Posts Tagged ‘the friday question’
The Friday Question
Friday, November 5th, 2010
Before we get on to the business of The Friday Question I should point out that I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post that Metropolitan will also have a cask of The Darkness on offer some time later this month, look out for it!
Tomorrow, my beautiful son William turns 9 years old, so, in celebration I do what any proud Father (who happens to be a brewer) does … I put a beer on in his honor. William’s Winter Warmer will be available on the beer engine at The Pratt Street Ale House tomorrow morning and the draft version will follow late next week. The beer formerly known as Little William’s Winter Warmer is brewed for release on his Birthday each year. When William turned 7 he told me in no uncertain terms that he was far from little now and insisted that I drop the “Little” from the title! In the spirit of such growth I decided that the beer should grow with him. It was 7+% abv for the first 7 years of his life. When he turned 8 it was 8 % abv and this year it is of course 9% abv …. the next few years should be fun. Come warm yourself.
That's my boy!
So, on to the Friday Question! I had a suspicion that, despite the obscure question last week, someone might actually guess correctly. I was wrong. The theme to the Allied Domecq Convention was Star Trek and “To boldly go” so no winner this time around … I will add the prize to the bottle of 2007 Three Philosophers “Belgian Style Blend’ Quad generously donated by last week’s winner, Trevor, and a growler of William’s Winter Warmer. Incidentally, here’s proof that what I say is true …. never ones to miss an opportunity to waste money, Allied Domecq gave a cd of the Star Trek theme to all attendees, photographic evidence below. The highlight of the convention for me was the unlimited free Dunkin’ Donuts (also owned by Allied Domecq). Back in those days Dunkin’ Donuts outlets were still few and far between in the UK so myself and some of my colleagues with the sweet tooth filled our pockets for the journey home! By-the-way, turns out it was the ’96 convention , not the ’97 as I’d originally guessed (and NO! don’t e-mail me telling me you’d have got the correct answer if I’d have got the year right first time!)
Yep, I've still got the free cd!
As I said last week, within a few years it was all over. Allied Domecq sold much of their pub estate to Punch Taverns/Bass who had no interest in the breweries, they simply wanted the pubs. Myself and my fellow Firkin Brewers (there were about 40 of us) from around the country were called to a meeting in Leeds one Friday where we were informed that brewing operations had ceased and that our services were no longer required! That made for a fun weekend! We were informed that the following week we were to dispose of all dry stock (grain, hops etc) and ensure that all paperwork was up to date. I called another local brewpub, told the brewer what was happening and that our grain, hops, shives, keystones and pretty much anything else he wanted was his for the taking. I swear that he was outside my brewery with a truck before I’d had a chance to put the phone down! He was a grateful man … I’d received a malt delivery just before the news broke so he “made out like a bandit”. He was gracious enough to give me a couple of hundred quid to “go out and lock one on!” I missed my last week with the Firkin Brewery as I had already booked a vacation (to Baltimore) and by the time I returned the brewery was locked and shuttered. I ran in to my assistant of the time, Jon, at the GBBF in 2001 and it turns out that he sneekily sold as much of the equipment as he could before any sort of inventory could be taken (including the cask washer and brew burner!) Good for him I say … needless to say the company did not compensate many of the redundant brewers very well.
So, this week’s question …. returning to William and his Winter Warmer … I’ve just been reading the original beer menu for Winter 2001 and it turns out that I had originally planned to brew a beer, the abv of which represented William’s birth weight (as I have now done for my son Jacob with Jacob’s Summer Celebration) … gotta say I don’t remember this, thought I’d always planned for it to be around 7%! According to the notes on the beer menu “I had not, however, anticipated that he would be a giant of a baby, weighing a whopping ….. ” So that’s the question … how much did William weigh at birth? I also stated in the beer notes that although I could have brewed to his birth weight it wasn’t practical so bare that in mind … I’ve brewed stronger beers! Good luck. As always, please post your answer via the comment section below.
