Fermentation Friday: August

This month’s Fermentation Friday is hosted by Panhandle beer snob and redneck brewery. The topic?

“What, in the opinion of others, is the best beer you have ever made and why?”

I posed this question on my blog and had one response. I was fairly certain the answer was going to be the Alberta Arts Pale Ale; a fairly simple pale with Simcoe hops that I brewed as a combination motivation and thank you for friends and family who helped us move on what turned out to be the hottest day of the year (in May!). It had popular acclaim among family members, who typically don’t go for the hoppy beers, but it had enough crispness, and enough being a cool liquid going for it that it won me the most compliments from imbibers.

As Joe pointed out, his favorite was probably the beer I brewed for his wedding. I’ve brewed for several weddings now and get similar comments, so that’s always a good way to score points with friends. Plus, there’s so much latent emotion that getting your beer hooked up with the revelry never hurts. Heck, now that I think of it, one of the last weddings I took beer to left me with lots of compliments on the beer I made from complete strangers. I didn’t take count though, so I can’t definitively say which was my most popular beer.

Those who can't do, teach?

I helped Alan and most of his neighborhood brew a batch of beer last week. It was great fun and there were some fantastic snacks to be had. It wasn’t really a formal lesson though and more of an ad hoc session. I think one of the guys was a little confused by the process since he was a much more structured learner; something that doesn’t necessarily go well with lots of folks and beer.

It’s probably the 10th time I’ve taught folks how to brew and it’s quite a bit of fun. 2/3rds of the brew days I’ve been involved in this year were teaching gigs. Makes me wonder if the old adage is true: “Those who can’t do, teach.”

Luckily, the do part is a time issue only.