Back in Action

I am back from my brief hiatus. Who would have thought that purchasing a house, planning a wedding and getting through the holidays would be so time-consuming? Now that most of this is behind me though, I can begin to recap the brews my brother and I have been working on, as well as highlight some key events upcoming in the neighborhood. So a lot has been happening, and this might as well be called back in action part one of many...

We have made several new brews since the Double IPA. However, I do not have my brewer's journal with me at this juncture, so that will have to wait. I can give some important Iowa Brewing Updates though.

First, and probably most important for our microbrewing industry, the Iowa Beer Equality Bill is now part of SF 2088. What does this mean? The Iowa Beer Equality Beer would make it possible for microbrewers to brew beer up to 10% ABV and sell it in Iowa. This would put them on a level footing with external brewers who have been doing this for years (albeit getting taxed up the wazoo to do it.) SF 2088 is a Government Reorganization bill full of really interesting stuff, which you can find in the Newton Daily News article, because it's to boring to recount here. Why the Newton Daily News? Because it segues nicely into the next update.

Madhouse Brewery is the newest brewery in Newton! And the only brewery in Jasper County, home base of the Jasper Winery - ran by the one and only Mason Groben. Groben began work on the Madhouse Brewery in November, with the hopes of being able to be 100% operational by the end of February, so look for their varieties on your store shelves soon! Updates and reviews can be expected in the next few weeks.

Another new brewery has set up shop in Knoxville. Peace Tree Brewing is in full production now, check out more on their website. It's a smaller operation but seems to be one full of passion. It is now on the "places to visit" list.

Other than being new, what do these two breweries have in common? They are both being showcased at Living History Farms' Beer'n'Bread on March 6th. The Iowa Brewers Union will also be there to answer any questions, along with Mark Nauman of Beer Crazy. I will be attempting to make it to this event as well. Expect more updates.

Olde Main Brewery released it's first attempt at cider last week. I hope to make it up to Ames to give this a sample. Also, every third Thursday of the month, the guys at Olde Main are hoping release a new firkin for sampling. So, to get more involved with this check out the Beer Enthusiasts.

Lastly, for this article anyway, my brother has planned a trip down to Boulevard Brewery on the 13th of March. This is less a recreational trip and more of a pilgrimage to Mecca for my brother and myself. This is also my fiance's spring break trip, so we expect to get pretty crazy... Or not. Believe me there will be updates from this. I will probably post directly from the hotel room immediately after the tour in order to capture the pure euphoria that will be holding me.

Look for more updates on what the Brewing Cooperative has in its wings in the coming days.

Peace!

It's not you, it's me...

Last night we were at the local grocer to get pasta sauce and chicken. My girlfriend wanted something a little different so we went with vodka sauce, decent enough stuff. I, of course, wanted to wander through the beer aisle to see if there was anything that struck my fancy. As I stood pondering the same choices, lo and behold my girlfriend pointed one out for me!

It was a new one, and she knew I had never had it before. It is Leinenkugel's Fireside Brown Ale. Being rather fond of most brown ales, I picked up a sixer of it and away we went. After a quick game of guess which cashier is fastest (which I usually win, but luck was not with me) we scurried home to make dinner.

We got the pasta going and indeed nothing is more boring than watching pasta cook, so I grabbed a beer. The color was a very deep brown (surprise right?) but had an almost red tint when held up to the light. There really wasn't any head to speak of and what was there didn't leave any lace behind. None of this was much of a surprise as I am never sure what to expect from Leinie's. The aroma was nearly non-existent. If anything, there was a faint hint of caramel.

The basic stats:

Malts: English two-row malts

Hops: Cluster

ABV: 4.9%

The drink: WAY TOO SWEET FOR ME!!! My girlfriend loved it though. I did try two just to see if it would grow on me. Not so much. The caramel and hazelnut tastes were completely overwhelming. While I understand that some people want their beer to have a hint of caramel, this was just too far out there for me to truly enjoy. If that's your thing though, by all means try this beer. If your looking for a nice English-style brown ale though, I don't see this beer as a qualifier. The fact that this beer isn't what I was looking for does not discourage me on it. It seems like it would be a good beer for a holiday party (and the pricetag helps with that, Thanks Leinie's!) I will leave the other four in the beer fridge for my girlie to drink at her leisure and next time I am at the store I will pick up a sixer of Leinenkugel's Red, just to remind myself and them that I do enjoy their beer.

Prost!