Promoting DaveDave Synergy

It's been a while. Oh how the tides have changed!

There is a level of excitement abuzz at DaveDave that there hasn't been in a while. But this is not any level of excitement created fusing awkward potential life goals into a and followed by a "Dude, we should totally...!" No, nowhere near that. This is the kind of monumentus that allows me to create words like monumentus. Something deep from within that has been brewing (get it?) for some time.

I am currently finishing up my capstone project in school. And by finishing, I mean, I've barely started and there are only a few weeks left. However, my function in this aim is to develop and design a brewery. Unbeknown to most, I have no intentions of presenting any work nor having anything significant on D-Day. However, I do plan on having a solid document of information channeling what the brewery (or now, moreover, Brew Pub), is going to look like and effectively, live up to (although June says this will change and I am in firm belief with him that it will, however it is necessary to have a place to start), in hopes of sharing this information with potential investors in the process known as making DaveDave REAL.

It's all really exciting. So the next point is that this blog from now on (if I really even attend to it.. we will see in time), is to briefly chronicle what is happening in our world. I am a bit motivated by the outward approach that Tucker Max (Taylor Steele) has taken with the creation and release of his film, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell. So in that light, I may take an active approach to regurgitating the information and events that will ultimately lead to Day 1 Opening.

Just to put this in writing (and I have no legal counsel as to if it is OK or not, but fuck it), but I have two members in mind to join the team. The first is Chris Michel, resident beer drinker/brewer/smart guy/business-savvy money man, and the second is also a Chris. This Chris is a very accomplished brewer and a good all-around guy, and if he is interested, and does well in the interview process (i.e., delivers good quality brew), this could work out nicely. I'm interested to see what actually happens on this front in the long run, so future Dave: I hope you're happy with what you've done.

Finally, DaveDave name is in jeopardy. Honestly I don't think it suits larger-scale establishment, but it could on the other hand provide a necessary "entry point" in our customers' minds in that the name is iconic and in turn, very easy to remember.

We'll see what happens, but to those out there in blogger land who may for some reason actually read this, the tide is nigh, the waves are high, and I've got a couple of surf boards to take this one down.

I have no idea where the surfing reference came from, but oh well. Screw it, Let's Brew It, right?

is this still a blog?

maybe?

What happens when you add Holy Water to your Wort?

All beings so far have created something beyond themselves; and do you want to be the ebb of this great flood and even go back to the beasts rather than overcome man? What is the ape to man? A laughingstock or a painful embarrassment. And man shall be just that for the overman: a laughingstock or a painful embarrassment…

People! I am presently boiling a remake of our Ambermensch, an amber colored double fermented american strong ale. MMmm. It was a big hit at our homebrew party (coming in second in popularity to the Phenomagavely) so we decided to revamp the flavor profile, retain the heavy handedness of its inebriative qualities and make another batch.
This time we used almonds, rosewater and extra brown sugar to fit both the full bodied seasonal trends of winter and the strong, uber, conceptual content of its namesake. We also opted to use some roasted barley for our partial, not knowing exactly what it will do to the taste, but knowing that barley and almonds and rosewater traditionally go well together.
Half way through the boil and it looks like espresso. The color is dark dark brown and floating on top of the boil is a sandy to deep khaki colored froth that can only be described as crema. We shall see, we shall see.

And now a shameless plug:

Surly Brewery in Brooklyn Center, MN, just outside of Minneapolis, is awesome. We serve their Bender at my restaraunt and they also hosted their second "Darkness Day" this past October. This festival, much like the "Dark Lord Day" at Three Floyds, is effectively their release party for a limited edition russian imerial stout, appropriately called darkness, a limited edition special batch. Its rare and coveted. Anyway, there was a really cool turnout for the day, lots of homebrewers and beer geeks congregating in the name of brew, swapping recipes and dishing out samples of esteric and hard to find labels, bombers and swing tops. Some of us chose to camp out the night before, so there was pretty much loud and excited conversation and samplage going on all night. The owner, Omar, even brought a keg of "Coffee Bender" out into the street for us all to wake up to. The beer is good, the vibe is great. Keep it up. A+


rock it/rocket

Got Some Dave On My Wall

Last night we bottled the DaveDave Dave and had a quick tasting. WOW. This is high quality shit. I would not have been able to foresee such a success (as things have gone so far), and you can simply taste the quality. all-grain really is better. Anyhow, we only used .25 lbs chocolate malt in the whole thing on top of 12 lbs 2-row and caramel 60... and the chocolate really really comes out strong on this one - VERY surprising. Now I know when I read other recipes for things that might be thicker and heavier and folks are only using just a half pound or maybe only a pound of specialty (read: roasted barley, black patent, chocolate malts, etc.) in their brew. Now I can see why. This stuff is really potent.

