i ended up going to the decatur craft beer festival this year with my buddy willy! there were lots of great beer for the tasting, although it’s always a gamble drinking that much between noon and 5pm on a saturday. i know it’s boring, but my highlights were sierra nevada’s northern hemisphere harvest and estate homegrown ale on tap!

– ryan

i recently spent a nice fall afternoon brewing a couple batches of beer with some friends! it had been awhile since i’ve brewed, so i was excited to get back into the swing of things.

we made a bell’s two hearted clone and a pumpkin amber, although we had to substitute some ingredients on the two hearted. the ipa ended up being 9.6% (wohoo!) and the pumpkin amber a respectable 5.2%!

here is the bottle rocket brewing website if you want to check out previous beers i’ve been a part of.

– ryan

brewing recipes:

go site pumpkin amber ingredients:
5-8 large okra sliced

https://livingpraying.com/crn7t8sbi egg wash:
1 lb pale ale 2-row
1 lb caramel/crystal malt (10l)
6.6 lbs amber sparkling lme
2 oz willamette pellet hops
1/2 oz fuggles hops (dry hop)
wyeast 1098 british ale
2 tbsp pumpkin spice (2 tsp dry hop)

https://semnul.com/creative-mathematics/?p=yfatkx3n two hearted clone ingredients:
1 lb pale ale 2-row
1/2 lb munich
1/2 lb carapils
6.6 lbs golden light lme
2.3 lbs pilsen light lme
4 oz amarillo hops (centinnial was the hop we wanted)
1 oz cascade hops (dry hop)
white labs high gravity yeast

i recently had the 2011 brew free or die ipa by 21st amendment brewery. as far as i can tell, it’s the same tasty ipa with just a new design. be sure to check out my review on the 2010 brew free or die from last summer!

as i mentioned a few days ago, i totally appreciate great beer design! check out recent posts on the revamp of red hook and the new hell or high watermelon design.

– ryan

21st amendment brewery

563 2nd street
san francisco, ca 94107
415-369-0900

the 2011 hell or high watermelon wheat bear is out and as tasty as i remembered! it’s the summer seasonal by 21st amendment brewery out of san francisco. the packaging and cans have a new design this year and it’s just as impressive as last years. i appreciate beer companies that take the extra effort with great design! red hook brewery also had a recent revamp of their package design.

check out our write-up on the 2010 hell or high watermelon from last summer!

– ryan

21st amendment brewery

563 2nd street
san francisco, ca 94107
415-369-0900

red hook brewery recently revamped their graphic and bottle design and i’m digging it! the bottles are now more rounded and look like stretched out red stripe bottles. the graphic design is also greatly improved and features a screenprinted look with a much simpler, yet catchy design. take a look for yourself, but to me these bottles stand out way more than they used to on the beer aisle.

in case you were worried, long hammer is still the same ipa you know and love, it just has a new look. it’s a light bodied, full tasting ipa, brewed with cascade and willamette hops for that great floral aroma and flavor. it’s not my favorite ipa out there, but it is a tasty one!

– ryan

red hook brewery

14300 northeast 145th street
woodinville, wa 98072
425-483-3232

i just tried strawberry harvest lager by abita beer out of abita springs, la. i’m not always the biggest fan of fruity beers, especially ones with artificial tasting flavors, but i can definitely go along with a springtime ale featuring a natural fruity taste though.

with bottle rocket brewing, we brewed an orange cream ale in the spring and a watermelon wheat in the summer with fresh pureed fruit. they totally hit the spot on warm afternoon and the results were always awesome!

so to say the least, i was intrigued by abita’s new beer brewed with fresh louisiana strawberries. in the end, i’d say it was just all right though. it didn’t knock my socks off, or maybe i just had high hopes. it was fairly mild, but not as natural as i thought. i don’t buy fruity beers that often, so i doubt i will buy it again. if i’m craving fruity, i’ll probably go with sweetwater blue, which really hits the spot.

– ryan

abita beer

21084 louisiana 36
abita springs, la 70433
985-893-3143

have you ever tried torpedo extra ipa by sierra nevada? it’s a tasty ipa that stays in my rotation of go-to beers. i don’t think it’s quite up to par with bell’s two hearted or heavy seas loose cannon, but it is an ipa that i am always up for drinking! the torpedo has a strong citrus hop flavor and aroma, mostly from being brewed with whole-cone hops. it also hits 7.2% abv, so it packs a punch as well.

according to the the packaging, the torpedo was dry-hopped using a hop-tornado, a brewing tool sierra nevada designed and built. it’s described as a “sleek, stainless-steel piece of hardware that delivers more pure hop aroma than any method of dry-hopping we’ve ever seen.” they claim this is how their beers have such great hop characteristics. based on their hoppy beers, i believe it!

for an ipa you might not have tried before, go with the torpedo extra ipa!

– ryan

sierra nevada

1075 east 20th street
chico, ca 95928
530-893-3520

once upon a time, my buddy willy and i brewed quite a bit of beer under the name bottle rocket brewing. we hosted gatherings where we grilled out and shared our beer with friends. summertime favorites were our watermelon wheat and orange cream ale, both went quickly when we had them on tap.

most of our friends also chipped in and designed labels for our beers. the labels were a big part of the fun we had! you can see all of the different label designs on the bottle rocket website, or flip through them here.

although it’s been awhile since i’ve brewed, i hope to get back to brewing soon!

– ryan

one of my favorite beers around, and one of the hardest to find for that matter, is hopslam ale by bell’s brewery out of kalamazoo, michigan. this citrusy, floral, and insanely-hoppy double-IPA is brewed with honey and is one of the smoothest 10% beers you will find. hopslam is the winter seasonal release by bell’s and is a real treat when around. for some reason they don’t ship too much of it down south, so most stores sell out the day they receive their shipment.

last winter i was able to find this beer for the first time and was quite impressed. the problem was when i discovered its greatness, atlanta was already completely sold out. this year i have yet to find the six-packs, however i did find this beautiful mini-keg! having five liters of this tasty treat in my fridge is great to come home to after a long day of work!

– ryan

bell’s brewery

355 e. kalamazoo ave.
kalamazoo, mi 49007
269-382-5712

to purchase alcohol in ontario you have to head to an lcbo, which stands for liquor control board of ontario. it’s a state run store that sells beer, wine, and spirits. if you are just looking for beer you can head to the beer store, a privately owned operation that sells beer. it definitely seemed odd that you couldn’t just go to a grocery or convenience store for booze. i guess some u.s. states have similar operations though, like rhode island for instance.

the beer store was pretty interesting. it was like in the movie strange brew where you place an order and your beer comes out on a conveyer belt. you can also bring in your used bottles for money off your purchase, which gives you way more incentive to recycle. i was also impressed that they sold two litres of IPA!

i noticed that just because you worked at the beer store didn’t mean you knew a lot about beer though. i asked for the hoppiest beer they sold and was recommended best bitter by wellington arkell. it was neither hoppy nor especially bitter.

– ryan