Monthly Archives: October 2010

Black Cuillin

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Here’s how far behind I am on my drinking: A dear friend brought this back from her trip to the U.K. in August. How sad is that?

This is from Isle of Skye.

They say:

A distinctive dark ale brewed with roast barley and rolled roast Scottish oatmeal, giving an almost stout-like bitterness, smoothed through the addition of pure Scottish heather honey. It is believed that this is the only ale, as distinct from stout, which uses rolled roast oatmeal.

Chocolatey brown with a thick, fairly creamy head the color of a cappuccino. In the aroma I get a bit of fruitiness, maybe a bit of vanilla. There’s just the faintest bit of roastiness in the flavor. It’s not as smooth as I expected (it having oats in the grain bill) but the honey is subtle. It’s hard to pigeonhole. I rather like it, though. And it’s only 4.5% ABV, so I won’t feel bad about drinking the whole 500ml bottle by myself.

Thanks Ellen!

Brew beer with a coffee maker and a modest amount of ingredients

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What if you’re at sea for months at a time on a research vessel, and you really want some beer, but there isn’t a port in your future?

Southern Fried Science: How to brew beer in a coffee maker, using only materials commonly found on a modestly sized oceanographic research vessel.

Beer brewing is the delicate and dedicated blending of art and science. Finding the perfect balance of grains, hops, malt, adding just the right flavoring agents, boiling for exactly enough time to release the tannins, starches, humic acids from you wort, activating enzymes to break down those starches, forging the perfect mash from the ether of sobriety to give birth to that most glorious pint, these are skills that take a lifetime to master. Perfect beer is meticulously planned and carefully crafted.

Screw that.

You’re six days into a 2 month expedition, and if you were lucky enough to not be on a dry ship, it’s de facto dry by now anyway. You’re eying the ethanol stores, the crew is eying each other, and all hell will break loose if y’all don’t get some sweet water soon. This is no time for artistry.

This could really come in handy in other situations too, like, say, you’re trapped in a hotel by zombie hordes.

(via Boing Boing (via Southern Fried Science))

It’s all about the who, not the what

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Every year for the last fourteen years or so, I have gotten together around this time of year with Ron, Max, and Don. We all live far, far away from each other, and have our own familial and employment commitments, but for one long weekend we leave all that beyond (well, mostly) and catch up on our lives and drink some really good beer.

Well, I’ve just returned from the airport and it’s awfully quiet here. (We’ve waxed on about our Octoberfest weekends before, so I won’t tread over that same ground again.) I was glad to have the entire Hop Talk Advisory Council in attendance. Sadly, tomorrow is back to the old grind.

We had some really interesting beers this time around, and there were a lot that none of us have ever had before. In no particular order:

Notes:

* We shared a 12-ounce bottle amongst us

A D M R – Picked as a favorite by Al, Don, Max and Ron respectively