Anyhow, we bottles 12 12oz bottles, 14 22oz bombers, 4 500mL bottles and another 1L swing-top. It was about 3.75-4 gallons worth, so that equates to about 38-40 beers. Not too bad for coming up short on the grain runnings. Gonna have some good samples to have at around Christmas time or possibly a few weeks earlier. Cheers!

Beer Review: Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot English Barleywine

Went with the Blithering Idiot as an Election Night starter ;)

Really great color on this one. Very minimal to no haze at all, with a fantastic hues of orange, ruby and a touch of autumn brown. Heavy two finger head dissipates quickly into a seated half finger of light bronze "nitro-like" fuzz.

Smells like a barleywine. Big malt, grapes and figs, and a nice boozy hit on the nose. Nothing to write home about, but still very pleasant and expected for the style.

Thick caramel notes on the tongue, big bubbles sticking around for quite some time, and huge malt profile that flows nicely into the boozy aftertaste that jumps from the back of the tongue and sticks around even after a minute or two. Great sticky mouthfeel, but nothing too overpowering. The booze and the caramel malt lingers on for some time, which is a non-complaint coming from my end.

For being 11.1% ABV, this one goes down really well. I was lucky enough to get this as an extra in a trade a few months ago (can't remember from whom), but I'm really enjoying this one tonight. We get Weyerbacher here in Cincinnati but I don't too often see the Blithering Idiot out - I'll certainly keep my eyes open, as this is one of the more sessionable (if that is even possible for this style) barleywines I've ever had, and I look forward to enjoying this one again in the future.

Solid B Overall

Beer Review: Founders Curmudgeon Old Ale

For quite some time in my beer loving days I had searched high and low for this beer. I worked to set up a number of trades to pick just one up to try, each inevitably falling dead in their own tracks. Then one day, as if the gods themselves had been watching my search, it just showed up. And I'm not talking about a trip to Grand Rapids I took in search of the beer (to no avail), nor stops on the same trip a handful of local Michigan beer stores (again to no avail), and I'm not even talking about a happen-chance finding of a single bottle in the back room of a store no one would have ever thought to look. No. I mean it just showed up. Seriously - right now, it's all over Cincinnati. I mean everywhere. How about that for serendipitous notion? But hey, I'm not complaining! And either way, it showed up, and then it found its way into my cellar - from the looks of it by the truckload at that.

But I digress. I poured this beer almost 10 minutes ago and my taste buds are getting impatient. It is worthy to note that I have poured my Curmudgeon at cellar temperature into a deep stemless white wine glass - my glass of choice of lately for enjoying anything as particularly malty as this.

This beer pours a beautiful, deep red mahogany, and quickly gathers a finger and a half of light brown head. The head dissipates a little too quickly, but leaves an amoeba of lacing griping tight to the glass. There is a touch of standing sediment hanging out in the beer, but nothing to frown upon for this style.

The smell! This one knocks in with some thick, boozy notes that are backed up by caramel, molasses, deep grape, and, although I can't touch what this particular flavor is, I will describe the overall smell as "burnt sticky caramel corn." I am fighting the urge to find the correct words to describe this beer with my desire to toss this one down the hatch. And in that case... bottoms up!

Burnt Sticky Caramel Corn is pretty accurate if you ask me. The Old Curmudgeon hits the tongue with a quickly waning hit of fresh hops, grazes the tongue gracefully through its candy-like mid-body and rushes down the back of the throat almost like it wasn't even there. This one sits on the tongue after finish and simply bubbles for a while, asking for another sip. The sweetness sits with a light glaze through the mouth and reaffirms my newly coined burnt sticky caramel corn flavor profile. Plus some plum... yeah, a little bit of plum. Once it goes down, though, it's like I'm breathing fire here. Not like some crazy burn-down-the-house fire; more like a sitting by the campfire making s'mores (s'more what?) fire. The booze sits nicely and keeps the warming coming quite nicely. I could take this one out in 40 degree weather in shorts and a t-shirt and keep warm. I like that.

As much as I really like this beer, I'd love to have a little more variety in flavor aside from the aforementioned notes. For what is there, however, I can certainly appreciate the flavors, and there is nothing about this one that says, you can't have just one. On a good night with some good company, I could sip on these for quite some time. Well worth the wait to finally try these, and I am more than appreciative that I had quite a few more of these in my cellar.

