If you think the above picture is accurate then you are wrong. George Washington refused to drink fizzy yellow watered down piss beer and insisted on homebrew.
George Washington was a devout beer lover. In particular, he was fond of the dark, English-style brew known as porter, and always demanded that an ample supply of it be kept on hand at Mount Vernon, his Virginia estate. However, it was not porter, but rather "small beer," for which Washington once recorded an early recipe. Preserved in the manuscript collections of the New York Public Library is a notebook kept by Washington, which includes the following hand-written recipe.
"To Make Small Beer...
Take a large Siffer [Sifter] full of Bran Hops to your Taste. -- Boil these 3 hours then strain out 30 Gall[ons] into a cooler put in 3 Gall[ons] Molasses while the Beer is Scalding hot or rather draw the Melasses into the cooler & St[r]ain the Beer on it while boiling Hot. let this stand till it is little more than Blood warm then put in a quart of Yea[s]t if the Weather is very Cold cover it over with a Blank[et] & let it Work in the Cooler 24 hours then put it into the Cask -- leave the bung open till it is almost don[e] Working -- Bottle it that day Week it was Brewed."
See guys. Mr Washington refused to drink mass produced piss water like the pilgrims and the Indians. Lets all take a lesson from history and drink fresh, quality home brew. On another note this recipe was recently recreated by Coney Island Brewing Co. check it out here. im really curious how this one turned out.
Some pretty good holiday ales this year lets begin:
(The heavenly pumpkin of citracado)
Stones latest collaboration ale with the ridiculous french name is a winner. complex. and easy drinking. when i first read the label i was blown away with the fact that they used yams. wtf? yams? I was sold. cost about $3 a 12oz bottle here in southern California and is only sold in singles. this has got to be the best holiday ale ive tried so far this year, very unique. it also contains a number of spices ive never heard of. toasted fenugreek, lemon verbena and birch bark. this is what i love about stone, they take the crazy experimental mindset of a homebrewer and blow it up on a commercial scale. 5/5
Sierra nevada 2011 celebration ale
What i like about holiday ales is theyre only around for a limited time so you know they were made recently and havent been sitting around in the back of a store for awhile. they taste fresh.
This years celebration ale is very tasty, hoppy and fresh. A holiday IPA using sierra nevadas own whole cone hops grown locally on their estate. Nice firm bitterness and fresh hop aroma, slight carmel notes and a nice rich copper color. also has that slight sierra nevada signiture hop spiciness in the backround. i love it 4/5.
Samuel smith winter welcome ale
This years winter welcome ale is just as good as last years . nice balance of caramels and spices. ''should be contemplated by an open fire'' as their label suggests, or give it to kids before they go sledding as the labels picture suggests. 3.5/5
Avery brewing co: Old Jubilation ale
First time having this. not bad. defenitly has a holiday flavor to it if that makes sense. their site says they dont spice it but they use bullion hops which im not familiar with. im not sure if id drink a six pack of it because its pretty rich but then again if i was to go hiking in the snow on some day in december, sure i would. so im gonna say this ones best drank while on a snowy forest hike midwinter. 3/5 pretty good
Deschutes : Jubelale, a festive winter ale
I really like Deschutes. they have some real tasty beers inversion ipa, mirror pond pale ale. and i cant wait to try this years abyss. however i wasn't too happy with jubilale. it has a rich holiday flavor that doesn't sit well on my palate, almost like one of the specialty grains has been over used. it has a slightly over powering holiday spice taste to it. now im not saying to avoid this beer. not at all. there's a time and a place for every beer of course. this beer is best before and during a nasty holiday family fight. you know the ones that explode and people end up leaving and not talking anymore and you have that bitter nasty hatred inside towards one another. i would be slamming these things. 2.5/5
well those are the holiday ales ive tried so far and i hope to try more soon. now on the homebrew side of things, just last saturday i brewed up 5 gal of stones bitter chocolate oatmeal stout clone. and tasty mcdoles amber ale recipe. those should be handy for the holidays and good all around drinking. all post when done.
What better way to finish off a beer review than to post some fuckn death metal? Purulence is a hidden gem for me . the guitar player steve went on to join gorguts after purulence dissolved. his schizophrenic riff structures are amazing in these songs and i can really see how he added to the gorguts and negativa sound. i would crank this shit after pounding some holiday beers and getting in that nasty once a year holiday family fight!
