Top 5 Gateway Beers

So you're going to grab a beer with some friends, eh? The time comes to order and while all of your friends order a hard to pronounce craft beer, you are afraid to step out of your comfort zone and just ask for a light beer. It's a tough situation, I've seen it a thousand times. You don't want to feel inferior for ordering a beer you like, but you are afraid you wouldn't like what their having, or perhaps you don't even know what to order. Well, here are five gateway beers that will help you move from light beer drinker to bad ass beer connoisseur. Use these beers to escape those awkward situations and open up your world to more daring (and delicious) beers.


1.) Newcastle Brown Ale
- This English ale is very dark in color, but not too extreme in terms of taste. I know many people, including myself, who have named this beer as one of the first "dark" beers they tried. It's easy to drink and is a good way to learn about the wonderful world of brown ales.




2.) Leinenkugel's Red
- A fine Red lager that will easily help you learn to branch out from your "light" comfort zone. Red brews are often on the top of my favorite list and when learning about them this is a great beer to start with.




3.) Goose Island - Honker's Ale
- This brew is golden in color, which is nice for those light beer drinkers who can't get over the fact that beer can look different and still taste good. It is a version of an English Bitter and its smooth taste is certain to help those who are looking for just a bit more in their beer.



4.) BBC - Amber Ale
- When I first started drinking this it was called "Altbier" to reflect it's German background. However, the Louisville brewers have simplified it by now just calling it "Amber." The reason this is such a great gateway beer is because it doesn't get too crazy in terms of taste and it is only a little bit darker in terms of color. It is sure to open up your taste buds to something different.




5.) Sierra Nevada - Pale Ale
- This is where things get tricky. I'll go a head and admit that this beer will be the one that pushes your limits the most. The color won't scare anyone, but the first taste of hops might run off some "Bud" drinkers. This is a wonderful Pale Ale, and while the hops are definitley noticable, they're not too overwhelming. If you learn to like this beer you'll end up liking about 20 other kinds of pale ales.



I know I said top 5, but I'm giving one more recommendation.

I firmly believe that at least 90% of people who don't like darker, craftier beer don't like it because of a mental reason. It's not that they don't like the taste...it's mostly because they see the color of the beer, or smell the aroma and before they taste it, they believe they won't like it because it is "different." Well that's why you need to try this...the ultimate gateway beer:
Go to your favorite bar...sit down...order a pint of the black stuff...and drink it.

Don't think...just drink.

You've heard the comments....

"Man, that tastes like a milkshake."
"It's like a full meal in itself."
"You pretty much have to chew it."
"It tastes like burnt oil"

Well, those are all false. Guinness is a pretty wild beer the first time you have it...it's creamy...it's black...I get it. However, as you start drinking other craft brews you'll soon realize that Guinness is actually a bit weak. If you can learn to drink Guinness, you can overcome the mental block that is keeping you from enjoying the many wonders of craft beer!

Give these a try...expand your horizons...thank me later!

Are we genetically pre-disposed to be beer drinkers?

Apparently so.

Here's a link to an article by political commentator George Will in which he relates two extremely important facts about beer drinkers.

#1. Investor's Business Daily (which I, of course, read just for my horoscope and the crossword puzzle) reported recently, in commenting on the efforts (now complete) of InBev to purchase Anheuser-Busch, that:

"The (alcoholic beverage) industry's continued growth, however slight, has been a surprise to those who figured that when the economy turned south, consumers would cut back on nonessential items like beer."

Non-essential. Right. True beer lovers could make a list a mile long of things they would consider non-essential, before they would give up their beloved brews. Ice cream. Vegetables. Socks. Deodorant. Pets. The list is endless. During Prohibition, we didn't let a pesky little thing like Federal law stop us from drinking alcohol. A weak economy? Please.

#2. More importantly, according to Mr. Will's research, we are actually genetically bred to hold our alcohol. I won't go into great detail. Just read over the article. The meat of it, though, is that, due to the lack of methods to sanitize water until recent years (relatively speaking) people normally drank alcohol, especially beer. Lots of it. Some peoples' bodies were able to respond to the intake of alcohol by increasing the production of particular enzymes controlled by certain genes found in human DNA. Those who lacked this ability, though, usually died early and childless, either from alcohol poisoning or from waterborne diseases. Survival of the fittest, at its best.

God Bless the DNA.