Overall Rating: B+

Cheers!

God Is Still In Secondary Fermentation

Really? Yep.

Got Me Some Man on My Wall

Bottled up some Batch 9.1 last night. Didn't actually go through with the Man/God Remix, but what we did was still pretty interesting. Before I get into that, let me just say that with some of the changes to this beer (including the addition of a lb and a quarter of Special B Grain, among others), something magical has happened. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but I can tell you from previous "bottling tastings," that this batch will be, well, better. It just tastes like I've been brewing for longer. Even though it is an extract beer, I could just tell there was a level of improvement that I have yet to register in past brews. That being said, here's how the whole thing went down:

Since we made 4 gallons of Man, in preparation to blend with God, we didn't have a ton of beer to put into bottles, but still a sizable amount. First, in regular brewing fashion, the sugar was added (I would have loved to have put malt in at this step, but am fresh out :( ), and off the bat locked up 24 12-oz bottles. After that, I had two special yeast samples: Lacto B. and Brettamyoces, which I threw into the bottling bucket with the rest of Man - essentially creating some type of super version of Man... - did a bit of mild coaxing to get all the mini-bacteriums soaked in, and then bottled another 13 bombers of the stuff.

So the good news is that this version of Man is going to be incredible. The bad news is that the soured bombers aren't going to be ready for uhh... a few years? Shit. Brewing sucks.

Pics From Our First All-Grain Brew Session

Success! We brewed a Dave. That's about it. Check out a few pics (too busy doing shit to take many), and be amazed!

Thinking about All Grain

So in a conversation with Caspito yesterday, I mentioned that maybe we won't do all-grain next week. Well, I think I've changed my mind. And I think I'm going to buy the setup today. I've been doing some research and come across one that seems like it's in a reasonable price range, seems pretty sturdy, and allows for long-time use. Check it:

Its 35-quart capacity (which translates into roughly 8.75 gallons in math easyspeak) will be plenty big for brewing. The large top of the burner will help prevent boil-over, since it's not 10 gallons, this will be very very helpful to keep things clean. I'm waiting to hear back some info from some BA'ers, and then I'm going to go to Lowes in Pleasant Ridge tonight or tomorrow to check out the thickness and feel, and go from there to see if I should get it. If it feels good, I'm in. I'll have to keep you updated on that one.

Thoughts?

Celebratorale

So wondering what it would be like to throw a party for our friends and lovers wherein Wu and I provide our own homebrews to drink, for some time now, it has at long last transpired. My words are confounding at times today, even to myself. Drunk donkey right now.

anyway

we had this party last week: anyone who came was offered the chance to mix and match their own six pack of our brews for the low cost of eight dollars. in chicago you can't get six packs of craft or micro beer for under nine. ten and half percent sales tax and all. we didnt charge tax because we didnt profit, and even if we would have, it'd all have been bootleg cuz thats our style.

Everyone got way too drunk, especially the hosts. One of the foremost chefs at my work fell in love with our Phenomagavely, a chicago take on the DaveDave Border Jumper. We raked in almost enough to break even and immediately reinvested it all again here and here. who dey.

all in all a success. At this point we're not looking to make money, just trying to share the wealth. home made beer is the shit, point blank, and those who have not tried it wont understand. on top of that not many people realize just how creative and off the wall you can be with beer. a fucking pine nut beer? anything is possible yo. i'm sure we all just want the world to know its true. (and there is a certain satisfaction that comes with having people drink enjoy and get drunk on something you orchestrated (ie. the facilitation of yeast activity in an environment conducive to alcohol generation as well as pleasing to the human palate(ie. the brew)))

right now i am sipping off a bomber of the Ambermensch, double fermented brown sugar straddling strong amber ale. Mi piace molto.

and on and on he drones. remember kids: always have fun, even when it hurts, and never stop doing drugs. peace

(editors note: "drugs" denote all psychoactive ingredients, including the more mundane, socially sanction, more "responsible" drugs like caffeine, nicotine, tryptophan and aspirin. it is up to the individual to decide if the "harder" drugs (like alcohol, THC and cocaine) are things they want to put in their body, and even then only after careful deliberation and the weighing of benefits to detriments. in short: If it works for your life, it probably works. peace)

Incredible All-Grain Read

For us, for the Chicago Branch, and for many other home brewers around the world, making the step into brewing itself, is one thing. Making the leap into all-grain brewing is a much more daunting and oftentimes unattainable and simply out of scope based on the complex write ups that many books and websites have. After a few discussions with local home brewers, I had a small idea of what was going on, but not enough understanding to move forward. I have recently been shown a website that captures the idea of all-grain brewing in an incredibly accessible way.

