The meeting really impressed me. You read all these theories on here and folks talk about their brewing philosophies etc. but going to a place where there are ordinary people doing pretty incredible things was a whole different experience, getting to taste homemade beverages really made me want to improve quality every single step.
Thanks! Lived here almost all my life but I accept your welcome into the fraternity of brewers. I am still tied to the stovetop for now but I would love to be outside with a cold brew brewing up more in this recent weather we are enjoying.
Some places you can drop off up to the 19th.
I've had that issue in the past when I bottled everything. Had a barleywine that took forever. I had other issues with bottling, so I just keg almost everything now. Thicker beers still take longer to force carb though.
Congrats on the win and getting picked to have your beer brewed at Frog Alley! Look forward to trying it.
Thank you thank you I was blown away by the response to the beer wish I had brought a couple bottles for people to try but I didn’t expect such good feedback so it didn’t even cross my mind.
Hey Andrew, I was just looking back in this thread, and noticed you're into mead as well. There's a meadery near where I live in Delmar called The Royal Meadery. I go there all the time and talk shop with Greg, one of the owners, super nice guy & place; very knowledgeable about beer and cider as well (he actually judged mead and cider I think for KBOTB). A bit of a trek from Saratoga, but you should check it out sometime if you haven't.
That is pretty cool, I haven't found a commercial mead I like yet so I have to make the trek down and grab some. I tried some a winery makes up here and it really wasn't great, but it was also 88% wine must and 12% honey so more of a fortified grape wine than proper mead I guess. I'll put that on the list along with Groennfell in VT. My mead-making is pretty amateurish so far, one JAOM under my belt and a sour cherry short mead fermenting now but am going to keep experimenting and see if I can make something halfway decent. At least I have yeast nutrients and degas now, baby steps.
Royal has a few full strength meads, and a constantly evolving lineup of "session" (~7%) meads. I've had a few of the Groennfell session meads and in a word, they're bland, and 2/5 cans were gushers. Royal is much better, and not just saying that because they're local. Never had anything full strength from Groennfell, though.
That sounds good, I like the strong stuff and the more sessionable strength I will have to take a trip on down to pick up a few bottles.
They currently have a sour cherry, apple cyser, cranberry orange, and "queens" for full strength options. Queens is the boldest flavored of those offerings as it has some buckwheat honey in the mix - my favorite of the bunch.
Very nice, well if you are coming up to Saratoga tomorrow for the meeting I will see you then! Although I won't be much help telling the difference between a Porter and a Baltic Porter. I am also wary of style for my entry so I'll probably just punt and throw it in mixed ferm. I don't know why but I am hesitant to have it judged as a historically accurate Gose. I'll also look for feedback tomorrow and see.
Need to get into sours this summer. Any kind really. Just love them
Me too, this is the year of the sour for me. Lots to learn.
I do want to hear about it for sure - especially the Flanders red.
Obviously I can tell/show you in person, but I'll likely make a post of my wild yeast adventures on here.
