Orion Saison - 3 Weeks Old

Dave, you were right. I am impatient with my homebrew. Oh well!

Nice, cloudy orange body with a thick, well sustaining white head. Good carbonation, and some nice lacing. Good looking! The aroma is crazy, with lots of herbal notes, lemon, pine, some mineral, and a surprising nice amount of funk. Good floral notes as well. The alcohol is a bit too present, but that will die in time, I hope. The taste is very floral and clean, with a dry, crisp, clean finish. Slight acidity, and a little funk. I'm thinking the funk will grow in time. The aftertaste is very irony and sulfur-y, with some rubber and band aid notes. Crap. Aside from that I'm really happy with it. Carbed up real well, which I'm very happy about. I'd say at least a month before it's ready to be "released".

St. Defibaugh Quad (and other updates..)

Late night brewing session tonight - pitched at 1:35 a.m. I'll make it quick - I changed up the recipe for this and did a partial mash based on the Westy 12 clone recipe in Beer Captured. O.G. 1.105. Caramunich, 2 Row, Crystal 10, Special B, Aromatic, Biscuit, and just a touch of Choclate malts, with some crystal and amber candi sugar. Very lightly hopped with some nobles. I pitched it on the cake of the Single, which was pitched on the cake of the Table Beer. This will probably be the last batch before we move, and when that finally happens, I think it may be time for some upgrades. All grain, wild yeast, 10 gallons.. good times.

Um, what else, let's see. I racked the Single (Juniper Abbey Pale Ale) to secondary tonight, and dry hopped it with 2 ounces of Perle. It's tasting great so far - very hoppy and fruity, and the juniper adds some nice balance and complexity. The F.G. was 1.005. Is that even possible? It started at 1.058 and finished lower than the table beer! Weird. Speaking of the table beer, it's in bottles now just waiting to carb up. The Saison, Tripel, and Special ale all need some time in the cellar.

Autumn and I are going to Philly Tuesday. She has an interview for an A&R position with Alonce Music Agency. Wish us luck!! If that works out, Philly here we come! I'm hoping I can pick up a few bottles down there, but something tells me time will be limited.

Be good everyone. Goodnight!

Bell's Hopslam

Hold the freaking presses - an IPA I like. There's 2 very important factors that Bell's got right in brewing this beer. First one, the hop character. It's not overly bitter or biting, but rather fruity, citric, floral and almost spicy. Peaches everywhere in the aroma and taste!! There's more to those little bastards than just bitter, and this beer showcases that fact. Secondly, the balance, in particular with the use of honey. It creates some beautifully sweet, subtle notes of figs, caramel, and dates. There's a great peppery spiciness, subtle chocolate, and the finish is not very hoppy at all, but rather sweet, borer-line cloying.

Hats off to Bell's for making one of my favorite hoppy beers. My one complaint is this - it smells like an IPA, but tastes like a barleywine.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

" Sister, sister, oh so fair, why is there blood all over your hair?"


I've been trying to keep the blog a little more beer focused lately, but I just had to post about this movie. Holy crap. This is an old classic I somehow missed starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Bette Davis is absolutely phenomenal in this movie. She is in her zone! The plot is actually pretty clever, and the sarcastic, facetious dialog has a sense of humor that is way ahead of its time. Watching this movie, you feel like you are watching a modern day parody about modern day fame gone wrong, set in the 30's. Unbelievable. I was, honestly, stunned at how awesome this movie was. I recommend everyone throw it on their Netflix queue and bump that shit to the top.

Killer film.

2004 Dyed in the Wool Pinot Noir

Beautiful light purple body. Crystal clear. The aroma is strong raspberries and oak, with some cherries, blueberries, flowers, ozone, alcohol and astringent notes. Full oak taste with lots of great sour cherry, tart apple, some fig and date, honey, a nice peppery, almost spicy astringency, and lots of warming alcohol in the finish. A very good Noir for sure!!

St. Defibaugh Single

Brewed this bad boy Wednesday night. O.G. 1.058. Basically an abbey pale ale with tons of Juniper berries. 8 kinds of malt and 4 ounces of hops in the boil, with a pound and half of Turbinado sugar and some coriander. It was pitched onto the cake of the table beer, and it's bubbling away like mad! I'm gonna dry hop it with 2 ounces of Perle once it's in secondary. This was my second partial mash and I think it went well - much easier that I had originally anticipated. On the cake of this I'm throwing a big old Belgian dark/quad. For this whole trio of Belgian's I'm using Wyeast Forbidden Fruit which seems to be getting some great fruity esters. I'll post more on this project as it progresses..

Table Beer!!

It's brewed, in primary, and fermenting nicely. Pitched at about 11 o'clock Sunday evening and by
Monday afternoon at 8 it was bubbling away. This was my first counter-top partial mash, and it went surprisingly well. The best part was the cost cutting on the grains!! I wound up using 2 3/4 lbs grains (3/4 specialty) with 1 lbs of DME and a little over an ounce of hops. O.G. 1.031. Nice and low, I can't wait. I used Wyeast Forbidden Fruit for this, as well as some wheat, so it's going to have a nice wit-like refreshing quality. Once it's done fermenting, I'm throwing a pale ale on top of the cake. Basically I just did a giant starter. I'll post more once it's out of primary.

Oh, and the saison went into bottles Saturday. YES!! And, the honey ale finally carbed up. YES!!