What I did on summer vacation

For the first time in my rather short life I got to travel to Big Sky country. Yep, you guessed it - Montana.

Early on Dude took me fishing on the Gallatin River. The water was pretty high and off color, as most of the rivers in the areas were still in runoff. I was satisfied with spending the morning sunning in the streamside brush. Dude managed a few trout along the edges of the river. Show-off.

searching for salmonflies on the Gallatin

Later that afternoon, I was super hopped up for heading to the Big Sky Resort where luckily they was a "Brews, Brats and Brisket" festival. I managed to catch up with some distant cousins. There were about a dozen local breweries represented. I couldn't ask for a better day.

Bayern Brewery

Big Sky Brewery

Bozeman Brewing Co

Grand Teton Brewing Co

Kettlehouse

Madison River Brewing Co

Neptune's Brewery

New Belgium Brewing

Sierra Nevada

Jürgen Knöller - the brewmaster at Bayern

The best beer of the festival was easily Bayern's Dragons Breath Dark Hefeweizen.

Throughout the week we ventured into Yellowstone National Park. If you've never been to YNP, I'd quickly put it on your to-do list. It's simply incredible. There is so much to see and I can't get over how huge it is. Of course it's surrounded by great brewerys/pubs at almost every entrance.

Gardiner entrance

We also headed back to into Bozeman, where we spent the day exploring the Museum of the Rockies. The dinosaur exhibit is top notch. From there we headed to Montana Ale Works for some delicious brews and met up with the rest of our crew for a wonderful dinner.

Another stroke of luck, while talking to our very friendly bartender, we were told to hang around for Music on Main later that evening. We did. Visiting with the locals, gotta love it. The headliner was Tony Furtado. Pretty good music played by some great musicians. I'll just say I've never heard slide banjo and yes, they simply pulled up a flatbed truck and played on Main Street.

Wow, how do I love Bozeman!

My... what big teeth you have

Overall it was a really great first trip. The only thing I really didn't enjoy was the flight, as I was stuffed in suitcase alongside fishing equipment. Let me tell you after a week or so of Dude's fishing - that gear can get rank.

My only wish was that some of my other buds could have come along...

Maybe on my next trip to Big Sky Country. I'll keep you all informed.

Keg O Rator

So yeah, I'm a young buck. I recently graduated college and soon I will hopefully be moving into my own apartment. It's not easy making the adjustment from youngster to semi-grown up (but still mostly youngster), but it's exciting none the less.

When faced with the task of moving out I realized I needed a few things. Mainly a bed that I would fit in. However, I also know my lifestyle and the number of sports I watch so a big HDTV was in order as well. I took care of the TV, getting a nice 32 inch Vizio for a good price, and I'm working on getting a nice bed...but last night I took care of the 3rd and arguably most important piece of equipment needed when moving into your first apartment:
That's right...in true Brouha fashion, I bought a Kegerator. I know it may seem silly, especially since I bought this before I bought a bed, but it is a really good investment. Here is why.

I can go get a small (5 gallon) keg from the BBC taproom for $35 dollars. Out of that keg, I will be able to drink about 60 beers. Now, if I were to go buy a 6 pack of BBC beer it would cost me 8 dollars. So ten 6-packs would cost $80, which is more than double the amount I would pay for the same beer..but in draft form. So as you can see, the kegerator will eventually pay for itself. I'm going to drink beer anyway, might as well save a whole bunch of money and drink even more, right?

For those interested, as you all should be, I bought mine at Bed Bath and Beyond (Stop laughing, you know you love it). It was $499, but Bed Bath and Beyond gives away 20% off coupons like their going out of style...so as a result I saved $100 dollars on my kegerator! It was a great purchase!

I suggest you all stop trying to talk yourself out of it and go get one of your very own...you'll end up saving money in the long run. Plus, you'll be happier knowing that draft beer is only a few steps away at all times!

Cheers!

Tuesday Session

Tuesday night I spent a portion of the evening brewing up a lovely brown ale. Man, how I love the brown. If given the choice of only drinking one style of beer to drink for the rest of my life, this just might be the one.

There are several types of brown ales that developed from the original English Mild. The term brown beer originated during the late 1600s, while the commercial term “brown ale” didn't come into play until the beginning of the 20th century.

