Panhandle Beer Forum

Best Ever Letter Ever Written to a Lawyer

2012-01-23T17:44:00.003-06:00

I was told that I needed to do another post on this here Beer Blog. I'm not gonna name any names, but lets just say he sometimes goes by Dave, maybe.

I thought I would share some blog love. Here is a letter I found that is pretty darn funny. You wanna read it? If yes, just click HERE.

Christmas is around the corner!

2011-12-15T17:22:00.004-06:00

Well ladies and gentlemen, Christmas is almost here and I decided to look back into the archives and repost one of my previously posted articles. This one was written a couple of years ago, but didn't make it into any publications. It's ok, nothing award winning. Unless you want to give me a trophy.

Enjoy.

Christmas Ale
By: Jeremy Myers

This time last year, I was reading an article in a magazine about Christmas ales. The story told of a man named Fernando in a far away country that did not have the luxuries of buying beer at a store. At the beginning of December, he and his friends would brew their own beers using recipes their fathers taught them. Only using ingredients found locally, they would each brew their special recipe and bottle them in old soft drink bottles.

Christmas Ales are nothing new and have been on the market for several decades. Whether you are into locally brewed beer or exotic imported beer, there is a Christmas Ale for you. Some breweries that are known for their hoppy beer typically will carry the hoppy flavors into their Christmas Ale. But most Christmas Ales have a malty character and have some spice added to the mix.

Spices have been a part of brewing for centuries and still have a great impact on brewing today. Usually, spices that are used in Christmas Ales are cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, coriander or a combination of them all. Many breweries use spices to show they have distinct flavor that cannot be duplicated and to show that they use ingredients indigenous to their area. There is nothing wrong with that, I actually support these breweries for using locally grown ingredients and I wish more breweries would follow this practice.

One of the most famous beers known for their Christmas Ales is Anchor Brewing Company. This year marks the 35th anniversary of their Christmas beer. While the recipe differs every year, it has become one of the beers everyone looks forward to tasting. This year, their beer has the same dark malt character, but with a sweet licorice taste. It is actually very interesting. Another famous ale on the market is Sierra Nevada’s ‘Celebration Ale’. This is one of those breweries that is known for creating hoppy beers and carries this into their seasonal beer. This beer pours relatively light but will have a very strong overwhelming hop aroma that will immediately tell you there are a ton of hops in it. I like this beer, but some will argue it is more of an acquired taste.

Besides American Craft beer, there are a few other countries that make festive ales. If you search around town you will find a couple of Belgian selections on the shelves. One in particular is Scaldis Noel. This beer is new to me, but has climbed into the top ten of all time. It has a very well rounded malt character and you will taste hints of caramel and vanilla. Another great Christmas Belgian beer is St. Bernardus Christmas Ale. This is a classic Abbey Style Ale spiced with some of the traditional Christmas spices.

This time of year is a great time to venture out of the normal routines that bind us all year. Whether you are celebrating with some friends or relaxing after a long hard day of shopping, a Christmas Ale is available at your local store. Sometimes we take for granted that beer is full of history and culture and dates back thousands of years. History that surrounds us every day and cultures that teach us who we are.

As for Fernando and his friends, they gather every Christmas night with their homemade ales to celebrate another year of friendship. They share memories, sing songs and enjoy the season that is meant for fellowship.

That sounds like Christmas to me.

Merry Christmas!

Yeti

2011-11-10T18:38:00.004-06:00

It's this time of year that I am able to slow down. The temperatures start to drop, the days get shorter and I am able to do more blogging. Yesterday, I was hanging with the Beach Brewers gang at Wine World and grabbed four pack of Great Divide's Yeti Imperial Stout.
Needless to say, this is one of those nights when you really want something malty and smooth. At 9.5% ABV, this stout has a very balanced malt bill. With a big roasty character that fades into some rich caramel and toffee notes, this beer will hit the spot of any beer drinker on a nice chilly night. The flavors don't stop with the malts. This beer finishes with a really nice hop character. Weighing in at 75 IBUs, you can really taste the hops in the end.

Yeti is a very complex but well balanced beer. I will go on to say that this is one of the best Imperial Stouts out there.

Enjoy

Pensacola Bay Brewery

2011-10-17T19:17:00.011-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was driving down I-10 near Pensacola and I had the bright idea of stopping at the new brewery. So, I pulled out the GPS and punched in the destination and away I went. As I found my exit, I found that I was just a couple minutes away. I was downtown in no time, but I noticed that traffic had gotten a little heavy. The lady on the GPS told me to take the next left, but there was a police car blocking the street. So, I went down to the next block, same thing. Turns out I decided to visit the brewery during the Pensacola Seafood Festival.

That's right, one of the largest festivals in Pensacola. After finding a nice parking lot and paying five bucks to park in that parking lot, I started my hike to the brewery. I got about half way there and found some freshly stone ground grits, you can't find those just anywhere you know. After a few more minutes, I was there! Located in the middle of Pensacola's Historic Downtown, is Pensacola Bay Brewery. Believe it or not, Pensacola Bay Brewery is the ONLY distributing brewery in the panhandle. There are a couple of great brewpubs in the panhandle, but you can't just go to the nearest beer store and grab their beer. Pensacola Bay you can.
After taking a quick look around I decided to grab a pint. Here is a little photo of their DeLuna Extra Pale Ale. Chiming in a 23 IBUs this refreshing pale ale will not disappoint. It is less than 5% and has a nice earthy citrus hop character. I totally recommend it to anyone.
And they sale growlers. I couldn't come back to Panama City empty handed. I grabbed a gallon of their Lighthouse Porter. A little more boozie, weighing in at 6.9%, but you really couldn't tell. This well balanced porter is probably one of the best American porters I've had in a while. I have also seen and tasted more of their beers in the Panama City area. I have seen the Lil Napoleon IPA and Riptide Amber. And I would recommend both to anyone because all of their beers are very well balanced and full of flavor.

So, if you are in the area or see any Pensacola Bay Brewery around, I say grab a pint.

You won't be disappointed!

Octoberfest is Here, again!

2011-09-27T16:39:00.006-05:00

Once again, boys and girls, Octoberfest is among us. This weekend Downtown Panama City is having thier annual Octoberfest. You will find German sausage tents, beer tents and ECHO. Yes, the Emerald Coasters Homebrew Organinzation will be having their homebrew tasting. On tap will be a couple of Pale Ales, a sparkling mead and my Funky Oktoberfest gone wild. It is a Saison style beer that was fermented using wild Florida Yeast.

Anyways, come on by the booth and say hello to me and Dave and try a homerew. Also, if you want to read more about Octoberfest click here. This is my article that ran in the News Herald a couple of years ago.

2011 Emeral Coast Beer Festival

2011-09-21T16:09:00.014-05:00

Hey everybody! I recently went to the Emerald Coast Beer Festival, in Pensacola, FL. It is usually held in September of every year and this will be the third year I have gone. This is my beer festival. I really only go to one a year and this is it. They have representatives from breweries all across the southeast and beyond. I counted over thirty breweries or brewpubs, eleven homebrew clubs and four distributors. This is good because usually when you go to a beer tasting or small festival, you will only see distributors and well, they don't really know much about what they sell.

Anyway, let's get started.

When the gates opened at 6 o'clock, I had a great idea. Instead of going straight to the tasting booths, we headed into and indoor area that "rookies" would only find later. We tasted a couple of brews in there and were surprised to find that this area was a scheduled stop for the Mcguire's Pipe Band.
Mcguire's Pub is a cool place to get a burger or a steak with a great beer.
Here is Gary from the Destin Mcguire's. Gary is a cool dude that knows a lot about making beer. So, if you are in Destin and want to ask a bunch of really weird questions, go see Gary. And I'm sure he appreciates me saying that.

And on to the festival...

Here's Ken from the Hoppy Homebrewers of South Mississippi

Mike from Emerald Coasters Homebrew Organization, Panama City Beach, FL

LA LagersMobile, AL
Now, some of you are saying, "Mobile Alabama isn't in LA"! Oh, but it is...LA means "Lower Alabama". I'm from LA, so I'm tired of hearing it.

Here's a dude with his kid from Terrapin Brewing, Athens, GA.
It was bring your kid to a beerfest week here on the Emerald Coast.

Here's my buddy Derrel from Chattahoochee Brewing, Phenix City, AL. He is opening his brewpub soon in Phenix City, so if you are in the area, stop by. This year, I tried his pale ale and porter. Last year he had a pilsner that was out of this world.
I tried four times to get a photo without his arm in the way of the banner.

Southern Tier Brewing, NY
Check out this guy...

Highland Brewing Company, Asheville, NC

NOLA Brewing, New Orlears, LA (and that's Louisiana).
I will tell you, they had a lemon/basil wheat beer that was Awesome. I don't drink a lot of flavored beers, but the basil and lemon went well with the wheat style.

And I suppose that just about does it for this year's festival. We had a great time and look forward to next year.

-Later

The Dogfather

2011-08-19T17:42:00.009-05:00

Howdy everybody, I would like to introduce a new beer. If you remember several months ago, I received a couple of bottles of Sneaky Pete from a friend. Well, Sneaky Pete is brewed by Laughing Dog Brewery , but brewed specially for KYSELA PERE ET FILS, LTD.

While I was searching for information about Sneaky Pete, I started reading about an Imperial Stout called "The Dogfather". I was over in Jacksonville a few months ago and of course I had to check out the local beer store. I found The Dogfather and I had to pay my respects.

We popped open this beer one afternoon and sipped it while we did an afternoon brew. It was a couple of months ago, so I am referring to my notes to describe it.
Split it up three ways and got three different opinions. I personally thought it lacked body, but had good flavors. My buddy Tony just down right hated it. And the wifey, thought it was a great beer and wanted more, but we can't get it in our area.

It poured dark, almost black with no head. The first sip was different because it was a bit complex. Tastes of chocolate, dark fruits, licorice, molasses and roasted malts all combined into one were a bit overwhelming. This beer was a was not terrible, but wasn't the caliber I would have expected. As far as I remember, it finished pretty clean. I would buy this one again, but drink it in a different setting.

Stay tuned, there are more beer tastings to come.

I Promise.

Solaris Beer Dinner Recap

2011-05-04T17:33:00.005-05:00

Well the dinner has come and gone and it was a blast! My lovely bride and I arrived at the boat and it was a nice 72 degrees out and the water was beautiful. We grabbed a beer and struck up a conversation with folks at our table.
As you can see, the menu was elegant and everything was described well. The dinner started soon after we departed. Before we sat down, I got a chance to chat with Billy from 30A Brewing Company. He basically confirmed the launch date, which is still expected later this year. But he also told me that they will introduce not only kegs, but cans as well. I for one am a HUGE fan of this idea. The beer they intend to brew will be the type of beer you will want to take to the beach or take to a Bar-B-Que, so being that their beer is in cans makes it easier to pack in and out. This is a great idea and I am all for it. I promise to find out more about 30A, but for now, let's stick to the dinner.
As we munched our way through the night, I really liked the unique recipes of Chef Huckaby. Photoed here was the Country Fried Veal Cutlet with mashed potatoes and amber ale eye gravy. I have to say this was my favorite portion of the night. Pardon the amateur photography, but this dish was beautiful and really hit the spot. Paired with it was 30A's Amber Ale. To be honest, it really reminded me of Newcastle. It had a nice chocolate malt forward balanced with a nice earthy hop finish. Most of the beers that night were very balanced.

Also while we were dining, Hank ,the brewmaster, came by to see how everything was going and he told me a little background of their IPA. It's called South Coast IPA. They were wanting to create their own "style" of IPA, the "South Coast style". I'm sure everyone has heard of the east and west coast style IPAs in the world. If not, then you need to do some research. But I really liked the IPA. Hank said that the IPA I was drinking was a little different from the IPA they will be making in the future. I tasted a citrusy IPA with earthy hop notes and it finished fairly crisp. Again, very balanced from start to finish. I think I was really seeing a trend with their beers. Balanced throughout, earthy hop characters and the type of beers you could grab a sixer of and hang out with others. I can't wait to for more!

One last mention. The Tennessee Firearms.
These guys were fun to watch. They were playing some of my favorite bluegrass tunes and cracking jokes between songs. I sat by the band for a couple of songs and was entertained. They can be found up and down 30A playing at local pubs and such. I suggest finding them sometime.

Well, that pretty much sums up the Beer Dinner Cruise. If SunQuest Cruises does another beer dinner cruise, I will try to let you know. As of now, I know there is a Bourbon Cruise lined up, but I'm not sure when it is? My buddy Dave might want to go on that cruise. Dave likes Bourbon!
Bye all!

Craft Beer Dinner Cruise is Thursday

2011-04-26T17:10:00.003-05:00

Everyone please remember that the Craft Beer Dinner Cruise is this Thursday. When you call to make your reservations, tell the person that you heard about the beer dinner from this blog and they might let you sit next to me. Maybe? All joking aside, call 850.650.2519 to make your reservations and I'll see you on the water!

-J

Craft Beer Dinner Cruise next week!

2011-04-20T16:21:00.010-05:00

Hello again,

I know, some of you are saying, "Jeremy, it hasn't been a month! Why are you posting on your blog?" Well, I am now a really good beer blogger again. And I have something really exciting to share.

If you read the title, I'm sure you did, there is a Craft Beer Dinner Cruise coming very soon to a dock near you. If you have never heard of a "beer dinner" don't worry because it's not a dinner that just consists of beer. These dinners are designed to pair specialty beers with very exquisite cuisine. Meaning good beer and good food in one sitting.

This isn't just any beer dinner. This dinner will take place on the dinner cruise yacht 'Solaris' and will set sail just before sunset.
After the yacht sets sail, the crew will start serving their guests with the "beer friendly menu" prepared by Chef James Huckaby. Chef Huckaby came to the gulf coast from Birmingham, AL. Paired with the world class dinner will be some of the newest beer to hit the panhandle. For those you you who have been itching to find a very local brewery, waiting will soon be a thing of the past. There is a new brewery on the horizon and they are donating the beer for the dinner. The brews of the night have been specially formulated by Brewmaster Hank Standridge, of 30A Brewing Company. Hank has several years of beer formulating experience and has studied at some of the best brewing institutes in the world. Now, have I gotten your attention? If you click on the poster, you can get a good look at what will be the actual menu. I for one am really interested in the Quail paired with the IPA.
But as for the new brewery popping up in our area, I think it is about time and I will post more about it when they get a little closer to opening. They have set a late fall/winter opening, so there will be more info to come on 30A Brewing. But as for now, if you want to taste their beer, come to the dinner. One last mention. While you are enjoying your beer and dinner the original sounds of the Tennessee Firearms will be performing. I have been listening to them while I write this and I have to say that they really capture some of the old bluegrass sounds that modern bluegrass bands just don't get. They really remind me of some of the old Bill Monroe stuff that nobody tries to recreate.

Well, I can't wait. I am eager to taste the fine foods of Chef Huckaby paired with some real craft beer all while watching the sunset on some of the most beautiful waters on Earth.

Now, you are wondering where when and all of that good stuff, well here you go.

Where: Baytowne Marina in the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort
When: April 28, 2011
Boarding starts at 6:30pm, ship sets sail at 7:00pm
Cost and how to make reservations (which are required): $59, contact for the Craft Beer Dinner, please call 850.650.2519

See ya there!

Waiting to meet the "Southern Gentleman".

2011-04-17T15:08:00.009-05:00

Hello boys and girls,

Sorry I have been such a bad blogger again, but I have been a busy little bee. I have been traveling around the wonderful south again and seeing new wonderful beer things. Well, a few weeks ago, I made my way back over to Mississippi for the golf tournament that I went to last year. If you don't remember that trip or didn't read about it (and/or want to) click here and you can do so. But while I was over there, I stopped by Lazy Magnolia to say hello again and to join their tour. While touring around with Leslie and a couple of other folks, I was able to ask a few stupid questions and was also able to pick up a couple brewing tips along the way. If you are ever in the area on a Saturday, I suggest stopping for a tour. It is free and fun, and we all like to have Fun!

After the tour I was on my way out and I noticed these things sitting all by themselves just minding their own business. So, of course I had to ask what was in them.
I was told that the Tennessee Whiskey Barrels held Southern Pecan, which is my favorite beer that Lazy Magnolia makes. Of course I couldn't just say "ok" and leave on that note. So, I asked more stupid questions, like when would it be out of the barrels and into my fridge and would I be able to find it in my local market? I was told that the beer in the barrels would be blended, kegged and shipped out to select accounts starting in a few months. So, it's not going to be in my fridge, because they are not bottling it. Now, this is going to be a one time deal. This isn't a beer that they will be making all of the time. Once it hits the taps, that's it.

You might be asking yourself, what's the big deal with beer in the barrels? Why not just go drink whiskey? Or... Why not just go add whiskey to the beer? First off, adding whiskey to beer is illegal. Breweries can NOT add distilled beverages to their beer. Second, when you age beer in a whiskey barrel, you are developing a very unusual and complex beer that nearly can't be replicated. So, this is more of a delicacy. In my past experiences with whiskey barrel aged beers, the barrel adds some whiskey flavors without the harshness of whiskey. And the oak sometimes adds a little vanilla flavor that will make the beer much more complex. I think the nutty maltiness of Southern Pecan will blend nicely with the barrel flavors. And the beer will be appropriately named "Southern Gentleman".

Anyway, I can't wait!

So, my advice to you is... If you want some, go to your local beer bar, favorite restaurant or where ever you like to drink your fresh local craft beer and ask them to start hounding the distributors.

That's my report and I'm sticking to it!

Later

Modus Hoperandi out of a Mason jar

2011-03-15T15:55:00.009-05:00

You know what I like? Drinking beer from a Mason jar. I don't know who the Mason person is, but I like Mason jars. They are cheap, clear and just down right fun! For those of you who have been reading my blog for long, you might remember my post when I visited Lagunitas Brewing in Petaluma, CA. If not click here and you will see my very first cask experience poured in a Mason jar.

Anyways, here is my current beer in a Mason jar. This is a little brew I picked up in Colorado when I was there about a month and a half ago. I bought a sixer of these because I knew they would fly well in my bag and not get broken. So, I guess this post is REALLY not about Mason jars, but canned beer being drank from a Mason jar. Man, I'm a redneck. Well, I am from Alabama. What can I say? Ok, let's get down to it. I did not try this beer in Colorado. I just grabbed this little brew from Ska Brewing because (1) it was in a can,(2) I had never had it before and (3) it is somewhat local (Durango, CO). But I have to say, it is delicious!

It pours a tad bit dark for an IPA into my lovely Mason jar, but that's ok because it's out of a can. The color tells me that there might be a nice malty backbone to this IPA, which I like. You can really smell the citrusy hop character and you really taste what you smell. The hop flavors are citrusy with apple flavors and there is a really nice malty backbone that I really like. It finishes smooth and clean with no real bitterness at the end. Might have something to do with it being out of a can?

The next time I'm up in Coloradoland skiing or whatever, I am going to grab another sixer of this for my Mason jar. Because I am now all out and my Mason jar is lonely.

-Later

Sneaky Pete: Coming in March!

2011-02-25T15:02:00.008-06:00

I was contacted by one of my friends that lives in Virgina and I was asked if I knew of anyone that did beer reviews. Of course I couldn't let this opportunity slip away, so here is my very first free beer review!

As mentioned, my friend sent me this beer with hopes of getting the word out about it. The only thing, it's not going to be available in the Florida Panhandle. But not to say it might not cross your path.

