State of the Brewnion

We're over halfway through the year, so it's time to reflect upon my initial resolution, the rule to only drink homebrews at home. Well 206 days... and I'm still going strong!

In fact I've greatly overcompensated for the risk of a beerless household and have brewed far too much. Although, the love of experimentation contributed to the issue as well. Currently I have ~150 bottles that need consumption... but luckily I have friends to help with that.

Let's take a look at everything I've brewed over the past 6 months:

-Ryan's Explosively Experimental Beer (Reeb)

-2x Chocolate Stout

-Rauchbier ... this happened

-Simple Cider

-Not Quite Moonshine

-White House Honey Ale

-White House Honey Porter

-Not Yet Sunburnt Red

-Dry Hopped Ale

-Chimay Clone

-Sheibier Belgian Farmhouse

-Amale Slightly Smoked Pilsner

-Anchor Steam Clone

-Berliner Weisse

-Zombie ESB

That's a lot of beers! One of the great things about homebrewing is that it's pretty difficult to screw up beer (barring sanitization), and they all end up tasting great no matter what; even if they maybe different than expected. And with each one I've learned something new whether or not I was experimenting. A truly enjoyable hobby!

Looking towards the future I'm moving across the country in September and won't be able to brew until I've settled in at least. But don't be disappointed... as I'm taking off with a bang (to be mentioned next post)!

Sharing Is Caring

Last weekend I reached the pinnacle of my homebrewing hobby: I shared my beer with numerous people who I'd never met before. I've held tastings amongst my friends previously and they may bring along an unknown person or two, but this was a whole new level. I catered the beer during cocktail hour and dinner at my friend's wedding.

The couple always appreciated good beer and loved every homebrew I had shared with them previously so when I found out about the wedding I figured it would be a fun gift to brew a few batches for the event; an idea which they were quite enthusiastic about.

I set forth to brew a modified pilsner and a Belgian farmhouse summer ale. I won't go into too many of the brewing details, but in regards to the styles I wanted to have a varied selection that matched their respective colors and tastes! However, most fun part was the naming. The groom's last name is Sheiber,so "Sheibier" was an easy pick for the farmhouse ale. Meanwhile the bride's first name is Amy and AmAle seemed to be the way to go for the pilsner (made using ale yeast, not lagered).

The wedding was the true test to the taste of my beer as I'd never met the majority of the people at the wedding prior to the weekend. Both beers ended up on the lighter end, which was perfect for the hot summer day!

Breaking into 5 gallons of Amale and 5 gallons of Sheibier

Smelling Sheibier's aroma making sure it's worthy of consumption

Apparently it was!

And was even deserving of a thumbs + beer bottle up!

The Sheibier was the first to go

And the Amale didn't last much longer either

THE VERDICT: People loved the beer! Rather than calling it quits after one people kept on coming back for more and it didn't take long before the cooler was empty.

The Sheibier was the first to clear out, although my suspicion for this is that my description sounded more exotic in combo with the fact that all the Amale was in 22 oz bottles (rather than the typical 12), which may have intimidated people initially. However once people discovered the Amale it soon became a favorite.

In the end, it was a wonderful experience. One of the few things more fun than drinking your homebrew is watching other people enjoy it, which they certainly did!

I'll leave you with my favorite image from the wedding.

Amy with Amale. Sheibier was already out, so pots were a solid substitute