Bottling Update

54 BJ Border Jumpers on the Wall
44 American Ambers on the Wall

The Hop.2 will be ready to bottle on Sunday

God... now that's a different story. We'll keep you posted there

...And We're Back

...or, at least, I'm back. Had me a nice little week break in the Rockies and now it's time to get down to business. I'll be heading into Chicago on Thursday to pick up Dave.1 and between now and then i'm looking to bottle Border Jumper, The Currently un-named Amber Ale, God, and The Hop.2. Also, I've received my gigantic order of hops and will be brewing up The Hop Mod1, Batch Eleven. Gon' Be Crazy n shit.

Until Next Time...

So I'm off today, for Crested Butte, CO with the UC ski club until next sunday. No more updates for a week from this guy (but hopefully from the other components of the davedave crew... *hint* *hint*) anyhow, i'll be sure to sample and possibly bring back some new west coast and mountain beers that i can find. if you know of any good beers that one can only find out west, let me know and i'll be sure to pick one or two up.

ski trip babay!

As We Speak...

Brewing the first official DaveDave remake batch, The Hop, staying as true to the original recipe as possible. The differences in this batch and the original are 3/4 lb. less honey, US Magnum hops instead of Yakima Magnum, and tap water instead of filtered.

As for the tap water, buying 5 gallons of water every time i brew is a pain in the ass. I'm just gonna go with tap water from now on to give all my brews that same "tappy" base and cincinnati style. dig?

Bells 8000 Ale Review

Cracked open one of these bad boys tonight to drink alongside some jalapeño and cheese pirogies. The 8000 is a Belgian style witbier, and it was poured from a 12 oz bottle into a pilsner glass. The pour was rich and full, with a perfect amount of mellow golden head topping off the glass. The color of the beer was a slightly cloudy, and was a light honey orange hue. The aroma was spicy with hints of orange and banana. The beer had a nice medium malty flavor and a good amount of spice. There were hints of coriander and grains of paradise on the tongue. grains of paradise, mind you, are "what acid is made of to make, like, acid," as the party source employee so poignantly put it. I've never been a huge witbier fan, but the 8000 is definitely something i'm glad to have 5 more of in the fridge. i'll probably even pick up another 6 pack once i run out of this one. the taste also went along perfectly with the spicy pirogies, which were smothered in saracha sauce. probably my favorite witbier to date, although i haven't had the pleasure of enjoying many. if you've heard of any other good ones, hit me with those suggestions boys and girls. and thats all i got.

11

so thanks to my favorite brewing bible, the complete joy of homebrewing by charlie papazian, i located a website that has hops hops hops available. so i decided to celebrate by ordering 11 different kinds of hops. that's right, 11. i already have enough hops to make 2 batches of 'the hop,' but i decided, why make 2 batches of the hop when we can kick this shit up and make one batch of 'the hop' and a complimentary batch, 'the hop: overkill,' which will feature the 11 different kinds of hops i speak of, including: pacific gem, sorachi ace, amarillo, cascase, centennial, chinook, mt. hood, perle, summit, williamette and fuggle. count 'em. we'll use a combination of these in the boil as well as use quite a few of them in a dry hopping stage propsed to go exactly 22 days young. f'in crazy... and we'll definitely keep you posted.

Brew Reviews, Etc.

So yesterday I was browsing through beer advocate, as recommended by Timmy Tomato, and I came across some brews I was hoping to try. I put a quick list together and sent it to my boys at the Party Source, the worlds largest and most decidedly excellent candy store for adults. They only had one of the brews in stock on the list, the Fullers Vintage Ale. So i naturally had them hold onto 4 bottles, since they only had 9 total. Emma and i headed to the Party Source to pick up the brews and others. I came out of there with, Goose Island Demolition, Goose Island Imperial IPA, Limited Edition Flying Dog Wild Dog Weizenbock, Avalanche Special Edition Christmas Ale, Bell's Batch 8000 Witbier and Expedition Stout as well as, of course the Fullers Vintage. I was very excited to see they were carrying the Goose Island Limited brews and I would of course like to think that maybe I had something to do with it...? Hah. Anyhow, I have since had the pleasure of sampling the Imperial IPA, the Expedition Stout and the Fullers Vintage. Although the Expedition Stout was the first real beer of the night, I remember this beer the least. That is, to say, not that it wasn't a fantastic and memorable beer - i really just didn't pay much attention to the fact that i was drinking it. my minimal thoughts on the beer, was that it had very rich espresso and molasses notes with a dark as night color and a thick golden brown head. It was quite smooth considering its 10.5% abv. i'll have to try this out again and really chew into it.

the goose island imperial IPA was certainly one to remember. i recently read a review of the beer stating that, "you could smell the hops before you opened the bottle." what a completely spot on description. as of late i have more and more become a man who loves his hops and this beer is no disappointment. brewed with copious amounts of tettnang, simcoe and cascade hops, it pours rich golden amber and releases the heavenly aromas heavy enough to fill up the room. what was interesting was that although the hop aroma was so intensely robust, the flavor of the beer was rich and full, and very well rounded. don't get me wrong, the hops are still there, but the balance of the hop is much better in this Imperial IPA than, for instance, the Sam Adams Hallertau Imperial. And for not being the worlds largest IPA fan, even Timmy Tomato enjoyed the brew! Although expensive, this one was a really great pickup that I'm really looking forward to trying on draft in chicago in a few weeks.