Have a great weekend.
Steve
The Friday Question
Friday, October 29th, 2010
I’ve been on vacation this week, well as close to it as I’ve gotten for a long while … sort of a Busman’s Holiday as we’d say back in dear old Blighty, that is to say “A vacation during which one engages in activity that is similar to one’s usual work.” In this case of course it was my actual work … I got in 3 1/2 hours in the brewery daily before 9am so I’d at least have a full day with my family who are visiting for the week. Needless to say I’m absolutely knackered now and could do with a vacation … oh, the irony of it all! My sister managed to shirk her duties as guest judge of the Friday Question as she had to return to the UK mid week so my Mother took on the role. She carefully read all of the entries and made her judgement which, as fate would have it, was also the answer I’d have chosen! To refresh your memory, here’s last weeks question ….
“One beautiful spring evening I was cycling home after a days brewing at The Fowl & Firkin in Coventry. As usual I cycled through the park, sometimes stopping at the pub en route for a quick cask Bass Ale. This evening something a little different happened … a man in his mid thirties (I guess) stopped me, clearly out of breath having been running (but not in a running for excercise way) and told me … “ what happened next?
What did happen next? Let me tell you …. the gentleman in question was a plain-clothes police officer in pursuit of a shoplifter. He flashed his warrant card at me and told me that he was on official police business and was commandeering my bicycle! He ordered me to go to the nearest phone (in the pub) and call his station and inform them of the situation and request back-up (remember, this was before the days of cell phones and I guess he didn’t have his radio)! I dutifully obliged and off he went. It didn’t take him long to realise that my bicycle was not an altogether wonderful mode of transportation and he abandoned it quite quickly. The lawbreaker was not the sharpest tool in the box and tried to hide and wait it out in some bushes by the railway embankment and was soon flushed out when the uniformed officers arrived on the scene. Just another day in the life of your friendly neighborhood brewer!
There were plenty of entertaining answers but the one that my Mother singled out was the following from Trevor …. “The man was an official for the Tour de France conducting a random inspection triggered by your recent entry. He insisted to go back to your flat to look for banned substances. Upon searching, he found 3 substances banned by the French – toothpaste, deodorant, and soap. There ended your professional cycling career.” Excellent job sir, you win yourself a nice little haul of rare beer.
On to this weeks question. As you know I’m a fan of Brewdog and this week I’ll be offering up the Brewdog/Mikkeller trilogy of Hardcore IPA/I Beat You/ I Hardcore You … hoppy goodness I’m sure you’ll agree! Here’s the question. Back in the day The Firkin Brewery was part of the Allied-Domecq empire. At one of their annual conferences (’97, I think) they used the theme song and catch phrase of a popular TV show as the theme for the companies vision for the future. What was the TV show? (No, it isn’t an obscure British show, it’s American!) The irony of course is that within a couple of years they’d sold most of their pubs, including the Firkin chain, and I was out of a job! Good luck. Please submit your answer via the comment section below.
Cheers
Steve
The Triumphant Return Of The Friday Question
Friday, October 22nd, 2010
Yes folks, it’s back. After taking a vacation during the madness that was Baltimore Beer “Week”, The Friday Question Returns … refreshed and ready to offer up some tasty treats to one discerning lucky reader. Firstly let me refresh your memory. Last time out I asked the following question ….
“Some years back myself and my assistant brewer at The Phantom & Firkin (Steve Adey) were involved in a competition … here’s a quote from the local newspaper following our early exit from the competition… “After the contest Steve Adey said that their lack of success was as much down to their attendance at a beer festival the night before, as to a lack of intensive training.” What and where was the competition into which we entered?”
