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...

Just a little bit of love

The Batch 11 is getting rave review all over the country. This one from a buddy we sent one to in Mississippi:

"the one with 11 hops.

dude, you could bottle and sell that. ken shared it with me. it was freaking awesome. probably the best beer we drank that day.

big ups.

cheers"


just a little DaveDave love comin' from you to us and back atcha.


by the way, look forward to more updates soon as we do 4 batches in 5 days between june 27-july 2... including a coriander, lavender and cinnamon saison, a davedave tripel, and a few others in the works.

Oh! The disappointment!

So i was thinking today: Jesus, i haven't had a Bell's Oberon in a while. I haven't even seen one. This is the beer that used to actually penetrate my dreams last summer. I imagined a fire hose blasting that sweet, citrusy wheat beer right into my mouth, caressing my taste buds, and flowing into my satisfied gullet.

But no, not this summer. It seems that Bell's had pulled out its Illinois distribution back in 06. This article outlines the reasons, but also reveals a world of shady beer exchanging. Do you know about the three tier system? Do you know how the big beer companies attempt to control the flow of craft beer? read on, my student, and you will know as i do.

http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/bells/


edit: Dave.2 says, read this article; read this article.

Chicago Brewings

Hey all,
The inaugural Chicago-branch brew has been sitting on the shelves for two and a half weeks now and it tastes great. It is called "The Critique of Brew Reason" in honor of Immanuel Kant. A solid American Ale: not too bitter, not too sweet, but definitely both. This was the first time i worked with actual hops rather than pellets, and i can taste it. Nice work all.
And now its time to make some more. We traded a six pack with some friends and are looking to expand our markets (bartering), but we need some to drink for our self, no? Wu and i are thinking about doing a dry hop this time. So my questions are thus:

(1) What are the best beer types for dry hopping?
(2) What are the best hops to dry hop with?

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

peace

The Little Kingdom

OK so the last few months the updates have been few and far between. Well, that's because not too much has actually been going on! With school bearing down, and my recent pseudo-addiction (OK, full fledged...) to beer trading, I've been spending more of my cold hard cash on this. But, in my eyes, the more beer you try and sample as a home brewer, the more you learn and the more ideas you have to add to your next batch. One of the ideas for an upcoming batch would have to be the re-make of Man, but this time a 4gallon batch, with a 1gallon mix of God into the carboy, with a host of champagne, High Gravity, Scottish and Brett yeasts contributing to the final mess. It's going to be funky. And quite possibly one of those most interesting, complex beers you'll ever have. So once this all gets up and running, I'm sure we'll have a host of new batches to report on. The Bleeding Hop Bucket has yet to be bottled, but I am certain the time is almost near! Actually, it's been nearly 3 months since brewing, with around 45 days of dry-hopping taking place. Which means, yep, it's ready. We'll bottle that within a week.

Keep checkin back and the updates will roll, I promise!

The Reprise

So looking through some old posts, I came across my "Top 5 beers" and got a slight chuckle. That is, not because the choices aren't great ones, it's simply interesting to see where I've gone as far as beer in the last number of months. For instance, last year around this time I was excited to hear about the new, upcoming "Miller Chill," gearing up to hit shelves, and was ecstatic to find it on vacation last June. Although I'll probably pick up a few bottles to have on the beach again this year, my taste buds have been on a roller coaster ride ever since my first Chill moment.

In the spirit of great beer, here is a newly fashioned list of one mans palatial favorites:
And although I have them numbered, that really means nothing. A good beer in the right context can potentially beat out any of these for top-runners.

5. Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery Masala Mama IPA: Had the pleasure of tasting this delicious IPA at both Dark Lord Day as well as the Cincinnati BA get together at the Catskellar a week and change ago. Just a great overall brew, with nice spice and citrus notes, great session brew to enjoy.


4. Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout: What can I say? It took WAY too damn long to get my hands on this brew. WAY too long. But it was worth the wait - thanks to Adam and a fellow BA trader, I got my hands on 5 of these. I'm a sucker for a Coffee Stout/Porter these days. This one is top notch; each wave is complementary to each other and is incredibly drinkable for the 10% ABV.

3. Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel Peche Mortel: Another lucky pickup. These came around in Cincinnati just this past week, and with a little heads up, I was able to get more than my fair share. I enjoyed my first whole Peche Mortel after having just a sip at Dark Lord Day this past Thursday while watching Lost. As I noted then, this brew seems like it may have some amazing cellaring power. Rich coffee, toffee, chocolate and sour notes over what could be considered a bed of Motor Oil. Pick this up if you see it out. Now.


2. Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron: Incredibly complex and fulfilling, the Palo Santo Marron was my #1 until last night (see below...). Another thick pourer, the PSM delivers waves of rich, spicy chocolate, vanilla, palo santo wood, and alcohol. A sipper at 12%, and well worth the $15/4pk price tag. It's got a bite though, and should age incredibly well... I'll be saving quite a number of these to try in a few years.

1. Midnight Sun Imperial Chocolate Pumpkin Porter: Thanks to our pal Frank in Anchorage, I was able to get a couple of these (have yet to try the Oak Aged version...) sent 4000 miles onto my porch. Shared this with Emma, Tim and Jenny, and each taster found this to be a fantastic beer. Incredibly well-balanced, full of rich rich chocolate, with a great complementary pumpkin "tart" that finishes off the end of the taste. I can't wait to drink the next one, and really wish these came around the Cincinnati region more. Top Notch brew. If you see this, get it. No matter what level of beer drinker you are, there is no way you will be dissapointed in this one. And if you are, for some reason... I'll finish that glass for you ;)


This list is pretty reflective of my current appetite, but with summer around the corner, I am on a hunt to track down more and more IPA's and Belgians. It will be interesting to revisit this category in a few months and see how my tastes have changed, or "matured"


Honorable mentions go to: Three Floyds Alpha King Pale Ale, Stone IPA, DaveDave Spiced Chai Milk Stout, Fullers Vintage 2006, Dark Horse Double Crooked Tree IPA, and Christian Moerlein OTR. I guess I am getting back into those IPA's after all....

On The Map!

After a few exhausting last few days, we have recovered (almost...) from Dark Lord Day (amazing), and just received a BA beermail from Warren, a fellow BA we met and shared a few homebrews with at DLD, who told us that the Brickstone Brewery in Bourbonaise, IL is interested in brewing some DaveDave! I don't really know what this entails, but big congrats to Batch 11, which is apparently the *chosen* brew. Once I can dig up the recipe and hop-schedule, hopefully they'll go through with it and we'll have our very first professionally brewed DaveDave on the map! We'll keep everyone posted as to the status of this... very cool stuff indeed!

In case you were wondering...

...there is indeed a wiki for brewers. tatafornow...

www.brewwiki.com

Spiced Chai Milk Stout

The official tasting has yet to take place, but a few bottles have been opened in the last few weeks and the response is pretty outstanding - this is a hell of a brew. in the earlier tests, the lactose was nigh unrecognizable and i was begining to wonder if this thing would actually come out like a milk stout at all. however, as the carbonation began to bubble, the head showed just what this milk stout is all about. I have honestly never had a creamier, thicker head in my life on a beer. This is a definite re-make batch for sure.

hell yeah baby, the davedave is back.

Our Ancestors Were Carazyyyy

Hit this link: Ancient Fermented Chocolate Drink.

So apparently some old timers (very old...) were making some fermented drink using the pulp from the root of the cacao plant quite some time ago. Ahead of the curve, huh?

So then with all the talk of brewing some spring ales, perhaps there is a way to create a full, rich, earthy (and i do stress the earthy) chocolate spring/summer brew? I'll do some research, but in memory of those pioneers before us, I'd like to go completely sans-hop and use some regional MesoAmerican plants/roots as bittering units. Could be interesting...

Also: What about the possibility of fermenting in a large pottery jar? Or, boiling broken pieces of an authentic clay pot and dropping them in the primary for that extra authentic hit of style... Juices flowing... ;)

Any thoughts?

Samuel Adams Recall

Just got this message in the ol'd email:

"As a loyal supporter and fan of our beer, we wanted to get in touch with you about an announcement that we made yesterday. We have announced a cautious, voluntary product recall of some bottles of Samuel Adams. While there is no problem with our beer, we believe a small proportion of bottles from our outside glass supplier could contain some small bits of glass.

