HopHead Brew Blog

Ok, we made it through one more year! I hope that everyone has had a wonderful 2007 and an even better 2008!

I just dread one thing, when I have to write the date on a check or something, somehow it seems to take until june before I get it right. This year I may add posts about brew pubs etc into the category list, why not right?

Anyone that has a favorite, beer, brew, bar or related site, post a comment here and I will check them out!

Again, I wish everybody a wonderful new year! Have a Cold one!

Technorati Tags: brew pubs, favorite, beer, brew, bar, hophead, homebrew, new year

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I have to mention U-Brew.com , inRochester, Minnesota, because it is one of those Home Beer Brewing Supply shops that offers an option to brew it there!This is something that many of the local brew shops offer, but it isn’t promoted that much, maybe because they just don’t want to be over run by new brewers?Whatever the case may be, there is probably a homebrew supply near you that can help.If you are in Colorado Springs, Colorado check out MyHomebrew.com they too offer on premises brewing.The Brewers Apprentice , in Freehold New Jersey is another, check them out online at BrewApp.comIf you know these guys, post a comment and tell us all about them. If you know of another shop where you are, post that in the comments as well.I am sure that I could go on and on about this, but I wont, here is a search link that may help. Have a Cold one, Cheers!Technorati Tags: beer, wine, brew on premises, homebrew supply, brew your own, hophead

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Ok, I will bet that many beer drinkers, especially homebrewers, or microbrew lovers have heard the statement “I don’t like dark beer, because it is too strong“, hmm, have you ever stepped in it like I have?I would say that most of the people that say that, just don’t have a clue! Ok, what I just said is true, but, should we hammer them in the head? No! It isn’t their fault, rumors, old beer stories, and that kind of thing have made an impression on them, remember before you had a “real†beer?Is this just because of these stories? Where does this come from?From what I have read, in several different books, pay me and I will look it up and tell you which ones. Back before prohibition, beer was made from the same (almost, the quality wasn’t as good) ingredients as homebrewers and microbrewers today, depending on the region, availability and so on, but what happened?During this unfortunate time in American history (1920-1933), prohibition that is, do you think that beer was “unavailable� Of course it was! We beer drinkers, drunks, sots, or whatever you want to call us, had our beer! However, it was hard, if not almost impossible to keep up with the demand, booze was really tough! (how do you think the Kennedy family got so rich!) Anyway, the brewers of those times, probably including todays “big guys†had to water it down to make it go further.Did anybody complain? I doubt it! They were happy just to get a beer!After this prohibition time had ended, the brewers realized that they had a good thing going, they could water it down, and everyone was happy! That was what Americans wanted!Time went on and the more the “beer makers†understood what we wanted (not my opinion). Then at some point, a genius figured out they could sell even more water, I mean beer, but they needed an angle, thats right, diet! Now, the brewers had us! Here comes Lite (light) beer!Did the price go down when they added more water, no way, it went up! The brewers had to work harder to add more water. Guess what happens next?Low Carb beers, thats what. At face value that appears to be a good thing, but, it is only a marketing ploy (my opinion), why do I say this? If the yeast consumes more of the sugar, which is where alcohol comes from. there is less sugar, also known as carbohydrates, therefore, use more sugar, get more alcohol, right? Wrong! (kind of)Barley malt is less fermentable, and leaves more sugar behind (and flavor). So, how do they fix this? Use less barley malt, and more adjuncts (rice, corn, etc) But what would the beer taste like? Well, the same as moonshine before it gets distilled! Who would buy that?See the dilemma? The breweries that had already watered down the beer, had used these adjuncts, but needed something new.They came up with various malt extracts, that concentrated the flavor but not the sugar, mixed that with those adjuncts and BOOM! Low Carb Beer! (along with an enzyme, kinda like beano)Now back to the point, Light versus Dark beer, did you know that the difference between many mass produced beers is not much more than a flavored food coloring! (ask Shiner) Actually, it is an extra concentrated extract, that has less sugar but makes the beer darker and adds flavor, but not as much, fermentables.Why then do we hear these whiners? HOPS! Many of the darker beers, even tha mass produced stuff, is a bit hoppier!So, now you know, after all that, they are right! Not the way that they thought, but they are right, the darker beer is sometimes stronger, with Hops.I sure hope that helps you, learning that has helped me, well, sometimes there is still that umm, disagreement!As far as the Ale/Lager discussion goes, that is actually simple, that is the type of yeast used, one is a top fermenter, one a bottom. One likes coler temps (lager) the other is ok at a little bit warmer temps (ale).Sounds simple right? Wrong! Many states, such as Texas, have labeling laws, like Arrogant Bastard Ale, that is actually a lager! So just drink it, brew it and study!Technorati Tags: beer, brewing, light beer, dark beer, shiner, watered down beer, lo carb beer, extracts, malt, hophead

