but to drink them. Oh well, it's almost noon in Newfoundland, and that's good enough for me!

Behind the Labatt Beer Curtain

Like most 30-something Haligonians, I've been on the Keith's Brewery tour before. It's fine for what it is, and you get a beer or two along the way. What I didn't know until recently is that there is another locale, hidden away in the Brewery Market, where a person can also learn about beer... and get way more than just one or two glasses of Keith's for their efforts! That place is the Labatt Beer Institute, and I had the good fortune of being invited to a session there earlier this week.

Everything is shiny... like beer heaven

First off, the space they have set aside for the institute is a lot larger than I would have guessed. It's about the size of the Lower Deck in Halifax, with approximately 15 different beers on tap, and more in bottles. They only have Labatt products, which covers the Keith's family, Bud, Stella, Leffe, and Hoegaarden, to name a few. I think there is also a classroom, but I didn't see it, as the evening I was there the focus was on sampling the beer on hand.  And sample I did!  I gave up on drinking Keith's years ago, so figured I'd give it another try and went with the flight (including regular, Harvest Ale, Amber Red, White and Dark Ale).

Still shiny, but more like beer limbo

Turns out I still don't like it much, especially the White and the Harvest Ale. Regardless, I couldn't let even mediocre beer go to waste, and so finished the flight quickly and moved on to something else. A tap handle just down from the Keith's caught my eye. I'd never seen it before, and so figured I'd give it a try. Called 902, it's labelled as a 'full-flavoured spicy lager.' 

When compared to some of the better local offerings (Garrison PiLs as an example), calling it full-flavoured is a bit of a joke. That said, it wasn't bad either. It had a little more body than your standard Labatt product, and more flavour. The spicy notes dulled the crispness normally associated with a lager, but not unpleasantly so. If I was stuck at an airport bar with the usual poor selection and they had 902 on tap, I'd probably get a pint of it. I guess that's a compliment?  

A beer that reminds you where you are after having had too many

Apparently InBev (Labatt's parent company) has started trademarking area codes across North America, so expect more of these beers to pop up. The 902 is still in testing and so isn't widely available, but apparently it's on tap at two places in HRM. One is the Boston Pizza on Portland St. in Dartmouth; unfortunately, no one on hand that night knew where the second location is.  

All in all, the beer might not have been the best, but it still made for a great evening. Thanks again to those who let me join their visit, and please remind me to take the next day off if I ever get a chance to go back.

A heartfelt apology: Rocketman DIPA

Last week, we posted our impressions of three beers at the Hart & Thistle on the Halifax waterfront. We gushed about the Madman IPA and revelled in the surprising availability of one of our favourites, the Imperial ESB Collaboration Ale; however, we felt that the Rocketman Double IPA (DIPA) didn't really live up to our expectations. Noting that our palates may have been compromised by salty, spicy nachos, we vowed to return and try it again. True to our word, we returned across the harbour last Friday evening, beset by slush and wet snow. Foregoing the nachos this time, we ordered a round of the Rocketman.

A beacon of craft beer guides us across the harbour. 

How wrong we had been. Like the girl with the big glasses and overalls in a Freddie Prinze, Jr. movie, a second look, unclouded by previous judgement (or in our case, jalapenos), revealed the latent beauty beneath. And so, with hope of forgiveness, I offer the following letter of apology to Rocketman DIPA:

----------------------

Dear Rocketman,

What a difference a week makes. When we first met, I was so preoccupied with my delicious snack that I... I just didn't appreciate you. So voracious in my appetite for spicy peppers, I failed to notice your nuance, your substance, and perhaps most glaring, your fragrance. We had lamented your lack of a citrus nose, but it was there! Juicy orange and intoxicating. Our second meeting revealed your true balance; malty sweetness intertwined with distinct and lingering bitterness. I finally appreciated the warmth of your alcohol, telling me 'hey, I'm here,' but not going so far as to kick off its shoes and dance on the bar.

Rocketman, I was wrong, and I'm sorry. I'm just glad that you gave me a second chance. I won't be so quick to judge in the future. And I'll never, ever, base my impressions of a beer on a post-nacho tasting again.

