Apple Cider Vinegar, Infused with Raspberry, why?

These cut the impact of sugar on the body, into the blood by at least 40% each.  Together, ACV is more palatable than that dramatic vinegar flavor.  I'm adding moringa, I'm adding Black seed, I'm adding trusty, very dusty cinnamon.  This is my new pet project bev.

Anti Viral Elixirs and Tinctures made from Kalonji or Nigella Sativa (containing thymoquinone)

 

What if there were a seed that contained compounds that slow down and thwart COVID. People might wonder the best way to take it, right?  

Sure, you could eat seeds, directly.  And I even found recipes for foods-- mostly Turkish and Pakistani, using Kalonji.  Cauliflower in butter with Kalonji seeds was tasted nice enough.

But what about beverages?

Historically, people made elixirs (sweetened beverages with healing properties) and tinctures (unsweetened high ethanol based healing beverages) with herbs, seeds, berries (Gin) and other various compounds that fight maladies and boost health; so I set out to make one using Organic Kalonji or Nigella Sativa based on some recent medical research and findings in India for its use to fight COVID.  Why Nigella Sativa?  Extraordinary findings are why. 

The Times India reports of Australian research:  

"There is growing evidence from modelling studies that thymoquinone, an active ingredient of Nigella Sativa, more commonly known as the Fennel Flower, can stick to the COVID- 19 virus spike protein and stop the virus from causing a lung infection.

The Australian study is published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology.

To make a tincture in this case, 1. you just start with something 80 proof or higher-- 40% ethanol.  Vodka has the least added flavoring vs. Gin or Whiskey.  

2. Add 1/2 purified water.  

3. Grind up your seeds, spices and herbs-- Kalonji alone is a bit odd to the taste-- like ashes, so a spice like cinnamon and or nutmeg can save the day, altering the flavor profile to something more "delicious" and "amazing".  

4. Add your seeds and spices to a bottle of vodka that's on its way out, and let stand for 4 weeks... or 4 hours. Ethanol will preserve the ingredients for months if not years, so you don't need to worry about refrigeration to avoid spoil.  You can strain or not strain-- the seeds in this are edible fiber.  You can sweeten a tincture too, but I saved that for a proper elixir version. 

For an Elixir, I infused some old brandy I made from homemade wine, vermouth I had laying around and Elderberry juice powder. Brandy is sweetened wine, with vodka mixed to bring the ethanol content up to the 20% range, vs. wine at 12%.  It's a sweeter mix to be sure, but no worse a vehicle to transport the black seeds chemistry to the body.  Elderberry juice is a food with very high levels of Quercetin, which is a zinc "ionophore" (a chemical that allows zinc to kill viruses) much more readily.  

Capers are even higher in quercetin, so, I'm think very dirty Martinis using the black seed tincture and giant capers. Dill and Arugula ("rocket") are also high in quercetin, and can taste great mixed as juice in the tincture of vodka.  

Links about Nigella Sativa and COVID19:

https://onedaymd.aestheticsadvisor.com/2021/08/black-seed-and-covid-19-australian.html

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/diet/kalonji-for-the-treatment-of-covid-19-infection-all-about-it/articleshow/85303820.cms

Quercetin with Zinc (elements contained in Nigella Sativa too):

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04468139

https://www.superfoodly.com/quercetin-foods/

I found the Best Brewery in America, in Pompano, FL

I've been there twice, and have not posted about it because this place and these dude require a proper introduction; so let's call this a preface. The brewer is a Rock star virtuoso, like the guy from Smashing Pumpkins. 

So, if you can relate to Lambics, and Sour Belgians and naturally, wild fermented experiments and you're within 400 miles of Pompano, then get in your car and go. It's happened twice, and I can confirm, like some new scientific finding after massive data crunching, it's hands down, the best beer I've ever had.

