Unfair Restrictions on Homebrew Resale?

Recently a friend brought to my attention the fact that some homebrewers feel that current laws prohibiting the resale of homebrew are unfair. To be honest I had never really thought about it, considering that we're talking about a consumable product.

The thought was that there are many hobbies where people can make money, and therefore attempt to recoup (to a degree) one's initial investment into the hobby. For instance, there are a number of direct marketing companies where one can do it a a hobby and host parties to sell items related to the hobby. True, in most cases they're not selling the finished product but the idea is there.

The more I think about it, the less I think it is a food safety issue. Look at bake sales...I'm not aware of any inspections that bakers have to go through for bake sales.

As homebrewers, we don't have this ability. True, there are a small, dedicated number of homebrewers that become craft brewers or "nano" brewers, but this is very rare and certainly expensive and beyond the means of most of us.

What do you think? Should homebrewers have this ability, in some form or another?

Beer Review: Widmer Brothers' O'Ryely IPA (Rotator IPA Series)

I enjoy many styles of beer, particularly porters and darker ales. I like pale ales and in especially Indian Pale Ales (IPAs), but it's getting harder and harder for IPAs to really distinguish themselves. For a while, it seemed like everyone was trying to outdo themselves with hoppiness. Then came the imperial craze, where high gravity IPAs were brewed--sometimes to their own detriment. Not so with Widmer Brothers' O'Ryely IPA, which stands on its own.

As you might have guessed, there's a touch of rye malt in this beer, and its spiciness pairs nicely with Nelson Sauvin hops, a variety grown in New Zealand.

The beer is a very clear reddish gold color, with a substantial (but not huge) white head that remains even now, almost 20 minutes after first pour. Earthy hop aromas (almost like noble hop aromas, to me) are readily apparent. Taste-wise, the rye is clearly there in the forefront, and slowly fades into that hoppiness that you first recognize upon opening. These hops linger on a bit, but it is not unpleasant at all.

This beer is definitely an IPA, but the rye adds a different kind of spiciness to the flavor than you can get just from hops. It enables the malt to stand up to the kiwi hops. I will be trying to duplicate some of these qualities in my own beer in the future.

This is one of Widmer's "Rotator" series of IPA. It's just the third release in the series. I think it's great that the brewery is not settling for just one IPA, but releasing different ones at different times of the year.

I highly recommend this beer for both the IPA fan, as well as those who are a bit fatigued by the style. You won't be disappointed.

Need to Keep Up the Brewing Momentum!

Now that I've recently brewed again, I really want to keep it up. Ideally, I'd like to get up brew at least once every couple of weeks. That way, I could justify getting a kegging system that I want!

To do this, I'm going to have simplify my brew process somewhat, and invest in additional equipment. Keeping this under reasonable costs is critical. Here are some of the things that I'm thinking I'm going to need.

1. Consolidate my brew equipment. Well, right now it's consolidated in a corner of my laundry room. So every time I brew, I have to drag everything upstairs and set it up in the car port. My dream would be to have a dedicated brewing space in a garage or a shed. The garage will have to wait. A shed however...For some time I was thinking of getting those Rubbermaid plastic sheds (like this) but a) they are not cheap, b) they are reportedly not as easy to build as they look, and c) I really don't have a good place to put it in my yard. What I just thought of was getting the smaller Rubbermaid storage container, putting that in my car port, and keeping all of my equipment there. Of course, I'd still have to bring in the carboys when fermenting, but better that than my entire brewing system.

2.  A better brew pot. This is key. Right now I use an aluminum pot that came with my propane cooker. There's no ball valve or anything...so it's a very manual process (pouring) to transfer both the strike water and the wort. Ideally, I'd get a 15 gallon pot (as depicted), which would open the possibility of doing 10 gallon batches.With a spigot or valve, I could elevate the pot and drain it, at least until I get...
3.  A food grade pump. I have small children, so I'm not crazy about having 5 or so gallons of hot liquid above my head. A pump would enable me to keep everything at the same level. I could pair this with an in-line wort chiller.
4. Water filter. Even though I think our water is fine, I do think using a filter would improve the quality of my beer, especially as I get into lagering.

