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brewvana (100 items)

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July 18, 2008
18:22
International Brewers Day Profile–Dave Coy
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Happy International Brewers Day! The brainchild of Jay Brooks, over at Brookston Beer Bulletin, IBD is the kind of holiday I can get behind. It’s about showing appreciation. It’s a celebration rather than a remembrance (not that there’s anything wrong with that). And it’s about beer. The premise is basically this: today’s the day to honor brewers [...]
July 07, 2008
9:18
AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHH!!!!!/YIPEEEEEEE!!!!! Syndrome
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OR Bi-polar Brewer Syndrome You know the feeling: acute pain, agonizing disappointment, and sudden loss followed by excitement, elation and a smile stretched from ear to ear. It’s triggered by that pssshhhh sound of a keg that’s just kicked. Aaarrrggghh!!! That beer is gone. The sweat of my brow measured finite. History recorded. Poo! But then…Yipeee! I’ve got [...]
July 06, 2008
12:00
site updates
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I’d planned on a bit of a site facelift around the time of my first anniversary, BUT that just didn’t happen. Finally, I take a Sunday morning to fool around a little. Maybe this will stay like this, and maybe it won’t. One element I’d like to call your attention to is the page I set [...]
July 04, 2008
8:26
Session #17–going against the grain
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With summer in full swing and people talking about lawnmowers and the beach, this Session topic couldn’t be more appropriate. I mean really. It couldn’t. Why all emphatic, Wilson? Pfiff!, this month’s host, speaks to me on this one. To me. This just happens to be Dark Beer Summer. I decided a few months back that I [...]
June 30, 2008
16:36
Detour-induced memories of beer
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Perhaps you’ve been watching the news. Iowa’s had a lot of rain lately. Flooding. Twisters. Etc. I live out in the country. Out here, sometimes you look forward to the rain, as it keeps the dust down. Sometimes you don’t look forward to rain. It makes for precarious driving. Sometimes you look forward to snow, because [...]
9:37
Three Sheets–beer in HD
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The Backdrop I don’t watch much TV. I used to be heavily addicted to TV when I was a kid: Gilligan’s Island, MTV, The Brady Bunch, stand-up, The Frugal Gourmet, The Young and the Restless. Well, everything really. For two of my college years, I did without, out of poorness and an abundance of working. But I was [...]
June 23, 2008
9:08
My autobiographical bar
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Back in February, I acquired a building on Main Street in a small town in Iowa. It had been an office space for the Rural Electrical Cooperative. The walls were white, much like those of so many little mom-and-pop restaurants in these parts. So many hang a 1974 print of a pheasant flying over a [...]
June 22, 2008
22:33
Beer guy from a kid’s eye
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My boys are prolific artists. Among the many pictures of cowboys, cars and super heroes littering our home are a good many portraits of me. There are pictures of Dad as a cowboy, Dad as a Scottish guy (with a machine gun for a peg leg, even), Dad as an army guy (WWII, Civil War and [...]
9:29
International Brewers Day on the horizon
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Where holidays are concerned, I like them with beer rather than greeting cards. That’s why I didn’t shop on Black Friday, at Sean Wilson’s suggestion. And that’s why I’m backing Jay Brooks‘plan for International Brewers Day, slated for July 18. It’s a great idea that we need to make snowball. So, tell everyone. And celebrate. For my [...]
June 16, 2008
14:56
Day-off pleasure
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It is Monday, my day off. I did a little work today, but am home relaxing at 1:30 in the afternoon, with a Franziskaner Weissbier at my side. I haven’t had one of these in quite some time, but man, is it good. A beautiful sunny and pleasant day (after much rain, tornadic activity and flooding), [...]
June 10, 2008
8:38
I’m No. 4819
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Hosted by the Madison Homebrewers and Tasters Guild, the Great Taste of the Midwest is a mere two months away. I’ve heard lots of great things about this festival, and have had it on my to-do list for many moons. But there’s the worry: it’s limited to 5,000 attendees. Some of the tickets are sold in [...]