It's called:

https://www.oddbreed.com/

Comparing Grains for Belgians

Best Beer Camp puts in the work:

https://brulosophy.com/2021/02/22/grain-comparison-us-caramel-vs-uk-crystal-malt-in-a-belgian-pale-ale-exbeeriment-results/

The Podcast:

https://brulosophy.com/podcasts/the-bru-lab/

Dr Robert Lustig - How To Protect The Liver and Feed The Gut

Unicorn Swap Disruptor Porter, Cider, Catawaba Beer, Hard Cider Wine Beverage (Not a Lambic)

We called this our "Unicorn Swap Disruptor" #Homebrew a study in Porter, Cider, Catawaba beverage that we made comes in; in that order.  And it's not a Lambic either-- no wild yeast. EC 1118, often used for White wines or wine with funky alts adjuncts like this crazy as F beer cider, wine that is very very as drinkable as any Craft beer out there.

And we brewed the whole 7 gallons for about 1/40th of an Ethereum coin (trading at $3,900 US fiat as of today).

You make 7 gallons of this with your best girl, or boy, or pug and you've got the chance to not only bond over it, but also to get bombed for weeks thereafter. 

We used some for an IPA variation, and some straight, unadorned with hops or adjuncts. with an alkaline mouth feel, but a really very shockingly good beverage, here, man. Color and froth is loverly, as you can see from my phone pix. ferments out. I got this from a winery. I try to avoid chemical herbicides and such, hormone disruption is not my favorite disruption, as my wise guy remarks suggest at the top of the column, so Organics... but you never know.

Here, to the Left is a version I did after dry hopping it with my cheesy favorites-- Chinook, Centennial and other misc hops I had laying about, which ended up very much like New Belgium VooDoo Hop Ranger Imperial IPA, in case you're looking for the path to that door.   You can see the White,thin head that came from adding hops in the bottled IPA version.   This one was very thin because was added even more sugars to raise the ethanol level (so it would last a longer time without getting stale.. bottle aging a bit).  That did not work for this bottle because we saw no reason to wait for the next pandemic before YOLOing it down, right? 

You can probably get very close using a Porter boil, and mixing cider and a good quality fresh grape juice (no sulfites to kill the yeast). I know Costco's apple juice (Kirkland?)


This current batch under review that we've come together to sample in a pairing that with some fermented cabbage and beat Kraut here today is no IPA by contrast. It was never so dramatic with bitters and hops. You can see the different color of the head here compared to the IPA version that we bottled with corks.

I added very little hops here, and mostly pie flavors (clove and cinnamon). And so-- the flavor was clean, mild, smooth, and more cider-wine on the spectrum-- in fact, not unlike Kombucha G- damn it-- which is a big find for me. It smelled wonderful, like a cab driver's Ocean Breeze Air freshener wrapped in angle's underwear.

But this ended up like Kombucha with legs, or horns or lets call it prowess. No dank diesel notes, but so dry and alkaline that is seems to evaporate from the tongue, like your high school girlfriend/boyfriend, when their parents walked into the laundry room with you. Nearly sweet, but wait-- hell no-- the sugars are gone baby gone. Sorry, Magner fans. You can add fruit juice on pouring for a sweeter beverage, but not before, because it's all going to Ethanol in this show. And I'll be DAMNED if it weren writing home about... home being here, of course..

Fresh and light and nice, without diesel odors or flavors that some other American vitis Labrusca grapes impart from their Lambrusca heritage. Lambrusca...  Lambrusca is like that pipe hitting great great great great great ancestor Pirate who robbed ships and traded slaves and plundered sugar cane after getting kicked out of the British Navy (laid off, not fired for cause), and who saved Europe and advanced capitalism by resisting monopolies, but who nobody really wants to discuss at length. Or that hit man brother of one your Mafia grandpa who paid for everyone's emergencies with ill gotten gains.  Strong ingredient so approach with caution. This one is great-- Catawaba-- and others too probably won't give you that kind of trouble. Concord grape juice I will not vouch.  It's find in Welch's jams, but it's powerful stuff when fermented, and not for it's ethanol but for it's very Diesel flavors.  You might like that flavor, but be warned.

If you're going to brew something radical, these ingredients are a good path to the rally. You can find Catawaba grape juice for shipping direct in Ohio vineyards and Buffalo, NY. Cider too. No need to limit yourself to Porter malts either.

Single Sourced Colombian Coffee, at the Truck Stop...

 

I kid you not-- just when I needed a good long laugh on a long drive from Cleveland to NY, I walked right into this at the Pilot, when I stopped to drain and replenish.  

