Beer in France: Montauban!

The second beer of the trip was a Karlsbrue Amber, or "Ambre" as the waitress pronounced it. Jon, Reza and I had .5L of this beer each. As you can tell from the picture below, it is NOT the typical amber color we have in America. Again, it was a Belgian style beer, light and smooth.



Debbi had a Karlsbrue beer also, but a different variety.

Beer in France!

Beer in France!

Tuesday evening, Debbi, Gerard, Jon and I took a trek to Moissac. We ate at a single level, quaint, local pub, called Au Bureau, nestled amongst old buildings and a large common area. According to our host, Gerard, they have markets in the common area on Saturdays.The pub had a warm, romantic feeling to it. A lot of darker wood comprised the interior, along with a low ceiling and tight walking spaces.

My beer of the evening was an Abbey De Leffe Blonde. It was a typical Belgian beer, light and semi fruity, with little flavor of hops. The color was darker than I expected for a "blond" beer of which I am accustom. The beer was served in a proper glass as seen below.

Further information for those interested can be found here:
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/470/2137



Debbi had a Hoegaarden ale. The beer was served in a standard pint glass and accompanied with a slice of lemon. Her beer was very smooth and suited her taste preferences well. The color and texture reminded me of a Widmer Hefeweizen, but the flavor was marginally similar.


Au revoir!

The Journey Progresses

Ok, so last time I was 33% of the way through and as of this moment I am just over 40% of the way there. My original goal was to make it around the world by the end of the school year, but given my progress to date I'm shooting to be 50% by the end of this quarter and to finish up by the end of winter quarter. As anyone who has been around the world at Suds invariably knows the first 65-75% is made up of tap beers and the remainder are out of the bottle. I've had trouble diverting my attention from the taps, just so alluring, except for the giant Steinlager I had two Sundays ago. So, the bottles could add a level of complexity to Winter quarter completion, but I'm up to the challenge.

The real point of these progression posts is to talk about the beers I am trying; given that I'm 21 beers into this I must be dropping the ball somewhere. So here goes. I recently tried Calapooia's winter brew called Kringle Krack. As any self respecting beer connoisseur knows now is the time the winter brews start rolling out from all the big names, so I thought I'd try the local guys' take on the season. I think they're off to a good start. The hoppiness of your typical winter brew was there, but it lacked a crispness that you would expect from a Bridgeport Ebenezer Ale for example. It was good, but not as satisfying as you'd hope. This is the first time I have seen this brew, so I hope that over the next couple of winters they can hone the skills. Calapooia definitely has a quality track record and a more than serviceable foundation with their Kringle Krack.

Cheers,

Alex

Making Progress

In my last post I talked about the Suds beer trip around the world and now I'm back to talk about my progress. As of this writing I am about 1/3rd of the way through my trip (16 out of 50). The majority of the beers are on tap with just a few bottled selections. I have yet to try any of the bottled beers yet and I haven't really ventured too far from beers that I know. But there are a couple that I wanted to mention:

1. Hop Lava from Double Mountain Brewery - As the name suggests this is a hoppy brew. It is extremely crisp and was very refreshing (especially after an exam). This brewery has only been around for a short time, but if this is any indication of what they have to offer I think they'll be around for quite a while.

2. The Dissident from Deschutes Brewing - As they say themselves on the website this is a sour, Flanders-style brown. I would suggest to anyone that they should try a pint of this beer once (because unless you have a full pint you haven't really tried a beer), but after that continue at your own risk. This beer is definitely made for someone with unique tastes. I made it through, but the beer really is sour and was a little bit distracting. After every drink that I took I had to stop and really think about what exactly I was tasting. A well made beer, but just not for me.

Stay tuned here and I will try and provide more details about any new exciting beers I come across. Given the time of year they have a lot of winter beers on tap, should be a refreshing season.

Off on a Trip Around the Beer World

For some reason I've decided that working full time and taking classes full time just wasn't enough of a challenge, so I've embarked on another endeavor that I am hoping to complete by the end of this school year. There is a local establishment in Corvallis called Suds & Suds, that is attached to Woodstock's Pizza. This is a great idea, it's a place where you can do your laundry (suds #1) and grab a pint of beer (suds #2), although whether or not the laundry part is still functional is in question.

But this blog is not about soapy laundry it's about the other suds. Now to get to the point of this post. At Suds & Suds (just Suds for short) they have a challenge that anyone is welcome to undertake. With over 30 beers on tap and several more in the bottle the beer adventurer can obtain a card to track their progress through over 50 beers. Each individual triumph must be signed off by the on duty tap master, just to make it legitimate, but at the culmination there is no end of recognition and reverence. Basically you get your name on the wall and a t-shirt, which in reality is enough of an incentive for me to embark on this trial (despite the previously mentioned time obligations).

