Continuing Education

Every time I brew, I learn a little bit more about brewing and about beer in general.  Same thing every time I try a new beer, and often even when I'm trying something I've had before.  Still, one of my goals in brewing is to make a concerted effort to learn and improve.

I imagine this seems obvious, but I'm not sure it is universal.  My dad, for example, is satisfied with his brewing process and the beers he brews.  I don't mean this as a negative--he knows what he likes and he brews very tasty beers.  Lots of people are not focused on the educational aspect, and that's fine.  That's just not me.

So, my basic plan of education:

• Read.  Read books on beers and brewing (I'm currently finishing Mosher's Radical Brewing: Recipes, Tales and World-Altering Meditations in a Glass and John Palmer's How to Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time).  Next up: Possibly Designing Great Beers and Brewing Classic Styles.  Read forums and articles on brewing.  Read the style guidelines.
• Brew.  There's no substitute for experience.  I think it's important to try brewing a variety of styles, but I imagine there's value to brewing the same beer multiple times to try to make improvements, too.
• Evaluate Beers.  I'm trying to gather some great beers to evaluate using the BJCP's style guidelines.  However, I suspect it's just as useful (or more useful) to judge less-than-perfect examples, and even bad examples.  Most importantly, I need to compare my own beers to exemplars of the style.
• Enter Beer Competitions.  This is an extension of the point above.  The goal is not so much to win awards (which would be nice), but to get feedback from experienced judges and brewers to improve my craft.

Brewing Bucket List

A few beers from Radical Brewing I really want to try:

• Two Bits Abbey Dubbel (p. 124)
• Three-Nipple Tripel (p. 125)
• Roggenbier (p. 149), possibly with add some grains of paradise, or scaled up to a bock
• Oatmeal Cookie Ale (p. 149).  I want to redeem myself on this one.
• Witbier with chamomile and grains of paradise, and possibly orange blossoms.
• Caramel Quadrupel (p. 166)
• Spiced Cherry Dubbel (p. 166)
• Spiced Bourbon Stout (p. 169)
• Gordon Strong's Chai Brown Ale (p. 170)
• Mister Boing Boing Cherry Barley Wine (p. 178)
• Black Ship Pirate Stout (p. 200)
• Sahti (p. 244).  I'll have to find a source for fresh juniper branches.

Lines on Ale

Fill with mingled cream and amber,
I will drain that glass again.
Such hilarious visions clamber
Through the chamber of my brain -
Quaintest thoughts–queerist fancies
Come to life and fade away;
What care I how time advances?
I am drinking ale today.

~~Edgar Allan Poe, Lines on Ale

I ran across this poem in Randy Mosher's excellent book Radical Brewing: Recipes, Tales and World-Altering Meditations in a Glass, and I really wanted to share it. I mean, Edgar Allen Poe is one of my favorite authors--he's not the cleanest or most rhythmic poets, but damn is he evocative. Who can forget The Raven or Annabel Lee?

For me Lines on Ale struck much the same tone. But where could I share it? Not on Facebook. I work with a youth group, and although I firmly believe there is nothing wrong with brewing beer or consuming it (in moderation), and I do share beer-related things on Facebook occasionally, I have several hundred underage "friends", and constantly discussing alcohol and drinking with them isn't in anybody's best interests. That said, I do intentionally post things on there from time to time--it's also important for them to see an adult modeling a healthy relationship with alcohol.

 In addition, Facebook often makes up a large part of what people see of you. If someone goes to a blog on homebrewing, they expect to see beer-related posts. When that's all they see of you on Facebook, they're likely to draw a much different conclusion.

 I'm active on a few homebrewing forums, but they don't provide quite the platform I'm looking for. They're great for starting discussions or asking questions, but there are things I want to share that don't really fit there. Hence this blog. Things I'm considering for this blog:

• my own journey through homebrewing:
  • Recipes I've tried
  • Progress of various batches
  • Recipes I'm considering, or daydreaming about
• my journey through the world of craft beer
• other beer-related experiences:
  • Brewery tours
  • Beer forums, publications, associations, etc.
  • Beer clubs

If there's anything else you'd like to read about, leave me feedback and I'll do my best to include it. I'm also signed up with Amazon Affiliates, since I'm likely to review or suggest a number of things you can buy there. If something piques your interest or something I say tempts you to buy it, please consider using a link from my page. The links in the text will link to the item on Amazon, and I'll get a small referral fee, but it doesn't cost you anything extra. In addition, I'll put text-and-graphics links at the bottom of the post for products I discuss, so they don't get in the way of the post.