Archive for December, 2004

Philip Kendall McCaffrey

Wednesday, December 15th, 2004

Philip Kendall was born tonight at 7:58 central time. He weighed in at 6 lbs. 3.9 oz. Both Philip & Mom are doing fine.

Philip already has sponsorship from Fool Circle Brewery, what a kid! And what a nice chap to use such lovely logo placement, I couldn’t ask for anything more.

Zog’s Grog – Jester’s Kin Amber Ale

Sunday, December 12th, 2004

Finally, Pinky, we can try and take over the world!

Just the other day I finally got to try Dave’s first homebrewed beer, Zog’s Grog Jester’s Kin Amber Ale. Dave had a pretty sweet deal. Catherine’s friend was moving back to South America and was selling all of his stuff. He happen to have homebrew equipment and no one would buy it, but he knew Dave was interested. So, fortunetly for him he acquired his equipment. And being the good little brewer that I am, I had to buy Dave his first ingredient kit. It was an Amber Ale kit by Brewer’s Best, which I kicked up a notch with some hops, liquid yeast, yeast nutrient, irish moss, and oh yeah some more hops. We had a brew day, and now we get to reap the rewards. All I can say is it was better than my whole first year worth of homebrewing!

Here’s the breakdown:
Appearance: it poured with an OK head, maybe an inch tall white and foamy but not strong enough to stand. The brew was a deep cherry colored ice tea, looked quite quenching. It was a little chuncky, but no Mr. Beer style or anything.
Smell: spicy, like church, like frankensense and/or like cookies, like ginger snaps or cloves. Very delicious smell.
Taste: it is a little on the weaker side. Next time more malt and more bittering and flavor hops. Ironically, the taste reminded me of Iron Hill’s Anvil Ale on cask condition mixed with iced tea – odd . . .
Mouth Feel: smooth. A little thick for such a weak beer, but not bad just thicker than expected.
Overall: with a beer that smelt this good and felt this good, it was ashame that the flavor profile was on the weaker end. I thought there may be too much hop aroma (sorry, my idea to dry hop) for the style, or at least for the hop flavor. This would be a great beer with any sandwich in the mid afternoon, or with some popcorn while watching a DVD at night. Great job, Dave, and keep up the good work!!

Wooly wanted to know, what’s the next one going to be called, “Fretless Bass Porter”?