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Ok, Ok, I know it’s been forever since my last post and for that I apologize, but you know with summer comes distractions. Fortunately lots of my distractions have been beer related so I have plenty of stuff to back-cover here.

Homebrewers typically are very chill laid back people, but when you get down to it the best homebrews come from those who understand the fickle science of beer making the best. While there are many ways to classify and segment the types of homebrewers perhaps the most common is extract/partial-grain vs all-grain.

The All-Grain Brewer creates their pre-boil wort by first going through a “mashing” process to extract all of their fermentable sugars from the pounds of malted grain, like a full sized brewery.

The Extract or Partial-Grain Brewer creates most or all of their pre-boil wort by purchasing their fermentable sugars in syrup or dry powder form. This effectively allows them to skip the step of mashing their own grain.

In homebrewing there is a mantra that goes something like, “ sure, you don’t have to be an all-grain brewer to make great beers… you can make great extract beer, it’s done all the time” The homebrewing community understands that people want to wade into the hobby and extract brewing is a great way to do it. It’s kinda like saying you can be a great swimmer even if you never leave the shallow end, but here is my take:

I usually brew with my good friend Rob, after all what good is beer if you can’t share it with someone? We’re  a couple of brews into the all-grain experience now and I can’t speak for him, but I wanted to step out of the partial-grain realm and into the all-grain realm for several reasons, but the greatest of those was that I thought that I could make better beer. It’s not that I’m not happy with the partial-grain brew that we had been producing, but something about it was bothering me. The beers, regardless of style, if we were using the same base malt extract something about the beer tended to taste the same. I thought with all-grain brewing we were offered the opportunity to create a more complex and oft more true-to-style base for the beer and so we made a mash-tun out of a broken cooler, some tubing and a filter and gave the great experiment a whirl.

After the first two experiments I’ve determined that I was right about one thing… we were able to make better beer, but I was wrong about why. As we delved into the all-grain adventure I had to do a lot of re-reading Joy of Homebrewing, I talked to other brewers, more advanced than I, I read segments from other books and online posts about all-grain recipes and process. Taking time to understand some of the major concepts in mashing helped me not only successfully make all-grain beer but also helped me identify what I was doing incorrectly when we were brewing with partial-grain. I could get into the specific issues but the important thing to take away was this:  you can make great extract beer, but with partial-grain recipes, save the time by not doing the full mash, but don’t convince yourself, as I did, that you don’t need to take the time to understand the concepts of mashing.

Finally a weekend without a thunderstorm, the gods had smiled down upon us indeed! Beer and cookouts go hand in hand, there is no better time of year than the beginning of the cookout season. The Memorial Day cookout usually belongs to some friends of ours, it’s always a great time, but when Mrs. LuvParty and I caught word that they were opting out this year we immediately raised our BBQ flag.

I don’t mean to toot my own horn here, but the LuvParties throw a damn fine cookout! Thus we were confronted with the question the other day from a regular attendee, “LuvParties, if there was a formula for putting together a badass cookout what would you say it is?” My reaction, “wow” I had always thought of cookouts as an art, but perhaps there is a science to be perfected in this realm of strategic social convergence.

After a late night in front of the wall sized dry erase board i came to this conclusion:

W { [ (A+B)*(N +I+T) ] / (E - P) } = Successful Cookout

W = Weather
A = Available Activities
B = Available Beverages
N = Number of Quality Invitations
I = Quality of the Invitation
T = Theme of Interest
E = Alternative Events
P = Previous Success

W

Weather is the largest impactor for our formula. Not a lot of explanation needed here, but if it’s truly a cookout, then it’s outside. The “W” holds the outside multiplier spot because regardless of what the other numbers the presence of extreme weather can be devastating! It should be noted that in special cases if Theme and Weather are related and even bad weather can be negated, here I’m thinking of a hurricane party.

