Chocolate Porter

So after a couple month hiatus of brewing, I'm going to a brew a chocolate porter using some cocoa nibs from Theo Chocolate in Seattle.  (If you are ever in Seattle, check them out - they are truly awesome!)

I've never used nibs in my beer so this will be interesting.  My question to any readers out there is whether you have had better results dropping the nibs into secondary, or during primary fermentation?  Or do you prefer to put in at end of boil?

And roughly what amount of nibs do you use for a 5 gallon batch?

Thanks for any comments!

Happy Birthday To Me!!

This a belated post from my awesome birthday last weekend.  Not only did my supercool and beautiful wife (pictured at right) get me a copy of Beer Wars, (Which I will post a review on later), but she took me to dinner at Haven Gastropub in Old town Orange. 

I had heard alot about Haven, from both food and beer angles, and had been wanting to go there for awhile.  The restaurant is a modern style english pub that pairs gourmet food with top-notch beers.  This isn't your basic fish and chips or bangers and mash.  I won't list the menu here, you can visit the site yourself in the link above to view the menu and see what beers they have on tap.  Suffice it to say, my steak with Mexican chocolate and cayenne pepper demi-glace was cooked perfect and tasted delicious.

But enough about the food, I was of course really there for the beer.  First selection of the night for me was a tulip of Saison Dupont by Brasserie Dupont, a farmhouse brewery in western Belgium.  I haven't had alot of experience with the Saison style, so it is hard for me to compare to very much else.  But I did really enjoy it.  It was blond in color with a nice foamy head and a bit of haze.  Smell was what you would expect a farmhouse to smell like- wet wood, bready, and yeasty.  The other Saisons I have had have been a little spicy if that's the right word, but this was not quite so.  Crisp and tart, but still smooth not overly sour which was good since this was my appetizer beer. All-in-all this is a style I could really get hooked on.

Next I tried the Mikkeller Centennial Single-Hop IPA.  (That's me with the IPA to the left) Mikkeller has had a great idea to do a series of IPA's all brewed the same except in each one they use only a single type of hop so you can really taste the hop.  I'm very surprised  that I didn't much care for it!  It's not that it was a bad beer by any means, in fact overall, this was a solid and well crafted IPA. I think the beauty of the single hop idea is that you can really tell which hop profiles you like and which you don't.  I think for me, the Centennial may be a bit too pungent and bitter for my taste to have as the aroma and flavor in a beer.  I actually use Centennial in my some of my own beers for bittering, but then choose something else for flavor and aroma profiles.  In any event, I hope to get a chance someday to try some of their other single hop IPA's such as the Amarillo, Simcoe, Cascade, and Nugget.  Actually not sure if any of those are still around anywhere.

Finishing off the night was Cuvée Des Jacobins Rouge by Brouwerij Bockor N.V. in Belgium.  It is listed as a Flanders Red Ale.  As you can see from the picture to the right, it's a dark red/mahogany color to it, with not a lot of head.  Smell is a bit of cherry or berry, I'm not sure.  At first taste I thought maybe I tasted fruity cherry or grape, maybe a little vinegar crept in, then BAM! the sour hit me! The more I drank and savored it, the more flavors and levels of sourness appeared.  Don't know if that makes any sense.  This was by far my favorite beer of the night and I hope to have it again sometime.

While I had grandiose plans to try the BrewDog Tokyo* and Cantillion 2007 Kriek, I had to call it a night as we still needed to go to my in-laws' for dessert and I wanted to still be able to stand.  Tokyo* at 18.2% would have floored me for the night. (I'm still a lightweight after all these years).  And I couldn't quite bring myself to fork over $55 for a 25oz bottle of Cantillion since I would just be drinking that myself.  Would rather have that one to share with someone, and my wife wasn't up for that one right then.

So, it was a very Happy Birthday for me. I'm a lucky man.

Pacific Northwest Road Trip

Last week I took a flight from Socal up to Norcal for a road trip starting in Chico to Puget Sound area in order to help my Mom move.  Just our luck, it was in the middle of the worst storm to hit the west coast so far this year.  But despite the bad weather, I was determined to get some visits  to some breweries along the way.

So of course being in Chico I had to start at Sierra Nevada.  My friend Steve and I sat at the bar, and ordered lunch.  In case I haven't mentioned it before, they really have done a great job with the restaurant and taproom, and the food is as awesome as the beer.  Unfortunately, they were out of their Baltic Porter, which I think is about the best Baltic Porter I've ever had.  So instead I started with their new Glissade bock.  This is a real refreshing beer, with alot of subtleties in hop aroma and smooth malt flavor.  They are going to be bottling this beer soon, so look out for it. As we were enjoying our beers and sandwiches Ken Grossman walked by.  Pretty cool, but I didn't want be like a groupie so I didn't ask for an autograph. Next I tried the Juniper Black Ale.  Though overall a good beer, I can't see myself drinking this too often.  I can't remember what the ABV was, but it was maybe around 10%? I might be wrong on that.  Anyway, the juniper was a bit too much for my taste.  Think if you like that particular flavor, you'd like the beer.  Since I had a moving truck to pick up, I kept myself to those two half-pints of beer.  But I did pick up a couple Sierra Nevada tap handles for my new kegerator faucets I just installed.  I'll post more about that later.  Sadly this might be the last time in a long time that I'll get to visit the brewery, since I don't see any other reason I'll ever be in Chico again.