"Single Sourced" Colombian coffee... so important to over the road truck drivers and other long hawlers (the highway type).  No beans from the Dominican Republic mixed in here, to destroy the integrity of the terroir coming out of this spigot. 

No way. 

Such a relief... comic relief. 

Petrus Aged Ale-- Absurdly Good.

 

I ran across this in my beer dungeon yesterday, and it turned out to be a good antidote for processing family tragedy.  It was a reliable name, and it was as good as it gets-- perhaps the best sour brewers on the planet with apologies to nobody. 

You'll find them online here:

https://petrussourbeer.com/en

Doc's Hopped Cider and Salmon

Not sure if I've said enough about Doc's Cider over in the black soils of Warwick on Little York Road, but I ran across photo of a fish we paired up with Doc's Hopped Cider last fall, after going to the Orchard for hilarious, fun apple picking. This pairing was a grand slam-- I can tell you about it, and show you, but you need to git some with some version of this Honey Lemon roasted salmon recipe and taste it.  I don't know how it was made-- the cook is not talking.

Doc's Hopped Cider is my favorite cider by it's own self-- pure genius, the kind that makes home brewers and cider makers say "I wish I thought of that" (even if they did, making small batches in the garage years before Doc went big with it) but stand this Doc's Hopped Cider along side "fishy" fish like yonder salmon and you'll get a perfect couple.  The cider has a that thin white wine-ish profile to start, albeit obviously apple based, as all ciders that are not those big, cloying sweet commercial production ciders... (on tap in woody bars, imported from UK, but shall remain un-named, and undrank).  But then the dry hopping that makes a plain old cider about 340% more interesting and all the food superlatives that we all apparently never tire of hearing and saying... which is in and of itself, amaaaaaaazing.

I mean-- look, it's taken a dip since it's 2013 peak, but it's still hovering, and buzzing from mouths from LA to Johannesburg.. Perth, Singapore-- Fk it, add Hong Kong, see,  https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Amazing&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2CAmazing%3B%2Cc0

I thought "Amazing" jumped the shark a long time ago, but now Landscapers use it when they are closing sales... to cut your grass (true story), which closed the deal-- I cut it myself.  What am I, 101?  And you know what-- my grass looked AMAAAAAAZINGK!

Nevertheless, if you know what's good for you, don't wait for another COVID19 Apple Picking Season this fall, you should get out of town for some fresh air this spring, maybe drive up to Warwick, NY for Doc's Cider orchard, with 31,043 other people on the weekends, or during the week with just 332.  They have those graduates or students from Culinary Institute of America cooking pizza and making salads and things that pair well with the product. Sometimes there's live music, but you'll want to call ahead for all that.  

Here's the way:

https://docscider.com/orchard/

. 

Marketing Tricks of the Trade-- Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

 

April 2, 2021 Way of the Cross led by Pope Francis

Cape Cod Ginger-- Ginger Original Beer/Ale, Served Cold or Hot...

 

Real Ginger "Ale", or "Beer", Organic, fresh, non ethanol-- all around great new beverage in 5 actual fruit flavors-- you can see an interview with the Massachusetts owner and developer who built the bottle line himself, like a volcano surfing one man show:

See Video:

https://vimeo.com/435160535

In contrast to, say Reed's Ginger Beer, which will blow your face off with the heat of the ginger, this is akin to the Canadian version, mellowed down for polite company-- a kind of new improved "Canada Dry" or old Schweep's was it, which are super sweet, mild.. soda-ish-- and tame by contrast to both Reed's, Jamaica's Award winning Dg Brand Ginger Soda, and this new Cape Cod Ginger, making it a welcome addition to what's on the shelves in the US.

Of course, there's always the Homebrewing for you DYIers-- naturally fermented-- high in natural probiotic version you can try out for yourself, which is as easy as this:

Get fresh Ginger-- peel half of the skin off, but leave some skin.  

Blend it in your Nutrabullet or whatever.  

Save some peel which has the good yeast that will feed on the sugar you'll add to ferment the beverage, man--- Now add to make a mixture of organic cane sugar in a container (Mason jar) with an open lid-- with paper towel or coffee filter over top (to stop insects) and leave it overnight, maybe a few days-- that's called a "Ginger Bug" which will begin the fermenting the Ginger and Sugar mixture.  When you see bubbles, transfer it to a Mason Jar with a lid and seal it. 