(A+B)

Available Activities should be highlighted in a well crafted invitation. I like to set up horseshoe pits and a dart board, but be creative. Wii bowling is even an option in this day and age. But here’s the thing, potential attendees often attribute more significance to the activities that will be present prior to the event than the level at which they actually use them when they arrive. People forget how much time they can blow just drinking, chatting it up with friends, and standing around the grill. Which brings me to available beverages, don’t get me wrong accepting a sum of zero here shouldn’t hurt you too much, but this is an area to score bonus points. If your like me, you exist between the days of the Bud Light Kegger of college and the Lamplighter’s society’s house red or white wine… That’s right, we’re talk’n BYOB territory which is totally acceptable, but if you want to be a bit flashy with “B” I think you’ll find it will pay off big in the long run. Forget trying to buy several sixers of “good import beer” or “good craft beer” it goes fast and often people are forced to drink a beer that, while it’s good and while you love it, isn’t thier favorite style. So here are my two suggestions;
(1) Brew a batch of homebrew and name it for the party! I’ve found people that have never tried homebrew will attend the party just to give it a shot. If your having a good size party make sure not to focus on it in the invite, people will think they don’t need to bring supplemental, rather mention it in passing. Folks that appreciate it will see it as an exclamation point.
(2) Get a 5gal keg of your local brewery’s seasonal brew, or something appropriate for a warm day. For the Memorial Day cookout we did Hell’s Belle Belgian Blonde from the Big Boss Brewery. It was perfect. Again, remember to mention this in the invitation, but note that it’s a 5 gal keg. People should know from that that it’s just a supplemental treat. We floated ours in about 3.5 hours, if that helps.
The novelty of trying a friend’s homebrew or celebrating a local brewer will get folks over the possibility that it isn’t their style of brew.

(N+I+T)

The importance of the number of quality invites and a well-crafted invitation isn’t hard to see. Quality invites are people that actually are likely to come, for example don’t invite Britney Spears no matter how desperate she appears in the tabloids… she’s not coming to your party. Well-crafted invites are an art and deserve an entire article to themselves, but generally a well crafted invitation is a very fluid notion defined by the group you are sending to. You will likely be sending the invitation across many different cliques of people of which you are a part. Often these folks don’t know each other so crafting an invitation that is appealing to all of them while being engaging and seeming to speak specifically to them without being off putting to some… yep like I said an article of it’s own. But let’s be honest, even if all of these numbers work it’s the people and the personalities that they bring that truly make a party fun so be selective in planning your list. Remember, in some people’s case, not burdening them with an invitation can be just as nice as inviting them, I’m thinking of Grandma here. The “theme of interest” factor, not unlike the available beverages is just a way to boost numbers. A theme can pull in people that otherwise may not have an interest in attending. For example we threw an Obama fund raising cookout a few weeks back, folks we had met from the campaign came and other friends that were into the political scene, but not so much the partying scene also showed. Of course, as I’m sure you could imagine, a theme could just as easily have a chilling effect to otherwise definite attendees.

(E - P)

Excluding weather, Alternative Events is the only negative by design in the equation. We would not have thrown the cookout if our friends who usually throw the Memorial Day event where doing their thing. It’s easy to avoid this negative, but be sure to do just a bit of research into what else is going on prior to putting your invitation out. Consider major sports events, concerts, your friends birthday calendar, Nostradamus’s predictions for the apocalypse, you know what ever might cause problems for folks. All that having been said, as noted in the equation, the effect of “E” is negated by Previous Success. That is to say if you’re parties rock to the extent that you know people would be totally down witnessing the end of the Earth from one of your backyard bashes then ignore the clashing with the Nostradamous prediction, you’ve got it covered!

That’s it, that’s how it’s done. Go forth and party!

Let me tell you a little story about myself, Les luv Surprises! Thank goodness i have a wonderful wife, whom at some point in time, has taken note of this fact.

Last Friday, in the wee hours of the morn whilst many of you slumbered I was shaken awake and instructed to grab my pack which had mysteriously been packed for me. I could tell by the my trusty knowledge of navigation by the stars and ability to read roadsigns we were headed to the airport. I would soon find out that I was a surprise guest for my best friend, Kris, who lives in Ventura California. My wife and Kris’s girlfriend had been plotting for months to make all of this happen. And what a job they did, by 10am Pacific time I was drinking coffee on Manhattan Beach. By 2pm Kris and I were left alone to make an adventure of the time between now and the return red-eye on Sunday night.

Having just read All About Beer Magazine’s list of “125 Places to Have a Beer Before You Die“, I insisted we visit #111; The Library Ale House in Santa Monica.

Two words: De Licious! I mean look at that burger…. Ok, but that’s not why we were there, we were there because this is the 111th Best Place to have a Beer on the Planet. Ok, that may be pushing it, but I can see why it made the list. This beer menu was a piece of art put together by their Beer specialist Leo Stanton. It’s value was not defined by the breadth of it’s beers, like Flying Saucer, for example, but by the selection. This list recognized some of the great beers in the world providing 2 Rochfortes, Unibrues, Mad River Steelhead, New Belgian’s Fat Tire, but managed not to forget where it was from, highlighting some of the best beers California has to offer including several Stone brews and Anderson Valley’s Oatmeal Stout. Well done!