Yours forever... or at least until your keg runs out,

Earl

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Phew. Just had to get that out there. Catharsis via apology to an inanimate object; don't remember that one from Intro Psych (probably for good reason).

Best. Beer name. Ever.

Today, the Great Canadian Beer Blog reported on the release of a new beer from Gravenhurst, ON - based Sawdust City Brewing Co., named Long, Dark Voyage to Uranus. This 'Uranal Imperial Stout' will see limited release in Ontario, and so isn't particularly relevant to us beer drinkers on the east coast. I'm so impressed by their (inter) stellar name for this beer, though, that I just had to make sure that everyone I could possibly tell knew about it.

Coffee Stout Run Amok?

Apparently Starbucks has been selling wine and beer in select stores in Seattle and Portland, and plan on expanding to other locations in Southern California and Georgia by the end of the year. Not something I can see myself buying at Starbucks any time soon, but I guess it really depends on what types of beer they offer.  

I'm surprised they went in this direction, and not the more logical approach of selling coffee with Bailey's in it.  It would be a licence to print money, especially over the Holidays!

Nash in the News

The Chronicle Herald published an interesting piece on local brewer Greg Nash this morning. I hope it doesn't mean he will no longer be brewing at Hart & Thistle!  Not that there is anything wrong with the Rockbottom Brewery, but it's at least an extra 10 minute walk... uphill.  Oh well, his beer is worth the extra effort.  Definitely looking forward to trying the Russian Imperial Stout he's got in the works!

Rack it up, rack it in. Let me begin.

We can't seem to escape the 80's and early 90's references. The first Die Hard movies, the Astar the Robot PSA, and now House of Pain. If you never want to hear about the Spin Doctors again, you might want to... never mind, guess it's too late. Sorry about that. Whatever you do, don't think of the song 'Two Princes'! It's a notorious subconsciousness lurker; so catchy.  

Anyway, moving on to more pertinent matters, this weekend saw us bottling two small batches of Rye Hard, our rye IPA. We were calling it 'Darkside Ryesing,' but 'Rye Hard' really took on a life of its own, and we've grown attached to it. Like a loveable, liquid child.

We rescued a couple of relics of brewing past from my parents' basement - a bottle capper and drying rack. The bottle sterilization process was lengthened somewhat by dust removal and decontamination of the drying rack, but we were happy to add this vintage gear to our arsenal. The benefit of brewing smaller, experimental test batches, is that you don't have to prep too many bottles. The downside, of course, is if either or both batches turn out well, you've got a pretty long lag time before you can have a larger batch ready.

Bottles dry as stout looks on approvingly.

Tasting the two-week-old Rye Hard, we were pretty impressed, particularly with the more experimental, secret ingredient batch. The weird thing was, it tasted nothing like the secret ingredient, so we think its superior flavour might be related to the underlying chemistry. Regardless, we're really excited to sample both batches after an additional two weeks of bottle conditioning. For the first time, we tried bottling using honey, rather than priming sugar, so we'll see how that turns out. The entire production run of Rye Hard was contained within 5 x 500 mL and 4 x 640 mL bottles. A little deflating, but that just makes it a limited edition, right?

Rye Hard (caps) and Rye Hard: Secret Ingredient Edition (flip tops). 

Stay tuned for the final genesis of Rye Hard in two weeks' time.

Size Matters!

Progressive British Columbia is once again leading the charge in a very important issue... making sure you actually get a pint when you order one. While I can't support the authors' misuse of hyphens, it IS an important issue. Maybe they can work on standardizing glass boots next? Or find out how much one of those huge Hoegaarden glasses actually holds!

Anyway, this is something we should stay on top of out East as well.  Anyone run into a situation locally where the pints seem a little light?  Let's us know!

Soccer = Beer?

While never a big fan of soccer, I can definitely agree with FIFA on this one.  Apparently they've made it a requirement that beer must be sold at all FIFA 2014 matches, despite it being illegal to sell alcohol in stadiums in the host country of Brazil.  I had no idea beer was so important to watching soccer.  Maybe it's about time I tried tuning in again?  If beer doesn't make it better, I'll just go back to my favourite sport... curling.  You can enjoy a beer while playing AND it even stays cold while you're out on the ice.  Can't beat that!

