What are you drinking now?

[camonick]

Enough chatting about it! 1st day for the rest of our life has begun. Asheville,NC exploration trip is set for late September. Hiking, looking at potential early retirement spots and, of course, craft beer. Been years since I've been this excited for a trip.

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I think Asheville has a large craft beer scene. North Carolina as a whole does too. I hope to visit my wife’s brothers in Wilmington and Mt. Airy next spring. It’s a cool state.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

I think Asheville has a large craft beer scene. North Carolina as a whole does too. I hope to visit my wife’s brothers in Wilmington and Mt. Airy next spring. It’s a cool state.

I believe there's over 40 breweries in the area, including my work buddy's who just officially retired to move out there this week. The town we're currently focused on is Morganton which has 3 in it's relatively small community. State looks just beautiful to me. Hope you make it out!

 

[day_trippr]

Between the Nantahala National Forest and the Great Smokey Mountains National Park there's plenty of good fishing to be had ~40-60 miles west of Asheville. Used to make a trip down there every year in May but most of my fishing buddies down that way are fishing with the Big Guy now...

Cheers!

 

[Bramling Cross]

Short pour of my 4% HB British Style Bitter brewed in June. It’s beginning to clear nicely, the color is where I want it but there’s a brief but weird bitterness that’s both unpleasant and unexpected that I don’t think is hop related. It fades quickly and allows the malt character to present itself. I bittered with Fugles and also added EKG for flavor. Quite familiar with both hops, but this bitterness is different, which only adds to this mystery. Hopefully it mellows over time.

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Initially I figured, ah, dude used Target...

Okay, no.

Any idea which crop year those hops were from? About three years ago, when the UK had their first nasty heat wave, I remember seeing a satellite picture of Kent and it looked as brown as California's Central Valley, so I immediately purchased four pounds of EKGs and Fuggles. I'm set for a while, but aware that big changes are coming. I remember (was it ten years or fifteen years ago?) when the French started buying up hop farms in the south of England to grow grapes, that sure grabbed my attention. Farmers are cheap, but when they start spending money you know it's for real for real.

There are tons of great NA analogues for Continental hops, so I'm not worried about that--there's so many that even some of the really good ones don't even get planted anymore (Vanguard). We don't have any really, really good UK analogues and I really worry about that. It's going to be a damned shame to see EKGs not being EKGs anymore.

 

[Bramling Cross]

Here's a picture of the most recent ejecta from my #2 fermenter. More Panther Piss, who woulda guessed? Kegged last Sunday and poured into a Willi Bleicher for yesterday's usually quite unusual Giants game.

I'm late to the party tonight because I had a lot of pages of likes and loves to give and I also wrapped up my observations about Jasper Yeast's Franconian Lager yeast. Long story short, just don't.

Anyway, here's my most recent love letter to fancy bum beer:

 

[BongoYodeler]

Initially I figured, ah, dude used Target...

Okay, no.

Any idea which crop year those hops were from? About three years ago, when the UK had their first nasty heat wave, I remember seeing a satellite picture of Kent and it looked as brown as California's Central Valley, so I immediately purchased four pounds of EKGs and Fuggles. I'm set for a while, but aware that big changes are coming. I remember (was it ten years or fifteen years ago?) when the French started buying up hop farms in the south of England to grow grapes, that sure grabbed my attention. Farmers are cheap, but when they start spending money you know it's for real for real.

There are tons of great NA analogues for Continental hops, so I'm not worried about that--there's so many that even some of the really good ones don't even get planted anymore (Vanguard). We don't have any really, really good UK analogues and I really worry about that. It's going to be a damned shame to see EKGs not being EKGs anymore.

Checked my YVH email receipts and found that the bittering hop was 2023 Fuggles (13.6ibu's @ 60mins), but I was mistaken about the later addition hop, it wasn't exactly EKG, but instead 2023 UK Goldings, (11.2ibu's @30mins; and 4.5ibu's @ 5min). I had never used UK Goldings before, and the only reason I ordered that was probably because YVH was out of EKG at the time. I assume UK and EK Goldings are very similar, if not the same, but maybe from another farm perhaps? If so that wouldn't, or shouldn't, be what's causing this weird bitterness I would think. I'm wondering if perhaps one of the two varieties was mis-labeled and is not what I think they are. Hmmm, the thick plottens.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Earlier this evening. met our daughter, SIL, and grandkids down in Santa Barbara for dinner. But first a quick stop on State Street for a beer at Institution Ales tasting room. This one's called RX Pils, a German style Pilsner. Meh, could have and should have been better.

 

[Bramling Cross]

Checked my YVH email receipts and found that the bittering hop was 2023 Fuggles (13.6ibu's @ 60mins), but I was mistaken about the later addition hop, it wasn't exactly EKG, but instead 2023 UK Goldings, (11.2ibu's @30mins; and 4.5ibu's @ 5min). I had never used UK Goldings before, and the only reason I ordered that was probably because YVH was out of EKG at the time. I assume UK and EK Goldings are very similar, if not the same, but maybe from another farm perhaps? If so that wouldn't, or shouldn't, be what's causing this weird bitterness I would think. I'm wondering if perhaps one of the two varieties was mis-labeled and is not what I think they are. Hmmm, the thick plottens.

