Brew Community

Got one of these with my first homebrew
starter-kit and was pleasantly surprised
with the outcome. It was only brewed
with the Country Brewer Brew Booster and
a tea-bag of Cascade aroma hops.

I now use this kit whenever I want to
quickly fill a keg without having to do
a full mash or even a full boil, I steep
200-300g of Crystal and do a quick boil
of Nelson Sauvin, Cascade, Citra or
Galaxy hops. Makes one helluva beautiful
(and hugely quick & easy) American Pale
Ale. – Rating:5/5

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I,ve
decided to try the recommended brewing
instructions by Coopers with their kits
to see if all this added cost of extras
ie; grains,hops and yeast are really
worth it.After all sometimes we can just
be looking to brew somthing that is easy
drinking and won’t break the bank or
disapoint.So off to BigW I went for a
kit and a BE2 all for less than
$20.Brewed the beer as per, ecsept for a
second pack of yeast, thats what you get
when you keep on buying other yeasts.
Anyway the beer turned out super after 2
weeks@ 20C and 2 weeks in keg before
gasing and drinking. This beer would
suite anyone looking to brew on a budget
or for after mowing the lawn or watching
the footy or just getting pissed! – Rating:4/5

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I used this kit with a kg of LDME and a
kg of dextrose. I boiled 25g of East
Kent Goldings for 15min and 20 g for
10min in the malt. Dry hopped 40g of
Fuggles at 3/4 fermentaion using Salfale
S-04 at 19 degrees. After 1 month in
the bottle I have a smooth yet hoppy
beer that is a delight to drink. Can
wait to see how good it is after 3
months if there is any left
– Rating:4/5

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Stone Brewing has revealed that mustards — Stone Cali-Belgique IPA Cali-Dijon Mustard and Stone Pale Ale Stone Ground Mustard with Chipotle Peppers — Stone and consumers thought contain its beer do not.

The San Diego area brewery offered a public apology for what it is calling “MustardGate”:

“We had no idea this was happening, and we immediately removed them from sale as soon as we learned of it last week. We work with Russ Bruhn, a local guy who owns a company called Carlsbad Gourmet to supply the mustards; Russ then contracts with another company to produce them. It is this company that we have found failed to put the beer in the mustard. What they did with the beer, we’re not sure. We sent them full kegs and they sent us back empty kegs . . . one can only imagine where it might have gone.

“It is important to note that all of our other sauces, including our hot sauces and grilling/BBQ sauces, which are made by a different local company, do in fact have our beer in them.

“We accept full responsibility for this misleading mustard and are committed to making it up to you if you bought it. If you come to the Stone Company Store with a jar of the above-mentioned mustards before September 1st, we’ll swap it for a 22oz. bottle of Stone Cali-Belgique IPA or Stone Pale Ale. If you can’t make it to the Stone Company Store, use the online coupon code mustardgate for 10% off any purchase from StoneCompanyStore.com good through September 1st.

“Needless to say, the sham mustard isn’t going to hurt anybody, and frankly, it’s still damn tasty mustard. If you don’t want to go through the hassle of exchanging it, be confident in the knowledge that you can still safely and satisfyingly continue eating it. Or better yet, pour a dash of our beer in your mustard and enjoy it the way it was supposed to taste.”

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this
is a review using the Coopers English
Bitter from the International range.
Second time I have done this, first was
per directions using 500gms of LDM and
kit yeast at 21C. Not to bad after three
weeks in kegs, but a tad boring by the
third pint. I guess it was the lack of
alcohol. Second time used BE2 to give a
higher alcohol content and 2 packets of
Coopers yeast @ 21C. This I found to be
a little bit better but not by much,
even after 6 weeks in the kegs. Both
could use a good dose of dry hopping. An
American Pale Ale kit would have been a
better choice for Coopers to release,
keeping with modern tastes, ie: FAT YAK.
Note: both brews didn’t clear that
well, almost brown ale looking rather
than ruby red. – Rating:2/5

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Boston Beer Company has begun a “Perfect Pour” program for bars that pour Samuel Adams beers to standards set by the company.

To earn “Perfect Pour” certification, an account must allow Samuel Adams sales people to educate the staff on beer and draft quality, serve Samuel Adams Boston Lager on draft, use the specially-designed Samuel Adams Boston Lager Pint Glass for all Boston Lager poured and consistently serve fresh, high-quality beer.