After a day of packing up the moving truck with my Mom's house and alot of old memories, we headed up 5 in the rain and snow for Washington.  The snow and rain takes a toll on you after so many hours, so we stopped in Salem Oregon for the night.  About 12 years back, I had been in Troutdale at McMenamins' Edgefield Hotel/Brewery/Winery.  My sister had her wedding there, and we all had a great time and I remembered what good beer it was.  Now they have expanded quite a bit and have a bunch of brewpubs and hotels, including a brewpub in Salem called Boon's Treasury.  I was excited to get to have their beer again. While waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for dinner I had the Hammerhead ale, which I guess is one of their standards.  It was a nice coppery colored malty ale with cascade hops, and was probably fairly good beer if it wasn't for the dishwatery smell and taste from the glass.  With dinner I had their IPA which unfortunately was very thin and watery, and I could barely even notice the hops.  Overall, I hate to say it was a huge disappointment.

We finally made it up to Washington, unloaded, and moved my Mom into her new place.  We finished quickly enough to leave a day open for hanging around downtown Seattle. I had heard the Elysian Brewery had some good beers, so I dragged my family over to the Elysian Fields brewpub over on 1st Street by the stadium.  We were about the only ones in the place, being that it was early Saturday and there were no games going on, but I'll bet this place really packs 'em in during Seahawks games.

 

Elysian Fields Brewpub

I've got to say, we had some great beers here.  I started with a Yerba Mate Tripel.  I had never had a beer brewed with tea before so wasn't sure what to expect, but it was awesome.  The tea really complemented the light hop tones very well.  I had a sip of the Saison my sister was drinking - you could really smell the spice on this one. 

Me, Sis, and brother-in-law

My mom ordered the Avatar Jasmine IPA, which while was a pretty good IPA by itself, I'm not sure the jasmine really did much for the beer - I would have preferred it just as a straight IPA.  My last beer was a cask conditioned Immortal IPA. I forget sometimes how great cask beers can be since I don't get them too often.  Without all the heavy carbonation, you really get to experience all the flavors and aromas that sometimes get lost in the fizziness of forced carbonation.

My Mom and I enjoying some IPA and Tripel.

After some awesome beers and appetizers at Elysian, we needed a walk, so we hiked up to Pike Place Market to walk around.  As it was just about lunch time, my sister suggested a Russian bakery called Piroshky Piroshky.  The word Piroshky comes from the word pir which means feast, and these delicacies are truly feasts that you eat with your hands.  If you've never had a piroshky, it is a warm bread filled and topped with sweet, savory, vegetable, or meat fillings.  It was the perfect meal to have in between brewpubs.  I had one with garlic, onion, and cheddar cheese.  It was one of the best things I have eaten in a long, long time.

 The Pike Brewery

Next on the list was The Pike Brewery right in the middle of Pike Marketplace.  I was hesitant at first to go here due to many reviews online that say it's too touristy.  Well, being that I am a tourist I figured why not?  Plus I really wanted to see their three-story brewing setup.

My sampler at Pike Brewery

For tasting I got a sampler of six of their beers:  Pale, Kilt Lifter, Naughty Nellie, Tandem, IPA, XXXX Stout.  These were all real solid traditional beers.  I couldn't really find fault with a single one.  Surprisingly I really liked the smokiness of the Kilt Lifter scotch ale, and I'm usually not a big scotch ale fan.  Also very good was the Stout.  I would definitely recommend stopping here to anyone visiting the marketplace.  Yes, it is touristy, but that's why you're there right?  There was plenty of room to sit and relax and enjoy some really good beer.  I'll go back next time I'm in Seattle for sure.

So that pretty much ended the day and the trip.  All that was left was a ferry ride back to Bainbridge Island.  The cool thing about the ferry is you can get beer on tap.  I relaxed and enjoyed a Red Hook ESB while admiring the Seattle skyline at night.  Cheers!

View of Seattle from Bainbridge Ferry

Been a Long Time...

It has been a long time since I made any posts. Also has been a long time since I brewed any beer. Having a new baby girl sure does take alot of time. And today sadly marks one month after losing my father unexpectedly. My Dad was a big Sierra Nevada Ale fan. His recent favorite being the highly hopped Torpedo Ale. While up in the Chico area for his funeral, we had a last tribute to him and had some beers to toast him at the Sierra Nevada Brewery. Here is a picture of my daughter Lily and I at the hopyard at Sierra Nevada. We miss you dad.