Sneaky Pete Imperial IPA is the name and it was brewed jointly by Laughing Dog Brewery in Sandpoint, ID and Kysela Père et Fils, LTD.This is an interesting concept to me. Laughing Dog brewed the beer exclusively for the distributor. I think that is a great partnership and I think there should be more cooperation between breweries and distributors. It seems sometimes there are walls between breweries and distributors. But enough about the where the beer came from. Let's get to the beer.

This is an Imperial IPA, which is usually an interesting taste. This is basically an American hybrid, if you will. This is an IPA, which is an English oriented style, with an American twist. What makes it Imperial? More alcohol! More hops! More of everything! An Imperial IPA is basically an IPA on steroids.
When I poured this beer, I knew it wasn't going to be a normal beer. This was a beer on steroids. As you can see in the picture, this beer is amber in color almost a fine ruby color. I think it's gorgeous. When you first smell this beer, you automatically can tell it's a malty beer. You can immediately smell the rye malts. After tasting, you can really pick up the five different hops. Reading the list of hops used in this beer, It appears that Simcoe is the dominate hop in the profile, which would explain the pine and citrus characters. I was sent two bottles, so I shared one with my buddy Tony. We both agreed that it finishes a little hot, but it is a 10%er. Meaning it's got room to grow.

I would be interested into seeing how this beer ages. Call me crazy, but I'm one of those that likes to see how some beers age and I think this one would mellow out very nicely with a few months on it.

I think Laughing Dog did a fine job brewing this beer and I hope I get a chance to try more of their beers, especially "The Dogfather" Imperial Stout. I could picture me drinking that one while sitting is a leather chair eating a nice big plate of pasta.

And thanks agian to Kysela for giving me a chance to taste and write about this beer.

Breckenridge

2011-02-09T15:51:00.007-06:00

Greetings from wonderful Breckenridge,CO! For those of you who don't who, I married a wonderful woman this past Saturday and now we are in Colorado doing some skiing.

Breckenridge is a cool little town. You can walk everywhere and the lifts are just minutes away. We skied today, which was our first day. We didn't have any problems with altitude sickness, but I could tell that moving fast wasn't a good idea because I lost my breath easy.

But this is a beer blog, not a altitude sickness blog, so let's get to the beer. After dealing with -10 - 2 degree temperatures all day and sliding around on my head in the snow, it's time for a beer! I am now sitting on the couch with my feet on the coffee table drinking a Vanilla Porter from Breckenridge Brewery.
This beer pours a brown to dark brown with a light tan head. Not much head, which indicates it's lightly carbonated. As mentioned before the altitude will do weird things to a human. And I have noticed that heavily carbonated beers, such as pale ales, will give you a fizzy coating on your tongue. It's weird! I was drinking a local Pale Ale yesterday at a Mexican joint and it just had this weird fizzy thing going on. I guess I will need to adapt? Sorry for the rant, but you had to know why I like the low carbonation of this beer.

The next interesting thing about this beer is the vanilla. Sometimes vanilla can overpower a beer to the point that it is ALL vanilla, but this one is not. It is balanced very well.

When you first smell this beer, you don't smell a ton of vanilla, well I don't. I smell roasted malts that also have a toasted character to it, with a hint of vanilla. The taste is the same way. I get a huge toffee/caramel front with a vanilla finish. Does any of that make sense?

Oh well, I have finished my brew and my bride is waking up from her nap. So, I guess it's time for Happy Hour at the Mexican joint again!

Later

First Colorado Beer Score!

2011-02-08T11:09:00.003-06:00

It's Spring! kinda.

2011-01-19T18:08:00.004-06:00

Well, I walked into my local grocery (Publix) and saw a really nice surprise. Boston Brewing Company just released their Spring release of Noble Pils.
You might be wondering what the meaning behind Noble Pils means. I thought the same thing, so I read the bottle. This beer is brewed with the Five Noble hops found from the oldest hop regions. Which are:Hallertau Mittelfrueh, Tettnang Tettnanger, Spalt Spalter, Saaz, and Hersbrucker. What makes these hops so noble? I guess if Jim Koch says they are noble, then they are.

But the name tells me a bit more. It describes this beer perfectly. This is a traditional German/Czech style beer, Pilsner, with a little manipulation. It has more hops than normal to give it a distinct hop profile.

It is a light refreshing beer that has nice floral/citrus smell. The taste is clean crisp and the hop character is balanced. It finishes a little sticky or has a syrupy aftertaste, but that is the only problem I can find with the drinkability.

Anyway, if you see it, grab a sixer. That might help the super cold weather go away.

Shades at the Loop

2011-01-05T15:52:00.007-06:00

I guess it's been a while since my last review, so I thought I would shake it up a bit. Instead of posting a review of some beer that I've had and telling you about how good it is, I thought I might highlight one of my local beer establishments.

Shades at the Loop is a small little restaurant with a great beer selection. They usually don't have anything too over the top, but they really take care of their taps.
Meaning that their beers are always fresh, never out of date or foul tasting. Another great attribute about this place is their food. They have a great menu with lots of great seafood and munchie type entrees. Shade's is located on the corner of Hwy 98 and 30A. So, if you are headed to or from the great 30A scene, Shades is where you should stop for that refreshing FRESH IPA.

If and when you actually stop by to see them, keep and eye out for my friend Dave, he totally gives this place two thumbs up!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T12:00:00.004-06:00

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Does anyone have a special Christmas beer they have stashed or want to tell us about?

I have an '07 St. Bernardus that is about to burn a hole in my cellar. So, I think it will be the lucky beer this year.

Merry Christmas!

I am a Craft Beer Drinker!

2010-11-10T15:51:00.008-06:00

Watch it in full screen and towards the end, check out the "no look" pour!

-Enjoy

Cigar City Brewing is here!

2010-11-05T15:55:00.008-05:00

Cigar City Jai Alai IPA has been found on beer shelves in Panama City Beach. This brewery is one of the newest in the state and they put out some good stuff. Stop by your local store and ask for it by name. If they don't have it in stock, ask them to order it. You will not be disappointed.

This IPA is more of the kinds you read about in books. At 7.5%, it has room for lots of flavor and body.The citrus and pine hop character balance very well with the toasty maltyness and finishes with a slight bitterness. Overall this is an awesome IPA. I have been told that more is to come from Cigar City Brewing in the area. They are going to start with their year round brews and add specialty beer in the mix later. Maybe I can find a keg of their Oatmeal Brown ale for my kegerator?

-Later

Recap: Lazy Magnolia Firkin

2010-11-03T17:07:00.005-05:00

Allow me to introduce the beer pump. This thing was specially designed just for pumping beer out of a keg with out the use of a CO2 tank. The reason is that the firkin is naturally carbonated and you are drinking the beer in the purest state.
More than one person has labeled me as a purest, so of course I have to own a beer pump. I picked this little instrument up from a friend that was stationed in Europe about a decade ago and he bought a couple of pumps. One night, we were at a beer gathering chatting about beer stuff and he said he would consider selling one of his beer pumps. So I bought it and now it is pumping beer. I'm glad it can be used for it's purpose.

And now let me introduce the Firkin! This firkin is from Lazy Magnolia Brewery, Kiln, MS. The wonderful folks at Lazy Magnolia filled and primed this firkin for Wine World's special event.
After tapping the firkin, I got a chance to play with my beer pump. This was the first time using it, so learning the best way to fill a pint was fun.

The firkin was filled with a mild IPA. The carbonation level was low as it should be. I'm not sure if this was one of their regular brewed beers with a twist or if this was a special little recipe that they did for this firkin. But this IPA was a citrusy IPA with not a lot of body, but it was a fun beer.

As I mentioned, I will be on the ball more often from now on with the blog. Don't give up on The Panhandle Beer Forum just yet!

I'm still here

2010-11-02T11:59:00.002-05:00

I know I have turned into the worst Beer Blogger on the face of the Earth, but I will make it up to you. I have lots of updates and photos to share... just be patient.

Thanks

Lazy Magnolia Firkin

2010-10-04T17:12:00.005-05:00

Wine World in PCB will be tapping a Lazy Magnolia firkin this Wednesday night at 6PM.

There's that word again, firkin! For those who are not aware as to why this is a big deal, cask conditioned ales are the next step in beer. I'm sure most of you are familiar with how bottled conditioned beers work. These beers are bottled with an extra splash of sugar and the leftover yeast naturally carbonates the beer, in the bottle. Which creates a creamy smooth great tasting beer.

Now, imagine this process in a keg!

The wonderful brewers at Lazy Magnolia filled a firkin of their beer and conditioned it just for this event.

So, at 6PM Wednesday, October 6, come on by Wine World in the Publix shopping center on Back Beach Rd. You will not be disappointed!!!!

Announcement

2010-10-03T18:02:00.002-05:00

This is an announcement to announce that I will be making an announcement tomorrow. But, if you are reading this tomorrow, the announcement will be announced today.

Stay tuned...

...for the announcement.

Oktoberfest is here!

2010-09-29T16:02:00.003-05:00

That's right boys and girls, it's time to head downtown and celebrate German style.
Friday afternoon at 5PM, the offical Panama City Oktoberfest keg will be tapped by the Mayor. Also, your local homebrew club will be giving samples of their brew.

See ya there!

Emerald Coast Beer Festival

2010-09-12T13:34:00.010-05:00

This year's Emerald Coast Beer Festival has come and gone and I was there. This is the second year I have attended the festival and I think we need something like this closer to Panama City. There were several breweries there that I was familiar with, but also some that were new.

Let's see who all I saw!

ECHO Homebrew Club, Panama City/Lynn Haven, FL representing at the festival.
Here are a couple of familiar faces pouring beers at the festival. If you are wondering what types of beers they are pouring, they will be giving homebrew samples at the Oktoberfest in Panama City the first Friday in October. Stop by their booth for a sample.

NOLA, New Orleans, LA

Patrick, Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company, Kiln, MS

Ken and Vicky from Hoppy Brewing Homebrew Club, Ocean Springs, MS

Chattahoochee Brewing Company, Phenix City,AL
This little brewery isn't even in production yet, but they had some of the best beer at the festival. We tasted their Porter, IPA and Pilsner and they were great. I asked the owner when did he think they would start pumping out beer and he said that he hoped next year and it might take about a year to get down into the panhandle. I can't wait!

No Thumbs up...Boo! SweetWater Brewing Company, Atlanta, GA.

Gary, McGuire's Irish Pub, Destin, FL

Choc Brewing,Krebs, OK
This brewery is new to me and I thought their Pale Ale was very tasty. I was talking with the rep and he said that Choc is available in that area, but not Panama city. I think we all should go to our beer stores and request some Choc beer. That way they will start bugging the distributors for it. See where I'm going with this?

HopJacks
After the festival we stopped by this little pizza and pub place. They had a draft selection to die for. With about 100 to choose from, they had a beer for you. I tasted my very first Southern Tier there while I munched on some fries cooked in duck fat.

Well, that's about the run down of the festival. I feel a beer review coming up real soon.

Sweet Racks, Panama City Beach

2010-08-27T16:57:00.004-05:00

Last week, me and a friend ventured out of the norm and drank a beer somewhere different. I remember eating lunch at a little Bar-B-Q place some months ago that had a nice little beer selection. So, we went there.

Sweet Racks is a little Bar-B-Q place located on Thomas Drive. They have been open for a while, but we just haven't been there a lot. But we will from now on, for sure.
After talking with Ben, the owner and Master BBQer, we learned he is into great beers. He was telling us about his line of beer and we were listening. He really knew his products and wasn't just trying to up sell us. He has a nice spectrum of beers to quench your thirst at a VERY resonable price. Anything from Double IPAs to Imperial Stouts, he's got them.

The Bar-B-Q they make isn't your regular run of the mill stuff. We got an appetizer and a couple of beers, but Ben insisted we try the ribs with his sauce, so he brought us a sample. They make an interesting Tocino style sauce that has Filipino/American flavors. The sauces he brought us were really good. We were eating a spring roll, but instead of using the spring roll sauce, we used the Tocino sauce.

Go check it out and tell Ben I said What's Up!

Sam Adams Triple Bock & White Birch

2010-08-08T16:58:00.007-05:00

Several months ago, Amy and I went to New Orleans and I stumbled upon a couple of bottles of Sam Adams Triple Bock. I opened one about a week later and gave the other to my brew bud Tony. If you are not familiar with Sam Adams Triple Bock, it was brewed three different years: 1994, 1995, 1997. These were '95 bottles. The Triple Bock was brewed with maple syrup and aged in whiskey barrels prior to bottling. At the time, it was considered the strongest beer in the world (18% ABV). A couple of weeks ago,
we had little tasting with just a few of us and Tony brought the other bottle of Triple Bock. The cork crumbled when it was removed, as did the first bottle I opened, not a good sign. The first bottle had a strong soy sauce flavor and wasn't drinkable. The bottle Tony brought was a bit more drinkable and had more flavors than soy. But still not drinkable. So, Tony made it into steak marinade.
Yep! Sam Adams Triple Bock marinaded ribeyes! And they were awesome too. The unused beer we didn't (couldn't) drink went into a Ziploc bag with a few ribeyes and went onto the grill. If you are thinking we made the wrong decision, sorry. I thought the steaks turned out great and we got some use out of the 15 year old beer. And I'm not saying all Triple Bocks are undrinkable, just these.

After dinner, we indulged ourselves with some of Amy's homemade key lime pie. She makes a great key lime pie. And Tony pulled out a really nice surprise.
White Birch Brewing Indulgence Ale. I have never had any White Birch beers and this was a very good first impression. This 2 bbl. brewery located in New Hampshire hasn't been around for long. Owner/Brewer Bill Herlicka really has a great product and I can't wait to get my hands on some more. This Black Ale poured nearly opaque with no head. The carbonation was right on for the style. The chocolate flavors blended well and you couldn't taste the alcohol, it was hidden very well. Tony is going to be up in that area soon and I will make him bring me back a couple bottles from this brewery.

Or if you are in that area, send me some.

Cigar City is coming to town!

2010-08-02T11:57:00.004-05:00

Recently announced, Cigar City Brewing is coming to the panhandle. Believe it or not, they will start with kegs and start shipping bottles shortly after. The distributor will be Goldring distribution company, so give them a yell and tell them to get off their cushions and put some Maduro Oatmeal Brown on tap. Or stop by Wine World on Back Beach, they've already got it!

-Later

I am a rocket surgeon

2010-07-25T14:50:00.006-05:00

My advise to any homebrewer that is making a big beer or any other for that matter, USE A BLOW OFF TUBE!
As you can see, my beer is all over the room. You wonder how this happened, well, I will tell. After the beer is put in the carboy, there is an airlock put on top. The airlock allows air (CO2) to leave, but doesn't allow air into the carboy. But sometimes the airlock can get clogged with foam and where does the CO2 go then? You guessed it, the air builds in the carboy until there is no more room and you have a beer fountain.

Let's back up a bit and I will tell you what we made this time.

The Barleywine we made a few months ago has been in the secondary for 2 months and it has really smoothed out. I transferred it in to my oak barrel to add some oaky goodness to it and it will be bottled within a couple of weeks. The wheat beer we made last week went into that carboy and I have some super juiced up yeast for the next brew, which is a Russian Imperial Stout.
The last couple of years of brewing has really helped me to start planning ahead with beer making. I have learned that you can't make a beer and always have it ready as soon as it is done fermenting. So Tony and I are making a Russian Imperial Stout in preparation of the winter season. We were planning on making this a big beer, but it looks like it will be more of an ok beer.
We missed our original gravity a little, so we will not have the super Imperial Stout that we wanted. We basically found a couple of established recipes that we could relate to and put our own little twist to it. This will be a little experiment for us as well because we are using some grains we have never used before and are interested in seeing what happens. For example, we used Carafa in place of chocolate malts. Carafa is supposed to have a smoother flavor, but also have that roasted flavor you would get from chocolate grain. From what I can smell of the beer, it will taste fine. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

So, now that the blog is up to date, I guess I have a bit of cleaning to do... so if you would excuse me, I will be scrubbing the walls.

-Later

JonJam and other stuff

2010-07-19T15:43:00.004-05:00

Hello again and welcome to another wonderful installment of Panhandle Beer Forum. Can you believe it has been over two weeks since my last post. I have been really busy and I can now say that the winter time is a better blogging time for me. I started writing this blog in October of last year and the least amout of blog postings I have entered are in the summer. My guess is that I work more in the summer.

You are probably asking, how did that JonJam thing go? It went... ok... I guess? Several months ago, I contacted this fellow about making a couple of five gallon kegs of homebrew for the event. He was very excited and was welcome to the offer. Tony and I made the beer before I went to California, because I wasn't sure I would have enough time to make it when I got back. So, it was made well in advance and it was just conditioning until time to drink.

The day of the event, Amy and I drive up to Alabama and I contacted the fellow I have been in contact with for the last several months. He instructs me where to go and where to set up my kegs. After we arrive, I find the bar area and ask the barkeep where to put my stuff. He looks over at another fellow and says, "This guy has some special kegs, what do we do with it"? The other guy replies, "we can't serve your beer because it didn't come from a distributor". And I am livid!

We made this beer several months ago and I drove it a hundred miles so this yap could tell me they couldn't serve it. That's all I have to say about that.

After finding my contact, we set my kegs up near the food prep tent and most of it got drank. Not everyone knew about the kegs, but by the time we had to leave, most of it was gone. I was happy with that and the event raised a lot of money for a good cause. And I got to see a few friends I haven't seen in a while.

As for recent news, Tony and I made a wheat beer yesterday. Yep, wheat beer! It is the first wheat either of us has attempted. It seems to be a success, but I can't say for sure.
Tony made this recipe and it should have some Blue Moon qualities to it. We added some orange peel and Grains of Paradise to jazz it up a bit. You can see chunks of orange peel floating in the kettle.

Tony is using a Hefeweizen yeast that is going to give the beer the authentic wheat character. I am using an American yeast that I plan on using in next week's brew...

You wanna now what's next? Come join us next weekend and find out!

Friday Night Cigar City Pints at Wine World

2010-06-29T16:34:00.006-05:00

,Come join us for Friday Night Pints, we have got a good one. Wine World has not let us down with this one. Cigar City is here!

Cigar City Brewing has been brewing beer for about a year and a half, but still can't find their way to our market. Even though this brewery has been on the market for such a short time, they have already won golf metals at the Great American Beer Festival.

We are gracious enough to have a great beer store that will do what they can to bring this brewery to our area. Wine World has a store in Central Florida that is able to get Cigar City's beers. So, all they do is drive a truck down there and bring it back. Simple.

This Friday at 6PM Wine World in the new Publix shopping center will be tapping one of Cigar City's most recent creations, 110K+OT.
110K+OT is a rotating style that is always different. This is the third batch and it is a Double IPA. It is also being called "The other West Coast IPA", and I think that is because thir regular IPA (Jai Alai) is considered a West Coast style IPA. I can't get into details about how good it is because I have never had it.

So, 6PM on Friday. I am going to be at Wine World tasting the newest thing from CCB. I bet pints will run about $6, but if they are more expensive don't blame me. Get there on time because if this 5 gallon keg blows, that's it. No More of this in PCB ever again.

See ya there.

US Open and the rest of California

2010-06-25T14:31:00.009-05:00

Hello all and thanks for being patient with my blogging. I am now back in Florida and looking back at the California trip. The trip was full of activities and really didn't have time to do any blogging. But now, I do.