Company representatives will visit pubs to hold wait staff training sessions, demonstrate how to pour the perfect pint, and illustrate how to make sure beer is fresh and the draft lines are clean.

“The brewers at Samuel Adams want their drinkers to enjoy a perfect pint of beer every time. Recognizing bars and restaurants that strive to serve one every single pour helps drinkers find the best craft beer available,” said founder Jim Koch.

Certified bars will receive:

* A medallion to be affixed to Samuel Adams Boston Lager tap handles.
* A framed and personalized letter from Koch.
* Rights to feature the Perfect Pour medallion at point-of-sale.

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Visit Bend has introduced the “Bend Ale Trail,” an interactive tour of the city’s craft breweries. “Bend’s craft breweries now rank among the favorite attractions of visitors to Central Oregon,” said Doug La Placa, president of Visit Bend, the city’s tourism bureau. “Bend’s world-class beer culture is an excellent complement to the region’s renowned outdoor recreation and highlighting it is the logical next step in diversifying our tourism offerings.”

A 2009 Bend tourism research project conducted by RRC Associates indicated that 28% of summer visitors to Bend visited a brewery during their stay – placing brewery visits as the fifth most enjoyed tourist activity behind hiking, dining, shopping and biking.

The Bend Ale Trail is a collaborative multi-faceted program between Visit Bend and eight of the region’s top craft breweries: 10 Barrel Brewing Co., Bend Brewing Company, Cascade Lakes Brewing Co, Deschutes Brewery, McMenamins Old St. Francis School, Silver Moon Brewing, Boneyard Beer and Three Creeks Brewing Co. The Bend Ale Trail will feature a variety of elements. Details.

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Coming to a beer store or perhaps tap handle near you . . .

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Benjamin Howe of Allston, Mass., has won the inaugural Greg Noonan Scholarship for an intensive class at the American Brewers Guild.

The scholarship was created in memory of Greg Noonan, who died last fall. Noonan opened Vermont’s first brewpub in 1988 and two others after that but his influence was far wider. His 1986 book “Brewing Lager Beer: The Most Comprehensive Book for Home- and Microbreweries” became a guidebook for those opening small breweries in the 1980s and ’90s.

The winning candidate was chosen by a panel of experienced brewmasters from across the country. The panel consisted of: Dan DelGrande, brewmaster and owner of Bison Brewing Company, Oakland, Calif.; Russ Fitzgerald, brewmaster with Vermont Pub and Brewery, Burlington, Vt.; Nick Funnell, brewmaster with Great American Restaurants a chain of brewpubs in Northern Virginia; Brandon Greenwood, brewmaster with Mark Anthony Brewing in Rochester, N.Y.; and Scott Shirley, brewmaster with Harpoon Brewery in Windsor, Vt.

Howe impressed several of the panel with his motivation and approach to getting into the industry. One member of the panel said, “He forced his way into a brewing job by volunteering and taking whatever opportunities came his way, however menial. This is the old school way of doing it and we don’t see this much anymore.”

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REUNION – A Beer for Hope, now in its fourth year, will be a Belgian-style Scotch Ale for 2010. Bison Brewing in California and Terrapin Beer Company in Georgia are the brewing and fundraising partners.

The beer will be released this month in both 22 ounce bottles and draft in 14 states (California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Minnesota, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama New Jersey and Pennsylvania). Information about special events later this month is available at the REUNION website.

REUNION Beer is the inspiration and collaboration of Alan Shapiro, president of SBS Imports, Pete Slosberg, creator of Pete’s Wicked AleT, and Virginia MacLean, long time friend and colleague, as a way to raise awareness of and donations for The Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research. All met during the early days of Pete’s Brewing Company. Virginia passed away from complications from Multiple Myeloma in June 2007, four months after the initial release of REUNION. To date REUNION has raised in excess of $130,000 for The Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research (www.imbcr.org) via profits from beer sales, retailer fundraising events, and private donations.

This year’s beer was developed in concert by brewmasters Spike Buckowski of Terrapin, Dan Del Grande of Bison, and REUNION co-founder Pete Slosberg. It is a Belgian-Style Scotch Ale – a nod to Virginia’s heritage. It is brewed to an original gravity of 1078 using 5 different malts and hopped with East Kent Goldings to 35 IBU. It is fermented with a high gravity Trappist yeast and is 7.0% alcohol by volume.

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