Wax On, Wax Off

I recently got around to waxing some bottles I am "cellaring."



Cookin it up.



I enjoyed SA Christmas Ale whilst the wax was melting. This beer really surprised me. I was not expecting much, but it turned out to be a very tasy, complex ale. SA is slowly inching its way towards being my favorite Texas brewery.



Finished.

Sorry about the lack of posting lately. My grandfather recently passed away. I have been in Orlando for the past five days. I am back in Austin now and ready to step it up, blogwise.

The picture above is obviously of the very refreshing Cascade Ale by Deschutes, one of the beers my cousin, Daniela, brought me back from her recent trip to Portland. Thanks Daniela.

On the topic of bringing back beer, I returned from Orlando with a few goodies. More on that later.

I once toyed with the idea of making this a beer/skateboard blog. I decided against it. It is not often that the worlds of craft beer and skateboarding collide. The latest Skateboard Mag took up this idea and interviewed a Philadelphia am who spends his time off the board homebrewing. It was a pretty interesting little column. Check it out at your local bookstore. It is issue number 53.

BeerAdvocate July

This month's BA tasting was held at Strelnikov's (Bill) house. The lineup, as usual, was impressive. According to BgThang:

1. Telegraph

2. Sam Adams Triple bock (97 vintage)

3. Iron Hill IRS

4. 2004 Avery Beast

5. Russian River Supplication

6. North by Northwest saison 700

7. Middle ages Wailing wench

8. 2004 celebration Sierra Nevada

9. Okocim Porter

10. Ithaca TEN

11. Bittersweet Lenny's RIPA HE'Brew

12. Southern Tier BackBurner

13. 2005 1.5L Chimay Blue Grand Reserve

14. Rodenbach Grand Cru
15. La Folie

16. Hop Juice Two Brothers

17. Hvedegoop

18. Flat Earth Cygnus X-1

19. Gouden Carolus Noel

Regrettably, I was in Brownsville. Thanks to Bill for the picture and hospitality.

Green Flash Almost Here

Who does not enjoi new beers? Bring em on.

GrapevineJames had this to say at BA:

I was given samples yesterday of the West Coast IPA, the Hop Head, Imperial IPA and the Trippel. That's what Authentic has.

Not sure if those will all be available, but four new beers is a mighty good thang.

12th Anniv. for Real ALe

Real Ale had their 12th Anniversary party last (last) weekend. Free beer and bbq, I'm there.



Sofia sat in the shade of the grain silo most of the time.



The food line was super long.





Music was a rockin'

A good time for all. I had the Brown Ale, Devil's Backbone (my favorite), Rye and the Lost Gold IPA (first try, pretty good).

Hmmmmm

Photo by NYTimes

So last week I put up a post on cellaring....a week later.....nytimes runs an article on the same subject. Ok.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/dining/25beer.html

Cellaring

You like beer. I like beer. It's pretty apparent. Why else would you be here? Eventually a love for beer turns to one of two things or both. The first being homebrewing. The second, cellaring.

I've thought about staring to hombrew many times. I've read the books, websites and forums. I've been to Austin Hombrew Supply a number of times, only to walk out empty handed. I've even started collecting bottles. Everything up to the point of buying a system and getting it going. But I always talk myself out of it. Apartment's too small. Not enough time. I suck. Whatever. Maybe one day down the road.

I have started cellaring though. I don't have much right now, but I plan on slowly building it up. Cellaring beer in TX is a bit tricky. I am not sure how it will work out. I have them sitting quietly in a dark closet. I hope that will do. In time I may change to a fridge apparatus. This is my short (very) list:

Saint Arnold Divine Reserve 6
2007 Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
2007 Fuller's Vintage Ale
2007 Wychwood Bah Humbug

Remember, my apartment is wee.