No brewing tonight
Sorry guys… we couldn’t get it together in time. I blame Joel, obviously. Happy Monday!
Monday Night recap: “Nothing more exciting than a new hose” edition
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There is literally nothing more exciting than a new garden hose. The ice debacle of last week broke one of our old hoses, so we amped up the party with our new rubber baby from Ace Hardware. Fortunately last night was relatively warm. We brewed up a new porter recipe which we’ll be experimenting with a little bit in secondary fermentation.
Needless to say, we hit our target gravity on the nose. Which probably has something to do with the fact that Joel didn’t help at all.
Despite Joel’s insolence, it was good to get back in the swing of things. Last night was the first Monday we’ve met since 2009. Frankly, we’re still a little disappointed that the world didn’t end when we brewed on a Saturday.
We also had a bunch of homebrewers bring their wares last night. It’s always great to try new beers. And someone brought some amaaaaazing chocolate cookies. I don’t know who you were, but I ate one. It was like a thousand chocolate fairies were dancing on my tongue. I hope they didn’t have any roofies or razor blades in them.
No, seriously. Did those cookies have roofies in them? I don’t remember falling asleep last night.
Brewing tonizzle
It’s Monday. Come one, come all! We’re brewing tonight at 8pm. Jeff is still cooking up the recipe, but it will most likely be something darker.
Bring your dogs, bring your friends, bring your coat, bring your $10 to buy a MNB shirt.
And bring your good attitude. Or a bad attitude, if it is accompanied by a tasty dessert to share.
Holy USA Today, Batman!
Imagine my surprise when I found this in my Google Alerts this morning:
I took a screen shot because I didn’t know how long the USA Today URL would work. When will they figure out that we are a far cry from a legitimate news source? My hope is never. Turns out they pulled our post from some of Jonathan Surratt’s feeds. He’s the guy behind The Beer Mapping Project which is, to put it mildly, amazing.
Cheers to pretending we’re famous!
Heineken continues the trend of beer industry consolidation, buying up FEMSA
Dutch brewer Heineken recently announced that it was purchasing Mexican brewer FEMSA, which is valued at $7.6 billion (pinky on corner of mouth). This is significant news in the beer industry because it furthers the trend of beer consolidation, concentrating power in hands of the the largest brewers worldwide. You may not have heard of FEMSA, but you’ve probably heard of some of their brands, such as Dos Equis (XX) and Sol.
The deal also gives Heineken a strong foothold in Central America, which they were seeking because of slower growth opportunities in Europe. After the deal, they are now the #2 beer company in Mexico, behind Grupo Modelo (the Corona dudes).
Heineken has also announced plans to invade Canada and cut off all supply lines to the U.S. Which makes our job as craft beer brewers especially important. I made that part about Canada up. But still.
Photo source: williamcho
Saturday Morning recap: “OMG IT’S FREEZING” edition
We won’t be brewing tonight because we brewed this past Saturday. The 10:30am start time coupled with the icy roads scared many people away from brewing. But “many” people is not “this” people:
Russ was the only one who came out. We’re not bitter about it. We’re just disappointed. Regardless, we choked back our tears and brewed an updated version of the fresh hop IPA we brewed in the late fall. This was a lighter-bodied IPA compared to the Eye Patch Ale, and it turned out quite nice. We wanted to see if we could replicate it without using fresh hops, since these aren’t available year-round.
Brewing took a little longer than anticipated due to developments such as:
- Having to thaw our hoses
- Only being able to clean things with hot water, which had to be carried from inside
- Jeff’s sprinkler pipes bursting mid-brew
- Joel being an idiot
In summary, thanks to all who came on Saturday. Namely, Russ.
Saturday Morning Brewing is a go
We will be brewing on a weekend, which flies in the face of every single value we hold dear. We only hope God can forgive us. It’s going to be pretty low-key (and freezing), but you’re welcome to stop by between the hours of 10:30am-12:30pm. We unfortunately have to shut down around 12:30pm so that Joel can get his hair done before the Miley Cyrus concert.
Please enjoy this picture of the Atlanta snow this morning, which I totally janked from John McNicholas.