Honestly, I'd stop using YVH for imported hops, they're so, so expensive and no matter who you buy from, you're always getting the cuts that nobody in Europe wanted--so why pay through the nose for YVH imported hops? MoreBeer, B3, whatever they are these days are frequently cheaper and often *much* better.

Personally, I really like Hops Direct. They're cheap (provided you're confident to go really big on an order) and I like their quality vs. YVH for imported stuff. For domestic stuff, YVH is quite good...but it always seems like it's cheaper elsewhere and I've not noticed YVH being better quality.

They are much better at marketing, I'll give them that.

Regarding UK Goldings vs EKGs, I can't offer anything useful. When I first started brewing they were just Goldings, not UK, not East Kent. Just Goldings. Once I got my swill tasting good, Kent Goldings were a thing, then EKGs became a thing and I've never looked back.

Not sure if that's useful, but that's the extent of what I know...for what it's worth.

 

[MaxStout]

Honestly, I'd stop using YVH for imported hops, they're so, so expensive and no matter who you buy from, you're always getting the cuts that nobody in Europe wanted--so why pay through the nose for YVH imported hops? MoreBeer, B3, whatever they are these days are frequently cheaper and often *much* better.

Personally, I really like Hops Direct. They're cheap (provided you're confident to go really big on an order) and I like their quality vs. YVH for imported stuff. For domestic stuff, YVH is quite good...but it always seems like it's cheaper elsewhere and I've not noticed YVH being better quality.

They are much better at marketing, I'll give them that.

Regarding UK Goldings vs EKGs, I can't offer anything useful. When I first started brewing they were just Goldings, not UK, not East Kent. Just Goldings. Once I got my swill tasting good, Kent Goldings were a thing, then EKGs became a thing and I've never looked back.

Not sure if that's useful, but that's the extent of what I know...for what it's worth.

Good advice on getting UK hops from Hops Direct. Never bought from them before but I'll remember that for next order.

Don't remember where I read it, but I recall someone (a vendor, perhaps) saying that the different Goldings are the same variety and it's the terroir that sets them apart, with East Kent being the most sought-after. They even parsed it out based on what part of Kent it was grown. That being 10 or 20 miles away in a different part of the same county made a difference.

But, it was on the internet, so it can't be wrong, amiright? Someone correct me if this is bs.

I probably couldn't tell the difference, anyway.

 

[smurfjuicebrew]

I'm gonna drink little green apples, 'cause it might rain in Minneapolis in the summertime.

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In proper glassware ...

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Coffee now, later there will be beer and tastes of meads at an HBC meeting, and if more crappy news enters my ears, who knows there might be whiskey when I get back home. Sorry, liver.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

We don't watch news so all good!

All the grandkids at the house now and in the pool. We've determined 88F is the perfect water temperature...at least for the youngest granddaughter who has zero fat.

9% HBRHL

 

[Rish]

Toasted sugar cider bottled 11/21/2020. Was hoping for some caramel notes but didn't get them. Still a pretty good cider, though.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

This concoction I made, decent.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

HB Margarita while preparing for burgers/hot dogs. Mixed in chorizo for the burgers...see how that goes.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

Hb Czech pils, starting to clear. Not there yet, though some of that is condensation..

 

[Rish]

Tasty dunkel

 

[MaxStout]

Good day for a G&T.

 

[camonick]

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Heating up.

Edit, adding chorizo to the hamburger meat made it fall apart so a hamburger bowl..

 

[BongoYodeler]

Heating up.

Edit, adding chorizo to the hamburger meat made it fall apart so a hamburger bowl..

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Cheers!! A couple days ago I made my tried and true recipe of SW stuffed peppers. I use a mix of hamburger and chorizo, rice, flavored tomato sauce, spices like chilli powder, cumin, garlic, etc. and a one-inch cube Cotija pushed into the filling. Way better than plain old boring stuffed peppers.

 

[skleice]

Been crushing some Vodka Soda's. Nice and light in this heat and friendlier to the waistline...

 

[Dog House Brew]

My first time having this. Man I live in an IPA desert. What I find is that all these beers taste almost the same. It’s good, but give me my sorta WC any day. At $24 for 4 pack I’ll keep making my own.

 

[TwistedGray]

Hefty imp stout

 

[camonick]

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

9% HB Tripel w/Oak and Chardonnay (x2)

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Dark mild and 8 samples of various meads that pretty much looked like these at the HBC meeting.

 

[smurfjuicebrew]

Hefty imp stout
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Brew dog is not impressed ...

 

[TwistedGray]

Brew dog is not impressed ...

Just distracted by her mother.

 

[Dgallo]

Well deserved after a long hot day painting the south side of the house. It’s going to look good when it’s all finished ( 2 sides down2 to go plus trim and dormers)