From brew street to oblivion

New Belgium happens to be a great brewery. Clutch happens to be a great band. When they get together for a collaborative project I wonder if the marketing team incepted my dreams and created this just for me. the brew is a perplexing Dark Sour Ale. I can't wait to get my hands on this stuff.

Read about it in more detail here Beer tyrant.

Quick update.

This past week I began working for Austin Homebrew Supply. My In-laws were in town too. It was a good but exhausting week.

I'm currently working in the wearhouse. My primary duties include measuring and milling grain for kits and custom orders. I'm greatful to have my foot in the door and I know there is great potential for me there. The crew is great to work with and I'm looking forward to learning from them.

As if to confirm that I'm on the right path I cracked open a fotune cookie last night and it simply read beer.

I'm planning on brewing in the next few weeks. I'm thinking mini mash to get back into brewing mode. More updates soon.

Cheers,
 - Jay

Texas Carboys meet up at the Thirsty Planet Brewery

Back on February 26th Rachel joined me to my first meeting with the Texas Carboys home brewing club. We were fortunate because this one just happened to take place at the Thirsty Planet Brewery in south west Austin (the same neighborhood that Jester King Brewing is located in). Normally club meetings take place at The Dig Pub a great little beer & wine bar located in Cedar Park.

The Carboys were inviting and down to earth. I felt comfortable from the start. I think I met about half of the group (some members did not attend and others I did not have the opportunity to introduce myself to). I'm really looking forward to future meetings. This was a great opportunity to see new parts of Austin and get to know people that share my love of beer and brewing. Beer geeks are my kind of people.  

Brian Smittle owner / brewmaster of Thirsty Planet gave the group a tour of the brewery after we sampled home brews and libations provided by the brewery.

Cheers,
 - Jay



Biggest news yet!

Earlier this year I wrote about the AHA sanctioned competition Amber Waves of Grain. The competition took place this past weekend. well unfortunately I was unable to attend due to the 1600 miles between the competiton venue and myself but Aaron did on saturday.

Aaron entered several beers that brewed on his own since I moved, along with the Bavarian Dunkelweizen and Fruit Cake Ale that we brewed last autumn. I knew that he was going to enter the Dunkelweizen but I just found out today that he also enter our Fruit Cake Ale when he called to tell me that it took first place in the Holiday Beers catagory! Click here to view the competition results page. If you scroll about half way down you'll find the Holiday Beers catagory. All of the beers were entered together under Aarons name (less mine) so that is the way it appears in the results.

This is a compete suprise. I was unaware that it was even entered and I haven't even had the opportunity to taste it yet (it was not finished fermenting at the time I left NY). My In-laws (Aarons parents) are coming to visit my wife and I in a few weeks and they are going to bring a few bottles down. I'm really honored to have done so well in an AHA sanctioned competition. This makes me miss brewing with Aaron even more.

Cheers,
 - Jay

Still hunting

Like many recent grads I'm looking for work. I spent the afternoon driving around the greater Austin area handing in resumes and filling out job applications. I really want to start working again. I've got 2 1/2 years worth of drive stored up waiting to fuel a business.

I had two specific destinations on my employment hunt;  Austin Homebrew Supply and St. Patricks of Texas . St. Patricks of Texas sells commercial fermenting and brewing equipment mainly to wineries. Austin Homebrew Supply is exactly that. A homebrew supply store. They have a very large and impressive facility that I was not expecting. The place was huge. Really cool store. I was in full beer geek mode while I looked around. I couldn't leave a place like this empty handed but I didn't have much to spend so I picked up the latest copy of Zymurgy and a new book that caught my eye. Beer Captured by Tess and Mark Szamatulski. I'm particularly excited because there is a section entitled The marriage of food and beer. This section has several recipes but there is one I can't wait to try called Yeasted beer pizza crust. I've been loving my new pizza oven and this makes it even better. I'll bake one up and post how it went next week.

It is my goal to find a job that I enjoy rather than just collect a paycheck. I know the statement sounds idealistic and naive (especially in the current economy) but I assure you that it is neither. I am passionate about beer and I know that I will be an asset to whomever hires me. I'm aware that jobs are hard to come by now a days. I also know that I didn't walk away from an established and secure position to spend the next three years in college only to come out and head right back into something that I do not enjoy. This is my chance to start fresh and I'm going to capture it.

Cheers,
 - Jay

Anniversary

Rusty Z is one today. Knock one back for me.

