As a continuation of my grieving for Allagash no longer being distributed in Florida, I thought this video was a good one to share today.  The Wife and I visited the brewery just before they finished building the koelschip addition to the facility, so this I found this to be pretty interesting.  Chances are that I would push for another visit next time we are in Maine anyway, but using that feature as an excuse certainly helps my case.

Enjoy seeing the lead up to spontaneous fermentation . . .

Though there are a few bits of actual news in the bunch today, the list consists mostly of beer related articles that I found to be interesting as I was reading this week.  There is plenty read through so I will let you get on to it.

And away we go . . .

  • Getting the story with the weakest tie to the craft beer world out of the way first, I have to give a shout out to my new favorite (though former) flight attendant.  It is at least somewhat fascinating that he grabbed a few beers on the way out and I am wondering what they were.  Surely we can narrow it down to a few options.
  • Each week I find multiple stories based on the debate over the exact definition of craft beer.  I think this one is a very good read on just that topic.  Though I have not put nearly as much thought into as many others seem to (from what I read), I do tend to lean on the flavor and quality side of the argument.
  • Creating lists is a tough thing to tackle, even when the list is actually compiled by the votes of the people.  That is what the Alström brothers are dealing with as they tweak their top beer lists.  As subjective as the enjoyment of beer is, I do not see why people take the time to get upset about the shuffling.  Just relax and enjoy your favorite beer!
  • Already knowing why I have not tried to brew a pilsner at home, it is nice to read that my reasons are much the same as many of the craft brewers out there.  I am mostly speaking of the cost and the light profile revealing flaws parts.
  • After looking at this list I realize that truly extreme brewing ingredients have yet to even enter my mind.  It is nice to know that the possibilities are really endless.  I would not at all mind pairing a hotdog with the mustard seed beer and I really would like to see what the salt water beer tastes like.
  • To close the day is another list and probably the most unique of the bunch.  The basis of the list is actually the unique part and certainly offers different perspective.  I enjoyed finding out a bit more info about the bigger meaning behind those beer names.
science beers 1a A Few Bits

Ninkasi Tricerahops (via http://www.wired.com/)

Cheers!

Not wanting to do something crazy like recap a trip out of order, today will be the fourth day of our recent visit to Seattle.  This is the first vacation that I have recapped day by day, but each one on this trip had a craft beer or interesting food happening that makes it tough to leave any part out.  Be sure to check out the first day, the second day, and the third day if you need to catch up with what went on.

As always, with FAT Monday posts there are pictures and plenty of them.  Now on we go . . .

Ignoring our late return time the night before and the many beers enjoyed at the wedding, we were up quite early the following morning to get ourselves up to Vancouver, BC for the day.  Before doing so, coffee was a must and where there is coffee there should be donuts.  In our case that meant a dozen from Mighty-O Donuts for the road.  There was going to be a lot of walking once we reached our destination, so we needed to prepare ourselves properly during the drive.

4772868594 6e6f074ffb The Fourth Day

A nice sampler platter.

4772229069 890fee70a4 The Fourth Day

First border crossing went smoothly

The only plans made for the day were actually to get to Vancouver in the morning and return home at a decent time.  What happened in between was to be figured out along the way as a sort of choose your own adventure scenario.  Once we parked our car under the library in the center of downtown (and used the facilities there) we simply started walking (downhill at first).

4772228489 1e7b5f9f40 The Fourth Day

Pretty easy to notice this building

4772866892 244885bc0d The Fourth Day

In search of bathrooms.

Then we walked some more, found a place for lunch, and then walked some more.  After raining most of the drive up, the weather broke perfectly for us.  We walked from one side of the city to the other and meandered through the areas between.

4772863388 bdd1040226 The Fourth Day

The Wife and me.

4772864208 d835d2fd0a The Fourth Day

Great views are abundant.

4772862932 e43f53c2d9 The Fourth Day

Water and mountains everywhere.

We left time at the end of the day to stop by Granville Island on our way back to Seattle to check out a little of this . . .

4772859118 1dcbcdafd8 The Fourth Day

We always stop at the market

4772220967 ddb115f2d9 The Fourth Day

No idea what these are

And we could not leave town without having some of this . . .

4772222743 54cf168f84 The Fourth Day

It was good to be there.

4772861046 73db3b7192 The Fourth Day

A comfortable space

After taking a seat in the tasting room at Granville Island Brewing we order samples of everything that they had, not wanting to miss out on anything.  Though the beer certainly went down quite easily after walking around all day, I did not leave the place craving another sample of anything.  Everything was good, with the Gastown Amber tasting the best to me that afternoon, but none really stood out to me as better than average.  If I ever get back to Vancouver I will stop by again to see if my opinions remain the same.