This appeared to be a little too taxing for most of you, with very few answers being submitted so no winner for this one (though the answers submitted were at least creative!) Trevor, good answer, sounds plausible but if you’d ever seen me play darts you’d know I’d never be allowed to enter a competition. Though I used to enjoy a game of arrows at The Nursery Tavern there was always an element of danger to my game … spectators were well advised to keep a very safe distance away (such as another room!) So, as it was a fairly special prize it will be rolled over and added to for this week (see later in the post). The answer was, of course, The World Barrel Rolling competition at The Bass Brewery in Burton-upon-Trent (back in the days when it used to make good beer!) The object of the competition was for a 2 person team to complete a 2/3 mile course steering a 36 imperial gallon (empty) wooden cask with ‘bobbing’ sticks in the fastest time. Easy you say, not so! Despite the fact that both Steve and myself played Sunday League Football and therefore should have some level of fitness, at the end of the course we both collapsed, gasping for breath and narrowly avoiding puking in front of the assembled local press! Of course, the fact that we’d spent the evening before in the company of some of our brewing colleagues at the Burton Real Ale Festival probably didn’t help our otherwise feeble effort. If my memory serves me correctly a team from the Czech Republic won (I swear, they were some sort of engineered superhumans!)
This week’s prize is, I think you’ll agree, a bit special ….
you'd like these in your fridge, wouldn't you?
Yep, that’s right … a Firestone Union Jack IPA, a Pliny, Stillwater’s super rare “requisite” and a Westy 12! Incredible! So, of course the question is going to be even more obscure than last week’s! However, there will be a winner. I don’t expect anybody to get even close to the correct answer so the most amusing answer will win. Because I know a lot of you guys out there in beer land I’m going to exclude myself from the judging and pass it over to my sister who happens to be visiting next week. Here’s the question …
“One beautiful spring evening I was cycling home after a days brewing at The Fowl & Firkin in Coventry. As usual I cycled through the park, sometimes stopping at the pub en route for a quick cask Bass Ale. This evening something a little different happened … a man in his mid thirties (I guess) stopped me, clearly out of breath having been running (but not in a running for excercise way) and told me … “ what happened next?
Have at it and good luck. As usual please post your answers via the comment section below.
All of these bottles were donated to the cause, many thanks to the donors. If you’d like to donate a bottle of something interesting/rare to be used as a future prize please don’t be shy …. the more the merrier!
The Friday Question
Friday, October 1st, 2010
So last weeks question seemed to have scared a few people off! It wasn’t as hard as you might think, just needed a bit of research. If you google the Firkin brewery UK you can obtain a list of all the pubs and if you look at a map you can see the areas surrounding the 2 breweries at which I worked and, as we say in England, Bob’s your Uncle! Here’s a list of the pubs I supplied … Phantom, Fullback, Fuzzock, Physio, Fourpence, Fettlers, Fitchett, Fowl, Flanker, Fitchew, Fieldmouse and Felis (& Firkin) ….I was a little surprised that nobody listed the 2 brewpubs that I worked at (Fowl & Phantom)! I enjoyed Peter’s answer for obvious reasons and everyone else made a good stab at it so in the spirit of giving … Nick, Jason, Peter, Chris & Jonathan come on down … you all get 2 tickets to Oktoberfest! This week I’ll be giving away some bottles … first on offer is Firestone Union Jack IPA and also a bottle of some crappy beer called Pliny The Elder … can’t imagine who’d bother trying to win that but anyway, here goes …. Some years back myself and my assistant brewer at The Phantom & Firkin (Steve Adey) were involved in a competition … here’s a quote from the local newspaper following our early exit from the competition… “After the contest Steve Adey said that their lack of success was as much down to their attendance at a beer festival the night before, as to a lack of intensive training.” What and where was the competition into which we entered? First correct answer posted via the comment section below gets it. In the event that no correct answer is given the prize will roll over to next weeks Friday Question. Have at it and good luck.
