Double Red Ale: Possible Giveaway??

I was looking around for something different to brew a few weeks ago and after looking through my beer magazines, an idea hit me. I decided I would brew a Double (Imperial) Red Ale. Well, there was one problem, I had a good Red Ale recipe, but nothing for a Double Red, so I improvised. I took my Red Ale recipe and doubled a few of the grains, but I probably should have not doubled the small amount of Simpson’s Dark Crystal Malt. Because of that little error my “RED” Ale is more of a nut brown than red. We’ll see what it looks like at bottling. (I've been sitting on this post, the beer definitely has red highlights.)

That brings me to my next point, I am going to be putting it in the bottles sometime this week. I bottle into 22 oz brown bottles, because if you are going to drink one homebrew, you probably are going to drink another so why not just cut to the chase and drink one 22 oz’er, right? So my 5 1/2 gallons will typically give me 27-29 bottles depending on how much beer I actually get after transferring it to the bottling vessel.

Now I know right now you are probably wondering what the title of this post is all about. It says “giveaway” and he is yammering on and on about his brewing goof ups. Well, lets get to it. I started a new workout program and it has taken a drastic cut to my drinking. Now I’m am going to keep a 6 pack of them for myself to be drank on special occasions, and I have obligations to some of my cohorts to give them a test bottle, but the rest I am going to give away. Now due to international alcohol shipping laws, I will not be able to give away any bottles to anyone outside the US. Sorry to all my international readers, don’t be mad at me, be mad at the various government bodies that enforce these rules.

So here is what I am thinking, I will have 5 bottles to give away. So the first 5 people to leave a comment will receive 1 – 22 oz bottles of Ol’ Naps Used to be Red Ale. The only thing I ask is that after you taste it, you come back to this post and leave me honest feedback. If you hate and fed it to the dog, great! Tell me that. If you loved it or have suggestions, tell me those too.

Now I’m hoping that most of these go locally because of shipping issues, but if you do live out of state, I’ll try to get crafty to get it to you. Just drop me your email and we can work out the details.

Good luck and happy tasting! Keep ‘em tippin’ !

Cool Local Beer Article...

So I was reading the news the other day and I came across a really cool article. It is all about the craft beer movement in the Finger Lakes area. The article covers a lot of different aspects from growing hops to the new breweries that are popping up. I figured I would share the link. Just click here for the craft beer article.


Also, I am trying to figure out a way to do a homebrew giveaway. I have a few bottles that I would like to give away, I just have to work out the kinks, so stay posted.

Keep ‘em tippin’ !

Middle Ages Brewing Co.

So I have had this post in my back pocket for a couple of weeks, but things didn’t work out the way I planned. Big surprise, right? But anyway, two weekends ago we went up to Syracuse to visit L Bird’s sister and her family. It’s always a good time to catch up and hang out while the kids play, plus I get to hang out with my brother in-law Chuck. So there is always a lot of good conversation about beer and plenty of good beer being drank as well. The past few times we have been up to visit, Chuck and I have talked about going to Middle Ages Brewing Co., but it has never worked out, normally because we go up to visit on Sundays and Middle Ages is closed on Sunday. But I got lucky this past visit, we ended up going on a Saturday. Awesome!

After some lunch and hanging out, Chuck and I ditched the wives and kids for an hour to head over to the brewery. I’ve had Middle Ages beer before, but any chance I can get to go to the tasting room, I am jumping on. Chuck winds his way through the city and we pull up in front of this old brick, industrial looking building with a small sign on the garage doors that said Middle Ages Brewing Co. Now I have been to plenty of breweries where the initial looks of the building were completely different from the quality of the beer. I have been to places where I drove by them a hundred times saying “There is no way that is a brewery it’s too small and looks like an old garage!” (Ithaca Beer) and had fantastic beer. Then I have been to places where the tasting room is as swanky as could be and the beer was definitely subpar (I’ll leave them nameless, as no one should drink “their” beer). So walking up to Middle Ages I was still completely unbiased.

We walked in and the tasting room was packed. I had a camera in my pocket to take a few pictures, but I completely forgot about it once the beer started pouring. Sorry! We made our way to the bar and found that they had 7 beers on tap for tasting and 3 other beers in the back that were for growler pours only. So 10 beers is a pretty healthy stable of beers, and Chuck and I made our way through 9 out of 10. We tasted the 7 they were pouring and a couple of them twice, then we each got a growler from out back. I liked one of their beers. They were all superb, but I especially liked the Old Marcus, it was slightly sweet with maybe some honey notes but it still had a nice maltiness to carry it through and make it a well rounded very easy drinking beer.

Middle Ages bar staff is also very good. They were very knowledgeable of the beers and very helpful, but also laid back. They were friendly and not pretentious beer snobs. They had a good time mixing with the crowd and still talking up good beer. I was very impressed with them to say the least.

I ended up getting a growler of the Black Heart Stout from their back room. I was going to do a beer review on it, but once I poured a pint I lost track of everything else and just enjoyed the simple pleasure of drinking and really enjoying a beer. I wasn’t worried about tasting notes or pictures; I just let myself be wrapped in the sensations of drinking it just for that enjoyment. I will say that it is an excellent stout and you should buy it if you ever happen upon it.

All in all it was a great trip to a great brewery and the beers are all fantastic. If you are in Syracuse, please find time to stop into Middle Ages and try their selections. You will not be disappointed. Until then, keep em’ tippin’!