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Antelope Canyon and its stunning beauty on the Navajo Tribal lands: check ✔️.

Exhausted from the day’s hike: check ✔️.

Sampler from Grand Canyon Brewing and Distilling in Page, AZ/UT: checkmate ✔️✔️✔️.

Mission Accomplished.
 

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ThirstyPawsHB said:
Sorry for your loss but this hobby helps them live on. Yeah, I created some AI Labels last year. You'd be surprised to hear that "Make a picture of Hop juice dripping into a wide mouth" wasn't allowed!
Click to expand...
Half the fun for me at the moment has been playing with prompts to get suitably eldritch labels for my (largely Lovecraft themed) beer names. And yes, it's pretty funny some of the things it will barf at.

Less "weird world" than most of mine, but Copilot/DALLE.3 did a pretty good job of the logo for my "Drenched in..." single hop hazy framework.

f707649e4956ecaf43b4ae215849d770.png
 
Well, today's the big day.

After nearly half a year of BS, excuses, more tests, more aggressive dialysis, etc, etc, and ten bags further worth of etc, my sister is finally getting a kidney today after they hacked one out of me last year.

While prepped and ready in pre-op they informed her that her kidney had experienced a transport delay and she'll have to hold steady in pre-op for another four hours. Hopefully it hasn't been lost, forgotten on the plane, or run over by a truck (these things have really happened).

I feel awful for her, but she's in high spirits. What's another few hours when you've already been waiting for years, right?

This is all happening on the West Coast and I'm on the East Coast. I suppose the only thing to do is have a beer, rack out, and hope for good news in the morning.

Fingers crossed.

Was a bit over enthusiastic with the CO2 while watching the Giants on Sunday, so a bit of over carbed Panther Piss.
6A09D871-DFB9-4BAD-ACDE-F38126A7C342.jpeg


And something I kegged last week. It's, I guess, a contemporary blonde? When I initially drove back to Oregon last year,for the kidney thing, it was only for a series of rare tests that are only available at the University of Washington or UCLA.

A very good friend of mine and an absolutely wonderful man insisted that he should drive me up to UDub so we could spend some time together and catch up. While up there for the tests, we hit a couple of local brewpubs and he was kind enough to share some tastes of his flights while I scowled at my glass of water.

Oddly enough, the most noteworthy beer I tried up in Seattle was blonde of all things. I haven't had a blonde in decades, they're just the all-malt brewpub version of cream ale, right? I'd rather have a proper cream ale, thanks. Anyway, this thing was certainly blonde but it reeked of hops--Centennial, Citra, and one of the new fruity pebbles hop varieties, maybe Mosaic? Quite a nice beer, minus the fruity pebbles.

Anyway, this my first stab at what I take to be a contemporary blonde ale. I wrote it up as Noisome Blonde, but I'm thinking I'll call it Stanky Blonde. It's undoubtedly noisome, but it's 11/10 on the stank-o-meter. Centennial, Amarillo, and that unused pound of Sorachi Ace rescued from the back of my freezer that I've been feeling guilty about for the past four years. Solid citrus punch up front followed by Centennial doing its thing. I like this one.

Lotta dry hops in this one, it’ll be a while before it’s pretty.
8F7A80B2-4688-463B-9EFB-6B9026EBC133.jpeg
 
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Rish said:
If you don't mind sharing, what yeast are you using?
Click to expand...
Lutra, an Omega Kveik strain. My 1st time using (2 packs). Yesterday's Vossa-Nova was my first ever Kveik attempt.

On another note, the Omega DIPA strain never fermented correctly even with 2 packs. This WCIPA is too sweet.
PXL_20240430_233324242.PORTRAIT~2.jpg
PXL_20240430_234014843.PORTRAIT.jpg
 
Bramling Cross said:
Well, today's the big day.

After nearly half a year of BS, excuses, more tests, more aggressive dialysis, etc, etc, and ten bags further worth of etc, my sister is finally getting a kidney today after they hacked one out of me last year.

While prepped and ready in pre-op they informed her that her kidney had experienced a transport delay and she'll have to hold steady in pre-op for another four hours. Hopefully it hasn't been lost, forgotten on the plane, or run over by a truck (these things have really happened).

I feel awful for her, but she's in high spirits. What's another few hours when you've already been waiting for years, right?

This is all happening on the West Coast and I'm on the East Coast. I suppose the only thing to do is have a beer, rack out, and hope for good news in the morning.

Fingers crossed.