The bottles we've identified as being possibly affected are from one glass plant of the five that we get our bottles from. The issue affects less than 25% of our bottled beer and of that amount, we believe far less than 1% of the bottles we're recalling are actually affected. We have no reports of any injury from our drinkers related to this issue. But because the safety of our drinkers is of paramount concern to us, we are being cautious and issuing the recall for all bottles from this glass plant.

But not to worry, this doesn't mean that you have to stop drinking Samuel Adams! All draft beer is perfectly fine and most of our bottled beer is not in these possibly affected bottles. It's easy to spot the bottles we're recalling: they are all embossed to say "N35" at the base of the bottle below the label (see photo on web site). We are working with our wholesalers and retailers to ensure that the affected bottles are removed from stores quickly.

We wanted to be sure that our loyal Sam fans are aware of the problem and know that we are doing everything we can to address this situation quickly. We are disappointed that because of these bottles supplied to us, we didn't live up to your expectations as a loyal Sam Adams drinker. We believe that we are taking all the right steps to ensure that the bottled Samuel Adams beer out there meets our quality standards and your expectations. If you have any questions about the recall, we created a special web site and a toll-free number 1-888-674-5159 to answer your questions.

As always, we appreciate your support.

Cheers,
Andrew & Bert"


You know what I say? Man Up and drink your damn beer. The glass will probably make you stronger. Wuss.

Calories Per Beer, Lager's List

I find it some kind of funny when I look at the websites that the DaveDave visitors are referred from (hit the Counter Statistics at the bottom right of the mini-buzz column). The two that we get the most are, "Lagers List," which takes you here or, "Calories Per Beer," which takes you here. Click on those. Anything interesting? Well, the Lagers List is actually a pretty decent post... It points you in the direction of Beer Advocate and gives you pretty much all of the necessary list of lagers around the US - not bad overall.

But the Calories Per Beer one, is quite comical. Especially when you consider that we claim to have made a brew with 859 calories per beer (Beer Tools software said so...), and I'm 100% sure that folks just want to know how many calories is in their beer. Not their DaveDave (although they have been flying off the shelf lately), but just their regular ol' drinkin beer. Do you want my opinion? Don't worry about the calories, jerkwads. It's beer. Enjoy it or go home.

Also - funny that our Bells 8000 Review was at one point listed higher on the Google search than the link to the actual Bells 8000 website on the official Bells Brewery website as well as on top of Beer Advocates link. Weird. I'm sure it's not like that now, but odd that that would happen anyhow.

Peace ya'll - gone skiing for a long weekend. Catch you back here on Sunday.

The Bleeding Hop Bucket Will Probably Kill You

I'm one big stupid idiot. Just completely irresponsible in every way possible.

I moved the Bleeding Hop Bucket to secondary today, and pitched a WYeast 1084 Irish Ale I had chilling out, just for the hell of it (OK, not really for the hell of it...), and dry hopped with 11 oz of mixed leaf hops that have been hanging out in the fridge for a while.

So here's the deal. This beer has FORTY-FIVE OUNCES of hops in it. That's it. I'm going to OD on hops. Who's with me??

I am officially making a new qualification for brews; that being, the Triple IPA. Why the hell not? Sure, we could go with Imperial, but nah.

Fuck it, dude, let's go for the Triple.


(Pics up soon)

Guinness Stout Brownies

Our friend Jeff at Wort's Going On Here just added a post about Guinness cupcakes, and I thought I would share with you a Guinness-based desert that I recently had the pleasure of making and of course, enjoying:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons unsalted room temperature butter, cut into cubes
• 8 ounces dark bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup superfine or granulated sugar
• 1-1/4 cups (10 ounces) Guinness Extra Stout beer (see Note below) - I used a DaveDave Chocolate Raspberry Porter instead
  
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/8 cup (about) confectioners' sugar for dusting

PREPARATION:

- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with nonstick foil.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt until evenly combined. Set aside.
- Melt butter, bittersweet chocolate, and white chocolate chips in a double-boiler over very low heat, stirring constantly until melted. Remove from heat.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add melted chocolate mixture, beating until combined.
- Beat reserved flour mixture into melted chocolate mixture. Whisk in Guinness stout beer. The batter will seem a bit thin. Drop semisweet chocolate chips evenly on top of batter (some will sink in).
- Pour into prepared baking pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes on center rack in the oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean.
- Let brownies cool, uncovered, to room temperature. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.
- Note: The beer should be at room temperature. This recipe uses a little less than a standard 12-ounce bottle of beer. Do not include foam in the measurement. Either spoon off the foam or let it rest until the foam subsides.

I made these for a party later in the week, so I froze them for a few days and let them thaw in the fridge the day of - they were awesome. INcredibly rich, though - you'll need a fresh brew to help finish them off, of course. The DaveDave Chocolate Raspberry Porter went great with the recipe. The raspberry flavor just squeaked through in the end, but added a very nice touch to the brownies. Also - be liberal with the chocolate; what's just a bit more going to hurt??


Check out the original recipe page here

Best Place On The Web In 2007

Hey guys, the crew over at DaveDave Breweries voted our blog the "Best Place On The Web In 2007"! Congrats to everyone for a great year! Here's to an even better 2008!

Here's a link to the article.

Bottle Bottle Bottle

54 Spiced Orange Witbiers bottled as of last Wednesday, March5. We'll keep you posted.

UPDATE: Bockfest Parade (NOT) CANCELLED

I just received this email:

"The Bockfest parade for Friday Afternoon has been CANCELLED. All other Bockfest activities are still going on as scheduled, so you can still get your Bock beer if you need it. The Bockfest
organizers are working with the city of Cincinnati to reschedule the parade for Sunday. I will send out more information when it becomes available.

We will be making a decision regarding the Bockfest Homebrew competition tomorrow morning based on road conditions and advisories."

Look for updates on the Bockfest website or check back here for the latest info throughout the weekend with the timely weather upon us, folks.


EDIT: the parade is NOT cancelled, just the float portion of it. An updated email as follows:

"I misunderstood the scope of the Bockfest Parade cancellation that I sent out earlier. The official information can be found here. Due to the snow emergency, the City of Cincinnati cancelled the float portion of the parade where we walk down the streets. Everything else is still on. We will kick off the weekend at Arnold's at 6PM, and walk up to Bockfest Hall for the blessing of the beer. All the bars are still open and ready to keep you warm with some delicious bock beer and sausage.

If you are an adventurous Monk or Wench, then let's meet down at Arnolds. Bring your coconuts if you've got them, and I'll bring the head beating boards."


So there you have it. See everyone out and about this weekend ;)

Craft Beer Sales Up... Again!

In the previous post, I briefly mentioned the idea of Cincinnatians getting more and more into craft beers. Maybe it's just a hunch, maybe it's because I'm noticing it more and more as I get older, maybe it's because I'm getting older, or maybe it's because I've been making my friends only drink good beer. Whatever the case, the rest of the nation seems to be following the trend, and it looks like the trend is on the rise.

According to an article in the St. Louis business journal, craft beer sale were up 16% in 2007! An interesting fact to note is that although craft brewing sales only make up for about 4% production and 6% sales in the US, out of 1,449 breweries in the United States, 1,406 of them are considered craft breweries! Incredible. That means that only around 3% of the breweries in the US control over 94% of the sales! Can you believe it!?

However, although it doesn't seem like much, the craft beer market did grow 12% in 2006, and with the 16% increase in 2007, we also saw an increase from 7.1 million barrels to 8 million barrels sold, which means a 900,000 barrel increase at 31 gallons a barrel - roughly 279,000,000 beers (figuring a modest 10 beers per gallon). Yes you read that right, Two Hundred Seventy Nine MILLION more beers in 2007! That's a hell of a lot of beer. Here's a link to the article:

Craft Beer Sales Up 16% in 2007

Keep up the good work, folks ;)

Cincinnati's Bockfest 2008!