4772861162 6be3474469 The Fourth Day

Why choose only four?

4772860932 b4e3223d95 The Fourth Day

When yo ucan try them all.

We enjoyed the remaining donuts on the return drive to Seattle and eagerly opened a few brews upon our arrival after enduring close to an hour at the border crossing.  Ending a day with good beer and good friends is never a bad thing in my book.

4772220891 628eebfb63 The Fourth Day

The lawn is well kept at the border

Until the next day . . .

After taking last Thursday off  from passing along beer news to celebrate the anniversary of this site, it is time to get back at it.  I might even throw in a few more stories than usual as The Wife and Seattle Jeff (my Pacific Northwest Beer Correspondent) gave me a bunch along the way and I feel a little bad for not providing a venue to showcase that information last week.

Here we go . . .

  • Staring off easy I will give a few links that are not as much news as they are interesting uses for beer cans.  This first group seems pretty reasonable for an individual to drink enough beer to create while I am hoping that this guy did not have to drink all of the Bud necessary for his sculpture.
  • I suppose plans for brewery expansion change when people catch on to  how great your beer is and fortunately this Colorado brewery is being responsible about the whole process while adding capacity very fast.  Even bars in Colorado are adjusting to keep up with the growing desire for craft beer.
  • Apparently we now know what the new television craze is going to be after all of those damn cake and cupcake shows fade away.  After the announcement of Sam Calagione’s show in June, it seems that other networks are jumping in with beer shows as well.  I am just sorry I missed my shot at being one of the hosts.
  • Surely this acquisition will only further the already heated discussion of what this means as far as the true definition of craft beer.  I know they all have to do what they have to do, but I hope that the merger bug does not infect the entire craft beer community going forward.
  • Knowing that Dogfish Head used this method to create one of their brews, it is interesting to see playing with hot rocks catch on a bit.
  • As one of my favorite beer styles that is not actually a recognized style, the Black IPA is certainly gaining momentum everywhere.  More and more breweries are coming out with examples and the article gives some very good options of brews to try if you haven’t yet tried one.
  • Lastly is a shout out to a great brewery here in (nearby) Tampa.  I just hope they don’t get too popular right away as it is already difficult to get your hands on their brews sometimes.  Fortunately there is always going straight to the source as an option for me.
20100802  03dcabeew 500 After Taking Time Off

West End Tavern in Boulder (via http://www.dailycamera.com)

Cheers!

Well, it is now official that putting some positive mojo out there did not help out my scheme to visit the Sierra Nevada brewery next month.  Even after putting the link for my entry out there many weeks back did not help my cause as I received word yesterday that I was not fortunate enough to be one of the winners.  That leaves me to only follow along with what goes on at camp this year to give me inspiration to submit an entry again next time.

Bummer, huh?  Hey, it all balances out though as I received a few positive emails yesterday as well and at least I had an excuse to pick up (and then enjoy) a six pack of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale for the occasion.  Though he did a good job on camera, the first bottle was emptied pretty soon after the final frame on the shot sheet was crossed off.  Making movies is hard work, you know!

The video was again good practice for what I can possibly do in the future for actual brewery visits, beer events, and so on.  Hopefully my (continuing) video and picture editing apprenticeship under the tutelage of The Wife will give me the skills to do even more and more using that medium going forward.

Since I did not make the final cut I think that it is well within my rights to embed the video here.  First it will get a final showcase within this post and then it will find a permanent home on the “Videos” page above.

Enjoy . . .

Finally, I have two questions to close the post with today:

  • What type of videos or video topics would you most like to see in the future on this site?
  • What breweries are on your short list (say top five) of ones you would most like to visit during your lifetime?

So using the same logic as before I would say that if it made sense to start recapping our recent trip to Seattle with the first day and then follow with the second day of that vacation, then today should (and does) bring the third day of the trip as the FAT Monday post of the week.  That day was actually the real purpose of the trip as it was the day The Wife’s cousin Grace was to be married.

For the purposes of this site though, where there are weddings there is beer and in this case some beer that I had thoughts of searching for on my own before finding it at the reception.  As is typical with these trips, the pictures will do much of the story telling for me, but I will try to fill in the gaps as much as my memory allow me to.