The Vanishing British Pub

"The rocky global economy is hitting Britain where it really hurts. In the pub. Nearly 60 traditional pubs are closing every month."

I heard this today on The World and it's an interesting story.

Click here to listen to the mp3.

Click here to visit the website and read about it.

At the end of the story is a link to an interesting website, the Inn Sign Society which documents the stories behind Britain's pub signs.

Greetings from Estonia!

Hei to everyone. I just got back from a trip to Finland and Estonia and here's a report on a couple pubs I went to in Tallinn, Estonia. The first is called Hell Hunt and it labels itself as the first Estonian Pub. In Estonia and Finland the big drink is not beer, but cider. They spell it siider. As they say, when in Rome... so at Hell Hunt I had their home brewed cider. When they brought it out I thought they were bringing water and the cider would be coming soon. Much to my surprise the water was the cider. It's very clear, only a very small yellowish tint distinguishes it from water. The taste however, is certainly not like water. It is not really sweet and most of the ciders are made from pear which is apparent in the taste, but certainly not overwhelming. It's a very pleasant drink as it's crisp and clear, not too heavy. I wouldn't recommend it if you're looking for a beer, but for a nice alternative, I found it to be a nice drink that packs quite a punch.The decor in Hell Hunt was fantastic, it was a great pub in an old building but what I loved were the lamp shades made of barbed wire along with the doors that covered the ceiling. It was a great laid back place that would be pleasant to spend some time. However, make sure you have Estonian money because their internet was down when we were there and couldn't use our cards.

The second place we visited was not for the cider but for the theme. I bet you've never been in a Depeche Mode bar! In Tallinn they have an entire bar devoted to the Depeche Mode complete with back-lit images under the bar, autographed photos on the wall, a tv with constant Depeche Mode videos, tables with band member photos and articles under the glass and a very large mural with the rose and a giant DM.
They are also a proud member of the Estonian Depeche Mode fan club. I of course had more cider which was similar to the previous Hell Hunt. My friend had a beer called Rock from an Estonian brewery called Saku which happens to be the oldest surviving brewery in Estonia today. Here's the Wikipedia article on Saku beer which is very interesting. I only had a taste of the Rock beer, but I thought it was fantastic! I can't remember at this point, a week later why I liked it so much but it really struck a cord with me. Unfortunately it seems that Saku is not currently being imported to the US at this time. If I had known I certainly would have purchased some to bring home. I guess beer is as good as an excuse as any to revisit Estonia.

If curiosity strikes and you want to see more photos of Tallinn you can visit my Picasa photo album.

-Kelly aka Red Herbivore

One More Summer Brew

As the clock counts down on what has been a productive beer summer the PintHeads got together for one more brew. This time we decided to do a Belgian-Brown style beer (6lb light malt extract, 1lb 60L crystal malt, 2oz Fuggle hops for the boil, 1oz Willamette hops for the finish and 1 packet of Nottingham yeast). The last couple of times that I've made beer I boiled only 1 1/2 to 2 gallons of water and added that straight to 3-3 1/2 gallons of water, but that was yielding less than a full five gallons. This time we went back to boiling 3 1/2 gallons, chilling the wort and then adding cold water up to the full five gallons. I'm confident we'll get a full yield this time. All went off without a hitch and for the record our OG is 1.044. This beer should be ready sometime during the second week of the fall quarter just in time for mid-term prep.

Cheers,

Alex

Back in the Saddle

After a layoff of nearly 6 years, Mad Dog Brewing (aka The Beer Traveler) is back in business. Finally dug out the equipment from under all the remodelling rubble and spent a couple weekends cleaning and scrubbing. (I tossed the carboy that had a dead mouse in it). First batch back is a basic IPA. Theoretical O.G of 1.051, color at 12.9, IBU 46.4. Theoretical because I was a spaz and forgot to measure it before pitching. Oh well.

All went mostly according to plan although significant rust was evendent through out the process. There was/is some concern about the overall condition of the carboys, but after soaking in TSP, then a soak with amonia and a final soak with idodine, I am hoping that did the trick. Should know when racking into the secondaries in 5-6 days. I forgot how great is smells. The rest of the family indicated that it was a vomit inducing aroma, so they left me alone.

Woke this am to the wonderful site of yeasties at work happily converting sugur to CO2 and alcohol. I love that process.

Two weeks fermenting, 3 days force carbonation in the kegs and then . . . . .

