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!!

A Dogfish Head Rant

This is long overdue. These thoughts have been weighing heavy on me lately, and it's time to vent. Before I do so, I need to go over the rules. First and foremost, pardon the language - if I curse, it means I'm being serious. Secondly, I'm a picky asshole, and if your thoughts don't reflect mine, chances are you're right and I'm wrong. And, finally, relax..

Hey, Dogfish Head, time to step your game up!! You have the resources, the technology, and the freaking cash, so let's get it popping!!

Your inconsistency is driving me mad. I can go to the store, buy 2 six packs of 60 Minute IPA, and they are going to taste completely different. An IPA is not a beer I want to taste differently from bottle to bottle. You go on and on about your fantastic quality control methods, but they just look pretty - I haven't noticed a goddamn difference in quality. These are some Dogfish Head Beers I've had that absolutely did not resemble a previous bottle: 60 and 90 Minute, Raison D'Etre, Indian Brown Ale, Olde School Barleywine, Aprihop, Pangaea, Midas Touch, Immort Ale, Zwaanendale, Au Courant and Chateau Jiahu. Beers that are consistent: 120 Minute, World Wide Stout (each vintage), Palo Santo Marron, Black and Blue and Chicory Stout. Notice the difference?

Taste the beers before you release them. I'm glad you experiment and have the balls to take risks, but sometimes I sip your beers and think "C'mon. What the hell, Dogfish Head?" A few cases in point. Black and Blue - you mean someone actually enjoyed drinking this sweet, syrupy mess? Au Courant (the new one) - My God what an awful beer! My mouth wanted to kill itself after attempting to get down more than two chugs of this nasty, fake tasting fruit beer. Raison D'Extra - Alright already, we get it. You can brew big beers!! Now let's make them taste good. This tasted like scotch that had been mixed with flat soda and stale rye bread. Pangaea - It's definitely cool you used an ingredient from each continent, but the end product tasted like weak sparkling apple juice.

Realize your potential. Do you understand what you've brewed with Festina Peche? I don't think you do. This is the ultimate crossover beer. There's not a single person, beer drinker or otherwise, who hasn't thoroughly enjoyed the taste of this beer. It's tart, refreshing, complex yet unoffensive, and most of all, delicious. Listen to me right now - make this year round and market it to the masses.

No disrespect intended. Dogfish Head is a really good brewery, I just needed to vent. While some of their experiments go horribly, horribly wrong, some fare well. I actually really like their hoppy beers (when the bottle is decent), and that's saying a lot. 60 Minute can be one of my favorite IPA's when it tastes good, and I love love love the Indian Brown Ale. Immort Ale, Palo Santo Marron, and World Wide Stout are some of the easiest drinking big beers made on this coast. And, again, I can't get enough Festina Peche.

Alright, I'm done. I hope no one's offended. Drink less, drink better, don't drink and drive, support your local brewery, all that jazz..

RIP George Carlin and Johnstown Brewing

One of my favorite comedians and a local brewery both died recently, and I would just like to pay my respects via blogdom. George, you will be sorely missed. Johnstown, sorry about your luck.

Oh Yeah. I Homebrew.

Upon looking through the blog I noticed I haven't posted anything about my homebrews since April. Time to fix that.


Batch 007 - Orion Saison. In secondary right now and has been for a little over two weeks. So far it tastes freaking fantastic - it's dry, herbal, spicy and acidic all at the same time. The yeast is really creating some funktastic flavors, and given the warm temp in our apartment lately, it's just gonna get funkier. OG on this was 1.065 and now it's down to 1.007. YES!! Gonna bottle this one up in about 4 more weeks I'm thinking.

Batch 006 - St. Defibaugh Special Ale - This has been in bottles for about 3 weeks and just starting to carb up. I'm really happy with how it tastes - it's like eating some incredibly sweet gingerbread cookies while smoking a clove cigarette. I give it 2 months before it's ready, 10 before it's at its peak.

Batch 005 - St. Defibaugh Tripel - Been in bottles for over a month and is well carbed. Just a few more "warm days" then it's off to the cellar for a month before I touch one. The oak came out great, all the spices in play, beautiful color, couldn't be happier. Will be peaking in about 18 months I'd say.

Still waiting to brew the holy trinity batches - table beer, followed by an abbey pale on that yeast cake, followed by a quad on that yeast cake - until finances are right. I could do it now, but I'd have to cut corners. In the words of the late, great Hunter S. Thompson, "If a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing right."

Cheers.