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October Banter 2019


George BM
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15 hours ago, C.A.P.E. said:

I have grown a bit tired of the pumpkin ales.

Maybe 2 or 3 really decent ones. The rest miss the mark in one way or another- over the top artificial pumpkin pie smell/lack of real pumpkin in the mash, or spices too prominent.

I started truly disliking them about four years ago after I made my own (and only) pumpkin ale. It was a good beer, but I grew tired of it, and when pumpkin beers started showing up on shelves in August the following year, I'd just had enough.

My beer tastes have definitely changed in the last few years, which I blame partly on my own brewing experience and the proliferation of nano- and picobreweries producing seriously quality beers that my buddies and I really enjoy. I do wish in many ways that I could turn back the clock a bit and go back to enjoying "simpler" beers, but pandora's box got opened and there's no closing it now. :lol:

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Never enjoyed pumpkin beers much myself.  

The tough part of owning a brewery is putting out beers you don't like in order to have a somewhat broad portfolio of options for everyone that visits.  But I'm a big believer that you are the best at what you truly have a passion for.  We obviously started (and still continue to a somewhat lesser extent) as a hop-heavy brewery.   But in the last couple of years I've really gotten into Trappist and other Belgian style beers, so now we are putting out some cellared Belgian Dubbels, Tripels and hopefully soon a quad.  We're getting into barrel aging as well -- going to be doing some stouts and  an English Barleywine that way soon.

But you won't find anything pumpkin here.

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1 hour ago, jonjon said:

Never enjoyed pumpkin beers much myself.  

The tough part of owning a brewery is putting out beers you don't like in order to have a somewhat broad portfolio of options for everyone that visits.  But I'm a big believer that you are the best at what you truly have a passion for.  We obviously started (and still continue to a somewhat lesser extent) as a hop-heavy brewery.   But in the last couple of years I've really gotten into Trappist and other Belgian style beers, so now we are putting out some cellared Belgian Dubbels, Tripels and hopefully soon a quad.  We're getting into barrel aging as well -- going to be doing some stouts and  an English Barleywine that way soon.

But you won't find anything pumpkin here.

I can imagine it must be tough to ensure that there's enough of a variety of styles to appeal to the most potential customers, but I absolutely agree that you can really only get the best out of yourself if you have a passion for what you're producing. I think the breweries in bigger markets and/or that have established themselves as being the top at what they do (I'm thinking of places like Other Half, Monkish, Trillium, Jester King, Bottle Logic, etc.) have an upper hand in that they have established a large and loyal following who will remain loyal as long as they continue to pump out high-quality beverages. For a place like yours - out in a "less accessible" setting and needing to appeal to locals and tourists - it must be a difficult balancing act on producing beers *you* like while also pumping out product that maybe isn't something you'd necessarily choose to drink yourself.

That's awesome that you've branched out into other types of beers, especially the Belgians. I'm not hugely into them, to be honest, but I can certainly appreciate them. Now...as for barrel aging, I'm all freakin' in. I *love* a big barrel-aged stout (and to a lesser extent, barleywine), so I really like hearing that you're going to give them a shot.

I have a big stout in my brew plan - probably brew it in December - that will be aged on bourbon-soaked oak spirals, cocoa nibs, and vanilla beans (might toss in a little cinnamon, too). Can't wait to get that going so I can let it keg condition until next fall.

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22 minutes ago, mattie g said:

I have a big stout in my brew plan - probably brew it in December - that will be aged on bourbon-soaked oak spirals, cocoa nibs, and vanilla beans (might toss in a little cinnamon, too). Can't wait to get that going so I can let it keg condition until next fall.

I have a similar plan

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1 hour ago, mattie g said:

I can imagine it must be tough to ensure that there's enough of a variety of styles to appeal to the most potential customers, but I absolutely agree that you can really only get the best out of yourself if you have a passion for what you're producing. I think the breweries in bigger markets and/or that have established themselves as being the top at what they do (I'm thinking of places like Other Half, Monkish, Trillium, Jester King, Bottle Logic, etc.) have an upper hand in that they have established a large and loyal following who will remain loyal as long as they continue to pump out high-quality beverages. For a place like yours - out in a "less accessible" setting and needing to appeal to locals and tourists - it must be a difficult balancing act on producing beers *you* like while also pumping out product that maybe isn't something you'd necessarily choose to drink yourself.

That's awesome that you've branched out into other types of beers, especially the Belgians. I'm not hugely into them, to be honest, but I can certainly appreciate them. Now...as for barrel aging, I'm all freakin' in. I *love* a big barrel-aged stout (and to a lesser extent, barleywine), so I really like hearing that you're going to give them a shot.

I have a big stout in my brew plan - probably brew it in December - that will be aged on bourbon-soaked oak spirals, cocoa nibs, and vanilla beans (might toss in a little cinnamon, too). Can't wait to get that going so I can let it keg condition until next fall.

 

54 minutes ago, nw baltimore wx said:

I have a similar plan

Good to know. I'll be your taste tester. 6 bottles should be enough from each of you to get an accurate read on your product. I'll PM my address to you both.

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Northern Virginia has NO BUSINESS having 70 degree dewpoints at this time of year! It's Oct 1! You guys should be at 53 degree dewpoints.