Beyond the Darkside: Hart & Thistle

We're well aware that opinions on the matter differ, but we love Dartmouth. We live, work, brew, and do most of our drinking in Dartmouth. But sometimes, to experience the best craft beer in HRM and beyond, we need to venture out... beyond the Darkside.

Last Friday saw fog blanketing the streets of Dartmouth and obscuring the view across the harbour. Drops of afternoon rain added their hollow voices to the gloom. From our office windows, though, the drab vista was inviting, bearing the promise of the weekend and post-work pints. A short ferry ride and soaking hundred-metre dash from the terminal later, we were seated by the fire at the Hart & Thistle, looking back across the harbour, our typical perspectives reversed.

Oh, Hart & Thistle, you are an attractive establishment.

We each tried a pint of the Madman IPA to start. Described by its creator as being 'hoppy as balls,' we learned immediately that this statement wasn't hyperbolic. Most likely due to dry-hopping with Citra hops, the nose on the Madman comes across as bright grapefruit. Citrus notes predominate through to the finish for the first few sips, and are accompanied by a pleasing mouth feel. Once your palate starts to acclimatize to the bitter hop onslaught, the grapefruit tones down, and a slight maltiness and notes of passion fruit emerge. This is a great beer, which we both really enjoyed.

Pints of 'hoppy as balls' Madman IPA. It seemed appropriate to show them as a pair

Resisting the urge to order another round of Madman, we moved on to the Rocketman Double IPA (DIPA). This beer was made with Cascade hops, a variety we have both really enjoyed using in our home-brewed IPAs. We expected solid citrus notes on the nose from the Cascade, and were somewhat surprised by their absence. Overall, the flavour profile wasn't really what we had expected, and came across as a bit subdued after drinking the Madman. This could, of course, reflect the fact that this DIPA was more balanced and less hop-focussed, using the bitterness to effectively offset the additional alcohol. We're also willing to admit that our taste buds may not have recovered completely from the Madman... not to mention the nachos. We recognize that nachos don't really function as a palate cleanser... but we were really really hungry! I think that the only thing we can do, in the interest of scientific sampling, is go back and have another pint (sans nachos). I love science.

Imperial ESB!! How is this still available?! Didn't people read our review? (Crickets.)

After the Rocketman, we were completely blown away when our waitress told us that they still had the Imperial ESB, a collaboration with Propeller, on tap. We had very fond opinions of this beer, and were excited to get the opportunity to try it on tap. It tasted amazing, exactly as remembered.

Overall, our trip to the Hart & Thistle was excellent - the beer and wait staff were outstanding, the atmosphere was low-key, and the fire was warm. We're eager to try the Madman IPA again, to hopefully get another crack at the Imperial ESB, and in the interest of good science, to try another round of the Rocketman DIPA. Which is why we plan to go back again this Friday. (Please remind us to eat nachos after sampling.)

West coast invasion?

It would be remiss of me, given my previous post about BC-based craft beer in Halifax, not to note that Granville Island Brewing's English Bay Pale Ale is currently available at the NSLC (you can check here to see if it's available at your local store). I had a chance to visit their brewery in Vancouver a couple of years ago, and so seeing their wares on shelves on this side of the continent hit me with a healthy dose of west coast nostalgia. I'll admit that I wasn't the biggest fan of their Lions Winter Ale, which was available previously (and maybe still) at the NSLC, but I have fond memories of the Pale from my trip to BC, and am certainly looking forward to picking some up. Let's hope that this is indicative of an emerging trend, and as local favourites from Garrison and Propeller gain traction in markets across the country, we are exposed to an expanding variety of great Canadian craft beers here on the east coast.

Let's make like a Tree and... drink?