Was a bit over enthusiastic with the CO2 while watching the Giants on Sunday, so a bit of over carbed Panther Piss.
View attachment 847675

And something I kegged last week. It's, I guess, a contemporary blonde? When I initially drove back to Oregon last year,for the kidney thing, it was only for a series of rare tests that are only available at the University of Washington or UCLA.

A very good friend of mine and an absolutely wonderful man insisted that he should drive me up to UDub so we could spend some time together and catch up. While up there for the tests, we hit a couple of local brewpubs and he was kind enough to share some tastes of his flights while I scowled at my glass of water.

Oddly enough, the most noteworthy beer I tried up in Seattle was blonde of all things. I haven't had a blonde in decades, they're just the all-malt brewpub version of cream ale, right? I'd rather have a proper cream ale, thanks. Anyway, this thing was certainly blonde but it reeked of hops--Centennial, Citra, and one of the new fruity pebbles hop varieties, maybe Mosaic? Quite a nice beer, minus the fruity pebbles.

Anyway, this my first stab at what I take to be a contemporary blonde ale. I wrote it up as Noisome Blonde, but I'm thinking I'll call it Stanky Blonde. It's undoubtedly noisome, but it's 11/10 on the stank-o-meter. Centennial, Amarillo, and that unused pound of Sorachi Ace rescued from the back of my freezer that I've been feeling guilty about for the past four years. Solid citrus punch up front followed by Centennial doing its thing. I like this one.

Lotta dry hops in this one, it’ll be a while before it’s pretty.
View attachment 847676
Click to expand...
Many salutes on the donation of a kidney, and Godspeed for your sister’s speedy recovery.

You mentioned Blonde Ale. There seems to be a resurgence of this simple, understated style. While visiting SoCal the past few weeks, I’ve developed quite a liking for a collaboration Blonde Ale from Coronado Brewing called Salty Crew. I bought a couple of six packs to drag back to Maryland, but one of them has already evaporated. And we’re not even East of Arizona yet.

Now I’m reading that it’s one of the hottest selling beers in the region filled with popular beers. Not a lot of info out there to formulate a clone recipe, but I emailed the brewery in hopes some kindred spirit might have some mercy on a lowly home brewer (me) and share some inside information.

What I’ve pieced together so far is a mix of 2-row and Pilsner malt with a bit of wheat. The slight residual sweetness suggests a gentle hand with the wheat, and the color is pale with excellent clarity. Hops are reported to be Hallertau and Saaz, both imported, however an interview with the brewmaster from 2019 when Salty Crew first debuted seemed to state that maybe the original brew bittered with Nugget and mid-to-late hops were American varietals of noble hops like Mt. Hood. Hopefully I’ll get a reply with some hints of how to proceed.

The unknown for me is what kind of yeast to use. Originally I would have guessed a Chico derived ale yeast, but as light and crisp as this beer is, I’m thinking maybe a Continental lager yeast (Irquell, or Augustiner even).

In any event I’m getting excited about getting home and trying a recipe to replicate this very nice Blonde Ale. I need a light summer beer.
 
FFS, they sent her kidney to the *$&% wrong airport. Surgery is now pushed back to 11pm West Coast. This whole process has been a front-to-back 3-year cluster.

Now they've pushed it back to midnight which means they can't use the robot.

My poor sister, she hasn't had a bite to eat since yesterday afternoon.

If they sat down and spent a month drawing up a Pinky and The Brain style plan for F'ing up both our lives over the coarse of three years, they couldn't have come up with anything better than this.

You and me? We'd get fired for stuff like this. For them, nothing to worry about. It's all perfectly normal. I can't say that I've ever interfaced with a work culture that is so placidly accepting of rank incompetence... and I worked for a time at Home Depot. I know a thing or two about placid incompetence!

I'm ranting. I'm sorry about that, but I'm furious. For three solid years they've been placidly screwing up our lives and when they finally get their moment to shine...this. This is what they've got. This is their moment when they all make it worthwhile, and this is how they do it. What a clown show...

CTZ Spotlight APA. A mid-90s recipe that I recently brought out of mothballs.
6C46CC39-5834-404C-855C-1ADD69FA0E07.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Brooothru said:
Many salutes on the donation of a kidney, and Godspeed for your sister’s speedy recovery.

You mentioned Blonde Ale. There seems to be a resurgence of this simple, understated style. While visiting SoCal the past few weeks, I’ve developed quite a liking for a collaboration Blonde Ale from Coronado Brewing called Salty Crew. I bought a couple of six packs to drag back to Maryland, but one of them has already evaporated. And we’re not even East of Arizona yet.

Now I’m reading that it’s one of the hottest selling beers in the region filled with popular beers. Not a lot of info out there to formulate a clone recipe, but I emailed the brewery in hopes some kindred spirit might have some mercy on a lowly home brewer (me) and share some inside information.

