Provender de Mars- Ambree

Phil Markowski's excellent book "Farmhouse Ales" provides a awesome amount of information regarding the Biere de Garde style of French ales. I highly recommend that if you are interested in Saisons or Biere de Garde to give it a read. And no, you can't borrow my copy.

The Faustian bargain

If you ever have the chance to make a deal with The Devil please do your homework in advance. Many folkloric heroes and villains have had just this chance and for most of them they ended up paying The Devil his due. There is however one form of infernal pact a home brewer can make that will benefit everyone involved, sans their liver health of course, the Belgian Golden Strong ale. 

Catch up time!

It's been almost 2 months since my last post, so believe me when I tell you I've been exceptionally busy. The Beersmith brewing log has been filled up with eight brews since April 21st.

Interminable Waiting

Spring is in the air and I am now in possession of 175 lb of grains from our local brew club group buy. 50 lb sacks of Briess Pilsner, Two Row and Pale malt. Also 12.5 lb of Caramel Munich 60. This is what I call a good start, with one exception...

Two Hearted - Tie your flies

Centennial, Centennial and more Centennial. There's no real secret to this clone. The only formula to making this a good clone is to not drink so much of the clone's inspiration on brew day and don't make the rookie mistakes that I did.

Mellifluous Cider

It's a good thing to be a part of a brew club. One of the first real tangible benefits I experienced being a club member was being invited to a cider pressing this last fall. I picked and pressed four 5-7 gallon buckets of perfectly ripe apples from a club member's house. He had dozens of pickers over two weekends and we had right big cider pressing on September 28th.

Holiday Joy and Templeton Rye

I'm not a big fan of the holiday season but I think this year will be a little easier with the help of my new friend, Templeton Rye. Made right here in Iowa. The below pic is of my very first full bottle. I picked it up this weekend at a big box store of all places. Until now I have relied on the kindnesses of friends and strangers for a little taste here and there.

Merry Christmas to me!

That bottle is still full...but now there's a higher percentage of air inside. We'll just call it the Christmas Angels' Share.