Just a quick heads-up that Premier Wine and Spirits (Dresden Row, Halifax) is currently stocking a pretty solid lineup of beers from Kelowna, BC-based Tree Brewing Co.. I've tried their Hop Head IPA, which I quite enjoyed, so I was happy to see that Premier is offering this along with their Cutthroat Pale, Thirsty Beaver Amber, and Kelowna Pilsner. It's entirely possible that Premier has been stocking all of these for a while - I don't get out of the Darkside as often as I should - but nonetheless, I felt it was my civic duty to let everyone know that they can find even more great Canadian craft beer in Halifax.

Brew day recap: Magnitude 'Hop! Hop!' IPA

Another weekend, another brew day. Keen and caffeine-fuelled, we set about further cutting our teeth on all-grain home brewing with a hoppy IPA. We figured this would be a good chance to try out some different hop addition methods, as our efforts to date had involved primarily adding hops during the boil. We also figured that a hoppy beer would provide a great opportunity to pay tribute to one of our favourite TV characters: the eloquent wordsmith Magnitude from NBC's Community. For the uninitiated, Magnitude is a recurring character whose catchphrase 'Pop! Pop!' makes him a hit at parties, not to mention a cunning debater. Given our penchant for rhymes, the transition from 'Pop! Pop!' to 'Hop! Hop!' was both obvious and (in our minds) outstanding.

For this brew, we wanted to try to up the hop magnitude (sorry), and so conceived a recipe involving hefty doses of Amarillo (added in the initial stages for bittering) and Cascade (added in the later stages for aroma) hops. First, we tried mash hopping with some of the Amarillo, adding the hops in with the grain used to produce the sugary starting liquid, or wort. We thought this could give our beer some extra kick, bitterness-wise, but then (after already doing it) read that you need to add a lot of hops to really make a difference. Still, we weren't too discouraged, as we read that it can still help with 'overall balance and character.' Next, we tried first-wort hopping, in which that same sugary starting liquid is added directly to hops as it's drawn from the grain, rather than adding hops to the liquid later on. Think of it like adding hot water to tea instead of adding tea to hot water; the former method encourages greater infusion throughout the liquid.      

First-wort hopping in progress. This is one of the few instances when a layer of green goo is a good thing.

This was our first experience with Amarillo hops, which we found to have a really nice citrus character. Later on, in the boiling stage (which is initiated after all of the wort has been collected from the grains), we added the Cascade at specific intervals, with the objective of giving our beer a nice, citrus aroma. (Citrus: so hot right now.) In the spirit of experimentation, we're also planning to try dry-hopping, which entails adding more hops later on during fermentation. This may seem either excessive or perfectly reasonable, depending on your opinion, but if we were going to name this beer after Magnitude, we were going to go all-out. 'Hop! Hop!'

Rye Hard: With a Vengeance

Our preoccupation with seminal action hero John McClane continues. While somewhat (completely?) irrelevant to the topic at hand, we've come this far with the 'rye rhymes with die' thing, might as well keep it going.

Our two experimental batches of 'Darkside Ryesing' rye IPA have been fermenting over the past week, bringing us that much closer to bottling, tasting, and more Die Hard references. When we left off last week, we had configured a blow-off tube setup to provide an escape route for gases during fermentation. This turned out to be a good choice, as things got pretty crazy in the 1-gallon jugs, even with all of the headspace we had left. Bubbles were travelling from the jugs, through the tubing, and into the pitcher of water at the other end, creating a veritable microbial paradise. (Upon writing this, I cannot shake the Coolio song, 'Gangster's Paradise,' from my head... maybe 'Microbial Paradise' could be featured on the soundtrack to a Dangerous Minds sequel, in which one of the troubled inner-city kids from the original goes on to get a Ph.D. in microbiology.) This taught us a very important lesson about the need for sanitizer solution in the liquid at the end of this type of blow-off configuration.

As for the beer itself, things seem to be progressing well; fermentation has slowed and things are starting to settle out. We'll bottle next week... we're kind of afraid of this, as poor carbonation in bottles for some of our earlier attempts motivated us toward our current forced carbon dioxide/keg setup, but we're also eager to exorcise the demons of previous home brewing inadequacy. We'll keep you posted.

One of our rye IPA batches after a week of fermentation. Note the bubble-residue carnage at the top of the bottle. Wait, is that an orchid in the background? Manliness potentially compromised...

