Fat Tuesday with Fett Vater (Fat Daddy) Homebrewligan Extraordinaire!

Good morning beer fans and a Happy Mardi Gras to you!  I'm currently sipping on one of my own beer-gone-bad concoctions, it's my Lavender Saison, a recipe from Austin Home Brew Supply that I decided to "doll up" with an infused tea from all of the fresh organic lavender plants that I had in full bloom at the time.  The result:  a beer that pulls back the memory of having your mouth washed out with soap....only with a high alcohol content, which barely makes up for the burps that follow.  My fix, which is actually one of my favorite breakfast drinks now, is to juice a Texas Ruby Red grapefruit and top it off with the aforementioned disaster.  It's bright, fresh and goes with any of your more delectable breakfast foods.  I had a 3 minute poached egg atop one slice of dark brown rye, toasted with cream cheese, thinly sliced red onion, lox, capers and fresh squeezed lemon.  Perfection, if I do say so myself.  Which brings up something I've been milling over...breakfast beers?  What is your favorite?  I was going to share this concept with some my co-workers when I got shut down by their opinion that a breakfast beer was dark and brewed with coffee.  I held my tongue, but I'll speak my mind here.  Don't mess with coffee in the morning.  I like mine strong and organic with full-on 1/2 and 1/2.  I like a coffee porter in the afternoon when I'm getting pooped.  But I like coffee in the morning, to be just that...coffee.  Feel free to share your thoughts!  There is no wrong answer.  Beer-good.

Anyway...back to the present blog.  It's been way too long since I sat down to bang out a few musings  on brewing and quite a bit has happened since last I did.  Namely, I began working at the home brew store here in Austin and have brewed many a beer since and have slowly been using my whole paychecks to purchase the pieces to convert my chest freezer into a keezer.  The affable fellow I'm writing about today is the reason I got hired, is the source for inspiration and help with the keezer and one of my newest favorite people in town.  Adam writes the blog for us at Austin Home Brew Supply and has been brewing for 9 years.  

The thing about home brewers that I love is the absolute uniqueness of their process and their being.  The more I get to know them the more it is absolutely impossible to categorize them...not that I would aim to do so, but it's like the adage about brewing itself: if you ask 10 homebrewers a question, expect 10 or more different answers.

Adam knows so much about beer it's insane.  Yet, he admittedly says that when it comes to brewing, he mostly does it off the cuff...and that's what I wanted to observe.

Adam and Django on the deck, straining da beer.

I showed up around 1 in the afternoon and he had everything sanitized and the propane set up on the back deck. We popped open a few beerz and got started, while listening to Megan Lynch (new to me and man what a voice) and talking about well, everything.

Adam's first homebrew was a Shiner Bock clone, something I can hardly imagine him drinking now,  the reason being, he knew the taste and wanted to judge his home brewing accordingly.  He sez it was drinkable.  I've yet to brew a bock so what do I know?   He brews a few times a month and picks something up new from the grocery store each week...which is one of the great things about beer culture right now...so many new beers to explore and love!  Yes, I'll have another, thanks!

I'm going backward in time with these photos,  sparging on the left and the glorious wort on the right.

By the time we got to this stage though, I was keeping up with Adam on the beers and as strong of liver that I am, I forgot to take notes or anything...doi.

Sure, I'll have another beer.

Adam and I are both parents and we swap war stories occasionally and he keeps us in stitches at work with tales of his youngest, Danger Boy.  When I asked Adam the obligatory question all home brewers wanna know...do you have a disaster brew story?  Adam had more than one...this alone might deter the average novice, but not Adam.  He learned the hard way the value of proper sterilization and had to replace all of his plastic tubing.  Another time he used the chloramine rich city tap water, creating a lovely old band aid off flavor.  Ew.   But the best story, the one I'm sure I'll never-ever hear again involves Danger Boy.  I get a kick out the antics of Danger boy...things horrifically scary like when he opened up the gas line on the propane tank and let it all drain out, or when he sliced open the outdoor hose and turned the water on...there wasn't an explosion and Adam caught the water before flooding under the house...but the attack on beer is too much, and, should be a warning to all folks who have imps and tricksters as spawn.  Danger Boy simply popped off the air lock and poured catfood into the precious beer, spoiling it for homebrewligans and felines everywhere.  Hide your beer, place it out of reach, do whatever is necessary!  Still, Adam brews.  Why yes, I'd like just one more!  

