St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! To celebrate this holiday, when "Everyone is Irish". I went to an Italian restaurant and had a "Peroni"... Very good!

Our Friend John and His Award Winning Beer

Our friend, John Phelan took FIRST PLACE in the Ellicott Mills Brewing Company's homebrew contest!

As a result, the restaurant will brew 500 gallons of John's recipe and serve it on tap until it runs out! John will meet with the master brewer on Sunday, Nov. 22 and they will make the beer together at the brewery. Sometime after that, there will be a public unveiling, complete with a tap and label especially designed for John.

It was John's first ever contest even though he has been brewing for 10 years or more for the Ten Hills Brewery. He was one of 7 home brewers competing for this prize and was judged by three professional brewers and one "professional drinker" (that is how the fourth judge was introduced!). John received a 93 out of 100 points and was the only brewer to receive perfect scores from any of the judges at all (he received them from two judges!).

For those of you who are in this area, the beer should be available for a few months on tap. You can go into the bar or restaurant and order it any time! Right now, it's called "California Drinkin'" because it was a West Coast pale ale.

Congratulations, John!

I would post a link to the Ellicott Mills Brewing Co. but the flash intro takes up too much time and nearly drove me mad, so I will just say go to Ellicott City, and visit the restaurant at 8308 Main St. and ask for a "California Drinkin' beer.

Guinness 250th Birthday Stout

Well, I did get a 6-pack of the birthday beer, which cost $2 more than the regular Guinness, and was a little dissappointed. Don't know what I expected, really, but it just didn't taste as good as the regular bottled Stout with the nitrogen widget. The foam was a little spongey, and it tasted more like a porter. Oh, well, Happy 25oth Birthday Guinness anyway, back to the regular stout for me.
You can purchase Guinness books and t-shirts at our Beer Store.

Happy Birthday Guinness Brewing

2009 is the 250th birthday of Guinness Brewing. They are producing, for a limited time, specially marked bottles of 250th birthday beer. I don't know what may be different from regular Guinness Stout, but will have to get some soon.

Keep on Brewing

Several years ago, I got the bug to make my own beer. I never got past the kit stage, but some of my friends got as far as grinding their own grains, and growing their own hops. Making your own beer is fun, and it is easy to make great tasting beer. Due to the fact that I already had too many hobbies, I gave it up after 2 years, and sold all my supplies to a friend. That was about 10 years ago, and he is still brewing. He just came by for a visit, and reported on his plans to enter a local contest with one of his recipes, good luck, John.

Brewing Your Own Beer

Yes, it really does taste better. I tried it several years ago, and really enjoyed it. There are simple kits for beginners, that consists of the malt mix and yeast. Basically, you mix and boil the "wort", transfer it to a large container, add the yeast, and let it sit for about 2 weeks. Then you transfer the beer to sterilized bottles and cap them, that's all there is to it. You will have beer in about a month.
There are stores that specialize on beer making ingredients, search for them on the internet.
If you really get into the hobby, then you will use more advanced techniques such as grinding your own grains, and use different kinds of hops to enhance the flavors.
Have fun with it, and remember to sterilize everything that comes in contact with the beer, that's the secret to success.
There are some great books on homebrewing at our Beer Store.

Newcastle Brown Ale

I had a friend over for a meeting, and he requested some Newcastle Brown Ale. Not one of my favorites, it's just so different from what I usually like, but I just can't put my finger on why I don't like it. I heard that some like to call it "Go to Outer Space Beer", but I can't imagine why, it just wasn't to my liking.