Once again we were up fairly early for the day, but slightly unusual for us was the fact that we passed on the breakfast and the coffee as we wanted to enjoy both (especially coffee) with her family upon our arrival.  With little traffic on Sunday morning it was a pretty quick drive to Snoqualmie Falls.

4772216819 d4f57aa215 The Same Logic

Our view coming up the driveway

4772853954 4e70d0df58 The Same Logic

My friends, the ladders

With the weather being as beautiful as it was, I spent the latter part of the morning and the better part of the afternoon making myself useful by helping to set up the grounds for the wedding and subsequent reception/party.  The Wife also kept busy with wedding prep and at some point conquered her uncomfortable relationship with birds by stepping in with . . .

4772850880 c3d1d34129 The Same Logic

Just need a few eggs

Part of my duties included moving the kegs from their storage area and getting them on ice.  It was a pleasant surprise to find that I would be able to sample some beer from Snoqualmie Falls Brewing Company without actually having to find time in our schedule to visit them.

4772852224 5b5eb072e6 The Same Logic

Some heavy lifting

There was both their Summer Beer (my favorite of the two) and PGA Amber for the occasion.  Now I did not exactly take notes on either, but I did do my fair share of sampling and thought both were pretty good.  Neither beer was spectacular, but both were very drinkable and good for the long haul of a wedding celebration.  To put it another way, I did not feel it necessary to switch to another beverage at any point during the celebration.

By the time the wedding ceremony was to start the weather decided to turn starting with a steady drizzle to a pretty good downpour.  Fortunately with a few tweaks to the seating, the ceremony was able to be moved under the tent without too much delay.

4772211651 18f3411341 The Same Logic

The tent was needed earlier than expected.

4772211439 6bb8196ee7 The Same Logic

The rain could not stop everything.

Though the whole day did not go exactly as they might have planned, I do think that the weather gave the wedding had a very unique and special quality (in a good way).  As a result of that and because of the enjoyment that was the whole day, I don’t think anyone will forget Grace and Kristopher’s wedding anytime soon.

Cheers to them!

If it made sense to start recapping our recent trip to Seattle with the first day, it surely makes sense to continue on at some point with the second day of that vacation.  Of course that some point is the FAT Monday post for today.  The pictures will do much of the story telling for me, but I will try to fill in the points between and introduce them properly along the way.

We dragged ourselves out of bed fairly early, downed some coffee, inhaled some oatmeal with various personalized additions, and then headed toward the sun (which was mostly behind clouds) and two hours through the mountains to our first destination of the day.

4772210985 0b5454c3b4 The Second Day

Drving through the mountains

My entire life leading up to that day I had only associated Leavenworth with a prison, but by late morning I found a much more pleasant and bizarre image to link to that name.

4772843072 d7a90a1245 The Second Day

Quite a beatiful day.

Coming down out of the mountains to this town is a really, really strange site though I have to imaging that it is even more so during the winter when some snow is accumulated on the buildings.  The place is authentic looking but theme park-ish at the same time and we certainly had quite a lot of fun during our time there.

4772206743 675f739ae0 The Second Day

Could not help myself

4772841274 7ba4db2f3f The Second Day

Touching the metal was quite hot

4772842948 82654295ae The Second Day

Restraining the beast

After the terrifying site of a cat on a leash we fled the town and headed back through the mountains to our afternoon destination.  We even found coffee along the way (what a surprise in the Seattle area) to help wake us all up a bit.

4772210385 838bcab778 The Second Day

Much needed caffeine

It was my day to drive (after The Wife volunteered for the first day) so I was given the responsibility of the keys and the camera as we pulled into our first Woodinville destination.  Since the building was not open during our last visit, I wanted to be sure to stop by Januik/Novelty Hill to get a better look at the place this time.

4772209479 f3b18f4bed The Second Day

Some of the outdoor area

4772847772 86a4e2a09f The Second Day

Enjoying the first taste

4772848096 1fe20f1699 The Second Day

Would not mind having a room like this at home.

Trying to utilize what time we had left in the afternoon, the next stop was at the Redhook Brewery since our arrival would mean only a few moments wait until the next tour started.  It is not so much a tour as it is (mostly) standing in a room listening to someone talk between beer samples, but for one dollar and a free glass at the end you will not get a better bang for your buck.  On this day we even got pint glasses instead of the typical small tasting glasses since they were waiting on a shipment of those.

See what fun you can have for a dollar . . .