The Friday Question
Friday, September 17th, 2010
Ah Friday rolls around again. It’s been a busy week. We’re maxed out at 4 brews per week at the moment whilst we await repairs to be made to our 14 barrel fermentation room so we brewed an Ironman Pale Ale, “High Tea” (see last post), 3 Lions and today a Blonde Ale. We have a number of seasonal/one offs coming up in the near future. The Harvest Ale has been on tap at a few places and will hit the taps of the Ale House today. Over the next few weeks I’ll be preparing the Bishop’s Indulgence for general release (it’s on cask at the Ale House at the moment, one only, come get some) as well as Hot Monkey Love batch #2 along with its brother My Monkey’s Got Wood (American Oak) and foreign exchange student My Minkey’s Got Wood (French Oak). For the first time I’ll be trying the “monkey woods” on draft and, if tap space allows, we’ll run a “barrel full of monkeys challenge” with the French & American Oak versions side by side for a “compare & contrast” session … if this all works out it’ll be your homework assignment and I’ll invite you the drinker to write a comparative review for the blog. I’ll choose my favorite review to post and the author will win something cool. Our hombrew competition winner Judy’s “High Tea” is obviously also in the works and a cask may make an early appearance at the Maryland Microbrew Festival at Union Mills Homestead on September 25th. Channel Crossing Vol. 2 is sitting in conditioning tank and will be released on the evening of October 7th at The Pratt Street Ale House (full details to follow). I’ll be brewing Freddie’s Revenge (A Nightmare On Pratt Street) just as soon as the pumpkins are available to me and November will see the return of The Darkness, a dark wheat ale. I’ll probably re-work the recipe somewhat, upping the abv to about 6.5% and I may well use the Belgian Candi Syrup remaining from the Channel Crossing brew in this one. In cask news we are looking to purchase more firkins to double our available cooperage and get a lot more of our beer in cask, especially the one-offs and seasonals.
On to the business of The Friday Question. Last week I asked how much tea was going into “High Tea”. The answer is 4 1/2 lbs, well sort of. At least that’s how much we bought. Obviously we want to be careful with this one to make sure that we don’t “overdo it”. We’ve added 2 lbs to the kettle after flame-out and after the primary fermentation is finished we’ll assess the beer and add more to the conditioning tank but 4 1/2 lbs stands as the answer which makes Brandon and Scott B. tied with their respective guesses of 5 and 4 lbs. Congratulations gentlemen you each get a growler of the Oliver Ale of your choosing.
Over the course of the next few weeks of Friday Question posts the prize will remain the same … a pair of tickets (with early V.I.P. access) to the Brewer’s Association Of Maryland’s Oktoberfest at the Timonium Fairgrounds on October 9th, a pretty sweet prize, I think you’ll agree. This weeks question will require a wild guess but I’ll give you a few facts first … I used to brew for the Firkin Brewery at The Phantom & Firkin in Loughborough, U.K. I brewed all cask ale supplying 3 different beers plus some seasonal brews to about a dozen or so Firkin pubs in the area. During the year from April ’97 to April ’98 how many Imperial barrels of beer did I produce? Yeah, I know, you couldn’t possibly know but that’s why I said have a wild guess … it’s a nice prize so have at it!
Cheers
Steve
The Friday Question
Friday, September 10th, 2010
Sorry for the late post but it was a long day today and I didn’t get a chance to post earlier. It was an interesting week, busy but without a lot of brewing happening due to the holiday and then some problems with the brew burner (fixed now fortunately). Plenty of processing to occupy our time though. Finally got to brew Thursdsay and Friday and put a Dark Horse (dark mild) and E.S.B. through. The Bishop’s Indulgence and Channel Crossing #2 are now in carbonation tank . I filled some casks of each of course, though the Channel Crossing will be restricted to the Release Party (3 pins, one with French Oak, one with Cacao Nibs and a regular cask version) and Real Ale Festival (a pin with French Oak) save for a solitary firkin making the journey to churchKey in DC. The Bishop’s Indulgence will be distributed in about 2 weeks. The Harvest Ale should be on tap in a few places over the next few weeks. Find it on draft at Max’s Taphouse, Metropolitan, RFD, The Tavern in St. Leonard & The Big Hunt and on cask at ChurchKey and Meridian Pint and of course at DuClaw’s Real Ale Festival tomorrow.
