Sorry for the crappy photo. It’s hard to take good photos in dimly lit bars.

Black Butte Porter was a dark black color with hints of red and gold when held to the light. The beer may have been somewhat lighter in color as suggested by the colors that presented when back lit, but in the low lighting it was decidedly dark black. It had a thin head that persistently clung to the sides of the glass. The aroma was of chocolate and sweet fruit, perhaps figs. I didn’t find the aroma to be as toasty or burned as I expected. The chocolate aroma was rather smooth and blended nicely and easily with the sweet fruity aroma.

The drink opened with a light bodied chocolate flavor, lighter even than the aroma suggested. Chocolate was quickly followed by carbonation as the associated bitterness, complemented by hops. This sensation quickly passed and was again followed by more chocolate. I found the chocolate flavor to be a decidedly light, milky chocolate rather than dark or heavily roasted chocolate. The body remained light and drinkable despite the creamy chocolate flavor. The flavor had final hints of roasted malt and roasted chocolate while the sweet chocolate remained; the flavors lingered. A very drinkable porter I’d like to have again.

Fat Tire in Cans

I stopped at the grocery store last night to pick up some snacks for my son’s preschool and made my usual pass down the beer aisle. It’s usually disappointing, but I noticed they were now selling Fat Tire in cans. I’m not a big fan of Fat Tire or amber ales in general really, but I had to support craft beer in cans, so I bought a 12 pack.

I decided to drink it from the can. Sacrilege I know, but it was late and I figured I’d try it. I know lots of people are going to be drinking it from the can anyway.

Fat Tire’s aroma was slightly sweet and malty with just a hint of biscuit, but generally very light for an amber ale and much lighter than I remembered. Maybe the can was interfering too much with the aroma or maybe I have a bad memory – probably both. The flavor was very light up front, almost like a light lager surprisingly, followed by some toasted malt, a moment of chocolate, and a finish of very light caramel, perhaps even a bit vegetal or pilsner-like. The beer is mildly hopped, but in a smooth way that dissipates before the finish of the drink. I prefer a crisper bitterness – which is one of the reasons I’m not usually a fan of amber ales – they too often have soft hops. I’d say Fat Tire is just OK.

Iron City Beer

Jonathan and I went to Monaca, PA recently to visit the relatives. He had a great time sitting in firetrucks and looking at firefighting equipment with his Great-Grandpa and I had a great time drinking some Iron City Beer. In case it wasn’t obvious, Monaca is relatively near Pittsburgh. Uncle Alex had come IC in the fridge, so I had to give it a try.

IC is a gold or deep yellow color that is darker than your average straw colored mainstream lager. Since I wanted to drink it from the can like God and the Steelers intended, I only poured a little of it into a glass for color, aroma, and some tasting. It smells like adjuncts, probably corn and little bit of sweetness. It tasted the same way, with the sweetness in the finish. I was surprised by the light carbonation compared to the over carbonation of most  mainstream lagers. It helped the slightly sweet corn flavor come through more clearly. I preferred the lower carbonation, but otherwise I think it’s an ‘acquired’ taste. I’ll leave the IC for trips to Pittsburgh. Go Steelers!

Prohibition Poster

I think I might keep brewing and drinking so as to avoid just that.

(1) I purchased the koehlerbeer.com domain name. Now you can save yourself from having to type wordpress. before you type koehlerbeer.com. That’s an amazing 40% fewer characters.

(2) I setup a Google Apps account for my new domain. That means I have up to 50 email accounts @koehlerbeer.com. The public outcry for Koehler Beer email accounts makes me wonder why no one previously registered the domain. If you too are salivating over the idea of a shiny new Koehler Beer email account, ask away.

(3) I purchased a new More Beer 15 Gallon Heavy Duty Modified Kettle on sale from the Big Give Back. It’s monsterous and has a far heavier bottom than the 10 Gallon PolarWare Kettle I was using previously. The PolarWare has turned into a hot liquor tank.

(4) Along with the new kettle, I bought a new 50′ immersion chiller, also on sale from the Big Give Back. The old chiller has become a pre-chiller that will go in an ice bath to finish off cooling with a bang.

A program is in development to include even more of America’s amazing craft brewers. Please stay tuned!

More beer related maps via Jimmy.

Thanks to Jimmy for sending me this map, and thanks to whoever made it – check the link at the bottom of the map.

Tennessee did alright. One of the better beer places in the Southeast.

It’s been too long. Let’s get this blog rolling again.

And people have made a lot of apfelwein- over 7500 gallons to date.

Yesterday I was lamenting the fact that I haven’t had time to brew recently – I haven’t posted to the blog in a long long time – and decided to go ahead and make some Apfelwein in one of the empty carboys I had lying around. Kroger had gallon jugs of 100% apple juice on sale and I had more than enough dextrose on hand for the recipe – all those extract beer kits I bought over the last couple of years all include a 4 oz pack of dextrose for bottling sugar that I have never used because I keg all my beer and force carbonate. I picked up a couple of packets of Montrachet yeast at the LHBS and got to work making 6 gallons.

The whole brewing process took maybe 15 minutes, including sanitation and clean up.

I stuck the fermenter behind the couch and Stephanie and I headed over to a Geoff and Alison’s house for some hanging around and baby entertainment. When we got home a few hours later, the whole downstairs smelled like sulfur/rotten eggs. Delightful. They warned me about this on the forums.

I went to work today and left Stephanie at home with the fermenting Apfelwein. Here are some of her thoughts submitted to me via IM over the course of the day:

11:00am

me:  hey – how does the house smell?
Stephanie:  horrible, the house smells really bad
we have to stay upstairs, the smell makes the baby mad
me:  lol – really? definitely no more apple wine then i guess
Stephanie:  i’m downstars now and i’m gonna pass out it smells so bad
me:  hahaha
Stephanie:  no one likes you

1:00pm

Stephanie:  it stinks down here!
me: still stinky?
Stephanie:  stinky, im hiding upstairs

3:00pm

Stephanie:  anyways, it stinks down here
/flail
me:  i can’t believe it’s still smelly
im going to need to move it outside or something
i didnt really notice it this morning
Stephanie:  well you need yr sniffer replaced
me: probably – it’s all stuffed up today
Stephanie:  yeah
Stephanie:  everytime i breath i love you a little less
good thing yr so cute
Stephanie:  ok i’m abandoning ship and going back upstairs

So things are going well I think.

I have another empty carboy somewhere or other…

In other brewing news, I’m brewing with Colin the last weekend of August – 3 batches in 3 days. Should be awesome.