You can find the link ::here

Some key things to consider is that the brewing world sometimes finds itself caught up in its process description (read, sparging, lautering, striking, pitching, primary, secondary, wort, etc.) and doesn't give the opportunity to allow outsiders to focus on the actual how and why of brewing. This link breaks a lot of those things down for you really well. For instance, Striking is based on Strike Water, which is the heated water that is mixed with the grains originally that lead to the breakdown of the sugar enzymes while in the mash tun. Striking is the action of "putting the water into the mash tun," essentially.

In other words, just read it. It's awesome and it will make you want to drive immediately to the brew store and start all-grain today.

The Mad Fermentationist

Hey Guys, I found a sweet blog documenting one mans journey through brewing. He's got some really great ideas and full recipe posts. Definitely some information for thought.

::link_the mad fermentationist

New Passion For Brewing

Boys and Girls, look forward to plenty more updates, TONS more insane beers to be made and a huge new appetite for brewing.

Check the comments section for some brewing ideas I have and feel free to add your own!

Man God Remix

This afternoon we're brewing what will be the beginnings of the official blend of Man and God. We've modified the Man recipe ever so slightly to account for both a four gallon batch and a switch to a beer closer in resemblance to a Russian Imperial Stout. Don't worry, our Man is still there, but not for long! Once we rack to primary, Man will run its usual course accompanied by WYeast 1084 for a few weeks. After that, we will blend the 4 gallons of Man with 1 gallon of God in secondary, and pitch Brett and Lactobacillus yeasts to create what will hopefully become one of the greatest and maybe even the first ever (tentatively classified) Imperial Coffee Sour Russian Barley Wine. It doesn't make much sense... yet, but it will. Oh, how it will!

Hop Harvest Season!!!!

is right about now. for a fine selection of north american hops, freshly picked from farms in the northers pacific region of the continental United States, check out this:

http://www.freshops.com/

peace

hot spice ale

So Wu and i have made the best smelling beer yet. Modeled after the Border Jumper Mexican Lager of DaveDave fame, this ale contains cactus, jalapeno peppers, sweet banana peppers, agave nector and rye malt, just to name a few. Dubbed the "Phenomagavely of Spirit", it should blossom and develop over time as the dialectic of fermentation and taste strain and mold each other into one hell of a good drink. peace for now

Holy Fucking Hop Stick

Hop Production is up 27% in 2008. 9% in Oregon, 27% in Washington and a killer 57% in Idaho, amongst all the other hop growing states. This is FANTASTIC news for everyone, homebrewers to professionals, and will help level out prices of craft beers as well as lower the prices per ounce of hop for us homebrewers. Let's demand the supply and keep buying, and buying in bulk. The economy is hitting the dumps but the craft beer industry has never been stronger.

Here's a link to the PDF (the last paragraph pertains to hops): Hop Production Up For 2008

It's like they say, "beer will get you through times of no money much better than money will get you through times with no beer."

Chicago Branch

The Chicago Operations are now in full swing. We have six batches under our belts and more in the works. On the downside, our apartment is on the third floor and during the summer the temp stayed around 80 all the time. As a consequence our brews, all ales, suffered. They have that buttery cider yeast byproduct that has plagued me since i started making beer. Winter is coming up (its already fucking cold here in the city), so maybe ill stash a carboy in the stone walled basement and make some chicago lager?

And something elese: Unbelievably, in the entire city limits there is only one homebrew supply store, and their hop selection is real bad. Listermans is much much better. I thought this was Chicago, where everything is available? I guess the alcohol police have some sort of legacy here...

Any thoughts on websites that ship hops so i can get what i want instead of substituting my first choice for a second or sometimes third?