The US Open was at Pebble Beach this year and I was there. About a year and three months ago, I applied to volunteer for the event and was assigned to be a hole marshal. The hole marshal is the guy that stands there telling folks to shut up and stand still. I was the best! They gave me the right to be rude to folks and I took them up on it. Not really, I was nice, most of the time. Pebble Beach is located south of Monterey about five miles and is basically a neighborhood with five golf courses. There is a historic road that travels through Pebble Beach named 17 mile Drive and it is full of scenic beaches and rocks to climb.
That is me conquering the rock. That was my first rock climbing adventure and it took me about two minutes, I am proud. The North Pacific Coast is very rocky and has a lot of cliffs. Beautiful area and I plan on returning some day.

But back to the golf. Pebble Beach has hosted several US Opens. The last one was in 2000 and Tiger Woods was the Champion that year.
The golf course was founded in 1919 and was designed by Jack Neville and Douglas Grant. Pebble Beach also hosts the annual AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am. The Pro Am was originally sponsored by Bing Crosby and has been played at Pebble Beach since 1946. So, Pebble Beach has a little bit of American History. Today, Pebble Beach is known by many to be one of the most beautiful courses and one of the hardest to play. At $495, it will be a while before I play it.
Designed along the Pacific Coast, you can't help but to watch the waves smash the rocks or try to catch a glimpse of a sea lion. This US Open was special to me for many reasons, but the golf course was special as well. In the photo, this is #7. It is a small Par 3 that played 99 yards the final day of the tournament. But with the hawling winds, the players had to hit their balls right of the green over the ocean and let the wind carry it back onto the green. I thought it was a great hole to watch players, and I often thought I could have done better.

Now back to the beer blog. Before heading south to Monterey, we hit several wineries and a hand full of breweries.
If you are wondering why I am hanging out with this bear, that's because I am at Bear Republic. This little brewery is not available in our area, but they make some great beers. Their flagship is called Racer 5
and it is one of the best American IPAs on the market. Racer 5 is a ctrusy IPA that drinks easy because it is not an over bitter IPA. Great Beer!

One of the other wonderful breweries was the World Renowned Russian River Brewing. This brewery is the maker of Pliny the Elder and it is ranked high on all the beer rating websites.
This IPA has a pine/grassy character that is not too overwhelming, but will give you a nice kick. At 8% ABV and an undetermined amount of IBUs, it is actually not a hard drinking beer. Pliny the Elder isn't the only beer they make. Russian River has a whole line of Belgian style ales as well. I tasted one, but let's just say it was the end of the night. I brought some bottles home, we'll do a tasting soon.

Well, I think that just about catches up the blog and now I am off for a Pliny.

Later

Sonoma and Napa

2010-06-13T10:20:00.010-05:00

Sonoma and Napa are not known for beer, but are known for making some of the best wines in the world. Amy and I have spent the last four days in some of the most beautiful vineyards and tasted lots of great wine. I know this is a beer blog, but you are going to have to read a little about wine for a bit.

We started our journey in Sonoma and made some awesome friends on the way. Friday, I played a round of golf at Oakmont Golf and Country Club, not to be confused with The Oakmont Country Club. The Proshop paired me with a couple of local golfers, which happen to have some great local recommendations. The first recommendation we got was to a great Italian restaurant named Cafe Citti. Cafe Citti was recently showcased on Diners, Drive-in and Dives. All I have to say is that this place is not a dive.

The other golfer paired with me was the Head Groundskeeper at Chateau St. Jean.
Scott invited me and Amy to come visit the winery and hooked us up with some great wine tastings. Not only does Chateau St. Jean have some great wines, but they also have some great gardens. Scott's gardens are so amazing. We walked around the Chateau and soaked up the beautiful gardens that were there.
Well, like I mentioned, we are on vacation and I will post periodically about our trip. I am going to leave you with some photos that we have taken from our trip and I am going to relax. Believe it or not, but wine tasting is somewhat exhausting. Enjoy the photos.

Chateau Montelena, named after Mt. St. Helena

The Chateau Montelena

Vineyards

And Yes, that is a ring on Amy's finger!

California, Here I Come!?! Or, Here I am!

2010-06-09T23:42:00.010-05:00

Last couple of days have been really crazy. Work, packing and getting little things done have taken up most of my time.
The JonJam beers are kegged and priming as we speak. There are really two different beers there. My brew-buddy Tony and I used two different types of yeasts, which gave each batch a different taste. We used some yeast from McGuire's and we used an English yeast named Nottingham. In my opinion, the McGuire's yeast gave of more of a dry finish. But that's my opinion. The Nottingham seemed a tad bit more of a sweeter flavor. There is a spice flavor in both, but that is due to the hops that were used.

Next on the menu, California! This is the trip Amy and I have spent the last year planning. We have a full schedule of breweries, wineries and golf lined up, so don't be angry if I only post every now and again. Usually, I will post regularly when I'm on vacation, but we have a full schedule.
Here is a little shot Amy took when we made it into the wine country. When we got into the area, we stopped at a little Brewery named Lagunita's. We Planned on just having a beer and some dinner before we retired for the night and we did just that. After all the traveling, we are beat and looking for some rest.
But Lagunita's was on our way to the hotel and is a great brewery. We get a ton of stuff in Panama City and there wasn't much that I hadn't had before. The tap room itself is very impressive. There were a number of folks there hanging out and more eating dinner. I liked it. I think Panama City Beach could use a place just like it.
There is an inside area and an outside area where live music is a common thing. Not to mention the brewery is right next door, so the selection is great.
The first beer for me was the Wilco Tango Foxtrot Cask Ale. We get this beer in Panama City Beach, but this was different. It was the raw/real thing that had been conditioned in casks for several months and it tasted as creamy as the picture looks. If you are not familiar with cask conditioned ale yet, get familiar. It rocks!
The food menu here was very simple. There was an appetizer section and a sandwich section, but Amy and I both agreed that they have great food. Paired with the right beer, any one of their sandwiches is a great meal.

But as for the title, Amy and I are in California. It is a different place. We figured that out very fast. This is the first stop on out trip and we are already amazed at the people...
I mean...come on...do you really need a homemade sign to tell people this? It is funny and all, but weird. You can't see it in the picture, but someone wrote under the last letters of the sign the initials for Wilco Tango Foxtrot with a question mark.

WTF?

JonJam 2010 Brew

2010-06-01T16:32:00.006-05:00

Hello, I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day and remembered those who helped give us our freedom. I personally had to work all weekend and Monday morning, but had time to do a little brewing. I am brewing for JonJam.

A couple of weeks ago, I agreed to donate a couple of kegs to a benefit that is going on in Dothan on July 10. JonJam is a benefit to raise money for disabled individuals that are in need of special equipment. You can read more about Jon and JonJam from the website. Jon is a great dude.

On to the brew! I had a little help from Tony with this one. We did a 10 gallon Pale Ale with no real fancy additions. I thought a Pale Ale would be a nice and easy drinking beer for most folks, so that's what we did.
We still had Keith's grain mill, so we didn't have to screw around with my hand mill. This is such a great tool to have because we milled over 18 pounds of grain in minutes. It took longer to weigh the grain than it did to crush it. This thing ROCKS!

Also, since it was Memorial Day, we threw some stuff on the grill. On the right you may notice
some Conecuh. This is Alabama's greatest sausage and you can't beat it. I like it because it isn't real fatty. This was the hickory smoked style. On the left, those are Satan's Turds. They are Jalapeno Poppers on roids! Jalapenos filled with chili type stuff and cream cheese, then wrapped in bacon and grilled. You can tell those guys flamed up a lot. Tony also threw some Habanero cheddar in there too. They were hot!
After all the cooking took place, we sparged the grains to extract all the sugars from the grain. Looking at the color to the beer, I say it is going to be a Very Pale Ale. There is nearly no color. But it will taste like beer, I hope.
After all the festivities, Tony grabbed a Chili Beer for us. This is a very light Lager bottled with a chili in it. The chili is what's in my glass. This was possibly the worst beer I have ever tasted. It wasn't good and neither was the chili.

Well that just about does it for my Memorial Day. How was yours?

Large scale brewing is fun

2010-05-25T16:52:00.013-05:00

Well, there has been some excitement going on since I last posted. Tony and I drove over to Destin last Friday and spent the day with Brew Master Gary. I called the store on Tuesday and asked if it were alright to pay a visit and the rest is history. Gary has been brewing professionally since 1995 and it turns out he is a long lost friend of Wayne Wambles of Cigar City Brewing. I know Wayne because he was brewing in my hometown at a brew pub named Poplar Head Mule Company. I still have a t-shirt. But Gary hired Wayne at Buckhead Brewing in Tallahassee after the Poplar Head gig.

When we arrived at the store, Gary welcomed us and gave us a super quick tour of the brewery and we got down to business. This particular day, we were making McGuire's Stout. And it is a wonderful stout. As we ripped open bags of grain, we started the brew day with some "That's what she said" jokes. And some were pretty funny.
This was not one of those situations where we sat around and watched what was happening, NO Sir! After we added the right amount of grains, I offered recommendations on changes, then we did what any brewer would do. We drank beer. Tony and I brought over some of our homebrews. So many, we didn't even get to all of them. Gary, if you are reading, we forgot to give you one. I guess we ran out of time. We also sampled lots of McGuire's beers.
After mashing the grain, we sparged it just like any other brew. This is where the grains are rinsed to harvest all the sugars that were converted during the mash. This is the part of the beer that is brewed. As you can see in the picture, the grains look a little dark. That is because of all the dark grains that were used. The darker the grains you use the darker the beer is going to be.
But is wasn't just sit around and watch the water flow all day. There was plenty of labor to be done. This is what happens to all the grains that are left behind. I usually just toss mine in the yard, but McGuire's has different ways to dispose of their waste. Their grain goes to the farm. About noon, a man shows up and takes all of the grain to his farm to feed his horses. That is a great idea! There are several breweries that give their grains to farms, such as Highland Brewing Company. This helps with their disposal footprint and helps out the local farmers.
During the brewing process, Gary gave us instruction of when to add the additions. We added two different hop additions, then added some anti-coagulant stuff to help the beer clear during fermentation. This is what Tony is doing now. This is a little off topic, but do you remember those old 1950's commercials where the man was so happy to be doing anything. I think that man was who Tony was shooting for, even with those Big Ass Pork Chop Sideburns. Great Photo!
Here is a little photo of me playing in the Mash Tun. Actually I am not playing, I was scrubbing the sides with a scrubber. I took the time out of my busy job for a photo. This was really a great day a we both had a fun time brewing with Gary. Tony and I both agree that this was pretty much like homebrewing, but add larger equipment and a couple of pumps. We both also agree that we only saw one side of what Gary does everyday. Besides brewing, you have to think about moving the beer to secondary fermentation, kegging and cleaning of all the equipment that is involved. There is actually tons more that is involved, but we didn't get to see. Maybe we were there on a slow day, it was Friday.
We had a very fun and eventful day. My hat goes off the The Brewer and all that he does. Brewing is full of adventure and creativity that mixes well with culture and diversity. We were told that our stout will be on tap at McGuire's in about 10 days. I say you stop on by and try it out. If it sucks, it's not our fault. We just did what we were told. Just kidding, I bet it will be the best stout ever served at McGuire's. See you there!

Homebrewing is fun

2010-05-19T15:29:00.009-05:00

Hello boys and girls, welcome to another edition of Panhandle Beer Forum. Today we are talking all about Homebrewing and how much fun it is and why you should do it. First, it is fun. Second, you get great beer from it. Third, it is easy.

Everyone starts off doing extract brews and eventually goes all-grain. What ever techniques you use, it doesn't matter because it is going to be great beer that will make you proud. I promise. I remember the first time I opened a bottle of homebrew with my friend Brad, we still think that is the best batch we have ever made. And it could be. The thing I like about brewing is that there is not a limit to what you can make. Like a chef in action, your mind goes into super creativity mode and you can think up some of the strangest things. For instance, I made an IPA recipe once spiced with rosemary and aged on oak chips and lavender leaves. Does that sound normal?
Recently, my friend made a Kolsch to celebrate the birth of his daughter. You can see it here in the picture and I have to say, that is one of the coolest homebrew labels I have ever seen. The other bottle in the picture is a bourbon barrel aged stout that was made by a Beeradvocate over in Mississippi. I was able to hang out with a couple of local beer geeks in Mississippi when I was there a couple of weeks ago.

But homebrewing is a very adventurous hobby and I wish more folks were into it. Now onto the next topic. My brew bud, Tony and I have been planning a Big Barley Wine brew for while and we finally got around to doing it. We actually were planning a Party Gyle, which is making two batches of beer with the same grain. How it works is you make a high gravity beer with your grains and re-mash the grain to make a low gravity beer. Sounds simple, huh? In order to have enough equipment, Tony acquired a new burner that he got for free and I
must say, it does a great job burning! It burnt the sides of the pot, the bottom and could have burnt a bunch more. But what can you say, it was free? We needed to have at least one other burner ready to heat water, but we ended up not using "The Torch from Hell", as we thought it was dangerous.

Our sparge went well. We ended up with about 67% efficiency, which is a little low, but we will end up with a 9% beer when it is all done.
As you can see in the picture, that when we started to mash out, the beer is different colors. This is because the grains in the two cooler are different. The one on the left has mostly base grains and the one on the right has a lot of the specialty grains. They all mix in the end anyway.
This is just a fancy little shot of the spent grain after the mash was over and they make some great cookies. Amy has an awesome recipe, I will post it one day when she makes more and I can be inspired. But all of that was turned into tree food. Yes, returneth to the Earth.

After the sparge, we fired up the Brew Kettle. Nothing pumps you up more than firing up the Brew Kettle.
And Tony was pumped up. We boiled that bad boy for an hour and a half, to ensure a quality fermentation. We were shooting for an American Barley Wine and it should have a big hop character. We hopped the BaJeepers out of it and according to Tony's computer projection, it could have upwards of 160 IBUs. There are those letters again, IBUs. I have been told that the human palate can only recognize up to 90 International Bitterness Units, so this should be a fun beer to taste.

As for the other beer, we were able to get a 5 gallon brew out of it, after adding more grain. But we got our Barley Wine. That's all that matters, right?

By the way, I had to retype most of this because when I went to post the first one, Blogger deleted half of the post. I was as pissed off as a legless Ethiopian watching a doughnut roll down a hill. I was mad.

Oh, and I shaved off my beard. See ya.

I am alive!

2010-05-05T16:17:00.005-05:00

I know I am such a slacker and I should post more, but I have been busy. There is a bunch of stuff coming up and a bunch of stuff to tell you about. You want to hear what I've been up too? Ok.

We finally got to get together for the Big Brown Tasting and it was fun. We tasted all of the beers blind and tried to guess which one was what. I am not sure anybody got all of them right. But It was fun tasting all seven beers side by side. Yes, there were seven. We did some fancy side boy action and added some flavors to mix things up. Keith fermented one bottle with maple syrup, which nearly exploded. Tony aged one gallon of his brown one a vanilla bean, which was the best beer there. He also dripped a few drops of Maker's Mark in a bottle. I aged one gallon of my brown on some espresso beans. That's how we got the seven beers. There were also other beers for taste too.
Here is Morrie showing us how he is out of beer and needs another one. We had lots of bottles floating around. Dogfish Head Squall IPA, Cigar City Jai Alai IPA, various homebrews, Alesmith, Jolly Pumpkin just to name a few. It was fun.

This past week, I went to Biloxi for most of the week. I was a volunteer at Fallen Oak for the Mississippi Gulf Resort Champions Tour event. And I have to say that golf course is off the charts. Designed by Tom Fazio, this golf course would drop the jaw of someone that doesn't play golf.
This is one of the photos I took. Check out this crazy bunker. Could you imagine hitting out of it? The green is behind it in front of the Golf Channel tower. There were lots of these bunkers and it was impressive to see all the ins and outs of the course.

Also while in Mississippi, I got a chance to see Lazy Magnolia. Just a short drive from Biloxi, Amy and I headed over to Kiln Mississippi to tour the brewery. We showed up a tad bit late and caught the last five minutes of the tour, but Gar and Brandy were nice enough to stick around and show us the place.
This 15 Barrel brewery has lots of character and makes some really good beer. Being the only brewery in Mississippi, they are not afraid to make the beer they like. And I like that. They make beer that they would drink. If you are ever in the area and want to do the tour. It is on Saturdays at 10:30 am.

And Last but not least, Victory is in the area! Monday night, they did a release thing at the Mellow Mushroom.
Tonight at Wine World Panama City Beach, they are doing a tasting of some of their beers. This news has been floating around for a while, but now it is for rizzle. After talking with the Victory rep for a couple of minutes, I found out that the Panhandle is not the last place in Florida to get victory beer! Nope the word on the street is that the Orlando area is last. I can't believe it. Maybe that is what they tell everybody. Well, for those of you who subscribe via email and get this on Thursday morning, sorry. The tasting was last night. Maybe I should of written about this on Tuesday.

Panama City Beach Wine World at 6PM. Be There!

Brown Tasting is Saturday, all is Welcome!

2010-04-20T18:42:00.005-05:00

This has been a really busy week with work and stuff, but now I have time to blog and I do not plan on blogging about anything interesting. Just a couple of updates.

First, this Thursday night at Shade's at the Loop, Lazy Magnolia is hosting pint night and will be giving away free pint glasses to anybody drinking their beer. It should be a good time and Patrick from Lazy Magnolia will be there. He is always fun to be around. Next, Amy and I got our US Open schedules and we are looking to our big trip in June. We will be in California for 13 days and have a full schedule of wineries, breweries and golf lined up. We can't wait. I am also headed to a couple of other golf destinations. Next week, I'm headed to Biloxi for The Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic at Fallen Oak. And the week after, headed to TPC Sawgrass for The Players Championship. And the last little piece of info, our buddy Keith is hosting a Brew and BBQ at his house and we decided that would be a great time to do the Big Brown tasting. Remember the Big Brown we did? Keith, Tony and myself (with Morrie's help)brewed a 15 gallon batch of Brown Ale and split it three ways and used different yeast. And we also have some SideBoy Projects too. Tony aged one gallon of his on some vanilla beans and I did espresso beans. So, those should be fun to taste. It also should be blind to get a real comparison. What do you think?

Well, that is about it from me. I promise the next post will be something more interesting. I feel a beer review coming up real soon. And if you want to get more info on where the Brew and BBQ is happening, just shoot me an email. You can find my email address in my profile. See ya!

Joe Mama

2010-04-13T18:14:00.006-05:00

Amy and I thought we would take a little journey this past Saturday. We loaded up the kayaks and headed East to St. Joe Bay. We spent several hours paddling around and also did a little fishing. For those interested in the fishing, the flats are not quite there yet. Maybe another couple of weeks of warm weather and the trout and redfish will be back in business. As we drove back to Panama City, we thought we would stroll through downtown St. Joe to see if any local restaurant would interest us. As we drove down the downtown area, Amy saw this little pizza place called, Joe Mama's. So we stopped. I have to say, I wasn't expecting the great pizza and the great beer selection from this little shop in St. Joe. At first glance, I saw six beer taps. So, I checked the menu and there was only one macro on tap and it was Bud Light. The other five were Craft Beers.
Their selection had a couple of local breweries like Lazy Magnolia and SweetWater, but they also carried Starr Hill and Gordon Biersch as well. And not to mention Shiner Bock in the bottle. The beer selection wasn't the only good thing on the menu. They make great pizza as well. They have several specialty pizzas on the menu. They cook their pizzas in a real wood fired oven that creates a nice crispy crust. It is a must try. Talking a little with Tori,
the owner, she says that she moved here with her husband from South Florida and they opened the restaurant. After asking her where they got the name, she said that her husband just came up with it. I think it is a perfect name and a perfect place.

