"Today is the Greatest (Day I've Ever Known)"

No, I'm not contemplating suicide. But this beer is loosely named after the '90s Chicago grunge band The Smashing Pumpkins, and their song "Today" always springs to mind when I think of Billy Corgan's greatest art performance ever. I would like to brew a pumpkin beer every fall from fresh baking pumpkins, but last autumn I was writing my thesis and not brewing, so I was unable to brew my 2013 pumpkin beer. I did buy two baking pumpkins at the end of September, roasted them, and froze 3 lbs. of flesh for my later use. This sat in my freezer since mid-October and I finally got to brew my pumpkin beer. 2012 saw a pumpkin porter, and this year I planned to mimic Dogfish Head's Punkin, starting with my Brown Jewel's Ale from last year and morphing it into a pumpkin brown ale using how DFH labels Punkin: Brown ale brewed with pumpkin and brown sugar. From there came this brew.

First runnings (left bottom), straining out second runnings (top right), and pumpkin (bottom right).

Hoppity hops!

Spent Grain Bars

I take an afternoon break every work day and walk down to the coffee shop on campus to refill my reusable mug with 16 oz of burnt bean water and talk to the baristas (or Sagistas, as it's the Sage's Cafe). Then I walk back to my office to enjoy my coffee with a granola bar. Sometimes I forget my granola bar when I pack my lunch so I have to buy a bagel or cookies, but I have been purchasing a big box of 48 packages of Nature Valley granola bars for years, and in the past two have been enjoying them with coffee in the afternoon. In an effort to "save money" and "use all the parts of the animal," I've decided to use the spent grains from brewing to make my own granola bars. I've made two batches now, and so this post discusses that process.

California Visit Beer Tastings

Hi all my buddies!

With my career moving forward I would like to update this blog to a more regularly, hopefully weekly, with my brewing and beer reviews making up at least half of the posts I'll write. Since I mostly buy make-your-own six packs I drink a lot of different beers and so build up quite the collection of beer experiences by that alone. I also try to brew once a month, so there will always be a post about that each month. I have a backlog of beer tastings from the fall as I wasn't doing anything brewing or blog related until I finished and defended my dissertation, and now that that's done I can spend some time crafting these posts, doing so regularly, and have them ready to publish on some sort of schedule. 

"Careful man, there's a beverage here!"

While my return to homebrewing and blogging began on Dec 20, two days after my PhD thesis defense, I still haven't posted anything since earlier in January when I announced my return to homebrewing and blogging. My first post-defense brew was bottled on Jan 12, and as it's a new recipe of a high gravity style with a complex flavor palate, I have yet to give it a try because I want to allow it plenty of time to mellow and meld so my first taste won't give a bad impression. That said, I do owe you, my readers, a post detailing its brewing, especially since I'll be brewing two batches in the next two weekends and I want to get this off my plate.

"I got a rash, man.  I got a rash..." 

I had the idea for my most recent batch, an imperial milk stout with coffee, from The Big Lebowski (TBL), the Coen Brothers' 1998 cult hit and my all-time favorite movie. I first saw this movie when hallmates of mine in my first year of college invited me into their room on Wednesday night in January 2001, handed me a cheap beer, sat me down, and pressed play on their DVD player. I was subjected to 2+ hours of a rambling shaggy dog detective story that melded elements of bowling noir, Raymond Chandler, LA-ness, and all the rest, and loved the heck out of it. I loved it. I loved it. I loved it. Only the relationship with my wife has been as rapidly strong and long-lasting. I made a costume of one of the main characters for Halloween 2003 and have worn it every time I've seen it on the big screen since, even when meeting Jeff "The Dude" Bridges after a Q&A following a showing of the film at UCSB. I try to bring it into conversation, have sat people down with a white russian in hand and turned them onto one of the greatest films of the later 20th century, and even worked it into a short answer midterm in a college course on human sexuality ("a natural, zesty enterprise"). It's my favorite movie.

2014 Brew Plans

Hey all.  While I'm working on the post for my return to homebrewing with  my first 2-gal batch, I thought I'd give a quick report on my brewing plans for 2014.  I have ingredients for a batch I plan to brew this weekend, my wife is going to be out of town next weekend and so has convinced me to brew that Saturday, and I'm moving to Berkeley, CA in May so anything I brew before then has to be bottled before we leave.  But once we're settled there I'll be brewing like crazy, of course.

Peaches Come In A Bottle, They Were Put There By This Man...

The last beer I brewed before taking a thesis break was one from The Beer Making Book.  It was described as a beer form of peach cobbler, and I had to wait for peach season this past summer to brew it.  I haven't had great success with the brews from that book, but they've all turned out drinkable.  The last fruit-infused beer I brewed from it was a red ale with blueberries, and it was one of my least favorite homebrews.  That said, I wanted to give this one a try since peaches were in season in late summer and I like peach cobbler.  I peeled and roasted fresh peaches to go in the boil, and was excited for this once I bottled it after a couple weeks fermenting.  That excitement was stifled with the first bottle, and will be discussed at the end of this entry.  On to the peaches!

Grains, oats, hops and yeast...

... Plus peeled and roasted peaches.

Good Choice!

I'm back!  And welcome back!  I've finished my dissertation, defended it, passed, been dubbed "doctor," enjoyed my holidays with my family, and am ready to write some more, after I've spent four months writing everyday.  But more than that, I'm here to homebrew, drink beer, visit breweries and brewpubs, and talk all about it.  I've been keeping my beer tasting notebook in the interim, and there are several entries waiting in the wings to be discussed.  As a return to form I restart my blog with a review of the Samuel Adams Hopology sampler 12-pack released last year.

The top of the Hopology box, showing the fun labels and descriptions for each of the six beers held within.