Finally got around to bottling my cranberry cider a few nights ago, it only took me almost 2 months to do so. But it seems to be coming together very nicely. The O.G was 1066 and the FG was straight 1000, so that was nice. For those that do not want to do the math that means a abv of about 8.7%, very nice. I used a Trappist Ale yeast, which really did a number on the cider. It's really not sweet and became nutty but the cranberries were wunderbar. Very acidic and tart, no alcohol presence at all. I ended up with 3 gallons of straight cider and I bottled half still and primed the other half with more cider.



I also did a little experiment I burrowed from someone on the ratebeer website. Got half a gallon of unpasteurized cider from a local orchard and added the dregs (the settled yeast) of a nicely sour beer (Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza). It took a bit of time for activation to start but then it EXPLODED with fermentation. Depending on how this works out I have a few possible routes to take:
A) take what happens and drink it
B) add more sour yeast, particularly from a geuze
C) and possibly if it is going well get a whole 3-5 gallons of unpasteurized cider and use this as a starter

The great thing about beer hunting is visiting breweries in small cities and Keegan Ales happens to be one of this small cities. Located in Kingston, NY it is over two hours north of New York City and about an hour south of Albany, pretty much making it in the middle of no man's land. I finally decided to drive out there because of some special treats the brewery's restaurant had on tap, but I will get to that later.

Keegan Ales shares a lot of history with Long Island, particularly the name of a beer. Keegan Ales makes an American style IPA called Hurricane Kitty, which also happens to be the name of an IPA made at the BrickHouse Brewery, a small brewpub in Patchogue, NY. A little more than a year ago I stopped by there and ordered the Kitty and as I did a man next to me said "nice choice." Long story short, I was sitting next to Tom Keegan, the son of Hurricane Kitty, the craziest driver in Patchogue. Also, his son Tommy was the Keegan of Keegan Ales.

Now back to the point, I made a slight trek to Kingston to visit a recently opened restaurant and bar at the Keegan brewery, but more importantly they had 2 beers on tap that are not easy to come by. First and most important was the Super Kitty, a supped up version of the regular Kitty that weights in at 12% abv, is hand bottled, and released in a super small quantity during the holiday season. I got to try a draft version and, as a nice bonus, a brand new beer, a White Ale, the first Belgian style beer from this brewery.

The experience was a ball and I fully enjoyed both beers, reviews can be found here. The bar is beautiful decorated to fit the old town and the youthful brewery. The free peanuts were a kick. Outside of the house beers there were also 2-3 guest taps. The restaurant is original, not really a sit down order kind of place but more like order at the counter and the lady will bring it over to your picnic table or couch. But the food was great actually. Live music on the Saturday I was there, think hippie (the name of the band is IS, yeah, I know). Definitely recommended for anyone in the area.

I recently held a small impromptu blind Flanders Red tasting for a few people. If you ask, what is a "blind" tasting, well its when individuals sample beer without knowing what brand/brewery it is (and in this case also rate it). What is Flanders Red? Well the BJCP has it's own way of describing it but basically I will say its a Belgian red ale that is barrel aged with bacteria for a long period to provide sourness and acidity and is often blended with an older beer to cut down the sour aspects. The most famous and widely available example of this beer is Rodenbach Grand Cru. This also happens to be one of my most favorite styles of beer. So, I decided we needed to have a blind tasting to see what people really think is the best, unfortunately I played host and poured all the beers but the other four people had no idea. I was also able to acquire various Flanders Red from America and Europe, in all i believe I was able to serve a nice array of takes on the style. Actually, I serves 10 different beers (3 of which were provided by another person) . The list:

American:
New Holland Moxie - New Holland Brewing Company, Holland, Michigan
New Glarus Unplugged Enigma - New Glarus Brewing Company, New Glarus, Wisconsin
New Belgium La Folie - New Belgium Brewing Company, Fort Collins, Colorado
Russian River Supplication - Russian River Brewing, Santa Rosa, California
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja Grand Reserve - Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Dexter, Michigan

Belgian:
Rodenbach Grand Cru - Brouwerij Rodenbach (Palm), Roeselare
Bios Vlaamse Bourgogne (labeled as Monk's) - Brouwerij Van Steenberge, Ertvelde
Zoetzuur Flemish Reserve Ale - De Proefbrouwerij, Lochristi

Other:
Mestreechs Aajt (5% ABV, unsweetened) - Gulpener Bierbrouwerij, Gulpen, Netherlands
Friend's homebrewed, 5 year old, straight from the barrel, uncarbonated, Flanders Red

All 10 were served blind in a random order, 1 person knew of 3 of the beers otherwise no one even knew what beers are being served, the results were interesting.