so then we have the fullers vintage ale, the reason for the party source trip! i'm a huge fan of the fullers brews, especially the esb they offer - which just happens to be one of the very very few beers that like to i purchase when i can't decide on anything else. so needless to say i had high expectations of the vintage ale. four out of only one hundred thousand made (this is not that much), mine were numbered in the 83000's, and they each came individually in a nice red box. the pour was shiny copper and the head came out a light golden amber. the taste was of burnt caramel, marmalade and a bit of orange. the beer was quite malty, but had an incredibly balanced full flavor which left a wonderful aftertaste. personally, i find some more malt-heavy brews to finish bitter and harsh at the back of the mouth, but the vintage ale rounded out quite well. i took a good half hour to finish the brew without even realizing that that amount of time had passed, it was very relaxing and was a perfect fit for the cold winter evening. i'm very glad i have three more of these. i may actually have to go back to the party source and buy the rest of their stock just to put a few in the basement and let age for a few years.


one thing that i've recently come to very much appreciate is bottle conditioning. when i first started brewing i thought, give the beer a week to carbonate and that's that and it's done. boy was i ever wrong. every time i have a homebrew that i've left sitting for just a few months, it's always better than ever. for instance, the hop has been maturing and time after time lives up to its incredibly high standards; man has been maturing quickly and is becoming one of my new favorite brews as well. i can only imagine what some of the other beers might taste like in the future. i also have a 4 pack of the goose island matilda and demolition aging in the cellar as well. i guess the only bad part now, is the waiting!

Davedave is no democracy

So, uh, the poll is over. Looks like a 3-way tie. Hrm. Well, I guess it really doesn't matter since we weren't going to use your vote anyhow. yep.

Fingers Crossed

Well well, not too much currently going on, but we do have a nice update on all of the brews.

First off, we sampled another man or three last night, and they have really come along. the brew is just top notch and will get even more delicious as it bottle conditions over the next few weeks.

Re-carboyed god today, pitched a new vile of yeast, added a lb. of boiled xtra dark malt, along with oak chips that have been soaking in whiskey for the past 4 days. should be interesting... we'll have to keep you posted as that comes along. it looks like god should be able to bottle on the 15th or 16th.


The Hop! With the hop crisis bearing down on all us poor brewers, I have somehow managed to fenangle all 7 different kinds, coming to 11 oz. of quality hops to be distributed over a 10 gal batch of The Hop which will be (actually, has to be in order to get the right dry hopping schedule) brewed on Tuesday after the chair crit. And when i say ten gallons i mean it's a double batch tuesday, so it'll definitely be a late night.

lucy was tested; lucy is delicious. this being the first davedave lager, the results have come in well. the brew definitely needs to bottle condition for at least a few more weeks to pull out some of the *off* flavors that detract from the great berry sweetness.

so once i return from the ski trip, it sounds like that's when everything is going to go down. the hop, god, and the mexican will all be ready to bottle. aka one really long day. i mean seriously. really long. who wants to help with 200 bottles of beer??? any takers? seriously. help.


later

beeradvocate - aka inspiration to drink

hey gang,

this might be old news for some of you, but i just stumbled this great website:

http://beeradvocate.com/

it has all kinds of information about beer, beer events, and a ton of beer reviews. seems like a great community of people from all over the place.

i've already discovered a beer that i need to try, can't get it outta my head

it's called founder's kentucky breakfast stout
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1199/19960

go explore and be rewarded!

tim

Need Inspiration

I must admit, my fellow brewers, I have recently taken a hiatus from beer that, though unplanned, has resulted in a rediscovered passion for whiskey and wine. HELP ME! I need to try a new beer and reacquaint my palate with its estranged twin lovers, hop and malt. Do not let my melodramatic rhetoric fool you, it has only been a few days since my lips parted before a cascade of carbonated ambrosia from the mouth of a glass bottle, but I feel vanilla. What is the cure?

This is Great News!

A recent study by researchers at the University of Grenada in Spain suggests that the consumption of a pint of beer after a workout helps the body to better absorb water due to its mineral content (similar to the electrolytes in sports drinks). Click this text to read more

Quick Brew Update

lucy - 54 bottles on the wall

man - has matured w/thicker head = even better

god - 8 sec. bubble, smells much more like alcohol, will feed, pitch and re-carboy this weekend, will bottle upon return from colorado (dec. 15)

mexican - give it 2 more weeks (bottle post dec. 15)

amber - can bottle by this weekend (fast acting ale, good yeast)


the hop - will be brewed mid-next week (wednesday night or thursday day). this beer is amazing but may be hard to put together right now with the hop shortage going around.

'merican - still sucks

mother of maxin - will tweak this recipe soon and do another batch by mid-january


thas bout it.

Just Because...

