A New Brew Buddy

Many of you have already been introduced to this new addition to the Brew Crew. You know her as B.C (Birth Control) Her name was changed to protect her innocence. Here she is helping in the racking process. When she is not brewing beer she splits her time at home with her mommy and being a dog model. Check out her work on the photo gallery at www.generationdog.com (she is the last one wearing a white t-shirt)

Ok back to the beer….
So this made me start thinking how good is it to give dogs beer? There are so many owners who like to share their brew with their dogs. Some dogs really seem to enjoy drinking beer.

In my research I found that there are some bad long term effects. Just like a human drinking beer a dog can experience a sense of euphoria. This can cause your beloved pooch to stumble and fall and let's not forget the throwing up that comes after drinking too much. They also can wake up after a night of drinking with a hang over. It can also cause liver damage just like in humans. In order for the alcoholic beverage to really hurt your dog they would have consume about 10 beers a day. I am sorry to report that there is not a Doggie AA organization.

How can you help your dog ditch the bottle?
There is a special beer brewed just for dogs. It is called Kwispelbier. The name is Dutch and means wagging tail. This is a non- alcoholic beer. Dogs really do not seem to know the difference. It tastes like beer. They do not know that it does not have alcohol in it. The brew master is a pet shop owner named Terrie Berenden. She made the brew from beef extract and malts. If your dog is truly your best friend you will have to shell out some money for this beer. It cost $2.14 a bottle.

For all you dogs and dog lovers remember to drink responsibly!!

Brew Batch #22

I shall name this one Ménage à Frank! The color and taste on this trippel is truly going to be something special. Tonight phat daddy and I filled one 12oz longneck brown, 1 clear and 26&1/2 22oz longneck browns and capped them off with nice dark blue crowns. FG 1.012+0.002 @78.2F to give it 7.4%abv. For some reason I am worried about this one not having fermented all the way but it came down from 1.066!! Dad said he didn't want to hear any hand grenades going off in the house. Well we'll know in less than a month if that happens. If not this one is going to age nicely.

Our Tastes-- Michelob Bavarian Style Wheat

Another fine brew from the sampler pack. This refreshing beer pours clear just before turning a wonderful cloudy straw after swirling the yeast bed at the bottom and adding it to your pint. Reminds me of a cloudy urine sample that has too many colonies in it leading to the promise of a UTI (threw that in for D Dub). It has an awesome "wheaty" taste with no legs or head after pouring the last bit over the ample initial frothy foam. Obviously unfilitered like all great hefes! Typically enjoyed in a tall flute this one has 5.2%abv.

A Great Chapter Loss

November 21, 1993 - June 14, 2007

TnDC Eastern Oaks Chapter has lost a valued member recently. Lucy was the first born out of 7 in her litter, and the last one to leave us. I could always count on her to share a beer or six with me. Always happy and full of life up until the very end. She never turned down a brew and eagerly drank whatever she could, never refusing to finish off the pinger. My only hope is that the beer in Heaven is as good as we had together down here on Earth. We'll miss you, Lucy.

New Equipment Provider?

Made a trip to Alabrew today and snagged some 220z bottles for the Trippel batch. Got a case for about 30 bucks with no S&H because it is about 20 minutes from Merry's place!! It's a nice little brew store with a great selection of stuff. It was nice to see the owner having a couple of fermenters going in the back, one with meade! I may try one of their crushed grain kits later on this summer, but the best part is being able to have someone close once I start kegging this summer. I've added a link on the side bar to their under construction website.

Our Tastes-- Michelob Amberbock

Next up in the Ales & Lagers is the Amberbock. Made with all-imported hops and a load of dark-roasted barley malt this beer pours a minute head, clear medium brown color, very little lattice, but then again it is a mass made brew, keeping that in mind even my dad drinks this like Kool-Aid and Coors Lite is his favorite beer. Maybe in his "golden years" I'm making progress. Best served in a tulip glass with cheeses or BBQ. 5.2%abv.

Our Tastes—Michelob Porter

I’ve always wanted to just sit and go through a whole sampler pack, so for the next few weeks that’s exactly what I’ll be doing. I’ll start with the Michelob Ales & Lagers Sampler. From year to year they vary the assortment but usually keep some great staple beers. In 2004 it included the All Malt Seasonal Lager and All Imported Hops Lager. In 05’ it had the Pumpkin Spice Ale (later named Jack’s Spiced Pumpkin Ale to start the “microbrew” series in the fall of 2006) and a new look to the marzen bottle. The 2006 sampler included porter, marzen, wheat, pale ale and amerbock in a 20 pack. The porter is an awesome dark brown roasted brew. Named after laborers (porters) in 18th century London this one is made with chocolate caramel and pale malt. Well worth picking it up since it seems to be a regular in the annual pack.