On to the business of the Friday Question. Last week I asked how much Dark Candi Syrup Brian and I used in the Channel Crossing #2 brew and the answer is 20lbs. Bryan F. actually hit the nail on the head but I accidently deleted his comment as spam so it doesn’t appear on the site (hey, what can I say, a few 5.30am starts and I can’t tell the difference between the “spam” and “not spam” functions. Interestingly the real spam comments were all in Russian! So Bryan wins a growler of OliverAle and the bottle of Firestone Union Jack IPA. Congratulations (again) sir!
On to this week’s question. It’s getting difficult thinking of new questions so I asked my lovely wife Kelly if she had any ideas …. “how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie-Pop” was her input. I think I’m going to pass on that one. Instead I’ll ask how much delicious loose leaf English Breakfast Tea will be using to brew our homebrew competition winner, Judy’s entry “High Tea” (a 5.2%abv bitter finished with black tea)? Have at it and good luck.
See you at the DuClaw Real Ale Fest tomorrow I hope. Have a great weekend.
Cheers
Steve
The Friday Question Crosses The Channel
Friday, September 3rd, 2010
Thanks to everyone for their answers this week. Last week finished with batch number 3337, making CDoubleIPA the winner of a growler of Oliver Ale and a 3 Lions t-shirt. Congratulations sir. As usual, this week I have a growler of Oliver Ale up for grabs, as well as a bottle of Union Jack IPA from the Firestone Walker Brewing Co. (Ca) generously donated to the cause by previous Friday Question winner Bryan F. (many thanks Bryan). The question is this … today Brian (Stillwater Ales) and I brewed the Channel Crossing Vol. #2, which is a Belgian take on an English Nut Brown Ale. One of the ingredients was Belgian Dark Candi Syrup …. how many pounds of this did we use in our 7 barrel brew? Have at it and good luck.
Speaking of the Channel Crossing, the brew day went well. I have to say, I’m particularly excited about this one. Nut Brown Ales are a favorite of mine so having the opportunity to experiment with the style and brew with Brian again was a real treat. Any brewer will tell you that brewing the “bread & butter” beer in the portfolio is all well and good but the opportunity to experiment and maybe step outside the comfort zone is what it’s all about! I willingly admit that I don’t have much experience of Belgian Ales and it’s only in recent years that I’ve started to appreciate Belgian beer (and for that I must tip my hat to Max’s incredible Belgian Beer Festival) so it is particularly interesting and educational for me to work with our local “gypsy brewer” (TM) . My day started at 5.15am with preperation of the brewing liquor and malt grist. We had finalised our recipe a few days prior to brew day and were working with some classic English malts (halcyon pale ale, crystal, chocolate and malted wheat) along with Belgian Biscuit malt and Belgian Dark Candi Syrup.
Brian at the mash tun
Mash temperature was 152F (single step infusion mash) and the mash was held for 90 minutes before commencing run off to the kettle. Wort was run off over 2 1/2 hours and was wonderfully bright, first runnings gravity being 1.085 (and was delicious) and last runnings 1.009. The wort was hopped with First Gold (bittering) and Kent Goldings (finishing) and Kent Goldings were also used in our hop-back. .
Leaf Kent Goldings in the hop back
Brian samples the first runnings
Belgian Dark Candi Syrup was added to the boiling wort 10 minutes prior to boil finish. We collected wort in FV#7 at 68F and pitched with yeast generously supplied by Steve at The Brewer’s Art (as used in the legendary Resurrection).
