Mellody Brewing

Top Nine in 09

Here's my list of the Top Nine Beer moments in 2009.

1. I have now drank nine of the Top Ten rated beers according to BeerAdvocate.
2. Volunteered at Philly Craft Beer Festival, meet brewers, walked home with bottles and contacts.
3. Shared beers with Bob from St. Somewhere and Patrick from The Bruery during Craft Beer Week.  I still have Patrick's card on my chalk board, it may yet come in handy.
4. Back to homebrewing (even if partially extract) - two batches in two months - one tapped - one ready to go.  It feels good.
5. My brother sent me beers from Chicago for Christmas, including: Goose Island Matilda, Bourbon County Stout and New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red. He even drove to Wisconsin to get me the bottles of New Glarus - I've clearly made an impact on him.  Best gift this year, by far.
6. Philly BA Meetup - it was hotter than Tampa, and we drank in the cooler to fight of total dehydration.  
7. Hit almost every major new beer bar (Gastro Pub) that opened while I lived in Tampa.  I'm overwhelmed by my options now that I'm back.
8. Shared bottles of St. Somewhere with friends and family that I bottled while in Tampa.  
9. Buying bottles at Capone's before Thanksgiving, and sharing lots of good beers with the family through out the day.

Cheers!

No words of wisdom, no resolutions, just a moment to stop and enjoy friends and family.  That's what I've been doing the last few days and I hope you have been too.

Exciting stuff for Mellody Brewing in 2010 - so please keep reading and thanks for always checking in despite my official life limiting the postings as of late (this is becoming more normal I know.)  

Beergenuity

If it were not for the cans of Sly Fox Dunkel at my side I might have given up trying to replace the lines in the kegerator. It's harder than I thought. Lesson learned, keep lines clean next time.

Kegging and Bottling Today

The brown ale is ready for transfer to secondary, and the triple is ready for keg and bottle.  Going to be a productive afternoon here at Mellody Brewing, if I can get off the couch.

If I were Tiger

I cheat on beer with Manhattans.

That was close...

See that hop reside at the top of the pot? That's what happens when you decide to sit in the other room and the lid slides shut and the foam from the boil rises up. I was about 2 seconds from a full fledge boil over.

Watch Dog

Barley intently watches as I brew the beer that will bear her name.  Brown-Back Tan-Ass Ale named after the made up breed I tell people Barley is when they ask.  She's a mutt, probably a mix of a beagle, or spaniel and lab - but I have named her my little brown-back tan ass - and that's what I tell people if I am with it enough to think on my feet when they ask.

The apartment smells of malt and hops, we're 10 minutes into the boil and all is well.  This is an easy beer to brew, I hardly have to pay attention.  In about 10 minutes we will rehydrate the yeast.  I'm using an English style dry yeast from Fermentis - at the suggestion of the owner of my home brew store.  He says it ferments fast and furious and has a nice profile for the brown I'm attempt to brew.  We'll see.

Old School Crush

I really need to get a grain mill.

The Hop Store Haul

Rye With Me Baby

I'm headed out to prepare for this weekend's brew session.  It's going to rain, snow all day and night so it's perfect brewing conditions.  We'll be getting some beers to sip while we brewing, starting the first fire of the season and settling in for a few hour brew session.  I've decided to make a Brown Ale, but with flaked rye and it will be dry hopped.  I may also add a few more fun things after the boil to see what happens.

Watch for brew day live blogging later and pictures.