Browns can be stylized as mild, sweet, nutty, and hoppy. I prefer the nutty & hoppy variety myself. The original sweet style developed as an English southern brown. They are crafted with bunches of crystal malt and a low hop bitterness and aroma. The northern English brown adds a bit of roasted malt to the southern's grain bill which adds a more complex roasted nutty taste. American brewers took the northern brown style and jacked up the hop character. The hop character should be bigger but we're not looking for a brown IPA. A good American brown should be malt-dominated with the hops riding the barrel of the taste wave.
Two words... Simply scrumptious.

Some commercial browns I really like

Barley Island Dirty Helen Brown Ale
Rogue Hazenut Brown Nectar
Samuel Smith's Nut Brown
Avery Ellie's Brown

The ale I'm brewing is closer to an American brown, but using quite a bit of imported grains. I like a real toasty nut flavor with a definite hop backbone. This is the first time I've used Maris Otter as the principal grain in the beer.
It's going to be a bit over 4.5 % alcohol by volume with a dark brown color and a balanced hop bitterness.

The tentative name is Bronzeback Brown (nickname for the smallmouth bass) and hopefully it can tie in with an upcoming camp-out on a Kentucky smallmouth stream with some pretty good local fly fishing guides. We might even have a small music jam session and a one-fly fishing tournament. The details are to be ironed out in the next few weeks. Sounds great to me – fish the morning, eat great food during the day, fish the afternoon, wash it all down with good tunes and some great beer.


Although I brew on a screened in porch it only makes sense that my brewing song of the day is...
In the Garage by Weezer




An introduction is in order...
Yep, that's the fifth member of our band - Bud visiting with some of his cloned siblings.
They are in the second yeast buildup for an English Barleywine I'll be brewing in an upcoming session.

Top 5 Beers of Summer

Ok, it's August...and it's about to get nasty hot. Especially if you're in Kentucky...you know that at any moment you could step outside and just start dripping with sweat. In cases like these, even though you and I would both prefer a darker, perhaps heavier beer...there are several delicious beers that are light in color but big on taste! So in hopes of preventing you from drowning in a puddle of your own sweat...here are the Top 5 summer/hot weather beers.


1.) Bell's Oberon Ale
This American wheat ale has the perfect touch of spice and a pinch of fruit flavor. The taste, the body and the aroma of this beer are enough to remind you of a lazy summer afternoon.




2.) Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
In my opinion, Pale Ale's don't get much better than this. It has the perfect amount of hops which make the taste and smell something to desire. Another plus is that this beer seems to be everywhere these days...so picking up that Bud Light and claiming that the store or bar didn't have any "good" beer is even more lame than you thought.



3.) Dogfish Head 90 min IPA
This is another good pale ale from the wackiest brewery around. This brew is loaded with hops, and while the flavor may be overwhelming at first for some less experienced beer drinkers...I think that the more daring drinkers out there will hop right in to this brew.
(See what I did there?)




4.) Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat
A fine wheat beer that with one sip will make you say, "hmmm???" It's fruity taste will have you not only trying to figure out which fruits are in it (I think it's orange and blueberry), but it will also have you reaching into the fridge to try another one. On a side note, if you want to get crazy, try Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy, which is a mix of lemonade and beer. It's really different...but also not too bad.




5.) Pabst Blue Ribbon
Ok, as much as we all want to sit around and act like macho beer snobs...sometimes you need a cheap cold one. So if you're gonna go for it, go for the best. PBR is delicious, your grandpa loves it and you should too. Plus, with the recent buyout of Budweiser...PBR is now the biggest brewery in America. So how bout 'dem apples?




Well, there you have it...the top 5 beers to help you cope with the summer heat. If you have a beer that you like to drink to stay cool, but also because it's delicious, feel free to share by posting a comment. For now, I suggest you go get one of these fine brews and, as Conan O'Brien would say, "Keep cool my babies!"

Just in time for the dog days of summer

So simple.

It was right there in front of you the whole time. Sort of like the Pet Rock. "Now why didn't I think of that?"

What is it? Why frozen beer on a stick, that's what.

That's right, the Hopsicle

Pure genius. Let's have a couple of cold ones!

Craft Ales!