Those are just for starters, and things which I can see purchasing in the coming year.Of course, I'd like a lautering refigerator and kegerator and conical fermenters, but those things are a little further out.

Beer Review: Fordham Baltic Porter

On Sunday, I had the opportunity to visit The Rams Head in Annapolis for beer and dinner. While I'm no longer quite a regular visitor there, I've had the regular beers kept on draft enough that when I do go, I always try the seasonal offerings. In general, I find these to be superior to Fordham's other beers, which are generally middle of the road brews (and that's not a bad thing, by the way).

The seasonal on this day (and through November) is a Baltic Porter. I was in luck somewhat, since that morning I had just brewed a robust porter at home. According to the BJCP Style Guide, a Baltic porter(12C) is a bit stronger and has more alcohol heat than the other porter styles. You'll also see it occasionally sold as an "imperial porter."

Fordham's offering was solid, although the beer was served far too cold to be able to truly appreciate it. Color wise (and I regret not taking any pictures), it was dark and fairly opaque; holding it up to the light, the reddish-mahogany color was apparent. There was a slight malty aroma with some roasty notes, but these were very, very subdued. It's a very clean beer, with relatively little estery flavors in the beer. It's reminscent of Sierra Nevada's porter in this regard. But the higher alcohol content is apparent.

From what I can tell, Fordham beers are all served at the same temperature (too cold) and the same carbonation. This carbonation (too high in my opinion) took a bit a way from the beer's flavor: you really had to search for those roast flavors.

Despite this, the Fordham Baltic porter is a good beer, and is a good addition to the brewery's offerings.

Return to Beer and Brewing After Long Absence

I've had a few spare cycles recently, and decided to spend one Sunday morning brewing. This marked the first time in just about a year that I've brewed. This was also only the second all-grain batch of beer I have made, using my ultra-cheap mash tun.

I'll get to my mash tun design in a bit.

I decided to brew a porter, which is one of my favorite styles to both brew and drink. As a base recipe, I used the John Palmer's "Port O' Palmer" recipe (from How to Brew) but modified it just a bit by subsituting some of the base malt (pale ale) with a beech smoked malt. I'm hoping this lends a mild smokey flavor to the beer, but I think the quantity that I used (a half-pound to a 10.25 lb recipe) will be too little to impart much of a difference. But we'll see in a bit.

My brew day started out rough. Since it's been so long since I last brewed, I felt I had to substantially clean all of my equipment before even starting. This took just about a 45 minutes or so. Setting up took a few more minutes, but I was able to multi-task a bit by starting to heat the strike water. I use a generic propane cooker for this.

My mash tun, as you see, is a simple 36 qt Coleman Cooler with a removable manifold made of CPVC pipe. I chose the CPVC pipe over copper for two primary reasons: it's easier to cut using my Dremel, and more importantly, it's a lot cheaper.A 10 foot piece of 3/4 inch copper tubing costs over $20, whereas the same in CPVC costs only about $3. It handles temperatures up to 180 F, and according to some building codes can be used in place of copper for drinking water.

I clamp a length of clear tubing fitted with a pinch valve to this manifold, then run it out through the cooler's drain. No fancy ball valve needed! I estimate the total cost of this manifold to be about $10.

I followed Palmer's suggestion of heating the water to a temperature of 165 F in order to get a strike temperature of 156...unfortunately, I was never able to get the temperature that high--it seemed to stay at about 150 or so. I did heat the mash tun prior to dough-in, but I think next time I will have to heat the water to around 170 or so just to get the mash to the proper temperature.

After the hour, I lautered into my brew pot. Here's where I made another mistake. During the entire brewing process, I had a "helper:" my four year-old daughter. There were some shenanigans and distractions...I sparged the appropriate amount I believe (using the batch sparging method), but I think I may have over sparged: I missed my target gravity substantially. No doubt the lower mash temperature also affected this. Luckily, I had some dry malt extract on hand, and was able to get the starting gravity up close to where I want to be (1.051 vs. 1.054).

So now it's in primary fermentation. It'll prob remain there until after Thankgiving, since I'll be out of town for the holiday.

