Batch #218 ~ Belgian Farmhouse Ale

 

I couldn't help myself, after former President Trump announced he will run for the presidency again in 2024, as indictments for numerous crimes against our Constitution are looming against him, I had to order a custom red ball cap, emblazoned with my feelings about this crime boss who nearly destroyed our democracy.

"Humpty Trumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Trumpty had a great fall.  All his enablers and all of his fans, couldn't (or wouldn't, or shouldn't) put Trumpty together again."  ~  MT-2022

In spite of its distasteful label, this Belgian Saison Farmhouse Ale came out quite nicely.  I'll be saving quite a few bottles to celebrate with in November of 2024, or before, when the DOJ LOCKS HIM UP.

 

Cheers,

MT

Batch #217 ~ Mama Cat Amber Ale

 

This simple Amber Ale uses hops harvested from the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute in Basalt CO, where "Mama Cat" is shown relaxing in  the tropical greenhouse, where she keeps invading mice from getting away with eating anything.

Jerome Osentowski is the legendary founder and manager of the world's best teaching institute for regenerative, permaculture forest garden and greenhouse based gardening and agriculture practice, teaching hundreds of eager students each year, from all around the world.  This hops vine is one tiny example among many hundreds of plant varieties raised and propagated here, including outdoor fruit, nut and vegetable perennials, and indoor Mediterranean and Tropical citrus, papaya, pomegranate, fig and many other trees, all producing far more food varieties than any other property in Colorado.

Cheers!

MT

Batch #216 ~ Sheriff Cheney's Truth Ale

 

In commemoration of the January 6th Congressional Committee's monumental hearings in 2022, proving by the sworn testimony of many of former Pres. Trump's officials that he lied about the 2020 election and promoted that lie all the way to a violent coup attempt by his loyal followers, I had to use this cartoon in the Economist Magazine for a beer label.

There you see the "T" boot stamp in the foreground and the armed MAGA followers behind Rep. Cheney, an excellent portrayal of the GOP hypocrites who refused to admit his guilt and voted against his second impeachment.  It was most obvious that if it had been Hillary Clinton who had won in 2016, then lost to Trump in 2020, and pulled the same coup attempt after, the GOP hypocrites would have been all over her to be convicted and jailed.  LOCK HIM UP!

Cheers - MT
 

Batch #215 ~ Basalt Mountain Hops Ale

 

My good friend Robb Janssen has a fine hops vine climbing up his guest yurt, and he brought me a grocery sack full of the hops flowers in the Fall of 2021, which I used exclusively for this first batch of 2022.  His hops gave this ale a distinctive flavor, which I can't identify as a known variety, so we just call it "Basalt Mountain Hops".

I've given Robb some bottles to save and share, and I'm holding onto a good number of them myself, to let age for a few years, to see how the brew matures.  My bottle-conditioned ales tend to be at their finest around 3 years out, then after 4 years, they tend to decline in flavor, all due to the live yeast in the bottles.  We'll see how they are in 2024 and 2025.

Meanwhile, Robb has given me another bag of these hops, harvested in 2022, and the brews go on in '23.

Cheers!

MT
 

2021 Champagne Cider

 

There wasn't much of an apple harvest among the Heritage Apple Trees in the Roaring Fork Valley in 2021, so I had to buy organic apples from Palisade CO, to press this cider for fermenting and bottle-conditioning into this nice bubbly apple beverage.

It turned out fine, and was well received by family and friends around our dining table.  Alas, the following year proved equally scarce in the RF Valley, but I was too busy with other things to brew a 2022 batch.  I'm hoping for a bountiful 2023, Nature willing.

Cheers!

MT

Batch #214 - Brown Extra Special Bitter Ale

 

Here's the last batch of homebrew in 2021, commemorating the first snowfall of the Winter season, in October.

This batch was brewed with a "Special B Malt" and a good measure of Cascade hops, for a nice bitter finish, and a fine Winter ale.

Cheers!

MT

Batch #213 - Habanero Red Ale

 

Back by popular demand, and memorializing the ongoing epidemic of Spring, Summer and Fall wildfires in the American West, here's the latest batch of "Habanero Red Ale".

With just enough dried Habanero peppers (1/2 tsp per 5-gallons of ale), you can taste the flavor and feel just a bit of an afterburn, but it's never enough to turn away even the sensitive taste buds of the uninitiated.

The climate is certainly changing, drought is persistent, and most people still think it's the role of government and industry to find and implement solutions to this man-made dilemma.  Just don't ask us to sacrifice our super-hemi, gas guzzling pickup trucks and Hummers!

Here's to the earliest mechanized transportation solution in human history, the BICYCLE!

Cheers, MT