365.7!

I blog this because beer brewing/drinking and running I feel go hand in hand, since your only limits are yourself. For 5 years I have tried to run 365 miles in one year. Today I ran 3.3 miles to give me total 365.7 miles. It doesn't sound like much, but this is a one mile average for a year! If you miss just a day, you have to run 2 the next, miss a week and your weekend run becomes 7. Trust me it adds up quick especially if you get sick a couple of times and miss 2 weeks worth of training. I started in Maryland and am currently in Kansas, running the virtual TransAmerican trail. All 4,063 miles of it.

1st Beat-12 glassware

Almost available virtually nowhere is this handy tuliped bar pint. Not bad for a 1st run but all of the credit belongs to Merry as she has brought my vision to creation. Now how to get these on cafepress.

Our Tastes-- Bonfire Rauchbier

Made by Sam Adams and marketed in the Boston area since 2004 this is my first foray into this SA beer. A chestnut brown and white froth lend a sweet smoky nose. The first quaff is just like Junk described, "a bonfire in a glass, with some smores and wienies". I often wonder if with beers like these if there is someone sitting around looking for specialty grains and smoked wood to mix. This has a very mild smokiness that sets well and could very well be a session beer. Everything about the beer is niche and likable. Made with Two-row Harrington Metcalf, and Copeland pale malts, Special B, Caramel 60, and Weyermann Smoked Malt" then hopped with Spalt Spalter and fermented with Samuel Adams lager yeast. 5.7%abv. Yeah Junk says, "It drink pretty good" and I agree.

Winterized Hops

Covered with a 1/4" of Moo Nure after cutting the crown tendrils down to about a 1/4" and making sure the mound is nice and secure. Then covered with pine straw from the back yard. I have found that covering them with the pine straw not only insulates them a little but also keeps them weed free until they start to emerge in the spring. When it starts warming up and staying that way, the new hop vines will gently break through the moo nure using it as an energy source and appear as small white or off pink nibs. Nugget was transplanted to the trough and Sunbeam got a bigger pot (I'm still coddling that one).

Our Tastes-- Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary

For The Enabler's B'day we are sampling this brew. Proudly made with Fritz Maytag (former owner of Anchor Steam Brewer and at the time of this brewing a guest brewer with Sierra's Ken). The bottle alone is tuliped or fluted at the neck in the 22oz bottle with a bar top neck. It pours a black hole of night pulling in gravity of light black with a light gingerbread man head. Wowee! A raisin nose gives way to an explosion of pure coffee after tastes! To have such a fruity nose and a pure coffee taste is a dichotomy of life. The warm raisin Belgian hits your nose and initial taste only to have ground coffee explode onto your palate. This may be in my top 10 favorite beers due to surprise endings! Like books, cigars, or life situations in general this too flips you out. At 9.2% abv we likes it.

Our Tastes-- BlackStone Pistol Peat

Color is awesome on this beer, a great light medium brown with slight red highlights. Head is a creamy light tan and a nose of light smoke. Wow, taste is phenomenal! The flavor of smoky malts comes through and the play on name is key here. This already has me craving some BBQ ribs or smoked meats. Named after Pistol Pete Maravich, according to Junk. This is a brew that you could put up there with SUE from Yazoo. Lattice work leaves me re-pouring. Another keepsie. And a real plus, you'd never guess it was almost 9%abv. Guess that helps bring forth the "peat-ness".

Our Tastes-- BlackStone Blackfin Lager

Oh boy, Junk legged us some new BS beers and one of them is Blackfin Lager. It pours a nice opaque dark brown with dissipating head. Nose is of a lager yeast that completely defies that overall taste profile. Taste is a great slightly hopped smoke, yep it's a schwarz beer. I've only had a couple of this type of beer with Jamie Ray's at MBP [now closed;( ]being my first a couple of years ago. This is a great departure from the "normal" selection of beers at your local watering hole. Red (denoted here in pink) did well, no doubt.

Junk In The House

The prodigal friend returns, or actually appears for the first time, at the now Pike Road founding chapter. And it's good to have him here. After face-painting the first part of the night, I'm more inclined to sip brews and catch up on man talk with he and The Enabler. Oh yeah, we brought the party with us. I'm already a little enamoured with having all under the same roof again, like GABF 2010, miss Red (denoted here in pink) though:( However, the assistant brewer did send his love in the form of BS growlers. I wonder if we need to start doing BS beers on ratebeer.com as well as his forum for all to read? Seems rather metaphorical AND literal to say the Red (denoted here in pink) is with us here in "spirits"? I knew it was going to be another memorable gathering when we were 2 beers in and I had him at ......