Wort transfer to FV
Pitching "Resurrection" Ale Yeast
So that’s it … Channel Crossing #2 brew day in a nut-shell (ha,ha). The beer will likely be in the fermentation vessel for 7-8 days at which time casks will be filled and the remaining beer will be transferred to conditioning tank (at which point roasted chestnuts will be added) where it will remain for 3 weeks prior to carbonation. We will release Channel Crossing Vol. #2 at The Pratt Street Ale House on the evening of Thursday October 7th, immediately following the opening tap ceremony for Baltimore Beer Week (held at The Museum Of Industry). As with our previous Channel Crossing release there will be limited souvenir glassware available (this time featuring the Channel Crossing logo) on a first come/first serve basis for $5 (including first fill) and for the remainder of the release party both draft and cask versions of Channel Crossing will be available at the special price of $3. We will have a pin on gravity pour, most likely with cacao nibs or oak and a firkin on the beer engine. Both Brian and myself will be on hand to answer any questions that you may have so please come along and start Baltimore Beer Week in style (and hey, the next day is Friday, nobody really works on Friday!)
Cheers
Steve
The Friday Question
Friday, August 20th, 2010
Last week’s Friday Question proved to be an interesting one. Mr. Mitchell’s confession that he had a record of when the first Oliver Ale was served narrowed the field for subsequent entrants who gleaned from his answer that the brew date was likely to be sometime in January (although he counted himself out of the running by posting the wrong year!) Indeed, January of 1993 it was, January 27th to be precise. It was a close run thing but Rick was closest with his guess of January 23rd. Congratulations sir, you get a growler of Oliver Ale of your choice and a bottle of 2006 Cuvee Van De Keizer Blauw from Brouwerij Het Anker (courtesy of Dave G.)
This week we offer a growler of Oliver Ale and another excellent bottle, this time from local superstar brewer Brian of Stillwater Ales who has generously donated a bottle of the ridiculously limited “Of Love & Regret”. What I want to know is this … I relocated to the US at the tail end of ’99 after the sad demise of the Firkin Brewery in the UK and was fortunate enough to score a postion at Oliver’s with then head-brewer Barrett (now at The Chophouse in DC). Barrett was kind enough to let me add some of my own brews to the line-up of beers on tap … what was the first of my own brews to be served at The Wharf Rat (as it was then) and when was it brewed (month & year). Have at it & good luck.
Next week sees the brew day for this year’s Harvest Ale, an amber ale brewed with honey. This year I’m fortunate to have locally grown hops (Cascade & Chinook, harvested just last weekend at Stillpoint Farm) to use as the finishing hops. I’ll also be using the local hops to dry hop various casks over the next few weeks. The first, our Summer Light Ale were filled today, dry hopped with Cascade and will be going out to T-Bonz, Meridian Pint & ChurchKey next week. I’ll also be dry hopping casks of Ironman Pale Ale, some with Chinook, some with Cascade and some with a mix of both early next week and these will be going to DC also, though I’ll probably keep one back to put on the beer engine at the Ale House sometime soon. Next week I’ll also be judging the entries for our homebrew competition, with a view to brewing the winning entry in early September. September also sees the brew day for Channel Crossing Vol. 2 which will be a Belgian take on an English Nut Brown Ale. We aim to have a release party on the evening of Thursday October 7th at The Pratt Street Ale House, immediately following the opening tap party for Baltimore Beer Week (held at The Museum Of Industry). The beer will be served on draft and cask at a special price and limited edition souvenir glassware will be available on a first come first serve basis. If you don’t already know, DC Beer Week starts today and runs through Saturday 28th. I’ll be at The Big Hunt on Monday evening, Meridian Pint on Tuesday evening and at the firkin finale at RFD on Saturday. Come say hello and grab a beer and free Oliver’s pint glass.
Have a great weekend
Steve
The Friday Question
Friday, August 13th, 2010
Firstly thanks to all those who tried Jacob’s Summer Celebration at Max’s last night. Obviously I haven’t been out and about much recently so it was great to see everyone. Cheers! Here’s a pic. that I stole from @CDoubleIPA’s tweet ….
