Life is Good, Beer is Great, You Guys Rock...

So I guess I let my 1-year HBT anniversary (Aug 9) pass by without fanfare...I completely forgot. So I'm going to take this opportunity to say:

Thanks to everyone who has helped on my road from n00bdom over the past year! I know the intertubes can be a nasty place---just check out the comment section of countless political blogs to see the absolute worst in people---but this place has been nothing but fun. So thanks.


Now on to the impetus for this: I tasted my first carbonated bottle of my Stone Vertical Epic 06.06.06 Clone last night. I'd tried a bottle or two previously, and neither were carbonated. I was getting worried that it wouldn't carbonate, since I had cold-conditioned it at 37f for a few weeks prior to bottling, and I've been having carbonation issues out the ass lately (no, my ass was not carbonating...it's a turn of phrase, damnit). But I shook all the bottles up, and put them upstairs in my spare bedroom where the HVAC registers are closed...and a week or two later, they're carbonated.

And let me tell you something: this beer is fuggin amazing! This has to be one of my greatest, right up there with the Double IPA. Everything about it is just...perfect. The mouthfeel is full, lush, silky. The smell is bubble-gummy/wheaty/candy...dead-on accurate for the VE 2006. It tastes just like a Belgian Ale, complex, earthy, yeasty, artisan. Stone said to use the WLP500 (Chimay's strain), but I had a huge cake still sitting around from my Rochefort 10 clone, so I used that instead (Wyeast 1762). When I tasted it in the carboy, it was a bit...off. Tasted maybe like the yeast had started to go downhill or something. But I cold-conditioned it at 37f for 2 weeks, and I think that did the trick by helping to settle out some more of the yeast.

So, yeah, last night I had one of those "HOLY SH*T" moments when you have the first great taste of a beer that you just know is brilliant. You know, chills run down your spine and you just savor every drop like it was liquid gold. So thanks to Stone for posting the recipe, thanks to those AWESOME Rochefort yeasties, and thanks to all the guys here who have helped me get to a point where I can brew a beer like this. Life is good, beer is great, and you guys rock.

:rockin:

Now I just have to submit a bottle to Stone, like they ask...damn, I missed the deadline. Oh well. More beer for me.

Congrats! Welcome to the club. I now dub thee Born Again Homebrewer!

Feels good, don't it?

Feels really good, actually. Not that I've had a string of failures or anything. My Sommerbock and my variation of your Haus Pale turned out great. But I still fear my Barleywine won't carbonate. But...I just love it when a beer turns out better than expected.

Congrats. I agree, good people making good beer = a great community. All the success on your future brews as your transformation form noobdom to grand brew master continues.

Congrats on your anniversary. I know that as a n00b, I've learned from your posts, so you are definitely giving back to the homebrewing community.

Man, this rant is SOOOOO much better than yesterday's

And having been the lucky recipient of your beerswap brews...if the VE is that much better than what you sent me, all I can say is whoa! that must be a damn fine brew.

Congrats!

One year eh?

I’ve seen your junk.
Evans’ quasi hobby :rockin:



I’d say the past year has made you a changed man.

Congratulations…

Thanks for the encouragement, guys.

And yesherr, BM, it has indeed---I started last July with one bucket, one 5.5 gallon carboy, a racking cane, a capper and a hydrometer. This hobby is effing crazy, innit!?