June 09, 2008
9:21
Marvelling at food marriages
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Brats and beer. Or it could be spelled bratsandbeer. The two are like peanut butter and jelly. Beyond PB&J, actually. They’ve been a perfect match for a long, long time. How does that happen? They’re perfect together. Did the perfection take time? Was one recipe or the other tweaked to match up the pairing qualities? I [...]
June 03, 2008
9:04
Good pairing, no thinking and a farmish pleasant evening
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There’s this cool breeze further solidifying a peaceful moment as I lazily scan the horizon to our east. I’m sitting on our porch swing, sipping at Kyle’s latest homebrew on a now-scarce day off. It’s a lovely little snapshot in time, about to get better. The timer sounds off, and we pounce on the oven with [...]
June 02, 2008
18:43
Paradise found?
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So the question is: How’s Wilson’s attempt at putting Good Beer into a place unaccustomed to Good Beer? I have to say, I’m pleasantly surprised at this point. Electric Burrito (here’s a map), has been up and running for two weeks now, and while we’ve gone through a truckload more margaritas than beers, people have been [...]
May 20, 2008
7:56
Special Occasion Mentality
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We beer enthusiasts tend toward a special occasion mentality. Even for “minor” special occasions (grilling out with friends, brother-in-law is coming over, etc). I’m always thinking about what would be the right beer for the occasion. Of course the weather and seasons factor in to our decisions. Specific holidays lend themselves to specific beers, or at [...]
May 07, 2008
8:59
If a beer blogger could have a beer list, what would it look like?
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There are so many factors. First, you’d simply want it to kick ass. You’d want a hundred taps with a complete range of styles and breweries the world over. You’d want killer local beer. You’d want cask. You’d want bottle conditioned. You’d want to outdo everything that’s ever been done. But this isn’t a dream list, [...]
May 05, 2008
8:24
Dandelion Wine
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“Just the yellow stuff. No green.” That’s what the dude was emphatic about, and I could see his point. I took notes on his process, because this stuff was tasty. Yes, one day I would have a yard full of the weeds, and I would do something good with them. Dandelion wine. Well, one day has arrived, [...]
May 04, 2008
14:21
Beeralicious day of nostalgia
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“The first step of the cure is…a kiss.” –Gene Simmons It’s been a bloody good day. I’m on the tail end of brewing my Ceremony Abbey Ale and am soaked in good nostalgia. For one, I haven’t brewed in a while. My last two batches were 10 gallons each and as your math skills might deduce, they’ve lasted [...]
May 03, 2008
8:49
The Session #15–How did it all start?
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My mom and dad met on a blind date. They married. I arrived. I had the beer gene. That’s the long and short of it. But it’s always the long story that’s more interesting, right? I always looked forward to drinking beer, way back when I was a kid. I wasn’t wooed by cartoon characters or curvy [...]
April 29, 2008
10:07
Happy brewvana Day
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Cheers! Prost! Salud! and Yee-Haw! Today’s brewvana’s birthday. This pensive little beer blog has been pouring harmony, beer and joy into cyberspace for one year today. It’s been fun looking back on this year in a number of different ways: experiences, beers, friends. There’s a lot of energy that goes into a focused beer life like [...]
April 16, 2008
10:32
Testing, Testing (and getting testy?)
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My restaurant’s coming together, with great progress yesterday on the only big glitch. Making the day even better was, of course, beer. I’ve installed a shank system for my two taps, and ordered a keg earlier than necessary so I could test them (and reward my volunteer labor). My first delivery came yesterday, and so the [...]
April 07, 2008
8:57
Truth in waning
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Dear Readers: If you’ve been checking in lately, you’ll have noticed that I haven’t been. If you’ve been reading me for a long time, you’ll have noticed that while beer is a big part of my life, it’s not the only part, certainly not the most important. My family is. Right now, I’m heavily involved in opening a [...]