Ah, but back to the adventure, over our fabulous beers we laid out a plan. We would head North through Big Sur toward Monterey. The rest of the trip was full of places that should be added to places to have a beer before you die. Albeit, these places were nameless flat rocks on the cliffside overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

We winded up the Pacific Coast Highway, barked and growled with seals, camped under a blanket of stars, drank with Pirates at a Mid evil Festival, and threw disc golf with one hand, in the other, a 22 of Arrogant Bastard. Being that Stone Brewery and New Belgian do not distribute here I stuffed my self with the rare treats, along with several Cali brews unknown to me. Fun? You bet it was!

The Rocket, a friend and owner of Raleigh’s The Borough, has been readying me for a Monday afternoon kidnapping for quite some time now. Threats and the Rocket’s general demeanor convinced me to clear my calendar for the afternoon of Monday, April 14th. Forgive me gods of productivity… I had no choice… their was to be beer involved. In fact that was the only thing that i knew going into the afternoon’s activities. The Rocket showed up at my office at the stroke of 3. She had already kidnapped Bart and stolen a car for the “ride”. Where are we going I ask, not expecting an answer. With a glare she deny’s revealing any information about our destinations.

About an hour later we arrive at a small warehouse in the city limits of Farmville, NC. An unassuming white building trimmed in moss and rust we barged into the only door we could find. Paul the owner and brewmaster of Duck Rabbit Brewery greeted us. Explaining that he and the one other person that works at DR had just finished a brew and he was ready to dedicate the rest of the day to our little “tour”.

Elated to be surrounded by giant shinny fermenters, huge brew kettles and the aroma of sparged barley… I was grinning ear to ear. When asked whether we would like the “geeky version” or the “regular version” of the tour i begged for the geeky version. What followed was about two hours of wall to wall questions… “what does this do”, “how long does that take”, “where do you get your malted barley from”, “what percentage of the beer would you say you drink?” All kinds of questions, and Paul had answers for all of them. We finished off with a short tasting of the DR’s 3 standards, The Amber, The Brown, and of course the milk stout. In addition he shared the seasonal with us… the Barleywine. One of my favorite products of Duck Rabbit, I’ve noted the attributes of the Barleywine in a previous post.

If you are curious, this isn’t really special treatment. Nearly all the microbreweries in NC do regular or scheduled free tours. Frankly I’ve been surprised by the amount of hospitality, if not outright eagerness local breweries display to share their trade with the brew faithful. Go ahead, give your local brewery a call and find out when you can check out their digs, further, nearly all tours end with a free tasting… and as you know, the only thing that’s better than beer is free beer!

Thanks Rocket!!!

Last Thursday eight selected microbrews showed up at the event, but only one would leave a champion. They showed up early, mostly in order to spend three hours in a cooler full of ice preparing for the showdown.

This much anticipated event has fueled speculation as to who would take away the coveted best pale ale of the night trophy. Only one true substitution had to be made prior to the event. Foothills couldn’t make the long trek by bottle so they opted to let another beer represent the western half of North Carolina. Highlands St. Terese’s Pale got the call late Wednesday night and worked through the night to make sure that they were in the cooler with the others by head counting time. The two other substitutions were less significant. Wolaver’s Pale replaced Otter Creek, as you may know, Wolaver’s is Otter Creek’s organic line, so this didn’t cause too much of a stir. Rogue sent it’s Juniper pale ale in place of it’s Warrior Pale.

The judges showed up at the stroke of 8, donned their blindfolds and we began. The judging was completely blind of brand and color all the way through to the end. Provided only water, beer, and pretzel sticks we proceeded through the head-to-head matchups.

Round 1:
Dale’s destroyed Great Divide - unanimously
Highland beat Carolina Pale Ale - 2 to 1
Rogue defeated Sierra 2 to 1, the two in favor of Rogue raved about it.
Terrapin defeated Wolavers 2 to 1, but mostly the vote seemed to turn on the 2 dissenting judges dislike for the Wolavers “musty” taste

Round 2:
In the end of round One the strongest candidates looked like Dale’s and Rogue, but that proved not to be the case as we forged through the final four.
Highland defeated Dales, 2 to 1, but it seemed to be a difficult choice for the judges.
Terrapin then confidently defeated Rogue, though with only a 2 to 1 vote the pro-terrapin two touted the rye pale’s strength while the dissenter noted the difficulty choosing between the two.

