A Winter Warmer, well sort of….

It’s turning colder and has been chilly and raining all week, so that got me thinking about winter and brewing up some winter warmer beers. I was thinking of something nice, dark, malty and plenty of kick, but then I decided to take a different approach. Some of you may remember the infamous Hot Chili Pepper beer. Well what better way to keep warm in the winter than sweating to every wonderful sip of Hot Chili Pepper Ale and munching cheese with the Bears game on TV.

So I’m going to start brewing up a 6 gallon batch of fiery goodness,  but this time I think I am going to experiment a little and split the batch up into three 2 gallon fermenters. Then I can experiment with levels of heat. I’ll ferment one with mild jalapenos, a medium heat fermenter with mostly jalapenos and one or two habaneros, and the last fermenter will be an inferno with generous habaneros and a few jalapenos to round out the flavor.
I’ll try to post some good pictures or videos of the brewing process and hopefully some video of people trying them. Until then keep ‘em tippin’ !!!

Auction Beer Swag

So occasionally my buddy Capt. Insano and I hit the local auction. Now the whole auction is the greatest show in itself. It is set in an old barn, they have old church pews and old rows of movie theater seats bolted to the floor, the whole place is a greasy looking yellow from all of the smoke and grease and they have one of the most miserable auctioneers I’ve seen. But the whole scene is hysterical. She sits up on the raised platform and yells at her workers to bring things faster, then she comes up with odd words for certain items, like a few weeks ago everything was either a “compote” or a “commode”, last night everything was either a “spittoon” or a “chamber pot”. She yells at people to “put their damn cards up” and then usually the evening ends when she has had enough and closes the night. So the whole thing is always very entertaining.

We have gone a few times and normally come away with some useless junk, but it was fun. Well last night  was a great night for beer memorabilia. So I scored a pretty sweet find.

Yep, a vintage Genesee Beer tray. They also had a Genesee pool table light and a Schaefers hanging bar clock/lighted sign that was definitely vintage. I gave both of those things a shot but they quickly flew out of my price range. But overall I think it was a successful night at the auction.

Keep ‘em tippin’ !

Brewery Ommegang: Hennepin

Well, the summer is starting to wind down and we are now in September. But my thoughts are still on the hot, hazy dog days of summer and the perfect refreshment for those days, a Saison Ale.

With that in mind I ran down to Wegmans and went straight to the Belgian section, because there are a ton of truly fantastic saisons from Belgium. Well, I couldn’t make a decision between some of them so I fell back to an old comfortable standby Hennepin. Now technically it's not Belgian but it is brewed true to Belgian style. It’s actually brewed by Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, NY and they have an affiliation with Duval, so technically it really is Belgian by like the “six degrees of Kevin Bacon” or something like that. But anyway, on with the review:

Appearance: It poured a very light straw color and was quite hazy. It poured a rocky white head, I mean just look at it. It’s glorious. It was also very effervescent with millions of tiny bubbles streaming up the glass as it sat there.

Aroma: I got some very slight hoppy notes, that were balanced with some spicy notes. The spicy notes were peppery almost like black pepper, and then I also smelled a very slight hint of pine.

Taste: The first sip there was a slightly sweet but not overly sweet and cloying. It was light and refreshing. It was very crisp and clean across the palate. It was perfectly balanced so that there were really no stand out flavors that overpowered the beer.

Overall: This is a great beer. It is my old standby for hot summer days. Its always cold and refreshing and quenches your thirst perfectly. If you have it in your area it is definitely worth buying a bottle or two. Enjoy!

Keep ‘em tippin’!!