Newest Beers

First off, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a big Enlgish beer guy (Yet?). The Bass's, Newcastles Samuel Smith's and Old Peculier just don't do it for me.  And While Left Hand is known for making (and making well) everything but English style Ale, they hit the nail ( in my book anyway) on the head with their 400 Pound Monkey English Style IPA.


I only bought one of these as (as I said above) I've never really fallen for the English (It must be their teeth).  But the label and the fact that it was brewed by Left Hand Brewing spurred my interest.  Before I get to the beer, I must credit Nathan Strong of Strong liquor in Minnetonka, MN for the recommendation.  Ironically, Nathan attended my high school back in IOWA, something I did not know upon entering the store, a store I would recommend if you like mix and match 6-packs.  Strong Liquor has a wide array of single bottles anything from Light Lagers to Barley-wines and the best part is they charge a flat fee regardless of what Six you pick ($9.99).  

So how about this Beer?  Honestly After my first sip I was like What The F%^&!!!  Maybe it was just my ingrained disfavor of English beers, maybe it was the cheese curds or maybe it was just disbelief, regardless it caught me off guard.  The second drink was much different than the first and again surprising.  Smooth malty taste with a very green, pine coney hop taste to it.  The 3rd and rest were exceedingly better and I have to admit that this 12oz. had me wishing I would have picked up a few more. The hop character is for the most part upfront, it does have a slight Citrusy taste but it fades quickly to the aforementioned pine cone/spicy hop aroma.  This is by no means a Hop Heavy IPA.

With a really light amber color to it and 6.8% Abv this is a beer that most but not all will enjoy.  If you like Face punching IPAs or Malty Blah English Ales, you will be saying WTF!!  This beer on Tap would be really interesting and I look forward to getting into one again very soon.

Rating: 7/10

Slainte`

Been Awhile.....

since I last posted. 2 weeks, 1200miles, two moves and a plethora of new beers to be exact.  Wow where do I start?

The transition to a new life up here in MN has been alittle nerve racking (cough, cough, finding a house sucks, cough).  Factor into the equation that I now get to experience actual "Traffic"  (we all now how much road rage I had in IA), and Man I need a Beer!

For the last few weeks, that's exactly what I've been doing, sampling the local brews, boy have I found some good ones.  Granted I do miss my homebrews and not paying retail price for beers ($$$ OUCH!), there are some damn good beers up here.  Here are a few really good ones I've had and recommend (in no particular order):

1.  Lagunitas a brewery based out of Petaluma, CA, is quickly becoming one of my favorite breweries.  It started awhile back on a trip to San Fran where I had their IPA (which I also found on tap in Las Vegas, Good Job Magnet!!).  Up here though I found the jackpot of Lagunita's and to be honest I haven't had one I dislike.  Below is a quick list/description/rating of those I've had:

• Hop Stoopid Ale - one of my favs from Lagunitas, very hoppy and smooth and well priced ($5 for a 22oz. bottle)  High IBU's and good aroma.  Rating: 8/10.
• Cappuccino Stout - Seasonal brew (December) and a Great stout with subtle coffee tones to it. exceptionally smooth and as usual fairly priced.  Rating: 7/10
• Wilco Tango Foxtrot (WTF!) - Another seasonal (decent Imperial brown (not a huge brown ale guy), very rich and malty with surprising chocolate notes to it, no Imperial alcohol taste (though only 7.8%).  Rating: 6/10.
• Little Sumpin Extra - Yet another seasonal (September), good hop character to it and mildly wheaty to the tongue.  (Man does Lagunitas love to use hops or what?).  Again, nice price for a 22oz. bottle.  To me would be a nice summer beer, but what do I know?  Rating: 7/10.

2. Bell's Hopslam!  WOW, what can you say about this beer?  Found a sixer of it at MGM liquor and man was it well worth the  the $9.99 price tag.  Crazy alcohol content (10%, but you won't notice it till the next day)  for a a beer that is a few shades darker than Miller light and Crazy, I mean CRAZY Hoppiness both in taste and aroma.  This beer over took Bells Two Hearted as my favorite Bells Beer, in fact it blew it out of the water.  Rating: 9.5/10.

3.  Surly Brewing Company, so far soooo Good.  Got to love a local brewery that puts their Craft beer in 16oz. cans ( these beers would make Cousin Eddie classy).

• Furious - Crazy hoppy, almost spicy hoppy at times.  Rating: 7/10 
• Bender - Decent brown ale, nice dark color to with a nice roasty taste to it.  Rating: 6/10 
• Coffee Bender - Makes regular Bender look like a bitch.  Infused with cold extracted coffee this beer makes a great road coke (wink, wink).  Rating: 7/10 
• Cynical ale- not bad for a light Belgian style ale in a can (definitely a first).  But nothing I would really buy on a regular basis (have yet to really fall in love with the Belgians, I'm a Hop Guy!). Rating: 5/10

Beers compliments of MGM liquor, Eden Prairie liquors and The Four Firkins.

More to come, Stick around.

My New Best Friend

Sooooo What's New

Alot actually!!

Last night I packed up all my brewing equipment and supplies and gave away 7 cases of beer, 1 keg and 6 Growlers of tap home brew.  after all that I still was forced to dump out 2.5 kegs of Homebrew.  Am I crazy you ask?  No, I'm just in the process of moving.  A move which came a little faster than I thought (down job market huh?).

I sadly am relocating out of the IC and Hawkeye country all together to the Twins cities.  Packing up all my brew stuff, the fact that I am actually moving is really hitting me.  The fact that all my stuff will be god knows where until we find a house is kind of weird (hope I grabbed enough underwear?).