The Final:
Terrapin defeats highland 2 to 1!

My appologies to those who have been patiently, but anxiously awaiting the Tournament of Pale.
Can you be patient and anxious at the same time? Well, that’s not my problem.

But fear not… the tournament has been set to take place on Thursday evening at 8 oclock at my house! The Panel has been set the goblet has been thrown… I just have a thing for throwing goblets… my wife hates it, but I digress. Let me introduce our panel of Judges:

Judge #1: Rob the Beer Barron

The Barron has a penchant for the hop, he craves it, but only when it is done well! Recently Rob has spent some hard time in the ole penal colony of Georgia, enjoying without doubt the local Atlanta brew Sweetwater 420 Extra Pale Ale… will his recent experience in the Peach State push him blindly toward the Terrapin? Only time will tell.

Rob’s Pre-Tourney Predictions:
Final 4: Great Divide, Sierra Nevada, Carolina Pale Ale, Terrapin
Champion: Sierra Nevada

Judge #2: Maggie the Ginger Kid

Ole Red has spent many an evening examining the attributes of, well any beer she can get her hands on. Her mountain of a recycling bin would make Sir. Edmund Hillary pee his pants, and not just to keep warm. Speaking of mountains Maggie was raised in Colorado, such a mecca for craft/micros that Colorado demands it’s own Region in our bracket: Will she blindly wind herself in that direction?

Maggie’s Pre-Tourney Predictions:
Final 4: Great Divide, Sierra Nevada, Rogue, Foothills
Champion: Great Divide

Judge #3: Jay the Seaman

Jay, an ex-Coasty, born and raised in NC has spent 4 of the last 5 years on the left coast of both North and South America. The Seaman has strong roots in the tarheel state, but experience with the beers of the pacific. Will his pallets memory take over, or will his love for the Triangles local brews ultimately win out?

Jay’s Pre-Tourney Predictions:
Final 4: Dales, Foothills, Rogue, Terrapin
Champion: Terrapin

It’s a head-to-head blind competition, so this should be fun. You’re welcome to come and watch the spectacle! Thurs. April 3rd 8 pm!

Ever think to yourself, “wow this is a great craft brew. I just wish it was available in a watered down form, you know, one that hobbles it’s ability to carry the same malt character or unique hop combination”… nah, i didn’t think so. Ok, maybe I’m being too hard on the macro… here’s the skinny.

Miller Brewing Co. is test marketing the Miller Lite Brewers Collection, a trio of craft style beers that are lower in calories and carbohydrates than other craft beers, beginning in February 2008 Milwaukee-based Miller will test the products in four markets: Minneapolis; Charlotte, N.C.; San Diego, Calif.; and Baltimore.

The Miller Lite Brewers Collection will feature Blonde Ale, Amber and Wheat, each with significantly fewer calories and carbs than a typical beer for that style, according to Miller.

“Miller is seeking to again establish a whole new category for the beer industry - craft-style-light” (referring to the claim that they are responsible for the concept of light beer) said Miller chief marketing officer Randy Ransom. “The brewer who can provide a more refreshing and drinkable craft style can stake out a whole new niche in the market. That’s what we intend to do.”

So there it is, the macros have entered the craft game and they want to change the rules. I mean Coors has effectively made inroads into the micro market with the Blue Moon series and Killian’s Red. And though Killians as a “red lager” practically marketed as an Irish red ale represented a corporate approach to driving into the craft market. But this is a new creature. Miller, unlike Coors, is putting it’s own label forward, instead of creating a new one. Will it work? I don’t know.

Info about the “collection”:

Blonde Ale
Fermentables: Pale and caramel malt; maize
Hops: Willamette, Galena, Cascade, Chinook
IBU: 14
Ale fermentation

Wheat
Fermentables: Pale, caramel and wheat malt; maize
Hops: Willamette, Galena
IBU: 6
Lager fermentation

Amber
Fermentables: Pale, dark crystal malt; maize
Hops: Willamette, Mt. Hood
IBU: 15
Lager fermentation

Here’s my take; upon first being presented with this “light craft beer” idea i threw up in my mouth a little, at first it struck me that this product was appealing to a donut whole of a market. I mean if you want a craft brew you want a craft brew and vice versa, but then I started thinking of myself in real terms… what if these beers are priced the same as miller lite, what if i’m at a rock show and have already blown a chunk of coin on the tix. What if I had relegated myself to PBR for the evening and I see that I could actually have a beer that at least makes a head nod toward malt character or hoppy aroma instead of the ole maize body and a game of hide the hop? Maybe i would, though I may wrap my hand around the bottle to block the label, maybe i would. Tough call… at least it’s not Coors.