4772846642 f7100104f4 The Second Day

Some of the building

4772209315 ebdd80e960 The Second Day

Hanging out in the back

4772208915 8c45d8a382 The Second Day

The extent of the tour

We had time to get to one more winery before the tasting hours passed, so we headed across the road to Chateau Ste. Michelle to make it our last stop of the afternoon.  The grounds and the building alone make this one worth a stop, though the good wine certainly is a great bonus.

4772208363 79ca9c6779 The Second Day

Part of the approach

4772199185 291e390bc6 The Second Day

Another room I would not mind having

Since I was without wine and with a camera, Seattle Jeff and I wandered around a bit to pass the time while the wives finished their wine flights and before we headed the car back to Seattle.

4772200839 b9a6a8c69d The Second Day

Off the path a bit

4772199323 91a402586b The Second Day

The stage behind the tasting room

4772840806 706522a172 The Second Day

A little further off the path

It was a great day of fun and the weather was pretty much fantastic for all of the time we spent outside.  Upon our return to enjoy some dinner, the driver took the opportunity to rehydrate a bit.

4772200445 57275fb2aa The Second Day

Tasted so good

4772200597 bef5460aca The Second Day

Appropriate considering our day

When everyone had full stomachs, we took advantage of the remaining daylight to head down to the beach as a proper way to end our day.  Who knew that our Seattle hosts were closer to the beach than we are in Florida?

4772200229 5f9e1dce8d The Second Day

Not a bad way to end a day

4772201287 9a1092f8fd The Second Day

Seattle Jeff sampled these without getting sick

Until day three . . .

Sometimes the plans that you have for something going into the day change by the time you actually get around to doing that something.  I do have some pretty good reasons for changing my planned post topic for today to instead include a video tour (of sorts) of Terrapin Beer Company though.  For example and in no particular order . . .

  • I am feeling a bit sluggish after swimming, enduring a downpour, and doing some serious work on an all you can eat pancake offer at DeLeon Springs State Park.  There are so many pancakes in my stomach right now that I don’t even want a beer at the moment . . . which is not typical for me.
  • Terrapin Beer Company makes some really great beer and I still am thinking fondly of the awesomeness that was the randalized Hopsecutioner I enjoyed last weekend.
  • No one wants to sit in front of the computer and read a long anything on a beautiful Saturday (or at least I don’t).
  • This Thursday will, from what I can tell, be the official beginning of the second year of this site.  This week will bring the 365th consecutive day of posting here and my mind is busy pondering what I can do better over the next 365 days.  Suggestions are always welcome of course.

So those are the main reasons you get a cool little video to enjoy today.

This one is nice as a bit of an amateur version of a video brewery tour.  By that I mean that it seems that it was not done by the marketing folks at the brewery (for example).  I would say it is almost like taking the brewery tour there but I will not pretend that we are not missing out on the best part of the brewery visit.  No not the gift shop area, the beer samples enjoyed as part of the tour!

No for your viewing enjoyment . . .

Cheers to a great weekend!

Where last week the assembly of the beer news was nearly perfect, I actually had to do some work this time.  The Wife and my official Midwestern Beer Correspondent Erin gave their contributions this week, but Seattle Jeff did not make the deadline.  The good thing for him is that I don’t exactly have anyone else lined up to be my Pacific Northwest Beer Correspondent, so he is still at the top of the list of candidates.

For this week . . .

  • Fortunately Ken Kan Kook picked up the slack this week and passed along something quite interesting to me.  Since we did not make it to Naked City Brewery & Taphouse (it was on the large list of to dos) on our recent trip to Seattle, I have to ask Jeff to go sample for me and report back.
  • Here we go again.  First there was a leak and then there was official word.  Now I do drink a fair amount of higher gravity brews, but if I want something with that much punch I will go buy a nice bottle of something for a hell of a lot less money.  I also like to keep my taxidermy and my beer separate.
  • Now we are talking!  Unlike the beer summit about a year ago, President Obama went with some hometown Goose Island as part of the exchange after The World Cup draw between the United States and England.
  • This was one of those headlines that I could not resist.  Via this article you can read back if you choose to or even go off to this interview.  I must admit that I would be curious to taste this new creation if only because the original PBR is my bowling beer of choice.
  • How could I not post a story about how beer lovers (like myself) are a good example of how to turn around a struggling economy?   I will continue to do my part!
  • This Dogfish Head creation (or recreation) has been around for quite a few years now, but this article does a nice job of explaining how it came to be.
 The Assembly of News

Beer from this? (viahttp://www.npr.org/)

Gan bei!