Cleveland Rocks! Up today....Edmund Fitzgerald

This evening I will review the first of several Cleveland's own Great Lakes Brewing Company beer, not the classic Gordon Lightfoot song. That will come later.

A friend brought me back a sampler 12-pack, and I've tried a couple of the beers so far, and overall I am fairly impressed. My original intention was to taste some Great Lakes beers head-to-head against Baltimore's own Heavy Seas. But the beers that I have don't exactly match up well stylistically with Heavy Seas, and besides that would trivialize both beers. (However, I did have a catchy idea for depicting which beer would "win," I was going to post a picture from the winning city's history to show who won and lost...for example, if one of the Great Lakes beers "lost" I would post a picture of the Cuyahoga River Fire, or if it won I would show a picture of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.)

Have to give props to the artwork on the label as well...very nice.

Tonight's beer is the Edmund Fitzgerald, a porter. Both Beer Advocate and Rate Beer (and their audiences) love this beer: Beer Advocate gives it an "A" and Rate Beer gives it a 99. I've had a couple of them over the last week or so, and I can't disagree: I would rank Edmund Fitzgerald at the top of American porters, right up there with my favorite, Sierra Nevada's Porter.

It pours dark, and leaves a moderate slightly off-white head that even now remains nearly 30 minutes after I poured it.  There is a slight hoppy aroma accompanied by some roasty malt tones. It is nearly perfectly opaque: just what you would expect a porter.Malty, with just enough hops to lend a bitterness that complements the roasted grains, which are not overpowering. It stops well short of a stout.

A very good start to my Cleveland beer experience!

Dinner At Victoria's Gastropub...with an Oliver Coventry Cream Ale

Yesterday (Saturday May 7th) I finally had the opportunity to dine at Victoria's Gastro Pub in Columbia. I've been there a number of times for happy hours or just to get drinks, but something always seems to happen whenever my wife and I try to go there for dinner. Not this time, however.

We were readily seated upon arrival--we did have reservations and it was early. Next came the difficult part: choosing my beer. I almost always get a draft beer when I'm first ordering, and this was no exception. Oliver's Coventry Cream Ale caught my attention since I love English style bitters. For dinner, I chose the Moroccan Chicken, while my wife selected the Grilled Rainbow Trout. 

First: the Coventry Cream Ale. It arrived with a thick, very fine-bubbled white head. The beer was a dark copper color (my phone doesn't do the beer justice, by the way) with some gold tints. It was fairly clear. I don't believe the Victoria's served it from a beer engine real-ale style, but I could be wrong since I didn't see them pour it. The Coventry reminded me somewhat of the ales I have experienced in the U.K. What really hits you in this beer is the malt and the yeast flavors: very buttery and complex, with the a clean hop profile that is barely noticeable. It was more carbonated that what I expected, and definitely more carbonated then an English bitters. I suppose this is deference to American tastes. Still, I'd like to try it real-ale style.

My dinner, the Moroccan Chicken, was cooked perfectly: the carrots and zucchini were crisp and crunchy, with the couscous and chicken nicely seasoned. However, I would have liked a bit more spice to the meal. Surprisingly, the Coventry paired with the dish well, although if it had been spicier it probably wouldn't have. For dessert, my wife and I shared the White and Dark Chocolate Bread Pudding, which reminded me of and English Sticky Toffee. It was quite good.

All-in-all, an excellent dinner, made even better by the beer!

Blog (sort of) Abroad: Chicago

I took my first trip to Chicago this week, and took in two of that city's institutions: the Cubs and Goose Island Brewery. I've had Goose Island beers before, but I really wasn't aware that they brewed so many diverse styles. After arriving in Wrigleyville, we headed over to the company's brewpub on North Clark Street, about a 1/2 block from Wrigley Field.

First up: I tried the Honker's Ale, which is listed in their "session" beer section and is a pale ale. I very much enjoyed this beer: very smooth maltiness that provides a good background for the "C" hops. I could have stayed with this beer all night long, except for the fact that they had so many other beers to try!

