Batch #189 ~ Pumpkin Ale

My wife was not amused by my "FIRED!!" label, so to keep peace in the house, I have prepared a slightly tamer label, less irreverent, but still soliciting a smile, hopefully.

I did raise the pumpkin used in this batch.  It was a "jack-o-lantern" variety, which I halved, cleaned, rubbed insides with olive oil and brown sugar, then roasted in the oven until soft.  I spooned out the cooked pumpkin flesh, chopped it up roughly, placed it in a fine-mesh pull-string bag, and floated this in the boil for the last 20 minutes.  I used no pumpkin pie spices, but rather just let the pumpkin flavor come through the hops.  That pumpkin mash I did not waste.  Infused as it was with hops from the boil, I concocted a curried soup in which it performed admirably.

For this silly label, which will not grace any bottles (well, maybe one or two), I carved the pumpkin, backlit and photographed it on Halloween.  The Pumpkin Ale itself was made with Base malt and Carabohemian malt, an oven-roasted, 10# Jack 'O Lantern pumpkin grown in my garden, US Fuggle pellet hops, and Safale #S-33 dry yeast.

I "borrowed" the image of the hairpiece off the internet, and fired up the title and background, in honor of our current nemesis (nem·e·sis - the inescapable agent of someone's or something's downfall).

Gotta do something to amuse myself in these dreary times.

Stay cheerful,
MT

Batch #188 ~ Juniper Brown Ale

The label is a "blast from the recent past", last used for Batch #165, in January 2017.  Ingredients are quite different this time around, using Carabohemian and Crystal 150L malted barley, Cascade leaf and my backyard "Vagneur" leaf hops (latter freshly harvested and used in the boil), 2.oz of crushed Juniper Berries, and fermented with Saffbrew #T-58 dry yeast.

I used half of the Juniper berries that I used in B.165, and 2/3 of what I used in B.182, so I can go back and taste test them all, to finalize the amount I should be using for best results.

Cheers!
MT

Batch #187 - "How We Grow" harvest gold ale

In celebration of daughter Haley's excellent work directing and editing this documentary film about our Roaring Fork Valley young, beginning farmers, I labeled the bottles from this batch with the poster from her film, and served a keg of it at the 2018 Sustainable Settings Harvest Festival, this past September 15.

Made with Caramalt and a tiny bit of Coffee malt to bring out a slightly golden color, this batch was boiled with Fuggle and Cluster pellet hops, and fermented with Safale S-33 dry yeast.

Cheers!
MT

Batch #186 ~ Liberty Rye Pale Ale

"True Freedom lies in the Health of the Soil beneath our feet."
- Casey Piscura, farmer: "Wild Mountain Seeds", Carbondale CO

Truer words have never been said!!

Rye malt and a small amount of Chocolate malt were used to give this ale some color and that lovely rye flavor, then further flavored in the boil with "Horizon" and "Liberty" hops pellets.  Fermentation was generated by "Mangrove Jack's #M36 Liberty Bell" dry yeast.

Labeled in celebration of Woody Tasch's new book, "SOIL 2017", a celebration of the freedom created by the wherewithal to grow our own food, starting with the health of our soil.  How does your garden grow?

Cheers!
MT

Batch #185 ~ French Saison Farmhouse Ale

A few pounds of Dark Munich and Coffee malts, along with all Fuggle Hops (pellets) and "Mangrove Jack's #M29 French Saison" yeast, brought us this French heavyweight ale.

Photo is of a tiny birdhouse given to us by our son-in-law's Grandma Nana Reba, who had them made and personalized as a wedding party favor.  I hung it in Maude, our apricot tree, but so far, no takers for housing.  I think it would have to be hummingbirds to fit into the openings.

Maybe some insects will take up residence in it.  It's a very nice house.

Cheers!
MT

Batch #184 ~ Belgian Abbey Pale Ale

Here is a very simple pale ale, using only base malt grains, UK Golding and German Tettnang hops, and Belgian Abbey yeast.  The label is adorned with a photo taken while cleaning a beer keg, of a soap bubble film.  Was I stoned while noticing and recording this phenomena?  Well, I don't recall, but I do live in Colorado, so this is a legal possibility.

Here are a couple of video recordings I made of this colorful micro-event, which I paired with some music from the psychedelic era.  By the way, the psychedelic era may be coming back, at least in terms of clinical psychology and the new science of psychedelics, as researched and recorded by the acclaimed author, Michael Pollan, in his new book, "How to Change Your Mind".  Check it out.

Cheers!
MT

Batch #182 ~ Fire on the Mountain ~ Juniper Red Ale

Although brewed and bottled in April, I labeled this batch in honor of the large wildfire that consumed most of the vegetation on the mountain above our home, which is just to the lower right of the fire in the image, taken o the evening of July 4, 2018.

Here's to the firefighters who came roaring in to keep our communities safe from the Lake Christine Fire, which was started by a young couple at the rifle range at the base of the mountain, by firing illegal tracer rounds (military ammo), which caught the hillside on fire.  "You can't prevent stupidity", as one citizen stated in a public meeting during the fire.  We can sure try, as the alternative is very destructive.

We are so very grateful to have a house to come back to, and heartbroken for those under threat from other western wildfires, who have not been so fortunate.

MT

2018 begins with the brewing of another four batches of wedding ale, this time for our daughter Haley and Cameron Keller Scott, poet, teacher and flyfishing guide extraordinaire.  Since only the first three batches were bottled and labeled, and the fourth was simply kegged as a "Wedding IPA", I only have the three labels to share here.

The wedding sent very nicely, and the kegs were all drained dry, and a few bottles of the others left unopened.  We enjoyed both our daughters' wedding immensely, and are very happy and proud of them for the partners they have chosen.  The future is bright!