Demeter's Brew

We have a success!

Seven months in the making for this one but tonight we opened the first two bottles of the Demeter's Brew, a harvest ale we brewed last winter. Nerve racking stuff considering the effort and wait involved but well worth it in the end.

To say it's nice is an understatement, it has a rich caramel malt taste with a sweet grainy finish. Very pleasant on the palate. So far our home brewing has been about 50/50 with success but the few successes we've had have been worth it. I love rich malty beers and of course honey ales are a must for the winter and the holidays.

Now that the weather is cooling off it will be time to brew again and Demeter's Brew will definitely be one worth thinking about. +Linda Dean and myself are very happy with this brew and as usual are enjoying a glass as I type. Happy brewing all!

AHS English Honey Bitter

Given the fact that it has been far too long since my last post and the fact that we just brewed our first beer in over a year I just felt that I had to make this post. The AHS (Austin Homebrew Supply) English Honey Bitter was sitting around in a press for quite sometime. Up until a little over a year ago we had been home brewing some very nice beers, but then something happened. We had two soured beers in a row and it kind of unnerved us a bit so we took a break from home brewing and concentrated on reviewing and trying various different craft beers over the past year.

Well about a month ago we got the itch to brew some beer again (watching the Hobbit may have helped). So we got to work on the English Honey Bitter kit we had bought from AHS the year before. It was kind of nerve racking, we definitely didn't want this batch to fail again so we redecorated the entire kitchen with new paint and new flooring (helped by +GIEnterprises Oregon ) then made sure the equipment was sanitized and ready for the brew. The main difference this time is that we had purchased two Beer Boxes from Northern Brewer. We were hoping because we wouldn't be dealing with 40 - 50 bottles that we'd be cutting down on the risk of infection and soured beer.

Tonight, nearly four weeks later we got to try our English Honey Bitter out of our new beer boxes for the first time. Glasses in hand, phone recording video and nerves on edge, we set about pouring the first glass. It had been a success, we were back brewing again and it tasted great. In fact I'm enjoying a glass as I type this post. I have said on multiple occasions how much of a fan of Middle-earth I am and how much it pains me not to be able to run around Lotro natively on my beloved Linux desktop. +Linda Dean and myself have also spoken at length over the years about what real Middle-earth ales would taste like if they were real. Well tonight I think we really came close to finding out, this English Honey Bitter from AHS is in my mind, about as close as you could get to sitting in the Green Dragon Inn in Bywater, enjoying a pipe by the flickering fire and listening to tall tales from across the river. So with glass in hand and the soundtrack to Lotro playing in my ears, I say, cheers! Have a great night all!

All quiet on the western front

Its been a quiet few days here, we've been exercising away and enjoying the World Cup. I haven't really been active with the camera so I'll show you a few old ones to satiate your appetite, your hunger, your starvation, your....wait a sec, OK, back to reality. I have a pretty huge collection of images now but I'm not sure what to do with them, I'm still sorting through a lot of them.

Above a sunset from two years ago when we were on one of our nightly walks in the local park. During the late summer we get the most incredible sunsets here in Corvallis.

We have not yet had a trip out to Newport this year but we might just head out that direction in the not to distant future as we both love it out there. The beach can be a bit gusty but on a hot day it's fantastic.

Above another view of the beach out in Newport, if you haven't been out there you need to visit.

Autumn in Corvallis, the river walk is incredible when the warmth of the summer hasn't quite faded but the leaves are starting to turn to their autumn colours.

A couple of weeks later and the clean up work begins, a few weeks of endless gathering of leaves as they leave their trees for good to make room for a new generation in the following spring.

No where escapes, not even beneath a park bench. But not yet, not until the summer has passed and the evenings draw in. For now we have those balmy summer nights ahead of us. Craft beer, BBQ and summer walks through the woods. Of course all that is in between bouts of gaming and troll taming online, debating the ills of abandoning net freedom with...people and of course more beer, BBQ and beer.