One of my friends, "K" had the Green Line Pale Ale, while "D" had the Nut Brown Ale. I chose the latter for my second beer. It was what you would expect a nut brown ale to be, malty with just enough hops (Fuggles I think or some derivative).It was pleasant enough, although I thought that the diacetyl was a more than what is recommended for the style.

Food-wise, we went with nachos with beef and an order of buffalo wings. The plate of nachos were HUGE. I took a picture, but it didn't come out very well. The wings were very good, too.

Following this, we headed over to Wrigley Field to see the Cubs take on the Colorado Rockies. If you are a baseball fan and haven't been to Wrigley Field, you have to go. You won't regret it. One of the most appealing things about the ballpark is that it really is in a neighborhood, with plenty of bars and restaurants for the crowds.

We had very good seats, we sat in the first row in section 129, which is along the first base side. (Interesting note #1: the Cubs' dugout is on the third base side, rather than the first base side, which is more common. The only other team I know that used to do this were the Baltimore Orioles, when they played in Memorial Stadium.)

(Interesting side note #2: we actually heard an usher address a patron as "gimpy." I'm hoping that he was a regular or something.)

At the ballpark, I was advised to bypass the usual mass-produced swill and order "Old Style." Guess what? It pretty much tastes like mass produced swill. I'm probably offending someone. The website says the beer is "authentically krausened--" that is, fermented using the yeast from previous brewing--but I couldn't tell the difference. It's actually brewed by the Pabst Brewing Company.

Following the game, we returned to the Goose Island Brewery, but we were pretty much done since we had been up since 4am. "K" and I returned to the beers that we had drank earlier that evening: "D" was more adventuresome and had a Pere Jacques. It was in the style of a strong Belgian Ale. It was ok, but it was a little too boozy for my taste.

All in all, a very good trip. If I get out there again, I'd like to take the Chicago Beer Tour, which gets great reviews on TripAdvisor. 

Beer Review: Heavy Seas Dubbel Cannon

Happy Easter! Yet another day for the rabbits and bunnies in my neighborhood to continue destroying my yard. The only difference is that they pay us back in candy and chocolate eggs on this day.

We hosted a somewhat atypical Easter dinner. Rather than simply buy a honey-baked ham, I grilled some kebabs and served those. Luckily, the weather held and it was a good day (with the exception of some drama in morning). I figured that pretty much any beer would go with this table, so I selected Heavy Seas Dubbel Cannon, which was released just a week ago. I also picked up a six-pack of Peg Leg Imperial Stout, which I'll review later this week.

Dubbel Cannon is a "Belgian Style IPA," and according to the label is a variation of Heavy Seas' Loose Cannon but using a dubbel yeast. I should have purchased some Loose Cannon to see if I could tell if the malt bills were identical. Unfortunately, I didn't read the description until after I was home.

The beer pours with a rich, thick-bubbled mostly white head that remains at least through the glass I'm currently drinking (more than 15 minutes now since I poured). The color is a clear copper. Unlike many other IPAs, the aroma is not overly hoppy but somewhat subdued. At the same time, you don't get that raisin/plum aroma of a dubbel.

Taste is nice compromise between an IPA and a Belgian beer...not sure if I can really taste the dubbel flavors. Hops are understated, and really enhance the maltiness of the beer. I'm not sure what hops are used, but I do not believe they are any of the "C" hops (Cascade, Chinook, etc), though I am not an expert. The mouthfeel is about what you would expect from an IPA. It has a pleasant aftertaste, a combination of the hops and the Belgian flavors.

 This is a very good beer; indeed, it is already among my favorites of Heavy Seas; Peg Leg, my other purchase of the weekend is the other. (Note: I apologize about the orangish tint of my photos. I don't have the best light in my basement.)

Saturday Night Special: Stone Brewing Company's Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale

I had noble intentions on Saturday: repeat the previous weekend's event of pairing a beer with good cuisine. But the weather really got in the way of things. Because of other events that day (my son's baseball games) I wasn't going to have time to cook. So we had resigned ourselves to eating out. My intention was to go to a pretty good restaurant and make sure I had a good beer. Unfortunately, the terrible weather cancelled the games and it was so bad out that we didn't want to travel far for dinner. So we left it up to my son to pick (which can sometimes be a bit dangerous, but he had earned it with a good report card). He picked a Japanese steakhouse near our home. Out went the beer pairing idea!