Brew Batch #44 REINKE'S REVENGE 2010

FG 1.014 +0.001@ 74F to yield a healthy 9.85%abv. I've tried different ways of brewing this batch to get better extraction and consistent abv content, but this one really surprised me with the abv. I can only account it to the raspberry added. I kegged 2.5C and put the rest into a dozen 22oz bombers with black crowns for sampling later. This is one for the record books. I thought the fruit addition was going to be a racking hassle but it wasn't too bad. I'll toy with the idea of fruit plus wood on the next batch to maybe incorporate the last 2 batches into one. This puts it closer to 9.85%, yikes!

End of Several Era's

For those of you wondering where I can be storing all of this beer that I am now kegging, it's because I forgot to post the end of #40 WIPA (a quick tomahawking), #41 SHB2 and #42 Belgian IPA (Oktoberfest Woodland Creek 2010). #43 WMB is still on gas prepped to go away this summer.

Brew Batch #45 Hopbursted IPA

Kegged this one pound of hops bohemoth. The aroma has pushed me to consider all things hoppy for brewing this summer. And after having the CDA (Cascadian Dark Ale) a couple of weeks ago, I have found that I can brew dark for the Stout Monster's eyes but hop it up for the good twin's tastebuds. Color is a gorgeous medium walnut. The aroma and non-carbonated taste made me sneeze twice AND get stuffy almost instantaneously, oh yeah 1st sip hop nose material. FG 1.010 + 0.001@ 70F to give around 8.9%abv.

Night of Darkness

I was slow on St. Patrick's this year mostly due to working too much, but I'll make it up in 2012. Have a gathering this evening at the Pike Road chapter. Ali's son and The Enabler from the Eastern Oaks chapter. And a recent addition nomaded from Chi-town, Neil Diamond of the now adopted Montgomery chapter. We've tried 2 Black Eyes (RR and Wicked Merry Berry), Black & Tans, Irish Car Bombs with Jameson, and a couple of new brews from Neil. Only then good Lord knows how the night will end.

Brew Batch #44 REINKE'S REVENGE 2010

Racked this over as well today. It had a bulbous froth to it. Not sure if that was top suspended puree or fermentation continuing. 1.022+0.001 @70F. The test taste was initially a bit tart, because of course I am expecting blow your head off alcohol and malt but this one was tamed by fruit. Keep you posted. This should put it around 8.7%abv, give or take.

Brew Batch #45 Hopbursted IPA

Racked this one over to 1.010 +0.001 @70F. That should put it a tad under 9 in the end and the swill taste is flamingly hoppy! Can't wait to keg this one in a couple of weeks and either cellar for a while or tap it out!

Brew Batch #44 REINKE'S REVENGE 2010

Just racked it over onto 3 pounds of Red Raspberry purée. I'll let it sit for a few more weeks just enough to take on some raspberry flavor and not blow off the aromatics too much. This is the second RR batch I've changed from the original in that I am allowing it to secondary on something to bring other flavors forward. Let's keep our fingers crossed, fruit makes me nervous.

Brew Batch #45 Hopbursted IPA

Getting ready for the summer already, The Enabler and I ripped a POUND of hops into a 5 gallon batch this afternoon. Everything was lack-a-dazakle until we had to start hopbursting this beer and then every minute was consumed by measuring, timing and dumping. We barely had time to finish A beer. OG 1.072+0.001 @72F. I am really looking forward to bombering and keggin' this batch.

Beat 12 Brewing Company

After many years of trying to slowly get things started, Big D surprised me with a domain registry for Beat 12 Brewing Company. So now I have O&B.com (orangeandbrew.com) and the main link for starting a site for the little brewery that could. Chugga-chugga choo-choo----- Oh yeah and my team is the National Champ, thought I was going to have to kick there for a minute.

Brew Batch #44 REINKE'S REVENGE 2010

After an almost 5 month hiatus from brewing, it seems only fitting to come back to this annual favorite. 2010 sadly came and went and technically I am brewing this recipe that I've had since 2010 in 2011, but that only means that there will inevitably be a second batch in the same calendar year. I've honestly been too busy helping my team get to a National Championship. But with 2 batches in the same year.....didn't the Mayans predict this? It's a clear cool sunny day on the back porch and brewing has jumped back into my blood right along with all things dark:) OG 1.084 +0.00 @66F.