So I was bored today and just for the hell of it, headed over to listermanns and picked up their american amber ale kit and some american wyeast to go with. which of course meant i got another carboy, bringing the davedave capacity up to four brews at once... a whole twenty gallons, how about it

hit me with your bubbles

Hey everyone, I'm in need of help to name the new batch of mexican inspired brew.
the ingredient list for inspiration:

agave syrup
amber malt
cactus
aloe vera
chiles
lime
honey
mexican lagering yeast

i've been conjuring up some kind of name involving illegal immigrants, hotel maids, interracial mexican-american families, etc. but nothing has stuck yet.

hit me with your ideas!

News on the Fermenting Front

Good news to share about the progress of the three batches currently in ferment

First, god is going stronger and faster than before. We had thought that maybe the yeasts were giving up with so many sugars left, or that there had been some inefficient sugars in the carboy, which would have ended up ruining god, leaving it partially alcohol, partially ungodly sweetness (in a bad way). It seems this isn't the case at all, however, and things are running smooth. we're planning on feeding it more malt mid next week as well as pitching the new yeast then.

Next, Bear Batch is ready to bottle. that will more than likely happen tonight or tomorrow, so we'll give you a taste update when that occurs

Finally, what I have been worrying about for a few days now, that the yeast in the Mexican beer was just too old and wasn't going to work, is no longer a problem. my guess is that this strand of lagering yeast just needed a bit of time to get things going, and that since the yeast was born this past march, it took a few extra days to reproduce up to a fermenting ready amount. but no worries now, all is bubbling in the lager lock down in the basement.



on top of that, i realized that there were only 3 Mother of Maxin's left, so i pulled one out of the basement and gave it a taste. needless to say it has only gotten better with age. the only problem is that there is a wonderful upfront taste of a light, bitter orange, and a final finish of a rich malty coffee, but the middle flavors have just dissapeared! quite odd. either way, it's no good that there are now only 2 left, but no worries, we've got the recipe and will more than likely make another batch sometime in the near future. somehow i forsee the addition of another carboy happening pretty soon...


oh yeah, and i had another 'merican ale last night. it still sucks. big time.

outlandish

http://www.ultimatestupidity.com/index.php/archives/4403

Holy Crap

Holy Crap do i have a big fat update for everyone. we've got some new beer reviews, some batch updates, new equipment and another brand new batch.

i guess this weekend really started on saturday. in the mood for brewing, i trekked out to jungle jims in search of the key ingredient(s) for my newest batch of beer. first and foremost, agave syrup, and then some cactus and chiles as well. on my way through the store, i naturally stopped through the beer section to take a peak at the selection. i have had the breckenridge avalanche beer a number of times before - and actually had a pint later that night at the beer sellar - but only once have had the breckenridge vanilla porter, which was in stock, so i delightfully picked up a 6-pack and continued on. ah! much to my surprise, jungle jims was carrying goose island reserve matilda (as discussed previously by our chicago dave). so naturally, since i've been hearing only wonderful things about this batch and since i figured this beer doesn't come around the area too often, i picked up the last two 4-packs. right next to the matilda was another goose island reserve, the demoltion. there was only one 4-pack left, so i snagged that one as well. my apologies to anyone who may have made the special trip to pick up one of these two brews only to find them both out of stock! feeling pretty content and getting a little ancy to get home and try the new brews out, i also picked up a 4-pack of the sam adams hallertau imperial pilsner on a whim, on my way to find my agave. i picked up all the necessary ingredients for the newest batch and headed to listermanns to pick up the supplies for the batch. incredibly amped about the beers i had picked up, i was even more excited to find that listermanns was carrying a strain of mexican lagering yeast, which white labs doesn't typically put on the shelves until the february-march season. and on top of it, since god, nor bear batch were finished, i picked up another carboy and stopper just for the hell of it. and just like that, BOOM, davedave is a three batch brewery.

so if you didn't pick up on it already, the batch i brewed yesterday was a mexican lager. The batch included 5 lbs. agave, 4 lbs. dry amber malt, 1 lb. honey, 8-10 pcs. cactus, 1 large pcs. aloe vera, and a handful of chiles, as well as mt. hood and tettenang hops, plus the mexican lagering yeast. this was definitely my biggest experiment to date. it smelled light and malty with a rounded, but spicy citrus note to it. should be ready around christmas time, so i'll keep you posted. (here's a picture of the boil:)

oh yeah, and there's a lime thrown in for fun.

as far as the beers we currently have in the works, there's also quite the update.

we did the first official "man" test on friday, and it was nothing less than we'd expected. i'm not really great on official beer terminologies, but if you can imagine turning a cup of coffee into a cold refreshing beer, man is probably something what you would come up with. we even tried it side by side with the dogfish head chickory stout, and although the STD crew may be slightly biased towards their man, we all decided that man was the better of the two brews. the man taste has mellowed well since we bottled, and it should continue to age well. the initial pours had a very light head, but this was to be expected at this point. we should see good growth in the next few weeks.

next, the god brew was tested and believe you me, it's not ready yet. there is still so much unfermented sugar in this batch, it's really kind of ridiculous. during the mexican lager brew session yesterday, i aerated god again and fed it about a half pound of malt, to give the heavily stressed yeast some easy access nutrient to grow on. god has been bubbling about every 4 seconds for the last week and it's not seeming to slow any time soon. as soon as it reaches 30-40 seconds, i'm planning on dropping in a new vial of the high gravity yeast to give it another jump start. i don't see god being ready to bottle for at least another 2 weeks at the very least.