It will naturally carbonate.  You'll gave natural "soda" with probiotics, started from the good bacteria from the ginger peel.   

If you add enough sugar or Dextrose (corn sugar), you could generate a beverage with ethanol-- making an actual Ginger Beer beer that could go way beyond feeding your gut microbe with probiotics to getting you bombed on the ethanol... but let's not get crazy for now, okay?

It's kind of ironic to be sampling this great new, if mild take on "Ginger Beer", as I finish a book on the "golden age" of Piracy, 200 years ago, featuring the strong connection between early shipping companies and individuals in Massachusetts who ventured down to the Caribbean's Pirate Republics, defectors who started out as "Privateers" with permission from the British crown to steal and plunder Spanish ships only to be outlawed and left to fend for themselves with a particular set of skills, taking ships and cargo, such as Ginger from where it was grown... by slaves. 

I can envision a Pirate like Captain Morgan, or say, Jonny Depp fresh out of rehab-- clean and sober on the label in a new slick bottle, or can-- like RedBull-- with a tie in to another Pirate movie.  Hell, I may write the owner to put Taurine in it and make a Ginger Energy Drink and White Label it with my own pirate. Hell, I might dress up as the pirate to be on the label!  Wouldn't that be cool?  

Source Brewing, Colt's Neck NJ-- Thought Virus IPA

After last night's Home Brewed Porter Cider, and some Home made wine, and other wines from Napa, we rocked over to Source Brewing in Colt's Neck NJ for liquid lunch that included just snack foods-- you have to bring your own actual food there. 

Nevertheless, pressed for time, we had just one-- I ordered him a Spring Saison, which was light and mild, frothy and a bit clouded but delightful.  He didn't like it-- strickly a pils guy, but I did. 

I also like the Dark humorously named "Thought Virus" IPA they brewed to light up the scenery as you can see in the photos.  Although-- their rap from the website betrays no irony about using the word "Virus" in naming a beer.  On the contrary, there is some narrative about learned helplessness and the principles of brainwashing, all of which went right over and around my head. 

But it was a nice beer-- a bit thin, but smelly and bitter in a great hoppy way.  And the Wit bier looking head on both beers were inspirational.  

According to their website, Thought Virus is brewed with "flaked oats and wheat and double dry hopped with Cashmere, Azacca, and Simcoe.".  

I did not get all or any of the flavor notes they mention on the web-- fruits and pines.  I got a thin mouth feel, floral hops.  I nice Wheat IPA cross training style. 

I wanted to try the Nitro stout and he wanted a lager, but the outdoor service was slow, we were pressed for time, and he had a headache from the Beasty Boys blasting out the back in the yard. 

Source is a great spot with clean equipment (I love to see that) and friendly folks pouring the pours.  Plenty of places to bring food, including the produce heavy supermarket next door with a big deli counter.  

Home Brew Review-- Hopped Porter Cider or "Graf" (Oh bother).

Last night after a long drive to see a close friend who's wife went to a vineyard for a night with her friends, we opened one of my home brewed Hopped Porter Cider bombs (yes, I know, it's what some beer-Sci-Fi-Horror geekanoids are calling "Graf" on the internet (see the link footnote) based on a Stephen King's "Dark Tower", but I like names that include the beer style being mixed with cider to make ghoulish "Graf", that like, literally describe the beverage... here... man). 

Please do volunteer for that conversation after trying to ordering "Graf" at your local Craft Brewery that's blasting heavy metal with the staff that appears to be working for beer rations.  Be sure to explain the part about Dark Tower by Stephen King.*

Nevertheless, this was a "Graf" batch that I made in October after boiling out a 5 gallon pot of malted porter style barley I had laying around for the purpose, and adding several rounds of hops, and dry hopping the whole thing with what I had left with hops I also had lying around for years-- in ziplocks in the fridge. 

The wort was mixed with fresh pressed Apple must from a NY State vineyard.

It was outstanding. It came out much better than I thought, everything about it was why one should take the time, effort and expense to home brew. It was thicker than any cider (and did not give me a headache like EVERY cider), it was just slightly malty, almost imperceptible in fact, it smelled fresh and great, and hoppy but sweet, not cheezy and sour.  It was lingering on the palate in a good way, sightly bitter after the gulp.  The head was clean and lovely.  

