making beer with... a coffeemaker

CC BY-NC image by TSalon via Flickr

Here's an oldie but a goodie from Southern Fried Science, entitled "How to brew beer in a coffee maker, using only materials commonly found on a modestly sized oceanographic research vessel". The post includes detail instructions, such as the required tools ("an electric drip coffee maker with hot plate, a coffee filter, 2 1-liter sample jars, 2 handkerchiefs, 2 rubber bands, and a source of clean (preferably R/O) water"), ingredients (dry cereal for grains, Vegemite as an option for malt), and a step-by-step recipe. The end result is noted to be as follows:

A cool, smooth brew, flavored with whatever you found. It may be very bad, it may be good. It will be beer.

'nuff said.

decoding flavor

CC BY-NC-SA image from Abu via Flickr

Right. This blog! I have it. There are plans, etc, etc.

There's a lovely piece on CraftBeer.com that has a nice breakdown about what goes into how we arrive at describing "flavor" when it comes to beer. While nothing new, it provides a good framework for understanding why experience is key when it comes to describing what we taste, in more ways that one. Slainte!

guest on The Living Proof Brew Cast, episode "Tour Globally, Drink Locally"

CC BY-NC-SA image by (and of) cmdln via Flickr

Back at Balticon in May, I had the immense pleasure of sitting down with Thomas Gideon and John Taylor Williams to record an episode of The Living Proof Brew Cast. This has been a thing I've been intending to do for some time, especially given that these gents are outstanding folk and they produce the best beer-related how I've yet heard. We had some great brews and even greater conversation, so be sure to give it a listen. The title of the episode is "Tour Globally, Drink Locally" for reasons that become obvious in the show. Thanks to Thomas and John for having me on!

"If You're Drinking Beer Ice Cold, You're Doing It Wrong"

I was recently at a job-related event in which the height of beer that the free bar was supplied with was a choice between Miller Light and Coors Light. Despite my shame at partaking in these to make the event organizer happy, I was compelled to log them on Untappd anyway.

This did give me the opportunity to ponder the much-advertised *COLD - SUPERCOLD* indicator on the bottles of the latter, playing up the whole thing that mass produced American lagers are best enjoyed when they are as close in temperature to ice as possible. Which is somewhat true, given that they are rather awful. Well-brewed beer, however, is all about flavors and aromas that come out with warmer than freezing temperatures. The following infographic from FrugalDad is a great reminder that warmer beer, depending on the style, can be a truly beautiful thing:

Source: FrugalDad.com

heavyweight champion of the World Wide Stout

I do loves me some World Wide Stout from Dogfish Head, but hadn't heard this bit of history before:



Former Heavyweight (ABV) Champion of the World, and still respected hardcore veteran.

Evo lived

CC BY-NC-ND image from sheiladeeisme on Flickr

Evo survived his beer and sausage only #BrewDiet in October. In fact, he succeeded not only in sticking to it, but in coming out the other side in better shape than when he started.

His final analysis of the month is here. He also joined the gents at the always excellent Living Proof audio podcast for a detailed discussion of the experience.

D.N.A. - Delaware Native Ale

While I have a baseline level of fandom for Dogfish Head that is well established, and so may be biased here, I am vastly impressed at how they harnessed the Delware community for their new Delaware Native Ale. In particular, I adore their isolation of a "native" Delware yeast strain from the environment to ferment the brew as an awesome bit of science.

Baltimore Beer Week 2011

CC BY-NC-SA image from cizauskas via Flickr

I shall not regale you with flowery prose, for there is no time - today marks the start of Baltimore Beer Week, which is running from October 6 - October 16, 2011. The list of over 300 events is here, so go, drink, and be merry!

If you need any further convincing, here is a preview from WJZ TV:

wait, I already thought all Evo consumed was beer and sausage...

Evo Terra at Stone Brewery, CC BY-NC-ND image by sheiladeeisme via Flickr

So, it seems that during the month of October, Evo Terra is going to go on a medically supervised, 1700 calorie a day diet consisting only of beer and sausage. This should be... interesting.

Here are more details from Evo, and you can follow this potential trainwreck glorious endeavor at his Untappd page or via the #BrewDiet hashtag on Twitter.

email of the moment

CC BY-NC-SA image from camknows via Flickr

I am highly amused by the following missive today from my work Inbox, both for it being a post-Irene "first world problem", and that the foodstuffs involved have something to do with a department including nutrition in it's name:

To: All Hospital Employees
From: xxxx

Hello,

Due to equipment failure at the grill station in Greenspring Cafe, we regret to inform you that we will be unable to offer the following items today:

* French Fries
* Crispy Chicken Sandwich
* Fish Sandwich
* Chicken Wings
* Onion Rings
* Chicken Tenders

We apologize for the inconvenience and hope to have this issue corrected as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.

Sincerely,
Food & Nutrition