the gummi bear batch is doing well and should be ready to bottle mid-week. i've moved the bear batch, as well as the mexican batch to a cold room in my basement, which will aid in an efficient lagering session.


and finally, since yesterday, i've sampled all four of the beers mentioned above, and they are all pretty darn good. first, the vanilla porter. very rich and thick, with a wonderful full body and chocolatey, malty finish. this is a very good "cold day" beer, or would taste pretty good right next to smokey, molasses-like flavors aka a big open pit barbecue. next, the sam adams hallertau imperial pilsner. if you've ever brewed with me, whenever i open a bag of hops, i make you smell them. well if you could put that same intensity of smell into a beer, you would have yourself this one. apparently, the sam adams brewers use 12 lbs. of hops in each small batch. which is a shit ton. for reference, on the dry hopped beer that davedave made earlier this year (3.3), we used about 5 ounces of hops per 5 gallons of beer, and this came out very full and ripe of hops. so i'm not exactly sure their barrel size, but if it is normal "barrel," that would mean it would contain about 60-70 gallons of beer. which would just about more than double the amount of hops per beer we've tried. maybe on the remake of 3.3 we can try out a more intense amount of hops. but either way, with the imperial pilsner, i've really never had this much hop to a beer in my life (which is a good thing). next are the goose island reserves, which i sampled this afternoon during the bengals game *sigh*. first of all, the reserve matilda completely fills the standards that dave.1 has been giving it. it has a nice malty citrus hit, that mellows into a slightly sour belgian-style (both the matilda and demolition are belgian-style) finish. if you've ever had a belgian style abbey beer, you know about this sour, bitter, and more than anything, interesting finish. the matilda does a fantastic job of giving you all of the great parts of the aftertaste without that sometimes unappealing characteristic. very drinkable beer. wonderful toasted mellow orange color with a thick white head.

that all being said, and dave, i'm sorry to say this, but the demolition beats out them all.


something about this beer is just fantastic. the color, the body, the head, all extremely appealing on the first pour. the demolition has a great balance of citrus, malt and hops, while still rounding out at a rather impressive 8% abv. the aftertaste only left me wanting more. this beer does a great job of being a delicious all-around beer, but not actually tasting like it should be. it isn't too harsh, too bitter, too sweet, too anything. it too, as mentioned, is a belgian style beer. the demolition does a fantastic job of mellowing the sour notes even moreso than the matilda. i drank it with a bbq chicken pizza, which was a very nice compliment, although the label suggests to try it with a plate of oysters (don't really know about that one...) but regardless, it felt just right for pretty much any kind of mood or as a compliment to any kind of food. and it's certainly my absolute new favorite beer. (watch for updates as this will change in about a week i'm sure...) so dave, i expect you to bring quite a few of these back from chicago, or i'll be mad as hell.


so that just about does it from my end. it was definitely a productive weekend to say the least. looks like i'll be heading out to jungle jims later this week to pick up more demolition, and probably some more matilda as well. could be the right compliment to that thanksgiving turkey.

i'll keep you posted on all the batches, but as i said, we should be bottling gummi beer (lucy in the sky with diamonds), mid-week, and will more than likely doing the first davedave remake, that being of batch 3.3, the hop, around then. catch you crazy kids later.

This Just In...

Stone Breweries' Arrogant Bastard's seasonal counterpart, the Double Bastard (see top 5 list below) was release last week and is hitting shelves across the tri-state region as of yesterday and today. IGA Ludlow is one of the first to carry, as well as the Party Source. Even at $7 per 22oz bottle, it's damn worth it. And with a whopping 10% abv, you'll only need the one (or maybe two...)! So stop making excuses, do yourself a favor, and go pick some up right now.


Also hitting shelves is the Dogfish Head Seasonal, Chickory Stout, delicious coffee based brew with notes of chickory and licorice root. Also an obvious choice, this beer tastes eerily close to Man, which will get its official "first taste" this Saturday. very exciting stuff.

future

unnecessarily sweet.

http://vaican.com/get-a-cold-beer-in-seconds-faster-than-ice/

chop shop

new logo, dig?

extreme beer festival

coming up in february, beer advocates is hosting an Extreme Beer Fest in Boston. Only $90 for the weekend, this sounds pretty sweet. It's basically a venue for all kinds of brewers to come and show off some of the wicked techniques and recipes they've been using recently. friday is a limited seating panel event and saturday there are two tastings. here's the link for the website:

http://beeradvocate.com/fests/ebf

check it out and, well, i'm going either way. so who's coming with me?

beer pics

here's a few pictures of god brew in the works:


this one is after a vigorous shaking. this releases some the built up co2, (of which there is a lot) aerating the fermenting beer and letting the yeast reactivate some. good news.


and below is the berry batch:

should be a really great color once its done. we'll keep you posted. bottling takes place this weekend, and man should be ready to drink on saturday. saweet.