Love this stuff-- it's simple to make too.  Boil malted porter for 40 mins, add hops at lower heat for another 15 mins, let cool, add hops on top of the must, and mix in an organic apple cider, which can cool it down enough to reach the 90s... 90F which is when you can add Nottingham yeast as I did, or something similar-- Saison, or even EC1118, a white wine yeast that would not make me mad at you.   Wait 10 days and put in bottles (use PET plastic-- no BPA to keep it really simple, which I did not do-- I bottled mine with American flag caps and the very fancy label you can see in the photo here. 

I only got one photo, because me and my chum were talking, laughing and drinking this and a few wine-- including one I made last October too...  a great mix of 3 grapes I'll post about when I get some photos (he thought it was still too young and acidic).


*See also:

https://youtu.be/KLbRBl6p4Ec

Matthew's Brewing Lake Worth FL *****

Fun spot tucked away near junk yards and auto service centers that probably will not try to confiscate and impound your car if you refuse to get a $850 brake job in order to pass inspection (That's kind of a hiccup about bringing the car to the Sunshine cartel state).  But I digress.  Sorry, when auto mechanics shaked down your 89 year old father it tends to stick with you.  

Nevertheless,  you walk up on a give sunny day, the music is blasting and that lobster truck is on shark tank is sitting out front selling lobster sandwiches made out of The real McCoy-- none of those sea legs with miracle whip from the supermarket. 

The beer machine cask beer is called an "English Dark Mild Ale" today and it's not freezing but well below room temperature (thank you for doing it the American way) It's dark like Pepsi, but not malty, and balanced like production grade beer. Carmel, little chocolate riffs the whole way down.

The head was frothy giant bubbles that disability quickly to flattened mode. 

Aroma?  Nearly bready, but kind of whiskey wood.  ABV--  4.5%.   IBU, just 25, which is just enough to make it take on the stumilus for a liquid PICA rate of intake.  Again-- well done.  

Texture-- feels like my tongue is wearing a light cardigan sweater.   There's a Listerine after taste that I love-- as if after we go those times I wish I could drink Listerine, I finally have an excuse. 

Clearly, Matthews knows what they are doing.  Very clean, week capitalize back room-- tanks are split shine with spotlights on it, the stars of the show.  There is a funny, Pink Floyd The Wall themed mural, my other 4th favorite Floyd. 

I'd say this place is worth a trip from anywhere in Florida based on the beer machine alone.  Real Beer served here!

 

The Pick 4 for $11 are:

Black Mettallic Nitro-- beautiful, dry, frothy, roasted, nearly thick and creamy but cut in 2 by its Ethanol, with an pleasant after taste-- again, like inspiration for another liquid PICA problem. Something tells me these guys are chemists. 

Junk Yard Dog is completely odorless and undetectable as a Serbian Hitman. Brown, malty, NUTMEGish.  Also Beautiful. Marris Otter put to good use.  There's a bourbon finish. Not due how it why, chemistry or casks.  Carmel coated malty texture.  I love it as true to style.  Is like more malt, but grains are not free and it's a god damn pandemic, so, let's keep it 100%.  Thanks guys. 

"Florida Haze", is frightening!  I'm so excited I thought i was going to piss myself for fun. Aroma aroma aroma.  This must have been dry hopped with these 4 thug hops: Galaxy Amarillo, Warrior and Motueka?  Wtf-- in the pandemic?  These guys must own a hop farm in Oregon. I have not even tasted this beer yet and it's at 10 out of 10. 

Haze yellow, the head is as sustainable as organically farmed tilapia.  Taste-- bodyslam.  Hulk Hogan took his vitamins when they made this. Exactly as advertised. What a beer. FU. ABV 7.2%, so I'm done a 3 oz.  IBU?  59, Not lying.  What a beer.  Medicinal really, for the soul.  Bitter, fragrant, flawers and fruit, but taste like a Ritz-Carlton not a crappy gift basket from that company that sends out old carved edible fruit dipped in cheap chocolate.  