Wu and i are (quite cutely) naming all of our batches after famous thinkers and their works. So be prepared for some shamelessly bad beer puns. love you all. drink up slackers

A Trip to the Beer Store

So i scored a new job at a cool place and decided to celebrate by indulging in one of those ten dollar beers that we all love to drink so much. That is, ten dollars for one big bottle of beer. In short: dropping that hard earned cash on that damn fine beer.
Knowing that the Unibraue selection at my local beer grabbing shop in Rogers Park is pretty good, i thought i'd try the trois pistoles.
However, i was easily dissuaded by the 17th anniversary ale and a beer tasting going on in the corner of the shop. The Samuel Adams people had a lady in the shop offering us with a taste test: what is better?, sample A, the blackberry witbeer, or B, the coffee stout. The overall winner will be mass produced this January, the loser never to be brewed again. Hmm.
I never really like Sam Adams Beers. I don't really know why. I have tried more then ten of their brews and never really think its all that impressive. (Well, at Dark Lord Day at Three Floyds someone had a growler labelled "batch three" or something that was supposedly this rare Sam Adams brew and it was actually great, but that is thee exception.)
Anyway. the witbeer was drinkable in every way, but not mind blowing, not even pleasing. I thought it would be fruity and light, but it was bitter and bland.
The coffee stout was really tastey. Not heavy, it was smooth and delicious. It lacked that bitter, dry coffee finish that taint so many coffee stouts. And i am a severe coffee fiend and a total beer drunk, so i know what its like to blend the two, even if its not during the brewing process. know what i mean? speed ballin'.
anyway, the lady handing out the samples was super cute, bright blue eyes that pierce. She uses the proper beer geek lingo. she knows her shit. She tells me that out at bars the "girls" all "like" the blackberry, but at the craft-type-people locations its always, almost ALWAYS the coffee stout that is preferred. i agree. mark my vote on the ballot, buy my anniversary ale, and bike home with it in my left hand. Also, POP QUIZ: She told me that she was born the same year as Samual Adams was founded. How old is this cute beer lady?
The Anniversary Ale? Its so good, ya'll. Dark and 10%, smooth and drinkable as all hell. I'm completely warm and excedingly verbose. Thanks Unibraue. i just cheersed my computer screen.

peace

Well How About This...

A few months ago we posted on the possibility of using an ancient mesoamerican influence in our beers here, Our Ancestors were Carazyyyy

And look at the new Dogfish Head Theobroma (label below) coming out later this month:

http://beernews.org/2008/06/first-look-at-dogfish-head-theobroma-due-in-august/


now how about that for some coincidence.... ;)

Maybe

Do you think more people would visit the site if we put up pictures? What a hassle. Words kill.

And Finally

Bottled the Bleeding Hop Bucket about a week ago? I'm not sure- but with all the hops hanging in the batch, at least a quart or two of the brew sat, unusable in the buds of nearly 3 pounds of hops... *sigh,* but we have something like 40-42 bottles of this bad boy?? Not Bad. Should be ready in 2011. We'll keep you posted!


And, once Adam returns from his trip to Italia, we are brewing a Pepper Smoked RyePA, that is, an Imperial IPA brewed with Rye, Pepper and Smoke. This will be my first try with rye and smoke, and my second (or third?) attempt with pepper. Either way, should be a very interesting one to try.


Finally, once I re-pitch some champagne yeast into the Honey Champagne and let it hang for another week or so, we'll bottle that one and then rack the Belgian Apple Tripel on top of the champagne honey yeast residue. Should be delightful!


As for tonight, we'll be attending the Victory Brewery tasting at Jungle Jims, followed by an 11 pm showing of The Dark Knight... oh, the life!

Cheers, everyone

Oh Yeah

and someone mowed over my hop plants... *cough* Steve.

I'm Stupid...

...and lazy.



So in an attempt to cut two trips into one this evening just before I was planned on bottling the Bleeding Hop Bucket, I put the glass carboy into the bottling bucket. Seeing as though the bottling bucket has a draft on it, I created an air-lock and wasn't able to get the carboy with the fermenting deliciousness out. Smart guy I am, I decide to turn the spigot to let the air out... and break the spigot. Looks like the BHB will sit in secondary for 75 days instead of 70. Oh well. I really didn't feel like bottling tonight anyways.

But in other news, we're brewing again!

I'll post the recipes later, but three days, three brews:

Saturday (with caspito), we brewed a traditional Tripel, but added 4-5 lbs of granny smith apples carmelized in belgian candi sugars


Sunday brewed a pumpkin Saison with cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, cardamom, coriander, sweet gale and sweet orange peel


Monday brewed a Pale Ale with mint, cilantro, lime and almonds (catch the pesto influence?) - and plan on topping it off with a few cups of some premium tequila.


Phew, what an exhausting weekend. I'll be spending this coming Fourth O' Ju-lie weekend in Pittsburgh, and will get to some much needed bottling when I return, and will brew the Honey Champagne then as well.

Once I get un-lazy, I'll post the recipes. But for now...