More Beer Reviews

Tonight i am drinking "GumballHead Beer" by Three Floyds Breweries out of Munster, IN. This is their summer brew, a wheat beer that had been "highly dry hopped" and you can definitely taste it. This may be the best beer that i bought on a whim in some time. Slightly reminiscent of our davedave 3.3, but a little heavier. I don't know where you can find it, i've never heard of it, but maybe some of you have, or maybe some of you have even tried it, and maybe enjoyed it. They have all kinds of beer in their arsenal, and are relatively young (started in 1996!) so keep an eye out for these guys.

http://www.threefloyds.com/

drink up yall

859 calories per beer

last week we created man. last night we created god.

god features 4 pounds of grains, 25 pounds of fermentable sugars with 5 ounces of high alpha acid hops, champagne and super ultra high gravity yeasts, plus a pink starburst and an apple. we had to separate the 75 minute boil into three pots because of boil over. and not to mention the end consistency was a syrup thicker than anything i've ever tried to ferment. either way, OG was pushing past 1.2, around 1.21 to 1.23. the readings were a little skewed because of the higher temperatures, but basically put, we can get a good 22-24% ABV out of this batch, which is exactly where we want to be. we're gonna let the yeast run through on this first round, and then step feed over the next few weeks to get the alcohol to its highest potential.


only 18 hours later and it's already got about an inch and a half of activity.

so we'll definitely keep you posted on this batch as it moves along.

47 and 1/2 mans on a shelf

bottled.


like, woah!

Ah, the joys of the bigger city!

There are plenty of good beers on tap all over town. And, I know Dave will like this most especially, fat tire tall boys (24oz) are at the convenient store for 3.25. mmm

Matilda

I believe the yeast Mr. Greve is talking about is the brettanomyces strain of yeast.

according to wikipedia:

"In most beer styles, Brettanomyces is viewed as a contaminant and the characteristics it imparts are considered unwelcome "off-flavours". However, in some styles -- particularly certain traditional Belgian ales -- it is appreciated and encouraged. Lambic and gueuze owe their unique flavour profiles to Brettanomyces, and it is also found in Oud Bruin and Flanders red ale. Commercial examples of these styles include Liefmans Brown Ale, Rodenbach Grand Cru, and Duchesse de Bourgogne. The Orval Trappist monastery is unique in crafting the only Trappist beer with Brettanomyces charateristics. In Orval;s case, the brewers add the yeast to the beer at bottling.

Several American craft breweries use Brettanomyces in their beers. This use began with a renewed interest in Belgian style ales and later formed new styles altogether (Brewers Association, 2007 Great American Beer Festival Style Guidelines, section 13a, 16). Some breweries use %100 Brettanomyces for the fermentation of some of their beers, and omit Saccharomyces from the recipe. It is common for American brewers that use Brettanomyces to also include lactic acid producing bacteria such as Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus in order to provide sourness to the beer. Examples of American breweries that use Brettanomyces in their beer include Russian River Brewing Co., Lost Abbey, New Belgium Brewing Co., and Allagash Brewery.

While most stouts achieve their sour tang through the use of acidulated malt, roasted barley, or -- in the case of "milk stouts -- lactose and incipient lactic acid, some use Brettanomyces for the same purpose. Prior to 1980s-era changes in its fermentation regimen, Guinness's Foreign Extra Stout is held to have been one such."

so there you have it. later

More Chicago Beer

Reserve Matilda 7.0% ABV
Gold Medal winner 2005 Great American Beer Festival Silver Medal winner 2006 World Beer Cup Brewed with Pilsner, Munich and a touch of Crystal malt, this Belgian strong ale is a golden hoppy delight. What makes it special is the yeast strain used in this brew: it produces a mellow tartness to complement the complex malt character. Styrian Golding and an abundance of Saaz hops add to the crisp flavor. Served in a Reserve glass.

*************************************************************************************

This is taken verbatim from the Goose Island website. This beer is amazing. I went to a cigarette/beer tasting event a month ago (for free) and tried this gem, as well as many others from the Goose Island line. Picked up a four pack of the stuff last night ($12, but worth it) and enjoyed the shit out of it.

So delicious. Very Belgian actually. The most interesting part is that the yeast they use continues to stay alive and rigorously "works over" the wort. Open the bottle, it pours like champagne. The head is ridiculously creamy and the liquid fizzles on the tongue. I wish i could remember what the name of the special yeast they use. It is something rare and difficult to pronounce/remember. Something like "britanimesium", who knows.

This beer continues to taste better and better for five years, apparently. I talked with one of the master brewers at Goose Island and he told me he has tried one at four years and it was amazing. I believe him. Its not easy to find, I'm sure, but if you are in Chicago you can probably find an four pack at Binny's, and I hear that it is on tap somewhere, probably near the brewery. Again, who know?

Thats all for now. Drink up yall.

beer is really good for you

much akin to shea's contribution, not having anything to do with my suggestion to write on this blog... i'll go ahead and add a short list of some of my recent favorite beers. everyone always asks me what beers to get. shut up with that question. i don't know. my favorite beer is constantly changing so i really have no idea what in the world to tell you. but i guess i can take a shot at listing out a few that i would generally recommend or have recently enjoyed quite a bit.


