It's that time of year: SAHTI 2012!!!

Way to go on the medal!

Congratulations Reno. Whisk I could have been there too , and ill for sure have to try this one soon

Thanks everybody! I've created a recipe page in the database so I can share the awesome with everybody! :rockin:

baddad said:

Congratulations Reno. Whisk I could have been there too , and ill for sure have to try this one soon

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If you go soon (read: next month or so) you can probably still find some great branches. I always go to Hidden Valley Regional Park on the East side of the valley. When you get to the park you have to drive back into the hills as far as you can until you hit the gate. But then you do a quick half-mile hike along the off-road path until it opens up into a nice big valley plastered with juniper and other pines.

There's also a family of wild horses out there but they're usually only out really early.

Thanks, ill have to make time to get up there

Reno_eNVy said:

Thank you much! Gold in the weird beer category is very cool. But 2nd best of all beers, including established and popular styles? Never would have guessed.

Seriously, I'm buzzing with happiness right now.

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Nice, I would be too! Congratulations!

Was this the Great Basin Brewery competition? I entered a few there.

SavoryChef said:

Was this the Great Basin Brewery competition? I entered a few there.

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Yessir it was. How did you fare? Did you go to the event?

I didn't place. Waiting for score sheets. I did show up, not too many people showed up. They had 82 entries or so.
Congrats on your beer.
I will have to try this one, it sounds interesting.

EDIT: I just looked on Great Basins website and I did get 3rd for My Wheat IPA.

Anyone have any tips on gathering any juniper branches in the Texas area, specifically Houston? Am I going to poison myself if I find a juniper tree somewhere and make beer from it?

digitalhifi said:

Anyone have any tips on gathering any juniper branches in the Texas area, specifically Houston? Am I going to poison myself if I find a juniper tree somewhere and make beer from it?

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Heh

Juniper plants don't make compounds harmful to humans, regardless of where they grow.

Chemicals sprayed ONTO the plants by humans, on the other hand, can be harmful.

Just don't get any from a city park.

Is there a branch you could use instead of juniper? I've been wanting to make a version of Gotlandsdricka after reading about it a few months ago, and it also involves boiling juniper branches and berries in the brewing water first. I can get juniper berries but the bush doesn't grow around here..

Rubes said:

Is there a branch you could use instead of juniper? I've been wanting to make a version of Gotlandsdricka after reading about it a few months ago, and it also involves boiling juniper branches and berries in the brewing water first. I can get juniper berries but the bush doesn't grow around here..

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I'm pretty sure it does. Here's a map of where it's very common to find Juniperus virginiana, which is only one of the many juniper species.




EDIT: And it looks very much like the kind we have in Reno

Interesting, I didn't know that. I searched on google and didn't see anything about it growing in Ontario, but perhaps I should go take a look in the forest. I'm right in that green area in southern Ontario. Thanks, I shall investigate.

Just keep an eye out for those blue/purple berries.

And just to help your hunt, juniper species are mostly shrubs and not tall trees. And it appears J. virginiana is the same blueish-green as our species, J. californica

Cool, how tall is that? It's hard to tell in the picture. Is it a little shrub, or like the size of a person? Is it in season yet? Obviously our climate is a bit different than yours but we shouldn't be that far behind..

No, I think the majority of North American juniper has the best berries late-winter to mid-spring.


And the ones in my region are between 5 and 10 feet tall. The one in the photo appears to be about a 6-footer.

That one is also trimmed, sorry. Here's what you're more likely to expect in the wild (looks about 7 or 8 feet tall):

Excellent, thanks for the info. I'm going to hunt for these things.

Thanks let the hunt begin!