I thought it was awesome.. considering it was my first time. From what I heard, the crowd wasn't any where close to the size of a sat. crowd, so that was nice. And for the tour, only about ~30ish actually followed Brock for it.. so again, that was nice. Lots of giveaways (I think they gave away about 30 things, glasses, shirts, books, etc)

AHA director said it was the biggest turnout they've to any rally in the US so far.. so that's impressive. (and shows the need for some more breweries in houston)

Very nice. I thought about making the drive from Dallas, but a few things came up. Perhaps next time. The only brewery up here work such an event (Franconia) probably wouldn't get involved...but you never know.

IHIOGA shiner is about to release some new kind of ruby red grapefruit ale. Ought to be interesting.

Just picked up a sixer at Spec's. Can't wait to try it tonight, been waiting quite some time for them to get it. Can't go wrong with Deschutes.

Deschutes Red Chair this weekend. Pretty darn good.

Homebrewed Oatmeal Stout:

You inspired me...here is mine.

Old Speckled Hen for me in my New Republic glass

Pic is of my American Wheat Homebrew, just wanted to show off my glass!





[This message has been edited by TexAgg_IE (edited 3/7/2011 6:50p).]

DFH Palo Santo Marron this afternoon. Pretty darn good if you're in the right mood.

I need to be in a certain mood for DFH beers. Most of their stuff is a bit wild for me. Right, drinking my buddy's Russian Imperial Stout.

I'm about to bottle my Mack & Jacks clone, and I just pitched a yeast starter for my Coffee Stout. I'm also making a Cream Ale. A mischevious part of me wants to bottle a few Coffee & Cream. Because I can.

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Because I can.

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And so you should. Mix a little prior to bottling in various ratios to hone in the flavor you want.

Had some DFH Aprihop this week. It was surprisingly bland for a beer from them.

I've been enjoying a bit of Kona's Longboard today.

A Lager is probably up next on the homebrew front.

Brewed a test batch for my brother's wedding on Friday. Fermenting a bit on the cool side to try and keep the flavor clean.

Also, had a lot if homebrew yesterday at the Texas Aggieland Brew Clyb St. Paddy's Day party.

Finally got my hands on a sixer of Shiner 102. Not outstanding. Not terrible.

I also recently tried the Blue Moon Spring Wheat Ale. I am not a fan of Blue Moon but found this one drinkable.

Love the pic of kegs from the New Republic website.





[This message has been edited by swampstander (edited 3/20/2011 10:28p).]

In my quest for a cheap all grain starter system, I have devised this rather crude all grain system, so please critique before I plop some $$$ down.

I plan on using a 5 gal cylinder cooler from Wally world. These can be had for ~$18. This is able to mash ~13 pounds gain max (so no high grav beers for now). Instead of taking out the valve, I was planning on just measuring the spigot and buying appropriate size tubing to go over. As far as a false bottom, I plan on just using reusable jumbo grain bags from AHB (when they are restocked). These nylon bags can hold up to 15 pounds and are reusable.

Is this a decent way to get into all grain on the super-cheap?

sure..

but I made my mash tun for about $30.
$20 coleman 48 quart cooler fro academy, and about $8-$10 worth of cpvc/valve to make manifold. Regular siphon tubing fits really tightly through the cooler spigot, so no need for a bulkhead. barb on inside of cooler to go from vinyl tubing to manifold. and on outside of cooler, again a barbed pvc piece to go to valve.
No restrictions on big beers with this setup.

Though after about 10 uses, I finally got a bulkhead. since my 'bulkhead' was essentially just vinyl tubing, it wasn't rigid, and you need two hands to open/close valve, so that got old and I sprung the $30 for a SS buklhead and valve.

Brewing a Kalamazoo Stout as we speak.

Attended a wedding with an open bar and a damn near perfect beer selection: St. Arnold's Amber, Shiner 102, Dortmunder, and Bock, and Bombshell Blonde. Beautiful.

Real Ale Alamo Golden Ale is a good one. Haven't checked for it in CS Specs, bought mine in hill country.

Other than that, I won't go into insane detail of all the good beer I've had. Started a bottle collection a few years ago. I quit after about 220... I have a few micro brew equivalents from Switzerland. They make some outstanding beer!

Had some of that Alamo Ale about six months ago. Pretty good. It showed up on the shelves at Galveston Secs last week.

Guess Alamo is finally getting distributed better. Been drinking it for years, but always hard to find outside of the San Antonio area.

I had some Yuenglings lager this past weekend for the first time.. Seems I always hear people rave about it.. It didn't do it for me. kinda tasted like a budweiser


Also, don't know if anyone has noticed, but dogfish head cut their production (http://www.dogfish.com/community/blogfish/members/sam/thanks-for-understanding.htm)

Rockwells tavern in NW houston, they carried about 4-5 dogfish head just within a month ago, now she can only get the 60 and 90 minute..
if you see some of your favorite DFH beer, grab it up.

Dang, and they just built a larger facility didn't they?

yeh but obviously that show put their name in the hand of thousands of new beer drinkers country wide. like he said, the supply is greater than the demand.. so I guess he feels he's at his cap. as it stands without sacrificing quality, so the only option is to cut distribution.

funny.. probably won't see this one hit american markets anytime soon!

from asia.



[This message has been edited by 62strat (edited 3/25/2011 11:50a).]

Taedonggang Maegju

+1 on the Yuengling. There's many more better beers out there without the hype.

I felt like trying something different than my typical Shiner/Dos Equis last night so I swung by Specs. I enjoyed them all. I could get into this beer snobbery!

G town as in Galveston?

Did you get that St. Arnold there?

DR11 lives up to its divine name this time.

That is a good f-in beer.

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G town as in Galveston?

Did you get that St. Arnold there?

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Yeah, the Galveston Specs. I got one of the last two sixers they had.

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I felt like trying something different than my typical Shiner/Dos Equis last night so I swung by Specs. I enjoyed them all. I could get into this beer snobbery!

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Welcome to the club. People on this board claim the "black rifle" disease...wait until you get started with this! Of course, combining both isn't a bad thing..just not at the same time

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DR11 lives up to its divine name this time.

That is a good f-in beer.

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A buddy of mine picked a few up for me. Cooling down now for drinking later today

Currently in the fridge. Gonna be a good weekend.