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!