What's that you got growing there son?

Its HOPS sir! Yes thats right, it spring again and time for the hops to start rising from their beds. Mine are very anxious to grow up.

Third year Sunbeam Golding(Ornamental)

First Year Willamette!

First Year Nugget

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Celebration of the Suds (The Pictures) Part 3

Another shot of the Fest

Cape Ann's sweet VW Bus!

These guys were cool to talk to.

Mmm Ten Fidy

Just as we walked up to Troegs

they were tapping Nugget Nectar!

Lancaster Brewing

Free Stickers!!!

I would have taken more pictures, but after two hours of "sampling" I decided to put the camera away and to enjoy myself. Overall it was a great time and I'm definitely going to attend the 7th Celebration of the Suds! 

So until next beer....

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Celebration of the Suds (The Pictures) Part 2

The Fest in full swing.

Avery White Rascal Wit

North Coast makers of Old Rasputin &

Brother Thelonious!

21st Amendment & Four +

21st's Brew Free or Die IPA &

Back in Black(Cascadian Dark Ale)

Four + Brewing. Great beers and Lables.

Unibroue's Cool display

Allagash White is always a good beer.

Another Maine staple, Gritty's Vacation Land is

a great summer ale!

Gotta love Lagunitas!

Me with the Giant Shiner Bock Bottle

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Celebration of the Suds (The Pictures)

First in line, looking back at everyone!

It was Shiner Bocks NJ debut!

I would love this Neon.

Not a fan of Sam Adams, but this beer wasn't bad.

This beer was about 10%, and very viscus.

The Rep from Great Lakes was one 

of the most informative people I spoke to.

Mmm... pitchers of beer!

Southampton makes one of the best Belgian Wits on the

market. (Double Wit)

Good old Long Trail!

Harpoon was the 1st brewery in Boston! Not that other guy.

Harpoon IPA

BreckenRidge's rep was an awesome guy, we talked

about the yeast that they used in their Agave Wheat.

So Good!

Full Sail (Hood, Oregan)

Session Black is the best!

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2011 Celebration Of The Suds

Attended the 6th annual Celebration Of the Suds in Atlantic City the first weekend of April. There were almost 75 breweries there with over 100 different beers. We started the day early and headed down to AC around noon. The first place we hit was The Trinity Irish Pub in the Piers at Caesars. They had all NJ Breweries beers on Tap in honor of the Beer Fest. There was Flying Fish, Cricket Hill, Boaks, NJ Beer Co., and River Horse. I indulged in a Flying Fish ESB.

After pre-gaming a little bit, we then headed over to the Convention center to get a early start on the line. Sure enough my mission was accomplished, I was 1st in line for the 6th annual ACBeerfest!

This years Logo

Once inside there was a lot of drinking and conversing with reps and brewers, along with lots of picture taking. The Next  post will consist of  those photos and descriptions.

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The Three Amigos

I currently have three beers on tap right now; Deez Nutz Brown Ale, Citra IPA, & Feelin' Witty Belgian White Ale. Here is a picture of all three in sample glasses.

Here is a picture of the Wit in a nice Belgian tulip glass:

Great Head!

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Holy Hop Rhizome Batman!

Got my hop Rhizomes for this year. I went with two Nugget, since I had success with that variety my first year. Also I got one Willamette, was going to get more then I saw the biggest rhizome I've ever seen in my life.

Willamette Monster!

The Nugget Rhizomes weren't as big.

The two for comparison.

I'm planning on starting them in planter boxes for this year, then I will transplant them next year. I also am going to document the hop bines growth.

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Rye-O-Rye!

It has been awhile since I have posted, so todays post it a Mega Post! A lot has happened. For starters The wit is in the secondary, and has about another week before I keg/bottle it. It was a six gallon batch so I'm planing on kegging five and bottle conditioning the other gallon. The color is nice and light, almost as light as a pilsner but a little bit darker. It smells peppery and taste nice and dry. The final gravity was 1.008! I'm extremely excited about this beer and can't wait to drink it. The Citra IPA is now officially kegged and is currently carbonating. Should be ready to drink by this weekend!

Brewed my next beer today as well. A Red RyePA called "Rye-O-Rye Red. The brew day went smooth and I hit my gravity spot on(1.065)! I used WLP051 California V for the yeast this time. I heard it was good, and rumor has it that its the same yeast that most West Coast Breweries use. Here are some random pics of the brew day and kegging the IPA.

 Cool Picture of the Grains!

Mashing

1st runnings

Foggy Hot break. Best one yet.

Kegging the Citra IPA

The weeks ahead hold some awesome happenings. This Thursday I'm going to try and attend a Lagunitas Beer event at Surf Taco, which is an awesome taco place with a bar that has a lot of good beers! Friday, even though its my day off, I'm heading to The Brewer's Apprentice for an Open House/Beer Tasting. We will be releasing three new beers to our line up: A Belgian Golden Ale, Scottish Wee Heavy, and an English Nut Brown(which I made!). Friday April 1st, I will be in Sin City number two aka Atlantic City, for the Celebration Of The Suds! This year I plan on bringing my camera and flip video to document every beer that I try. Stay tuned for all of that!

Until next brew...

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Dry Hoppin...

Citra IPA is done fermenting, the Wit is STILL going! Its been almost 2 weeks. So today I racked it onto 2oz. of whole leaf Simcoe hops. Man did it smell good!

Pre-Racking

Final Gravity: 1.012

2.04oz. Whole Leaf Simcoe

Inside the Fermenter!

Racking Away.

Lookin and smellin good!

Prost!