The Rundown

4 Blind raters + me
La Folie 3.98

RR Supplication batch 2 3.92

Rodenbach GC 3.82

Zoetzuur 3.76

homebrew 3.625

La Roja GR 3.56

Moxie 3.4

Monks 3.32

Mestreechts Aajt 3.22

Enigma 3.2

Minus 1 "against the grain" rater

La Folie 4.15

homebrew 4.03

Rodenbach GC 3.975

RR Supplication batch 2 3.925

Zoetzuur 3.725

Moxie 3.35

Monks 3.325

Enigma 3.125

Mestreechts Aajt 3.1

OVERALL: Either way you cut it La Folie scored best, it was also the one most recognized. No other beers were recognized except one person narrowed down the Rodenbach to 3 choices. The homebrew was spectacular outside of the one rater who hated it extremely (the HBers ratings were never used to calculate these numbers). The Enigma consistently scored badly, the La Roga was consistently just average and the Zoetzuur was consistently above average. All in all the RR was most globally liked.

A truely sad day for all beer lovers, one of the first and greatest beer pioneers has passed today.
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art52716.asp


Some kind words from another beer writer.
http://lewbryson.blogspot.com/2007/08/michael-jackson.html


Michael Jackson's last article
http://www.allaboutbeer.com/

Really Really Old Beer. Have you had some? The oldest beer I have tried (before this weekend) was around 15 or 16 years old and I have a bottle of something that is 18 right now (but I am waiting for its 20th anniversary). Not all beer is of course going to last decades and be anything close to drinkable, really only two kinds; an over the top, super strong barleywine or a sour, yeast beasties, who will consume ever last bit of sugar, beer. However, either way I never fathomed in my wildest dreams I would get to try something this old. I have heard others tell of similar experiences with really old beer, but I never, even for a second, thought I could at some time drink a similarly old beer. However, this weekend I was treated by a very generous beer lover (BTW, biggest thanks in the world for opening this up) to a... guess... a beer that is... over 100 years old!!!! To be precise it was brewed in 1869, it is 138 years old. Can you believe it? It was a big deal actually, a stash was found hidden in a brewery in England. Here is a nice article on the beer.

So not to burst anyone's bubble but it actually did not taste like anything. The aroma was decent enough, some cider aspects, very faint malt. Taste was completely water (pool water, as one person described it). So, I wont expect much from 100 year old beer but it was cool in itself.

Its been too long, lots of things to report.

Homebrewing:
Made a stout with my buddy Boris, was bottled on 5/25/07. Had it 4 weeks later and was really disappointed but had some more yesterday and it was really good, maybe the best I have made so far.
Borris has gone on to make his first batch without me, a Double/Imperial Pale Ale, can't wait to try it, when its Boris... its got to be adventurous.
Planning on making a hard cider with cranberries (and possibly honey) next, just need to find some free time.
Also want to experiment with carob molasses, grape molasses, and figs in the future.


Beer loving:
Had a gathering to welcome a fellow Ratebeerian to the area recently PICURES HERE

Belgium Comes to Copperstown is happening in less than two weeks, if you don't know you better ask somebody
http://www.ommegang.com/index.php?event_view_id=125&event_view=2007-07-21&mcat=3

Drinking a Black Jack Porter right now. One of the many really nice breweries in Colorado. This is one of their regular offerings. A very cice beer, seems like they added chocolate and the hops are jus a bit stronger than I like in my porters. But overall great cocoa sweetness and a slight tea aspect, very quaffable.

Just some words on what is probably the best beer bar in NYC right now. Blind Tiger Ale House took some time to re-open (liquor license problems) but it finally did. The selection is very nice, as well as the service. Beautiful place in an easy to get spot (for me at least). Good food and some things seem a bit pricey its well worth it. Check it out.

I have my next homebrew in the primary right now. Its a stout with a bit of a twist, some spices, and a bit more hops.

Dictionary.com defines nip as "a small bit or quantity of anything." So in the beer world nips are small bottles of beer usually 7 ounces or less, a not too common occurrence in craft beer. Only a handful of breweries make any more nips. The most famous nip would probably be the Anchor Old Foghorn. One of the first American-style Barleywines produced was always sold only in 7 oz nips until 2004 (now boring old 12 oz bottles). Nips are usually saved for very strong beers, allowing the drinker to enjoy a high alcohol beer in moderation, not to mention save the cost of producing these beers. Possibly, the most sought after nip nowadays is the Raspberry Eisbock, produced by Kuhnhenn Brewing, a small family operation in Warren Michigan. One of the hardest to come by nips is made in Southampton, NY, the Double Icebock packs a punch at around 18%. The Southampton Publick House (Publick.com) produced less than 100 nips a year (and rumors are this year it wont even be released). Drakes Brewing Company in San Leandro, CA probably produces the most nips of any craft brewery (that does not mean a lot). These are their high octane beers that all weight in double digit abv (i.e. 15th Anniversary Bourbon Barrel Aged Lager). Not to be fooled, not all nips are created equal. Lakefront Brewery produced their own Barleywine in a nip, unfortunately some may consider that a waste of space (even if its just a nip of space).

I love nips for a few reasons:

A) Usually these are special beers that are hard to come by, so when I do I really appreciate it.

B) Sometimes you drink a big beer for the kick and sometimes you really just want to enjoy it and I am always forced to just enjoy these brews.

C) My enormous love for craft beer is offset by my small living space, a dichotomy I think is well represented in a nip (that's enough for humor).

