Adventures in Beer: Austin, Texas - Craft Pride

Alright y’all, I made it to Austin, Texas on a mission for the next four days to go deep into Austin’s craft beer scene while doing some good at SXSWedu. I’ve survived Zilker Brewing, Hops & Grain Brewing, so obviously next up is Craft Pride a Texas only beer, beer bar.  

A 20 minute walk from my residence, Firehouse Hostel & Lounge, it’s in the trendy part of Austin next to music and dance clubs. Although I missed it’s 4 year anniversary party on Saturday, they had a few left overs that I needed to try. With 54 taps and over 200 bottles in the bottle shop, they have a strong beer pedigree. Oh, and there’s pizza on the back patio from Via 313, that I might have to hit up at the end of the night. Crazy thing, I’ve had more pizza than tacos in Austin. I’ll need to fix that tomorrow.

Tonight Emmanuel got me going with the Buffalo Bayou Cedar Aged More Cowbell. A big malty beer that clocked in at 9.1% ABV. Smooth to a fault but with a strong bitter bite, it was the beginning of a good night. I now know I’m not allergic to cedar. Next up was High Sign Double IPA which kept that feel good momentum going, especially at 9.5% ABV. A well balanced double IPA that was so good goin down. Much props to Hi Sign, a veteran (Marine) owned brewery, on this one. After these two it got real.

Emmanuel then got to pick 4 from the anniversary party this past weekend and the standouts in his crazy beer mind. I don’t know where to begin as it was all off the chain. Deep Ellum Darkest Hour 2015 was first up. Deep dark and a smooth sweetness it brought the power at 9%. Next up was Strange Land Old North Road (8.9% ABV), an English style strong ale with vanilla and aged on rum-soaked oak. An earthiness from the oak complimented the big flavor brought by the malt and vanilla.  This was followed by the Real Ale Benedictum a brown ale sour with cherries that gave it a tart punch.

Out of all that goodness my fav was the Blue Owl Lord Admiral Gravitas (9% ABV). I dig big time big sours. It clocked in at 9.0% ABV (i’m gonna brew one of these soon). Tart and oatmeal stout smooth, it is my first barrel aged sour imperial stout. I like, I like it alot. Blue Owl I might have to hit y’all up before I go if you got more of this.

Great night at Craft Pride. A local beer, beer bar done right, style first and foremost. Emmanuel treated a brotha right at Craft Pride. Craft Pride Austin is the must stop Beer Bar.

William

@BTBWilliam

BTB at Blue Tarp

On a cold winter's day Jason and I made our way to Blue Tarp Brewing in Decatur, GA. This brewery is located close to the border of Avondale Estates and is literally around the corner from Three Taverns Brewing Co.

Hop City Home Brewing Class

Enjoying Hop City's home brew class with 15 aspiring home brewers. Very good class by Keaton who's an avid home brewer and has experimented with most styles. He made a Wit today, that had mixed grain with oats, Pilsen light and Bavarian wheat. He did a quad malt that had caramel, wheat, chocolate and victory malts. Hops included pacific jade and a Soriachi Ace that has a good dill flavor and aroma with a hint lemon. Keaton added some tangerine peel at the end of the boil. Yeast used was forbidden fruit. I'll have to come back in a month to taste. The beer will be kegged which we will be attempting to do soon if we can find a barrel keg.

Jalapeno Red - Chilled, Ready and Tasted

Okay, I (William) pushed the envelope with a pepper style right out of the gate.  The previous posts showed the process and that home brewers have free license to experiment in creating beer flavors and style.  The Jalapeno Red was an adventure into into the unknown.  We added the jalapenos with 15 minutes left in the boil to give the beer flavor and heat.  And we also added about 2 cups of brown sugar as well to give the yeast something good to eat to boost something later in the process.

We used a box mix for Red Ale with between 5 - 5.5% ABV.   The beer had very good color and head.  We bottled it just right to get that carbonation solid.  The beer had a distinct jalapeno aroma but little malt and hop.  That was an early sign that the Jalapeno bum rushed the party.  So we all tasted, including Derick from next door, and had similar reviews.

It had a strong jalapeno flavor, there was only a little hint of malt and hops.  I personally felt it was unbalanced, that the jalapeno had jumped everything else and beat them up, badly.  The interesting thing about pepper beers is that there is no heat like you would get from eating a Jalapeno in a food dish or fresh.  It is a pepper taste on your tongue that you feel and I must say that was a plus.  All in all it wasn't bad but it wasn't that good either because it was out of balance.  However, it went real well with the nachos I prepared for the family later.

Corb and Kev suggested the next attempt we use a brew mixture that can fight back, such as a stout or double IPA, with strong malt overtones to give it greater balance.  Hops add bitterness and that would probably not work with the jalapeno.  Corb even suggested possibly introducing habaneros to the next attempt.  Corb mixed it with an IPA we had which give it greater balance and you could still smell and taste the pepper.

I have to agree and those other combination would also give it a higher ABV.  We'll keep y'all posted on our next jalapeno beer attempt.  We'll jump into habaneros one day too.

Double IPA #2 Bottling

This week we bottled a repeat of the Double IP with orange and bourbon chips that we brewed a few weeks ago that had two fermentation cycles.  This was one of our first brews that we all liked but we added some citrus to see how the flavors mix.  In Corb and my  enthusiasm to get it bottled, we forgot the priming sugar which is key to helping the beer keep its carbonation when bottled.  Fortunately, we only bottled 4 before Kev saved the day with the priming sugar.  With a good bottling rhythm with the help of Derick next door and storage in a cool place (around 70 degrees) we will be ready in 2 weeks for another tasting of the 50 bottles we prepared today.  

Hit us up if you would like to become one of our volunteer tasters. Our vision is to make great beer for y'all, not just us.

Jalapeño Red Ale Bottling Day

The Brothers experimentation phase 2 is bottled. After a 14 day 2nd fermentation we are excited to unleash something new. You can smell the jalapeño everywhere. It will definitely have a different flavor and taste.

The crew is getting everything ready, sterilizing bottles, etc. for another first: Jalapeño Red. We'll have some taste testers trying it out that will post about it this coming week.

6/2 Brew Day - Double IPA

While Corby was in Oakland having fun, Kevin and William decided to keep the brewing going with a Double IPA. We are getting the hang of home brewing because each time it gets a little easier and we're beginning to branch out on flavors.  In brew #4 Kevin added 

Oranges to the steeping process and molasses to the boil.

The rain almost got us, but we got it done and brew #4 is now fermenting.  

The Jalapeño red ale, got transferred to begin it's 2nd ferment and looked and smelled excellent. Bottling brew #3 in about a week.

Corby's Hair Of the Dog

Trying Corby's Hair Of The Dog pale ale. Don't ask why it's called the hair if the dog. Pretty good hop aroma and solid carbonation. Great start for the Brothers that Brew. Good flavor, no bitterness, good texture so smooth on the tongue, little hazy. Easy drinking 5.5% abv Pale Ale.