New Glarus Unplugged Cran-Bic
The legendary lambic style made famous by artisan brewers in Belgium is about as labor-intensive as it gets when it comes to making beer. Step 1 – develop a base wort using wheat, barley malt and cheesy hops Step 2 – place said wort outside in the cool night air, preferably in the Pajottenland region of Belgium, exposing it to indigenous wild yeasts and other funky bacteria causing spontaneous

Update on Berliner Weisse Homebrew
Just a real quick post on this because I know several people have expressed interest… The Berliner Weisse I brewed a couple weeks ago seems to be doing very well. I racked the beer to secondary last night after a nice primary fermentation, and it smelled amazing. Beautiful sour aroma set on a solid wheaty background. Very light and delicate.  No hops to speak of, which was expected given the no boil approach. Taste was also pretty good, the faint beginnings of tartness, but not as sour at this point as I was hoping. I’ve been reading that the lacto will take some time to work its magic. All in all, I’d say somewhat reminiscent to Festina Peche, m

Berliner Weisse Brew Day
Forget hops…over the past several months, I’ve been slowly becoming what can be called a sour head. After having a few phenomenal sours at GABF, and more recently sampling stuff like Russian River Consecration and Supplication at a friend’s beer tasting event, I’ve been itching to brew my own. I did some research into styles, bacteria and brewing processes, and decided to focus my firs

Surly Darkness 2009
It’s been more than six weeks since I published my last dedicated review, with a smattering of stories mixed in here and there. Call it the post-GABF slump. Since I’ve been blogging, I’ve tried to hold myself to a loose goal of two, sometimes three, stories a week. But following my trip to Denver, I think I pretty much expended most of my beer writing energy for a while. Which has been just fine, howeve

Fulton Beer Launches in the Twin Cities
Out of the garage and into a bar near you, the boys at Fulton Beer officially launched in the Twin Cities this evening with their tapping of Sweet Child of Vine at The Happy Gnome. I wasn’t able to attend, unfortunately, but I’m really looking forward to trying their stuff.   FOX 9 covered the event,