March 24, 2008
10:44
On the Opinion Expresser
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“Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson Or a lotta thinkers. Everybody’s a critic, or so the saying goes. Stan at Appellation Beer brought up the question of the Beer Critic’s role (A [beer] critic’s job? Demolishing the bad?), and a great flow of excellent comments followed. I’d encourage you [...]
March 22, 2008
20:47
Slacker Alert!
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Sorry guys. I’ve been a major slacker. The excuse is that I’m busy. I’m opening a restaurant. I have a family. Beer is a great part of my life, but it’s not the only part. This wouldn’t be brewvana if that were the case. I’m not saying I haven’t had any beer lately. I surely have. Amazing [...]
March 15, 2008
9:27
Why you shouldn’t have to be 21 to look at a beer site
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I really value all my readers and the comments they make on this site. There have been many good views expressed and many positive words on the content I post. Thanks. However, all you old-fart, beer enthusiast, blog readers got blown away this week by my favorite comment of all time: Thank You for this very nice report [...]
March 14, 2008
8:12
Thirsty Thursday–Shoot to Thrill
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Just last week I was going on about the particularly aggressive winter we’re enjoying. And wouldn’t you know it, this week I get to talk about another nuance of a Midwestern Winter: the part about the huge temperature variation. One day it’s zero, and the next day it’s 50 degrees. One day it’s dull brown, and [...]
March 12, 2008
14:54
Trans-Atlantic Beer Tasting Simul-Post
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Wish you were here… Beer is such a lovely libation. It’s refreshing, flavorful and it brings friends together. It occurred to me recently that I’d cultivated a pair of cyber-friends that would be a great joy to sit down with for a pint. The problem is that we’re thousands of miles, an ocean and seven time [...]
March 11, 2008
8:15
Grandma Beach’s idea of cough syrup
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I’ve been dodging my boys’ bullets for the last week, but finally I’ve succumbed to a cold. I’ve got all this beer lying around; how could I not have something with a cure involved? So I’ve got my wife’s great-grandma in mind today. Here’s her recipe for cough syrup. I take it like NyQuil, and sleep [...]
March 10, 2008
9:41
Pub crawl in beer portraits
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This weekend we converged on Des Moines for a bit of a crawl. Dinner at Court Avenue Restaurant and Brewing Company, and beers at El Bait Shop and The Red Monk. My aunt and uncle, and boys, were there for the chow, but the real fun came when Wonderful Beer Wife Michelle, Cousin Matt, Cousin-in-law [...]
March 06, 2008
19:24
Thirsty Thursday–Summit’s Great Northern Porter
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Because it’s cold and northern-like, I figured on a beer from a land both cold and Northern for today. If you’re from a Southern location, you just can’t relate to what is happening in my neck of the woods. Unlike many around here, I’m not complaining. Snow and a better version of cold is one of [...]
March 04, 2008
21:54
Beer and The Hays Code
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Here I go again. Taking something that has nothing to do with beer and, well, turning it into a big beer thing. With a little more time on my hands, or simply a stronger level of determination, I’m sure I could turn this one into a lengthy series. I’ve decided to spare you that and just [...]
March 03, 2008
17:28
Hang out in brewvana this weekend
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You don’t have to win a contest or anything! I don’t know if any brewvana readers will be around Des Moines this weekend, but I will. If you wanna get together for a beer, shoot me an email–jwmongrel [AT] yahoo [DOT] com. We’ll be hitting Court Avenue Restaurant and Brewing Company on Friday evening for dinner and [...]
March 02, 2008
9:45
Pain in my eis
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For the sake of transparency, I thought I’d share my eis bock experience with you. Lest you get the idea that everything is always peachy in brewvana, that I’m an amazing, faultless brewer. I could project that if I wanted, you know. But there’s no room for BS in brewvana. So, with great expectations, I took a [...]
February 28, 2008
20:23
Thirsty Thursday–happy day
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It’s a great day for a guy like me. At 5 pm, I showed up for the city council meeting. I wore my sweet Irish hat to look all sophisticated and whatnot. That was canceled out by the part about me having holes in my paint-speckled pants–I’d forgotten my change of clothes in my rush [...]