Undoubtedly some of Mitch'es finest work here and the last album he made before his speedball overdose.
Wikipedia: Mitchell Lee ''Mitch'' Hedberg (February 1968 - March 30 2005) was an american stand up comedian known for his surreal humor and unconventional comic delivery, His comedy typically featured short, sometimes one-line-jokes, mixed with absurd element and non sequiturs.
Today is a beautiful day. I managed to track down a store that still sells stones 15th anniversary limited release beer, the almighty escondidian imperial black IPA which is one of the best beers ever to grace my liver. I am also currently working on a clone of this beer. which i will post here if it turns out well. theres nothing more frightening than a limited release beer that you love going away.
And just when i think this day cant get any better. I find out through facebook that my favorite christian metal band IMMOLATION has released a new ep FREE to download. bless their hearts. this fucker is going on repeat all day till i can see these guys live on tour with jungle rot on the 22nd. (fuck yeah!) i cant wait to pray with them after the show.
oh yeah to give you an idea of what it sounds like, its pretty much an extension of majesty and decay. which i have no problems with.in other words... it fuckin rules. cheers!!
Ever wonder how Rudimentary Peni got their name? or even what the hell it meant? I always assumed it meant ''simple penis'' which is pretty accurate actually. From Wikipedia:
''In Maximum RocknRoll, issue #237 (February 2003), Matthews (bass) explains how he came up with the name of the band: "When I was at school studying biology, we were told that in the fetal stage the clitoris is a rudimentary penis."
Pope Adrian 37th Psychristiatric is a concept album by the band Rudimentary Peni released in 1995. The majority of the album was written while lead singer/guitarist Nick Blinko was being detained in a psychiatric hospital under Section 3 of the 1983 Mental Health Act. The subject matter of the album relates to the delusions Blinko was experiencing at the time, particularly the idea that he was "Pope Adrian 37th" — a reference to Pope Adrian IV.
Adding to the album's unique sound, the pseudo-latinized phrase "Popus Adrianus" is looped and can be heard in the background through the entire album.
Hypnotizing to say the least, this is one of Peni's best if not THE BEST LP they have on tap. just check out this bass line...
Well shit, I should have done this alot sooner but I needed time for this fuckin sweet EP to fully digest.....
EP
What we have here is Illcon Bros Peter and Shelby Cobras spewing forth some kick ass jams out of the depths of their sick little minds. True Songs about reptilians taking over, psychedelic drugs, and general bloodshed. What more could you ask for?.Killer artwork too. Check out their bandcamp page here. Then head over here and buy some shirts and shit so these guys can gather enough money to play down here in southern california.
Ive been really happy with stones limited releases lately, the japanese green tea IPA which I wrote about, the chocolate cherry stout, and now the Escondidian Imperial Black IPA which is just a perfect beautiful beer.
The aroma hits very fresh, nice dry hopping. The mouth feel is just right, and the taste is of an aggressively hopped stone ipa with just the right amount of roastiness. slight notes of alcohol 10.5% :)
Now ive tried several black IPA's and had no luck. some have even made they're way down the drain. It seems like a challenge to balance a black IPA. So I tell the truth when I say this is the best black IPA I have had to date. HIGHLY recommended. 4.5/5
Also on another note: if you live in the coachella valley like me and your looking for good beer check out the cvbeerscene for information on which pubs serve good beer and what stores sell good beer.
cheers!
Bonus: While I was writing this beer review ive been listening to one of my favorite master albums....
Hear some kick ass death metal straight outta new mexico. they only released 2 demos before disbanding, man i can only imagine that releasing an LP would have placed them in the death metal hall of fame of the 90's so that whenever someone says you like ''old school'' death metal? the reply would be, fuck yeah, you mean like unearth and deicide?
So im sitting here drinking this collaboration beer from stone. the ''green tea ipa'' 9.2% and its well hidden. the beer tastes great.smells great. nice subtle green tea flavor and nicely hopped. I read on stones blog that they're using a new hop from France so this is an exciting brew. anyone that's has got the chance to try it, you defenitly should. 7/10 easily
NEW Brainoil album!. Death of this dry season. Ive been jamming theyre self titled 2003 effort for a long time now and its become one of my favorite albums to listen to when im having a beer :) you can stream the entire album and download it for only $6.66 bucks here like i just did. and check out the official site here.
