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

Chocolate Chipotle Rauchbier

Another brew day, another need for an inspiration post.  In celebration on Indiana's birthday (my dog), I was planning on brewing a few different beers utilizing different types of peppers.  Coincidentally, her birthday is on Cinco Day Mayo, so in essence, it's like killing two birds with one stone with this theme.

Back about four years ago, some friends and I began to make chocolate covered bacon (I may have to convert this into a beer somehow in the near future).  Throughout the years, there have been several iterations, the most recent incorporated chipotle peppers in the chocolate.  The heat from the pepper didn't stand out, but you could notice the smokiness.  From that, the natural progression was Rauchbier, but to make the heat of the pepper pop.

For my malts, I plan on using a 2-row, Munich, and smoked malt.  I may end up using some chocolate malt in order to enhance the flavor from the cocoa powder that I will be using.  I haven't decided for sure yet, but I think I may go for a medium to high amount of hops in this beer.  I think that a higher bitterness from the hops will go great with the chocolate and the heat from the chipotle peppers.



This is going to be my second attempt at a lager beer.  I am thinking I will use a Munich Style lager yeast since it will be a strain that I will be able to use in a wide variety of lagers.  The target brew date for this beer is 2/27.

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

Stockade Pale Ale

This is the American Pale Ale I brewed back on January 9th, 2011.  I decided to call it "Stockade" because in my mind, it was a classic American Pale paying homage to one of the older colonial communities in New York, the Stockade in Schenectady.

I was a bit disappointed that I only brewed this as a 2 gallon all grain.  I am thinking that in the future this may be one that I actually brew for a second time, not that my previous beers haven't been worthy of being rebrewed, just the fact that I like to move on to different styles and recipes constantly.

This beer ended up being a great pale amber color, and it doesn't hold a full head, but retains a nice foaming ring around the rim.  The aroma is fairly mild with a hoppy note.  It is slightly sweeter with a light malty flavor, subtle biscuit after taste, and a slightly creamy mouth feel.  There is a medium hop presence with the slight citrusy taste that comes with the cascade hops.

Here is the recipe for a two gallon batch:
3.44 lb 2-Row Brewers Malt
6.5 oz Crystal Malt 20°L
0.8 oz Tettnanger (4.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
0.4 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
1.0 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
1.0 ea WYeast 1056 American Ale

O.G.: 1.050
T.G.: 1.010
Alcohol: 5.2%
Bitterness: 43 IBU
SRM: 7.2

This was just entered in Amber Waves of Grain.  Hope it goes well...

On Deck: Elder Ale (2/13), Belgian Blonde (2/20)
Primary: Sarsaparilla Ale
Secondary: Beef on Weck Ale, Irish Red Ale

Buffalo Breweries Lecture and Wilson House Tasting

A couple small things going on here besides more and more lake effect snow.  The brewing of the sarsaparilla ale went great on Sunday.  The flavor and aroma of the beer was amazing.  Once it ferments, I believe this will be a delicious late spring or summer braggot.  The key to that last statement is "once it ferments."  It's been extremely sluggish to start and I can only blame it on my own sluggishness.  The yeast was over a year expired, and although it is still viable, I should have made a starter but never got around to it.  I made some slants with the yeast that are beginning to show signs of growth which gives me hope that in the next day or so, fermentation will start.  If it doesn't, I will be stuck with pitching some more yeast.

There are a few things coming up in the next short while, however I'm not familiar with either of them enough to do a whole blog post on each one.  Those would be "Buffalo Breweries" lecture at the Tonawanda City Hall, sponsored by the Tonawanda Historical Society, and a beer tasting at the Wilson House.

The Buffalo Breweries lecture sounded quite interesting, and had I had a bit more notice, I would most likely attend.  I have not yet had a chance to read Nickel City Drafts, but this sounds like it is along the same lines.  Anyone who is interested in the historical aspect of brewing in Buffalo and the surrounding community, I would suggest you make an attempt to attend.  It is tomorrow night (2/9) at 7 pm at the Tonawanda City Hall.

The next event I saw a flyer for at work, and although it is about an hour away, it is sounding like I might have to take the trip out there.  It will be a paring of food and drink with Tim Herzog from Flying Bison at Wilson House in Wilson, NY.  The tasting takes place on 2/23 at 7pm and tickets are $15 and can be purchased at the Wilson House, or by contacting ktokeefedesigns2@aol.com.

