Vindication?

Had the Belgian sampled at the brewing meeting last night and the consensus is that it did have plenty of Belgian flavors. Perhaps it was entered in the wrong category, but hey, at least it tastes like it should.

Contest Blues

Well I went to contest to see with my own eyes how they work, especially since I am working logistics for our club contest. It was an interesting process, but I don't think I'll be wasting my time with entering beers in the future...Frankly I don't brew the kind of beer that wins contests, but I like to enter them to gain feedback from certified judges. Well this time I entered "The Belgian" to see how it stacked up, and here's the feedback I got:

"No Belgian flavors, not to style"

Well thanks for nothing! How about explaining to me how a beer brewed with belgian yeast has no belgian flavors? Usually I get so critical feedback that suggests possible solutions to the problem. Not this time, in fact all I got was the critical part.

I forgot to mention that the contest included a 45min ribbon ceremony that ended with 5 brewers taking 75-80% of the ribbons. Really was discouraging to see the slanted distribution. Well, I will participate in my club's contest, maybe even send a beer to contest again, but the desire to get more involved with the "contest brewing" community was sapped from my soul. And that's all I got to say about that.

Belgian Follow Up...

You might remember this post where I wasn't sure what to do with the heavy-hitting Belgian Dubble...

I named it post-humulously "Joel's Daddy" because my friend came over for the poker tourney and met a guy named Steve, and neither one of them have been able to find their pants. All this thanks to "The Belgian" being drank like kool-aid at a Branch Davidian compound. Thank goodess for my basement stairs, otherwise we would have had to listen to the same story, for the 3rd time, from the floor.

Sent some of it to the contest, we'll see if the Judges can find their pants after sampling.

Where the hell have I been?

All over...really. No, not really. Actually I've been at home mostly, getting a new business of it's feet. Don't worry, I still make time for brewing, just not so much in the way of this blog!

Updates:

- Switch died on the brewery pump, had to hotwire it, but I should have a new switch soon. I've brewed 3 times w/o it, so it's not impeding my progress, just rigged for the time being.

- Brewed cream ale, original recipe brown, and just today a Bass Ale clone which is in between an English Mild and English Pale. Also brewed a Belgian wit (Blue Moon Clone), or I should say Irish Jim did with me as his assistant. I personally don't care for the Blue Moon, or the style, but that's what makes the sis-in-law happy. And, it'l getcha drunk!

- Entered the Belgian Dubble and Bock in the US Open Brewing competition in Charlotte, NC this weekend, and will be travelling there to steward (read "sample great beers all day"). We'll see if I can break the 40pt barrier!

- Jalapeno beer was a hit at the Cino de Mayo party last weekend. It has the aroma of a fresh pepper, but the smooth, clean flavor of a golden ale. This was my idea, but Drank Tank's pet project. He used Tequila instead of vodka for the peppers, but it still turned out great.

- Started my own business, Tumblin Construction. If you know anyone in the greater Triad NC area that needs a deck, fence, shed, or whatever else, contact me here.

I'll try to keep in touch more often, and maybe I'll win a ribbon this weekend!

Bottled Belgian

Bottled up 1/2 of my belgian dubble. Not sure what to do with the rest. I filled about 14 1liter bottles. Now I have a 5gal keg of 8.5% beer. Now that spells certain disaster should it fall into the wrong hands! I was thinking about serving it at my poker game in a few weeks, that ought to ensure that a few folks will not have their "A" game ready!

Flurry of Activity

With the RCBC first ever Winter Brewfest coming up next weekend I've been a busy brewmeister! Also had my friend visit from California and he wanted to see the brewery in action, so I brewed up a belgian dubble (Ommegang-ish). I also kegged up my El Camino Vienna, Forty-Weight Brown, and bottled the vanilla variety of Danielle's Birthday Strawberry Ale.

Shew! The TBC Bock is in diacetyl rest, and I will keg the rest of the Strawberry later this week, just in time for the BrewFest...

Next Up - Highland Amber

This Friday I am brewing a Scottish Ale using a recipe I found on the net. It's called "Highland Amber" and I hope to do it justice. This winter I'm going to try and brew a number of different styles:

Belgian (Farmhouse style)
American Lager (Sam Adams)
Bock
German Pilsner
EXPERIMENTAL (Probably the chestnut brown)
Porter

We'll see how many I get through since I will be moving to part-time work and doing some home remodeling!