Rejected beer names: PSAles

While we very much enjoy sharing condo-brewed beer with friends and family, we dream of one day unleashing our magnum opus (or magnum opera... seriously, that's the plural form of opus) upon the discerning beer-drinking populace. A strong product can succeed by merit alone, but marketing, and more specifically, catchy and/or clever beer names, can help that product to stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

So naturally, we got to thinking - what would we name our beer? 'Magnum opus' is actually kind of an awesome name, but it doesn't leave much room for further brand development. We have some great ideas... but we're not ready to share them at this point in time. We are, however, more than happy to share some of our other ideas that fell short (or were devised solely for our own entertainment), through posts appropriately titled: 'Rejected beer names.'

Rejected beer names: PSAles

Everyone loves a good public service announcement (PSA). From Astar, the acrobatic gold robot who could put his arm back on (but obviously had some serious issues to be swinging around in the vicinity of giant rotating blades), to those somewhat amorphous, furry blue and pink creatures that sang about what you should or should not put in your mouth (evidently beets are on the 'safe' list), PSAs play an important role in the development and reinforcement of important life lessons.

Could we possibly harness this power to draw attention to important issues in daily life? Could our beers be agents of change and transformation for beer-drinking adults? Which issues should we focus on? Here are a few that we came up with:

Tip Your Barber Bitter - These guys are the cornerstones of the community, and are generally a more economical option than fancy salons. Not that I'd know. Fine, I get my hair cut at a salon. I can't hide anything from you. 

Spay or Neuter Your Pet Pale - Any Price is Right fan knows that controlling the pet population is a serious issue. This narrowly beat out Bob Barker Says 'No' Nut Brown due to possible contextual misinterpretation.

Avoid Public Pant-Shed Red - This one pretty much speaks for itself. Remember that old adage, 'if tempted to let one's pants drop, steel your will and try to stop.' Okay, I made that up. Seriously, though, keep your pants on.

Don't Wedgie a Child Mild - I know it's tempting. They're smaller than you. You could easily grab that waistband and lift them clear off the ground. No one would believe them if they said anything. I mean, you're an adult, right? But still, you probably shouldn't do it.

That's all we have for now, but if you can think of any other solid names for PSAles, we'd love to hear them!

Darkside Ryesing 2: Rye Harder

I'm starting to think we should have called our rye IPA 'Rye Hard' in honour of most guys' favourite Christmas movie, but it's too late now.  If anyone wants to use the idea and run with it (not over broken glass, though), please do. Darkside Ryesing is still an awesome name. Anyway, the mash was uneventful and we won a pair of NHL 12 games, so that was a bonus. Minus one very small mishap that potentially involved a splash of not-great homebrew kolsch getting into the wort, lautering went smoothly. I guess drinking beer while making beer can lead to the occasional mistake.

Satellite photograph is getting out of hand; outta my condo, Google!

Once we had collected approximately 3 gallons of wort, we split it up into two different brew pots. We've decided to try out a secret ingredient (which may or may not be kangaroo), and are interested to find out how it works with our recipe. Both pots got the same hop additions, with one getting the special ingredient with 30 minutes left in the boil. This beer also involved our highest-yet level of micro management with respect hop additions, as we went with two varieties (Northern Brewer and Willamette) that were put into the boil at specified intervals. Even if the rye base doesn't work out, at least we're getting some experience with more complicated hop use; something we can hopefully put to use in our next (non-rye) IPA!

Yep, we were surprised it didn't boil over also

With the two boils done and the wort chiller put into action, we transferred everything but the sludge into two new one-gallon glass jugs. We had been warned that fermentation could get aggressive and plug up an airlock, so we went with a blow-off tube setup. It really makes the entire thing look more like a science experiment, but whatever... I like science.

For Science!

I'm really looking forward to seeing how it turns out, both the base batch and the secret ingredient batch. We'll report back as soon as things develop further.

Darkside Ryesing

Happy Brew Day!

Things are in full swing here at Darkside HQ (aka the condo), as we start on our first test batches of a Rye IPA for the Garrison homebrew contest. Our plan is to make two 1 gallon batches with the same wort, and then do two boils with different hop profiles. We also have a secret ingredient for one batch, which will either be great or absolutely terrible.