From the Bockfest website:

"Bockfest 2008 is here! Cincinnati is the home to the world's oldest Bock festival, but many Cincinnatians are unaware of this tradition. If you are one of the unfortunate who have never attended a Bockfest (or who have but can't really remember that weekend) here's a quick primer. In the 1800s, Cincinnati was one of America's most prolific brewing cities. Cincinnatians drank more beer per capita than any city in the country, and Over-the-Rhine was at one point home to more than 50 breweries. A tradition developed among the breweries to release all of their bock beer on the same day. Bock beer is a rich, complex, robust lager that marks the end of the Winter brewing season and the beginning of Spring."


Our friend Bryon of the Cincinnati Beer Company (http://www.cincybeerco.com) is very involved in this years event, and also sent us this information about this years Prohibition Resistance Tour:

"Prohibition Resistance Tour 2008
This is a great opportunity to learn about such an integral part of Cincinnati history, and it is truly one of the most fun weekends of the year. What better way to support your city and Over-the-Rhine, while experiencing some of the untapped potential that could be unlocked by the streetcar?

On March 8-9, 2008, during the 16th annual Bockfest, you are invited to travel back to Nineteenth Century Cincinnati and explore the city's rich brewing heritage, both above and below ground. The Brewery District, in conjunction with Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal and the John Hauck House Museum, will be presenting the Prohibition Resistance Tour.
Each tour will start at Museum Center, where the tour will include an admission voucher to the Cincinnati History Museum's Beer, Breweries and Barons: A History of Cincinnati's Brewing Industry exhibit. Greg Hardman, the CEO of Christian Moerlein Brewing Company, will give a presentation on the amazing story of how Christian Moerlein left his native Germany and started one of the biggest breweries in the country, a story that mirrors the history of Cincinnati. The bus tour will include many of the remaining historic brewery buildings in Cincinnati, including the John Hauck Dayton Street Brewery, the Clyffside Brewery, the Jackson Brewery, and the Christian Moerlein Brewery. We will explore the life of another of Cincinnati's great brewers at the John Hauck House Museum, where this restored mansion on Cincinnati's original "Millionaire's Row" contains original antiques, furnishings and brewing memorabilia. Our final stop is at the Kauffmann Brewery on Vine Street, where we will journey through the sub-basements and tunnels of the brewery, spaces unused since Prohibition and never before opened to the public.

Go to www.bockfest.com for more details and to purchase tickets."


With what seems like a great weekend of beer history, beer discussions, Cincinnati brewing history and of course, beer drinking ;) , Bockfest has been generating a whole lot more publicity this year. It's hard to tell exactly why, but my gut instinct (and optimistic nature) would hopefully point to the fact that folks around the area are slowly, but surely getting back into the world of craft beers, and moving away from the stray-alley-cat-beat-up-a-skunk beers. Only time will tell, but I can definitely smell something great on the horizon for Cincinnati (and it's not the skunk).

Also, there will be shuttles running not only for the tour, but all around the area all weekend long to make sure folks stay safe, as well - check out bockfest.com for more details.

Spiced Chai Rice Extract Milk Stout

To Honor a Fool, when Caspito comes to town this coming week/end, we are making a brew unlike any seen before! The next addition to the Davedave lineup will be a Spiced Chai Rice Extract Tea Beer, currently unnamed. I have done some researching and a small bit of looking around the internet and have decided on the following as a starting batch:


1/4 lb. chocolate extract
4 lbs. rice extract syrup
2 lbs. honey
2 lb. dry wheat malt extract
1 lb. dry x-lite malt extract
1 c dark brown sugar
1.5 oz. summit (60 min)
1 oz. golding (15 min)
1 oz. cascade (3 min)
1 package star anise
1 package cardamom seed
2 T freshly chopped ginger
5-6 cinnamon sticks
a good handshakes worth of peppercorn twists
15-20 cloves
darjeeling tea base
1 or 2 packages lactose


most of the spices will be brewed with the tea up front and then the rest of the boiling process will go as usual for a brew of this kind. the question is, when do we put everything in the brew, what do we add at primary, what kinds of yeast should we use (WYeast Labs Yeast List) should we substitute in any other hops? I have heard that adding a few bay leaves to the beginning of the tea brewing adds a nice flavor.

thoughts?