Hail to the Chief we have chosen for the nation

I am not a big fan of American football.  I'll put that right out there.  Sure, I will cheer on the home team most of the time or root against the Philadelphia Eagles (I do not like Philly fans of any sport... they are just mean) or the Dallas Cowboys (I root against anything out of Texas, just on principle), and I did get excited for the New Orleans Saints in last year's big game.  But I never watch football by myself, I have zero interest in college football, and could not name more than a dozen players, past or present.  That said, I love Super Bowl parties.  The food, the crowd, and of course the beer.  Nowadays, I usualy make a point to bring some craft beer with me to a party since it is usually the case that these types of parties typically serve beer prominently featured in the advertising of the game.  This year, though, had I been invited to the White House to watch the game (hey, it could happen!), I would have been served not only beers from Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, but a freakin' White House Homebrew!  How cool is that?!  This is not a political blog, but I do love our President more today than I did last week.

The opening of the Ale and the Witch was great.  good music, good people, and great beer.  Brett has put together a really friendly and laid back place and picked some really excellent beers.  I am looking forward to becoming a regular there.

Congratulations are in order to Tampa Bay Brewing Company.  After fifteen years of fighting, they can now sell growlers of their great beer.  I know Dave and company have worked their asses off to see this day, and hopefully this is just one more step towards bringing Florida into the mainstream craft beer world.  Bit by bit, we are getting there.

Cheers, all!

Brew #2: West Coast IPA - El Chupa-hop-ra?

Admittedly, my brewing schedule is way behind the planned brew-a-month pace.  However, we do what we can, right?  The latest foray was originally going to be a straight-up, American  Pale Ale.  Nothing over the top, just crisp and drinkable and most likely a session beer.

Oh well.

When I arrived at Southern Brewing and started talking to Ben Romano (a fine brewer in his own right), I found myself once again shifting to something little more hoppier.  And then more so.  And then before I could say lupulin, I had a recipe for a hopped-up West Coast IPA in my hands.  Ben convinced me to up the Magnum and Chinook hops.  Such is the burden of a hop-headed homebrewer.

Here is the recipe:

6.6 lbs Golden LME
2 lbs Golden DME
1 lb Crystal 65
8 oz. Vienna

1 oz Magnum (60 minutes)
1 oz Chinook (20 minutes)
1 oz Amarillo (15 minutes)
1 oz Centennial (10 minutes)
1 oz Simcoe (5 minutes)
1 oz Amarillo (end)

I used a dry yeast for the first time, the US-05 recommended by Ben.  My O.G. was 1.07.  According to my BrewPal app, I am expecting an ABV of about 7.2%, and an IBU of 92.  We'll see.  Does this rank as a Double IPA?

After less than 12 hours, the fermenter was bubbling away, and the wafting, bitter hoppiness was floating about.  Going to secondary shortly.  I wish I had some hops on hand to dry-hop with.  Oh well.