We're using Maris Otter as a base malt for the first time, so pretty much everything about this brew is new to us. Trying to figure out how much rye malt to use has been interesting, as there seems to be many different opinions. Some sources suggest you shouldn't go over 15% of the total grain bill, but as the goal is a rye beer that doesn't seem like enough. So, we ignored it and went with more. With some light and medium crystal put in to enhance body and colour, everything is now in the mash tun.

Grain, false bottom and Coleman Cooler Mash Tun

As we now have an hour to wait before lautering, I'd say it's time to drink a beer and play some NHL 12!

Quick Look: 'How to Brew' by John J. Palmer

If you've been following our blog for its relatively short history, you're likely aware that Earl and I are very new to brewing beer. As such, we had a lot to learn prior to brewing our first batch back in August. Seeing how our first three batches failed, it's now apparent that we didn't learn enough. But that's the past, and our beer is improving. One of the resources that has helped us get this far is John Palmer's book, How to Brew.

This book is great for a first timer, and has answered almost all of the questions we've thought to ask so far. It's designed to take the rookie brewer from knowing very little, to brewing with extracts, to all-grain brewing and eventually designing your own recipes. Each step in a typical brew day is well-covered, and helped ease some of our initial fears that we were doing something wrong. For example, it's hard to believe that the foamy goo-filled solution on hand during the boil will eventually be clear and tasty beer.

Overall, it's a pretty light read, outside of a few chapters that get into complex topics such as mash pH. Even then, the author does a good job of getting across the more complicated content clearly and concisely. While some advanced topics aren't fully explained in this book, there is a solid reference section in each chapter for those interested in further reading.

Unfortunately, we didn't have this book for our first (quasi-disastrous) brewing attempts.

We've found the hop chapter especially useful, as it provides the flavour profile, usage, and potential substitutes for numerous hop varieties. As much as I enjoy smelling each kind of hop they carry at Noble Grape, this doesn't really translate to how they will taste in the final beer (and I'm sure they'd rather I didn't leave the fridge door open for so long). The book also contains numerous sample recipes, each having an extract and an all-grain version. We haven't tried any of them yet, but plan on doing so, and will report back when we do.

How to Brew makes good use of pictures to help flesh out the text, but as they're black and white, they aren't as useful as they could be. This is especially noticeable in pictures of different malts, adjuncts, and action shots of the brewing process. However, it's a minor issue for an otherwise excellent resource, and I'd recommend it for anyone getting into brewing. And while it seems too good to be true, the bulk of the book is also available for free at www.howtobrew.com.

Brew if by sea

Over the holiday break, Drew and I gathered a couple of friends and a keg of our just-finished Kölsch and headed up the coast on a bracing, windy afternoon. The ocean vistas provided an excellent backdrop for sampling our latest creation, and alongside steaks and World Junior hockey domination of the Danes, made for a solid outing.

Its frothy head whipped about by wintry winds,
the Kölsch gazed wistfully at the open sea.

Unfortunately, the Kölsch didn't quite live up to our expectations. Light in colour and flavour, it was certainly well-suited for the type of mass consumption that defined our seaside outing; but it just lacked that crispness we were hoping for. From what I've read, this could be due to our mash temperature of ~ 152 °F (lower temperatures around 145 °F may impart more 'crispness'), or the fact that this style of beer is often fermented and conditioned at colder temperatures (that is, it's often lagered). On the positive side, this beer marked our first use of Irish moss as a clarifying agent, which seemed to have beneficial results. Some chill haze remained, but this likely could have been mitigated by extended cold conditioning, as per the note on lagering above and the comment on improving clarity provided by Jeff of Hoptomology (if you haven't checked out his site, it's an excellent resource for home brewing).

Overall, the Kölsch provided a nice complement to our vacation-within-a-vacation. Its light character may perhaps be better suited for warmer seasons, but the natural keg-cooling ability of a -10 degree wind chill made it über-drinkable. Despite some issues that will hopefully be reconciled in future attempts, my only real regret is that I don't get more opportunities to use umlauts.