Jeff recently mentioned that he would like to create a label for our collaboration brewing sessions. Seeing how we do them infrequently and they will likely always be bottled beers meant for aging, a label seems a creative way to make the effort special. Add to this that Jeff has a friend who is a graphics designer who might be willing to exchange his expertise for homebrew, and now we are cooking.
Jeff asked for some ideas on what our co-homebrewery might be called, and here is what I came up with.
- North and South Brewing
- Dixie Line Brewing
- Wallace Brother's Brewing
- Two Brothers Brewing
- Barley Brothers
- Wallace Clan Brewing
- Shared Obsession Brewing Company
- Stout and Bitter Brewing
- Witty Exchange Brewing Company
- Bugman's Brewing
I will add Jeff's thoughts to the list when I see them. Regardless of what we choose, it seems a fun collaboration for our collaborative brews.
Showing posts with label Brother Brew. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brother Brew. Show all posts
Monday, December 7, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Thanksgiving Beer and Brew Day
My brother and his family were able to come down for Thanksgiving this year, which was great. In addition to being able to spend time with my lovely sister-in-law and nieces, Jeff brought down some incredible beer. He has access to a larger beer market where he lives than we do here in Virginia. Some of the beer that we were able to sample includes:
Our loving spouses were also supportive enough to allow a brew day on Sunday, which we took full advantage of. Jeff and I have co-brewed a beer every time we have been together since he started homebrewing early this year. We have arrived at the consensus that we should brew dark big beers together because they can age well and a while often passes before we can see each other again to hand the beer off. It also allows us to build a library of beer we can sample and discuss when we visit. So, this time we elected to brew an English barleywine. Neither of us have attempted this style before, so we decided to use Jamil Zainasheff's recipe in Brewing Classic Styles as a starting point. We modified the recipe to use the hops we had on hand and ran with it.
Sunday was a beautiful day. It was sunny and there was an autumn crispness to the air. There were leaves on the ground and the sound of laughing children around the deck as we made our beer. Regardless of how the beer turns out, I must say, that it will always embody the joys of family for me. It was made in the company of multiple generations (see the picture of our youngest brewer), in the shared interest of two brothers, and at the end of a holiday that celebrates our extended family, past and present. It is a beer I will save away to bring out on special occasions. When I serve it, I will remember a small piece of the joy that my family brings to me.
Cheers, Jeff. Thanks for another wonderful brew.
- Cantillion Gueuze (http://www.cantillon.be/br/3_101)
- De Struise Black Albert (http://struise.noordhoek.com/eng/)
- De Struise Pannepot (http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/struise-pannepot/37835/)
- Pretty Things Jack D'Or (http://www.prettythingsbeertoday.com/site/node/13)
- Jolly Pumpkin Luciernaga (http://www.jollypumpkin.com/beers.htm)
- Several beers from River Horse Brewing (http://www.riverhorse.com/our_beer/our_beer_tripel_horse.html)
Our loving spouses were also supportive enough to allow a brew day on Sunday, which we took full advantage of. Jeff and I have co-brewed a beer every time we have been together since he started homebrewing early this year. We have arrived at the consensus that we should brew dark big beers together because they can age well and a while often passes before we can see each other again to hand the beer off. It also allows us to build a library of beer we can sample and discuss when we visit. So, this time we elected to brew an English barleywine. Neither of us have attempted this style before, so we decided to use Jamil Zainasheff's recipe in Brewing Classic Styles as a starting point. We modified the recipe to use the hops we had on hand and ran with it.
Sunday was a beautiful day. It was sunny and there was an autumn crispness to the air. There were leaves on the ground and the sound of laughing children around the deck as we made our beer. Regardless of how the beer turns out, I must say, that it will always embody the joys of family for me. It was made in the company of multiple generations (see the picture of our youngest brewer), in the shared interest of two brothers, and at the end of a holiday that celebrates our extended family, past and present. It is a beer I will save away to bring out on special occasions. When I serve it, I will remember a small piece of the joy that my family brings to me.Cheers, Jeff. Thanks for another wonderful brew.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Brother Brews: Dragon's Milk Clone
We went up to visit my brother and his family in Rhode Island a couple of weeks ago for vacation. The cousins had a lot of fun playing together and we did all sorts of fun activities like going into Boston, going to the beach, and playing around in the backyard. Jeff and I also got to do a bunch of fun beer-related activities (much to our wives' chagrin), such as stopping at some of his local bottle shops, trying a bunch of his homebrew, and doing a comparison of the Lost Abbey Devotion clone we had brewed together with the actual commercial beer. Jeff is lucky enough to get Lost Abbey beer in his area. It was really a lot of fun to compare the two beers. As I recall, our homebrewed version was more grainy, rough, and had more Belgian character than the commercial version, which was smooth, velvety with just a hint of spice. We were also able to get a brew session in together, which was a highlight of the trip for me.