Anytime you are in St. Joe, either passing through or staying for vacation, I totally suggest you stop. Order a brew and a pizza, you won't be disappointed.

Best Beer Stops Top 5

2010-04-08T11:55:00.002-05:00

Bay County Bullet
March, 26 2010

Best Beer Stop Places in the area!
By Jeremy Myers

Best of bay has many categories. Best ribs, best atmosphere, best golf, best go-carts, but no best beer stops. Just like a great steak, beer drinkers need a place to sit back and enjoy a nice Belgian beer without the hassle of techno music or a bunch of spring breaking teeny-boppers running around. Panama City is becoming a more elegant place and it is time for a great beer place list as well.

In the last several years, I have been around town and I have become more familiar with who is interested in serving better quality beer. What I am looking for is a place that is not selling beer at a discount or just trying to make tourist feel like they are in a different country. I look for beer selection, nice big televisions, and maybe even a great meal to go with it. In this list, you will not hear about any pinball machines or girls selling Jello-shots, just where the best beer stops are in the area.

#5 Wine World, Panama City Beach,
Located on Back Beach, in the new Publix shopping center, they are not your typical beer stop. Wine World is a wine and beer outlet that also has beer on tap. They recently added 10 beers that are not usually found at the local stops and they have plans to keep rotating their selections so boredom does not become an issue. I think that is a great idea. Who likes to drink the same thing all the time?

#4 Red Door Saloon, Panama City Beach,
This trendy little saloon on Front Beach Rd. has lots of character. They have a few beers on tap and several American crafts in the cooler, which is a big deal for me. The open air venue allows you to sit inside, but enjoy the views of the outdoors. Another exciting plus is the shuffle board table for all to enjoy. Call me an old timer, but I think beer and shuffle board are quite the combo.

#3 Buffalo Wild Wings, Pier Park,
This sports bar and grill is great for whole family. Any direction you look, there is a television. Wings, nachos and beer is what‘s on the menu. Their beer selection is pretty well rounded. They have exactly 20 beers on tap that range from typical English Pale Ales to typical sports bar lager beer. They also have a nice bottle selection that holds a couple Belgian beers in there too.

#2 Mellow Mushroom, Panama City Beach,
This off balanced pizza place has a huge beer selection for the area. Their beer selection is full of domestic and import beer. The one thing I noticed is they serve a double IPA on tap and I am not sure, but I could say they are the only place around that has a double IPA on tap. On weekends, they usually have some live entertainment to help set the scene of relaxation.

And the #1 Best Beer Stop Place in the area is…

Shade’s at the Loop, Inlet Beach,
Shade’s is located on the corner of 30A and 98. When you walk in, you feel right at home. Twenty foot ceilings, Large LCD televisions and a draft menu to help quench your thirst. The last time I was in there, they had 32 beers on tap and the one on the freshest IPAs I have had in a long time. That’s not all; their selection is full of German lagers, English Ales and more regional crafts on draft you can’t just find anywhere. The food menu is full of great seafood and sandwiches that will fill you up for the game.

Friday Night Tasting

2010-04-05T16:14:00.005-05:00

This past Friday, we went out of our norm and did a little tasting. Usually our tastings are on Tuesdays, but several repeat tasters couldn't do it during the week. So, we moved it to Friday and we also didn't do it at Wine World. And might I add that we haven't given Wine World enough thanks for allowing us to come and use their facility. I think everyone should go by there and buy something, just because they are nice and not to mention they have the best selection in the area. By the way, they just got a couple of Cigar City kegs in and they should have them on tap any day now, give them a buzz. Anyway, we didn't do the tasting there because they are really busy these days and we didn't want to get in their way.

This tasting had a lot of great beers lined up including one I have been itching to drink for a while. I have had a bottle of Firestone Walker 13 in my cellar for a couple of months and I could not wait to try it. This one is supposed to be a great aging beer, but I like to try beers fresh and aged beers and compare notes. I only have one of these, but I am on the lookout for another to age. But if you are not familiar with this beer check out the link. The link is full of information about this beer. The 13 is basically a their Anniversary Ale that is blended differently every year. This year they used seven different barrel aged beers and they were blended by some of California's greatest wine makers. I have to say is was one of the highlights of the night.

Another great beer we tasted was from Florida's own Cigar City Brewing. If you have not been following CCB progression then let me catch you up. They are now considered one of the best breweries in the world. Let's just say they now have three beers on Rate Beer's Top 10. We tasted their Hunahpu's Imperial Stout, which is a stout made with cacao nibs, ancho and pasilla chiles, cinnamon and vanilla beans. Quite a combo huh? This beer smells fantastic and tastes very interesting. You could nearly pick out all of those ingredients, if you looked for them. Also, Amy cooked up some Buddha's Temptation for us to munch on. They rocked!
A couple of other intresting beers we had were DogFish Head Pangaea and BrewDog Dogma. Both of these beers seemed really strange to me and I am scared of strange beers and strange ingredients. Let me clarify. The Dogfish Head beer is made with one ingredient from every continent including crystallized ginger. The BrewDog beer is an ale made with honey, kola nut, poppy seed and guarana. Sound strange? But both of these beers were very good and great drinking beers. I totally suggest picking them up. And you can find them both at Wine World.

I know it is not fun reading about all the beers we taste at these little tastings. So, maybe this will give you a little incentive to join us next time. You never know what we will be tasting or who will show up. You might even see our buddy Dave.

That's right Dave finally came to a tasting and I tried to get a picture of him, but I couldn't ever get a good angle on him. Maybe next time, right? Well, I will say that by the time he left, he was as happy as an ostrich.

I promise.

What's been going on?

2010-03-31T18:33:00.007-05:00

WoW, it has been an entire week since my last post! I've just been super busy and I couldn't find any time to do it. Let me back up a bit and tell you why. Last Thursday, Amy comes bopping in all excited and says, "Do you want to go to New Orleans?", and I said "NO", at first. I started to think about all the other things I had to do, I was going to Mobile on Tuesday (Yesterday) for a work thing and I was also saving money for our BIG California trip in a couple of months. But after a couple of minutes of twisting my arm, I gave. We went to New Orleans.

I have never been to New Orleans to hang out. Of course, everybody has been to New Orleans and has their favorite places and wants you to go to those places and no where else. When we first got there, I was a little bit sceptical. I was in a big city I have never been to and I was a little nervous. We checked into our hotel, which was Hotel Monteleone, and we headed off into the city. We ate dinner at a little dive bar/restaurant called Port of Call. It had great burgers, but the beer selection was a little skimpy. They had a drink called the Monsoon, which was a heavy rum drink made with local fruit punch. After the great burger, Amy showed me Bourbon Street and I must say, I didn't like it. Every bar we passed, there was a band. Not just playing music, but they were playing it as loud as they could. So, all I could hear was one big loud noise from all the different bands clashing. I probably would have enjoyed it more when I was 21,but now I'm just an old fart. I was interested in the beer community, not the loud bands. I am familiar with one brewery in the New Orleans area, but I didn't know where to find their beers.

As we walked down Bourbon St. I poked my head into a bunch of bars to look at their tap handles. I was in search of NOLA. NOLA, meaning New Orleans Lager & Ales is pretty much New Orlean's only brewery after Katrina. They have three year-round beers and one seasonal out right now and I wanted to taste them. As we walked through Bourbon Street, I could not find any NOLA. Similar to Charleston, it is disappointing to find that the areas largest tourist areas do not carry their local products. I would think that would be the first place you would find local stuff. Any time I go somewhere, I try to forget about what's going on at home and enjoy that place's culture. Eat the local foods, the local drink and dance the local dance(I don't dance, but I did the rest). So, what did I do? I found a local and I asked. Who else would I ask, but The Beer Buddha? Having lived in New Orleans for several years, if not decades, and actually working for NOLA for a bit, I knew he would know where to find some NOLA brews.

He sent us to The Avenue Pub and I must admit it is an awesome place. They have 31 taps that are always rotating and always finding ways to get new beers on tap. I was able to find all of NOLA's beers and a few more. NOLA just introduced an IPA called Hopitoulas which is named after one of New Orleans streets Tchoupitoulas and it is off the charts. By far the best beer NOLA makes.
I was also able to taste their Saison, which is a spring seasonal and it is a solid light Saison. Talking briefly with Polly (owner Ave.Pub), she gets into the beer scene. She was interested in creating a better beer community in the area and was also interested in getting other local places interested in buying better beer, just to benefit the cause. Seems very non-selfish, I like that.
There is also a restaurant within the pub called Janita's. I first met Kimmie and Craig (owners of Janita's) and talked with them a little about their business. They have a great menu full of soups and sammiches. They also have an appetizer named after The Buddha called Buddha's Temptation. It is dried apricots stuffed with Bleu cheese wrapped with bacon and deep fried to perfection. A must try, especially with some beers.

We totally were not in New Orleans long. Definitely not long enough to see all the great beer places, but that is why there is always the next trip, right?

Also, the new Bullet is out on shelves and there is a little article in there (written by me) about the best beer places in the area. Please give it a read and then go to those places, because without those places there won't be any other places. Get It?

Last on the agenda, we are doing a little tasting Friday night, but it is not going to be at Wine World. If you are interested in attending, shoot me an email and I will give you directions. We have some good beers planned.

-Later

I love Black and Tans

2010-03-23T17:55:00.006-05:00

This past St. Patrick's Day was a fun time. We had a little gathering on Saturday and had some green beer on hand. We did the Saturday get-together just because it wasn't a school night and we thought more folks would come. The actual St. Patrick's Day was on a Wednesday this year.

We had green beer and Yuengling on tap for the party and the green beer was taken advantage of. So, the Yuengling was left over for later drinking and I thought about making Black and Tans on St. Patrick's Day. I'm sure everyone knows that Black and Tans are Nitro Guinness on top. But what do you use on bottom?

There are many different ways to make a Black and Tan, but my favorite is the way I was introduced. In 2001, my brother lived in Savannah, GA and I went to visit him and his family with my mother. We all went out to dinner and had family time and afterwards my brother introduced me to my first Black and Tan. We went to a bar (which I can't remember)and Trae asks,"have you had a Black and Tan?",I say,"no" and the rest is history, right? But the Black and Tan I received was Bass Pale Ale on the Bottom and Guinness on top. That, in my opinion, is the way a Black and Tan should be made. Now, I know there is some tradition involved with the Black and Tan, but whose to say what is true? If you go to Kevin Berry's in Savannah, they will only pour you a Black and Tan with Harp(which is a Guinness product) on bottom and Guinness on top. That is the typical Irish Black and Tan, but I believe it depends on the person. I have actually read that the real Irish Black and Tan is Smithwick's nearly filled to the top of a pint glass and a splash of Nitro Guinness on top to get the cascading head.

Whatever the case may be, Amy and I tried to make a couple of Black and Tans on St. Patrick's Day. The bottom beer was Yuengling and we used Guinness Extra Stout as the top.
As you can tell, there was plenty of mixing and no layering at all. I think you must to use the Nitro Guinness to get the real effect. I have made some pretty good Black and Tans in my day, but I was always using the Nitro Widget Guinness. You will notice in the picture, there was a little turtle in the glass. He belongs to one of my friends and he is to help with the Black and Tan process. He did not in this case.

Later, being I am who I am, I tried a couple of different combos with the idea that if the colors wouldn't work, then how about the flavors?
I poured a half pint of Dogfish Head Chicory Stout and Newcastle to see what would happen. I have to say, that combo is awesome! The chocolate flavors of the Newcastle with the coffee flavors of the chicory were great! According to Wikipedia, the Black and Tan isn't really an Irish drink anyway. It says, the Black and Tan is believed to be a British drink used by any Dark ale and Pale ale. Maybe the Bass was right on and that makes me feel better because I like making mine with different beers. All sorts of beers.

Because I can.

I'm an American, not an American't!

SandBar

2010-03-20T18:45:00.008-05:00

Several days ago, my friend called me and said, "I have a recommendation for you". So, of course, I said, "Shoot". He told me about this new place located on Hwy 79 just North of Front Beach Road named Sandbar Seafood and Deli.
This little deli has had several names, but not nearly the character it has now. The selling point with me was that they sell good beer and have oysters on the half shell for $2.99 a dozen. Yep, $2.99! And these are good Apalachicola oysters too! Speaking with Brian, the owner and operator, he said they have been open for business since December, but started sell oysters about a two weeks ago and have sold over 42,000 in that amount of time. Now that is a lot of oysters. Brian says they were getting a draft beer set up and they would have up to six beers on tap. As for their bottle selections, that department is not too shabby either.
Their beers are in a cooler open to everyone and you just pick what you want and pop it open. They carry most of the major breweries and a nice amount of Craft beer as well. Brian said they are thinking about removing those square shelves and adding another cooler, and I think that is a great idea.
Besides the oysters they have a menu full of deli sandwiches and fresh seafood. Talking more with Brian, the restaurant is not the only business he owns. He said he also has a charter boat that helps keep his fresh seafood in shock. The charter business is named Cazador Charters and is located at Bay Point Marina. His 36 foot Cape Horn can take you for any type of fishing you want. The Cape Horn isn't the only boat he owns either. Brian also has pontoon boats for rent too. Also located at Bay Point Marina, Grand Lagoon Watersports has boat rentals, banana boat rides and kayaks rentals.

I totally recommend the Sandbar to anyone and I will head back very soon. Cheap oysters good beer and a great atmosphere, what else do you need? And I can't wait to see what Brian has done with his draft beer lineup.

What you gonna do for St. Patty's Day?

2010-03-16T18:59:00.006-05:00

Hello again and Happy St. Patrick's Day! It is that time again to chow down on some corned beef and drink a pint of Green Beer or your favorite Irish Stout. For those in The Panhandle, I might have a great place in mind for you to visit.

Amy and I were sitting around Sunday and thought about what our options were for the day. We decided to shoot down 30A and find something new. We stopped at this little wine bar we have been to before in Rosemary Beach and gathered our ideas. We were reading a little publication called the 30-a Review and we spotted this nice Irish Pub.
Johnny McTighe's is the name and it is located a few miles west of Sea Side in Blue Mountain Beach and I have to say, it is a must stop! If not on St. Patrick's Day, then when ever you can.

When you go to 30-A, you feel that everyone is on permanent vacation. You get the sense that even the people that are working are really on vacation. And this may be true in some cases, but you feel that you can just relax. At Johnny McTighe's, you get the same impression. It is a laid back place with great music, beer and food.
When we arrived, of course the first thing I did was check out the beer menu. After I ordered a SweetWater Georgia Brown, I checked out the menu. The menu had several Irish dishes, but was also full of pizza and calzone dishes as well. This is because the owner, Jack McTighe was one of the owners and operators of the first Mellow Mushroom in the Buckhead area of Atlanta. That explains it! And that also explains the awesome beer lineup they have. The barkeep told us they have an ever ending rotation of beers on tap and they have rotated about a hundred beers in there this past year. I say a year because their first year's anniversary is coming up!

This St. Patrick's day will mark their one year anniversary. They have big plans and a ton of fun lined up. They are going to have great bar specials and live bagpipes performing on Wednesday. My buddy Dave always liked bagpipes.

But he also thought he was "Lord of the Dance".

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Help increase your access to Craft Beer from Small Brewers

2010-03-15T15:43:00.002-05:00

You want to do something in your community to help bring better Craft Beer to your area? You tired of "The Man" stepping between you and your favorite beer? You think it's time for the Government to give back your beer money?

Then Click Here!

Big Brown Update

2010-03-13T12:31:00.004-06:00

This is just a little update about the Big Brown Ale we brewed last weekend. I racked mine into the carboy this morning and I will monitor the gravity. When the gravity gets close to where I want it, I will add the final additions, which are still undetermined. But I am pretty sure it will include espresso beans or cacao nibs or both. As for Keith and Tony, they still have theirs in the primary and will rack into secondary soon. Tony said his Charlie Papazian yeast really packs a punch and he plans on using some vanilla beans later.
And Keith is in Tampa for the weekend drinking exotic beers and won't tell us his future plans. We will Water Board him when he gets back to find out what he plans on doing with his beer. Here is a little shot of my brown in the secondary. And this carboy cover is brought to you by Andy's Flower Power Cafe and Bakery. They don't sell beer, but they do make a great Surf and Turf omelet. Tell Andy I said, Hey!

Yuengling: Bock Beer

2010-03-11T16:52:00.004-06:00

I stopped by Wine World today and I was pleasantly surprised. I was checking out their beers and they were getting ready for a meeting and I saw some Yuengling I had never had before. Yuengling seems to be not that big of a beer to some people, but I drink it all the time. It may amaze some folks, but Yuengling is not sold nationwide. Nope, this brewery might be the oldest in the nation, but you can't get this stuff in some places out west.

The beer I found today is called Yuengling Bock Beer. The Bock style is basically a stronger German Lager.
You will find that it is a bit darker and has more of a robust malt character than a regular Lager. And this Bock is true to those standards. It is not all that much stronger than the Yuengling Traditional Lager at 5.4%, but you will taste more of a toasted malt character and notice the color difference. You can definitely taste the similarities in the Yuengling styles,if you like the Traditional Lager, you will like the Bock Beer.

The Big Brew

2010-03-08T16:55:00.007-06:00

Most of you know, there was a Big Brew planned. I got together with a couple other brewers for a little adventure. Joined by Keith and Tony, we were out for something different, original and fun. So we decided to do a 15 gallon brew. Some or you may know, but some may not. The typical batch size for a homebrewer is five gallons, but Tony has a gigantic pot and we all had the desire to brew beer. So we brewed a 15 gallon batch and I feel it will be the first of many.

First, we gathered one Sunday afternoon at the local Mellow Mushroom and decided what we were going to brew. It didn't take long, but we decided to do an American Brown Ale. Some homebrewers use special computer software to help build their beer recipe, but we are Traditionalist. We sat by the sun filled window and let out imaginations fly! Yes Dave, I said we let them fly!

After we scribbled down a recipe and gathered the necessary ingredients, we needed a place to brew. Since Tony had the gigantic pot, we brewed at his house.
As we organized the chaos, we got right to business. Grains were crushed, mash tuns were put together and water was heating. It was like we had done this together before, but we were still young to the Big Brew concept. As you see in the picture, we were getting things in the right spots.
When we got the mash going, we realized that all our grains were not going to fit in one cooler. If you are not familiar with mashing, this is the how you convert starches to sugars. Mashing is when you add hot water to crushed grain and it basically is steeped in a tun until the starches are converted. The coolers are to help keep the temperatures consistent. Luckily, we had enough coolers to get all the grain going at the same time and then we sparged them all into the gigantic kettle.

After that, we brewed the beer with no problems. Some spectators thought we might have a problem with boilover, but we assured him we were men and could handle it. And we did! Not a single boilover.
When the beer finished brewing, Tony added the chiller to help it cool faster. We separated the beer into three different fermentors and we all had separate plans. The plan was we will all use different yeast strains. Also, some of us will split our batches into two and add some secondary ingredients to add different flavors, but stay tuned for that info.