Stone Brewing World Bistro - Revisit

My manager was in town last weekend from Texas for a conference this week, and since he happens to also be a homebrewer and beer lover, he wanted to go down to Stone Brewery. It just happened to be Mother's Day here in the States, but since Mexico celebrates Mother's Day on the 10th, and I had already had flowers delivered to my Mom in NorCal, I was off the hook for a trip down to Escondido.

Stone Bistro was fairly crowded for Mother's Day, but not so bad that we couldn't have got a table if we wanted. But we opted for the bar. Since it was lunch the menu was somewhat limited, but I had a great buffalo hamburger and fries. Now Stone has a huge bottled beer selection in addition to their brands they have on draught. To start I had a Levitation Ale with my meal, and then a Pale. Both of course were exceptional. Very clean and crisp with the hop character that makes Stone so special. I really wanted to have a Ruination Ale, but as I was the driver I figured I better stick with the lighter ales.

So while the Stone beers were great, the true highlight was a beer that my manager had us try. We bought a 750ml bottle of Cantillon Vigneronne It is similar to a Belgian lambic/gueuze in that is is spontaneously fermented and very sour, but is different in that instead of cherries or raspberries, the Vigneronne is made with white grapes added to the lambic. (I had tried some Kriek while in Belgium and liked it very much.) Before we were allowed to order, our well educated server Tegan made sure we knew what we were getting ourselves into. "Do you like sour beers?", "Have you ever had a Lambic?", "This will have more vinegar taste than a traditional Gueuze". She knew her stuff, and at $20 a bottle it's a good thing she asks, because most people would taste the Vigneronne and think it was bad. But all warnings aside, we got a bottle and I'm really glad we did. It was by far the most sour and vinegary beer I have had. But it was excellent. After a few sips, you really get past the initial sourness and can start to taste the different flavors from the grapes and wild bacteria.

After the Vigneronne we each had another beer out in the beer garden and then went through the gift shop before the trek back up to The OC. I have a new appreciation for sour beers now and look forward to trying some more.

Stone Brewing World Bistro

This Saturday Erika and I drove down to Escondido after visiting the Carlsbad Outlet Mall. There is nothing much in Escondido I would ever go there for, except for the new Stone Brewing World Bistro. Stone Brewery just recently opened a new restaurant/brewery, and it was very impressive. http://www.stoneworldbistro.com/

The building architecture is a modern/industrial with lots of stone, iron, and rebar. The restaurant area has floor to cieling windows on one side that let you see the brewery operations. The other side is open out to the outdoors beer garden. You can lounge around outside in the garden and have a beer - very relaxing.

Dinner was excellent. I had the Super-Septuple Garlic Bomb Chicken with Stone IPA garlicky mashed potatoes which was awesome. Only bad thing was that it also came with Brussels sprouts which though they looked tasty, are my absolute most hated vegetable in the world. Erika had a Spicy Lime Almond Crusted Tilapia with toasted barley & quinoa tabouleh. Also was excellent, and the quinoa was especially good since we have been on a quinoa kick lately.

So now for the real important part - the beer! For starters I had the Stone Ruination IPA. Lately I've been a little tired of all the West Coast breweries and their IPA's and pale ale's. Everyone seems to be just hopping up like crazy and losing the taste of the beer. I'm no different - my recent pale is nice and hoppy but not alot of malt character. This Ruination IPA is very different though. Although highly hopped of course, and 7.7% alcohol, the taste is still very good and you can still taste the underlying characteristics of a very good beer. I think it was a perfect pairing with the garlic infused chicken.

Next I had the Stone Smoked Porter w/Chipotle Peppers. Now I am always a sucker for anything Chipotle so I couldn't pass this one up. At first taste you get the smoky porter you would expect and nice and dry. I didn't really notice the chipotle until after swallowing. Unfortunately that aftertaste wasn't very appealing to me. The chipotle bite at the back of my tongue didn't really leave me wanting more. Unfortunately I think it's one of the few beers I couldn't even finish. I don't think it's a bad tasting beer - just something about it wasn't quite right for me.

So I will definitely go back and do the tour one of these days, and also try some of the other Stone beers. I've always enjoyed their Arrogant Bastard Ale, and am looking forward to some of their others. Cheers!

The Land of Smithwick's, Guinness, & Jameson!!!

So the wheels have been set in motion for Erika and I to travel with some old friends to Dublin!! The band James is reuniting after 6 years in hiatus and are playing their opening night in Dublin on my birthday. Thank God and my employer for airline miles - I'll likely be using all my accumulated miles to make the trip.

You know what a trip to Ireland means - great beer. We visited the Guinness Brewery and Jameson Whiskey last time we were in Dublin in 2004. Hoping to go to the Smithwick's brewery in Kilkenny this time around as well as some pubs I'm sure. If anyone happens to read this and has any suggestions please share.