Whoa!

Sorry about the delay in posts!


Look for more news soon. In the mean time:

1. Rob brewed an awesome tropical sour.
2. Rob brewed a crazy small sour.
3. Rob and I brewed a belgian ipa finished with all brett.
4. I have been really enjoying some cascade hops.

Quick Wit...

Rob and I decided to brew up another Belgian Wit last Saturday. Both wives were tied up in Houston so we found prime time to get some steady tastings in as well. Beautiful weather and lots of fun was had.

The Wit is a pretty straight forward partial mash recipe, however, no spicing was added this time. The fermentation has been monstrous... blowing krausen out the top of my air lock. Time to fabricate a blow-off tube for the carboy. Rob has never had a problem but both times I made a wheat based beer at my house the fermentation blows up! Hopefully things will reside today and we will let this one clean up for a few days. This should be a wonderful beer to session through christmas time.

We managed to put down a respectable list of beers Saturday as well. The most intriguing (but a bit of a let down overall) was Deschutes Dissident. Dissident is a Flanders Oud Bruin that has certain funk characteristics but the 'wow' factor of Jolly Pumpkin or Russian River sours wasn't quite there. As much as we enjoyed it, hype fooled us. To honor the begining of this years holiday season I cracked a couple 2008 Sierra Nevada Celebration Ales. Such a great, hoppy beer. I really love how the fresh citrus hops mingle with the minty pine notes. Other honorable mentions include Oskar Blues Ten Fidy Imperial Stout, Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale, Fishermans IPA, Cisco's Indie Pale Ale, Cisco's Pumpkin Drumkin, and plenty others that I am forgetting. Maybe we can get Rob to come in here and remind me.

Election party tonight at my parents' house!!! Rob and I will have some treats to bring in the new leader of our country. Look for an update soon.

I'm Married!

Welcome back! Sorry for the delay in updates but we have been unusually busy with my wedding! Weddings are momentous moments in people's lives and do require celebration. Thus, we indulged in some amazing beers over the weekend.

The Thursday prior to my Saturday wedding, I invited all of my family and out of town friends over to our house and grilled out burgers and sausage for everyone. While my family is not huge on craft beer they all enjoyed Saint Arnolds Texas Wheat. For the rest of us I had coolers full of Stone Ruination, Real Ale Rio Blanco Pale Ale, Saint Arnolds Elissa IPA, Southern Star Pine Belt Pale Ale etc... Wonderful time.

Friday night after our rehersal, we had a wonderful dinner at Robinettes in Seabrook, TX. They were nice enough to allow us to bring our own drinks. My awesome dad stocked us up on Dale's Pale Ale, Reale Ale Full Moon Rye Pale Ale, Saint Arnolds Oktoberfest, Elissa IPA and Lawnmower Kolsch, and more Stone Ruination. Needless to say, the time was enjoyed by all. That night my groomsmen and I retired to Rob's (Twin #1) upper deck, smoked cuban cigars and drank a couple more beers. The memory gets a bit hazy here but I am certain there were some Miller Lite cans in circulation. Roots.

Saturday, THE BIG DAY!, was no different than the prior two. Me and my grooms men dove into some awesome beers. For breakfast I had a Bronco Burrito (Galveston classis!) with Rob's (Twin #1) Sour Belgian Wit. Rob's (Twin #1) sour wit is outstanding! While watching Texas Longhorns handle Oklahoma Sooners, I popped the cork on a DeProef Imperial Wit. What a solid beer! While us Americans have become accustomed to associate Imperial with over-the-top, this bigger beer was well balanced and full of awesome flavors. Before heading off to the wedding venue, I eased any last minute nervousness with a 2007 North Coast Old Stock Ale. I had asked Rob (Twin #1) to bring some snacks to the Gentlemen's Changing area so all my guys could sit around and relax a bit... and instead Rob (Twin #1) brought a cooler full of Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout, Unibroue Maudite, Saint Arnolds Oktoberfest, more Pine Belt Pale Ale and Ruination. We all respected the beer, nobody overindulged and we had a beautiful ceremony. Unfortunantly our wedding venue had a limited beer selection so the best I could do for my guys was Shiner Bock.

Sunday, Stephanie and I made our way back over to my parents' house to visit with my Grandfather, Uncle Don, Aunt Jan and Cousin Farish. Rob and I knew Uncle Don really enjoyed craft beer and loved maltier, english origin beers. We shared Randy's (younger brother) Homebrewed American IPA, Meantime Porter, 2007 Ommegang Three Philosophers, 2007 Oregon Trail Bourbon Barrel Imperial Porter, and the star of the evening, 2007 Smuttynose Imperial Stout. I can't say enough good things about the Smuttynose Imperial Stout! Just the smell was intriguing enough. So many wonderful layers of flavor. This beer ranks up there in my top 3 beers ever. What a way to wind down an awesome weekend.