I tested the Irish Red today and transferred it to secondary today.  It tastes great, although since I have been drinking so much of the Rye-rish Red recently, it seems like this one is missing that nice little spice the rye gives.  The Beef on Weck ale will be bottled this Saturday.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

On Deck: Elder Ale (2/13), Belgian Blonde (2/20)
Primary: Sarsaparilla Ale
Secondary: Beef on Weck Ale, Irish Red Ale

Belgian Blonde

It was another brew day today, so I only have my Elder beer to brew before I have nothing left in the queue.  This left me in quite the predicament, so I will have to add another beer to the brew calendar.  I decided to let Marygrace choose it.  She wanted to go with a Belgian Blonde Ale, similar to a Leffe, and I must say, I wasn't too enthused about this beer since the last Blonde that Jay and I attempted was infected.  But I have to keep forging on ahead an have to leave those bad beers behind me.

I am going to do this beer completely in style per BJCP, although eventually I may have to branch out from this standard and include some orange zest and possibly some pink peppercorns to give it a little bit more of a spicy note yet fruity at the same time.

For this one though, I will be using a Belgian Pilsner malt and extra light malt extract as my base.  I will be using honey malt to give it a slight honey flavor and to add some color, and I will be using candied Belgian sugar in order to boost the initial gravity.  For hops, I will be using Hallertau for bittering and I will be trying to get a hold of some Spalt for aroma.  And finally, for yeast I think I will be going with a French Saison yeast.  It should impart some spicy and fruity notes that should compliment the beer nicely.  The target brew date for this beer will be 2/20.

On Deck: Elder Ale (2/13), Belgian Blonde (2/20)
Primary: Irish Red Ale, Sarsaparilla Ale
Secondary: Beef on Weck Ale

5th Annual Art of Beer

Another year, another Art of Beer is upon us.  This time it is being held on Friday, March 4th.  I am looking forward to all of the delicious foods and beers that will be at this event.

Over the past few times I've been able to get a taste of some beers that I typically wouldn't have forked the money over for without trying, one of them being Genesee Bock and another being Ithaca Beer Company's Ground Break.

A few highlights of the participants are:
Flying Bison
Certo Brothers (The distribute EBC, Ommegang, Sam Adams, Southern Tier, and plenty more)
Mr. Goodbar (They always bring two live ales to sample)
Pearl Street
And many more...

Just like last year, the tickets are $25 pre-sale or $30 at the door (although I wouldn't wait since they may sell out).  As always, you can get your tickets at Niagara Tradition Homebrew.

On Deck: Sarsaparilla Ale (2/6)
Primary: Irish Red Ale
Secondary: Beef on Weck Ale
Carbonating: American Pale Ale
Drinking: Rye-rish Red Ale

Fancy Beer Night Round 1

I'm just going to start off by saying that Saturday was a great day for beer all around.  In Buffalo, Flying Bison hosted their annual chili cook-off and raised over $1,100 for Cornerstone Manor, a women and children shelter in Buffalo.  They had a lot of their beers to sample such as Blizzard Bock, their Barley wine, and an oatmeal pale ale, all of which were quite delicious.  They even had 6 packs of the 2009 vintage of barley wine for only $22, which I made sure I grabbed myself one.





Down in Austin, TX, Jester King Craft Brewery had their grand opening.  (Jay did a whole blog post about it that you can check out here.)  Then on top of all of that, a few of us got together and had a fancy beer night, where only beers over $10 a bottle were allowed.  (I did sneak in a couple of my homebrews.)



We didn't quite plan it, but it seemed like the featured brewery of the night was Ommegang.  We sampled the Witte, Biere de Mars, Adoration, and Chocolate Indulgence.  I would have to say that my favorite from this section was Biere de Mars, and not only because of the magical space dust.  It was extremely well balanced and the typical farmhouse/biere de mars tartness, and since I am in the middle of reading Farmhouse Ales right now, I was even more drawn to this beer.  There is not too much else I can say, other than go out and try it.

The next prominently featured brewery was Ithaca.  From them, we sampled two from their Excelsior line, White Gold and Le Bleu.  My favorite of the two here had to have been Le Bleu.  It was quite an interesting blueberry lambic which from the tartness of the blueberries and the bacteria made it taste as everyone said "a sour patch kid."  It definitely was not something that I would be able to drink a whole bottle myself, but one that would be best shared with a few other friends as we did that night.

We sampled at least ten beers that night and it probably wasn't the best idea since we had a general idea of an order to taste them in, but after a while, your taste buds would get tired all of the flavors started blending in.  One of those beers that blended in for me was Lucifer from the Belgian brewery Het Anker.  It followed Biere de Mars that night so it did not get a fair judgement from myself because of the lingering flavors, however I had the foresight to cap it off with a champagne saver that came with our Rabbit corkscrew set and tasted it last night.  It was delicious and was extremely characteristic of a Belgian Saison, light in color with excellent head, and slightly spicy, fruity and tarty.  I can only aim to achieve something like this when I attempt to brew by first Saison this summer.



On Deck: Sarsaparilla Ale (2/6)
Primary: Irish Red Ale
Secondary: Beef on Weck Ale
Carbonating: American Pale Ale
Drinking: Rye-rish Red Ale