Monday Night recap: “Eye candy” edition
Sometimes forgetting to do a yeast starter can be a good thing. Last night, for instance. We couldn’t do our regularly scheduled brew so we got to experiment with a hoppy Belgian pale ale which we will add smoked applewood chips to next week. Our OG, for those interested, was 1.049. Some of you might be asking what our target OG was. It was 1.049 too. That is what makes us ballers.
In other news, esteemed wedding photographer and MNB regular Matt Altmix brought his trillion-dollar camera last night to take some shots. He got some great stuff. I’m going to include some of my favorites here, but be sure to check out the entire set on Flickr.
Thanks to everyone who showed up last night, it was a fun time. Now sit back and enjoy the eye candy. NOTE: I have added exclamation points to each caption for emphasis, not because my keyboard had a seizure.
Watermelon!
Empty beer bottles!
Jonathan cleaning a fermenter with a bunch of people in the background!
Hydrometer clearly reads 1.049! The camera is just at a weird angle! I swear!
Jeff, Joel and Jonathan smiling probably because Joel made a fart noise with his mouth!
Joel monitoring our new cooling system! And he’s also trying to get that hose to make another fart noise!
Half Acre finds its way to Georgia
On a recent trip to Chicago, Jeff’s wife Hannah picked up a precious little gift for us:
Ever since we interviewed Half Acre Beer Co in November 2007 we’ve been hankering to try some of their beers. Gabriel and the gang have been nothing but helpful as we try to navigate the murky waters of starting a brewery. So we were obviously anxious to see if they could brew a decent beer. Survey says… Yes. According to Half Acre:
Half Acre Over Ale is what we call an American Style Bitter. This deep brown beer is brewed with six varieties of malted barley and balanced with three generous hop additions. You?ll find a mild malt body with bitter bones.
And as an added bonus, our friend Ted had a hand in the recipe formulation for the beer. We found the Over Ale a deliciously balanced beer. Both easy-to-drink and flavorful. Congrats to Half Acre, and look out for them if you’re ever near Chicago!
NOTE: No one has ever accused me of being a beer photographer. So shut up. SHUT IT!
Monday Night recap: “OMG A PUPPY DOG!!1!11!” edition
In what will surely be the greatest Monday Night recap ever, I will attempt to recount Monday’s brewing events though I was home sick the entire time. For this reason, all those in attendance are invited to post their own thoughts on what transpired Monday. But first, Cody the dog.
Are you kidding?! Dogs can’t drink beer. But they should be allowed to if they look as cute as Cody. Garey, my pledge to you: Bring Cody back when I’m in attendance and I will let him lick the spent grains off of my face.
In beer news, we brewed up a batch of our peach-infused Belgian-style dubbel last night. Our initial gravity was a little higher than anticipated due to what can only be called “human error.” Turbinado sugar does in fact need to be counted in the grain bill, Jeff. Still, we’re not worried because this beer is a work in progress and it will be interesting to see how it turns out.
We had a couple cool beer-related visitors last night as well. Chris from the soon-to-be-launching Beer Connoisseur Magazine came out, as well as Mary Jane who is publishing a book on the Brick Store Pub.
All in all, a great night. Right? I wasn’t really there, so it’s hard for me to say…
Get the Monday Night discount at Hop City Beer!
Q: What’s better than an amazing selection of 1200+ different craft beers?
A: Discounts on the same craft beer.
Mention “Monday Night Brewery” at Hop City every Monday night to get a special discount on all craft beer purchases. How are we able to offer such a bargain? Let’s just say that we tortured Hop City’s owner, Kraig Torres. Well… it was more of an interview. But since Joel was in attendance, I’m sure it felt like torture. Look out for the full interview next week.
And if you haven’t checked out Hop City yet, you must. Great selection, great service.
Beer Tap TV names Monday Night Brewery “beer blog of the week”
I don’t know what they’re smoking drinking, but Beer Tap TV named Monday Night Brewery the beer blog of the week. Hey, we’ll take it. I queued up the video of the show to the part where they start talking about us (around 31:30 in, if you’re curious). There is also a dog that runs into the frame, thus proving a point I’ve been trying to make for years, that dogs enjoy weeknights more than weekends.
Thanks for the love, guys!
JailHouse Brewing busting out
We had a special visit on Monday from Glenn Golden, the head honcho at JailHouse Brewing, a soon-to-be microbrewery opening up in Hampton, GA. We’ve been following JailHouse for awhile now and it was great to finally connect. Glenn is a few months ahead of us in terms of schedule, and unlike us is not going the contract brewing route. He is brewing in his own building (an old jailhouse) from the outset.
JailHouse’s first two production beers will be an IPA and an American-style wheat beer. There has already been talk about putting the Monday Night IPA and the JailHouse IPA into a no-holds-barred cage match. Pirate vs. Hardened Criminal. Only one man leaves alive.
Glenn also brought Blake and Chad with him, who are going to be responsible for distributing his beer once he starts production. Before the night was said and done we were able to snap a picture.
From L-R: Chad Floyd, Jeff Heck, Jonathan Baker, Glenn Golden, Joel Iverson, Blake Rice
Main takeaway from the picture: It helps to be of an average height when participating in the beer startup community in Georgia. Sorry Joel, that means you’re out. Bottom line, it was great to meet Glenn and the gang and I’m sure you’ll hear more from them in the future.
The coolest guys in the world are interviewed
In a moment of weakness, Eric over at HolzBrew thought it would be a good idea to interview us about the process of starting a brewery. Eric soon realized the folly of this interview request, but nevertheless he followed through with it.
Read the interview in its entirety. Do it, you big pansy.
You didn’t even click on the link. Pansy.