tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39702321298020824322024-03-05T05:37:42.892-05:00Destination Beer"There is no such thing as a bad beer. It's that some taste better than others." - Billy CarterTom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.comBlogger132125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-85659337629748341192011-02-08T09:02:00.002-05:002011-02-08T09:29:15.078-05:00See what happens?This is what happens when you let some Jersey City riff-raff move into your neighborhood. A couple of months later the town brewery almost collapses. Looks like all of the recent snow and ice caused some dangerous sagging in the River Horse's roof. No word yet on whether or not there will be any impact to production. I'll try to swing by there in the next few days for some investigative Tom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-47327976347450323862010-11-27T01:12:00.006-05:002010-11-27T02:01:31.244-05:00Sam's InfomercialSo I finally got around to watching Brew Masters, the new show on the Discovery Channel that's a show about Sam Calagione masquerading as a show about beer. And unfortunately I have to admit that I didn't hate it as much as I wanted to. However...It still sucked.The elements of the show that focused on beer production and recipe formulation were really interesting. As far as beer is concerned,Tom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-2246406897857930922010-10-12T23:09:00.003-04:002010-10-12T23:11:36.708-04:00Kegerator for saleHere it is:Tom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-82413255916796896232010-07-23T11:59:00.003-04:002010-07-23T12:09:53.725-04:00Latest stupidity from BrewDogI hate to come across as a crotchety old grouch these days, but I couldn't help but post a link to this great article on the latest batch of nonsense released by the attention starved hype machine that is BrewDog. Big props to the author for pointing out the incredible lameness of a brewery called BrewDog and their even more ridiculous and pompous press release:''This is the beer to end all Tom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-47721490683325328322010-07-16T23:24:00.002-04:002010-07-16T23:27:45.668-04:00Down With The QuitnessKudos to Great Lakes for getting a headline on espn.com today. I've definitely never seen a craft brewery get a headline on a major sports website, so good for them.Maybe I was wrong about jumping the shark after all.Tom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-1902983795382685412010-07-02T19:35:00.002-04:002010-07-02T19:43:32.180-04:00PukeBecause Saint Sam needs even more attention, right?They could have found someone way more knowledgable about beer to host a beer show, but there's no way they would have found someone as rugged and handsome as Sam. I can only hope that there are some gratuitious shots of him surfing or rapping or modeling his Levi's. We've jumped the shark. Tom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-13816565722414247192010-06-25T11:06:00.004-04:002010-06-25T11:14:58.830-04:00NJ Craft Beer Fest is Tomorrow!I'm headed to the NJ Craft Brewers Guild's annual festival tomorrow. We always have a good time out on the Battleship drinking the best beers that Jersey's breweries have to offer. It looks like we'll be spared the rain tomorrow, but unfortunately not the heat. Looks like a high of about 93. Yikes.I'm not entirely sure of the lineup, but it does appear that the new New Jersey Beer Co based Tom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-59264155779434035712010-06-13T21:15:00.002-04:002010-06-13T21:31:38.506-04:00Super Buy-Rite in JCI've had a few friends tell me that the Super Buy-Rite in JC (down by the Holland Tunnel) has a great beer selection. Finally made the trip down there today with R and it was well worth it. They have quite a few brands there that I haven't seen at any of my other go-to spots in New Jersey (Mikkeller, New Holland, Uinta, more). So we mixed a few sixes and picked up some fun stuff to try over theTom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-20484195711320665472010-06-07T09:42:00.002-04:002010-06-07T10:04:11.145-04:00First post in two months - Session BeersThis is my first post in two months. I apologize to those (one) of you who have been looking forward to more. My life the last few months has been all-consumed by house hunting with R, so homebrewing has been put on the back burner. I guess there's a pun in there, right? Homebrewing, back burner.....Lew Bryson just posted a recap of last year's session beer vs extreme beer brew-ha-ha (yes, Tom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-9818115518618785222010-04-06T10:36:00.003-04:002010-04-06T10:40:31.308-04:00Best of NJThe Star Ledger and Inside Jersey are polling for their annual "Best of NJ" survey. Find out more here, and if you're interested in taking the survey you'll want to look for the "Click here to get started" at the bottom of the article (nj.com always does a great job of making their site nice and easy to use, don't they?) If you register and vote you'll get a shot at a $50 gift card. Not Tom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-42586426636122771872010-04-03T00:23:00.003-04:002010-04-03T00:30:05.711-04:006,148That's how many beers were entered in the NHC this year. Kind of a staggering number, no? I guess it's a testament to the popularity of this awesome, cool, and totally nerdy hobby, right?I did my homebrewing thing this evening. Getting out of work early is awesome because I got home from work, brewed, and I'm completely done with cleanup before midnight. Knocked out an English style brown aleTom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-2209504891133429742010-03-27T21:41:00.003-04:002010-03-27T21:54:03.111-04:00BrawlerJust a quick love note to say that I'm having a great beer right now. We were in Lambertville today and the lovely R picked out a mixed six for me, one of which is Yards Brawler. It's 4.2%, has great chocolate and caramel flavors, a little bit of fruity English ale yeast character, and finishes with just the right amount of bitterness. A little dry, not too sweet. Great stuff.The brewery Tom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-34299664278267958512010-03-22T13:04:00.004-04:002010-03-22T13:17:33.094-04:00Good afternoon. Today I came across an interesting article on the ever-escalating ABV of the American craft beer. You may link to it here and give it a read yourself. I wouldn't necessarily agree with the title of the article - that the American session beer has met its untimely death. I just think that the ones out there are getting absolutely no attention while everyone goes bonkers for all Tom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-70543337277682001682010-03-19T16:42:00.002-04:002010-03-20T15:41:28.804-04:00Good thing I didn't wear sweatpants todaySo I'm in the Hoboken train station this afternoon waiting on a train to go and meet R. From there we're on our way to Cricket Hill to claim a few bottles of their new barrel aged porter - Paymaster's Porter agen in Four Roses whiskey barrels. And it's a sin to pass up the opportunity to have a beer on the train. That's why they have a liquor store in there for crying out loud!So I walk up to theTom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-4561114983395476862010-03-08T16:44:00.003-05:002010-03-08T17:02:58.363-05:00F Yeast StartersI've been through the paces with yeast culturing and growing a pitchable slurry of yeast up from an agar plate and all that. It's a lot of work. It's very time consuming and you have to be extremely careful with your sanitation practices. Quite frankly I just don't have that kind of time to dedicate to the hobby these days.At the same time, I love to have a low gravity 3-4%ABV beer on hand at Tom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-57624308872293264592010-02-24T13:25:00.000-05:002010-02-24T13:26:07.502-05:00I ate yogurt todaywith a fork.Tom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-55777692378983221772010-02-04T15:26:00.004-05:002010-02-04T15:36:05.587-05:00Homebrew Alley IV ResultsI haven't really blogged much of late because I haven't really had much to blog about. Haven't brewed in about a month. Homebrew Alley IV was this past weekend, so that was something fun. I had the opportunity to judge three flights - English Pale Ales, American Ales, and Strong Ales. Lots of great homebrew. There really weren't any duds in the bunch - and that's saying something because I Tom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-90035117782667728722009-12-30T22:29:00.003-05:002009-12-30T23:12:10.096-05:00WLP925 - finally an evaluationI finally have a beer tapped up that I fermented with the WLP925 High Pressure Lager Yeast. At least one that's worth drinking anyway. The first lesson I learned with this yeast is that it's seriously non-flocculent, so with the Dunkel that I first brewed to be fermented with this yeast I had to dump the entire four liter starter into it. It doesn't taste all that swell, so I figured I'd wait Tom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-26536272816367948252009-12-04T10:18:00.002-05:002009-12-04T10:23:55.706-05:00So on Tuesday I'll be entered in this homebrew contest being held by The Office restaurants. Jeff at Beer Stained Letter wrote about it a few days ago here. My Oatmeal Stout will be in full effect at the Montclair location. If I'm lucky enough to be chosen the winner on Tuesday, I'll be back there again on Saturday to face off against the winners from all of the other Office locations. The winnerTom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-81323747325035951412009-11-30T09:51:00.003-05:002009-11-30T10:35:28.474-05:00Fun and games with WLP925A lot of people have asked me about the WLP925 yeast that used recently, so I thought I'd provide an update.First of all, I'm really treating this first batch like a big yeast starter. I had some problems with this past brew, and I don't want to truly evaluate this yeast strain based on this batch. Some of the problems were my fault - screwed up chilling my wort and didn't get it nearly as coolTom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-33243616275088806492009-11-17T09:57:00.002-05:002009-11-17T10:10:19.725-05:00Upcoming brew plans and SCH competitionA big thanks to the Stoney Creek Homebrewers whose second annual competition was a huge success this past weekend. I went down to the General Lafayette Inn with some entries and to judge. I wound up judging Belgian Strong Ales in the morning (as usual) and Amber Hybrids in the afternoon. It was a real treat to have two short flights. The more competitions I judge, the more I find that doing Tom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-33184167917871272162009-11-13T16:26:00.004-05:002009-11-13T16:33:27.792-05:00New NJ Beer Book - Jersey BrewThere's a new book out about the history of brewing in New Jersey. Sounds like a pretty interesting read. Hopefully Santa leaves a copy under the tree for me this year. He knows I've been good...New Jersey was once a huge center of brewing in America - particularly in Newark. I'll look forward to reading up on this history. It's also nice to read that the author spent some time on the current Tom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-45631438064984672009-11-11T09:53:00.004-05:002009-11-11T10:09:45.194-05:00BYOBNJI came across this op-ed piece in the Asbury Park Press about the NJ state liquor license policy and it left me scratching my head. The gist of the it is that NJ does not make a beer/wine only license available for restaurants, making it much harder for joints unable to secure a liquor license to stay in business. Basically you're either a BYOB establishment or you have a full liquor license. Tom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-21341942366902480482009-11-05T09:37:00.002-05:002009-11-05T10:26:50.856-05:00River Horse - Meet the Brewer Night at LITMThought I'd take the opportunity to post some actual Jersey City beer news. From the Garden State Craft Brewer's Guild newsletter: Come by to LITM to meet River Horse reps and samplegreat beers. The event takes place Wednesday, November 18th from 6 to 9 PM.Featuring all year round beers plus two special releases.There's nothing on either brewery's site yet about this, so this is all the info Tom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970232129802082432.post-39028818674064184822009-10-20T10:53:00.004-04:002009-10-20T11:10:13.381-04:00Reno International Canned Beer FestivalHere's another article that I came across and thought was pretty cool. A festival celebrating canned craft beer is a pretty cool idea whose time has definitely come.I've been of the belief that cans are the way of the future for the craft beer industry and the tide is (very) slowly shifting. More and more craft brewers are taking advantage of the can and I've been trying to make a point of Tom Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05388230749725216013noreply@blogger.com0