I just got my credit card bill for last month and it was much higher than I was expecting so I started doing the math...I spent over $2000 on wine last month. Oops.

OHG WEG A 1%er

BillyG was a 1%r when people like Gordon Gekko and Alex P Keaton roamed the earth. Dude is old school.

I bought a Browning Over/Under for the same amount last month - I wonder when Barry's goons will come round me up?

Made it back from Madison alive and intact, with 3.5 cases of midwestern goodness. Stayed with a friend near Detroit overnight on the way home, which meant 2 border crossings in/out of Canada. Was mildly worried someone would object to that amount of beer sitting next to me between the bucket seats, but it's funny, no one ever looked up front. Canadian lady stayed seated, which meant she was too low to see them, and the American guy searched the back and asked 500 questions (100 questions about 5 times each), but also never even looked in the cab. Could've been 40 pounds of weed up there.

I wish thus the Oops. Fem G was asking a wine salesman at my wine shop if I was one of their best customers and he said he's never met any of their best customers because they place orders for $30,000 worth of wine via the internet and send their assistants to go pick it up for them.

holy fuck.

All that beer was $130 and the guy was incredibly appreciative. They know me there as "that guy from Boston who comes in a buys a shitload of beer."

Also, while driving through Michigan, I was really close to visiting Bell's. But the phone map wasn't very accurate about where I was, so I passed the exit, and really I didn't have time for it anyway. I wanted to see it badly, but it's not like I was gonna drink anything, maybe just buy a t-shirt or something. I was sad to pass it up but I still had 2+ hours to drive and it was already 7pm.

Oskar Blues joins Sierra Nevada and New Belgium in expanding to Asheville:
http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20 ... CFRONTPAGE

Pretty cool. I forsee a Beer-cation in my future to Western Carolina.

But, not to be nit picky, Brevard is almost an hour from Asheville.

Damn. East coast foothold.



What should I brew next? Something lighter, right? I'm still working on the DIPA's which are pretty serious, and next to bottled any day now is that hoppy tripel, which will also have high content. What's lightish but still really interesting, and not too hoppy?

Lightish in body/weight or AC or both?

I like Mild Ales. Or maybe a Sour Ale?

Speaking of Sour Ales, anyone have any recommendations for good ones other than the Russian River ones? I almost picked up a Lost Abbey one a week ago at Whole Foods but put it back down when I saw the price was over $15.

Will have to look up mild ales, not familiar with it by style name. Also I have west coast hops in the freezer, which I should probably use up, so I am steering away from germans and others that use the noble hops.

Yea, I'm aware. Figured not too many would be aware of the town of Brevard.

It's a dark sessionable beer with low alc but tons of flavor coming from the malts rather than hops.

Here's a link with style info.

Goose Island makes one called Mild Winter. Eagle Rock makes one called Solidarity.

Ok, really interesting. It doesn't help me use up west coast hops, but it does make me really curious. Seems like you just come up with a really complex malt bill that isn't too big, keep the color medium, make sure some latent sugar survives, and avoid the burnt toast flavors (ie keep the chocolate stout to a minimum.) Then use british yeast and ideally british hops in small quantities.

If you've got the West Coast hops to use, just make a nice sessionable American Pale Ale with some nice hoppiness. (a style I've been drinking a lot of lately)

What about a hoppy red ale like Green Flash Hop Head Red or Odell Red Ale?

I vote for this.

That would be pretty easy, which I guess is a good thing. Soon as this rain clears up I'll go get ingredients again. But I'm not done with this Mild thing.

I went to a tapping party for these two delicious beers brewed in collaboration with Nebraska Beer Blog.
Nebraska Brewing Company Saison Sabdariffa: A delicious and refreshing Saison with a pleasant tartness and gorgeous magenta color from the use of hibiscus flowers.

Upstream Dopplesticke: A malt rich German-style ale which is a stronger version 9.4% ABV version of an Altbier. Full of lush caramel and dark fruit flavors and aroma, with a dry finish.

I was also lucky enough to consume Scheldebrouwerij Hop Ruiter on tap as well. It might not have been as good as the Saison, but it was a pretty decent Belgian IPA.
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/scheldebro ... er/122890/

Here are the photos I took yesterday at the Lincoln Lagers Home brew club 2012 AHA Big Brew event. We all used the same raw wort for a Brown Ale recipe and then made our own beer style from that recipe.

What size was that original wort batch? That looks like a 55 gallon drum but it's nowhere near full.

Also that doppelsticke sound sawesome, like Double Bag from Long Trail but more-so.

We filled two of those 55 gallon drums with wort. The first one had a slightly higher brix reading than the first, so each person got at least 2.5 gallons from each drum.