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Ok, I am sorry, can someone tell me, in this age of everything green, what is Organic beer? Can beer be brewed any other way? Lets see, maybe the yeast is ummm, well maybe the barley malt has been ummm, what about the hops, uh, well, uhh, I give up! Lets see what the “web†has to say.Ok, I have seen on a couple of Malt manufacturers/distributors ingredients list, the listing for “Organic†stuff, but come on, I will sell you some organic, …….well, it wont have any bug spray in it! Come on, what is up with us, back in the old days, you drank beer because it tasted good, now we drink it because nobody killed a bug doing it?Times have changed, when I was a kid, paint and everything else had lead in it, I took mercury to school to play with at show and tell. We never even washed our hands, now, kids scrub with anti-bacterial goop! When we do get a new bug, no one will have any immunity/defense against it!Definitions of Organic Beer on the Web:

Technorati Tags: whats america coming to, organic beer, green beer, wimpy beer, beer infections

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Definitions of brew on the Web: prepare by brewing; “people have been brewing beer for thousands of years†sit or let sit in boiling water so as to extract the flavor; “the tea is brewing†drink made by steeping and boiling and fermenting rather than distilling ordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

This is another site I have found that is totally awesome and has information and reviews about Home brewed beer. I have not found a site that has this much info on that many beers, that they have brewed, named, and drink the heck out of! I love this site and I bet anyone that loves homebrew as much as I do will also. I also have a live feed from that site in the left sidebar. (Visit them by clicking here)Technorati Tags: beer, brewery, homebrewed beer, homebrew blogs, beer blogs, hophead

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The lowdown on Saucey Sistah’s Ale

Do you believe in a phoenix rising from the ashes? Did you ever hear about Oakland’s Brothers Brewing Co.? Read on.

Brothers Brewing Co.An Oakland homebrewer Ralston Brown, a graduate of the American Berwers Guild when it was in Davis and his brother-in-law Thomas Parker and his friend, Michael LeBlanc, a former Polaroid exec, signed on and invested their savings in the company launched Brothers Brewing on the usual shoestring in 1998. Their first beer, recipe by Ralston, Brothers Honey-Brewed Amber Ale *** (my rating in 1999), contract brewed by Alec Moss at the late and still-lamented Golden Pacific Brewing in Berkeley, was a moderate hit. (Read more at Whats on Tap?)

This is from yet another awesome site about Beer! I like this site and have added it to the Blogroll

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Clubby Reviews Affligem Noel

Ok, so in my last blog I lied a little bit. Apparently the Dunkel we made, so far, smells like old eggs in the purse of a dirty prostitute. But, that’s to be expected, it is a lager…
Anyway….to the review we go! (Read more at CampfireBrewery)

This is from yet another awesome site about Beer! I like this site and have added it to the Blogroll

Technorati Tags: beer, brewing, Brewery, hophead, Campfire Brewery

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Anyone searching for info about breweries in Oregon will like this site

If you have info on more breweries from Oregon, post it in the comments. If you have a favorite from elsewhere, you can post it here too.

Technorati Tags: Oregon Breweries, beer, brewing, travel

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Dear St. Arnold’s Army:

QUICK SURVEY, VALUABLE INFORMATION
As seems to be the case, every few years we have a group of business
school students that need a project and we need some information. It’s a
symbiotic relationship. So help them get an “A” and help us get some
info. It is a very short survey and should take 5 minutes or less to
complete. We’re especially interested in everybody’s zip code as we are
scouring the city for a potential new location for the brewery.
Here’s the link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=m_2fYC8eXm4zaWsauAlvUdXQ_3d_3d
After that hard work, you should now reward yourself with a Saint
Arnold!