Another interesting fact about brainoil is guitarist/vocalist Nathan Smith is a dedicated homebrewer and also a long time speaker on The Brewing Network. Thats actually how i found out about these guys, and from what i hear he makes a pretty badass double ipa based off of pliny the elder, He gives the recipe out too, check out the episode ''a day around the bay'' that was featured on brewing tv.
You can pick up the new brainoil shirts (and all your other crust shirt needs :) from the good man at Nightgaunt Graphics He does all the work himself and does a damn good job. He also has skaven shirts!
Well shit, its been awhile since i could post anything. ive been taking the punches lifes been throwing at me so i havent even been on line much. but lately besides listening to a whole lot of the first three pearl jam albums, ive been listening to october tide. A couple dudes from Katatonia formed October Tide and made these depressive yet melodically bad ass albums, yeah i know they have a new album out, but i just cant dig it as much as the first two. sorry october tide maybe you guys became happy and fucked up the sound, i dont know.
I found out about these guys from the two splits they did with Dystopia. Hailing from california, Skaven play their own kick ass brand of crusty 80's uk punk. The vocalist reminds me alot of UK punks Skeptix, which is nice. its too bad these fuckers didnt put out more material. but heres a little note of hope vocalist Zebediah left in the comments of a skaven video on youtube.
Cheers to all of the Skaven Swarm and Black Maggot Mafia! Thanks for being such loyal fans! I hope to be able to release all the vinyl again and as a complete CD with extra art and another poster! To all the Rivet Heads, Grinderz, and Mad Thrashers!
This will definitely be ongoing but heres three of the best damn beers ive ever had.
I've been on a Belgian ale kick lately and this is a damn good Belgian ale, I cant say i've tried the others by Rochefort yet but this one is one of the best Belgians i've tried. heavily layered.
Story behind this beer is sierra nevadas head brewer took a trip to Germany to learn the art of a damn good hefeweizen and upon return in collaboration with the brewers from a small brewery he visited Kellerweis was born, one of the most complex and smooth hefs due to their open fermentation. not to mention it shouldn't be to hard to find thanks to sierras great distribution.
Dogfish head really got me with this one. its a beautiful beer. smokey,malty, little roasty, smooth, slight wood flavors,slight vanilla notes and at 12% your day just got a whole lot better. I recommend taking this one to the Jacuzzi at night and just marinating for awhile.
Ive seen some really great movies lately that i thought i'd share with you guys. I also finally gave in and signed up for a free month of netflix which i'm now finding out to be slightly more frustrating than it is joyful. you know, they give you the sequels and tease you with the classics kinda thing, while they push you into paying extra to order the dvd rental in the mail, BULLSHIT, no way netflix. So with that being said lets take a look at some cool movies that I couldnt find on netflix under their standard subscription, but was able to find elsewhere for streaming....
Zombie (1979) (aka Zombi 2, aka Zombie Flesh Eaters, aka Island of the Living Dead)
Gore and voodoo in an island setting. I love this movie. and guess where i found it? good old youtube. here it is, FULL LENGTH...
Heres anothers Fulci classic I found on you tube, the quality is poor but still watchable. below is part 1
Peter Jacksons classic, Bad Taste, man this movie rules...
These are just a few classics that I wanted to watch recently, if you guys want a real movie blog check out THE UNFLINCHING EYE
Allright, ive been been building up hops now for a few months and i decided to brew up some sort of demented Macgyver recipe using every last hop i had in my freezer. here it goes...
Brew day 5/25/11... IPA?
aiming at 5 1/2 gal into fermentor
I mashed at 148 Fahrenheit for 2 hours because i had to leave the house,
single batch sparge
1 oz cascade (whole) mash hop
.5 oz cascade 60 min
1 oz Hallertau 60 min
1.25 oz columbus 45 min
1 oz magnum 35 min
1.2 oz east kent goldings 10 min
approx 100-110 IBU
whirlfloc tab and teaspoon of yeast nutrient at 10 min as-well
ferment at 65 and slowly rise to 70 after 2-3 days
OG 1.070
I reused a white labs 001 cal ale yeast cake from a couple weeks ago
sexy
ice bath till i got down to about 62F
Hell yeah, it was a fun brew day. The sample tasted awesome, however it did not have a lingering hop bitterness. I plan on dry hopping with centennial and amarillo. Ill let you guys know how it turns out in a few weeks.