February 27, 2008
9:09
Short, sweet and wise
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“Wisdom is made up of ten parts, nine of which are silence–the tenth, brevity.” -Unknown After waiting and dealing with numerous delays, we closed on our building last Friday, and all my minutes, spare and otherwise, have been devoted to transforming it into the Electric Burrito. Come and see us if you’re ever in our neck of [...]
February 24, 2008
10:46
Put Some Margin into your Beer Life
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“What you have become is the price you paid to get what you used to want.” –Mignon McLaughlin A couple of weeks back, I found myself sick of reading blogs. I noticed that I’d been reading more and more of them. And other beer-related miscellany on the computer. Checking out forums, formulating recipes, researching shank systems, checking [...]
February 21, 2008
9:21
Thirsty Thursday–Rogue Monk Madness
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As soon as he got finished with his hair appointment, my bro-in-low Kyle was ready for a beer. He’s been grooving on the Rogue lineup in his Walk with Better Beer, and recently snagged a bottle of Monk Madness for us to try. With excitement and good cheer, Jimmy and I obliged, neither having tried this [...]
February 19, 2008
14:10
More than 15 Things I Miss About Raleigh and NC
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…in no particular order and not necessarily beer-related 1. NC breweries (especially Duck-Rabbit, Foothills, Pisgah, Green Man, Big Boss and Carolina Brewery) 2. A few beer bars (like The Raleigh Times, The Flying Saucer, Milltown and Barley’s Taproom) 3. Sam’s 4. CARBOY homebrew club and related people and shenanigans 5. A few specific beers that I can’t get here (Nostradamus, [...]
February 16, 2008
9:30
Allagash’s Spontaneous Beer Project
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By now, many beer enthusiasts have seen Allagash Brewing Company’s YouTube video chronicling the use of their koelschip and their brewing of a seriously wild beer. It’s an American-made lambic, produced traditionally, according to Allagash head brewer Jason Perkins “for the first time, as far as we know it, in the US.” For those that haven’t [...]
February 15, 2008
8:07
Thirsty Thursday–catching up and getting ahead
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Kyle, Jimmy and I haven’t done Thursday together for several weeks, so this time, it was really a matter of catching up. Jimmy had two new homebrews I hadn’t tried and I had two he hadn’t tried. We also cracked open a bottle of Sprecher’s Black Bavarian. It smelled great, but tasted oxidized. Not a [...]
February 13, 2008
8:16
More beery places to hang
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Lotsa resources out there. Lotsa communities. Lotsa beer. Lotsa clubs. Lotsa forums. Lotsa blogs. Two beer-related social networks recently cropped up on the scene, and if you’re the beery sort, you might want to check ‘em out. Offering forums, personalized pages and ways to connect with other beer lovers, Aleuminati and Democracy’s Drink, are both great [...]
February 10, 2008
17:03
Bonzo–Beer Geeks in Training
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Today, Mom was out of town. So, out came Beavis and Butt-head; peanut butter, honey and chocolate chip sandwiches; and The White Stripes. Further, Bonzo Soda Company leaped into action, producing its first cream soda. It’s fun watching these two rascals, miniature aficionados, hone their buds and delight in the fruits of their labor. My role is [...]
February 09, 2008
9:57
Freezing my eis off
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the making of Mongrel Brewing Company’s High Voltage Bock and Roll One of the many great perks about living in Iowa is the ability to do your eis bock au naturel. I pulled it from my fridge around 1:30am this morning, scared the droppings out of the handful of deer nosing for grass in my yard and plopped [...]
February 07, 2008
9:11
Thirsty Thursday–Sampling Sanctuary
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Once upon a time, on September 2, 2007, Wilson brewed his first Flanders Red. He’s very patient. He knew this would take some time. Sanctuary spent a week in

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brewvana (100 items)

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