FUN AT BOONDOGGLES IN THE CLEAR LAKE AREA THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON
People living south of downtown have often requested that we do more in
their neck of the woods. Well, this event should fit the bill! This
Saturday, September 15 at Boondoggles, a keg of Divine Reserve No. 5
and a cask of Oktoberfest (the only one made this year) will be tapped
while merriment breaks out. The tapping will occur at 2 PM and the
merriment will continue until it’s all gone (the beer anyway - the merriment
might continue).
Event: Divine and Oktoberfest at Boondoggles
Date: Saturday, September 15
Time: 2 PM until ???
Address: 4106 NASA Rd 1, Seabrook, TX 77586-6236

COME SEE OUR VIDEO BLOGS
We’ve added a couple more Saint Arnold Video News blogs on our website,
so go check them out. The latest is all about Divine Reserve No. 5
and the previous one is about delicious Assburn hot sauce which is made
locally and uses Fancy Lawnmower Beer as an ingredient. Assburn also
won 1st place in the Commercial Pepper Sauce category last month in
Austin’s Hot Sauce Festival. (Background noises make the audio a little
tricky early on in that blog, but it gets better.)
http://saintarnold.com/blog/index.html

SAINT ARNOLD CRUISE IS FILLING UP!
We have over 100 people going on our cruise, and less than 2 months
left to sign up. The cruise is from Galveston to Jamaica, Grand Cayman
and Cozumel from February 24 to March 2. The deadline to sign up is
November 11. Find out all the info by calling the CruiseCats at

http://saintarnold.com/news/cruise.html 713-462-1186 or by going to our website at:

SAINT ARNOLD OKTOBERFEST PARTY ON OCTOBER 19 AND 20
Our annual celebration of Oktoberfest will be on Friday, October 19 and
Saturday, October 20 this year. Brave Combo will be returning with
their high octane polkas that will have everybody tapping their toes and
dancing. Also included is a good German dinner and our special
Oktoberfest drinking vessel (always a fun surprise!).
Event: Oktoberfest
Date: Friday, October 19 and Saturday, October 20
Time: 6 PM to 9 PM
Admission: $55 per person

ann@saintarnold.com). As always, she will need either credit card,
cash or check to make the reservation. For reservations, call or email Ann (713-686-9494 or

AND NOW, APPEARING TOMORROW, DIVINE RESERVE NO. 5
Yes, the much anticipated release of Divine Reserve No. 5 will occur
tomorrow, Tuesday, September 11. Most stores will be receiving it
tomorrow, but some have a delivery day later in the week. This beer is a
Russian Imperial Stout and was inspired by Mike Heniff’s winning entry in
this year’s Big Batch Brew Bash. It’s deep black in color with a dark
tan head. The aroma is sweet coffee and chocolate with some alcohol
coming through (it is around 10% after all.) The predominant flavors are
coffee, roast and chocolate. It has a malty sweetness and a hoppy
spiciness. The bitter chases the sweetness but never quite catches up.
It is perfect to enjoy while eating some dark bittersweet chocolate or a
bowl of vanilla ice cream. I went a step further and attempted making
an ice cream float with it - not recommended. We brewed this beer
into one of our larger fermenters, so hopefully those of you who have been
frustrated in the past in your attempts to find a Divine Reserve w
ill be rewarded this time. We also made a very limited number of kegs
of this beer and these will also be going out to select draft
establishments tomorrow. It will be released in Houston, DFW and San Antonio
tomorrow. Word is that our Austin distributor jumped the gun and it
started going out on Friday. For a complete description of this beer:
http://saintarnold.com/beers/divine.html

We are up 28% so far this year, so time to get back to brewing. Thanks
for all of your support!

Cheers!

The Brew Crew
Allen, Ann, Bev, Bobby, Brock, Edwin, Frank, James, John, Justin,
Kendra, Lennie, Mark, Michael, Pedro, Sam, Samuel, Tony and Vince

–
Saint Arnold Brewing Company
2522 Fairway Park Drive
Houston, TX 77092

http://www.saintarnold.com 713-686-9494

Tours Every Saturday at 1:00 pm

Technorati Tags: St. Arnold’s Army: Newsletter, st arnolds beer, beer, microbrewery

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