It is probably a good time to start recapping our most recent trip to the Seattle area before I forget any of the details of our time there.  Today makes perfect sense as a FAT (Food and Travel for those of you not in the know) Monday post, but there will be a handful of others from the trip peppered around in the next few weeks as well.  Looking back, there was at least one occasion of beer enjoyment on each day of our time there (maybe save for one) so the whole trip relates well to the site.

Why not start with the first day of the trip?  I think it was also the most beer intensive (and sleep deprived) by far.

Getting up incredibly early for the first flight out of town to the west coast makes for a long day for us east coasters.  So we were sure to grab a snack and some (local) coffee during our layover time in Salt Lake City.

Salt Lake City coffee

Love me a good cup of coffee!

I will go ahead and skip over the details of our incredibly long wait at a rental car counter that we had no patience for once arriving at SeaTac.  Besides being sick of airports and traveling, we had a schedule to keep.  We needed to meet Seattle Jeff for a little of this . . .

Taps at Epic Ales

Just a fantastic sight after a long day of travel.

Actually our intent was to pick Seattle Jeff up so he would not have to walk the two miles or so from work to the brewery, but he beat us there on foot after our rental car delay.  However, after tasting the beers (and sampling the cheese paired with them) I don’t think he minded the walk that much.  I will save further mention of our time with Cody at Epic Ales for future posts since I have much more of the day to get to and the post will be quite long enough without that content.  That and I liked the beer (and the person) enough to dedicate entire posts to them sometime relatively soon.

After Maureen (Seattle Jeff’s wife and currently without nickname) met us at Epic Ales and after having a few more beer samples, we decided to head up to the Seattle International Beerfest.  That was not before buying a case (or whatever you want to call 12-22oz bottles) of beer and a few souvenirs (which you will likely see some other time) from Cody on our way out the door.

Seattle International Beerfest 2010

Some of our friends for the afternoon.

Having so many beers to choose from was a bit overwhelming as we tried to decide where to start (or technically continue) our sampling at the festival.  Having a few before arriving probably worked to our advantage as the rain that started to fall did not seem to affect our focus at all.  Though I will let the pictures do most of the story telling for me, I should mention some of the beers that we tried during our time there.

Seattle International Beerfest 2010

Deep in thought or possibly staring at the Space Needle.

We split our efforts by enjoying some beers from breweries that we (or I) never see much of and also some new beers (at least to us) from some of our favorite breweries.  That meant jumping around (in no exact order) from Firestone Walker (Velvet Merkin) to Nøgne Ø (#100) to Ninkasi (Maiden the Shade & Kraken) to Deschutes (Mirror Mirror) to New Belgium (La Folie) to Stone (Sublimely Self Righteous & Cali Belgique) to Great Divide (Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti & 16th Anniversary Wood Aged Double IPA) to, well you get the idea.  There are some that I surely forgot, but that is a pretty good rundown of our draft heavy (very few from bottles for us) sampling for the day.

Seattle International Beerfest 2010

One way to remember what was sampled.

Seattle International Beerfest 2010

Decisions, decsions.

We did not do much in the way of reviewing what we drank, but there are a few check marks next to the Great Divide and Stone and New Belgium offerings indicating our particular enjoyment of them.  That and we actually remembered to make a mark about them as we sampled!

By that time The Wife and I realized that we had not really eaten a decent meal all day.  Fortunately we were all due for something good to help settle our stomachs, so there was no resistance to finding some dinner.

Seattle International Beerfest 2010

Making sure we were good to walk to the car.

So instead of settling our stomachs, we went for some good burn by going to one of our favorite spots in town.  Actually this was the first visit for The Wife (after a failed attempt at going years ago), but it is now one of her favorites as well.  If I ever remember to do so, I have video from one of my previous visits that shows the crazy speed at which the chef works to keep the constant line at the door moving along.  Someday I will get to that.

Thai Tom Seattle

The line speaks volumes.

Thai Tom Seattle

Burns so good!

After leaving dinner we headed to Seattle Jeff’s place to finally settle into a seated position for the remainder of the evening.  The only appropriate way to deal with our still burning mouths (from dinner) and to also continue abusing our bodies for the day was to enjoy a few brews from Deschutes and Full Sail that were waiting in the fridge.  That is just what we did and after being our designated driver for the day, The Wife was even able to join us for those.

Deschutes Twilight

Our after dinner snack

I would say that was a great first day in Seattle for us and an appropriate end to the work week for our hosts.  Though probably the most beer intense day of the trip (it would have taken a lot to top it), there was more fun with beer to come.