I think all of us are happy with the brew. The color is a little dark, but everything else ended up right on. Our Original Gravity (OG) was 1.062, which is a bit higher than we planned, but we will live with it. Remember, we didn't use any fancy computer software. In the next few weeks, it should be fun watching how this Brown Ale will take on different personalities with the different yeast.

Stay tuned, because when it is all said and done, we are going to have a tasting. A tasting of the Brown Ales and you are invited!

Highland: St. Terese's Pale Ale

2010-03-02T17:58:00.005-06:00

Because there is no Tuesday Night Tasting tonight, I can catch up on a little blogging. I figured tonight would be a great night to throw some chicken in the oven and make a fire. So, I went be the store and got some chicken and threw it in the oven. Also, I stopped by Beach Liquors and grabbed a sixer of Highland St. Terese's Pale Ale. St. Terese's has become one of my favorite Pales and it is only $7.99 at Beach Liquors, which is the cheapest in town.

If everybody remembers, Amy and I went to Highland Brewery when we were in Asheville. I am glad we made it there, it was probably the highlight of the trip. We went to the tour and it was very informative.
St. Terese's is the only Pale Ale Highland makes and it is one of my favorite brews they make behind the Gaelic Ale. But this isn't about the Gaelic Ale now is it? This American Style Pale is great because it is balanced very well. It pours a bit hazy, but that is normal for beers with real hop character. When you taste this beer, you first taste the sweet malts, which give it a great mouthfeel. The hop character is more citrus than bitter. I am more of an American Pale fan because of the citrus flavors they bring.

There is one other fun fact about this beer. But in order for everyone to fully understand this you will need to put on a thinking cap. Like the one Dave wears. Ok, now that everyone has their caps on, let's imagine that we just watched the entire beer being made. They mash the grain, brew the beer, add the hops, but before they bottle the beer, they pump the St Terese's through a special filtration system. There is this tank that has a hollow center that they fill with Hops. Yep hops! This tank is called a HopBack. It is specially designed just for this purpose and it gives the beer the great hop aroma that you smell with the St. Terese's.

This beer is a good one for just about anything. I grabbed a sixer just because it is a great Pale Ale.

Speaking of Pale Ales! My buddy Tony and I brewed our very first All-grain batch of beer Saturday. But it didn't turn out exactly the way we intended. Our mash didn't work very well. This is the part where you convert all the starches in the grain to sugars.
But we ended up with an American Pale Ale that is not well balanced. It has a ton of hop character, but nothing to balance it. No malt character, no body. It will eventually end up getting green food coloring put in it and being used as "Green Beer" for St. Patrick's Day. I take full credit for the crappy brew and I vow to never screw up again, just like Tebow did.

We have another brew scheduled for this weekend and it's going to be perfect! And as for Tony, Yeah, he is really that big of a dude. So don't screw with him!

"Craft Beer in America"

2010-03-01T05:28:00.002-06:00

Bay County Bullet
February 19, 2010

Craft Beer in America
By Jeremy Myers

A few months ago, I went to a restaurant with my brother and I never knew ordering a beer was such a difficult task. We sit down and I am looking at the menu for the beer selection. There is not one, but before I could ask the waitress about the menu my brother blurts out,” what kind of imports do you have? Because he’s going to want an import”, I was embarrassed. Though I do enjoy the occasional import, I consider myself a very domestic beer drinker.

America is rich of brewing history. Before the Mayflower landed, the Indians were brewing beer. While our traditions are full of English recipes, the entire world has really impacted the beers of America. All through the history of America, you can find some mention of beer. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin all were avid homebrewers. During the Revolutionary War, George Washington ordered his officers to ration the beer supply to one quart of spruce beer per soldier.

Pre-Prohibition was full of great breweries that could quench the thirst of any beer drinker. In 1920, the eighteenth amendment went into effect prohibiting the sale, making, or transportation of alcohol in the United States. Most of the large breweries started making near-beer and cola, while the smaller breweries went out of business or black market. After thirteen years of corruption, crime and black market sales, the twenty-first amendment was introduced and beer was saved.

For nearly forty years after prohibition, the large breweries would dominate the market. Breweries like Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing Company were in power. They learned of ways to make beer cheaper by adding adjunct ingredients like rice and corn. These ingredients cut cost, but made less quality beer. Many craft brewers will say that four major ingredients are needed to make great beer. Malted Barley, hops, yeast and water are the main essentials to make beer.

In 1965, Fritz Maytag bought a small brewery in San Francisco that was on the verge of going out of business called Anchor Steam Brewing Company. His vision to make beer with the best ingredients, most flavors and not cut any corners (like the big breweries) was the promise he made to the people who bought his products. Shortly after Maytag bought the brewery and made the necessary recipe changes, the company flourished and was tripling its profits. He was setting the standard for American beer and he will always be the person who helped save American craft beer.

As Maytag’s brewery was becoming more successful, more small breweries were popping up. Some were microbreweries or brewpubs that only lasted a few months, but others showed courage. In the 1980’s, several breweries were making their statement. Samuel Adams, Sierra Nevada and Boulder Brewing Company were a few of the breweries that stood up with Anchor Steam to stand the test of time. Regardless of where the breweries were built, people were enjoying the quality of the new craft beer.

As for today, more American craft breweries and microbreweries open every week. According to www.supportyourlocalbrewery.org, there were 1,545 breweries in the United States in 2008 and of those, 1,501 were craft breweries. That means that 97% of all United States breweries are brewpubs, microbreweries or craft breweries. In Florida, there have three breweries that have opened or gone into production in the last year!

Craft beer can be found at many stores in Panama City Beach. I have seen craft beer in the gas station, supermarket or even at a wine store. The next time you are looking for a great tasting, quality beer, find an American Craft.

Oh, I ordered a Sierra Nevada at the restaurant.

Cheers!

February Tuesday

2010-02-24T17:35:00.005-06:00

This is the official last of weekly Tuesdays and the beginning of monthly meetings. We had a pretty good turn out for this Tuesday. One of the interesting tastings was the Orvals.
As you can tell, there are two Orvals in the picture. One of them is a 2008 and the other a 2009. We were tasting the difference of a year. Orval contains a small amount of wild yeast and after that one year the taste changed a bit. I have read and heard people say that Orval is best after five years of aging. We tasted the two and I think the vote was unanimous! The 08 had the 09 beat. The 08 was a little bit smoother and had a bit more flavor. They funky flavors were more noticeable, but in a good way.

You will also notice a bottle in the middle of the table with no label. This is a Porter that Patrick brought from Mississippi. It is called Gulf Porter from Lazy Maglonia. The Porter was originaly distributed in half gallon growlers, but because of Florida State Laws, it was not sold in this area. There was one growler to pop up at a local tasting, but none for sale. The Porter was a great surprise and hopefully we can get a few kegs in this area soon!

As mentioned, this is the last weekly tasting and we will do monthly tastings from now on. So, next time you are out of town, in some weird land, grab a beer. Something you have never heard or seen before and save it for the next tasting.

Panama City Beach Mellow Mushroom

2010-02-23T15:25:00.004-06:00

When you are looking for a place to go have a beer, where do you look? I can honestly say I have been to just about every beer bar in the area and I can say I have found one of the best selections in town.
This funky little pizza joint is always known for a great beer selection. They usually have around 30 beers on tap, but as you can see they sometimes run out of a couple. Their selection isn't just macro-brewed beers. They carry a full line of Craft and Microbrewed beers. You will find labels like Stone, Dogfish Head and Sam Adams. You will also find great regional favorites like SweetWater and Lazy Magnolia too. As you can see, Erin is pouring me up a Southern Pecan in the picture.

Beer isn't the only thing on the menu in this place. They also serve some of the best pizzas and calzones too. What else pairs better with pizza than a nice beer?

Stop by and grab a brew at Mellow Mushroom and tell them you read about them on Panhandle Beer Forum.

Terrapin:Hopsecutioner

2010-02-20T17:14:00.003-06:00

Last October, I did a post about Terrapin releasing their first year round India Pale Ale. Well, it's here. I stopped by the Panama City Beach Wine World today and they had it in stock.
I actually thought we wouldn't see any of this beer for a while. The distributors around here usually don't carry a lot of Terrapin beers and also usually don't have fresh beer. But this time they totally came through. I personally think that people are more inclined to buy more beer from their local breweries than any other. I know I do. And not to mention all the Atlanta people that come to the panhandle to vacation. Why has it taken such a long time to get more Terrapin here? Why is it so hard to get more limited release beers from other local breweries here?

OK, enough ranting and back to the Hopsecutioner. It is now available at your local store and there is no reason why you can't go try it.

Wine World also has Terrapin SunRay Wheat Beer too.

But that is a whole different post.

Stay tuned...

Bay County Bullet

2010-02-20T11:00:00.003-06:00

Just letting everybody in the Bay County area know there is nice little beer article in the Bay County Bullet. I am just letting you know, that's all I'm saying. I not saying that I wrote it or anything. It's just a good beer article. Ok.

Pliny the Younger spotted in Panama City Beach!

2010-02-17T17:10:00.007-06:00

There are two very popular beer rating websites, BeerAdvocate and Ratebeer.A couple of weeks ago, both websites had the Westy 12 ranked as their #1. Not anymore! The release of Russian River's :Pliny the Younger changed that. The Younger is now #1 on BeerAdvocate.
Pliny the Younger is a Triple IPA that is only brewed once a year. It is only available in or around the brewery, but one of our Tuesday Nighter's got a growler and shared it with us. Keith is an avid beer trader and got a half gallon growler from one of his connections. It was a great beer full of hop smells, flavors and you couldn't tell it was an 11 percent beer, not until you got a buzz that is.

We also had several other brews in for the tasting. Newcomer Morrie, had some of his homebrews on hand. It is always fun to taste homebrews.
We started up with his English Mild Bitter. It was a mild hoppy beer that was easy drinking. He was uncertain if it was going to be any good, but it was great. The next beer we tried of Morrie's was a Yeti Imperial Stout clone and I might add it Rocked! Yeti Imperial Stout is found at most bottle shops in the Panama City area and I suggest a try.

Next week might be the last tasting we do for about a month. The purpose of the tastings is to explore and taste beers we have never had. Doing the tastings every week is making some of our beer stashs a little light and there are no travel plans in the near future. Stay tuned and we will find a set day to do the tastings every month. A day that will work for everyone.

But there will be a tasting next week and I have a special surprise. Yes, that is an attempt to get Dave to join the fun!

The Brewing Monks

2010-02-13T17:52:00.003-06:00

This is the latest article printed in The Bullet. They changed the name and could not fit the last paragraph in, but you guys get the real thing! enjoy.

The Bullet
Feb. 5, 2010
The Brewing Monks
By Jeremy Myers

When you think of a monk, do you think religion, philosophy or isolation? If so, you are correct, but there are also many things to learn about our silent friends. The monks I am referring to are the Trappist monks that are a branch of the Cistercians, which are a part of the Roman Catholic religious order. There are 170 monasteries or abbeys and over 4300 Trappist monks and nuns. If you are interested in the history of Trappist monks, you are going to love their beer.

The monks live very simple lives that have only one purpose, to seek God. They have very active lives. They do not have jobs like you and I, but they do have jobs within their abbey. Some abbeys are known for producing jams, cheeses or caskets. Others are known to produce beer.

Authentic Trappist products have a certain criteria to meet to be considered authentic. First, the beer must be made within the walls of the abbey or in the vicinity. Next, the process of production must be within the monistic way of life. Third, a portion of the product’s profit must benefit the community or be given to charity. The beers that they make are sometimes called extreme because of their unique or original flavors. The Trappist beers are classified into a very simple order.

• Patersbier, or ‘father’s beer’, is a low alcohol beer that is only found at the abbey or sometimes can be found in cafes around the abbey. This is the beer the monks typically will drink with dinner.

• The Enkel, also called blonde or single is the lightest beer on the market and is the most basic of the Trappist recipes. The light color and sweet flavors are the normal characteristics of this beer.

• The Dubbel (double) is the next in line. It is a darker beer with more malt character, dark fruit and hop flavors. A mild hop aroma is usually present with a high carbonation level.

• The Tripel (triple) is a very malty beer. The brewer uses nearly triple the amount of malt than they do in the single. With the large amount of malt, the triple has a sweet flavor that resembles the single, but much heavier body. This is the beer the monks typically drink during fasting, due to the high calorie content.

• The Belgian Strong Ale, also called the Quadruple, is one of my favorites and for a reason. The profiles are different among breweries, but usually have rich dark fruit, Belgian candi and yeast characters. This style is usually the flagship of the brewery.

• The last one and not the least important style is the Belgian Pale Ale. This heavy carbonated, hop flavored Pale Ale should have a special place in the Belgian Trappist world. It is only made at one Trappist brewery. Orval, meaning golden valley is the only Trappist brewery to make the Belgian Pale Ale. Actually, Orval only produces one beer that is sold outside of its community.

There are only seven Authentic Trappist breweries in the world. Six are in Belgium and one in the Netherlands. Koningshoeven is the only monastery outside on Belgium that produces beer. Achel Brewery is the smallest and the youngest of the seven. Achel has only made beer since 1998. All of the breweries mentioned are available in the United States, including, Chimay, Rochefort and Westmalle.

The only Trappist not found in the United States is Westvleteren Brewery. Westvleteren only sells enough beer to support their abbey and community. They also have strict restrictions as to how someone possesses their beer. The buyer has to make an appointment to visit the brewery and register their car. The registered car is limited to the amount of visits. They do this to ensure their beer is available to everyone. Westvleteren is considered to make some of the best beer in the world. I have had the luxury to taste a couple of these beers and I agree they are pretty tasty.

As brewers all across the world unite to critic their beers, most will say that the Trappist Ales are hard to beat. With no real agenda and only one purpose to brew, I believe the monks have it figured out. They make beer not for them, but for a higher purpose. To support a mission to serve their community and God that gave them a talent. A talent loved worldwide.

Drink with The Wench

2010-02-12T10:04:00.003-06:00

Today, I was featured by The Wench. Check out the related blogs area on the right side of the this blog or use this link.

http://drinkwiththewench.com/?p=3379

enjoy.

Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday

2010-02-10T15:34:00.005-06:00

Welcome to the Panhandle Beer Forum. Another exciting Tuesday has come and gone. There was more discussion of only doing the tasting once a month, instead of once a week. We will have the tasting next week, but might delay it till March after that. We will see.

Last night we had a couple of really interesting beers. If you check out the picture, there are two bottles labeled Port Brewing. I know, I didn't put them together for the picture. I just took it.
These beers were brewed by a brewery named Port Brewing Company. This brewery started as a brewpub named Pizza Port, but people demanded their beers so much they were forced to open a full production brewery. Too bad the Panhandle doesn't have that problem. Who needs a pesky brewery making great beer around here, huh? Anyway, they opened the brewery and just named it Port Brewing. They also own a sister brewery named The Lost Abbey, but we will get into that another time.

One of our Tuesday Nighters, Keith, brought the Port Brewing Company beers, named Old Viscosity and Older Viscosity. He acquired one of them a while back, but saved it until he could get the other. Why, you ask? Because they are the same beer. Yep, the same exact beer. Old Viscosity doesn't really fit a particular style. This beer is made from 80% freshly brewed beer and blended with 20% Bourbon Barrel Aged Beer from the last batch. It's a very interesting process and I am sure it took a lot of practice to get the blend right. I can't really find much info about the Older Viscosity, but it is basically Bourbon Barrel aged longer. I can tell you that the Older is much smoother and hardly has any carbonation. Both Great Beers!

Another great beer we tasted was a Bourbon Barrel Quadrupel (BBQ)also fermented with cherries, made by Boulevard Brewing. This was a good beer, but might have had a little too much going on. I did like it, but I would not go buy it regularly, if it were available around here. But it's not so I don't need to worry about that.

That is about it for this Tuesday. Let me just say, you should come next Tuesday. I am not going give any hints, but there is little beer coming next week you will not forget.

I promise!

Super Bowl and Beer and Stuff

2010-02-08T15:54:00.007-06:00

Another year of football is gone and there are not many sports left to really enjoy, but it was fun while it was here. On game days, it is always fun to have a few friends over and cook some food and enjoy a couple of brews. The Super Bowl is a big deal and I thought it would be fun to do some awesome food for the game.

Anytime you go to a friends house or have folks over for a game, you always try to do practical dishes that don't take up a ton of time, unless you are grilling with the TV right there with you. So I decided to make a very classic dish. Chili Dogs, chips and PBR (in the bottle, of course).
Those of you who know me, know my favorite football food is Chili Dogs. In Alabama, my Mother and Stepfather owned a little hotdog restaurant that made the best chili. After my Mother passed away, my Stepfather was too busy to manage the business and was forced to sell it. But I have their chili recipe! The chili they made was called a dry chili and didn't have any sauce added to it. Basically, meat and seasonings were the chili. What else would go well with Chili Dogs? PBR! Some people call me a beer snob, but I have news for you, I'm not. I do enjoy great flavorful beers and there are some beers I stay away from, but there is a place for every beer, even Pabst.

After we ate dinner and made our way through most of the game, I had a little surprise for everyone. The only way I could get Dave to come over was to promise him a surprise. I attempted, for the first time in my life, to make Crème Brûlée. In the last couple of years, I have really learned to love Crème Brûlée. Crème Brûlée is custard type dessert that has a caramelized top and it is great. I might name my first child Brûlée (I'm joking). When I wrote about Asheville Day 1, I mentioned a restaurant named The Admiral. The Admiral was a little local restaurant that was outrageous. Their menu was full of great selections and Amy and I both agreed we would return to that place. After our dinner, we checked out the dessert menu and they had a Sweet Potato Crème Brûlée topped with Candied Bacon. Mmmmm Bacon. We ordered that and paired it with a Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout. And the combo was great.
So, needless to say, that's what I tried to make. As I mentioned, this was my first attempt to make this and I impressed myself. I thought it was awesome, but being we can't get Duck-Rabbit in Florida, we paired it with Amy's favorite Left Hand Milk Stout.The dessert turned out wonderful and everyone thought so too even Dave. And I trust he knows his French desserts.

Well, I didn't intend for this to be a food site. But what is the harm of adding a couple a food pairings in there every now and then?

On a different note, check out the Bay County Bullet. They are out on the shelves and there is a little beer article in there for your reading pleasures. I will post it on the blog next week for those who can't get The Bullet.

And don't forget Tuesday is tomorrow. Tasting at Panama City Beach Wine World. See ya there!

Brew Thru Now Open!

2010-02-05T13:18:00.007-06:00

A couple of months ago, I did a post about a new store that was coming to the Panhandle. The post was about a store named Brew Thru, which is a drive thru convenience store.

Located about a half mile East of Hwy 79 on Front Beach Rd., this little store is making its mark in Florida. The North Carolina Company has franchised out its first store and has plans to grow across the panhandle.
Yesterday, I drove into the store (literally) and met with Ted, the owner of the store. He told me that he has plans to open ten stores total with four being on the beach or in Panama City. The rest will stretch between here and Pensacola. That's a lot of stores. The beauty of the concept is pretty cool. You drive into the store, tell the attendant what you want, pay them and you are on your way. Simple!

As I looked around, I could see they were pretty well stocked with inventory. Not only do they sell typical soft drinks, but also some beach accessories, wine and not to mention beer.
The beer selection wasn't bad. They had the usual macro selections, some nice imports and quite a few American Craft beers in the cooler. That's a nice looking ride, huh? Talking more with Ted, he is wanting to stock the best inventory and beers that everybody wants. He told me that if he doesn't have it, he will order it.

