My first guest blog post!

Wow! My first guest blog post got published today for E.C. Kraus’ blog. E.C. Kraus is a home wine and beer making supply company who you can purchase equipment and supplies online through.

My post entitled, How to Brew a Hefeweizen: Tips from a Beginning Homebrewer, goes over my steps and best tips for brewing a Hefeweizen from a malt extract kit without destroying your kitchen.

Click here to check out the article!!

Please tweet, email, pin or like the article on their site. I’m hoping to do more guest blog posts for them and having the extra social media stats for my articles will help me out greatly!

TWIB – Hello Raleigh, It’s Wedding Season!

This Week in Beer (TWIB) is a feature where I’ll highlight some craft beers I had during this past week mixed with some related (and unrelated) thoughts. Yes, it’s a play on the name of the show This Week in Baseball which I grew up on and loved.

This Week in Beer was all about trying new beer in new places.

It’s wedding season!

Leesburg Brewing Company

I checked out Leesburg Brewing Company on Friday for lunch. It’s in a great location in downtown Leesburg, Virginia which is quickly becoming a craft beer Mecca with MacDowell Brew Kitchen, Fireworks Pizza, Doner Bistro, the future Crooked Run Brewing, and more all within close walking distance.

Leesburg Brewing Company has been open for two weeks. Unfortunately they aren’t serving their own beer yet. They are still getting the proper state licenses. The owner said they hope to be serving in the next three or so months. They will be specializing in ales with something like 40 different ale recipes they brew offsite. However in the meantime they still carry five craft beers on tap. I had DC Brau’s Penn Quarter Porter for the first time with my WOW! Burger made with chorizo. The beer was just as good as the burger — I highly recommend them both.

Hey give Leesburg Brewing Company a follow if you’re on Twitter!

North Carolina Brewery Trifecta

Big Boss Brewing

I was lucky enough to go to my cousin’s wedding in Raleigh, North Carolina this weekend. It was a beautiful ceremony for a beautiful couple. What made the night even better was that they served two Big Boss Brewing beers. I’ve never even heard of them, a brewery in Raleigh.

Angry Angel KÖLSCH-STYLE ALE

This beer was a perfect beer for a summer day. It’s almost a session beer at 4.75% ABV and is very light tasting. I’d buy this if I came across it where I am in Virginia.

High Roller American-Style IPA

This one wasn’t as good as the Angry Angel. But I’m also not a hophead. The couple hopheads I talked to at the wedding seemed to like this one a lot. It’s not for me however.

Too many beers, not enough time

Everyone’s worried about the “craft beer bubble.” How can the rate of growth be maintained? Are we going to run out of ingredients? You know the usual concerns. My concern isn’t that it’s growing too big, it’s that it’s growing too fast for me to keep up as an outsider looking in!

Let’s face it, if you’re not on the front lines of the craft beer industry you’re always going to be playing catchup — so and so brewed this, this new place is opened last week, did you go to that beer festival over the weekend? My usual responses are, did they? I have to try it!, yeah I heard that (which I didn’t), and no I missed it this year.

I’m going to focus on Maine as an example. Thanks to Carla at TheBeerBabe.com the statistics are readily available.

“The are currently 39 Craft Breweries in ME. There are 18 breweries in planning. 11 breweries have opened since 2011.”

TWIB – Homebrews, Hefeweizens and Time Travel

This Week in Beer (TWIB) is a feature where I’ll highlight some craft beers I had during this past week mixed with some related (and unrelated) thoughts. Yes, it’s a play on the name of the show This Week in Baseball which I grew up on and loved.

This week in beer was a homebrew and entertainment filled one. Had a friend’s homebrew, tried my newest homebrew for the first time and went to the ballpark.

Boeser Brau’s American Pilsner Homebrew

Even though I’m a homebrewer (yes, a new homebrewer but regardless) I haven’t had many other people’s homebrews outside of my own. He put mine to shame! I absolutely loved everything about this beer. From the golden, yellow color to the crisp Pilsner taste, keep up the great work, Scott!

21st Amendment Bitter American

There’s a new movie theater by me called the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema where they serve you dinner, beer, popcorn, etc. at your seat (pretty cool, right?). So my wife and I went to check it out on Friday and saw Gatsby. We got their carnivore pizza which I’ll rate a 9 out of 10, their chips with queso dip which I’ll give a 6 out of 10 and their popcorn — usual awesome theater popcorn. I also ordered a 21st Amendment Bitter American. I’ve had this before and it’s one of my go-to beers. It’s light, flavorful, low in alcohol at 4.4% and has some badass artwork like all the 21st Amendment cans. The theater itself serves many local beers — Starr Hill, Lost Rhino, Williamsburg Alewerks, DC Brau and more. It also has a bar inside called Glass Half Full Taproom. We poked out heads in and it looks cozy. Full bar with beer reasonably priced.

One more thing! This is in the new One Loudoun development and it looks like a Bar Louie going in soon. I’ve been to the one downtown and I can’t wait for one to be here.

TWIB – 1 giant duck vs 1,000 ducks

This Week in Beer (TWIB) is a new feature where I’ll highlight some craft beers I had during this past week mixed with some related (and unrelated) thoughts. Yes, it’s a play on the name of the show This Week in Baseball which I grew up on and loved.

This week was a huge one for me professionally. It was the last week at the job I’ve been at for nearly four years. It felt like I was graduating college all over again, but all alone. Needless to say, I was taken out a lot this week to celebrate.

Victory Golden Monkey

I got to enjoy this beer with one of my good friends and now ex-coworker Scott who runs Boeser Brau. I recommended it to him and once I saw him have it I got jealous and ordered one of my own. This 9.5% ABV Belgian-style Tripel packs a flavorful punch but you can still taste the subtleties of the spices used. Awesome beer — try it if you haven’t.

The Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout

Long-story short, this is my absolute favorite beer. It’s not the best milk stout I’ve ever had but I know it’s brewed somewhat nearby in Farmville, NC and I have a rich history with it. It really turned me on to trying new beers, especially darker ones, after the first time I had it. It still is a staple of my beer diet many years later. If you won’t try it because I’m telling you to, will you at least try it because of their badass logo?

I heard this on the Scott Van Pelt Show months back but still think of this question whenever I come across anything to do with a duck. Which would you rather fight — one duck that’s the size of 1,000 ducks or 1,000 regular-size ducks? My answer to the question later.