Until day two . . .

Once again today I stray from my initial set of rules for sharing videos of brewery tours.  Actually the one for today takes advantage of some of the variations I have already used for the Sierra Nevada tour video so I don’t feel nearly as bad about doing it again.

As a bit of a side note and speaking of that Sierra Nevada tour post . . . Do you remember when I said that I had “a scheme to visit this brewery sometime relatively soon?”  Well the extent of the scheme was pretty much to enter their contest to win a trip to the brewery.  With some excellent production and editing assistance from The Wife I was able to submit an entry before the deadline passed.  I don’t believe that people clicking on the “like this” makes any difference in the selection of the winners, but I don’t mind seeing that people enjoyed it.

To check out my entry simply CLICK HERE!

Now then, back to the brewery tour I have for today.

When looking at my viewing options I could not resist a video that had elements of both beer and cheese (though barely).  This was interesting in that it is a tour of a unique type of brewery that only exists in a relatively small area of Europe.  As the director of the brewery mentions, it is one of the few Trappist breweries in the world.  He mentions that there are only 6, but I am pretty sure that there are 7 (though I can typically only rattle of five of them when asked).  Even two years ago when the video was posted I am pretty sure there were 7.

Regardless it is a cool video with some really good information about this brewery (including their beers) and Trappist breweries in general.

Enjoy!

So how far would you drive to sample some good craft beer?  Or maybe the question should be (and was in my case) how far can you convince someone else to drive you so that you can sample some good craft beers?  This past Friday the answer for me was somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 miles (each way).  That is how far The Wife agreed to drive me to spend some time at Dunedin Brewery during their 14th Anniversary Celebration.

Dunedin Brewery

No fooling around here!

For quite some time now I have been meaning to get down to Dunedin to visit the brewery and drink some of their fresh beer to help erase any memories of the old stuff I bought in a bottle here in town a while back.  Sure I have tried some of their beers since then at festivals, but nothing is quite like getting it at the source.  So when Mike Bryant from Dunedin Brewery (who I met recently while pouring beer) sent me a message that this event was going to happen on a day that both The Wife and I would be at home, it seemed to be the perfect opportunity to finally make that visit.

Dunedin Brewery

The perfect beer drinking environment

Besides, who can turn down a tap list for the day that looks like this?

  • Piper’s Pale
  • Beach Tale Brown
  • Redhead Red
  • Celtic Gold
  • Lowland Wheat
  • Apricot Peach Wheat
  • Razzberry Wheat
  • N2 Stout
  • Dropkick Murphy’s’ Red
  • Leonard Croon Stout
  • Wee Heavy Scotch Ale
  • Barrel-Aged Wee Heavy
  • Summer Buzz
  • Hoppy Hippy Heffe
  • Three Copper Coins (dry-hopped lager)
  • Red Oak (oak-aged red ale)
  • Barkey Wine ‘09
  • Blitzen ‘09
  • Christmas Farm Ale ‘06
  • Belgian Trippel ‘08
  • 14th Anniversary Pilsner

Driving that far to hang out for a while and have a few beers meant that the beer had to be pretty good to make it worth the trip.  Any question about that was settled with my first choice of the day . . . the Dropkick Murphy’s Erin Red Ale.  I very easily could have been happy drinking just this beer all afternoon.

Dunedin Brewery

Wait for it . . .

Dunedin Brewery

There's the happiness!

Surely someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that the Dropkick Murphy’s is essentially a dry hopped version of the Redhead Red.  Whatever it may be, this member of the Brewmaster’s Reserve has an absolutely intoxicating aroma and a really nice IPA-like flavor with some pleasant malty sweetness underneath.

Had we arrived a bit later than we did I likely would have started the day with their 14th Anniversary Bohemian Pilsner instead of the Dropkick Murphy’s (to treat my palate properly), but I needed that first beer to pass the time until the pilsner keg was tapped.  Once it was available I paired a half pint of it alongside the same of a Three Copper Coins.

As an interesting side note, the gentleman next to me went to order a Three Copper Coins and came back with Three Copper Coins.  Fortunately he had two people with him!

Back to the beers.

Dunedin Brewery

The final beverages before going to "The Nook"

The Three Copper Coins was a very, very pale color with an interesting aroma that seems to have notes of butter and grassiness.  The carbonation gave it good crispness, but it was also quite smooth and slightly creamy on the palate.  It was a very refreshing, lightly hoppy beer.

