Happiness is a Brown Ale

The Bliss is just around the corner which means I need a beer to cover my price of admission. I have a Barley Wine I can take, but it probably needs a bit more time. I have a Saison, but I've gone Belgian the last two years. I thought back to a conversation at last years Bliss where it was suggested (with tongue in cheek) that I was afraid of hops. I'll admit that in years past, I wasn't as receptive to hoppy beers as I now am and I'm still not to the point where I'm ready to chew on a mouthful of hops like some of you are, but I'm digging a bit more bitterness in my beers these days. So, for this year's Bliss, I give you my Brown Ale.

16 Plato (1.066)
61.2 IBU

68% 2-Row Malt
10% Caramel Malt (40L)
8% CaraPils Malt
8% Wheat Malt
4% Chocolate Malt
2% Special Roast

1.38 oz N. Brewer hops - 8.8% aa (60 mins)
0.75 oz N. Brewer hops - 8.8% aa (15 mins)
1.38 oz Cascade hops - 6.3% aa (10 mins)
1.5 oz Cascade hops - 6.3% aa (0 mins) 10 min. steep
1.5 oz Amarillo hops - 8.5% aa (0 mins) 10 min. steep

50 mL 1st generation, Troegs house ale yeast slurry

Summer Recap

Yeah, it's been a while. It turned out to be a pretty busy spring and summer.

Work around the house continued, with no real end in sight. We have paint on most of the walls, the yard is starting to look pretty good, and we took care of a much needed replacement for our circa 1900, ~50% efficiency coal furnace. All in all, a pretty expensive summer. x_x

Even with the job and the toddler, I still managed to throw a leg over a bike every now and again. I've primarily been tooling around the Lake Williams/Lake Redman and Rocky Ridge trails in York with my brother-in-law but the highlight was our trip to the Kingdom Trails for a weekend with some of the Ridemonkey crew. If you haven't been there, stop thinking about it and go. You won't regret it.

Life at the brewery continues to be good. In July we competed in a "Battle of the Brewery Bands" hosted by Stoudt's in Adamstown. Everyone had a great time and all the proceeds went to charity. Oh, and we won! (that's me in the grey wool cycling cap rockin' the pennywhistle)

The highlight of the summer was my promotion at work. With the marriage and departure of one of our brewers, we had an opening and they offered it to me. Of course I said yes. Now for the phrase I can't say without a big grin on my face:

I am a professional brewer

Pretty sweet, eh? I had always hoped it might happen, but never expected it to happen so soon. Needless to say, I'm ecstatic. After two decades of trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, I have finally realized the answer and I'm living it. I honestly look forward to going to work every day.

So there you have it. Summer 2008, abridged.

Cheers!