Jan 23, 2016
Happy New Year, beer lovers!
It’s been a little while since my last blog post. It’s also been a while since I’ve been to a new brewery. In fact, I haven’t been to a new brewery all year. I did get an Ommegang sampler for Christmas, which was nice. I tried a few good holiday beers, like Long Trail’s Culmination, which was one of my favorites.
Sure, I still partook in Broad Brook’s rollout party of Jigawatts, their tasty new 8.3% DIPA. That was definitely a highlight of the new year so far. Feedback from a few hop-junkies I shared it with was very positive.
I also had to head over to Back East for their $6 Winterfest growler fills. Winterfest is such an enjoyable holiday beer.
…But no new breweries… but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been beer-busy.
For Christmas, my super-awesome dad got me a Brewery-in-a-Box (complete with a brown ale kit), and my brother and SIL got me a holiday amber ale kit. To kick off the new year, I brewed my first batch of beer!!! I had to try the amber first.
The process was not too complicated, but it involved good timing and conscientious cleanliness. Have Scott as a co-brewmaster made the day easier, and the only best practice I would share for now is to have a second person to help. We bounced ideas off each other and were able to stay diligent. I hope it results in a good first batch!
I’ll be bottling today or tomorrow, and I will devote a blog post to document my first brew experience from start to finish – assuming I can find my lost pictures from brewing day 🙁