Even here in central Texas, we are a good 10-13 degrees above normal, our normals are 86/63, which would be outright CHILLY to us after all the weeks and weeks of 90s and 100s here in Austin. September down here is the hottest on record for central Texas, lol.

You folks are right on schedule for a numbing COLD winter with crippling amounts of driving snow!

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8 hours ago, nw baltimore wx said:

Where are all the Nats fans?!? Great finish.

Good thing they had Stras to come out and carry the team.  He was awesome and I would have let him start over Max.  That 8th tho.  HBP, broken bat, walk, routine single with error.  

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1 hour ago, fourseasons said:

On the MLB Network it was pointed out that in a 2 hour, 55 minute game, the Nationals led for 9 of those minutes.

Not attacking you, so please don't take it that way,...

But there's really no "time" concept in baseball. What a pointless statistic. I don't even like stats for soccer or basketball or football when they say similar. Who really cares? All it means is that the winning team scored a winning goal, run, point, etc. near the end of the game to win it.

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21 hours ago, mattie g said:

I can imagine it must be tough to ensure that there's enough of a variety of styles to appeal to the most potential customers, but I absolutely agree that you can really only get the best out of yourself if you have a passion for what you're producing. I think the breweries in bigger markets and/or that have established themselves as being the top at what they do (I'm thinking of places like Other Half, Monkish, Trillium, Jester King, Bottle Logic, etc.) have an upper hand in that they have established a large and loyal following who will remain loyal as long as they continue to pump out high-quality beverages. For a place like yours - out in a "less accessible" setting and needing to appeal to locals and tourists - it must be a difficult balancing act on producing beers *you* like while also pumping out product that maybe isn't something you'd necessarily choose to drink yourself.

That's awesome that you've branched out into other types of beers, especially the Belgians. I'm not hugely into them, to be honest, but I can certainly appreciate them. Now...as for barrel aging, I'm all freakin' in. I *love* a big barrel-aged stout (and to a lesser extent, barleywine), so I really like hearing that you're going to give them a shot.

I have a big stout in my brew plan - probably brew it in December - that will be aged on bourbon-soaked oak spirals, cocoa nibs, and vanilla beans (might toss in a little cinnamon, too). Can't wait to get that going so I can let it keg condition until next fall.

Just ordered 4 emptied Buffalo Trace barrels.  Imperial Stout going into them next week.  Thanks for the inspiration!

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44 minutes ago, mattie g said:

Not attacking you, so please don't take it that way,...

But there's really no "time" concept in baseball. What a pointless statistic. I don't even like stats for soccer or basketball or football when they say similar. Who really cares? All it means is that the winning team scored a winning goal, run, point, etc. near the end of the game to win it.

I understand.  Not insulted.  Trying to subtract down time caused by commercial breaks, time in between pitches, visits to the mound, injuries, etc would be a monumental pain in the rear end for the scorekeepers so I get why it gets counted like it does, even if it's just for something to add to the game log. 

Honestly, my first thought when they mentioned the 2:55/9 minutes stat was, "Wow, they got the game done in under 3 hours."  And yes, if you're going to lead 9 minutes of the game, it's useful to have them be the last nine.  ;)

For football, though, you've got a 60 minute game that takes 3-4 hours from beginning to end and has about 10 minutes of action (give or take a few minutes).  And don't get me started on the NBA, where the last minute or two of a game can take upwards of half an hour to complete.

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Nationals have a special talent in Juan Soto. The guy has the potential to become one of the most feared hitters in baseball as he enters his prime. He honestly reminds me of Joey Votto with his elite OBP ability with good power. I honestly think Soto will have more power though. Really looking forward to see what type of numbers he's producing in his prime!

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8 minutes ago, Steve25 said:

Nationals have a special talent in Juan Soto. The guy has the potential to become one of the most feared hitters in baseball as he enters his prime. He honestly reminds me of Joey Votto with his elite OBP ability with good power. I honestly think Soto will have more power though. Really looking forward to see what type of numbers he's producing in his prime!

That's an insult to Soto by comparing him to Votto who selfishly pads his on-base percentage numbers by not touching anything out of the strike zone even in situations when his teammates need him to be the guy.

As for the game, and the comment regarding the 9-minute lead, they were just pointing out how uncomfortable it must have been as a Nationals fan to watch that game when they were already trailing 3 minutes into the first inning. The stress to endure the next two and a half hours knowing they weren't generating any offense....slowly watching the number of 'outs' they had left...That was the point. Not a Nationals fan, but I watch baseball everyday. Mets fan unfortunately.

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@jonjon

If you don't mind my asking, what are the specs (OG, FG, etc.) on the imperial stout? Did you do anything different than your standard brew session like a longer boil, higher mash temp, or anything?

I'm curious because I want to see if I can really thicken up the stout I'll be doing..and to see what a pro might do to set a big stout apart from others. I did one a couple years ago that I conditioned on a bourboned oak spiral and vanilla beans (and of which I have one bottle left) that I'm pretty happy with, but it was definitely thinner and had more carb than I wanted. I'm not too worried about the carbonation for the upcoming one since I'll be naturally carbonating and keg conditioning it, but I'd love to get it a good deal thicker.

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