Stay tuned.

The Day Arrives

After weeks of waiting, Saturday was finally the day to crack open the beer that we began brewing back at the end of July. Co-brewers Lucas and Debbi were there to taste their creation and Greg came down from Vancouver to join me and Kelly in the unveiling. The general consensus is that we produced a quality beer despite some of the earlier concerns (see previous posts). It has a nice crisp, light flavor, which is what we were seeking. We really wanted something that would hit the spot on a warm afternoon. The only complaint that I have is that it's a little bubbly. Because we're bottling we have to prime the beer with some corn sugar. Normally you use 3/4 cup for five gallons of beer, but I think this batch was just short of five gallons; so, when we used a full 3/4 cup for our batch the beer came out a little more carbonated. Let the calls begin to have us start kegging. Now that we have conquered this batch it's time to move on to the next batch. We're going to try and get it done before school starts on September 29th and it looks like we're going to with a Belgian-style beer. Stay tuned to PintHead for the goings on with the next batch.

Cheers,

Alex











Our Beer - Preferred by kick-ass Australian's the world over

Step 2: The Manual Labor

Last Monday was the time for our batch of homebrew to come out of the carboy and go into the bottles. Eventually I'd like to get into kegging the beer, but at this point that requires some additional gear that is not conducive to our current unsettled lifestyle. Anywho, back to our bottling. Lucas and Debbi came by to put in some time pouring and capping. The process is not all that exciting, but finishing means you're one step closer to drinking your beer. I'll let the pictures below document the process (plus they're more interesting than any words I could come up with to describe it).

Now that it's in the bottle the countdown clock starts to mean something. I am crossing my fingers a little bit on this batch only because of the ridiculously hot weather that we had last week and weekend. It was stored in a relatively safe part of our apartment, but you're never really sure until you take the cap off that first bottle.

Cheers,

Alex

A Little Domestic Beer Traveling

I wouldn't dare take the mantle of Beer Traveler away from our own foreign correspondent, but this last weekend I was in San Diego for a family reunion. While down there I found myself with several hours of free time and a perfect opportunity to hit the streets in search of beer. I took my brother, Barrett, along for the ride and we hitched a ride to the trolley station at Old Town San Diego. The trolley is an excellent way to get around San Diego, but Barrett and I managed to make it difficult in our own way. After barely missing the trolley when we got there we had to wait fifteen minutes for the next one. We sat patiently and watched as a trolley came from the direction of downtown and we watched as people got off and on completely secure in the knowledge that this trolley would be continuing on to the Mission Valley area of San Diego. It was until after the indecipherable "all aboard" call that I had one of those "hey wait a minute" moments and I turned to Barrett just in time to watch the trolley start on its way back downtown. Oh well, another fifteen minutes of lively conversation between Barrett and I.

We finally caught the third trolley and were off to the beer. We hopped off at the Civic Center stop and I got out my phone, complete with google maps, so that we didn't waste any time wandering around the streets of San Diego. I found the route to our intended destination, the Karl Strauss Brew Pub, and after we had been walking a while I thought to myself, "wow this seems like quite a ways". It wasn't until I saw the American Plaza trolley stop a half a block from our intended destination that I decided we had gotten off the trolley one stop to late (more time wasted).

Long story short, we did eventually make it to the beer. Needless to say the ambiance left a bit to be desired unless you like the idea of a brewery trying to look like a trendy night hotspot. But we weren't there for atmosphere, we were there for beer. I tried their typical Scottish Ale while Barrett had a seasonal Scottish. I've always thought that Karl Strauss made a serviceable beer and their Scottish confirmed my earlier beliefs. I've had better beers, but this was a nice way to start the afternoon. I finished the Karl Strauss experience with their Woodie Gold, which was very refreshing given how warm it was outside. But two beers was it and we were off to our second location.

Another, decidedly more successful, trolley ride put us right at the Princess Pub in the Little Italy section of San Diego. This is my favorite place to grab a beer in San Diego and any time I'm America's Finest City I try to make some time to head down there, it is by far the best British pub in the city. The decor on the inside is unmistakably English, almost to the level of kitsch, but they have an amazing selection of European beer. I began with a classic, Boddington's, and Barrett started off with a Stella. For the next round I went with something I hadn't tried before a Belhaven Scottish Ale, I thought it would be a nice comparison to the Scottish I had at Karl Strauss. Well it was no comparison; the Belhaven was much smoother and had a nice crisp finish.

All in all I would say it was a successful tour of a couple of San Diego's better beer establishments. If you made it to the end of this tale, I'm sure you could use a pint yourself, but I'd love to have everyone post a comment about their favorite place to get a drink (beer or otherwise) when they're out of town. Perhaps if we get enough submissions we can compile a little travel guide for when we're away from home.