Not that the food was bad--it wasn't, just your typical teppanyaki--but a good beer selection they do not have. For some reason, I got a Leinenkugel Summer Shandy, which I instantly regretted. Just not a good beer. Did not go with my meal (filet mignon and shrimp, teppanyaki-style) at all. It really just tasted like hard lemonade, and not particularly good one. 

After leaving the restaurant, I wasn't particularly satisfied with my beer choice, so I stopped by a liquor store on the way home (not my usual liquor store). I picked up Stone's Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale, which was served in a bomber.

Now, it has been awhile since my last glass of Arrogant Bastard, but the Sublimely reminded me a of that brew: pours with a thick beige head, strong hop presence apparent on first pour, and a dark mahogany color. There was some malt presence at first, but the hops (I don't know what variety: not Cascade or Chinook, something earthier but not noble) are what really come through. Rather than fade out, the hops really come through in the finish, and leave a somewhat strong aftertaste. Not unpleasant, just strong.

I couldn't really decide what grade to give the beer. I think it would be great with BBQ or another grilled meat (though not chicken)--something smokey which I think could stand-up to the hops. Another idea: perhaps something Indian or Thai, where the spiciness and bright flavors of those cuisines would contrast with the dark flavors of this beer.

Over the course of this week, I'll try to plan a meal and pair it with an appropriate beer. Any suggestions?

Heavy Seas Dubbel Cannon Release Party

One of Lager On!'s intrepid reporters made his way out to the Heavy Seas Dubbel Cannon Release Party on Thursday, April 14th at Victoria's Gastropub in Columbia, MD. Overall, it sounds like it was a great, very well attended event. Below are his impressions.

Beer Impression: This is a very nice Belgian IPA, with a slight American twist (hoppy). It is unfiltered and has a nice dark amber color. The beer has a solid malty backbone with the wonderful tropical fruitiness of a Belgian ale and nicely layered with some spicy hops. Complex and delicious.

I sampled the cask conditioned version which one HS brewer stated wasn't ready. Thus, it was slightly under carbonated which resulted in a little head that dissipated too quickly. I think this contributed to a bit more sweetness then appropriate, but I found enjoyable.

Sounds like this is a beer worth waiting for!

The event: The restaurant and bar were packed. Victoria's Gastropub and Heavy Seas did a good job marketing the event, parking was very difficult, seating was impossible at the beginning. Joel and I almost gave up. Glad we didn't. At about 7:30, there was some breathing room, and a table. We spoke with Tristan Gilbert (one of the brewers) and his fiancé for about 30 minutes. Topics spanned a very wide range, from the growth rate of hops to why the ABV in beer effects to exponentially instead of linearly. It has to do with the amount of sugar and what slack your kidney can deal with while your liver is dealing with the alcohol. Interesting. We spoke with Tori (VGP owner) and I told her that she needed a stammtische.

For those whose German might need a little work, Stammtische is essentially a regular get-together (I had to look it up).

I'd like to give a special shout-out to @HoyaFan_1994 for going to the event and writing this up for me, and for the pictures. Also, thanks to Victoria's for putting on this event!

Dawson's Liquors Beer Dinner at Adams Ribs

Looks like Dawson's Liquors of Severna Park has come with details for their Stone Brewery Beer Dinner at Adam's Ribs.

Place: Adam's Ribs North (same building as Dawson's)
Date: Monday, May 2nd
Time: 6:30 pm

Looks like there are four courses. Reserve early! With the quality of the food and the quality of the beers---they're starting off with Vertical Epic 10-10-10--space will go quickly!

Beer Events and Baseball (or other sporting events)

In addition to my wife and kids, I love beer and baseball. Particularly the Baltimore Orioles. It's great when there are events in the local area that enable me to enjoy all three at the same time. Fortunately, there are a number of great events out there that do combine all three!

I'm not talking just getting the $8 special at Camden Yards, the Bowie Baysox (the Orioles' Double A affiliate) actually host beer dinners each month at their ballpark, Prince Georges Stadium. A few years ago I went to one where Stoudts Brewery (from Adamstown, Pennsylvania) was the brewery represented. The beer was excellent, and the overall experience was very good, since we got to watch the game from the lounge in the upper deck.