"Accelerate"-- another IPA, ABV 6.9%, IBU-- 69, a filthy number to contemplate. The nose is understated-- lurking like love sick stalker after hours outside a strip club. Not really "aromatic" per se, but close... Too close for comfort. Probably not dry hot. Clear unlike the hazy ipas they have on sale. Amber. Bitter as F. Love it. Citra, Simcoe, Amarillo and Centennial, or is I like to call them The four IPA horsemen. 

Bottom line-- this place gives Cigar City, a kick in their crotches. 

Could not agree more

 https://beerandbrewing.com/brew-it-dark-and-hoppy-the-balancing-act/

Adirondack Brewery in Lake George, NY

Let's not mince words-- Adirondack Brewery is a great destination for Beer fans, dead of winter, a very solid selection of world class selections apart from their own brews.  All well balanced, and great counterpoint to the menus of food for about every taste. We had two great beer that inspired this bleery photo shoot-- it seems the Imperial Stouts do come on faster than anticipated. 

New Holland's Dragon's Milk Boubon Barrel Imperial Stout is just an outright iteration of the style, and outstanding winish bourbon at 11% leviathan ABV.  To be sure on second pull, I recall thinking "the Halls have unleased a new circle of hell on Earth with this Bourbon barrel stuff".   

The Petrus Cherry Chocolate Nitro Belgian Quad (8.5%) was a thing to behold, 6 malts, apart from the Cherry and the cocao for that matter, and so our group beheld 3 each, which required a cooling off period before the freeze walk back to our rooms, not feeling the cold much either way. This beer is like a new Yes album, if you will. 

Thick, rich, nitro frothed mouth feel is notable, the exception to 9 of 10 beer out there. The ethanol in these beer was the least interesting element, but these Wine-beers are the trends, and these were both good friends. One wonders if the Cherry juice is fermented with the malt, or added later, like flavoring.

I'd say the New Holland and the Petrus were "Amazing and Delicious", "tasty" and the latest foodie buzzword for extraordinary if enough hadn't been said about them already.  Anyway, they were right. 

Adirondacks Wave IPAs are more than swell-- hazy cold and humid, just they way I love it, featuring various configurations of high Alpha hops-- simcoe, crystal, eureka... the grain bill composed of red wheat and flaked oat. Their beers are indeed "Nice Liquid" as the slogan reads-- their IPAs were fresh with a bite like that North wind coming off the lake, that should not faze you much after one or two with some Stout to follow it up. 

You'll find them here:  https://adkbrewery.com/beer/lgipa/

 

Royal Palm Brewing, Wellington FL

 

Royal Palm Brewing in Wellington is a interesting little nondescript shopping center operation, tucked away next to a resort community, offering strange flavors on what looks like chainsaw furniture.  So the surroundings are casual and fun, and as I'd come to find out, the beers are a bit strange and tropical themed, using native fruits and grains-- from Mexican corn (Millera time), Mango, to Key Lime, to... um.... Gatorade, made from their local, fresh, organic available... Gator-fruit? 

Let's be clear-- this is not Cigar City, and prolly isn't trying to be.  It's Wellington-- Horse themes and Winter Polo are more fitting anyway, not that they draw from the terroir too much anyhow. 

Nevertheless, that IPA was a nice brisk combo of my favorite Hops, that is, basically too much hops, less boiled and bitter than fresh and lovely.  However, the malted leg of that three legged stool was a bit weak for the Jomammy mouth feel. I'd drink that on hot days-- it's light enough to keep you sober like a Pils, but hopped up enough to savor the mad pine flavaz.

I took a nip of everything here, from Peanut Butter porter to a Gartoraide Gose, which was way too far beyond the pale ale for me.  I had to send it back. It really did taste like Gartoraide, brand high carbo loaded sports drink. 

But what's right at Palm Beach is the Key Lime Gose-- absolutely on of the top 3 Gose I've ever had.  I can't say enough about it and should not have to because great is great, and you'll have to experience it yourself.  The lime after shock is everything Corona with a Lime wised it could be, 100s of years after "Limeys" (English Navy) used cheap available high vitamin C limes it to fight off scurvy on and off the high seas on their way to the plantations.  Basically-- it's how the lime got in your beer bottle when you got to college. I can not account for the way an Orange got into your glass of Blue Moon with an interesting historical tid bit-- that was just pure genius meeting pure marketing-- orange flavored soda on tap with guaranteed perception of freshness built right in, floating atop your pull, whether that Bar back sliced Orange was free of all the nitemare sprays and GMO design or safe, Organic, grown in Roundup free to chew zones.  I have not dug too deep to consider if Blue Moon is made with Organic grains, so don't quote me when I say, it strikes me as soda beer, where Palm Beach's Sour Key Lime Gose does not.  They even have a canning machine-- 32oz for $10 clams, as you watch the bartender do it by hand, one at a time.

