Free as in beer

Moira directed me to a story about a group of Danes that have released their beer Vores Ol recipe under the Creative Commons License. Its a great idea and I must admit I considered using it for my regular postings but not the recipes.

Now I’m tempted to follow suit with my recipes. I’m not sure if it would matter, but its more of a philosophy thing anyway. Sticking it to the man, so to speak, which is one of the founding tenants of home brewing.

QBrew update missed

I totally missed the QBrew update from 0.3.3 to 0.3.4, but I’m hoping to make amends by posting a link to the update now. I love the program and use it for all my brews, including most of those in the recipe section.

I’ll have to try out the Mac version when I get home. I recently broke the QT installation on my desktop and have to rely on my laptop for recipes.

When Brewers and critics disagree

The Northwest forum at BeerAdvocate.com has had some really interesting discussion surrounding some reviews and hurt feelings with a local drinker and brewer:

http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read.php?thread=408509

I know the reviewer and think highly of his opinions, so I’m fairly surprised by all this. But not as shocked as when the brewer responded directly.

http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read.php?thread=410603

I’m not really sure what the deal is, but it doesn’t really make me want to visit the guy’s place.

The Hop Bomb drops

My christmas gift from my father-in-law included a box full of hops. A mix of pellets, and whole cones too. I’m a little overwhelmed, and for the night I couldn’t really focus on what we were doing. All I could think about were recipes. Here’s why:

Whole cones:

  • Galena – 13.2% α
  • UK East Kent Goldings – 6.4% α (freshly imported)
  • Santiam – 6.8% α
  • Crystal – 3.9% α
  • Vanguard – 4.4% α
  • Nugget – 13.2% α

and for Pellets:

  • Cascades – 5.7% α
  • US Fuggle – 3.7% α
  • Simcoe – 12.1% α
  • Chinooks – 12.2% α
  • Centennial – 10.0% α
  • Palisades – 9.7% α

There are a couple I’ve never heard of, and one in particular makes me nervous. The Palisades are supposedly a new variety that could replace Willamettes. Willamettes are one of the most widely grown varieties here in the, uh, Willamette Valley, and the Palisade has a higher alpha acid content and a higher productivity, which could seriously hurt hop growers. Its one of those cases where the green revolution has surpassed its benefit to a large number of people and concentrated the benefit for one or two folks. You know who I’m talking about. The king of beers.

Regardless, I’m pretty damn excited because many of these hops will be very useful in expanding the variety of beer styles I can brew. I know Crystal and Galena to be favorites of Rogue, and there are several noble-style hops that rarely use.

Oddly enough – my coffee has taken on a distinctive hop flavor. Maybe I should move this box somewhere else.