A Very Beery Christmas

My wife's family has a white elephant gift exchange at Christmas and I managed to steal a bag of mixed craft beer from her grandfather (who doesn't drink anyway) and defend it from being stolen from me (fortunately, not too many of them like to drink craft beer). Later on, I was also given a box of mixed beer from my in-laws as a Christmas gift. I ended up receiving 24 bottles (almost all bombers) of various great craft beer for Christmas. It even included a couple that I hadn't tried yet such as the Blue Moon Grand Cru and the Hopus Ale. I lined up all the bottles on a work bench in the garage and took a quick photo before I started in on them:






I received all these after my brother-in-law and I drank the magnum of Anchor Christmas Ale, Rogue Santa's Private Reserve (2008), St. Bernardus Christmas Ale and a bottle of my own homebrewed Holiday Cheer from last year. The entire day was finished off by enjoying a bottle of Stone Russion Imperial Stout while sitting in the hot tub outside. Here's a few more Christmas beer photos :

Overall, it was probably one of the "beeriest" Christmases ever.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Jester King Releases Sketches of New Brewery

Jester King Brewery has completed the blueprints of the brewery and released sketches on their website of what it will look like.

It looks like a pretty ambitious build-out for a startup brewery, but I wish them lots of luck in the new year.

Preparing my Holiday Beers

I'm still basking in the luxury of having a dedicated beer fridge in the garage. Today I dug around for all the holiday beers that I have in my vast beer cellar and moved the ones I'm ready to drink into the beer fridge. Here's a partial list of what I'm preparing to enjoy this holiday season:

Affligem - Noel (2007)
Anchor - Christmas (2009 Magnum)
Boulevard Brewing - Nut Cracker (2009)
Brasserie Dubuisson - Scaldis Noel (2008)
Brouwerij Lefebvre - Hopus Ale (2009)
Bridgeport Brewing - Ebenezer (2008)
De Koninck - Winter Koninck (2008)
Huyghe Brewery - Delirium Noel (2007)
Mikkeller - Santa's Little Helper (2009)
New Belgium - Frambrozen (2005/2008/2009)
Pike Brewing - Auld Acquaintance (2009)
Ridgeway Brewing - Santa's Butt (2007)
Ridgeway Brewing - Warm Welcome (2007)
Rogue - Santa's Private Reserve (2008)
Sam Adam's - Old Fezziwig (2008)
Samuel Smith - Winter Welcome (2009)
St. Bernardus - Christmas (2009)
Young's - Winter Warmer (2007)

There's a few other seasonals and other random beers also in there like Fade to Black, Howl, 2 Below and regular beers from Independence Brewing. I tried to limit my purchase of new holiday beers this year and I also didn't brew a holiday ale for the first time in many years (mainly because our kitchen was torn up). I figured I'd use this holiday season to drink up my stock of brewed beers and other cellared beer (some of which probably shouldn't have been kept this long as it is).

Tasty Touring Cheese and Beer Pairing

Join Tasty Touring at Independence Brewing in Austin for a special cheese tour and beer tasting this Saturday from 1pm ~ 3pm. Four different cheese and beer pairings will be presented and discussed and served with slices of Bona Dea Bread

Cheeses will be provided by Kendall and John Antonelli, owners of Antonelli’s Cheese Shop, located on Duval St in Hyde Park (opening in late January 2010). Antonelli’s will be Austin’s first mom and pop cheese shop dedicated to showcasing great American Artisanal cheeses, pairings, and charcuterie alongside Europe’s classics.

Tickets are $17 and must be purchased by tomorrow. Order online here.