Sunbeams illuminating a coastal forest in Port Orford, Oregon

Chuggnutt!

Category: Beer

  • Brewing pumpkin ale

    I started brewing up a batch of my Pumpkin Ale this evening, the details of which I wrote up on The Brew Site.

    What? You aren’t reading The Brew Site? Why not? :)

  • Spite

    Some people just have too much anger:

    A woman has been arrested for digging up her dead boyfriend’s ashes from a cemetery more than 10 years ago and drinking the beer that was buried with him, possibly out of spite for his family, authorities say….

     

    Detective Jay Yerges said Stolzmann and Hendrickson were living together in the early 1990s, while they were both married to other people. The relationship was stormy, with a pattern of alcohol and domestic abuse, he said.

     

    Stolzmann was present when Hendrickson shot himself in January 1992. Yerges said Hendrickson’s family blamed her for his death and she was not invited to his services.

    “I feel that her motive was spite,” Yerges said.

    No kidding.

    Although, I have to wonder: why was he buried with beer in the first place, and what kind was it?

    Via A Good Beer Blog.

  • The Brew Site

    I’m launching a new blog. Okay, well, a new blog on an old site—a site I’ve been “working on” for, like, four years now: The Brew Site.

    My original goal for The Brew Site, when I “launched” back in 2000, was a comprehensive, be-all end-all directory/portal/guide to beer and brewing-related stuff online. Kind of like Yahoo for beer. However, I never really had the time to do this, so I’d work on it a little bit, then real life would intrude. So up to now it’s been my spectacularly unfinished site. Kind of embarrassing, really.

    So I figured I’d better do something with it, and since I’ve been thinking more about writing lately, and making money blogging, the natural conclusion was to turn it into a blog. And I’ll try to make money on it with AdSense. So, it’s my first real foray into blogging for money (aside from the AdSense I’m running here, which is simply a nice bonus).

    Actually, the other motivation I had was that I emailed the guys at Weblogs, Inc. seeing if they were interested in a beer blog, and I figured, why wait? If they want me to write a blog for them, I’m there, and I’ll offer them The Brew Site. If not, no worries, I’ll just use this as the start of my own nanopublishing empire. ;)

    So in the meantime start reading! Subscribe to the RSS too!

  • Bend Brew Fest Review

    So, even after the bizarre entry pricing, the first annual Bend Brew Fest exceeded my (lowish) expectations. It was a decent event; my dad and I got there about 1:30 when the crowd was still very light, so we had a good run of the place. And it was great weather for it, too: started out sunny and hot, with a nice breeze, and as the day wore on clouds moved in to alleviate the heat.

    Decent beers, too. I was pleasantly surprised to find there were beers from breweries I’d never heard of, like Walking Man Brewing out of Stevenson, Washington, and Snipes Mountain, from Sunnyside, Washington. And of course, the “regulars” were there: Deschutes Brewery, Bend Brewing, Cascade Lakes, Rogue Ales, Full Sail, Bridgeport Brewing, Sierra Nevada Brewing. For posterity’s sake, others I remember:

    I was a little disappointed to not see Silver Moon Brewing (note to self: talk to Tyler about fixing his 403 Forbidden website error) there, since they’re local and all. Oh well, maybe next year.

    The crowd grew during the day, and I imagine they had a pretty good turnout Saturday night. The (free) music wasn’t bad, either. When we first got there, there was a lone accordian player up on the stage, and it only got better from there.

    I also ran into Kasey as we were leaving, which is ironic since we (my dad and I) had been talking about how we hadn’t run into anyone we knew, but probably would once we left.

    Now, how they can improve upon the brewfest for next year:

    • Cheaper admission! Like, at least 10 dollars cheaper.
    • More brewers. 20 brewers and 40 beers is a good start, though.
    • Space the beer serving stations and tables farther apart; there needs to be more room for people to line up, and/or browse among the various brands.
    • Break the beer serving section into two distinct areas, to promote movement and more effectively use the space (put food and general seating in between).
    • Complimentary water. The Oregon Brewers Festival has stand-alone water coolers that are self-service; spending three dollars for bottled water doesn’t do it for me.
    • Set up a website for the event, and list all the brewers and the beers that will be there. Also use it for publishing photos of the event, etc.
    • More food vendors. There were six, which isn’t terrible for a first time, but more variety would be cool.

  • Bend Brew Fest Reminder

    Just a quick reminder that tomorrow, August 21st, is the first Bend Brew Fest at the Les Schwab Amphitheater. Also, a sucky note regarding the price: they advertise that if you buy the ticket in advance, it’s only $10, versus $15 if you buy at the door. However, if you buy in advance it’s not $10, but $14—they add a four dollar service fee to the ticket.

    So, it’s really $14 in advance, and $15 at the door. What a deal.

  • Beer swilling bear

    This is good stuff: Bear guzzles 36 beers, passes out at campground.

    A black bear was found passed out at a campground in Washington state recently after guzzling down three dozen cans of a local beer….

     

    The hard-drinking bear, estimated to be about two years old, broke into campers’ coolers and, using his claws and teeth to open the cans, swilled down the suds.

     

    It turns out the bear was a bit of a beer sophisticate. He tried a mass-market Busch beer, but switched to Rainier Beer, a local ale, and stuck with it for his drinking binge.

    The only way this would have been better if it had been Hamm’s Beer.

  • Coopers Ale Yeast saves the day

    After adding the Coopers Ale Yeast to my dying beer last night, I was totally stoked (who uses the word “stoked” anymore?) to find it bubbling away this morning, and by this evening there’s a strong, active fermentation churning away.

    Coopers rules!

  • Failed beer?

    This weekend I made up a batch of Toad Spit Stout, the first beer I’ve made in probably three years. All went well, I had everything sanitized carefully (sanitation is priority one in brewing), ingredients laid out, everything was textbook perfect. The yeast I pitched was Wyeast #1084, Irish Ale yeast, what seemed like a healthy dose.

    I say “seemed like” because three days later, there is absolutely no sign of fermentation activity. None. It’s as though I simply poured a vial of water into the wort instead of yeast. Huge disappointment. I’ve never had this happen before; I’ve had some beers that were slow starts, but nothing like this.

    So I stopped by The Home Brewer after work and picked up a packet of Cooper’s Ale Yeast—nice and simple, just to see if I could kick-start fermentation. I pitched it this evening, and I should know for sure if something’s happening by tomorrow evening, if not sooner.

  • American Beer Month

    Interesting. Apparently July is American Beer Month. Website and all.

    July is American Beer Month, a time when every American should celebrate the season by exploring the wonderful flavors of American Beer. No matter what kind of beer you like, there’s one that’s perfect for your tastes that’s made in America.

    One of the sponsors is Deschutes Brewery. Right on.

  • Bend Brew Fest

    The Bend Brew Fest is kicking off this year at the Les Schwab Amphitheater, on Saturday, August 21. Excellent! Not quite a contender with the awesome Oregon Brewers Festival, but very cool nonetheless.

    From the Les Schwab Amphitheater Events page:

    On Saturday, August 21st over 20 Pacific Northwest brewers will present over 40 craft beers for public tasting at the Les Schwab Amphitheater for the first annual Bend Brew Fest.

     

    Event hours are Noon to 10pm. Cost of admission is $10 for an advance ticket or $15 at the gate. Included in the cost of admission are a commemorative tasting mug and two tasting tokens. One token is required for each beer sample. Token costs are $1 apiece.