What I’ve pieced together so far is a mix of 2-row and Pilsner malt with a bit of wheat. The slight residual sweetness suggests a gentle hand with the wheat, and the color is pale with excellent clarity. Hops are reported to be Hallertau and Saaz, both imported, however an interview with the brewmaster from 2019 when Salty Crew first debuted seemed to state that maybe the original brew bittered with Nugget and mid-to-late hops were American varietals of noble hops like Mt. Hood. Hopefully I’ll get a reply with some hints of how to proceed.

The unknown for me is what kind of yeast to use. Originally I would have guessed a Chico derived ale yeast, but as light and crisp as this beer is, I’m thinking maybe a Continental lager yeast (Irquell, or Augustiner even).

In any event I’m getting excited about getting home and trying a recipe to replicate this very nice Blonde Ale. I need a light summer beer.
Click to expand...

I was lucky to be (sorta) of drinking age in the Pacific Northwest, in the early 90's, when the whole microbrewing thing went super critical.

Blondes were a late development for brewpubs. The original brewers were disdainfully in full revolt against fizzy yellow swill, so a yellow easy drinking beer wasn't something they were keen to brew. They were, however, running businesses that were dependent upon customers that were not yet fully comfortable with the hoppy and/or dark beers that the brewers were so passionate about. Moreover, there were a lot fewer malts to brew with at the time. That's why so many early recipes were Klages 2-row and-a-pound-a C40.

Anyway, the original ones were 2-row, a bit of C-20 (when that became available) and a bit of wheat. Hops were typically Liberty and/or Willamette, often Cascades were used as a small aroma addition...because Cascades solved everything and flipped the bird at the great enemy, BudMillerCoors.

At the time, yeast strains were much less homogenized. Each brewery tended to develop and arrrive at their own strain (mostly through English methods). Those strains tended to originate from either the Ballantine/Chico lineage or from a UK stock.

The thing that I had in Seattle last year wasn't a blonde. But what passes for an IPA these days wasn't an IPA back then, either. So who am I to judge, especially when it was a pleasant beer that inspired me to write a new recipe?

I guessed the grist was pure 2-row, maybe with some wheat or carapils. The glass was poorly cleaned and greasy, so the head collapsed before it reached the bar. No hint of grain in the aroma just hops. They called it a blonde, but I think that you could make a better argument for it being a session version of contemporary West Coast IPAs. Dry in body, light in color, and stinking with hops.

I guess that's a blonde these days! Pedantry aside, I enjoyed it and brewed one of my own.

If this is of any use to you, here's my stab at the thing I had in Seattle. I used a lot of carapils because I like big billowing heads on my light colored beers. Also, I step mash, so I wanted this thing to have some body, to set it apart from my fizzy yellow swills.

The hops bill is radically different, but the effect is much the same. I used APEX San Diego Labs for this recipe. I wouldn't suggest that. BRY-97 or one of the Chico strains at 62-63F should get you something squeaky clean. Well, clean enough with all those hops running roughshod over the top.

We're from the same neck of the woods. If you're using tap, I'd back off the gypsum by 1mg. I like my light beers to have some mineral structure, but 3mg is getting a bit too close to chunky. I think it'd be a bit better if it were a smidge softer in the water department. I'll brew it next time with 2mg gypsum.

I hope you find the following useful because I have a debt to you. As you may recall, you helped me to nail down the proper ratio for my trifecta addition at my brewing volume, which you can see represented in this recipe.

Again, thank you. It made a huge difference in my beers.

I hope you find this useful.

Noisome Blonde.png
 
Bramling Cross said:
I was lucky to be (sorta) of drinking age in the Pacific Northwest, in the early 90's, when the whole microbrewing thing went super critical.

Blondes were a late development for brewpubs. The original brewers were disdainfully in full revolt against fizzy yellow swill, so a yellow easy drinking beer wasn't something they were keen to brew. They were, however, running businesses that were dependent upon customers that were not yet fully comfortable with the hoppy and/or dark beers that the brewers were so passionate about. Moreover, there were a lot fewer malts to brew with at the time. That's why so many early recipes were Klages 2-row and-a-pound-a C40.

Anyway, the original ones were 2-row, a bit of C-20 (when that became available) and a bit of wheat. Hops were typically Liberty and/or Willamette, often Cascades were used as a small aroma addition...because Cascades solved everything and flipped the bird at the great enemy, BudMillerCoors.