Jeff and I had previously decided to try and brew a clone version of New Belgian's Dragon's Milk, which is a wonderfully rich bourbon-aged old ale. I had previously tried Dragon's Milk at The Timberwood Grill, which is near my house, and fell in love with the beer. We decided on it because it was a rich and interesting beer and would age well, as it would be some time before we would see each other again and be able to exchange bottles. The clone recipe was published in the January 2008 edition of Brew Your Own magazine.
I had a lot of fun seeing how Jeff brews beer, as every homebrewer develops their own process with their own equipment. Jeff also brews at night, which is very different than my weekend daily brewing. He also batch sparges, while I use a homebrew-sized fly sparging setup. As an added bonus, one of our best friends from when we were growing up, Craig, came down from Boston and stayed the night to hang out. It was really fun to show him the process and chat with him over a couple of pints of Jeff's great homebrew.
The Dragon's Milk Clone is now aging on bourbon-soaked oak chips in secondary and I can't wait to try it out. I had a great time, Jeff, and I hope we can do it again soon.
Jeff and I had previously decided to try and brew a clone version of New Belgian's Dragon's Milk, which is a wonderfully rich bourbon-aged old ale. I had previously tried Dragon's Milk at The Timberwood Grill, which is near my house, and fell in love with the beer. We decided on it because it was a rich and interesting beer and would age well, as it would be some time before we would see each other again and be able to exchange bottles. The clone recipe was published in the January 2008 edition of Brew Your Own magazine.
I had a lot of fun seeing how Jeff brews beer, as every homebrewer develops their own process with their own equipment. Jeff also brews at night, which is very different than my weekend daily brewing. He also batch sparges, while I use a homebrew-sized fly sparging setup. As an added bonus, one of our best friends from when we were growing up, Craig, came down from Boston and stayed the night to hang out. It was really fun to show him the process and chat with him over a couple of pints of Jeff's great homebrew.
The Dragon's Milk Clone is now aging on bourbon-soaked oak chips in secondary and I can't wait to try it out. I had a great time, Jeff, and I hope we can do it again soon.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Jeff's Almond Wheat
I am finally getting around to trying another one of my brother's beers. He sent three down to me, the first being the award-winning Irish Red I have already reviewed. He also sent two wheat beers, an Almond Wheat and a Cherry Wheat. My brother's wife has discovered a love of wheat beers with a dash of something special. Jeff is wisely supporting this interest by supplying excellent homebrew to meet the need.
He always was a very smart person . . .
The beer pours a slightly cloudy dark amber color, though the amber leans more towards red than burnt orange. The head is comprised of coarse off-white foam that lasts for the entire pint. It leaves a nice lacing down the glass that is very pretty. I would expect a nice head on the beer, given that it has a large portion of wheat in the recipe. The beer smells is very clean and neutral, with just a hint of floral aroma and a little bit of sweetness.
The first thing I taste is a hint of caramel that has some alcohol warmness. I next get a touch of almond, with its warm nutty character. This is most akin to the liqueur Amaretto, though not nearly as sweet. I found it very pleasant. The flavor finishes slightly sweet, but not in enough quantity to build on the tongue and limit drinkability. I could definitely drink another pint.
It is a very nice drinkable beer. If I could make any suggestions about it, I would recommend increasing the almond flavor a bit to make it more immediately identifiable. I would also increase the hopping slightly, maybe with a floral or herbal hop that would mesh well with almonds. I would not increase either of these elements too much, maybe 5 IBUs more of bitterness and just a bit more almond. The beer has balanced itself well as it aged and I think these changes would just help make it stand out a bit more.
Another good beer, Jeff. Thanks for sharing!
He always was a very smart person . . .
The beer pours a slightly cloudy dark amber color, though the amber leans more towards red than burnt orange. The head is comprised of coarse off-white foam that lasts for the entire pint. It leaves a nice lacing down the glass that is very pretty. I would expect a nice head on the beer, given that it has a large portion of wheat in the recipe. The beer smells is very clean and neutral, with just a hint of floral aroma and a little bit of sweetness.