While it wasn't your typical beer dinner (it was a buffet, rather than a five or six course meal), I appreciate the effort the Baysox and their staff put into putting it on. I can't quite remember what the all the beers were or the food they served (it was almost two years ago!)  but I'm glad they're continuing to put these on.

The full calendar and details of the monthly dinners can be found here, but here's the ones coming up:

April 16: Festa d'Italia (Bonus: This is Betty White Tribute Night!)
May 12: Mexican Cantina
June 15: Salute to the Irish

I can't find which breweries or specific beers are going to be served, but I imagine that they will be themed accordingly.

I'm not sure if other minor league parks are doing similiar things--I checked online and none of the other teams in Maryland appear to offer them--but it seems like a good idea. I also checked to see if Coca-Cola Field, home of the Phillies' Triple A affliate the Lehigh Valley IronPigs offered beer dinners but they do not. That seems like a perfect match, since Pennsylvania is home to many fine breweries (the Allentown and Bethlehem Brew Works in the Lehigh Valley stand out in my mind, but there are plenty of others).

Favorite Homebrewing Books

Just as there are a lot of books and resources for learning about beer, there are nearly as many dealing with homebrewing. My homebrewing library, while far from complete, holds a number of books that I consider essential for the homebrewer.

How to Brew by John Palmer. This is a must-have book for both the beginning and the advanced homebrewer. Palmer has walk-throughs for extract brewing (what is normally the first step in homebrewing) and all-grain brewing. In addition, he explains the science behind mashing for the layman. I've only made one of his recipe (Oak Butt Brown Ale) which I made following his all-grain directions (it was my first all-grain batch, and turned out quite good). His appendices also have clear-cut directions for building things like mash tuns.

Extreme Brewing by Sam Calagione. Yes, that's Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head Brewery. A lot (but not all) of the recipes in here are of the high-alchohol, extreme flavor--hence the title, and many are from the DFH brewery themselves. Not as essential as the Palmer book, but still a very good book mostly for beginners. It's a high gloss production, a lot of good pictures but some consider it low in substance--for instance, all the recipes are extract based. Still, it does give a lot of good recipes. A friend made the "Round the World Tripel," and it was one of the best homebrews that I've ever had. One knock against it (and the Mosher book that I describe below) is that many of the recipes call for exotic (read hard to find or expensive) ingredients.

Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher. Mosher's book is more geared to the intermediate to the advanced brewer. That is, those who are at least partial mashing or doing all-grain brewing. It is possible to brew the recipes given using extracts, Mosher describes how very well. I've made at least two beers a dubbel and a porter if you must know) from this book, and both turned out pretty good.

Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels. This is definitely directed to the advanced homebrewer: one who is making their own recipes and entering them into beer judging contests. Daniels conducts a statistical analysis of the winning or placing beers (by style) at the National Homebrew Competition for several years, and analyzes the grain bill, hop bill, and yeasts used. It also has some good history for each style.

In a nutshell, that's about half of of brewing library. Actually, maybe less--I've lent books out so I'm not really sure what else I have.

Beer and Food Review: Weyerbacher's Merry Monks

As promised. Last night (Saturday) I made a garlic shrimp pizza and wanted to pair it with a beer. I had a fairly definite idea of what I wanted the pizza to be like:

• White pizza, with a mixture of mozzarella and gruyere cheese;
• Shrimp cooked in garlic;
• Sliced garlic arranged over the pizza.

I had to make some concessions to ingredients we already had (some pepperoni that we had) and children. Our kids are pretty good eaters, but we worried that the sliced garlic might be too "spicy" for them. In the end I ended up mincing the garlic. (No complaints from the kids, by the way). I used the pepperoni on half the pizza. Overall it came out quite good. A picture is on the right.

The beer pairing I wasn't so sure about. I just wasn't sure what I wanted. In the end I ended up visiting my local liquor store which fortunately has a tremendous selection of craft beers. I knew I didn't want an IPA--the hops would have overpowered the shrimp and the gruyere. Likewise a weizen beer. My choices (in my mind at least) were a Belgian blond ale or a lager. I decided to go Belgian.

