There's More...

I forgot to mention a few things in yesterday's post, so here is some more random stuff.

The amber from about two weeks ago got transferred and dry-hopped yesterday.  Although my mind is constantly changing, I am planning on using The Rodeo as the name for the amber/session/bitter/mild/good beer/whatever that I have been making.  I hit all my numbers and it tastes good at this point, but the beer looks much more like a Pale than an Amber (part of the reason I don't really want to classify a style for it).

On Christmas night we had an unexpected surprise as my Uncle Tom, a well know IPA lover, brought a few (10-12) bombers from his beer fridge to taste.  What started as a 3 or 4 beer tasting turned into a lot more, which was awesome.  They were all Imperial's and Barleywines, so needless to say, we were having fun.  One of the best parts about going to different parts of the country is trying the local beers.  Rather than make everyone jealous about the different beers I got to try, I will just say that if you want a hoppy beer, Three Floyd's knows what they are doing (they know a lot more than just hops also).  That, and if you are on vacation, ask for something local to drink, it might not always be better than the beers you have tried before, but there is only one way to find out.

Last Post of '09 (maybe)

I am back after a nice Christmas trip to Chicago, not much new, but I can find a way to BS through a post. 

The day before I left for Chicago I had an unfortunate occurrence...the CO2 on the kegerator ran out.  I think I have a leak somewhere because there was no pressure on the kegs, although after getting new CO2, I can't find a leak so I dont know.  The problem was that it was Sunday (nowhere open to get CO2) and there was no pressure on The Caboose and Peppermint Chocolate Stout for a week.  I am hoping that it can be salvaged now that it is back on the CO2.  As I write this, I am drinking the Caboose, it is noticeable low on carbonation, but not totally flat.  We'll see how it turns out after a few days at pressure.

Managed a few brewery trips while in Chicago, both of which have been profiled on the blog before.  Had dinner at Two Brothers, meatloaf sandwich with an imperial stout and their hoppy rye beer.  The meatloaf and rye beer worked really well together.  I really liked how the restaurant specialized in "comfort" food, like macaroni, meatloaf, etc.  I am a fan of most of the beers Two Brothers makes.  There pub is not what I am looking at doing for PBC, but their production facility is quite impressive. 

Also stopped by Half Acre's tasting room, it was a different take on a tasting room that I have really seen before.  It was really more of a retail store than a tasting room, although they did have 6 beers on tap.  They gave us like 2 oz samples of all the beers, but we were not able to buy a beer by the pint.  They had bombers of two of their beers available, 6ers of one beer and growlers of anything on tap.  They also sold Half Acre schwag and had bombers from other breweries available.  My initial thoughts were that it was not a very lucrative way to set up a tasting room, but while we were there a ton of people came in and bought beer, so I could be wrong.  They were getting a lot of people buying their "Big Hugs Imperial Stout," which was quite good (it was more of an imperial coffee stout than imperial stout, but still tasty).

Might make more beer this week, but if we get some more snow I will find myself on the mountain.

More Session

Going back to work some more on the session ale, although I call it an amber, it could be classified into a few categories.  Really, I just think it will be a damn good beer.

Session Beer (Amber)

Style: Best Bitter/Amber Hybrid (not that the getting an exact style really matters to me)
Malts: American 2-Row, Biscuit, CaraVienne, Crystal, Munich
Hops: Mt. Hood, Nugget, Willamette
ABV: ~ 4.2%
Playlist: Rocking the Christmas tunes, best songs you may not have heard include "Christmas in Hollis" by Run DMC and Wyclef's version of "Little Drummer Boy"

The Peppermint Chocolate Stout is done and I tried some samples today.  It is exactly what I was shooting for, it tastes like peppermint bark.  I know it is a weird flavor for a beer, but the flavors do work well together.  The aroma is peppermint up front, but is subtle in the taste.  There is dark chocolate in the aroma, but it takes a back seat to the mint.  It tastes rather sweet, but that is balanced nicely with the bitter chocolate finish, which lingers for a while.  Although it is good, I can't think of a circumstance where I would want to have a second pint in one sitting.  I will be sure to bottle a bunch of this and get it out to people so that they can try it.  My guess is that the opinions will be split between "wow this is really good" and "what the hell were you thinking," I'm okay with that.

Rodeo and Others

For some reason, this past weekend I had a bunch of inspirations for beer names, maybe it was the beer talking.  The thoughts that I had start to stray away from the outdoors image and start going into the cowboy/western theme.  Here's what I got:

Rodeo - What I like about this is that it can be applied to both kayaking and skiing (kayaking competition is a rodeo and in skiing it is a freestyle move) and then of course there are actual rodeos.

Outlaw - I just thought this one sounded tight.  Wanted to do an Outlaw IPA, but it looks like that beer already exists...damn it.

Bandit

Double Barrel Shotgun - Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout. 
Single Barrel Shotgun - Barrel-Aged Stout
Sawed-off Shotgun - Stout

Let me know if any of these stick or if you have any other ideas

Last Month of '09

Kind of hard to believe that '09 is almost over, it feels like I just finished Brewing School even though that was 9 months ago.  As I move towards the end of this year, I am really hoping to get most of my financing nailed down so I can start 2010 by signing a building lease.  Meetings are set up, it is just a matter of getting the commitments.

Now that I have made some Christmas/Holiday/Winter Seasonal pilots, it is time to get back to working on the first release(s) for Payette Brewing.  There is a poll on the right to help decide what style I will start/continue to work on.  I have my opinions on what to make, but I want to know what the people in Boise want to see.  Be sure to check back for opportunities to sample these pilot batches and give your feedback.  I plan on brewing something this week and will post something when I do.

I had another idea last night, if I can ever put it to use I will be stoked.  The idea is putting the cart ahead of the horse, but I want to make sure I write it down so I don't forget it.  So when a country wins a World Cup, they put a star above the team crest.  Since Brazil has won five World Cups, their crest has five stars.  If and when a PBC beer wins a GABF medal or another award, I will put a start above the beer that won's logo.  That all sounds good, but I still need to make an award winning beer before I can start adding stars.