The first thing I taste is a hint of caramel that has some alcohol warmness. I next get a touch of almond, with its warm nutty character. This is most akin to the liqueur Amaretto, though not nearly as sweet. I found it very pleasant. The flavor finishes slightly sweet, but not in enough quantity to build on the tongue and limit drinkability. I could definitely drink another pint.
It is a very nice drinkable beer. If I could make any suggestions about it, I would recommend increasing the almond flavor a bit to make it more immediately identifiable. I would also increase the hopping slightly, maybe with a floral or herbal hop that would mesh well with almonds. I would not increase either of these elements too much, maybe 5 IBUs more of bitterness and just a bit more almond. The beer has balanced itself well as it aged and I think these changes would just help make it stand out a bit more.
Another good beer, Jeff. Thanks for sharing!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Congratulations to Jeff - Gold Medal
Just a quick note of congratulations to my brother, Jeff. His first brew ever (discounting the Mr. Beer kits) won a gold medal at the 2009 Boston Homebrew Competition for his Irish red ale! I previously reviewed this beer on the blog. I am very proud my brother and hope that he continues to enjoy this wonderful hobby.
http://www.wort.org/bhc/winners.shtml
http://www.wort.org/bhc/winners.shtml
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Brother Brews
One of the coolest brew-related things that have happened to me this year is that my brother has started homebrewing. He first did this a while ago with a Mr. Beer kit that I gave him for Christmas. As with many Mr. Beer experiments, it did not go well and my brother did not repeat his Mr. Beer experience. I am not sure exactly what got him to try it again, but part of it is probably our repeated trips to Beers of the World, while visiting our parents in Rochester, NY. It is a great bottle shop with so many neat beers to try, as well as a homebrewing section that we would browse through. In addition to our frequent conversations about homebrewing, which I find a lot of fun and very interesting, I know that part of Jeff's interest in the hobby has been a result of finding a local homebrewing club near where he lives. The club members have provided an outlet for my brother's questions, as well as providing tasting samples and an interest in a common hobby.
Jeff was nice enough to send a sample of his first batch, an irish red, for me to taste. I appreciate it and I wanted to review it here.
The beer pours a delightful deep red color, almost scarlet. The beer is slightly cloudy, but I can still see my hand through it when the beer is held near a strong light. A frothy white head sits on top of the beer and remains while you consume the pint. It leaves a nice lacing on the sides of the glass. The beer has a very clean and neutral aroma, with a hint of caramel sweetness at the back of the nose.
The beer tastes very clean and balanced. It has a crisp malt character, somewhat akin to a german pilsner in its dry maltiness. The beer is nicely balanced with the hops and it creates a very drinkable beverage that leaves no sweetness build up on the tongue. The only recommendation I would make with the beer would be to carbonate it a bit less. The beer became more malt forward once I swirled it in the glass a bit to shake out some of the carbon dioxide. The flavor became more like some of the other irish reds I have had in the past and a little less pilsner-like. I will definitely say that I could drink several pints of this beer, which, in my opinion, is the most important judgement on a beer's quality.
Thank you for sharing, Jeff. I hope that you find as much enjoyment in this hobby as I have over the last 10 years or so. The community of homebrewers that you will interact with, both online and in person, really make this such a unique and wonderful hobby to be a part of.
Jeff was nice enough to send a sample of his first batch, an irish red, for me to taste. I appreciate it and I wanted to review it here.
The beer pours a delightful deep red color, almost scarlet. The beer is slightly cloudy, but I can still see my hand through it when the beer is held near a strong light. A frothy white head sits on top of the beer and remains while you consume the pint. It leaves a nice lacing on the sides of the glass. The beer has a very clean and neutral aroma, with a hint of caramel sweetness at the back of the nose.
The beer tastes very clean and balanced. It has a crisp malt character, somewhat akin to a german pilsner in its dry maltiness. The beer is nicely balanced with the hops and it creates a very drinkable beverage that leaves no sweetness build up on the tongue. The only recommendation I would make with the beer would be to carbonate it a bit less. The beer became more malt forward once I swirled it in the glass a bit to shake out some of the carbon dioxide. The flavor became more like some of the other irish reds I have had in the past and a little less pilsner-like. I will definitely say that I could drink several pints of this beer, which, in my opinion, is the most important judgement on a beer's quality.
Thank you for sharing, Jeff. I hope that you find as much enjoyment in this hobby as I have over the last 10 years or so. The community of homebrewers that you will interact with, both online and in person, really make this such a unique and wonderful hobby to be a part of.
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