Looking thru (no pun) the beer cooler, I saw a couple of beers I have never seen before. My eyes were gittering across all the labels and I stopped on this one brand I had never seen.
I saw this beer named Starr Hill Pale Ale made in Charlottesville, VA and I have a friend from there. So, of course I grab a sixer. I get home and pop one of the caps. I thought this was a pretty well rounded Pale Ale, but was a little mild in the hop category. I am becoming a big fan of the American Pale Ale and maybe starting to become a Pale Ale snob, but I would buy this again. It was easy drinking, smelled great and had a great body (not talking about you Dave) . This would be a great beer to drink with the football game coming on Sunday. And by the way, if I hear Who Dat one more time, I might scratch my ear off. Although, I am rooting for the Saints!

But, stop by Brew Thru and grab some ice, water, soda or check out their beer selection whenever you are headed out to grab a quick sixer. And tell Ted you read about Brew Thru on The Panhandle Beer Forum!

He'll like that.

Tuesday's Gone, again.

2010-02-03T17:35:00.003-06:00

Yet another Tuesday is gone a few more beers bit the dust. Ok, that's all the song references I will do, for now. We had a pretty good turn out for Tuesday and there were several beers to show up.
Looking at the picture, you will see a couple of bottles with no labels. Those were homebrews that Tony brought. His Amber and Red ales were not disappointing! He was very modest about his brews, but what brewer isn't? To only have brewed two beers in his life, I thought they rocked!

There are also two Bells Hopslams in the picture. Bells Hopslam is an American Double IPA brewed with honey and is considered one of the highest sought beers in the country. Hopslam is released once a year and is only brewed in a limited quantity. Meaning, once it is all gone, it's gone. There are two bottles because I saved one bottle from last year to compare it to a fresh bottle. It is interesting how beers age. When it ages, the hop character will weaken and the maltyness will become more apparent. This beer was also brewed with honey, which will also gain flavors. As we tasted the two beers, you could tell a difference with the smell. The floral hop smell of the fresh Hopslam had changed to a slightly pungent honey fragrance. The taste was transformed from a citrus hop bomb to a more syrup/Barleywine texture. If you have an extra bottle of Hopslam laying around, stick one in the cabinet to put a little age on it. I regularly read of people that like the aged Hopslam, but I prefer mine fresh.
Here is a nice little shot of the folks that were able to make it to this week's gathering. Everybody looks so happy! As you can tell there was no shortage of beer. Another interesting brew we tasted, was a bottle Rick grabbed off the shelf named Black Sheep. It is an English Pale Ale that was very tasty. Rick never hangs out with us because he feels he needs to bring some extravagant beer, but we talked him into staying and drinking some beer with us and his selection was right off the shelf.

On to the next order of business, I recently have been gathering all the extra hardware to start brewing all-grain batches of beer. I have been using malt extracts that are great for brewing , but not that cost effective.

A couple of days ago, I acquired my first grain mill. This mill was not very clean when I got it, but with a little work, it looks like it is ready to roll. Thanks to Iron Mike from ECHO for donating this mill to my adventures and hopefully I can start pumping out some brews pretty soon.

Now, one last bit I need to mention. The Bay County Bullet is being released this Friday and I do believe there will be a little beer article in there. I am not going to give any hints of what the topic is, but I guarantee you it is not on this site. Please go out and pick up a copy of The Bullet this Friday and if you like the article drop the editor an email saying you like reading beer stuff. And if you don't like it, keep it to yourself.

Smuttynose: Robust Porter

2010-01-30T17:06:00.003-06:00

I haven't done a real beer review in a while, so let's do one. It has been a real crappy day! Getting cold again, cloudy and not a lot to do, so lets try a new beer. Today, I have picked up some Smuttynose Robust Porter. On a day like this, you want to grab a beer with some character and flavor.

Smuttynose is a little Craft Brewery in New Hampshire that distributes to 18 states, so I consider it a regional brewery. The name Smuttynose is a interesting name and raises alot of questions, but it is the name of a small island off the New Hampshire coast.
I have tasted several of their beers over the last year and I say they have a different taste. I think their beers have some English style influence, meaning they might not be shooting for the American WOW factor that some breweries try to achieve. They stick to the basics and brew their beer to tradition and don't worry about going above and beyond. Their Robust Porter is one that I would recommend to anybody. This is an awesome example of the style. Moderately hopped and blended well, this one has drinkability written all over it, especially on a cloudy cold day like this one.

Smuttynose has its own thumbprint in the beer community. They have five regular year round brews and a hand full of seasonals, but all are worth a try. If you are looking around at your local store and can't find a good beer, make it a Smutty!

Tuesday Night

2010-01-27T15:13:00.003-06:00

We had a great line up last night! With a couple of newcomers and a couple of great beers, this was a lot of fun.

I first walked into Wine world and Derik (Manager) tells me this story about one of his customers. He said, this little old lady walks in with a newspaper in her hand and asks, "Do you have any this Pumpkin Beer? It's called Smuttynose." Apparently she read my article in the Bay Bullet and wanted to taste the pumpkin beer I wrote about. She asked him for the pumpkin beer and when she learned it was sold out, she was interested in other fruit beers. Derik gave her a couple of samples of some beer and finally they found her something she would enjoy. Now, I have to say, hearing this story totally makes me happy that someone out there has had a beer moment and was interested in learning about beer. This is the reason I started to write these little articles. She also said, I don't even drink beer, but this pumpkin beer sounds great. Anyway, that just made my day.

A couple of minutes later, some people showed up for the tasting. Last night we had some very interesting beers. There were a couple beers last night that were to good to be true.
The bottle on the far right is the growler I brought the Old Ironsides. Everyone enjoyed it and I was happy everyone was interested. The next fun bottles were the Goose Island that Kieth brought. He brought a Christmas ale that wasn't spiced like other Christmas ales, but had a very deep malt character. The other Goose Island beer was called Sofie. Sofie is a Belgian Saison that was blended with a barrel aged and young beers.

Next in line was a couple of Trappist Ales from Belgium. Newcomers Tony and his wife brought along a Koningshoeven Quadrupel. This style is one of my favorite styles and I could not wait. Keith also brought a Trappist Quadrupel, but this one was special. His Quad was called Westvleteren 12 and this beer is rated the best in the world by many. According to Beeradvocate and ratebeer, Westvleteren is the best beer in the world. Not only is it extremely hard to get, but it is delicious. Thanks for the great treat and hopefully Tuesdays will get to be filled with exciting beers.

The last selection of the night was a Russian Imperial Stout named Old Rasputin XII. This is brewed from a brewery in Northern California named North Coast Brewing. This was one of their anniversary brews. It is their regular Old Rasputin RIS, but Bourbon Barrel Aged. I personally love beers aged in barrels and I thought this one was off the charts good. It had a great malt backbone that blended well with the Bourbon. But this was a limited release and I might not ever see another one.

That was pretty much Tuesday the way I saw it. If you want to be apart of the fun, you know when and where to find us! Tuesdays at 6PM, Panama City Beach Wine World.

The Brewery in Alabama

2010-01-25T18:02:00.006-06:00

Howdy Guys and Gals,
Welcome to another installment of Panhandle Beer forum! Let's get started with the naming of the barreled beer. I thought the best name mentioned was Old Ironsides. This was the name Dave mentioned (I bet he's surprised) and I guess he wins. I'll think of a prize for him or maybe just a high five and an ataboy.

Next, don't forget about the Tuesday Night Tasting. 6PM tomorrow night! The turnout the last couple of nights has been a little thin, but I think tomorrow will be fun.

And on to the topic. A few months ago, we went to the Pensacola Beer Festival and ran across a little Pale Ale made by one of Alabama's newest breweries, Back Forty Beer Co. This brewery is kinda located in Birmingham, but they have the right idea. The beer they sell is actually brewed by Lazy Magnolia in Kiln, MS. Yes, that is where Brett Favre is from. I was recently in touch with Jason from Back Forty and he filled me in on the future of the brewery. They have found a building for their brewery and signed a agreement for their equipment. So, they might be able to be brewing their own beer in Birmingham by May. It is very common for small breweries to start of contracting out their brewing to other companies, just ask Sam Adams. Yep, they also started out contracting their beer to Budweiser of all breweries.
As of right now, the only brew they have on the market is their Pale Ale, named Naked Pig. It is an American Pale Ale (APA) and I would compare it to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale because that is one of the most famous APAs on the market. The American Pale Ale is basically the American version of the English style Pale Ale like Bass.

Jason also said, they will have their second brew out on the market in the next three weeks.
Truck Stop Honey is a Brown Ale made with real Alabama Wildflower Honey. It looks interesting and I can't wait to taste it.

Well, the downside to this brewery is, you can't find this beer in Florida yet. Right now, Alabama is the only place you can find this beer, but Jason says they are planning on making it to Florida in 2010. Being an Alabama native, I find this brewery interesting and it I am glad there are folks in the state that love great beer and will go to the extreme of opening up a brewery to show it. If you are in Alabama, try some out! Or, if you are traveling through the state, stop at one of the locations from the website and buy some. It's good stuff.

Now I've done it!

2010-01-23T11:41:00.003-06:00

The unnamed barrel beer has been in the keg for two days now. I pressurized it so it can absorb the Carbon Dioxide and become the fizzy. But I screwed up! Remember when I racked the beer into the keg? I racked from the top of the barrel so I would leave behind all the sediment, right? That was the correct thing to do, but I got a little cocky. Instead of racking it into another bucket first, I went directly into the keg, which caused this!
I thought that if I was careful enough, I could avoid any sediment getting into the keg, but I learned a lesson. Do you recognize those little green things? Those are hop leaves clogging the tube that despenses the beer. Nothing worse than having a keg of beer that you can't drink. Tiger Woods might have his own opinion, but I say it sucks!

How the keg works is there are two valves. One for the gas to enter and another for the liquid to come out. The out valve has a long tube that sucks the liquid from the bottom of the keg. And do you remember where the dry hopped pellets end up? Yep, on the bottom! So, now I just have to keep drawing beer until the tube stops getting clogged, meaning no more hop leaves.

I have actually been able to get a real taste for the beer though. It is good, not exactly what I wanted, but drinkable. I am not going to get too much into the taste because I want people to come Tuesday and taste it. I will bring a growler of this unnamed brew for all to taste this Tuesday at PCB Wine World.

Alright, the lesson of the day is, Don't Be Lazy. I knew better than to do that, but I thought I could cheat the system and just keg it.

-Later

The Beer in the Barrel

2010-01-21T17:01:00.007-06:00

Before we get started with the barrel, I have to announce there will not be a beer article in the next Bay County Bullet. I received an email Tuesday telling me that there was not enough room for it this edition. I did not tell what the last article was about because I wanted everyone to buy a copy to help the new newspaper, but it was the "Hold the whipped cream" article that can be found on this site. But, if you would like to read more beer articles in the newspaper, please email the editor of the newspaper and tell them that you want more beer related stuff.

So, I have this beer in this barrel and it has been there since Saturday. I have been taking small samples everyday and I think it is time.
I am siphoning it out of the barrel and into my keg. For those who have never seen homebrew kegs, I use five gallon Cornelius Kegs that were originally used for soda. they are easy to use and much faster than bottling. I use them for beers that are not intended to be aged. Little beers like this are perfect.

Next order of business is to come up with a name for this bad boy. I have this neat
tap handle I got from Wine World. It has this little sleeve that allows you to add your own label. This is great for us who can't get commercial tap handles for our commercial kegs or can't make handles for our homebrew. All I have to do is make up a logo, print it, and slide it into the sleeve. Cool huh? I am going to leave it up to you guys to name this beer. Here is some info you may want. It is an American Style IPA made with Nugget and Cascade hops, about 4.1% ABV and aged in an American Oak Barrel. I was going to call it The All American IPA, but I ended up using some Belgian and English malts. So, what do you got?

And if you are wondering why I was racking the beer from the top of the barrel instead of the little spigot on the bottom?
This is why! As beer ages, it will accumulate sediment in the bottom of the vessel. Also, remember the Cascade hops I dry hopped it with? Those things went somewhere, to the bottom. So, I racked it from the top to leave behind as much sediment as possible.

That's about all I got. Now, don't forget your homework!

What is the deal with Tuesdays?

2010-01-20T15:30:00.004-06:00

So, Tuesday Night was nearly a Flop again. I showed up with my selection, which was a fine bottle of Victory Storm King and a bottle of homebrew stout, and I see Dan sitting at the table with another beer guy named Rick. Jeremy comes in with a nice bottle of NOLA's Christmas beer. This beer is not for sale, just made for NOLA's consumption. NOLA(New Orleans Lager and Ales) bottled and handed out a few bottles of this beer and Jeremy was one of the few that got one. I did not get a picture of the bottles, but the NOLA bottle was label less and had a card attached to it that said, Happy Holidays from NOLA, or something. It poured a dark amber to a light brown and had a very burnt smell to me. Jeremy and I will argue about the taste. He says it is very hoppy and I say it had more of a burnt malt character. Even though the malts tasted burnt, the hops were blended very well, I am going to guess they used Warrior hops to blend with the burnt character? I thought it was a great beer and I am glad I got a chance to taste it. And I might add, this was Jeremy's last Tuesday Night Tasting because he will be moving back to New Orleans in a couple of weeks.

Jeremy moved here right about the time I started to get the idea to write articles. I was getting ideas what to write about and was being persuaded to start the blog by others. I technicaly met Jeremy on Beeradvocate.com and we both had the same ideas about building a community in Panama City. Jeremy already had his New Orleans Beer blog, The Beer Buddha , and I thought why not? So, after I started the blog, Jeremy helped me with some of the ins and outs of how to do little things to my blog into the world. So, now it's time for all of us to say bye to The Beer Buddha, at least from Panama City. And we hope your to hear from you time to time.

Even though Jeremy is leaving, Tuesday Nights are here to stay!

Tuesday Night Tasting

2010-01-18T20:49:00.000-06:00

Tuesday Night Tasting is on tomorrow night, Ya'll!

Barrel Pale Ale

2010-01-16T10:42:00.004-06:00

Well, today is a very nasty rainy day, so I decided it would be a good day to transfer the pale ale into my new barrel. I had water in the barrel, to prepare it for the pale ale. As I drained the water out of the barrel, I could really smell the oak aromas the water had absorbed. I read somewhere that the small barrels will give a lot of oak flavor and aroma very quickly because of the amount of liquid that comes into contact with the oak. And I believe it. This was oak flavored water.

Also, while I was in the transfer mode, I added a half of an ounce of Crystal hop pellets for a little dry hop action.
Crystal hops are usually used for dry hopping because of their floral aromatics. This is an American low Alpha Acid hop that will not contribute to the bitterness, just aroma.

Now that the pale ale is in the barrel, I will take small samples daily. When the desired oak flavor is achieved, I will keg it. Just to let everyone know, this is an experimental brew and might actually be the worst one ever. Just covering my bases.

Panhandle Brewery

2010-01-15T15:39:00.004-06:00

When we were in Asheville, I was having a conversation with a man at the Crazy Jack's pub. This man's name was Mike and I actually mentioned him in one of my blog posts while we were in Asheville. He is the one retired from Genessee Brewing Company in New York. Anyway, as the conversation went on, it was where you from? What are ya doing here? Where all have you been? stuff like that. I was telling him that we are from florida and we came up here to see the mountains, Biltmore and see some breweries. I also told him that the Florida Panhandle was a beer desert and there are no breweries or much less cask ale in our area. He was reading a Southern Brew News newspaper and flipped to the state of Florida. These newspapers have breweries listed by state and have a map with all the breweries marked. He says, "So, where is Panama City on this map, show me where you are", and I pointed to our area. He replied, "Damn, you're right there is nothing there, that's terrible". I said, "see, I told you, no breweries in sight, we have no breweries in the panhandle"(Mcguire's doesn't count), and he said with a nonchalant voice, "open one".

Now, I have not really researched opening a brewery, but I am sure there are a ton of taxes, fees, licenses and initial overhead. If breweries were so easy to open, why wouldn't someonne have already opened one in this area? Is it because no one thinks a craft brewery can survive in this area or because no one has thought of it?

My question to you is, do you think a craft brewery could survive in Panama City Beach?

Tuesday Night Tasting

2010-01-13T14:59:00.008-06:00

Tuesday Night Tasting came and went again. There was not a large turn out, but we had beer. We started out the night with a very light beer, but one that no one has had before. We tasted a Budweiser Select 55. That's right, Budweiser now has a 55 calories beer. And that's all I have to say about that.
Next we tapped into a bomber of Sweetwater, Big Ol' Belgian Blue Balls. This Belgian style ale is supposed to have a blueberry flavor, but everyone agrees there was not much blueberry taste. Last, we opened up a bottle Below Decks, Barleywine style ale, which was very alcoholic. The ester flavors overwhelmed the beer and no one wanted a second taste. I think this was the first tasting that everybody thought all the beers sucked. Sorry to be that guy, but they did. Oh well, I say next week.
Now, there is one more bit I would like to mention. This past Saturday, it was cold and I did not want to go outside so I brewed up a little beer to age in my new barrel. I had some leftover grain and hops, so I decided to do a little IPA to age in my barrel. If you notice, the color is very cloudy and it will clear as it ages. Just needs a little time. I have the barrel filled with water to fill all the gaps and I will probably rack the beer into within the next week. I'll keep you posted.

One last thing, you will notice a new gadget on the right side. You can Subscribe with you email and every time I post on the blog you will recieve an email telling you about the post. Everyone sign up! Please.

I've been had!

2010-01-11T18:03:00.003-06:00

All my credibility as a beer drinker has gone down the drain. My buddy Dave came over today with a sixer of St. Paulie Girl, Special Dark. I also whipped out a bottle of Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout that I recapped the night before. The plan was... as we drank, I was going to show Dave how I make my chili. It is a good recipe, but nothing special. We poured a little bit of each beer in a couple of glasses and I resumed cooking the chili. After a while, Dave finished his little bit and kept asking how my beer was and was wondering why I wasn't drinking. Little did I know, he swapped the beers and I was drinking the German lager and he was drinking my stout. I was busy making chili. He did ask one time if I could taste Cappuccino notes in the beer? And I replied yes, but I thought he meant in general. Remember, making chili. I guess I should stop writing this here blog and start carving wood sculptures or something. In my defence, the two beers look nearly identical and I did taste a difference, but thought it was because the beer was recapped from the night before. Oh well, I've been had by Dave .

A little reminder, 6:00 tomorrow night. Panama City Beach Wine World, bring one bottle of great beer.

Bay County Bullet

2010-01-08T15:33:00.004-06:00

To all the locals out there who have been stuck in their day to day lives and have not had a chance to venture out of the norm, there is a new little publication on the market. The Bullet is a small newspaper that has been popping up on new stands around the Bay County area. I do not have all the history of the newspaper, but I will tell you that you can find one of my articles in there. I am not going to give out any secrets as to what the article is about, but I will say it is mighty fine.

As many of you know, this area is lacking a beer community or culture for that matter. I have to say thanks to the people at The Bullet for allowing articles, like mine, to be printed and enjoyed by everyone. In the real world there is a such thing as food and wine columns, so why not beer? Why does beer always have to be put into its own little category where people forget how much respect it deserves?

