Quad City Brewpubs
Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - 03:13 PM
Carrie and I went to visit her parents in the Quad Cities this past weekend. (They actually live in Hampton, IL - just outside the Quad Cities.) If you haven’t ever been there, there’s more to do than you might think. Particularly, if you’re a beer nut, there’s a few brew pubs in the area. My favorites are Front Street, Bent River and Blue Cat. There are others in the area, but those are the ones I recommend.
Despite their really poorly designed website, Blue Cat is (in my opinion) the best one in the area. Not only are the beers good, but they have a great menu (and the food is really good, too). If you’re looking to go out for a decent meal, it’s definitely the one I recommend. We went there for dinner Saturday and couldn’t have been happier. I had the Big Bad Dog Old English Ale with dinner (the 1/2 slab of BBQ Ribs, which was tender and delicious) and the Arkham Stout. My only complaint with Blue Cat is that the choice of beers is limited to six - three regular brews and three that rotate on and off the menu. I realize that they’re probably limited in what they’re capable of offering at any given time, so I’m not going to hold it against them.
For lunch on Sunday, Carrie’s step dad, Joe, and I went to Front Street. The menu’s not as expansive as Blue Cat, offering typical “bar fare”, but the beer’s good. Again they’re limited to only six beers on the menu at a time, and I believe only one is a rotating “special”, with the others being always offered. I had the special, which was a Brown Ale, and samples of four of the other beers. I brought home a growler of the Bucktown Stout - which in and of itself is worth going there for.
We didn’t go to Bent River this time around. They have a wider selection of beer than the others, with some interesting selections alongside the more traditional beers. This place has more of a local bar feel to it, the kind of place where the regulars hang out, and they have live music on the weekends. If you’re planning a tour of the area’s brew pubs, don’t skip this one.
Pale Ale
Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 06:17 PM
Brewed a Pale Ale this past weekend. Actually, it’s the recipe featured in the “Replicator” column in the current edition of Brew Your Own magazine. I’m a little worried, because it’s been kinda warm the past couple of days, and the little stick-on thermometer on the primary has been around 74-76 deg. (F). I hope the higher temperature doesn’t stress out the yeast and cause any off-flavors.
Apart from that, I’m going to try the Brown Ale this weekend. It’ll only be two weeks since bottling, but I like to taste here and there as the beer progresses. Plus, I’m really impatient! Seriously, though, I do usually taste the beer after only two weeks in the bottle to see how it’s coming along. I usually taste a little bit at bottling time, but I actually haven’t with these past two batches. I did with the Vanilla Porter though, and it tasted fantastic even then! (I still have a few of those left. Maybe I’ll go stick one in the fridge so I can enjoy it this evening!)
Beer updates
Monday, April 16, 2007 - 03:39 PM
Well, the whole reason I changed this site into a “blog” was to be able to talk about my home brewing experiences. Now I notice that I really haven’t done that, and I’m on my second batch since I changed over the site!
So, here are the updates:
Two weeks ago I bottled my Vanilla Porter. This beer was inspired by the Breckenridge Vanilla Porter I wrote about in a previous post. I sampled some over the weekend (I know, two weeks in the bottle is still pretty young for a beer, but I find with porters and stouts that they seem to have matured enough by that point. Anyways, I like to sample here and there to see how they’re coming along) and it tastes pretty damn good! I think it may be my best batch yet (it’s a close draw between this and the Oatmeal Stout I did back in December). It doesn’t taste like the Breckenridge one, but I really wasn’t trying to duplicate that. Basically, I took a standard porter recipe and added some licorice root and vanilla beans to the boil.
I also brewed my 10th batch this past weekend. I wanted to brew, but didn’t have anything in mind, so Carrie and I went to the home brew supply store on Saturday (after lunch at Goose Island - I had the Fulton Wood Bitter, which has a really nice hop flavor to it without being overly bitter like some very-hoppy beers) and looked at the kits they had in stock. It was a draw between the Scotch Ale and the Brown Ale. We ended up going with the brown. Nothing special, I know - just an off-the-shelf kit (except I used a 1028 London Wyeast pack instead of the dry yeast that it came with) - I just wanted to brew something.
R.I.P., I.P.A.
Monday, March 19, 2007 - 05:13 PM
I finished off the last of the batch of my IPA this weekend. I’m always a little sad when I finish of the last of a batch. It’s weird, when you brew your own beer, because you think of what went into making that batch. Sure, you could make another batch with that same recipe, but that batch, that little piece of you is now gone forever.
At the same time (well, not exactly at the same time - it’s just a figure of speech - but you get my meaning) I racked the Porter that I brewed last weekend to the secondary (for those of you not in the know, that means I transferred the beer from the primary fermenter to the secondary). So, the circle of Life (beer is Life, after all) continues.
I can’t wait to try the porter, by the way. I added some licorice and vanilla beans to the boil. When I was transferring the beer I could smell a hint of those ingredients in it. That gave me high hopes for the end product!
An open letter to Jim Koch
Wednesday, March 07, 2007 - 01:36 PM
I’ve been really enjoying the Samuel Adams Brewmaster’s Collection, but I have a minor complaint. Why the hell does this collection include the Boston Lager and Boston Ale?? Don’t get me wrong, I like both of those beers. But, I can get them anytime, anywhere. The other beers in the Brewmaster’s Collection are not so easy to come by. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen the other beers available for sale on their own, outside of a “mix-pack”.
There are some really great beers in this collection. However, with the inclusion of the Boston Lager and Boston Ale, it means that you only get two of each style of beer. I would much rather have three each of the other styles than to have the two more common beers included in this. Again, I can get the Lager and Ale anywhere.
How do the two most common Sam Adams beers even warrant being a part of the “Brewmaster’s Collection”? I know they are your “flagship” beers, but, come on. Do they really stand up next to the Scotch Ale or the Honey Porter? (FYI, my absolute favorite in this collection is the Scotch Ale - I really do wish I could find this for sale separately.) Again, nothing against the Boston Lager and Ale, but I would so much rather have more of the other styles of beer in this collection.
So please, next time around consider leaving out the more common beers in these otherwise magnificent collections.