Belgian Ale
Saturday, June 07, 2008 - 03:42 PM
Last weekend I brewed a Belgian Ale. This is the first belgian I’ve tried, but I’ve been doing a lot of kits lately, so I wanted to do something a little more challenging/interesting. I put together the recipe based on a combination of a couple of different recipes in the BYO 150 Classic Clone Recipes special issue. I then substituted based on my whims at the time and what the homebrew store had in stock.
Here’s the recipe:
Belgian Ale
1/2 lb. Munton’s Extra Light DME
6.6 lbs. Munton’s Light LME - late addition
1 lb. Corn sugar
2 lbs. Belgian Pilsen
1 lb. Belgian Pale
2 tsp. Caradamon @ 15 min.
2 tsp. Bitter orange peel @ 15 min.
2 tsp. Coriander @ 15 min.
2 oz Willamette 4.9% @ 60 min.
1 oz Czech Saaz 3.6% @ 2 min.
1 tsp. yeast nutrient @ 15 min.
Wyeast 1214 Belgian Ale Yeast
Heat 1.5 gallon of water to 150º and add crushed grains. Let steep for 45 minutes. Rinse grains with 1 gallon of 170º water. Add 1/2 gallon of water to bring to 3 gallons. Add DME and sugar, bring to a boil. Add LME with about 20 minutes left (you may need to crank up the heat to keep your boil going while adding the LME). Add hops and spices according to schedule.
Concert Tickets - Part Four
Friday, June 06, 2008 - 11:39 AM
Part One - Part Two - Part Three
Well, hopefully this will be the last post on this.
After not hearing back from Live Nation by late afternoon yesterday, I decided to call back (again). I explained to the man that answered everything up to this point about the billing issue (as briefly as possible). He was extremely understanding and said that he wouldn’t get off the phone with me until the problem was resolved. He put me on hold to talk to his supervisor and came back on the line a couple of times just to update me and let me know he was still working on it.
It didn’t take too long before he came back and said that the supervisor was able to identify that there had been an error on their part, and they did bill me twice. He was going to credit my account back and I should see the credit in a couple of days. If I didn’t, just call back and ask for him directly.
This call did not take that long, and I really don’t understand why it required me calling three times to get this resolved (not to mention filling out the web form - which I never did get any kind of response from). I understand that the people answering the phones can’t fix every problem and might need to escalate things. But, if they tell you somebody will call you back, they should follow up to ensure that someone calls. It’s basic customer service.
In the end I did ask if there was anything they could do for me to make up for all I had been through. Unfortunately, he said there wasn’t. So, in the end, the problem was resolved, but they did nothing to try to make me a happy customer.
I know that in the future if I can drive to the venue to buy the tickets I will.
How (not) to Purchase Tickets - Part Three
Thursday, June 05, 2008 - 09:38 AM
If you need to get caught up:
So, after never receiving any sort of response to my initial help request, sent through Live Nation’s online form, (apart from the “Your Question has been Submitted” confirmation email), I tried the 800 number again. Incredibly, someone actually answered this time. (It was interesting that this time while I was on hold a message would occasionally come on saying “Somebody will be with you shortly.” That never happened the first time I called - just straight hold music the whole time.) I spoke to a pleasant young woman and explained my situation, including the fact that I never got a response to the help request submitted on line. She looked at my order and the history for my credit card number, which only showed that one order. According to what she saw, there was only one order, ergo, they only billed me once. I assured her that there were two transactions on my account. She said she would have to check into it and somebody would call me back.
That was yesterday. Guess what never happened?
After I got off the phone with her I called my bank. I wanted to make absolutely sure that there wasn’t any kind of error on the bank’s part, but I also wanted to gather more information for when Live Nation called me back (which never happened). It wasn’t an error on the bank’s end. They saw two separate transactions occurring at two different times (twelve minutes apart), each with its own trace number. Clearly, Live Nation billed me twice.
Today, after not hearing back from Live Nation, I decided to call again. I got straight through this time. I spoke to another young woman to whom I had to explain the situation, including the fact that I had called yesterday and never received a response (on top of never receiving a response from their on line form). Of course, I went through the same things with her that I did with the other woman - checking the order and credit card number, seeing that there is only one order, explaining that even though there’s only one order they did, in fact, charge me twice, etc. She said told me that she couldn’t help, and that both of her supervisors were in a meeting. She could take my information and have somebody call me back. It was very hard to keep my patience and remain polite at this point. (I did, however. People are always more willing to help you if you are polite. No matter what, always try to keep your cool when you are in these situations.)
So, now I’m waiting for another call back. I’m not optimistic.
How to Purchase Tickets - Part Two
Tuesday, June 03, 2008 - 11:38 AM
Read Part One first, if you haven’t already.