Enter Weyerbacher's Merry Monk Traditional Belgian Golden Ale. I've had Weyerbacher brews before and have always been impressed. I've had an opportunity to check out Beer Advocate: it rates a B on that site. I would agree. BA classifies it as a tripel rather than a Belgian golden ale--IMO, the difference between those styles (as defined in the BJCP style guide) are so minor I wonder that they are distinct styles. It is 9.3% alcohol by volume (ABV), so it isn't a light beer by any means.

My first impression upon popping the cap were that typical spiciness of Belgian yeasts, with some floral notes. Once I began pouring it, these became even more pronounced. The color is very pale yellow with a bright, dense white head with fine bubbles. It dissipated rather quickly though. As you can tell, I didn't have a goblet handy so used some pilsner-like glasses that I've had for years. I will attest that the serving temperature was correct (prob around 45 degrees).

The spiciness was apparent right away--and I knew that I had a tripel or golden ale. I disagree with at least one of the BA reviewers who said that it had a heavy maltiness--not so to my palate. There was also very little hop presence. (Note that according to the BJCP style guide, this is perfectly style appropiate.) It might have just been this bottle, but it didn't seem highly carbonated. Looking at this glass, you would think that it would have been very effervescent, but it didn't really seem that way. Or it could have been all the cheese and garlic in the pizza that made it seem less so.

Over all, I enjoyed my Merry Monk, although I probably won't pair it with a garlic, shrimp, and gruyere pizza again. The estery spiciness didn't really complement the pizza, at least to me. I should have gone with something a bit more delicate, like a wit beer.

Good Starting Points to Learn About Beer

What's there to know? Buy a six-pack, head home, open it and drink it. What else is there?

If you want to keep thing simple, that's probably enough. But beer is a fascinating beverage, both historically and chemically.

There are a lot of resources out there on the web, including the BJCP, Beer Advocate (though in my opinion, BA is not well suited to beginning beer lovers), and others. Books abound as well.

My favorite beer book by far is The Brewmaster's Table. Written by Garrett Oliver, brewmaster for The Brooklyn Brewery, it covers beer's ancient history (starting with the Sumerians I believe!) to the modern era--where beer diverged into the myriad of styles that we see today. This is where the book really gets interesting. Oliver covers the regions where these styles orginated. The real focus of the book is how the different styles complement foods. But the book is enjoyable on many other levels as well, and in my opinion can serve as an introduction to beer. I did a much more in-depth review of this book back on Homebrew Exchange, I'm going to see if I can't dig that up and post it.

The works of the late Michael Jackson (not the late pop singer) are also a good starting point. I have Michael Jackson's Beer Companion:Revised and Updated. This covers beers around the world. It's a bit pricey, and at one time was difficult to find. I think my wife got mine used. A smaller, more practical book by Jackson is the Eyewitness Companion Guide to Beer. This is a smaller, pocket edition that has short synapses on breweries around the world and their most popular brews.

Again, there are many books out there that will start you out on appreciating beer. Sometime down the road I will cover books and resources I've successfully used to homebrew.

Welcome to Lager On!

Welcome to Lager On! a blog where I'll be discussing one of my hobbies, homebrewing and beer.

Throughout the course of a week I typically get a couple of questions about beer, or a referral to try a beer. Most of my friends and acquaintances realize that I'm somewhat of a beer aficionado, and that I took and (barely) passed the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) to be come a Recognized beer judge. With two kids, I don't have as much time to judge or homebrew as I used to, but I still like to try different beers. Also, very occasionally I travel and get to sample local brews.

This is my second, more modest attempt at blogging about beer. I once co-administered a website called Homebrew Exchange. Unfortunately, life got in the way of administering that site, and one day I tried to login and found that hackers had taken it over. So we got rid of it.

While that was the (I hope) temporary end to my beer blogging days, I still manage to do some homebrewing and also to judge some local contests. And of course sample good beers wherever I might be.

Hope you enjoy my musings on what I believe is the most important beverage in the history of civilization.