At the time, yeast strains were much less homogenized. Each brewery tended to develop and arrrive at their own strain (mostly through English methods). Those strains tended to originate from either the Ballantine/Chico lineage or from a UK stock.

The thing that I had in Seattle last year wasn't a blonde. But what passes for an IPA these days wasn't an IPA back then, either. So who am I to judge, especially when it was a pleasant beer that inspired me to write a new recipe?

I guessed the grist was pure 2-row, maybe with some wheat or carapils. The glass was poorly cleaned and greasy, so the head collapsed before it reached the bar. No hint of grain in the aroma just hops. They called it a blonde, but I think that you could make a better argument for it being a session version of contemporary West Coast IPAs. Dry in body, light in color, and stinking with hops.

I guess that's a blonde these days! Pedantry aside, I enjoyed it and brewed one of my own.

If this is of any use to you, here's my stab at the thing I had in Seattle. I used a lot of carapils because I like big billowing heads on my light colored beers. Also, I step mash, so I wanted this thing to have some body, to set it apart from my fizzy yellow swills.

The hops bill is radically different, but the effect is much the same. I used APEX San Diego Labs for this recipe. I wouldn't suggest that. BRY-97 or one of the Chico strains at 62-63F should get you something squeaky clean. Well, clean enough with all those hops running roughshod over the top.

We're from the same neck of the woods. If you're using tap, I'd back off the gypsum by 1mg. I like my light beers to have some mineral structure, but 3mg is getting a bit too close to chunky. I think it'd be a bit better if it were a smidge softer in the water department. I'll brew it next time with 2mg gypsum.

I hope you find the following useful because I have a debt to you. As you may recall, you helped me to nail down the proper ratio for my trifecta addition at my brewing volume, which you can see represented in this recipe.

Again, thank you. It made a huge difference in my beers.

I hope you find this useful.

View attachment 847685
Click to expand...
Absolute gold! Thanks.👍
 
Bramling Cross said:
FFS, they sent her kidney to the *$&% wrong airport. Surgery is now pushed back to 11pm West Coast. This whole process has been a front-to-back 3-year cluster.

Now they've pushed it back to midnight which means they can't use the robot.

My poor sister, she hasn't had a bite to eat since yesterday afternoon.

If they sat down and spent a month drawing up a Pinky and The Brain style plan for F'ing up both our lives over the coarse of three years, they couldn't have come up with anything better than this.

You and me? We'd get fired for stuff like this. For them, nothing to worry about. It's all perfectly normal. I can't say that I've ever interfaced with a work culture that is so placidly accepting of rank incompetence... and I worked for a time at Home Depot. I know a thing or two about placid incompetence!

I'm ranting. I'm sorry about that, but I'm furious. For three solid years they've been placidly screwing up our lives and when they finally get their moment to shine...this. This is what they've got. This is their moment when they all make it worthwhile, and this is how they do it. What a clown show...

CTZ Spotlight APA. A mid-90s recipe that I recently brought out of mothballs.
View attachment 847684
Click to expand...
Man, right there with you on the rant. Hoping it all works out for your sister! I imagine they pack the organ in a way to survive delays. But you are right what a cluster f…
Coffee.
 
IMG_20240501_224606_921.jpg

My SahtiAle ver.2.0 is getting ripe. It doesn't even remotely resemble Sahti in any other way than color but it is very good regardless. A pretty unique flavor in fact, reminds me of a young blue label Chimay or Orval, but only in passing. Really happy I got back on the wagon though as I bet no one has ever brewed this exact beer before anywhere which is why I so love this hobby!
 
Out in the back yard gazebo with a HB Exportbier. Well, actually 2, as I can just fit two 12 oz pours in this Bierkrug. 😁

A hearty toast to you, @Bramling Cross, as you've been fighting tirelessly for your sister! You're one of the genuine good guys. Let us know how it works out.

20240501_150553.jpg
 
@Bramling Cross Your family's challenges, regardless of the brick walls you're encountering, are being won by your love and shear diligence! It's easy to be a hero for a short time but year end and year out heroes are rare. Best wishes for your sister's success and cheers to you. You're personal character will be an inspiration to someone somewhere, guaranteed. 🍻

Who doesn't love new beer toys. One can see where I added 3lbs of DME.

PXL_20240501_214929044~2.jpg
 
Last edited:
MaxStout said:
Out in the back yard gazebo with a HB Exportbier. Well, actually 2, as I can just fit two 12 oz pours in this Bierkrug. 😁

A hearty toast to you, @Bramling Cross, as you've been fighting tirelessly for your sister! You're one of the genuine good guys. Let us know how it works out.

View attachment 847709
Click to expand...
Cheers Max!! :mug:
 

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