Hic!
No, but seriously...my wife has a 5 gal. carboy of pear wine that she has let sit (after the required initial rackings) for over a year. It is as clear as could be, I can’t wait. She continues to claim that she is going to bottle it soon. I look at it as a 5 gallon bottle.
Just stopped by Sam’s Quick Mart in Durham NC. It’s just a little corner gas station, but has 1,400+ different beers for sale. Most Belgians I have seen since Brussels. I highly recommend them if you are in the area.
I live next to a Total Wines & More store that claims 1,500 different beers, but the little Quick Mart has a better selection. No homebrews for this guy tonight. Drinking a Berliner Weiss 1809 and then a Highlander Winter Ale.
If you like an excellent stout recipe, try the Murphy’s Dry Stout recipe from Mark & Tess (forget their last name as it is hard to spell) book “Clonebrews.” It’s an excellent stout that can easily be adapted to flavor additions.
I always keep a keg on hand. I make big batches and then split it into 10 different 5 gallon kegs for variety. Have added fruit to the kegs in a hop bag for flavoring.
At the moment, I am working on a 6 pack of Guinness Stout. Something has told me to steer clear of that Guinness Black Lager, so I have. In general I am partial to ales anyway (with Anchor Steam being an exception).
Here in Tennessee, wine and high gravity beers are sold in liquor stores as opposed the the supermarket. My dear wife made me an advent calendar from different beers she bought at the liquor store. When she checked out with her purchases, the clerk asked if she was hosting a tasting party and was quite amused to learn she was constructing an advent calendar.
My advent calendar was stocked with a variety of bocks, imperial stouts and pale ales, trappist and other belgian ales, and so forth. One advent ale that took me by surprise for its great taste was a Japanese ale (I don’t recall the name) I had never tried before. It was pleasantly and somewhat aggressively hopped. I’d characterize it between an American pale ale and an IPA.
Another favorite was the offerings from Innis and Gunn - particularly (and surprisingly) the rum finish oak aged beer. The oak flavor was smoky and especially pronounced in this beer. I highly recommend it.
I seriously need to get off my butt and resume extract brewing. My hiatus has gone on for too long. Happy New Year y’all!
Used to get Guinness on tap at the Plough And Stars back in the seventies- man, that was good stuff. The bottled Guinntss was nothing like it.
Saw a reply on an earlier thread about “lacto fermentation” and tried it with my turnips.
Delicious on the first try! Gave some to a neighbor and they love it too. Sort of like mild suerkraut pickles.
My cider-making has improved but what I made for Christmas was too weak. I cut back to one pound sugar hoping it would be ready quick and it was but it just had no kick at all.
Three weeks ago I bottled my first and second brews; Northern Brewer’s Caribou Slobber, and Northern Brewer’s Maibock. I ended up a few bottles shy of two cases, each.
However, I gave away two sixers to my neighbor for all the cases of empty bottles he’s supplied me, and I gave away another sixer to a friend who loaned me his 5G glass carboy, and another sixer to a friend who helped me brew and bottle the Maibock.
Between the ones I’ve given away, the ones I’ve drank, and the beer fairies, I’m down to less than a case of each!
Good thing I’ve got two more batches a week away from bottling; Northern Brewer’s Bourbon Barrel Porter, and Northern Brewer’s Grateful Dead Guy.