While this blog is indeed about all things beer, let's be clear. We have a definite bias here in favor of craft ales. Specifically, in favor of craft ales as opposed to mass-produced lagers. Your Anheuser Busch, Coors, Miller - what have you. Those beers are fine. They have their place and we may even discuss that from time to time. What those beers lack, however, is the uniqueness, the creativity, the quirkiness, the flavor and the character of fine craft ales. That's what we're about and that's what you will often hear us celebrate here. Dude is our brewmeister and he is far more qualified than I am to explain to you the wonderful world of fine ales - why they are superior to plain old beer, what gives them their amazing flavor and character and why - if you haven't already - you should explore the wonderful world of pale ales, stouts, porters, brown ales, red ales, kolsch, wheat ales, cream ales, etc., etc. etc.

In case you hadn’t noticed, craft ales have entered the mainstream. Not by way of some giant brewery (although they’ve tried to get on the gravy train), but through steadily rising consumer demand for a huge variety of high quality, unique ales being produced all over our country and in all parts of the world.

To illustrate the point, the Democratic National Committee is holding its national convention to choose its candidate for U.S. President this month in Denver, Colorado. Already a near-paradise for those in search of really good craft ales, the folks in Colorado are pulling out all the stops for the thirsty delegates. Whereas, in the past, I suspect the convention might have been better named something like The Bud Light Democratic National Convention, not so this year. Sure, Coors is there. After all, they are in Denver and they are apparently a "Presidential level sponsor of the DNC Host Committee". Of course they are. But this year Great Divide Brewing Company is brewing up Liberally Hopped American Pale Ale, a limited edition American-style pale ale just for the convention. Avery Brewing Company, on the other hand, is brewing Ale to the Chief. Described as no ordinary brew, this is billed as “a big, bold brew packing an 8.75% alcoholic punch”. Breckinridge Brewery is the exclusive beer provider for the CNN Grill at the convention. Russian River Brews of California is going to be there with several of their award-winning but rarely available brews.

Not convinced? Liberal Democrats will drink anything alcoholic, get their secretaries drunk and drive them off a bridge, you say, regardless of the quality of the beverage? Okay, what would it take to convince you that craft ales are here to stay? Republicans drinking them? How about grandmothers? How about the Pope? Seriously, how about the Pope? Recently, when the Archbishop of York visited the Pope Benedict XVI, he gave him a gift of a bottle of Monty Python's Holy Grail Ale. Honest to God.

My favorite line from the article? "The Pope is said to prefer beer to wine and water and this wasn’t the first time that he had sampled one of the brewery’s beers." So, if you're not on board with craft ales yet, stick around and keep reading. Sooner or later, we'll convert you. God is on our side.

Howdy Folks!

The other day at our weekly brewpub meeting we decided that the Brouha House needed a blog. We realize, the last thing this world needs is another blog, but this one’s all about beer, and you can never talk too much about beer. This is simply a way for us to share our passion for good beer (and, more importantly, good times had over beer) with others. Here’s a little insight into the fellows from Louisville behind the blog…

Dude – When Dude’s not waist-deep in a trout stream or stealing some vacation time out west, he’s brewing mind-blowing beer for the Brouha House. When the Dude’s a-brewing, all is right with the world. (For the record, Dude was given the name Dude as a young pup. He was Dude before Lebowski was “The Dude,” before Bart Simpson said “Dude,” and way before Bud Light commercials made everyone sick of saying “Dude.”)

Brian - A young buck fresh from college, with passions for college sports, great music, and ultimately just enjoying life. Brian’s currently doing all he can to learn the ins and outs of the brewpub business, so that soon he’ll be the mastermind behind the best brewpub around.

Ben - A twenty something, who can be found sitting on the front porch, playing guitar, and sampling fine brews. Ben is set to wrap up law school soon and hopes to follow in the footsteps of his idols Denny Crane and Sandy Cohen.

Doug – The Brouha House’s elder statesman, Doug is a lawyer by day, who spends his down time tearing up the kitchen and gaining knowledge on anything and everything. His hair may twinkle with silver streaks, but don't be fooled. He can still toss ‘em back with the best of them.

Bud – Bud (a.k.a. Clint Yeastwood) is the Brouha House mascot – our very own yeast baby! Bud probably won’t be typing up too many blog entries (he doesn’t have fingers) but he definitely won’t be a stranger to the site. He’s the puppet master, pulling the strings on all that we do. (He somehow manages to pull strings without fingers…we don't know how he does it).

Now that you know the people that make up the Brouha Blog we hope you'll enjoy reading our blog and learning what goes on in our unusual minds.

Cheers!