TnDC Field Trip #3 Magic City Brewfest

This may be the most fun I have had on a TnDC field trip. Merry and I got tickets for the 1st Annual Magic City Brewfest hosted by FTH (Free the Hops) on June 2nd. As soon as we got there the line was already 50 people deep BUT Merry bought us advance tickets so we coolly walked to the front after getting there 10 minutes late and started the fun. They handed us a 2oz commemorative sample glass at a tent that had the T’s for the event and several others along with tulip glasses and bumper stickers. There were a couple of guys selling bottle openers made from railroad spikes and great photos of Sloss Furnaces where the event was held. The first beer I tried was Terrapin’s IBA and it was a hoppy brown baby!! Then Rye Pale Ale had to follow. I tried 31 beers in total MULTIPLE times. There were 188 beers represented but some of the breweries didn’t show up for the first session from 2-6pm (FB Shipyard!!). Some others that I tried were Old Speckled Hen, several Samuel Smith’s brews, a few Belgians at the end and of course SweetWater 420’s Catch & Release series Road Trip Pilsner. It would have to be a toss up between this one and the exclusive beer that is soon to hit the Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Qs in the Alabama area Reverend Mudbone This was an American style Golden Ale named after a loyal Golden Retriever made by ATL Brewing Co. Now I can’t wait to have this one on draft again (thanks to the girl handing out check lists that hooked us up at the J’NN’sBBQ tent for a full glass!) We also had 3 out of 4 of the Spanish Peaks beers that Merry really liked. There were great bands, the restrooms were always quick (for me) and Merry scored us a ton of schwag!! Koozies, stickers, coasters and of course the Steve tease for a nice pint glass from SW420. By the end we were living proof that you can have a great time and get a little tanked in only 4 hours. The car ride home was interesting and the pretzel that disappeared down a certain someone’s cleavage resurfaced somehow in a nether region? Check out the FTH blog for more about the event. Can’t wait for the next field trip…

End of Another Era

Last night the last of the over carbonated Dunkelweizen bit the bullet. This was a great tasting batch that I will definitely brew again, I'll just make sure that I drink it faster than 3 years later when it apparently becomes WAY TOO pressurized!

TnDC Field Trip #2 Yazoo Brewery

This is a post that is long overdue. Shortly before moving from the Rocket City, The Enabler and I set out to Yazoo Brewing Company in Nashville, TN. This trip as shown by previous posts was worth it beyond words (because now we KNOW where it is;)

Yazoo Brewery was once home to Marathon Motor Works from 1910-1914. It is an awesome deep red brick building with as many wooden doors and area of cool breeze. The owners Linus and Lila Hall moved to Nashville in 1996 and opened their brewing doors in October 2003. Linus has been brewing for over 10 years and has a craftbrewing degree from the American Brewers Guild in California, with an internship at the Brooklyn Brewery in Brooklyn, New York.

Linus adheres to the "Four-pint principle", meaning with optimum conditions a person trying this beer should want to have 4 pints of it. They had the following on tap: ESB, Sly Rye Porter, Amarillo Pale , Onward Stout, Dos Perros, Hefeweizen. We either tried all of them or bought a growler full for boot-legging. They had also just started bottling the Hefeweizen (2004 Gold GABF) in a nice short-brown with an awesome label. If you're up that way take it in.

Pinger Anyone?

What is a pinger you might ask?

Well it is the beer that a woman leaves at the bottom of the beer bottle and refuses to drink it because it is just hot backwash! And let’s face it is has to be only women who do that because a man would have to turn in his balls if he were to waste beer. So I was tired of my boyfriend always telling me that I am wasting his heavenly brew so I did a little research on what you can do with you left over pinger.
Some spas have actually added beer to there menus. Now boys do not get excited it is your pores that will be doing most of the drinking!
If you want super shiny hair forget about drinking that cold beer, pour it over your hair. Now let your hair air dry. (Stick with a lite beer)

You will definitely have the people wondering
A: How did you get your shiny hair and B: What does your hair smell like?
You can also give your feet a nice treat. Instead of using soap or salts in your pedicure tub try dipping your toes into a bath filled with an enzyme-rich beer bath. Your happy feet will emerge smooth and silky.

Now what if you are a home brewer? Can you say Facial??

You can use the left over malts and hops to create your very own mask. By scrubbing your face with this mixture your skin will be eliminated of blackheads and your pores will be deeply cleaned. You can also use this mixture for your body. How about 60 minutes in the tub. Soak your body in the Malts and Barley for a detoxifying scrub…Talk about Happy Hour!!

The next time you are about to waste that pinger, just stop and think of all the things you can do with that little bit of beer.

If you do not feel like putting in the work yourself then here is a list of the spas that offer these services:

The Spa at Kingsmill
The Spa at Omin Interlocken
The Millcroft Centre for Well-Being
Exsalonce Salon & Day Spa

Charlotte Trip Day 2

All I can say is that the Bud Lite ran out before I did and I have already visited a great place called Totally Wine that has one of the most extensive beer selections I have ever seen. Ran across some Spanish Peaks Raspberry Honey Ale. Definitely have to grab some for Merry before I leave. Also JRCigar is only 30 minutes away so I can grab some stogies from my favorite stog website!

Charlotte Trip Day 1

Already made it to The Flying Saucer Draught Emporium. It was sweet, I'm going back every night I'm here. I tried Rogue HazelNut Brown Nectar and Highland Oatmeal Porter. The brown nectar was a nice headless sweet malty bev and the porter left a little to be desired, maybe it was due to the fact that "the monster" has already left me. They had some new brews on tap including Rogue Menage A Frog and Duck Rabbit Rabid Duck porter. Every Monday night is Damn Near All Pints for $2.50. However, neither of these were cheap pints so I'll be looking for these before I leave the Eastern Time Zone.

Brew Batch #22

Racked over the Trippel tonight with Merry (former Gardendale chapter now of the recently moved to Mount Olive chapter). It had a nice light brown color to it reminding me of belgian candi (yes that's spelled right). The abv could have knocked the socks of a monk!! Tomorrow when I head to Charlotte I'm going to look for a brew shop that has 22's to put this batch in, some pink or purple crowns may top them off nicely