So basically, if you're within 30 miles of Palm Beach Brewery, it's better to drive over than to just sit in some pub drinking bottles of Diego or BudMillerMolson on soda jerk taps.   It's an comfortable place to get out of the midday sun, with an interesting fun array of attempted innovations, that you can't fault for their trying.  I suggest a 3oz glass before ordering up some of these new flavors. 

The brew tanks that I peeped on the way back to the WC looked clean, neat and orderly, which is a thing in and of itself. 

I can't vouch for the food as I had none.  I think they had burgers and salads, but the Website will correct if I'm wrong: https://www.royalpalmbrewing.com/

Wheat Wacker Dandelion Sorghum Pils

Drink one, smash one, save one, go!

I though I'd just need one or two of these today, but watching Dobbs pass away Tenn victory over the Sooners has been enough to drive one to drink.

Only one of these beer is American now.

The storied skunky Dutch brewer Heineken has purchased 50% of @langunitasbeer, plowing deeper into America's taste for highly hopped, rich, cheesy sour flavors first introduced by those college dudes parading around their daylight skunked cases of green "Hinies".  I guess it's safe to say skunk flavors grew on us (the Dutch do), and Tony McGee, who some people are calling the PT Barnum of brewing, has done it again... okay, well, nobody is really calling him that, but I thought it would be funny.


Wheat Wacker
Speaking of skunky flavors, what started with Italian dandelion I grew, a few pounds of malted sorghum and wheat, turned out well and way better beer than I thought it would with this Wheat Wacker Sorghum Dandelion Alt Factor.  It ended up with a very thin Belgium-ish (ie, New Belgium) taste with a dry distinctively aromatic, bitter finish, different from hops, but surprisingly agreeable, like a hand full of other hop alternatives, whether it be Heather, or Pine.  

Most Sorghum beers are promoted as an alternative to the evils of gluten, so wheat is usually not part of the grain bill on these brews.  Not so here-- fusion baby-- it's a little like ketchup and mustard on your hot dog, which I know is a sin in parts of Chicago, but a little patience and understanding go a long way... remember those those great Cuban-Chinese restaurants that used to be all over NYC?  

I hopped the beer with fresh dandelion flowers late in the boil, the way I've done Heather in the past to give it an Alt aroma and it worked well.  It ended with big frothy bubbles, that didn't last long.

This batch turned out great, which is to say, worth repeating. 

I drank that bomber in two sittings and it was better the second day... it also put me in the tank.

The Letter F is for Fall, Football and Fermentation

So as you're there, standing in the grain isle designing a new batch of beer by hunch with just 20 minutes to select and grind up the grains, you realize your hunch is based on a taste for something very bready, all hopped up and maybe with a red tinge, remind me what I'm drinking if the label falls off one later on.   

So here is my list of starters:

 

  
In addition, I know I'm using 5% Rice Hulls to clear it up, and Dex to raise the ethanol. 


I pulled Centennial and Amarillo out of their fridge to make as hoppy as need be. Nevertheless, even though I literally had the brewing software opened (BeerSmith), and the pot on the stove, I backed it down.  Didn't feel right.  I'm still not so sure, or ready to cook it all up, so needs more time to search, research, incubate and scheme.  

But soon... soon.

And recently had this Smuttynose at a Lobster Bash in upstate NY, and it was as inspirational as it was, well, frankly..  debilitating... yes, it required walking around town for a hour or two before lighting out. You can find the skinny on Homunuculus here.  It's a very hoppy, Belgian style monster that rocks out at 9.48% ABV, which will may just have you circling the parking lot too.  To hop it up, they use Bravo, Sterling, and Calypso, which sounds a little like directions from air traffic control, to be sure.

I also picked up this blast from the past months ago, and finally got around to it.  All it needed were a set of Lawn Jarts and 30 M-80s, just like 4th of July, circa 1979.