I'm celebrating with my dogs, a bottle of Shiner Blonde, and the new Crowbar album. The page has been upgraded and updated for the second year. I've got some big plans. Stay tuned and stay thirsty.

Cheers,
 - Jay

House Bill 660

There is a lot of talk going on in the Texas brewing community about a proposed bill that would improve things for both consumers and producers of beer. The laws involving beer are different in Texas and New York. I'm still learning about what can and cannot be done. For example when I hosted a tasting back in NY I was only allowed to pour 2oz at a time up to four times for a total of 8oz. When I attended the Jester King grand opening patrons were allowed three full pints! That would never fly back in NY. I've got some researching to do because I'm very curious about this subject as it could (hopefully) become an issue that I will have to deal with professionally.

Here is a link to the bill

Cheers,
 - Jay

Jester King Brewery grand opening party.

This after noon Rachel and I attended the Jester King Brewery grand opening party in south Austin. As a recent transplant to Austin this was a treat for me. To be outside enjoying a pint in January was almost unreal for this Buffalo, NY native. The weather forecast predicted rain but the sky stayed clear and it was pleasant and breezy in the low 70s. The good weather meant a large turn out. I won't bother to guess how many people actually attended but the photos should speak for themselves. There was a ton of excitement and activity there. People just seemed happy to be there. The full pint or snifter glasses for tastings may have had a hand in the good mood. They sure made me smile. I was hoping to leave with a t-shirt but they were sold out by the time that I enquired about them. There was also a gathering of some rat rods and hot rods that was a nice little treat.

The newly constructed brewery was nice. It was still unfinished but it looks like it is going to work for them nicely. I'm especially excited about their tasting room. They had several 30 barrel fermentors, A wall of casks, and a cold storage room for cask conditioning (which I'm assuming will be kept in the mid 60s for proper aging). We didn't get a full tour but Rachel and I briefly spoke with Ron (one of the partners) about the brewery. He told us about what the guys were doing between the time a business plan was submitted and today. Which was you guessed it, a ton of brewing and recipe tweaking. I left him with a hand shake and my resume. To be a part of this would be awesome.

The lines for the samples were pretty long so Rachel and I were only able to taste two styles, Boxers Revenge Farmhouse Provision Ale and Black Metal Imperial Stout. I was happy none the less. Both brews were unique, exciting and damn delicious.

We sampled Boxers Revenge Farmhouse Provision Ale in a commemorative snifter glass appropriate to the style. I found this beer to be pleasantly tart with a mild hop aroma and strong fruit notes. This one was actually much more sour than I anticipated. That's a good thing though. I really enjoyed it and found it to be quite unique. This brew has an ABV of 9.0% and 23 IBUs.



Awesome Pint glass and Snifter.



Black Metal Imperial stout was a beast. Rich, complex and very malty. I found strong chocolate notes and a slightly burnt coffee flavor. A seriously strong brew that in which the alcohol taste was pleasant and unapologetic. The mere fact that this exists puts a smile on my face. Black Metal + Beer (an Imperial Stout for that matter!) = Me with a ridiculous grin on my face. Too awesome, total krieg. Black Metal has an ABV of a little over 10% !!! and 60 IBUs.

I am excited about the future of this brewery. They have some unique brews in a sea of craft beers now available in the U.S. You don't need to look too deep to know that these guys are doing this because they love it. With a brew literally called Commercial Suicide and another called Black Metal (which is a reference that I can truely appreciate) how couldn't I love this place. I had a great time at the grand opening and hope to return for a tasting once they're fully up and running.

Cheers,

- Jay

The rust belt goes south.

The past few months have been chaotic for me to say the least. My wife moved to Texas in september which left me in New York until mid december when I completed my degree. During those three months Aaron and I continued to brew. Sadly I was very busy with school and moving preparations so I neglected to blog about any of our exploits.

To briefly sum up what happened last fall we brewed several batches. Including a Bavarian Dunkelweizen, and a Spiced Holiday Fruit Cake Ale (which was fermented with a variety of dehydrated fuit). I also showed a friend how to brew with a recipe roughly based on an English Pale Ale (roughly because it was more so based on what hops and malt I had floating around at the time).

So now that there is about 1600 miles between my brewing buddies and myself, Aaron has decided to start a blog of his own and I am going to continue with this. I'm sure that Aarons blog will have more activity that RBCB over the next few months as I am in the process of job hunting and settling into a new city. There will be alot more activity on the blog this spring. Until then check out Aarons adventures here.