New Labels and Brewing Competitions

Before I get onto the post, I figured I would post about a nice offer that is available today.  Moolala is offering a year long subscription for Beer Connoisseur for only $8.  The normal subscription price is $21 for the four issues, so this is a pretty good deal especially since I've been wanting to get myself a subscription for a while now.  The one issue that I had picked up was excellent.  There were reviews of over 20 different beers, an article about Garrett Oliver from Brooklyn Brewery, and my favorite part, an article about some of the breweries in the Czech Republic.  There are also some great looking recipes and pairing suggestions, although I have not had a chance to try any of them yet.  All in all it is a good deal and highly recommended for only $8.

Now onto the real post.  Nate has been at it again and has drawn up a couple more labels for my beers.  They are both for the Cinco de Mayo series of beers that were recently brewed, the Chocolate Chipotle Rauchbier and the Chili Lime Pilsner.





Here's the exciting part of this blog post.  There are two homebrew competitions coming up that will have entries from Lake Effect.  The first I was caught completely off guard by since I didn't know it would be this early.  It is the New York State Fair Homebrew Competition hosted by the Salt City Brew Club.  I plan on entering my Elder Ale, Belgian Blonde (might be entered as a Biere de Garde), and Irish Red Ale.  I am also going to be entering Jay and my Dunkelweisen (hopefully it will do a little better this time) and for Jay, I will be entering his Kitchen Sink California Pale Ale.  Niagara Tradition is a drop off point for this competition and entries are due by May 30th (actually May 28th since the 30th is a holiday and the 29th is a Sunday).  Entries are $6 each and judging takes place on June 10th-11th.

The next competition coming up is the Pearl Street Brew Master's Challenge - Honey Brown Lager/Ale.  It may be the fact that I have been eating Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast recently but I think what this competition needs is a Honey Toasted Oat Brown Ale.  I plan on using Maris Otter as the base malt with English Amber, Crystal, German Carafa, and Honey Malt making appearances.  I wanted to try something that I haven't done before, and that would be using toasted oats.  I believe that this with the late addition honey will give the beer a nice smooth finish and help provide a nice full body.  I plan on using Tettnanger and Northern Brewer hops and an American Ale yeast.  I will be brewing this on 5/21 and the submission date is 6/30.

On Deck: Honey Toasted Oat Brown Ale (5/21)
Primary: Hefeweisen 2
Secondary: Hefeweisen (dry hopped with Sorachi Ace), Traditional Pilsner
Total for 2011: 44 Gallons 

ABS Label Making Paper

I got some new label making material for Christmas, and I decided it was just about time to open them up and give them a whirl for the Beef on Weck Ale.  These labels are made by ABS Inc.  I can't find any web site associated with the company but they are available in a variety of colors: blue, green, white, orange, red, and yellow.



These labels couldn't be any easier to use.  All you have to do is design your labels, print the paper, moisten the back and apply.

Overall, I was fairly impressed by these labels.  They stick great on the bottles (much better than the glue sticks I used to use).  And although it has yet to be seen how easily these will peel off once the beer has been drank, my hopes are high.  I tested one by wetting a small corner of one of the bottles and after a few seconds the label started peeling off with no problem at all.  The rest of the label however was rock solid and started ripping when I got to the dry portion.



All in all, these labels look great.  I am quite excited to get some of the white ones so I can start printing in colors and not only use black and white.

On Deck: Belgian Blonde (2/20), Chocolate Chipotle Rauchbier (2/27)
Primary: Elder Ale, Sarsaparilla Ale
Secondary: Irish Red
Conditioning: Beef on Weck Ale

Designing a Label

So those of you who read my blog and happened to look at my links may be wondering why I have a link for Hockey in Art, especially since I said I was going to keep this blog purely beer oriented. Well, this is one of my good friends, Nate Gandt's website. As you can see from his two web sites, he has quite the knack for art (and he should since he attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh).

We've known each other for about 15 years now and I enlisted his help for the creation of bottle labels for some of the beers that I will be featuring on this web site. I by no means am going to try to take any credit for these designs, other than the names.

Here is the normal logo:



Where that blank diamond is at the bottom of the label, Nate and I are going to come up with some creative little logos to throw in there, specific to each of the beers getting the label treatment.  Below are examples of the Beef on Weck Ale and the Spiced Fruit Holiday Ale:






As always any comments are welcome.

Primary: Beef on Weck Ale
Secondary: American Pale Ale
Carbonating: Rye-rish Red Ale