5. Alaskan Amber Ale: The original Daves had this one on a cross-country trip summer 2006. Great everyday, anytime beer. Very refreshing with great flavor, but not too bold that it would scare away those of the lighter palates. Too bad it's only available on the west coast. (hint to those left-american readers out there... *cough* baker)


4. Fullers ESB (Extra Special Bitter): Great dinner beer. Enjoy this fresh on draft down at Nicholsons Pub, downtown Cincinnati. Great different style of beer to break out of your usual habits.

3. Stone Double Bastard Ale: Only available at certain times during the year, the double bastard boasts a 10% abv, and more hops than at least... 4 kangaroos. like the alaskan amber, i've only had one experience with the double bastard. it involved a lengthy search which ended at jungle jims and me, dave1 and emma all splitting a 3L bottle. this beer is one of the burliest beers i've ever tasted, with a comparable hangover to prove it.

2. Bells Consecrator Doppelbock: Delicious and rich seasonal Bell's brew. Full chocolate taste with a mild hop finish and notes of caramel. Definitely a snowy day kind of beer. It's a single batch release only available in February, so mark those calendars and buy in bulk!

and 1. it's a tie! (what a cop out) Rogue Shakespeare Stout, Rogue Mocha Porter: Rogue definitely has some fantastic beers in their lineup, no doubt about it. Both of these brews are full in flavor and just downright delicious. I'll have to give them both a side by side comparison to determine the true winner. At least three times each. For double-checking of course...

Aspall cider is the shit.

nuff said. drink it.

Shea's top five beers for drinking

Dave has been pressuring me to actually post something on this blog, so for lack of anything more interesting to comment on, I figured I'd make a list my 5 favorite beers at the moment. Now, I'm a big fan of IPAs and cask ales, so, If thats your bag, you'll love these beers. If you don't like IPAs and cask ales, I don't care, try these anyway, they will change your mind. Some of these (namely the Christian Morelein and the Watch City) may be near impossible to find outside of their local area, but it's well worth the search.

1. Bell's Two Hearted Ale

2. Christian Morelein OTR

3. Watch City Brewery Titan Ale (If you're in Boston, go to the brewery/restaurant and get It with their Blackened Bleu burger. You will leave happy)

4. Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA

5. St. Peter's English Ale

Get Stoned

Tomorrow night, that's Wednesday, November 07, the word on the street is that Baba Budan's here in Clifton is having a Stone Brewery beer tasting! Not sure the times and details on this, except that it is supposedly $5 and you get to drink plenty of delicious Stone brews. Stone Brewery was one of the original influences on the Daves in starting up their brewing efforts. Come and see just what we were smoking when we cooked up DaveDave brew. Dave2 (that's me) will definitely be taking a work break to head up and taste around for a while. So if you're interested, give me a shout and we'll check out the goodness at hand. If you can't make it, we always recommend picking up a bottle of the original, the Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale, or maybe a Vertical Epic or Smoked Porter. Doesn't matter, they're all delicious.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

the tentative title for the newly brewed batch, the gummi bear batch, is lucy in the sky with diamonds. it's also a beatles song. but we didn't put lsd in the batch.

in a surprise move, the davedave brew crew, featuring ms. emma sartini, took a pit stop today at listermann's. there we painstakingly picked up all the necessary supplies to put together the infamous gummi bear batch. the batch includes 2 lbs. bear, 2 lbs. honey, 7 lbs. mixed berries, 1 lb. brown sugar, cascade as well as hallertau hops, and is currently put to rest in the cellar of the brewery accompanied by a vile of san francisco lagering yeast. should be a good one, folks. nice and sweet for those who have been looking to davedave to create something a little on the lighter side. being the eighth brew, this is interestingly the first lager attempted. the temperatures are optimal and this batch will also come out earlier than expected. possibly ready for bottling by this coming weekend.

in other news, man is good and fermented and ready for bottling. the initial taste tests are in and can we say, all signs point to yes. if this was the man that god created, god would have been a drunk. and more than likely an insomniac.


speaking of god, upon visit to the brew store today, the super ultra yeasts were *surprisingly* in stock. unfortunately, the brewery wasn't properly set up to brew this monster of a batch. and now in need of a carboy to settle, the brew will be created once man is bottled. wednesday or thursday look to be the day, although there is a good chance we might get a little ancy and bottle it sooner. be on the lookout for those updates.


also, this just in: "dave dave brew is now the perfect companion to a bengals game"
wouldn't you know...

chicago beer

312 by Goose Island. also The Matilda. Chicago beer.

current fall and winter lineup.

just to hit you with the bubbles and give you the update on the upcoming set of brews and slotted brew and release dates:

1. god:
*read previous posts for description*
initial brew date saturday, november 3, 2007
bottling november 17 -24, 2007

2. gummi bear batch:
this batch was inspired by shea's joking suggestion to put gummi bears in the beer. got the wheels rolling, and now this batch is going to be a berry lager, taking high amounts of extra light malt, pounds and pounds of fresh berries (straw, black, blue, rasp), as well as candi sugar and a few pounds of, that's right, gummi bears. each bottle will come with a few bears in them as well. BOOM. deal with it, jerk.
initial brew date tentative sometime between sunday, november 4 and saturday the 10th.
the lagering will take longer than normal and should be ready for bottling after about 3 weeks. second ferment and conditioning should have this brew ready when i return from the ski trip, december 18th.

