The Thirsty Hopster

So, future posts will incorporate pictures as much as possible, which is why I am not going to write my post about homebrewing tonight.  I wanted to include pictures of my ingredients, but my camera battery needs to charge.  However, in the meantime, I present: pictures of people who may be doing things directly or tangentially related to drinking beer.

Me, Melissa, and Allie early in the day at the WABL Oktoberfest

Me and Melissa late in the day at the WABL Oktoberfest

Nick & me with the sampler platter at Russian River Brewing Company, our 3rd brewery of the day on Day 5 of the Great Western Brewery Tour. 

 

Me at Bear Republic Brewing Company on Day 5 of the Great Western Brewery Tour 

 

Nick, Me, and Allie at Anderson Valley Brewing Company on Day 5 of the Great Western Brewery Tour 

Melissa, me, and Allie at the Madison River Brewing Company on Day 1 of the Great Western Brewery Tour.

 

Me, Allie, and Melissa at Grand Teton Brewing Company at 9:30am on Day 1 of the Great Western Brewery Tour. 

Julia and me splitting a Deschutes Obsidian Lady-and-the-Tramp-style.  Not without mocking from the waiter.

 

My sister and me at the Magic Hat brewery, which is actually quite deliciously creepy.

 

Me with Tim at Gestalt.  Tim was having a mass of beer.  As I’m sure someone will point out, I was uncharacteristically sitting this one out and having a ginger ale as this was right after the water from Yosemite turned me inside out with Giardia.  Proof that when given a choice between water and beer you should always choose beer.

German beer as it was meant to be drunk: while watching World Cup soccer in Nuremberg. 

 

Me and Jam on our way home from the Harpoon Brewery tour with our growlers.

 

What retrospective of “My life with Beer” would be complete without the requisite college house party snapshot.  To HoCo!

So, my first batch of beer is underway and will be spending this week fermenting.  Whenever I mention this, the first question people always ask is: What will I call it?  I’m going to write a longer post tonight about the homebrewing process, but I thought I’d deal with this first question first. 

Given that my strengths are obsessively collecting news and knowledge about beer, not creativity, I’m hoping the collective brain will come up with something better than I could do on my own. 

So…The Brew Naming Competition is on!

The ‘rules’:

• Submit entries by comments to this post on the blog
• Submit as many as you like
• All submissions must be received by 9am Friday, as I need a name before I bottle my beer this weekend
• I’ll choose the winner based on almost completely non-transparent criteria (take that consultants!) , though originality, humor, and fit with the beer style will all be taken into account
• You only need to come up with a name for this brew itself, but bonus points to anyone who has a good name for my brewery that can span all the styles of beer it will eventually encompass
• I’ll announce the winner on Friday, and probably even whip up some labels based on your name to slap onto my bottles, though I’m about as bad at designing as I am at naming…
• You get: Up to 5 bottles of your namesake beer!  Though it remains to be seen if this is really a reward or punishment…  And Dan Morales, I’m not sure if it would survive the shipment to Japan, but if you win, well…maybe we’ll make you a t-shirt instead of beer.

Relevant information:

• The beer in question is an American IPA.  This means it should turn out golden to amber in color, with prominent hop character, medium body, small to moderate head, and moderate carbonation.
• The ingredients used include: Crystal malt and cascade and chinook hops  
• This is the first batch I’ve brewed 

Happy naming!

One of the best things about living in San Francisco is that we live in the epicenter of American food culture.  I know NYC has more big name, expensive restaurants, but I feel like a lot of the food innovation comes from the west coast, particularly the whole organic, local foods movement. 

I like great food almost as much as I love great beer, so I’m especially excited about this month’s Dinner with the Beer Chef.  The Beer Chef is Bruce Paton is a Bay Area chef who is currently the Executive Chef at the Cathedral Hill Hotel.  Once a month he hosts a multi-course dinner with dishes he has prepared to match the beer that will be served.  Usually these are Brewmaster Dinners, in which the brewmaster from a West Coast craft brewery is on hand to serve his beers and talk to guests. 

I’ve never been to one of these yet, but the April dinner (Sunday April 20th) is shaping up to be the most exciting beer dinner I’ve heard of yet.  There will be not one, but five, brewmasters on hand from several of the top breweries in the whole country: Allagash, Avery, Dogfish Head, Lost Abbey, and Russian River. 

Check out the Beer Chef’s website for more information about his events.  You can find the menu for the April beer dinner here.  It is $95, which is more expensive than the average beer dinner he does, but the breweries present are truly top-notch.  Make your reservation before April 10th if you want to attend.