Cheers,

Alex

Steelhead Brewery

This afternoon we found ourselves down in Eugene for a bi-weekly trip to Trader Joe's. We figured that since we were already down there we would hit up one of our favorite restaurants and take in an afternoon pint. I chose Steelhead Brewing, although it's not a purely Northwest brewery (locations in Burlingame and Irvine, CA) everything we were drinking today was brewed locally. I wouldn't say that Steelhead has the best atmosphere, there are a lot of tourists wandering over from the 5th Street Market. However, if you take a seat at the bar or grab one of the small tables surrounded by arm chairs you'll enjoy yourself and the service has always been good. Today was an IPA day, I first tried their seasonal Farver (sp?) IPA, which is an unfiltered IPA and had a citrus flavor. It was decent, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. Second, I tried their appropriately named Bombay IPA on a cask pour. It was very satisfying on a warm afternoon. A general rule of thumb that I try to follow is if you can find a pub pouring from a cask try it. Have you had a good/bad trip to a pub recently? Let's hear about it.

PintHead on the Road

I hate listening to Alex as much as anyone so I first have to thank him for taking this online and off the dinner table.

Second, I am sure that there is plenty of quality discussion to be had around the nectar of the gods in the Pacific Northwest so I will keep my input to the global wonder of beer. Fortunately or unfortunately I have to (get to) spend a bit of time outside the US, and being a beer fan, I am constantly checking out the local scene where ever I am. Sometimes that is awesome (Great British Beer festival last year - 700 real ales), sometimes pretty bleak (All of China - can you say Tsingtao or Heineken for two weeks straight) and sometimes surprising (great local lager in Indonesia).

The last weeks have found yours truly in Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon where they have tons of Heineken (sense a trend in Asia), Tiger and San Miguel. The local beer that was all around was 333 and it did the trick. In general just dont expect to find Ales in Asia with the exception of a few places in Singapore and Hong Kong that cater to expats. More on that later.

At present I am in one of the great beer locals anywhere, London. What can you say, you cant swing a dead cat without hitting a great pub with great ales. 3 within 150 yards of the hotel (where you can get Heineken and Stella). Also, if you ever get a chance to hit the Great British ale festival, do. Overwhelming is an understatement.

One quick recommendation - The Churchill Arms. Picture above and link here http://www.pubs.com/pub_details.cfm?ID=159. This place is awesome. Great beer and the best Thai food outside of Thailand.

Just past noon here in the UK and you know what that means? A very expensive pint of ale. 3 pounds a pint = $6. Oh well.

BT

Summer Brew

I promised in the first post that I would talk about my latest beer making effort. A group of us from the OSU MBA program had first started talking about getting together to brew a batch while studying for a final back in June and it only took us a month and a half to align our schedules. The recipe is kind of a hybrid of a steam ale recipe from "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" and a recipe I found on BeerRecipes.org. We're going for something a little lighter for those hot August nights, so we went with a light malt extract, some crystal malt and cascade hops (although I was hoping for hallertaur). It was my first venture to Corvallis Brewing Supply in our newest adopted hometown. I'm still pining for Home Fermenter Supply, but not enough to drive an hour to Eugene. The guys at Corvallis Brewing were very helpful and, by the way, they have a nice selection of hard to find beer and wine.

The night was not only going to be about beer making, but also sushi (note the tower of sushi in the picture). The beer making went off without a hitch, one of my cleanest efforts to date. And I'm proud to say that the beer is fermenting away happily in our spare bedroom-come-office. Stay tuned as we move on to bottling and then tasting (ETA August 25th-ish)

Cheers,

Alex

The First Pint

There are some out there who have been encouraging me to blog (and others who could really care less), but deep down I'm suspicious that they're really just tired of hearing me go on about topics they consider mundane and are just crossing their collective fingers that I will find an outlet that doesn't actually require them to sit across from me and feign interest for what, to them, must feel like an eternity. So, to those I present this blog. I thought the name would be a nice take off on "Zippy the Pinhead", but then I wasn't really sure why I would want to do that or how it would be relevant. Oh well, it's up and running now.

I hope this site will be a nice opportunity for people to talk about beer, wine or any other spirits. It will also act as a digital record for all of my and the other authors endeavors into the world of home brewing. In fact, see below for the latest effort (a group effort with Lucas, Debbi and Hannes).

So here goes. I can't promise to always (or ever) be entertaining, but I can promise to continue drinking beer.

Cheers,

Alex