3. fall batch:
an irish red ale brewed with pinecones, bark, leaves, acorns, and any other element of the fall season. the batch will be brewed the day we bottle god. we'll keep you posted on this one.

so that's the lineup for now. they'll all be ready for the 1st of the year and the one year anniversary of davedave brew (dec. 31).


god is brewed in two days. we'll keep you updated on the status as we progress. see ya.

and now for something completely similar

this has nothing to do with anything, except that i think it's hilarious as sin. and possibly also a sin itself.

http://www.batterblaster.com/

breakfast never better. mmjoy

Super Ultra High Gravity Crazy Awesome Freakin Sweet

so dan from listermann's is doing us a huge favor by hooking us up and ordering three viles of the white labs 25% yeast. apparently the process of creating brew with this high level of alcohol will be rather labor intensive, but the std crew will strive to do everything we can to make this the most incredible batch of beer you have ever tasted. your blood may boil on god brew. your head may explode into thousands of pieces. your liver may even grow legs, hop from your body and run for its life. so for all of you masochistic members of society out there, here's your treat.


brewing begins this weekend. get ready.

Man? God.

tonight the first three days of fermented man were tasted. and the results? astounding. this brew is going to be even better than originally planned. with a smooth coffee taste racing across the palette followed by a delightful floral finish with notes of chocolate, caramel and a hint of sweet vanilla, we now have a new rival for quality of davedave brew. all we can say at this point is, buckle up.


in other brewery news, the decision for the next brew has been carefully handpicked by the STD crew. some of the details still need to be hashed out, but the bottom line is that we are basing the brew around a particularly intriguing strain of yeast, the Wild Labs Super High Gravity Yeast. the yeast, it is said, can produce up to 25% alcohol in a batch of beer. which is ridiculous. and we're going to do it. unfortunately, the availability of such yeast in these parts is scarce, but the STD brew team is working on outlets to obtain said ingredient. so once we have it, you'll know, and we're planning on making it as soon as humanly possible.

not at all concerned with the taste, the brew team will work to produce the highest percentage alcohol in a beer (technically after 15% not considered, "beer," but who cares?) possible. the new beer, tentatively titled, god, will not be for the light of heart, nor for god fearing man, nor man fearing god. it will be the heaviest, maltiest, dirtiest, most robust beer to hit the tri-state, and possibly, world area. get excited.

we'll keep you posted.

greengiant label

man label

it's quite possible that i'm your third man, girl. but it's a fact that i'm your seventh son.

update: man brew is fermenting faster than previously expected. in fact, it's moving along faster than any other brew to date. in this case, bottling should take place this coming weekend, and drinking should occur within 10-14 days after that. tentative drink date: friday, november 16th. let us know, orders are already rolling through for this limited time batch. ;)

std: the birth of man

yesterday we witnessed the birth of man.


with help from timmy tomato, shea, and our newly acquired teammate adolf aka tom selleck aka charlie chaplin aka jackson charles goodwin the third, the brew (an std production under the davedave brewhouse) was a success. for the boil, we used 1.5 gal h2o and .5 gal brewed coffee. we used about a 1/2 cup of whole beans in the boil as well as around a 1/4 cup ground beans. after the cooling, we dumped another handful of beans and grounds in with the maltodextrin into the first carboy and sealed that baby off. i'm not quite sure how the coffee beans or caffeine will react with the yeast, if they will keep their potency or burn off in the first ferment stage. we'll know the initial findings once we set up to bottle. man brew will be bottled anywhere between the 7th and 10 of november and will more than likely be available as cold hard man sauce ready for consumption around the 20th. the temperature conditions are a little cooler than usual, so the first stage may take up to 21 days at most, but chances are this phase should be finished within two weeks. i'll have to keep you all updated.

let me know, also, if you're interested in picking up some of these brews. the wort (which is the concentrated beer mixture that was cooked to release the fermentable sugars in the dry malts) tasted delicious and smelled even better, so it looks like we're going to have one heck of a product in about a month.


there are a few other brews in negotiation, and with double brew capabilities, davedave may be deciding to put out another batch relatively soon. currently there is talks of a gummi bear brew, an autumn-infused brew, or a sweet pepper brew. i'll let you know when the decision has been made. peace out, kids.

beer tools

good sound advice from our number one. on that note, here are a few more links that may be beneficial to the local homebrewers, especially those looking to amp things up a notch:

www.listermann.com
listermann is a cincinnati native brewing supply store. they have an abundant selection of all supplies necessary as well as many wonderful kits to get even the novice of homebrewer started on their way.

www.beertools.com
for those who have a brew idea, beer tools has a great online calculator which helps you figure out what kind and amount of ingredients you will need for you next batch of beer.

www.morebeer.com
good site for purchasing brewing supplies from extract brewers to mash brewers, as well as a good source of info for brewing tips.


out of the thousands of brewing sites, these are a few of our current favorites. feel free to let us know some that you have had success with or would also recommend.

adios, d2.1

Beer School

There are actually schools that teach brewing methods:

http://www.siebelinstitute.com/course_desc/

Also, join your local brew club. Learn methods, recipes and friendship. For example:

http://www.chibeer.org/

recipe for man

if for some reason there is anyone out there interested in duplicating any of our beers, i would be more than happy to share the recipes with you. in that light, here is the tentative brewing plans for "man":