D) I would have no where to store dishes if I saved all the cool bottles of beer that I have come across but nips are easy to save and display in a small area.

Some noteworthy nip-esque bottles:

A) Sam Adams Triple Bock is a beautiful dark cobalt blue, corked with rubber cover 8.45 ounce bottle containing an 18% beer. The beer is borderline nip for me, some say yes and some say no.

B) Thomas Hardy's, a British staple Barleywine come in 33cl (or 8.5 oz) bottles. Another big beer in a small bottle.

C) Rogue XS series was a lineup of 3 beers (Barleywine, Imperial Stout, and Scotch Ale) that at one time were sold in nips. They no longer are, the Barleywine and Imperial Stout are now produced in 750ml ceramic swing top bottles and the weakest of the series, the Scotch Ale, is no longer brewed.

So I reached a monumental rating on the beer site by rating my 500th beer. Its a cool achievement for a beer geek like myself, but more importantly I wanted to do something special for the rating. I drank a Westvleteren 8, a beer that is rather difficult to come by. Why you ask, well let me give a little background:

The Westvleteren beers are brewed by the Abbey of Saint Sixtus in the Westvleteren region of Belgium. The Abbey makes Trappist beers or those made by Trappist monks. Of the world's 171 Trappist monasteries, seven produce beer (six in Belgium and one in The Netherlands). These seven breweries are authorized to label their beers with the Authentic Trappist Product logo that indicates a compliance to various rules edicted by the International Trappist Association (mainly that the beer be brewed within the walls of a Trappist monastry and the profits go toward assistance and not economic gain).

Of all the Trappist breweries, St. Sixtus produces the smallest amount and also produces by some to be the worldest best beers. These beers are not supposed to be sold outside of the Abbey, but I obviuosly did not travel to Belgium to pick up this bottle. I came across this bottle through some fun beer hunting.

Now back to the point, this bottle, with which I celebrated my 500th rating was about 5.5 years old. As expected it aged wonderfully, but if you want to see exactly what I thought you are going to have to go read the rating.

I think this is a good time to discuss Samuel Adams, not the patriot but the beer company (actually its the Boston Beer Company that makes the Samuel Adams line of beers, as well as a few other labels). Nice little story of the brewery, started by Jim Koch (pronounced Cook, don't know why, damn crazy New Englanders). The story goes that in 1984 Jim Koch brewed the first Samuel Adams Boston Lager in his kitchen using his grandfathers recipe and to sell it bar to bar. Just some cynicism here, first of the beer is a lager meaning that it uses bottom fermenting yeast, which almost always requires cold fermention. It also means this type of beer almost always needs to be cold conditioned. Basically, this means that to make a beer like the Sam Adams Boston Lager would require more time and resources than most small start up breweries can afford. But whatever, its just a story now, similar to the Clydesdales of Budweiser, a bit of truth mixed with a lot of commercialism. But in general the Boston Beer Company produces different styles of beer, promotes beer knowledge, and supports the beer movement. While most of their product is underwhelming, they have produced some very interesting and innovative beers that no other company of their size can boast. For example, they have made the one of the strongest beers in the world, Utopias, an uncarbonated, 25% alcohol beast that runs well over $100 a bottle. I compared it to cheap cognac but it is still a very nice accomplishment. Outside of that, they recently held a nationwide homebrew competition of which the winners' recipes were reproduced by Sam Adams and released in special six packs. Two national winner and one comanpy winner each made a beer. This really is a cool thing for a company to do. So if you want to see my opinion on the beers, you got to check out my ratings.

I love getting together to drink beer with other beer crazed maniacs, um.... I mean, ahh, friends that is. A few weeks ago a small social gathering led to this THIS. Some crazy stuff in there, two different but similar Southampton Biere de Garde's. A vertical of De Dolle Oerbier Reserve (02, 04, 05), a crazy ass Ice Cider (that's right a cider made using frozen apples. Guess where its made, Canadia of all places. A blissful beverage, silkiness of ice wine, smoothness of cider, and a nice strength to boot. This sort of get togethers are usually the most fun, this way you get to share the really really cool beers you have got and get some in return, its really a win/win situation.

Now on to some homebrew news. My spiced Irish Red is ready, worked out as well as I could have expected. A bit stronger on the cinnamon and clove but overall very nice. I got some good carbonation, will stick to dextrose (corn sugar) from now on. Got the red color I wanted, was afraid I might not.

I promise more posting soon, lots to say.

I got a beer package today, yup a whole box of beer. Luckily enough there are people all over this fine country that love, enjoy, and most importantly want to share the fine beer that they can acquire. So once in a while I am able to do a trade with someone, I send beer they want and in return get beer I want. Today, after a long wait (damn UPS likes to slow things down) I got a box of 12 beers. Some nice gems from Colorado, a crazy 10% smoked doppelbock and a hand bottled, barrel aged, and wild yeast beer, La Folie.

The great thing about trading is often people throw in extras and I was hooked up nicely. I'll be spending the next few weeks enjoying these goodies and some will get put away for a while as well.