The 14th Anniversary Bohemian Pilsner was a pale straw color with a fluffy white head and had a very crisp, clean lager aroma.  Interestingly the body of the beer was light, but it seemed to have a fuller mouthfeel.  The flavor was lightly sweet with a slightly fruity (grapefruit) hoppiness.  There is also some nice, sharp bitterness from the middle through to the finish that does linger slightly.

They were both nice beers, but that was enough of the light stuff for the afternoon for me.  I needed to make sure to try some of the other beers that are not typically available, so I headed over to “The Nook” to meet up with Mike and Bethany and try a few more from the lower half of the list.

Dunedin Brewery

An inspiration for my garage conversion?

Before leaving “The Nook” area of the brewery that afternoon I was able to also sample the Barkey Wine, the Belgian Trippel, and the Wee Heavy.  There certainly was no dud in that trio.

Dunedin Brewery

Quite pleased

Both The Wife and I thought the Barkey Wine was quite tasty.  It was very smooth and had a great balance of maltiness and hoppiness.  It must have since The Wife is not typically a fan of the style or at least has not often been in the past.  I was chatting quite a bit while drinking this one so my notes are pretty short.

The Belgian Trippel was a hazy honey color with a short, white head that left a nice trail.  It had a relatively mild, though sweet, lightly spicy aroma.  The flavor had a honey-like sweetness with some notes of spice (clove) and a bit of noticeable warmth.  The crisp carbonation was very pleasant, as was the slightly dry finish.  I believe my exact words after a few sips of it were “This is a really f’in nice beer!”  I probably could have skipped the description and just led with that.

Dunedin Brewery

Some familiar glassware

Lastly in my recap today is the Wee Heavy.  It was a nice dark brown color with a sweet, dark caramelly aroma.  The flavor had a molasses-like sweetness and an earthy, slightly roasted maltiness combined with some light bitterness.  The finish had some light dryness and did linger a bit (not a bad thing).

Dunedin Brewery

Quite a comfortable place

Though I did not get to everything (and I never expected to), I think I took a fair sampling of their lineup during my relatively short time there.  Many thanks to Mike for giving us the heads up on the event and thank you to him and Bethany for keeping us company for a while.  Also a big thank you to The Wife for driving me down and back simply to indulge my craft beer curiosities.  I enjoyed my time and (especially) the beer there so much that it certainly will not be our last visit, so we will have to make arrangements for both of us to enjoy the beer next time.

Cheers!

Almost every time that I compile and put into writing a list of my personal guidelines regarding a certain topic, I almost immediately make exceptions to those rules.  I  have come to accept it as inevitable since the only way for me to completely avoid the issue is to never write down any of these lists to begin with.  That is just not going to happen because it is too much fun (at least right now).

In this case I have already made exceptions to the general parameters that I recently stated were my filter to choosing brewery tour videos to post here on the site.  There are good reasons behind straying from the initial list a bit and maybe this will ultimately help me build a true, bulletproof list of guidelines for video selection.  With a little tweaking, the videos will almost pick themselves.

Here is where I have gone slightly astray from my self-imposed rules:

  • The length of this video nears eight minutes and I said previously five or six was the threshold of my attention span and what would make a video initially appealing.  Varying from my rule by roughly thirty percent is quite a lot.
  • The video is not at all humorous.  However, I do think that it was nicely edited and produced, so that makes up for not being funny (at least a little).  Having shiny copper vessels and talk of sustainable energy helps some too.

That was not so bad, was it?

Mostly I picked this video because I have a scheme to visit this brewery sometime relatively soon and I wanted to put some positive mojo out there.  I have no idea if my plan will work (it sounds really good in my head), but I will let you know how it turns out regardless.

Now on to the show for today . . .

It has been quite a long time since I have posted a video (other than those that I have done for my home brewing adventures).  I figured as long as I could find one that was worth watching, it would be a nice thing to share as the focus of a midweek post.  To me, worth watching (as far as this site is concerned) means that it has to do with beer or brewing in some way.  That helped narrow down the search quite a lot.

It did not take too long for me to start looking for videos of brewery tours.  Sure I would like to get to as many in person as I can over the years, but the likelihood is that I will not be able to get to but a small fraction of them.  Even if that was not true, I enjoy getting a little preview of those that I might be going to down the line.