Left behind, good Friends, good Homebrews and Great Times!!!

On a positive note, I will have the Twins, the Vikings and hopefully a plethora of new and uncharted beers to test my palate.

Good Bye IOWA, Hello Twins Cities.  Cheers to the Future!!!!

Brady Out!

Pliny the Elder Clone

This beer was inspired by a trip I took back in September to San Francisco. While there I came across a Beer called Pliny the Elder. While this wasn't the first time I had heard of this particular beer, it definitely was the first time I have had a chance to sample it. And sample it I did. This 8% alcohol and 95 IBU'd Monster made for a great night and a not so great morning! Despite being a little rough the following day, my craving for this hoppy elixir was insatiable. Alas I found myself back at the tap like a drug addict scoring a new stash.

In short I fell in love with this beer, and as we all know love is a Bitch! It wasn't until I left that I found out that you can only get this "Nectar of the Gods," in the San Francisco area. Leaving me pounding my head as to why I did not fill my suitcase (clothes are replaceable right?). Seeing how I live in the Midwest and probably wont be making it back to the SF area for awhile I decided as a Homebrewer to try and clone this Bad Boy.

Luckily, like it was my destiny, the July/August issue of Zymurgy did a piece on Russian River Brewery and more importantly Pliny the Elder. Included in this piece was a recipe, a very detailed and intricate recipe at that. A quick review of the recipe one can see why it is such a great hoppy masterpiece. The amount of hops is insane and the dry hopping schedule is involved. As for the Malt bill, it is relatively simple and straight forward.

I decided to collaborate on this clone with a Colleague (more honestly my Jedi Brew Master, Magnet). I was not set up to brew 10gal. batches as of that time and We knew we want a lot of this beer as it will most likely go quick (if you only knew our Friends). The Following is the recipe from Zymurgy we used:

For 6.0 gals.

MALT BILL
11lbs. 2-Row Malt
0.5lb. Crystal 45 Malt
0.5lb. Carapils (Dextrin) Malt
0.4lb. Dextrose Sugar

HOP BILL
3.50 oz CTZ 13.90% A.A. 90 min.
.75 oz CTZ 13.90% A.A. 45 min.
1.00 oz Simcoe 12.30% A.A. 30 min.
1.00 oz Centennial 8.00% A.A. 0 min.
2.50 oz Simcoe 12.30% A.A. 0 min.
1.00 oz CTZ 13.90% A.A. Dry Hop (12 to 14 Days Total)
1.00 oz Centennial 9.10% A.A. Dry Hop (12 to 14 Days Total)
1.00 oz Simcoe 12.30% A.A. Dry Hop (12 to 14 Days Total)
.25 oz CTZ 13.90% A.A. Dry Hop (5 days to go in dry hop)
.25 oz Centennial 9.10% A.A. Dry Hop (5 days to go in dry hop)
.25 oz Simcoe 12.30% A.A. Dry Hop (5 days to go in dry hop)

Wyeast American Ale #1056

O.G. - 1.070
T.G. - 1.011
IBU's - 90-95 (actual/not calculated)
ABV - 8-8.5%
Mash Rest - 151-152
Boil Time - 90 min.
SRM - 7ish

This Beer was split between the two of us and kegged. While it is still relatively young, my first impressions are excellent. Very good recipe and I am definitely going to brew this again soon as I feel this keg will be emptied quickly.

Rating (out of 10): 9. One of our best homebrewed beers for sure and the Hops are enough to satisfy anyone's Lust for the Lupin!

Slainte`

Previous Brews

Here is a list of beers that have previously on tap at O'Brady's:

Pliny the Elder Clone

Sweetgrass Pale Ale

Brady's Vitamin C IPA

Mastiff Drool Amber Ale

Honey IPA

Brady the Bitter

My Kegerator and Brew Stuff.....AKA Pride and Joy!

So you may have noticed that one of my sidebar topics is called "Currently on Tap". This represents the beers that I currently have on tap in my Kegerator. My plan is to review, rate and post recipes for each beer that I put on tap. But first, allow me to brag a little about my kegerator as it is one of my favorite fixtures in my home and more importantly, I built it. Arrr Arrrh Arrr!!!

After searching for a used refrigerator online and in the paper that was properly design to fit multiple Corney Kegs, I finally broke down and bought a new fridge from Sears. Nothing like drilling holes (4 to be exact) into a brand new appliance, talk about VOIDING A WARRANTY!!


This Kegerator fits five 5-gallon Corney kegs along with my 5lb. CO2 tank. While I only have 4 taps, I usually have the 5th hooked up with a picnic tap accessible through the door. The door shelving and bottom drawers are great for storing bottled beer and extract.

Most of the Kegging equipment was purchased online at Midwest Supplies. The taps I found mostly on Ebay and others were Gifts from Friends. The tap on the far right was a gift from my Jedi Master (Magnet Brew) he picked up on his visit to the Great Divide Brewing Company in Denver, CO. The tap second from the right is actually the top to an expensive tequila bottle. My friend made it for me as he knew I was also a big fan of Tequila (Thanks Wake!!!). There's something special about a one of a kind Tap Handle!

I debated about a freezer-less refrigerator, but decided that I could use the freezer for storing Hops and chilling pints and mugs.

 MY EQUIPMENT 

Nice collection of Brewing equipment

 

Making of my Keggle (16 gallon Miller Lite Keg)

 Modified my burner by mounting steel Wind Shields around the outside to reduce loss of heat.  In other words I got to use a cutting-torch!

Match made in Heaven!

 TigerHawk Propane Tank!

 Winter in the Midwest Brewing at Magnets.

 Slainte`