It’s March and everything I think of I think of in brackets! When I’m deciding what I want from the dinner menu there I am, scribbling a bracket on my napkin to decide. Usually everyone’s done with their entree by the time I reach the Elite 8. Choosing my outfit in the morning, deciding which radio station to listen to… yeah it’s a debilitating habit, but I love it.

So, here we are, I’ve picked 8 not too hard to obtain pale ales representing different regions, but reserving the South region for NC beers and the MidWest for Colorado brews. I’m planning to use a panel of 3 judges reviewing each brew head to head and blindly to determine the final four and of course the champion.

Round 1 this weekend, as we watch the 1st and 2nd round of the NCAA tourney. This will be fun!

Predictions: This is tough, but here’s how I think it’s gonna shake down, what do you think?:

MidWest: Dale’s
West: Sierra Nevada
East: Terrapin
South: CBP

The second contender; (here’s the first) Weighing in at an overwhelming 11% alcohol by volume and donning a brilliant amber-red shade this heavyweight unassumingly rose from the hushed farmlands of Eastern North Carolina, from the little town of Farmville! Duck-Rabbit Brewery’s Barleywine Ale.

I think, possibly aided by the fact that i was trying to compare this beer to the Bigfoot Barleywine, my immediate reaction to this beer was particularly smooth and drinkable. The head was golden to tan in color and quickly diminished, but a little stubborn ring stayed with me for the whole glass. The midstream taste whispered honey and caramel, but finished with the bitterness of English hops. In fact in several ways this beer spoke with an Englishman’s accent. I wouldn’t call it a session beer, but I don’t think I could drink just one if I picked up a sixer.

In the bout of the barleywines Duck Rabbit takes it over the Bigfoot. I’d say in about 5 rounds with a KO. The Bigfoot came into the fight and on paper it might have been a crowd favorite, touting unique features and character to spare. But in the end it just seemed schizophrenic beside the Duck-Rabbit. The Duck-Rabbit delivered the knockout punch when after noting how smooth it was compared to the 9.5% Bigfoot I looked down at the label and was informed that I was enjoying an 11% brew… and enjoying a second one of these right now wouldn’t be out of the question.

Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale reminds me of Bigfoot himself… For example people without a devoted curiosity about the subject upon running across the misunderstood earth-wooki would turn and hightail it, heading back to the comfort of safety and familiarity. But those with a specific curiosity, perhaps those who are seeking rare and unique wildlife would hang around a bit longer.

I’m not gonna lie to ya, I cringed just a bit when I first sipped this one, it’s the kind of beer my wife would take a swig of and hand to me with a soured look on her face. Sometimes this is a good thing, you know, sometimes I end up with an extra Dogfish 90 or one of my heavy homebrews, then again sometimes I end up with a craft beer experiment gone wrong, but i drink it because, well, I have aleindrainaphobia. Anyway, I’m glad i do, because it forced me to look deeper into the Bigfoot. Like most Barleywine descriptors like “bittersweet”, “heavy”, and “strong alcohol finish” can be applied, but the ways that the Bigfoot stands out are interesting to me. The aroma and the nose of this beer are distinctly Sierra Navada, there is no denying that this beer shares a fermentor with it’s popular cousin, SN Pale Ale, this is likely due to the dry hopping with American power-hops Centennial (aka super-Cascade) and Cascade. The hops in general show up much more strongly in this brew than they do in other barley wines bringing unique character to this barleywine, for that matter, destinctly Amercan characteristic being that these two American hops are aided by bittering and finishing American hop Chinook.

Also, ever since I stumbled and I mean stumbled into the beer and cheese presentation at the world beer festival one year I’ve always enjoyed complementing a little beer tasting with cheese. I went for a toasted hoop cheddar openface on suflower bread for a nice after-work snack.

I encourage you to let your curiosity get the better of you and seek out this mystical unique creature that is Bigfoot, but don’t be surprised if he isn’t as happy to see you.