Growlers Make the News!

Apparently growlers are the new "in" thing.. Who knew?

NY Times Article:
The New Old Way to Tote Your Beer

New Blogger/ New Beer

Greetings from beautiful Yorktown.
I only have one recipe to share for now until I go back home and dig out the recipe book. I've been brewing for about 2 years now, and have stuck solely with extract brewing. I dont have the time, or honestly the patience, to switch to all grain brewing. I brew on a turkey burner in the back yard with typically 7~ish (precise measurements arent my thing either) water, so I get all the usage out of the hops.

This is probably my favorite homebrew that I have made, and it is a derivative of "Deep Shaft Stout"

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/18/21
I never had the original, I just took a stab at a stout recipe, so I have no idea if it is a clone. but its good homebrew, so who cares.

I re-named it "Nevermore" because of the black color, and put a Raven on the label. Not too many points for originality there.. so on to the recipe

1.15lb Breiss Roasted Barley
1/2lbs flaked oats
Steep@150-160 30 mins in 7 gals of water

8.5lb LME (pale)
.65 Lbs LME (wheat)

3oz Fuggles :60
.5oz Kent Golding :15
Safale S-04 rehydrated for 25 mins before pitching
1.072 OG

Deep black color, agressive ferment


After 13 days I racked to Secondary.

black color and very malty with lots of chocolate flavor.

Gravity = 1.020 = 6.8% ABV

I dont have any more notes on when I kegged. the beer was great, and I have brewed it a few more times, and made a "Shockalot" Stout with the same recipe, and 3 Tablespoons of Hershey's cocoa powder mixed with a bit of water to make a paste, dropped the paste and racked the beer onto it in secondary for 2-3 weeks. reminds me of a "Young's Double Chocolate Stout"

ESB Showdown (Seattle, Washington - August 2009)

What a great weekend here in Seattle. Beautiful weather coupled with great beer makes this cool August day feel more like the fall than summer, but you will read no complaints from me. We hiked to Snow Lake about an hour into the Cascade Mountains yesterday, following this 6-mile breathtaking hike we hit the Columbia City Ale House with some friends. I decided to deviate from my ordinary search for bigger, hoppier, more extreme which paid off! Thankfully, I was surprised to find some outstanding Extra Special Bitters.


I have found that it is on rare occasion you can compare a beer style to something as authentic and true as a classic, in this case Fuller's ESB. Fortunately, I had that privilege last night with fresh kegs of both Fuller's ESB and Maritime's ESB, a local Seattle brewery. This comparison is two-fold, local vs. import and English classic vs. American interpretation.


I began with the Maritime. I found this to be a solid ESB, enjoyable and refreshing. Exhibiting a deep amber hue with practically transparent clarity. The aroma was a bit more hop assertive than I had expected but pleasant nonetheless. On first taste the dryness comes out with a substantial bitterness throughout melding the subtle toffee and caramel notes. Bitterness may have masked the complexities of malt so accustomed to the style, possibly served a few degrees to cold as well. Finish is clean and crisp. A very nice session beer although it had me yearning for the real thing to see how it really stacked up…
Second Pint was the Fuller's ESB and it lived up to my memories. The wonderful complexity of a beer you could easily quaff all night in not easily forgotten. In overall impression this classic edged past Maritime's already good example. It came out a shade darker than Amber, great clarity, and modest carbonation (classic to the style). The aroma was fantastic, notes of malt sweetness with a hop aroma that was gone before you could put your finger on it. Taste is full but not heavy, delicate flavors from the English hops surround the tongue as the malt complexities become more apparent. The taste began with the toffee, caramel maltiness so typical of the style while finishing slightly sweet from a mellow honey note that was delicate yet extraordinary. Finishes a bit fuller than Maritime, in combination with a slightly less carbonation left the beer feeling richer and more complex. This is still a classic among English beers. As Sierra Nevada is to Pale Ale, we can see Fuller's is to ESB.


If only they had both on Cask, we could all look forward to that!