Archive for February, 2010

I will be taking a week off for personal reasons starting today. East Coast Beercast will resume next Friday. The Home brewing episode that was supposed to post this Saturday, will post next Friday. Thank you for your understanding. See You in a week.

So you may have noticed that I have begun to make posts with much more frequency on the site. The way this will boil down is that I will post a link to a news story on Mondays and Thursdays. I will post about a good beer website on Tuesdays. Wednesdays, there will be a poll question. This will let me ask visitors to the site beer questions, or things about the podcast and let me make modifications. As you saw last week Friday is Casual Friday, and will have a beer review, and the show will be posted in Saturday mornings. I will also be tinkering with the show itself. This week I will be combining the interview section and the beer knowledge section, and finish with beer news. I will also be shooting for a 30 min to 45 min show. If the show runs long I will probably make a separate post with the extra content of me just talking with the guest (preshow and postshow). I will probably do this for about a month and see if there is an increase in listeners. I think some people are daunted by a show that is over an hour. So for this week’s website. As many of you may know Michael Jackson the Beer Hunter passed away in August of 2007. What some of you may not know is his site is still up. Before you scoff and say that is just another Blog, I suggest you take some time to drill down deeper. All of his articles from other publications are still there, and as you heard Tom Cizauskas say in last weeks episode, Mr Jackson had a way with words that is sorely missed. If you have the time and enjoy truly eloquent beer journalism, I would follow the link above or below and set aside a couple of hours.

The Beer Hunter

I just read a great article from Inc. Magazine online. It’s about a small brewpub in Michigan that decided to start in a town in the middle of nowhere and three years later their beer is available in about 1,000 stores and vendors. And when you head to the web page and scroll down you will notice that they have had some bad beer go out. What did they do about it, aside from the spanking video. They offered a number of different refund options. These guys are obviously passionate about good beer. I love reading stories like this. It means that no matter how the economy is doing, the craft beer industry in America will always have room for grass roots development and expansion. The title up there is one of their beers. Follow the link below to their website and check them out, or if you live in Michigan, why not head there in person.

Short’s Brewing Company

As you can see, it was casual Friday in the offices of East Coast Beercast.

So while some of the employees were busy with nap time meetings, I though I would do something different. I would try and review a beer. This is something I will probably try and repeat every Friday. So this week I’m trying : Hell or High Watermelon.

I know, I know. That is not an east coast beer! But, it is what I had in the fridge. I’ll be better prepared next time. So I should start by saying that I have never had this beer before. Hell or High Watermelon is a wheat beer brewed with watermelon bits and extract and is 4.9 %. So here is my first beer review. I did not like this beer. The End. Well that was easy, CK and Edmond were right.

Oh, you would like a reason. OK, I don’t think this beer was made for me. I like wheat beers, but I don’t tend to enjoy ones that are fruit flavored. I am what you might call a traditionalist. At least when it comes to wheat. I like my wheat cloudy, with a full mouth feel. This is neither. That doesn’t mean it’s bad in general. To me this beer tasted like the rind of a watermelon had spent some time with a krystal wheat, and forgotten the safe word. And as we all know, that gets messy. But I digress. I am not exaggerating about the rind flavor. It is up front and I can’t seem to get past it to any other flavors. It would be one thing if this were a weisse and I was looking for a hint of funk, but I wasn’t. This beer caught me unawares in a bad way. That being said, so many people like this beer, that I suspect I may have gotten a bad one, so I won’t vow never to have it again. What kind of beer geek would that make me? This is more than likely a situation in which we were both in different places in our lives. You understand right. I wanted to try something wild from Cali, but we both knew that it couldn’t last. You’ll be fine Hell or High Watermelon. Some where out there is a guy waiting for you. Now… you gotta kick rocks, cause I got this really Hot Mrs. Robinson number named Tuppers Hop Pocket coming over later tonight.  Rawr.

This week I’m talking about cask conditioned ale with  Tom Cizauskas.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cizauskas/4367800710/in/set-72157623334930075/

This week we were recording at the Galaxy Hut. What a great place! If you haven’t been there, you should check it out.

Beer News Stories:
Sink the Bismarck
New IPA from Boston Beer.
Charlotte Craft Beer Week Coming March 18-28
Ballooned numbers for glassing.

Why not write a review on iTunes, or tell your friends about us?
Thanks for listening. Have a good week.

A digitel call to action to help S.C.’s craft beer.

I was going to post something else tonight after I got home from recording Episode 8, but I checked my RSS feed and found this. Long story short; Right now you can not sample or buy directly from a brewery at all in South Carolina. This could change. If you live in SC and want to have a say in how beer laws are determined (you know, kinda what those guys we call our Fore-fathers wanted for us as a nation) then follow the link and call your representative. If you know some one who lives in SC, why not pass along the word.

All the time stuck in the apartment during the snow allowed me to come up with a plan for the Fermentation cabinet. So here it is:

1. Remove back cover of cabinet, it is that cheap 1/8 inch cardboard that ikea uses these days. I will replacing this with a piece of 1/4 plywood. Luckily the measurement is simple, 3′ x3′

2. While the back is off I’m going to remove the inner shelf. It divides the main chamber and makes it impossible to fit a carboy inside. Since this shelf is also structural I will also…

3. Reinforce all corners inside with 2″x2″. Think of it like a roll-cage for the cabinet.

4. Remove drawers and supports. I’m not getting rid of them, I plan on placeing them on the bottom of the cabinet to hold the fan and ice for cooling.

5. Put 2″ thick Styrofoam on all walls and ceiling.

That is the basic idea for now. I will probably draw a mock up and post it soon. Of course I will take pictures of the whole process, and maybe even some video. Leave comments if you have suggestions for something I am forgetting.  Oh and I am hoping to be done by the end of April. I will be looking for suggestions for a good extract or partial mash recipe to christen the cabinet with.

This episode is all about the iPad.

Not really.

I figured everyone else is doing it this week.

Show notes:

New Big 4 in beer market
States Look to the Bottle
Sustainable Beer Distributors

All music for this podcast comes from looperman.com

As many of you may know we are in the thick of another winter weather blasting in the DC metro area. Due to the snow, among other things, I will not be able to meet up with Tom Cizauskas to record this weeks episode. That being said, there will still be an episode this week. I will be going solo for a short episode to be posted this Friday. I figure as long as I am stuck in my apartment, and have an internet connection, there is no excuse for there  not to be some kind of show. So I will see you see you guys on Friday. Keep warm.