I had a fantastic time, laughed so much and drank so much I hardly remembered to ask all the questions I'd come with, but this last moment cracked me up most because of the shear joy of being squirted unexpectedly!  We both got it in the face!

There will be more Adam blogs to come...I love his beer, and I love his Home Brewery name...Fett Vater, Fat Daddy or Big Daddy...which fits in perfectly on this most hedonistic of silly holidays!  Thank you for the fun and for letting me hang out and learn more about brew and more about you!

Adam and the Mrs. at Flying Saucer

Adam is a sci-fi fan and loves to give his beers names that spin off of his favorite stories and characters.  The first beer I had of his was C3PA, and on this day he brewed an El Dorado hop-heavy IPA...I'm still waiting to hear the name he'll bless it with!  Adam blogs at Austin Home Brew Supply and does customer support.  He and Melissa live in Round Rock, both have theatre backgrounds and are currently engaged in raising some very interesting and talented kiddos.  They're such a great couple!  

Happy home brewing and...

Cheers! 

~Cheryl

The Beer That Broke The Cycle

Hello beer enthusiasts!  I'm so happy for anyone out in the blogosphere that stopped by for a pint!  Cheers!  

  What your looking at is a photo I snapped at The Violet Crown Cinema, in downtown Austin, Texas and it's of Revolver's Blood and Honey Ale.  It simply knocked my socks off earlier this summer.  I have been, for several years now, what is lovingly referred to as a Hop-head, greedily seeking that bitter, mouth puckering, palate cleansing liquid gold.  My partner Greg prefers the dark brown sweetness of Porters and Stouts.  I digress-while seeking cool local (meaning Tejas Craft Brews) bottles to take up to my old college classmate in Oklahoma, who is making us a beer chandelier, I came across their awesome revolver-themed bottles in Dallas, picked up a 6 pack and for the first time in several years succumed to the sweet citrus fruitiness of an ale, as opposed to the overwhelming bitter edge.  I am sincerely thankful for that because the summer just got better and better and I realized that my palate was not in fact "wrecked" from IPA's but was finding it's way back to balance.

   

  Greg and I are devoted home-brewers.  We are crazy about the Craft Brew scene that is exploding in Austin and for several years now have been brewing and dreaming up a business that we finally opened yesterday, Austin Bed & Brew, a beercation-destination in the heart of Austin.  We met in an alternative teacher training program 16 years ago and have both wandered away from the classroom, but absolutely love brewing and teaching and several other things that we felt we could pull together our concept of doing what we love, which is, brewing, gardening, designing, meeting new people and of course sharing a fabulous brew while getting to know them!  

  Home Brewligans is going to be a shared blog about all things beer.  Breweries that we visit, beers that we try, festivals we attend, successes and failures while attempting to make that perfect beer, and the fine folks who brew that we meet along the way.

  For the record (not that one exists) Greg is finishing up his PhD. and that is what sent me into brewing on my own...he's been taking a break, and after watching him brew for the past 5+ years, making suggestions and working along side...I've decided to take off on my own and become a homebrewer myself.  My maiden brew happened on Summer Solstice, the day our stained glass window for the Bn'B was installed, and a holiday that is very endearing to me.  That beer is now gone!  It was a lemongrass, ginger Summer Ale, that I infused with a fresh lemongrass tea made from my herb garden.  Here's what I've brewed since:

Greenbelt IPA

Lavender Saison

 (again, I made an infused tea from the blossoms in my garden added at the secondary fermentation transfer)

Imperial Robust Porter

(at transfer, I added extra dark chocolate and a tea from dried chili pequin in my garden)

Blonde Mystery Hops Ale

(my buddy in Idaho sent me some wild hops growing on his property and the bearded dudes at Austin HomeBrew came up with a recipe to help us identify the hops!)

  Like I said, the Bn'B opened yesterday, and I'll post about it at some time, but you can check it out at Austinbedandbrew.com, "Like" us on Facebook and see the photos or consider a "beercation" with us!  

  Next up...Pumpkin Ale.  What are your thoughts on that?  

Sun coming through the clearstory, casting light on our "Church of Beer" stained glass window 

at Austin Bed & Brew

Happy Brewing & Cheers!

~Cheryl