The Bay County Bullet is not available everywhere yet, but you should be able to find it at just about every Publix or Express Lane in the area. I urge everyone that is interested in reading the article to go buy a copy. It will only cost you $1 and it is full of local entertainment and news as well. Also, I urge everyone who wants to read more articles to email the Publisher/Editor and let him know that you like reading beer articles and maybe there will be more to come.

Thanks again to The Bullet!

Saranac Beers

2010-01-06T14:58:00.004-06:00

Let me start off saying sorry we cancelled the Tuesday Night Tasting and it will resume next week. We will be full steam ahead next Tuesday and I am going to do a invitation thing on FaceBook to help gather newcomers.

Now, on to the beer. One of the regular Tuesday Night Beer Tasters and all around good dude brought me back a couple of brews from his hometown area. Matt, is from Indiana and was up that way for the Holidays. While he was there, he loaded up on some beers and made a few of us very happy campers.

Two of the beers he brought me were named 'Saranac', brewed by Matt Brewing Company located in Utica, NY. Checking out the website, they have about eight core beers, around a dozen seasonals and some soft drinks. Not too bad for a little brewery.
I drank these two beers together so I could get a real feel for their style. I started with the IPA and it was a very bitter IPA, which I am not a fan. I am more of a fan of the citrus IPAs instead of the overly bitter IPAs. Don't get me wrong, this was not a bad IPA, just a not my style.

The next one was the Nut Brown Lager, which looked interesting to me. This beer pours just how it sounds. Light brown, like a brown ale, but clear like a lager. I thought this beer was a very good example of a hybrid beer. You take the malt nut brown ale character and splice that with the crisp/clean texture of a lager. I thought this was a great beer and I hope I am able to get more one day.

As mentioned before, Tuesday Night Beer Tasting is on like Donkey Kong, so grab a bottle of brew, a friend and see you there!

Cigar City, 'Marshal Zhukov'

2010-01-04T19:32:00.007-06:00

Hello all, let me start off by apologizing for not posting for a couple of days. The holidays have been a little crazy and then my buddy got married this weekend, so I have been busy. Today was a fun day! I get to work and it is 30 degrees, great day. Well, the second I get to work I think about how much fun it is going to be to go home make some chili and build a fire. And that is exactly what I did.

My friend Dave stopped by while I was making chili and he brought a couple of beverages. He brought over a 'Woodchuck' cider and a French-Belgian Style Ale named 'Belzebuth'. I have to say they both were interesting, but not my favorites. Sorry Dave.
After the other beers, we popped open a bottle I have had for a couple of days. Another friend that was here for the wedding brought me a bottle of Cigar City's 'Marshal Zhukov' from Central Florida. This Russian Imperial Stout is definitely one of the darkest beers I have seen. It weighs in at 11.5%, but it is hidden well. If you look at the picture, you will notice that it pours very opaque black with a light tan head. Dave noticed it has a burnt smell that is probably due to the black malts. You can also notice a slight bitterness that is common with Russian Imperial Stouts.

The story behind the Russian Imperial Stouts is that the stouts were made for the Russian Imperial Court and the British brewers would add more hops and make it more alcoholic, which are natural preservatives, to help the beer make the long voyage to Russia without spoilage.

I have to say this beer is a great one to drink on a freezing cold night like this one. It will help make your skin thick.

On a different note, Tuesday night Beer Tasting is on and I am not sure who all will be attending. I know Jeremy will be there, but that is all. Like I said, I have been a little busy. I might not be able to make it, but if I do it will be brief.

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's and Please leave some comments!

-Jeremy

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T16:00:00.002-06:00

To all of the beer lovin lovers and my friend Dave, who have enjoyed 2009 and plan to stay in touch with this new little blog. I hope everyone will have a great and safe New Year's Eve and tomorrow we will start a new year with a quest to change the beer world, or the beer panhandle.

Have a Happy New Year!

Tuesday Night Tasting

2009-12-30T14:55:00.005-06:00

Another night of fun and great beer. We gathered at about 6PM at The Panama City Beach Wine World and I sincerely apologize for not mentioning that on the FaceBook invite, for those who saw it. I did not think of the people in Destin that might be coming.

We started the night with a little pale ale action and wasted no time getting into some beers not from this area. Interestingly, one of the sales reps from Lazy Magnolia sat in with us and we thank Patrick for coming. He promises to come more. He brought with him a bottle of Lazy Magnolia 'Reb Ale'. This is one of their newest creations and I really liked it. As we started tasting, Patrick noticed another familiar bottle on the table. It was the Back Forty Brewing 'Naked Pig' that I brought. He recognized it because Lazy Magnolia brews it. Yes, they are the contracted brewer of Back Forty Beer Co. It is a common practice for small breweries to start up with someone else brewing their beer for them, just ask Sam Adams.

After the 'Naked Pig' was tasted, we tried the New Belgium '2 Below'. This is basically their winter ale.Next we tasted 'Racer 5' and 'Blind Pig', both California beers, and Saint Arnold's 'Divine Reserve 6'. Saint Arnold releases the Divine once a year, but it is not always the same beer. The 6 was a barleywine and a very good one I must say.

After tasting some of the lighter beers we move onto the darker and heavier stuff. We tasted a couple of bottles Matt brought back from Indiana. Both were brewed by Three Floyds. One of the beers was called 'Fantabulous Resplendence' and we had no idea what kind of beer it was going to be. Michael looked it up on BeerAdvocate and it called the beer an American Strong Ale, which means whatever. The other beer by Three Floyds was called 'Black Sun' and it had a slight smoke texture to it, not bad though.

Now that we are into the heavier stuff, Jeremy suggest we open the Terrapin 'Gamma Ray'. He pours everyone around him a taste, but not himself. Everyone looks at him with a little confused almost a look of disbelief. Jeremy holds his hands up and says, " I don't want any, that stuff is gross!", so we drank without him. I personally didn't think it was terrible, but was more of an sweet beer. Matt and Patrick loved it and got a couple extra samples from people who thought it was gross.

Last, we opened up the richest, most robust, blackest, thickest beer on the table. Michael brought a bottle of Avery 'Mephistopheles' Stout. Weighing in at 15.1% and 107 IBUs, this one will make you cough. Not a lot of people were going back for seconds of this one and for a reason.

Well, I said the Avery was last, but then Dan brought over to us a couple of Founders beers. 'Dirty Bastard' and 'KBS' were our nightcaps. The 'Dirty Bastard is good, but it is way too Bourbon flavored. Might be a problem if you age your beer in Bourbon barrels, huh? And The 'KBS' was as delicious as always.

Well, that concludes our Tuesday Night Tasting and if you were not there, come next time. The point of this tasting is for people who want to drink good to actually get to drink good beer. We will be at the PANAMA CITY BEACH Wine World next week with whole new line of beer. Will you be there?

Last reminder for Tuesday!

2009-12-28T20:08:00.004-06:00

One more reminder for tomorrow's little beer tasting. So far, here's the line up...

1. Russian River, 'Blind Pig', IPA
2. Bear Republic, 'Racer 5', IPA
3. Back Forty, 'Naked Pig', APA
4. Founder's, 'Dirty Bastard', Barrel Aged Something, I think Scotch Ale?
5. Founder's, 'KBS', Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout

That is a good little line up so far and not a single one is available in this area. Or this state for that matter.

Anybody else got anything they want to bring?

Merry Christmas to Me!!!

2009-12-26T18:06:00.006-06:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and got to spend lots of time with the people that make them happy. I know that I did. Amy and I spent the day in Alabama, then returned at about dusk. When we got home, we thought we would drink some spirits and relax a bit. She uncorked some wine and I popped a open bottle that would be perfect for the occasion.

2000 JW Lees 'Harvest Ale' is the beer of the night. I picked this up in Charleston at the Charleston Beer Exchange. If you remember, they have several vintage beers and this one was right up my alley. It poured a robust brown and very clear. I guess nine years is plenty time to clear a beer. I tried to show how clear it actually is in the picture.
It smelled very sweet and also tasted sweet, but not overwhelming at all. It had a very smooth maple syrup/brown sugar quality that hide the 11% alcohol very well. I am going to find another one of those. The Charleston Beer Exchange does ship, so if you want one, call them up. This bottle was not very expensive, only $11 and that is really a great price for a nine year old bottle.

Well, after that one was gone, our friend Dave stopped by to return the dog he borrowed, I mean he was dogsitting for us. We opened up a couple more bottles of great Christmas beers including my favorite, St. Bernardus. While we drank, Amy gave me my last Christmas present on the day.
That's right! She got me a 20 liter (5 gal) American Oak Barrel, so I can oak age some of my homebrewed beers. I have been eyeballing one of these for a while, but never actually bought one. Amy is the best!

I can't wait to use it and I was rambling last night about what I was going to put in it first. Does anybody have any ideas?

Well, I will leave you with a little reminder. Tuesday, we are doing our beer tasting thing again. We still do not have a name, so I will just call it The Tuesday Kick Ass Beer Tasting and Talking Extravaganza! OK, it starts at 6PM. I am going to bring a bomber of 'Racer 5' and Jeremy said he's got a bottle of Russian River,'Blind Pig'. And I have one other small surprise bottle, nothing special.

See you there!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T13:30:00.003-06:00

I just wanted to tell everyone to have a very Merry Christmas. There are lots of people out of town for the holidays and I wish everyone a safe return.

And don't forget, Tuesday Night Beer Tasting, this Tuesday, December 29 at Panama City Beach Wine World. Starts at 6:00 PM. I am going to bring a bomber of Racer 5.

Merry Christmas!

Allagash, Curieux

2009-12-23T21:17:00.008-06:00

Today, my friend Dave came over and joined Amy and I for a bottle of beer. I found a bottle of Allagash with some added flavors. This brewery is 100% American(Maine), but produces Belgian style ales. This special Beer is one of akind. Story has it, this is the brewery's normal Tripel recipe. But one of their batches had no bottles. They had 150 gallons of beer in the fermenter and the bottles were running late, so they stored the beer in some Bourbon Barrels for the time being. The Barrels were meant for a different beer, but they needed to move the Tripel out of the fermenter. I do not think Belgian Tripel is a type of beer I would normaly think of Barrel aging, even though I love barrel aged stuff! Little did they know, they were creating great beer!
As I poured this beer into the brand new snifters that my girlfriend's parents gave me for Christmas, I noticed the color was a nice hazy/yellow color that had good head retention, but faded fast. This beer was tasted like a normal Tripel, but had a nice oak/bourbon finish, which is not typical with the Belgian style.

I have to say, this is a nice/easy drinking beer that should be fun for everyone. I found mine at Beach Liquors for about 10 bucks and well worth it.

-enjoy!

Getting ready for Christmas!

2009-12-21T16:33:00.002-06:00

Just shaping up the beard for the Holidays. Tell me what you think!

Christmas is right around the corner!

2009-12-20T12:58:00.003-06:00

I guess the News Herald doesn't want free stuff. I sent this in last week and got the decline email. But at least I can put it on the Forum, right? Here it is...

Christmas Ale
By: Jeremy Myers

This time last year, I was reading an article in a magazine about Christmas ales. The story told of a man named Fernando in a far away country that did not have the luxuries of buying beer at a store. At the beginning of December, he and his friends would brew their own beers using recipes their fathers taught them. Only using ingredients found locally, they would each brew their special recipe and bottle them in old soft drink bottles.

Christmas Ales are nothing new and have been on the market for several decades. Whether you are into locally brewed beer or exotic imported beer, there is a Christmas Ale for you. Some breweries that are known for their hoppy beer typically will carry the hoppy flavors into their Christmas Ale. But most Christmas Ales have a malty character and have some spice added to the mix.

Spices have been a part of brewing for centuries and still have a great impact on brewing today. Usually, spices that are used in Christmas Ales are cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, coriander or a combination of them all. Many breweries use spices to show they have distinct flavor that cannot be duplicated and to show that they use ingredients indigenous to their area. There is nothing wrong with that, I actually support these breweries for using locally grown ingredients and I wish more breweries would follow this practice.

One of the most famous beers known for their Christmas Ales is Anchor Steam Brewing Company. This year marks the 35th anniversary of their Christmas beer. While the recipe differs every year, it has become one of the beers everyone looks forward to tasting. This year, their beer has the same dark malt character, but with a sweet licorice taste. It is actually very interesting. Another famous ale on the market is Sierra Nevada’s ‘Celebration Ale’. This is one of those breweries that is known for creating hoppy beers and carries this into their seasonal beer. This beer pours relatively light but will have a very strong overwhelming hop aroma that will immediately tell you there are a ton of hops in it. I like this beer, but some will argue it is more of an acquired taste.

Besides American Craft beer, there are a few other countries that make festive ales. If you search around town you will find a couple of Belgian selections on the shelves. One in particular is Scaldis Noel. This beer is new to me, but has climbed into the top ten of all time. It has a very well rounded malt character and you will taste hints of caramel and vanilla. Another great Christmas Belgian beer is St. Bernardus Christmas Ale. This is a classic Abbey Style Ale spiced with some of the traditional Christmas spices.

This time of year is a great time to venture out of the normal routines that bind us all year. Whether you are celebrating with some friends or relaxing after a long hard day of shopping, a Christmas Ale is available at your local store. Sometimes we take for granted that beer is full of history and culture and dates back thousands of years. History that surrounds us every day and cultures that teach us who we are.

As for Fernando and his friends, they gather every Christmas night with their homemade ales to celebrate another year of friendship. They share memories, sing songs and enjoy the season that is meant for fellowship.

That sounds like Christmas to me.

Merry Christmas!

A couple new ones

2009-12-18T15:48:00.006-06:00

Recently, my friend brought back a couple of beers from Virgina I have never seen before. He was up there visiting his family during Thanksgiving and grabbed me a gift in the meantime. I highly recommend this practice and suggest everyone try it.

The first one I tried was called 'Hop-ocalypse', which is made by a brewery named Clay Pipe Brewing Company, in Maryland. When I first saw the label, I expected the beer to have a large explosion of bitterness, this did not. My friend said this was a good beer, but just ok. I agree with him, but just because it is a very mild IPA and did not live up to the label's expectations. Anytime you relate anything to an apocalypse, which I think they were, it should be good. I think it may have been an old bottle. As many of you know, IPA's do not age well because they start to lose their hop character. Not that this did not have hop character, just not up to 'Hop-ocalyptic' standards. The picture below is not that great, but you can get the point.

The next one one the a list was named 'Jefferson Reserve, Bourbon Barrel Stout' brewed by Bluegrass Brewing Company, in Kentucky. Where else would you expect a beer with that name come from? This one poured as expected Dark, with a tan head and a bourbon/oaked aroma. It was a likable beer with bourbon undertones, blended well with chocolate flavors as well. The 8% alcohol was also hidden nicely.

As mentioned before,I am always available for a beer from a far off land. Next time you're seeing the world, think about me!

Tuesday Night Tasting

2009-12-16T15:09:00.004-06:00

For those of you who elected not to attend the Tuesday night event, you missed out!In attendance were myself, Jeremy (The Beer Buddha), his friend Michael and Michael's girlfriend Meredith. We actually had enough beer for a couple more people, but we managed.

We started the night with a beer Jeremy brought named 'Jubelale', made by Deschutes Brewery. This is a Winter Warmer that can fill any malt cravings you may have. Good one. Next, we jumped into the Belgian beers. Michael brought a bottle of Saison DuPont, which is considered by most as the flagship of the Saison/Farmhouse style. Also, Jeremy brought a Belgian Pale named 'Inferno Ale' made by The Lost Abbey. This one I could not put down. We tasted through all of the beers and I had to taste this one again. It was a great Belgian Pale. After the Belgians were tasted we opened a bottle I brought named 'Cold Mountain Winter Ale'. I picked this bottle up at Highland Brewing when we were in Asheville. Jeremy nearly choked on all the caramel flavors, but he really enjoyed it. Next in line was another bottle Michael brought, and it was the highlight of the night. Check out the picture below and see if anything looks good.

That's right, second from the left, it's Pliny the Elder! Pliny the Elder was this Naturalist guy that happened to invent hops. Well, he didn't invent hops, just introduced them to beer(kinda). Anyway, this beer is rated as one of the best in the world and I have been waiting patiently to try it. The aroma of this beer was hands down the best smell I have ever smelt. For the homebrewers out there, do you know the smell of real hops when they are still in the bag? When you cut a bag open and you stick you nose in there to get a whiff? This is what the beer smelled like! Fresh, well blended and ready to drink hops in a glass, is what it was. I loved it and I can not wait to go to the brewery next summer. OK, enough drooling over that beer.

When the pliny was gone, I had a surprise for everyone. When I arrived, I stuck a bottle in the freezer to chill. It was one of my homebrews. It was the 'Quercus Grandaevus' that I made with rosemary and lavendar. Everyone seemed to like it. Last, but not least, we opened up a bottle of Depth Charge that Michael brought and we finished off the night with a nice coffee/milk Stout.

We decided not to do a little tasting nest week because of Christmas and to resume the week after, December 29. I will post a reminder next week for all to see.

I hope to see more people there.

Another Tuesday Night Event

2009-12-13T17:51:00.003-06:00

This is just to announce that we will be meeting at 6:00,Tuesday December 15 at Panama City Beach Wine World for another little Beer Hangout. Nothing fancy, just bring a special bottle to share or don't. Also, remind everyone that PC Wine World will be doing their Christmas beer tasting on December 16. I have heard Christmas beer and also Belgian beer, so I am not sure which it is, but there will be Live Music and people.

That's all I have to say about that!

See Ya Tuesday at 6:00

Jeremy

Beer Picture of the Day!

2009-12-10T05:07:00.002-06:00

enjoy.

Impromptu Beer Tasting at Wine World

2009-12-09T15:28:00.012-06:00

When we got back from the Carolinas, I started to look at the selection of beer I brought back and one of them looked a little different. I picked up a bottle of New Belgium's 'La Folie', wood aged beer. It is technically labeled as a Flanders Red Ale, aged for one to three years in French Oak Barrels, but is called a Sour Brown Ale on the bottle. Whatever it is, it is casually known as a 'wild ale'! This beer was made with wild yeast that produce a very sour puckering taste. Not to be confused with a bitter beer, this one is like a sweet tart.

So, I have this beer that I am not even sure I am going to like and I think, who else in the world would want a taste? My first thought was The Beer Buddha! Not only is he a sour ale lover, but he could also teach me a thing or too about this beer. After contacting him, via Beer Advocate, he was excited and said he would bring a beer too. After we decided to meet at the Panama City Wine World, I thought about asking another friend to come and Jeremy (The Beer Buddha and Destin Wine World) mentioned it to Dan (PC Wine World), now we have a little event.

I ended up with two beers in hand when I walked into the store because I wanted everyone to taste another one I picked up at the Highland Brewing Company in Asheville, NC.

photo courtesy of The Beer Buddha, click photo to enlarge

When all was said and done we tasted four beers. First one was a bottle of Cigar City 'Guava Grove' that was a Belgian style ale brewed with fresh guava. This was a delight to all of us because of the easy drinkability and the great flavors. Next, we tried my sour and it poured a red color, so I am going to say it is a Flanders Red Ale. To be an aquired taste, it was not bad. Very sour, almost has a sour apple taste, and Dan mentioned the fruit roll-up finish (he was right, though). After the sour, we tasted a strong English Barleywine, named 'Decadence', made by the California brewery, Alesmith. This is my first taste of any Alesmith beer and it was not bad, strong sweet/malt character, but not bad. Lastly, we ended with a bottle of Highland 'Imperial Black Mocha Stout'. I have had the regular 'Black Mocha Stout' and it was great. While at the brewery in Asheville, I grabbed a bottle of this and I expected it to be a little more flavorful. It was not terrible, just thought the regular stuff was just as good.

