Journey to Japan: Beer Vending Machines

As Jonathan has previously mentioned I’m currently in Japan visiting family. Apart from receiving a minor concussion every day as I walk through the doors and forget to duck (door frames are about 5’9″, I’m 6’2″…It hurts) the visit has been quite spectacular.

One very interesting phenomenon is vending machines. They sell just about anything in vending machines. Coffee, drinks, corn soup, ice cream, video games, and last but not least, beer. That’s right, just a mere 20 yards down the street from my family’s house you have a glorious selection of 25 Japanese light lagers at your fingertips…24-7. As soon as my little niece (pictured below) is tall enough to reach the buttons she’ll be able to grab a cold one whenever she likes (this is the same niece who is already a huge fan of MNB).

And to think in Georgia you can’t even buy beer on Sunday.

Another brewery on the Westside

Well, not “brewery” per se… More like brewpub. 5 Seasons Brewpub is opening up another location:

The exciting 5 Seasons Westside, our newest and most ambitious 5, is now rising at the intersection of Howell Mill Road and Marietta Street. Watch for a Grand Opening early in 2008.

Hopefully this will help to tide you Westsiders over until MNB gets going.

Brew Day

In honor of MLK I’m brewing all day today. Trying to get three batches (that’s 30 Gallons!) done so they’ll be ready for the brew-ha-ha.

Come by whenever if you are in town and around.

Boscos brewpub in Nashville: some good beers… and some bad beers

Nashville doesn’t have many options when it comes to finding a fresh beer brewed on-premises. Of course, neither does Atlanta. I’ve been to Boscos in Hillsboro Village before, but last night was the first time I ordered their beer sampler ? 8 draft brews, including 4 seasonals. Last time I was at Boscos, I was a bit harsh on them.

Having tasted their full lineup in one sitting, I may have jumped the gun. Granted, they brew a few unexceptional beers:

• Their hefeweizen (which was interestingly one of their seasonal selections) had an acidic aftertaste
• Their Scottish Ale was simply atrocious. Git yoself a Drafty Kilt, fool.
• Their German Alt beer was a bit one-dimensional

However, Boscos also boasted some very good brews:

• A strong IPA brewed with Cascade and Centennial hops
• A seasonal pale ale ? both hoppy and biscuity
• A passable milk stout (though not up to Duck-Rabbit standards)
• A dern good doppelbock

Will I go back to Boscos? Obviously. With one micro and three or so brewpubs, Nashville makes my local beer choices easy. Will I look forward to it? This time, yes. Their food has always been good, and now I’m looking forward to a full glass of that IPA paired with… something… good.

Sweetwater delivers a Christmas present (Joel gets coal)

Our esteemed Atlanta-based brethren, Sweetwater, has released a limited edition Festive Ale which I picked up at a local package store the other day. The bottle itself is devoid of description of any kind about the beer, so I was forced to do some searching on the internet. From Sweetwater’s website:

A full-bodied, high-octane brew capped off with our use of cinnamon and mace. This beer will warm you all the way to your bones. Brewed only one day a year. We only bottle 7200 liters, 3800 12 oz. cases, and a handful of kegs, so get it while you can.

The liter bottles are each dipped in red wax, which is pretty much the only reason I bought the beer in the first place. I didn’t NEED more beer. But… it was red wax… so…

I cracked the bottle last night with a couple friends from college. Andy, predictably, struggled with the wax seal. I had no idea what to expect, seeing as I didn’t read the description till this morning. The Festive Ale was very rich with strong hints of molasses. Nay, DARK molasses. It was also pretty heavy. The 8.6% wasn’t lost on me, no sir.

Pick up a bottle and give it a try. And as long as your name isn’t Travis, we wish you a merry Christmas!

Westvleteren tasting

Now, of the 6 Belgian Trappist monasteries in the world, we can cross Westvleteren off our list of beers to try. Of course, this doesn’t mean we won’t want to try it again.

Jeff’s friend brought him back a bottle of the Westvleteren 8 awhile back. And since there was such a hubbub a few weeks ago because of an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal, we figured it was the perfect time to try it. Unfortunately, this was about 2 weeks ago, so I don’t remember the beer in excruciating detail.

I do remember that I was giddy as Jeff poured… It was very floral and fruity and had a kind of a caramel mouthfeel. It also had that distinctive Belgian yeast flavor ? but the good kind of yeast flavor.

Back at it

It seems like it’s been forever since we’ve brewed… We actually did brew a second batch of our peach Belgian amber, Southern Monk, 8 days ago. But tomorrow will mark the return to Monday nights for us.

With Halloween just around the corner, it seems fitting that we brew another pumpkin beer. Plus, think our last batch turned out a little heavy on the cloves. This is not the first time we’ve overdone an ingredient.

To get you guys in the pumpkin beer mindset, here’s a great article on what the big guys (and by big guys I mean microbreweries) do with their pumpkin beers. There are a few things I found interesting 1) adding pumpkin to the mash, and 2) the use of Mt. Hood hops by multiple breweries.

See ya’ll tomorrow!