Drafty Kilt: the label

This is some of my best work, if I do say so myself. The bar is pretty high too.

The quote, for now, is: “I don’t wear a skirt. I wear a kilt. A kilt is what a Scotsman wears. A skirt is what your daddy wears to the cocktail lounge.” Spoken by the legendary pro wrestler, Roddy “Rowdy” Piper. Of course, none of this is final. We’ve even got two more weeks before we bottle the first batch of said Draftiness. So, suggestions/comments/compliments accepted.

On another note, this whole Lumberjack fiasco has me stymied. We’ve got essentially three names (Lumberjack, Last Stand and Dirty Beard) tied for the favorite. I don’t know who I am anymore. So please, keep voting. Maybe we can gain some clarity by putting off a decision.

The Drafty Kilt imparts its will

Cold fermentation: another Monday Night first. Monday we brewed our inaugural cold-fermented beer in the form of a Scotch Ale, definitively named Drafty Kilt. Ah yes, there she is, just a-bubbling away. The bucket on the left is filled with water. We had some trouble stabilizing the temperature, and thought that a bucket of water in the converted freezer would work. However, this morning we trekked down to the basement to take a whiff of our fermenting baby (she smells incredible), and the active fermentation had actually raised the temperature in the freezer 8 degrees. Oops.

Here Jeff and Joel are discussing the interesting subject of temperature. Jeff is gesticulating like he knows what he’s talking about (I think because he’s the brewmaster). Notice Joel’s look of incredulity (even from the rear). As I noted earlier, we eventually settled on a bucket filled with water. Brilliant.

Yes, neither buckets nor water are cheap, but, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re pretty serious, so we can afford to splurge on these little frivolities.

Look out for some sweet Drafty Kilt label action soon. (That was too many adjectives to use in one sentence.)

The (not so) Stouty Lumberjack

While people have been calling into question my notion that the lumberjack is not the epitome of masculinity, I have stumbled upon some evidence that I may actually be on to something.

This morning while discussing the Lumberjack with my coworker next to the watercooler he said that he immediately thought of the Monty Python Lumberjack sketch. A light went off in my head – that’s where my lumberjack notion probably started. A quick trip to YouTube and my suspicions were all confirmed. To quote the song specifically:

I cut down trees, I skip and jump
I like to press wild flowers.
I put on women’s clothing and hang around in bars.

As a further proof of this I challenge you to search the term lumberjack on google images. I’m not able to post many of those images but the one above is from the first page.

That being said, I’ve decided it’s all the more reason to vote for the (gender confused) Lumberjack Oatmeal Stout.

Naming our stout turns to threats

Finally, someone with an opinion speaks up… and threatens me with being a lonely old man if we choose my personal favorite, Last Stand, as the name for our stout. I got an email from an ex-friend with a simple subject line: “this is you.” The email read, “if you keep the name last stand.” Following this cryptic message was a link to yet another NYTimes article (apparently our fan base is well read), though this one didn’t so much address the subject of beer. No, this one was more about lonely single old men with scary design (marketing?) choices that frighten women. And apparently naming a beer “Last Stand Stout” is akin to keeping a baby stuffed seal in your apartment.

Ex-friend who will remain nameless unless she chooses to step forward, I salute your initiative. You’re wrong, but at least you have taken a stand. And for future reference, don’t mess with Texas.

(I’m Texas.)

Week Off = Brew-a-thon

This week is my last one in my current job, and I’m taking next week off before beginning my new one. So next Monday instead of a single batch in the evening, I’m shooting for three batches throughout the day. Any suggestions on new styles to try? I’m thinking about a cream ale, but other than that I’m up for ideas.

…and we still haven’t “nailed the lumberjack”

True, some people like the name “Lumberjack Stout.” No one dislikes it, except Joel who still thinks that the very word “lumberjack” is some sort of overt homosexual reference. Our beef at MNB is this: this oatmeal stout is one of our 3 best beers at this point, along with the Roundhouse Pale Ale and the Swashchuckler IPA, so we think the name should be in the top 3 as well. That said, we’ve put together a little poll, for those of you with definite opinions. If none of these names strike you, please let us know via comments/emails. And if you have a better name, we are all ears.

Lumberjack Stout (the label, not the beer)

Yes, I realize that I’m posting during March Madness. Yes, I realize that Tennessee just spanked UVA (suck on that, Joel). But that doesn’t mean that we’re not hard at work.

Thanks to Eli’s suggestion, I’ve been working on another version of the Lumberjack [Oatmeal] Stout label. One that doesn’t involve a falling tree, but instead, axes. I still tried to incorporate the tree, but honestly, I have no idea what the response to this thing will be like. So. What’s the response to this thing like? Are we there yet? C’mon, I can take it.