justin-shepard.net

Sorry to keep on rolling with the less than happy posts, but I felt the need to mention this one: Michael Jackson has died. Not the reclusive pop star, of course, but the Michael Jackson who wrote on a subject much more near and dear to my heart: beer. He wrote and contributed to a large number of books on the subject, and a book I purchased was my first introduction to the man. I haven’t read much of what he wrote, but I recognize that he made a significant contribution to the world of beer and for that, the next time I have a beer it will be in his honor.

Or maybe Germany or Belgium. Anyway, I present this for your consideration.

Also, after several long weeks, a new Studio 60 airs tonight, which I’ve been muchly looking forward to. And conveniently, Bravo had a Studio 60 marathon yesterday (though I only caught the last few episodes), so I’ll be watching tonight’s show with a fresh knowledge of what had been happening.

Tonight the White Ribbon and the Tripel (whose name keeps being forgotten) went into bottles, and should be ready for drinking in time for Christmas and New Year’s, respectively.

The trick was that we needed enough bottles for all that beer (nearly ten gallons of it). That’s nearly 100 bottles. Hmmm, maybe we should’ve been singing while we bottled. Anyway, we didn’t have quite that many bottles as some of the Tripel was going into the cobalt flip-tops. And we did decide to dump some of the jalepeno hefeweizen, to ensure we had enough bottles. It was a little sad to be dumping it out, but realistically there was no way they were actually going to get drunk. At best, they had a future in chili.

So now, I’ve got boxes of carbonating beers all over my apartment again. Time for a break, I think.

Tonight, after putting it off for several days, this year’s version of the White Ribbon Christmas Ale is being brewed up. Being a Christmas Ale, it should really be done in time for Christmas, so sooner is definitely better. I really should have taken care of it sooner, but it was a busy week last week, and I ended up getting other things done.

At any rate, one of the coolest parts of the White Ribbon this year is that it’s the first time we’ve revisited an old recipe. It’s been “New! New! New!” since brewing began last year. I’m curious to see if the changes I’ve made to the recipe come closer to what I’m aiming for than last year’s was. Not to say that I disliked last year’s White Ribbon, of course. It was pretty good, I was just looking for something with a bit more gingerbread character (I may not be fully satisfied on that side of things until I do an all-grain version of the White Ribbon).

So, in that vein, several key spice ingredients were increased in quantity. The grain bill got completely revamped as well, since White Ribbon ‘05 was based on a kit recipe. There’s also going to be both brown sugar and molasses (versus only molasses last year) for flavor and to kick the ABV up over 7%. The hops used will also be different, as will the yeast. I didn’t get exactly the yeast I really wanted, but that’s often the case when buying locally. I’ve also changed a few process related things, to say nothing of the greater experience I have now.

All in all, White Ribbon ‘06 is shaping up to be a pretty good beer. We’ll see how it goes over in the local crowd.