So, to top off everything else, they over billed me. I logged onto my banking website today and discovered two charges from Live Nation, each for the full amount of the tickets I purchased. Ugh.
There was an 800 number listed on the charges, so I called that number. I was greeted by a voice saying “Thank you for calling Live Nation ticketing. Please have your order number or credit card ready so that we may assist you. An agent will be with you shortly.” Then I heard the sound of hold music. I sat on hold for nearly 45 minutes, listening to the same six Elvis Presley songs*, in a loop, over and over again.
After being on hold for so long (while still on hold, I wasn’t ready to give up just yet) I went to their website to see if I could find a different 800 number. No such luck. In fact, one of their FAQs said that they didn’t operate a call center! Just who was I waiting on to pick up the call then? (I did eventually find the same 800 number I was already on hold with buried in a different FAQ.)
They did a have contact form to fill out, so I gave up on the phone call and composed a polite message detailing the over billing, and all of the other problems I experienced while trying to purchase the tickets in the first place. I asked that they reverse the extra charge and to also refund their “convenience” fees for all of my problems. We’ll see how they respond. It bothers me, though, that there’s no real way to follow up on that message, since I know calling their 800 number is a pointless exercise.
* The songs were “Jailhouse Rock”, “Don’t be Cruel”, “All Shook Up”, “Hard Headed Woman”, “Return to Sender”, and “In the Ghetto”. I think that could be considered torture in some countries!
Beer Tasting
Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 02:21 PM
Carrie and I went to a beer tasting Thursday night at Sam’s Wine and Spirits. This was a free event sponsored by Merchant du Vin. Merchant du Vin is a beer importer that focuses on small, mostly family owned, breweries that specialize in classic styles of their region. Some of the breweries they work with are Samuel Smith and Ayinger. They also work with a few of the Trappist breweries.
(The astute out there are saying “Hold up. Merchant du Vin? Wouldn’t they do wine? Shouldn’t it be Merchant de Bière?” Well, the host explained that the founder, Charles Finkel, started out importing wonderful regional wines. But, when he went to visit these wineries, they would take him out to their local pubs and drink these wonderful local beers. He decided that he needed to bring these beers to America.)
The host really knew his stuff (sorry, I don’t recall his name). He wasn’t just some salesman sent out to pitch the beers. He’s a beer lover and a BJCP certified judge. He’s actually been to some of these breweries.
He started out with a couple of lagers (the only two lagers we would taste that night). The first was The Samuel Smith’s Organic Lager. Neither Carrie or I much cared for it. There are few lagers that impress me, and this didn’t do the trick. The second was a Czech Lager from Zatec. This one was very nice, and both Carrie and I enjoyed it very much. It had a nice malty aroma and more of a hop note that you don’t normally get with lagers.
Then we tried the Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout. We both enjoyed this one tremendously (and Carrie’s not much of a stout drinker, so I was surprised she like this one). I’ve had their Oatmeal Stout before (several times, actually, it’s one of my favorites). The Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout is the original oatmeal stout, and the definitive example of that style.
Next we tried two more of Samuel Smith’s offerings, the Pale Ale and the India Ale. I like both of these, preferring the Pale Ale over the India Ale. Carrie didn’t care much for the India Ale (she tends not to like hoppy beers - although this beer wasn’t nearly as hoppy as some IPAs) but she did enjoy the Pale Ale.
The next beer was the Ayinger Brau-Weiss, a hefe-weizen beer. Weizen is a favorite style of both mine and Carrie’s, but we’ve never had any of the Ayinger offerings. This one did not disappoint, it’s a very good example of the style. And, if you’re used to putting lemon in your weiss, I wouldn’t recommend it with this beer. While lemon adds a nice bit of zest to many weisses, I think it would take away from the flavor of this one.
The rest of the evening was spent in Belgium, so to speak. We had two Westmalle Trappist ales, the Tripel and the Dubbel. Both were very good, but we both preferred the Dubbel.
The last two beers were both lambics from Lindemans. The first was the Cuvée René Gueuze. To me, this beer is an acquired taste (I didn’t much care for it - it was much too tart). Then we had the Pêche (peach), which Carrie enjoyed very much, but I thought was a bit too sweet.
We had a pretty good time and discovered some beers we really enjoyed that we might not have otherwise tried. We picked up some of the ones we liked the most when it was over (as well as the Classis lambic from Lindeman’s, which is black currant flavored, and I hope I enjoy it better than the peach). We noticed several other people from the tasting in the store shopping afterwards, as well. So, I guess giving people free beer is a pretty good marketing strategy. (Actually, the point is to educate people about the beers, which is one of the company’s goals. But, hey, it works.)