Though there are occasionally exceptions, some of my general parameters for choosing what brewery tour videos to share are:

  • The length of the video has to be reasonable.  I lose focus very easily and will often not even bother with a video that is too long.  I would say somewhere in the neighborhood of five to six minutes is my threshold of initial interest.
  • The brewery has to catch my eye.  I am most often drawn to those that I have enjoyed beer from and want to know more about.
  • After passing the first two tests, the video has to be entertaining.  It helps when the host of the video (if there is one) is funny and keeps the mood light.  Even if the video is only five or six minutes, it is nice when it flows well and seems even shorter.
  • The entertainment factor of the video has to be balanced with some good, informative content.  Yes I am trying to learn a little bit when I can.

The following video met all of the guidelines I set forth and is one that I enjoyed quite a lot.  I have to think that not many video tours out there include a stop at the bathroom.

Enjoy . . .

Though I really enjoy attending beer festivals as part of the crowd who will be sampling the beers, I think I enjoy volunteering and especially pouring at festivals even more.  So when given the option of the two for The Great Orlando Beer Festival over the weekend, The Wife I jumped at the opportunity to help out with the event and hang out with our friends from The Brew Crew.

4534142421 129bc28291 The Great Orlando Beer Festival

The vegan bratwurst caught The Wife's eye.

When we showed up a little more than two hours before the event started there were only a few people wandering around the tents that were lined up and waiting.  Within the next half hour the action picked up quickly as the beer arrived and set up began.  We helped unload the beer from pallets and get them to the tents before distributing the bins that would hold the beer and ice.  All of this was helped by Andy and the boys at the Southampton booth starting to ready the bacon that would accompany their beers that evening.

4534775380 0a4c9b7c8a The Great Orlando Beer Festival

Southampton in the set up lead early on.

Then the beer was unpacked and put on ice as the appropriate signs were put up at each station.  The ice flying around is a pretty crazy thing to watch as people run bags of it from the truck to each end of the venue.  As all of this was happening I noticed another familiar face in the distance and took an opportunity to go say hello to Tom the Beer Guy as he was readying the OB product for the afternoon.

4534142597 b47ebbdc8d The Great Orlando Beer Festival

Unpacking the goods for the day.

Many times as a volunteer you will be assigned to a task or a booth, but on this day we were able to pick a station after the initial set up was taken care of.  The Wife and I were fortunate (and I was very excited) to end up behind the table where we would pour Avery and The Bruery products.  With The Bruery being a fairly recent arrival to the Orlando area, our tent became busy very quickly and stayed that way for most of the day.

4534775442 b0a6c58e7b The Great Orlando Beer Festival

My better half modelling some of the product.

Much of the enjoyment that I get from pouring at these events come from meeting people who are really interested in the beers and want to discuss it.  That of course includes the beer industry folks that I meet along the way.  Early on (just before the event started) I was able to meet Luke from Swamp Head Brewery as he stopped by for a sample.  As the day went on I also met Craig from Swamp Head, Mike from Florida Micro Beverage, many of the guys from the Central Florida Home Brewers, and also ran into the familiar faces of Tom the Beer Guy (again), Jeremy (previously met at CTT), Josh from Big C, and our good friends Emily and Ian (who were our neighbors for the day).  Surely I am forgetting a few people, but that is a good part of the list.  I guess sometimes if you stay in one place the interesting people come to you!

4534142653 294379fbc5 The Great Orlando Beer Festival

Things starting to pick up.

The Wife stayed at the booth for the entire day, but I finally took an opportunity toward the end to leave for a few minutes to visit one booth that I was particularly interested in.  My short time away gave me an opportunity to visit Craig and Luke and sample the beers from Swamp Head Brewery.  I had my first ever taste of their Cottonmouth (Wheat), Wild Night (Cream Ale), and Big Nose IPA.  My style preferences drew me to the Wild Night and Big Nose the most, but I really enjoyed all three.  Usually at the end of a beer festival your taste buds are beat from constant sampling, but having not done that I trust my palate in this case.  As I was leaving, I asked for a refill of the Wild Night to go back with and not only got that, but got it in Swamp Head souvenir via the generosity of Craig.

4534776260 c45d949749 The Great Orlando Beer Festival

A new contender for favorite beer vessel.

Since I fly the orange and blue of another school I have not had much reason to visit Gainesville in the past, but I now really would like to get up there to see exactly what Craig and Luke are up to.  I now know that I can sample their beers at a few places nearby, but it is always good to go to the source when you can.

The whole afternoon was very much fun as expected and I am already looking forward to the event next year and to seeing some of my new friends at future beer gatherings!

© 2010 A Night With The Hops "He was a wise man who invented beer." - Plato Suffusion WordPress theme by Sayontan Sinha