I would like to thank my new wife for being so understanding with this hobby of ours. I would also like to thank all of my groomsmen, Rob, Randy, Scott, Kevin, Ryan, Kenny and Matt for all their help. I hope everyone enjoys our latest installment. Hopefully we will have some new homebrew news sooner than later.


Take care.
-Rick

Divine Reserve 7

St Arnold's new Divine Reserve release, a Weizenbock, debuted on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008. Specs Warehouse downtown (Houston) had a very large shipment (larger than most stores) and they were completely wiped out in less than two hours. Kevin and I just happened to enter the Bayarea Specs right on time to pick up 4 six packs between the two of us. I have had two DR7's thus far. It is an amazing beer. Very complex, but pleasant and easy to drink. I will review it soon once I can fully wrap my palate around all the flavors found in this fun Weizenbock. Speaking of Divine Reserves, Rick now has a small vertical collection of DR5, DR6, and now DR7. After a few more DR releases, we may get to do a vertical tasting (if Rick is kind enough to invite us to join him.)


In beer news. I tasted one of Rick-n-Kevin's DAPA's dry hopped with Cascades with Rick on Sunday night. The beer was a bit sweeter than I was expecting, but its a really great homebrewed Double American Pale Ale.

On the homefront, I have bottled my Blanche De Chambly clone. The beer should be just about perfect for drinking around the time that Rick's wedding rolls around (October 11, 2008.) We will have friends and family in from out of town, so maybe I will unveil it to them. I think I will call it, "Its a great day for a Wit Wedding."

Sorry for the delay! Hurricane Ike.....

Well, ever since Friday, September 12th, 2008 we have been dealing with Hurricane Ike. Ike made landfall on the Upper Texas Gulf Coast late Friday night... the eye wall traveled directly over us. Our area has seen extensive damage. Ike claimed many houses and boats in our area. Luckily for us, Ike only damaged Rob's house and our parent's house. I am still without power but that should be resolved within the next couple of days. To put it shortly: sorry we haven't updated the blog but we have been dealing with life.

To make it beer related, I can assure you that Rob and I have been drinking plenty of wonderful beer to help us get through these hot and steamy nights. Just recently our area got access to Brooklyn's line up, as well as new Stone offerings (Oaked Arrogant Bastard, Smoked Porter, Ruination), and new Ommegang offerings (Chocolate Indulgence Stout). Rob and I have found time to grab a couple of these new to our area beers. Look for more extensive reviews in the following weeks... or whenever I get refrigeration again.

The beers that helped me weather this storm have been Russian River's Pliny The Elder, Bling Pig and Green Flash's West Coast IPA. Something about those west coast hop bombs numbing all your senses that helps you fall asleep in a balmy, humid house without air conditioning.

Due to the storm, Saint Arnold had to push back their Houston Area release of Divine Reserve 7 until September 30th. The delay is due to damage at their distro center here in Houston. Austin and Dallas metro-areas saw the DR7 released on September 23rd. Reports are that the weizenbock is full of wonderful chocolate and wheaty, bready malts with that beautiful banana and clove yeastiness of a bavarian style wheat beer. We will provide a full review once we get our hands on some.

Sour Bret Bier De Guarde Update

The home-brewed experiment is still coming along nicely. Took a sample last night and the beer is nice and sour with a tart raspberry experience in there, as well as an oaky astringent mouthfeel. The nose is extreme right now though, with leather, earth, and sour notes. Time will do this beer well.

In other odd homebrew news... Rick and I brewed was an Abbey Ale about 6 months ago. This brew was deemed, a good try, but far from good early on, due to some strange tastes, low carbonation levels, and apparent early oxidation.

However, on a whim, Rick and I opened up a bottle last night and found that our secondary bottle fermentation had created some nice carbonation, the astringent flavors had weakened, and the entire beer was starting to come together. I think this beer wants some more time in a cool dark place to age out a bit more and let the nose tame down (serious alcohol bite), but in due time we may have a winner!

Last but not least- google "Rob Beer" and you will find this gem. This man is named Rob Beer. Gnarley.

A Full Family of Brewing

Last weekend, the youngest brother in the Sawyer family, Randy (pictured to the left), joined the homebrewer community! He made an extract / partial mash American IPA (recipe kit from Austin Homebrew). He must have done it right because 12 hours later his california ale yeast was eating up the wort. I am guessing that sometime during thanksgiving or christmas there will be a sawyer brother collaboration brewday. Awesome job Randy!

In other news, Kevin and I plan to prime and bottle our IPA on Saturday. We are quite excited to see how our hop schedule will work out: 2oz Magnum @ 60 min., 2oz Cascade @ 15 min., 2oz Cascade at flame out, fermented in primary for 7 days, split batch into two separate secondaries and dry hopped 2.5 gallons with 2oz Columbus and the other 2.5 gallons with 2oz Cascade. It is good to know that beer is still fun in Kemah, TX!