I was over at Jungle Jims again last Friday for Pint Night and my beer choice was a Christian Morlein Altered Pale Ale. This beer reminded me of another beer that I drunk in the past but the name was stuck on the tip of tongue. As I wandered around the tasting area looking for good buys, I picked up 4 16 oz. cans of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale for $5. That’s a good buy! When I got home and took my first sip of Pale Ale, I instantly knew that this was the beer Christian Morlein was paying homage to with their Altered Ale.
beer
Rivertown Roebling Porter Nitro Review
Last Friday I drank a Rivertown Roebling Porter Nitro by Rivertown Brewery & Barrel House at Jungle Jims Pint Night. It was okay but I tried a sample of the Rivertown Imperial and liked it slightly better.
Se7en Hefeweisen And A Day In The Park
Last Saturday we went to the Moerlein Lager House to celebrate my mother-in-law and wife’s birthday and it almost was a disaster. We did not know it beforehand but there was a Gay Pride parade going on the same day and ending up at the park next to the restaurant at the same time as our reservation. We were almost to the restaurant when we found several roads blocked off. Fortunately I was able to make a scenic detour through Kentucky and was able to find some open roads on the other side of the restaurant. The restaurant was busy and festive. I noticed that much of the crowd was drinking what looked like a Hefeweizen and since I have been on a Hefeweizen kick this month, I took the opportunity to try Moerlein’s Se7en (Seven) Hefeweizen. It was a nice Hefeweizen with hints of citrus. My only complaint was the small head on the beer. Here is my checkin on Untappd.
After the meal we went to Smale park. My wife wanted to see and ride Carol Ann’s Carousel. I was surprised in this high tech world how busy a low tech carousel was. The carousel was very pretty and a few minutes after arrived, a wedding party arrived. It was amusing to see the grooms and bridesmaids try to get on the horses in their tuxedos and dresses.
Then we went and played with the rest of the kids in the park. It has to bring a smile to your face to see your 84 year old mother-in-law making music by stepping on piano keys.
Here is one of those scenic bridges on my detour.
Celebrating National Beer Day
In honor of National Beer Day, April 7th, I drank one of my home brews, Winter Ale, I brewed last November and promptly followed that with another home brew I had in the closet, Holiday Ale. Ah, life is good!
Winter Ales
I drank this beer last month after drinking a Fat Tire from the tap at Jungle Jim’s Pint night. New Belgium was the sponsor this night. Since Jungle Jim’s bar was having gas problems and it looked like pulling stout was more problematical than pulling the Fat Tire ale. Especially during the winter months I like dark beers so I bought a bottle of Salted Belgian Chocolate Stout. It is an intriguing beer with a definite chocolate taste to it. It might be a beer I would take to party since it is a conversation piece but it is a little too expensive for my general consumption.
A more affordable brew is this Holiday Ale I brewed in November. It had a little sweet taste with a hint of spices when I brewed it but that has all but disappeared with the bottle conditioning. I think the malty flavor is overwhelming the spices now. I really like the Irish Stout I brewed last year but it is gone. So now I am left with the Holiday Ale, some Irish Red Ale, and a Winter Ale that I should be bottling soon.Pint Night at Jungle Jim’s
Here is my latest addition to my pint beer glass collection. It was christened at Jungle Jim’s pint night with Victory’s DirtWolf Double IPA. It was a fine beer but I am still not fond of Double IPA’s. I enjoy dropping in for Jungles pint night and a little bit of last minute grocery shopping. In this case I found some nice T-Bone steaks for $6.99 a pound. The trip home was long enough for my palate to return so I finished off the last of my Dogfish Head Punkin Ale in the glass.
Building My Pint Beer Glass Collection One Beer At A Time
Building my pint beer glass collection one beer at a time. Kona sponsored this weeks tasting at Jungle Jims. The Lavaman red ale beer was good and the was bitterness was unexpected twist. I like this beer but I like last week’s beer, 420 pale ale, a little bit more.
Adventures in Fermentation
I typically buy two beer kits at a time because I am comfortable with brewing on consecutive weekends and it saves on shipping costs. This time I let my second brew date slip. Although I refrigerate my yeast when I receive it, the best used by date on the yeast vial had come and gone. So I bought a yeast starter kit to see if I could give the yeast a fighting chance. I use a yeast starter when I make bread called a sponge so this should be pretty easy. I followed the instructions and after a day it looked like the yeast was active. So I brewed the California Steam Lager and pitched the yeast. For the first 36 hours there were no bubbles. Finally on Tuesday morning there were bubbles coming out. Today when I left for work it was still bubbling. Whew! I almost made a big mistake.
Last Saturday I got a kick out of watching a new show on Esquire channel called Brew Dogs. Esquire was showing all of the episodes back to back so I sat through the first two episodes before I realized I was past my bed time. The guys and the show format was entertaining even if you are not a craft beer geek. I was fascinated with their ability to pick out flavors in the beers and how they paired beers and foods. Their pursuit of “craft beer virgins” was funny as was some of the exotic ingredients craft brewers are experimenting with. In the second episode the guys went to San Francisco and Anchor Steam Brewing. The show reminded me that the first time I drank an Anchor Steam Lager was back in the 1970s when it claimed to be the smallest brewery in the United States. For many years I told people that my favorite beer was Anchor Steam Lager. It was ironic that I was going to brew an imitation of the Anchor Steam lager the very next day.
Pumpkin Beer Revisited
I was a little disappointed with my pumpkin beer this year. It was a pleasant surprise last year so I was looking forward to brewing it again. My skills and technique are better, what could go wrong? Well, the first beer from the batch seemed a little off. It was nothing major so I decided to let it mature a little bit more. This was an easy decision since my latest attempt at Hank’s Hefeweisen is really nice and I have two cases of it. Last weekend I was looking for a beer to drink while watching a football game so I grabbed a pumpkin beer. This time it reminded me of the pumpkin beer I brewed last year, a nice mellow ale with a touch of pumpkin flavoring. The extra two weeks has done wonders for it. I love it when a plan comes together!
Pumpkin Beer Time!
This weekend I will be tasting my pumpkin beer. It has been seven weeks since I brewed it. I enjoyed the pumpkin beer I made last year but decided to use go for a little stronger pumpkin flavor by using 2 large cans. Today I found a 2011 Serious Eats article that says pumpkin beers have a long history in the US.
Far from being a modern invention of the craft beer scene, pumpkin beers have a long history in the US. Samuel Stearns’ The American herbal; or, Materia medica (published in 1801), name-checked pumpkin beer just after porter and ale. Stearns considered pumpkin beer especially healthful, noting:
Different kinds of beer, ale, &c. are often prepared according to the prescriptions of the physicians, all of which, as well as pumpkin and bran beer, partake of the virtues of the ingredients put into such liquors."
Follow the link to find out more about the history of pumpkin beer.