*100% extract brew*
5 gallon batch
60 min. boil

3 lbs. dry amber extract
3 lbs. dry extra dark extract
1/4 lb 90*L american caramel malt
1/4 lb chocolate malt
1/2 lb coffee malt
1/4 lb black roasted barley malt
1/8 lb caramalt
1oz. yakima magnum (60 min)
1oz fuggles (15 min)
1oz mt. hood (3 min)
1/4 lb honey
1/2 lb ethiopian harrar coffee beans
1 wyeast 1084 irish ale
1/8 oz natural flavors
4 T vanilla extract

all pretty self explanatory. the hops start very bitter and mellow out as the brew boils (magnum @ 14.5 %AA, fuggles @ 5 %AA, mt. hood @ 4 %AA). these are all wonderful floral hops and should add a nice sweet bitterness without making the beer taste like a mouth full of garden. the honey is added in with the malt, as well as 1/4 lb of whole harrar beans. also, the "cinnamon and chocolate to our skyline" 1/8 oz. natural flavors from the brew store (which will act as the crowning jewel to our triumph) as well as the vanilla extract, 1/8 lb whole beans & 1/8 lb ground beans will be added at the beginning of the first ferment. plans are for 10-14 day stage one ferment, and 10-14 day bottle, but this will probably change, so we'll keep everyone posted at the status of the brew and when it *may be* available. brew time is saturday around 2-3 at the fairview residence. we'll start drinking and brewing then as well, so give me a shout if you want to come. you know, the more the merrier, or something like that. later.

consumable infamy

"the power of a comet to earth is comparable to a beer on the lips; subject to destruction, but let's just see what happens."

from the top...

since this is a brand new thing going on here, the first batch of hypertext slotted out over the next few weeks will more than likely be a back and forth memento-like drop of information about the daves, the history, some information we've learned about homebrewing, different beers we've enjoyed or despised, or other random pieces of information for you to drink as we see fit. so consider this our disclaimer.


and this, our motto as well as company mantra:
"two men sit facing each other and both of them are me. quietly, meticulously, systematically, they are blowing each others brains out with pistols. they look perfectly intact. inside devastation."

tim(dave)dave: "man"

an exciting addition to the already growing davedave family is our good friend, timmy tomato. this coming saturday marks the inaugural tim(dave)dave brew, "MAN." "MAN" features a combination of robust malted barley and black patent grains with a dark malt base. this porter-esque brew will also feature a drew carey show-esque twist in that it will be brewed with brewed coffee and then fermented with coffee beans or grounds (the decision is still up in the air until we get drunk and figure it out). the "MAN" will be ready to taste around the first of december. it will mark the onslaught of the holiday season with tremendous force and will forseeably dropkick some hearts and livers into early submission.

joining us on brew day will also be mandizzle, jenny and possibly my new cat. if you have any ideas for cat names, let me know. i probably won't use them but hey, you tried.

*note* the new "MAN" brew team, davedave and tim is being posted as "tim(dave)dave" for a few reasons. naturally, dave the square one has relocated to the chicagoland area. and secondly, tim comes before the dave because first of all, davedave is no ominous dictatorship, and b. it just sounds better. we all know that tim is an inferior man to the daves but let's try and make him feel a bit special. at least, until he reads this.


oh yeah, totally unrelated: check out the movie, 'sunshine,' because it's pretty amazing.

davedave united... via internet?

the first of many, this post marks the official written-in-stone start of the davedave breweries, inc. and its online interests. as many of you may know, davedave has been running in full force since december 31, 2006, the date of Conception Brew #1: the jimmy carter special. although the brew itself was not nearly at the standards expected at the present day brewery, the first batch marked the beginning of an era marked by and for two sons of alcoholic labor, dave greve (d.sq.1) and dave schuster (d.sq.2). feverishly working, learning, drinking and of course, brewing, since the birth of brew as we know it that fateful day in december of 2006, davedave has not only spread the word about homebrewing in the tri-state (and now chicagoland) areas, we have been pushing the limits of brew in new an unique ways with no end in sight. Our unabashed list of beers include:

brew 1.1: the jimmy carter special
brew 2.1: brew two? fuck you!
brew 3.1: 'merican ale.
brew 3.2: 'mother of maxin!'
brew 3.3: the hop
brew 3.4: *currently unnamed* cinnamon special


impressive, you say? absolutely. but just wait. and keep yourself posted. because there will be recipes, updates, and of course, plenty more brews in store for you in the days to come.



also, if anyone is interested in purchasing a batch of 'merican ale! (not recommended), or 3.4, the cinnamon special (highly recommended), let me know. but you can't really purchase them legally, so when i say purchase i mean donate to us and because of your generous donation of approximately $10 (of course, merely a suggestion), you will receive 6 beers as a thanks, from one davedave to another non-davedave.

as usual, and when i say as usual, i mean, starting now, if you have some good ideas for brew, or try some mysteriously delightful beers that may be of interest of us, feel free! let us know! we would love to hear from you!

alright, we're out. catch you soon, folks. love, davedave