Jacob's Summer Celebration dry hopped with Liberty
If you haven’t already seen the beer list for Max’s Rare & Obscure event over the next few days I urge you to get over there … it’s beer geek heaven!
You may have seen news that DC beer week is almost here … check out DCBeer.com for updates. There are a lot of cool events happening and of course we’ll be involved in some of them. We’ll be at The Big Hunt on Monday 8/23 with 3 firkins of 3 Lions (French Oak/Dry Hopped/Cacao Nibs), Meridian Pint on Tuesday 8/24 with a selection of casks and drafts, Kramerbooks on 8/27 (subject to confirmation) and RFD on Saturday 8/28 with a cask of Jacob’s Summer Celebration with American Oak. There’ll be glassware giveaways at the events so if you’re in the area come on by and say hello and grab a beer.
On to the Friday Question … last week I asked how many pounds of hops we’d used in the previous weeks 4 brews. There was a good spread of answers but closest was Nick with his guess of 32 lbs … the actual amount was 30lbs. Congratulations Nick you win a growler of Oliver Ale of your choice and a bottle of something nice (as soon as I get to the Wine Source to buy it!) This weeks prize is provided by the amazing generosity of former Friday Question winner DaveG who donated this ….
Trust me ... you want this!
yeah … that’s right … 2006 … Nice! I’ve never tried this beer (so feel free to not try to win it so that I can drink it) but it gets an A rating on Beer Advocate. Again, thanks Dave. The question is this … next year Oliver Breweries will celebrate it’s 18th year of brewing (holy crap, I just realised that I’ve been here for more than half of that, no wonder my back hurts so much!) so what I want to know is on what date was the first batch brewed?
Don’t forget, today is Friday The Firkteenth @ T-Bonz and will feature casks of Old Habit, Bishop’s Breakfast with Coffee and Jacob’s Summer Celebration amongst others.
Cheers
Steve
The Friday Question
Friday, July 30th, 2010
Oh Lordy, this has been a brutal week … hot, hot, hot in the brewery! We brewed a Blonde Ale, Strongman Pale Ale, Irish Red, Coventry Cream Ale and I’m finishing up with a 3 Lions today. The Golden Glory is on tap now, it’s a 5.5% wheat ale brewed with root ginger, which of course was the basis of last week’s Friday Question. I asked how much root ginger was used in the 7 barrel brew? The intention with this brew was to have a subtle, refreshing presence of the ginger … it’s easy to overdo spices and herbs in beer, much to the detriment of the product so it’s always best to be cautious! I’ve been using ginger in Summer seasonals for some years now and over time I’ve come to settle on an amount of 1lb 8oz in a 7 barrel brew. In a previous post I’d speculated that Volker, he of Brewer’s Art fame, who had posted an answer to this question may be in league with Old Nick … this was his first comment on our site and it just so happens to be the 666th comment posted! Hey, guess what … Volker is the winner with his guess of 1lb 6oz … fuel on the fire I say! Congratulations Volker, enjoy the beer!
This weeks question will involve more wild guesses. What I’d like to know is how many total pounds of grain did we use to brew our 5 batches this week? What’s that you say, it’s too difficult!? Why yes, yes it is but have a stab at it anyway. On offer is our very last bottle from the fridge, the delicious Founder’s KBS (stout aged in bourbon barrels) and a growler of your choice of Oliver Ale. Have at it. Have a great weekend and don’t forget, if you’re going to the Manchester City vs Inter Milan match on Saturday, stop by The Pratt Street Ale House first for a hand crafted ale … our Bulldog Bitter will be $3/pint all day!
The first casks of Jacob’s Summer Celebration will be distributed next week and the draft will follow the week after. We’ll have a low-key release here at The Ale House, I’ll post details next week.
coming soon!
Cheers