Well, that just about does it for my story telling and the next time we try to do an unannounced taste, I will announce it. There were a couple of curious people walking by that were Eye-Balling our bottles and they graciously deserved a taste. Also, there were a couple of regular Wednesday night beer tasters there that joined in on the fun.

It was fun to be able to taste a couple of beers not for sale in this area and share them with others that have a taste for what is on the horizon. I had a great time and hopefully we can do it again really soon!

Oh, I got the hang of this link adding thing!

BrewDog Paradox Speyside

2009-12-08T16:32:00.005-06:00

Hello all, Amy and I are back in Panama City and back to work. I got a chance to open up one of the beers I bought in Charleston and thought I would share it with you.

BrewDog is a Scottish Craft brewery that has only been open since 2007. Wow, going international after a couple of years in very impressive. They take traditional beer styles and put their own little twist on them. For example, this is the brewery that makes an 'Imperial Mild Ale', which is a 3.5% ABV. Mild ale with 200 IBU's. If you are unaware of what an IBU is, it stands for International Bitterness Units and the human palate can only detect up to 80 or 90. This is also the same brewery that just released 'Tactical Nuclear Penguin', the world's strongest beer, at 32% ABV. To say the least, they are a very creative brewery.

This is a bottle of BrewDog 'Paradox, Speyside', Batch #5. The Paradox is their Imperial Stout series that is aged in a Scotch Malt whiskey Cask. There's that word again, cask, aka barrel. The other strange name, Speyside, is the name of the Scotch distillery in which they acquired the casks. I like stuff aged in barrels.

After our long journey back from the Carolinas, I needed a reward. I put this beer in the fridge and chilled it for about 15 minutes. I didn't want it to be ice cold so I could taste the beer. As I poured it into my little snifter, it was dark brown in color. I expected it to be pitch black because of the reputation of the brewery. The first smell was really great! Smells of dark malts, sweetness and scotch whiskey. My first taste was not overwhelmed by whiskey flavors, but chocolate and vanilla. I know, strange, but the scotch barrel flavors came at the end. I really enjoyed this beer and might buy another one, if I can find one. This was a Limited Release and was only brewed once.

Anyway, stay in touch, I think Chan's Wine World is doing their Christmas Beer tasting tomorrow, December,9. I will confirm that tonight.

-Bye

Update: Christmas Beer Tasting is December 16, for those interested.

Charleston, Final Day!

2009-12-05T20:01:00.003-06:00

Did not do much because of the rain. Toured a couple of historic houses and watched the SEC Championship at The Giffon, which is still great(the restaurant/Bar, not the game, Amy is sad).

Be back in Bay county tomorrow. See ya then.

Charleston, Day 2

2009-12-04T20:09:00.008-06:00

Being today is my birthday, Amy really wanted me to have a great day. I started the day opening a wonderful present. Amy gave me a Camel Hair Blazer that I have been Oooing over for a while. We signed up for the shuttle to go downtown and found some breakfast. After eating at some little cafe in the market area, we went to an area that we remembered hosting a walking tour. The tour we found was for an Architectural tour, but we were really wanting a history tour.

Wondering where we could find another tour, we stopped by the Charleston Place Hotel(a very extravagant hotel). We used the concierge station like it was our own. We were blending like Marcus Brody in the Indiana Jones Movie. After telling the concierge our intentions, he was more that happy to assist us. He set us up with a tour leaving about ten minutes later. We were happy and took the tour.

I am not able to upload pictures with this computer, but I will have some to share in the future.

The name of the tour company was Charleston Stroll's and was led by a woman named Ruth. Ruth is the oldest walking tour guide in the city and has been giving tours for 30 years. She started the company 30 years ago, but sold it five years ago. She is still doing tours because it keeps her walking. Very nice woman.

While on our tour, we got to participate in a more organized tour of Charleston. The day before, we were just walking around reading stuff, but did not really have a feel for the timeline of the city. Ruth showed us the differences between the areas of the town that were Pre-Revolutionary War and the areas that were Civil War era. We have learned Charleston is more of a Colonial city than a Civil War City. But, there is great history either way.

After going on our tour, Amy set us up for a cooking demonstration at Charleston Cooks. They showed us how to cook some southern grit recipes and how to make a cake. It was great.

Next, we toured the Original Exchange and Customs House in Charleston and the Provost Dungeon. This building is considered to be one of the top three most historically significant Colonial buildings in the United States. It was one that I wanted to visit and was one of the buildings Ruth mentioned during her tour.

After all the site seeing, we decided to venture out and see some historic pubs, again. With the advise of the anonymous person that posted on the blog, Charleston day one, we checked out the Blind Tiger.

The Blind Tiger had a nice atmosphere and a great slogan, "we separate church from state", but not because of the beer selection, because they are located between Church ST. and State ST. I asked the bartender where would be the best place in Historic Charleston to find their locally brewed Coast Brewing Company beer and he said to check out a place called Moe's near the waterfront park. And to my surprise, he was right! There was a Coast Brewing Company beer on tap. They had one beer on tap named Hop Art and it was very good. Hop Art is an American IPA that tends to have all the classic IPA characteristics blended with a nice little malty finish. Great beer all together.

Next, we took the advise of the anonymous person again and checked out The Griffon, on Vendue Range. Well, we once again ran into some Coast Brewing Company beer. They had a Kolsch on tap, which is a German lager style and it has a sweet crisp taste. While I was enjoying the Kolsch, Amy ordered some fish and chips. The fish and chips were great! The menu said the fish was fresh, but in a pub environment, you do not expect fresh stuff. This was great food with a great beer menu. While enjoying our fish, there was a girl sitting a few seats down from Amy that started to laugh hysterically. She was sitting by herself watching ESPN. Just when we thought she was done she started again. We didn't think ESPN news was that funny, but she did. The bartender guy came from the backroom and also wondered what the deal was. I just shrugged my shoulders and smiled. He asked the woman if she was ok and she said that she thought the shirt LeBron James was wearing was fummy. I think she was looney, to be honest. But back to the beer. They had some Bell's brewing, Avery Brewery and some Wells Bombardier on tap. They will see us tomorrow for the SEC Championship game, unless the anonymous guy has another suggestion?

It really started to rain after that and we decided to head back to the hotel. So, here we are...

It is supposed to rain all day tomorrow and we will be laying low if it is raining. So, do not expect alot for tomorrow.

Sorry again about the pictures.

-Bye

Charleston, Day 1

2009-12-03T20:27:00.004-06:00

Nothing to really report, I forgot my camera again, so no pictures. We arrived about 1 PM and immediately checked into our room. Took a quick glance at the room and went to find Charleston!

We found downtown just where they left it and we started to walk. Reading plaques, signs and whatever we could to learn about the area, we were just wondering around dodging vendors. Trying not to get sucked into a scam.

Finally, around 3 PM, Amy says, "We haven't eaten lunch, and we should eat something". We were conveniently passing Southend Brewery (a brewpub, the only one in Charleston) on East Bay Street, which we later find out is the coolest street in town. I had the O'Ryan's Oatmeal Stout and Amy had the special seasonal beer, which was the Coconut Porter, it was not bad!

After that, we wandered around towards the Battery and the bay. We took some great advise and observed the historic houses during sunset to get the real feel for the era that the houses were built.The Architecture and landscapes were awesome. We plan on getting farther into the history of some of those houses tomorrow.

We eventually found our way back to the tourist part of Charleston and a store called the Charleston Beer Exchange. This store is very small and specializes in vintage beers. I found several interesting beers. I found an Imperial Stout by Brew Dog that is not a Vintage beer, but just supposed to be great. Also I found an English Old Ale named JW Lees Harvest Ale Vintage 2000. I have read that JW's peak after 10 years, we will see what a nine and a half tastes like tomorrow, maybe.

We were in searching mode leaving the store and walked in and out of several small wine bars and pubs, grabbing appetizers and beverage samples. None of which had Coast Brewing, which is a local well known brewery. I wonder Why? Back to the subject, one place in particular, named Hymans Seafood, claimed to have Apalachicola oysters and they were probably the worst I have ever had. The shucker guy gave us a couple more because they were so small, but they did not taste good either. They were not spoiled, just not good tasting.

I have to use the computer in the business center because there is a daily fee for wireless internet in this hotel. So, tomorrow might just be a lot of pictures.

And that is Day one in Charleston.

By the way, the hotel is fancy!

Asheville, Final Day!

2009-12-02T20:31:00.008-06:00

It is our final day in Asheville and it was a bad weather day all together. It was raining from the time we woke till the time we came back to the hotel. Cold and rain make bad vacation times, unless you are with Amy. She is one of those people that will not allow anything ruin her vacation.

We started off with a great breakfast. We went to little restaurant she read about in a Frommer's travel guide, but also was featured by Rachel Ray on the Travel Channel. The Tupelo Honey Cafe was a nice little cafe located in downtown Asheville that makes great sweet potato pancakes and biscuits with gravy.

Next, we went to the Thomas Wolfe Memorial and toured his childhood house. Learning about Thomas Wolfe and his family has been a humbling experience. The house in which he grew up in was fascinating to visit. Very interesting.

After touring the Old Kentucky House (Thomas Wolfe House), we drove North to see the gingerbread house competition at The Grove Park Inn. This historical hotel has been visited by many famous people. The most recent famous person would have been Mr. President Barack Obama himself, he won a Nobel Peace prize. He visited before his inauguration, but whatever. The hotel and the gingerbread houses were fun. Sorry, I forgot the camera for most of the day.

After touring some of the historical areas of Asheville, we went back to the hotel and became lazy for a couple of hours. Around 4PM, we decided to tour a brewery. That was my idea! We showed up at Highland Brewing a little after four and just made their tour. We saw where the beer was brewed, fermented and bottled. Very nice tour and the process was explained in great detail. Grant, our brewery tour guide, told us a small tid-bit about the Cold Mountain Winter Ale. He told us the winter ale is an ale not just made by the Brew Master, but conceived by the entire staff. They would all congregate one day with a clean palate and taste the beer. Next, they all give their opinion of how the six spice combination should be and the Brew Master would remix it for them on the spot. No one would leave that day until the blend was perfect to all the employees. Needless to say, no Cold Mountain Winter Ale is the same and changes from year to year. This year's is great!

This is Grant, the man with all the info!

and here is Amy loving Highland Beer!

After leaving Highland Brewing Company, we headed back toward downtown Asheville and stopped by French Broad Brewing Company. This little brewery has the output of about 3,500 barrels per year and also is the only brewery (that we have seen) with a disco ball. One of the guys that works at the brewery also works at a local beer store called Bruisin' Ales. Great Store and Mike is a great beer talker. Very knowledgeable and informed with beers brewed in our area, like Cigar City, that is not available in the panhandle!

Here is Amy gettin' down with the Disco Ball! She so Bad!

And our last beer stop in Asheville! Craggie Brewing Company, is the newest brewery in the area. They have a couple of kegged beers out at the local restaurants and bars, but other than that, they are brand spankin' new. Only being open for two weeks, we get to taste their first batches. A little on the rough side, their pale ales have an English flavor to them. But, they have a gaming area. This is a plus, two shuffle board tables are all that is needed in a brewery.

Here is a true pro at work!

Well, that is Asheville, the way we saw it. Please comment your all you want. Tell us your stories, or tell us your wishes.

Stay tuned, because we are headed to Charleston next!

Asheville, Day 2

2009-12-01T19:08:00.006-06:00

Well, we had another day full of fun! We started our day with breakfast at the greatest McDonald's in the world.

The piano was playing Christmas songs! It was one of those electronic deals, where it plays itself.

Not your typical McDonald's, Check out those ceilings (copper).

That was our introduction to the Biltmore Estate. We spent the next several hours touring the real thing, but we were not allowed to take pictures in the house. If in the area, go see the Biltmore Estate.

After leaving The Biltmore Estate, we decided to check out The Green Man Brewery, which makes the ales for Jack of the Wood Brewpub. We met a man named Mike that knew a lot about beer, the area and gave us a ton of info about the area. Mike, originally from New York and retired from Genesee Brewing Company, told us all the places we should and should not go. He actually took the picture below and introduced me to John, the brewer at Green Man. John gave me a quick lesson on water quality and gave me examples of situations to look out for in Florida. He brewed in South Florida for a while.

Any Hoo, That's day #2!

Asheville, Day 1

2009-11-30T20:47:00.007-06:00

We drove into Asheville about noon and wasted no time touring the place. We went downtown and started to walk. We walked up and down hills, looking in and out of shops. We had lunch at a place named Doc Chey's Noodle house. Not being a fan of oriental food, not too bad. I actually liked it. And that's all I have to say about that.

Finally, we ran into a great brewpub named Jack of the Wood. This little brewpub has about five beers on tap and worth the taste. This is a special brewpub to me and for a reason. This is the first brewpub or brewery to serve me Cask Ale. For those who drink bottle beer, you need you learn about cask ale. Cask Ale (aka Real Ale) is beer that is conditioned in a keg like vessel and served exactly as it is conditioned (raw). Unlike the forced carbonated beers, it is hand pumped out of the reservoir and is not the same as a bottle or kegged beer.
All I can say is learn!

After tasting beer at the Jack of the Wood, we checked into our hotel. Unpacking our stuff took no time and we were back on the trail for Craft Beer. We found a small artistic brewery named Wedge Brewing Company. This little beer company is full of artistic expression. We had a hard time finding this place, but it is surrounded by art and culture. Getting lost looking for this brewery was also an adventure. We got to see a couple of local studios by accident.

While at Wedge, the tap room guy was telling Amy and I about a local restaurant (The Admiral= awesome) and a local place that hosted a certain folk dancing called contra dancing. Well, we had to try it! Similar to line dancing, this was a local favorite that dates back to the pioneer days.

Well, after all the Contra dancing and beer drinkin, I'm tired, I got to go!

-Bye

Pit Stop in Hotlanta

2009-11-29T20:03:00.003-06:00

Hello all,

As you have read, Amy and I are on our way to the Carolinas. We drove to Atlanta as a pit stop on the way to Asheville, NC. When we arrived, we stopped by a gas station to grab a beer to drink as we relaxed after our terrible drive. I picked up a sixer of 420 and took it to the register and the guy behind me says," I hate to tell you this, but you are not going to be able to buy that". I look at this guy with a look of unbelief and ask why? He said it is because it was Sunday!

Ahh, being from Alabama, I am aware of the Sunday alcohol law, but we are probably in the largest city in the region. Bad law making! The Falcons on TV, not to mention the Braves in the summer. Where's the beer?

Anyway, after checking into the hotel, we took off to the Buckhead area in search of a beer. We found a Taco Mac, which is known for having a huge beer selection. We get there and check out the menu. They have 100 beers on tap and 296 on the bottle menu, not bad at all, I must say. I order a Terrapin Pumpkinfest and Amy gets a New Belgium Fat Tire. The Pumkinfest had more spice than expected, but a good beer, actually great! Very flavorful beer with easy drinking. Amy's Fat Tire is right on, New Belgium Brewing's Flagship. That's what we expected.

After a beer and some food, we verture into uncharted draught beer territory. Amy chooses a beer called Laughing Skull Amber Ale. This is a local beer (believed to be contract brewed by Red Brick) availible in the area. I had a Terrapin Big Hoppy Monster. I think the Hoppy Monster is better from the bottle and Amy thought the Fat Tire was way better than the Laughing Skull.

Only in Atlanta for one night. I think we found a great beerbar. Taco Mac recently celebrated their 30th anniversery and has numerous locations in the area. So, If you are looking for a great place to find a beer with a great selection in Hotlanta, find a Taco Mac!

The trip next week and The Failed Article

2009-11-28T13:56:00.004-06:00

As some of you know, Amy and I are headed to the Carolinas next week for some relaxation. We will be spending a few days in Asheville, NC and a few in Charleston, SC. While we are relaxing, we will also be hitting up some fun historical sites and breweries. So, stay tuned...

For the Failed Article, I guess I am 1 for 2 when it comes to being published in the local news. I submitted another article to the News Herald and was told it did not fit well. That editor that contacted me said he enjoyed the article because he was a beer person too and he would send it to the special topics editor to see if they wanted to use it. That was two weeks ago. So, let me know what you think!

Here it goes...

Hold the Whip Cream
By: Jeremy Myers

A couple of days ago, I was at the computer when I heard a commotion and someone say my name. I was hesitant and thought the person could come to the door, if they needed me. The dog walked to the door and started to yelp as though there was a visitor. Sure enough, it was one of my friends fumbling with his bicycle. As he approached the door with his brand new puppy, I thought how nice of him to bring his puppy over to play. A couple of minutes roll by and the truth is unveiled. He says, “So, I hear you made an awesome pumpkin beer”. After my friend tastes the beer, he says it tastes just like pumpkin pie and we should try some whipped cream on top. I laughed and assumed he was joking, but he was not. Later, I thought about how strange ideas, such as my friend’s, are how great ideas were created.

No one really knows when or where pumpkin ales were first created, but there are a lot of ideas of how pumpkins were first introduced to beer. Before malts were readily available in the United States, people would use whatever fermentable sugars they could find. Fruits, vegetables and other starchy foods were used in the brewing process to make the sugars needed to make beer. I have found several recipes, dating back to the 1700’s, that lack the use of malts or grain.

The modern commercial pumpkin ale is probably a little different than those of the 1700’s, but is quite delicious. Most pumpkin ales are flavored just as my friend described. Spices, such as cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice blend very well with the pumpkin flavors and give you the traditional pumpkin pie taste. Most people give credit to the modern day pumpkin ale to the micro/craft beer breweries. For the most part, the style did not exist before the 1970’s. The most recent pumpkin ale I have tasted, besides the one I made, was Smuttynose Pumpkin. It pours a light orange color with a small amount of head. The initial taste of this beer is the pumpkin flavor followed by a slight sweetness. As the sweetness subsides, it finishes into the pumpkin pie spices. In my opinion, Smuttynose has a distinct English hop flavor, which is their signature taste. But, pumpkins are not the only interesting ingredient used by brewers this time of year.

Usually in fall season, there are other exciting ingredients used in the breweries. Select breweries across the nation will brew a special beer in the crop harvesting months of the year. This beer consists of freshly harvested ingredients that will only enhance the flavor of the beer. Some breweries will use freshly picked hops, others fresh fruits or vegetables. It really depends on the geographical location of the brewery and what crops are available. Sierra Nevada releases a beer named Southern Hemisphere Harvest ale. This hoppy beer was made using a blend of fresh New Zealand hops. The New Zealand hops are used within a week of being picked. It is classified as an American Pale Ale and this beer definitely has a strong hop character.

This time of year is a great time for discovering the real talent of beer making. Homebrewers, craft and microbrewers all have beers they can truly call their own. Using ingredients indigenous to their areas and blending flavors no one has ever thought about.

A more local brewery named Abita, from Louisiana, releases an annual Pecan Harvest Ale. This beer is one of my favorites. I consider it more of a local beer than others because it is one of the closest craft breweries in the area. It is made with real Louisiana pecans that were toasted. The pecan oils help give a great malty pecan character. The Pecan Harvest Ale is available now at stores in the Panama City area. When you go to your local store, check out a pumpkin or harvest ale, you will not be disappointed. But be sure to hold the whip cream.