Author: Andrew January 1, 2015

Ahh, the new year.  The time every blogger writes a post filled with resolutions that they never get around to tracking or caring about.  And I run three blogs on four topics (since this blog is both running and beer), so this is one out of four.

I’m a little different, I actually care about my goals. I’ve been thinking about the content of the goals for a few weeks, because there is some real importance to them to my brewing.  So here they are…

1. Build a Better Brewing Area

My wife does not like the smell of wort, and my stove cannot heat 5+ gallons of wort very well.  In fact, in my last post I lamented about the brewing situation.  This will change, and it will change soon.

2. Unlock All of the Style Badges on Untappd

In becoming a homebrewer, I’ve thought A LOT about different beer styles.  However, I’m definitely biased towards IPAs, Pale Ales, and Amber Ales.  I want to change that for a variety of reasons, but mostly because I believe someone that is truly a brewer (whether professional or homebrewer) should have a well developed palate to know about beer.  The list below is what is left at the time of typing (which is a few days before New Year’s Day, when I set this to post), and these will change before then because the last time I went to the good beer store I bought 1 IPA and 5 other beers).

• Heffenista (Hefeweizens, 4/5)
• Trappist Travesty (Trappist Style, 1/5) Update: 2/16/15
• Pucker Up (Sour styles: Sour, Wild, Lambic, Gose, Berliner Weisse, Flanders Red, Flanders Oud Bruin, Gueze, or Faro, 3/5) 1/22/15
• Trip to the Farm (Saison/Farmhouse, 2/5) 1/11/15
• Fruits of Your Labor (Fruit Beers, 1/5)
• Down in Smoke (Rauchbier, 0/5)
• I’ll be Bock* (Bock styles, 1/5)
• Brewnettes Have More Fun* (Brown Ales, 4/5) 1/29/15
• The Wine of Beers (Barleywines, 2/5)
• Keep Your Wits About You (Witbier, 1/5)
• Hey Honey (Mead, 0/5)

(*) = The Untappd count is incorrect here – I have check-ins prior to the badge start date, so they are not counted.  Not that it matters that much, I’ll drink a few more or re-drink some of them.

3. Visit Many Breweries in the Cincinnati Region

This is a hard one because breweries keep opening up, but there is value in going to the source.  For starters, some of the breweries just aren’t at the local growler house when I am OR the beers they bottle are styles I don’t care for AND they have better beers on tap.  Sometimes also they have experimental beers on tap.  Usually draft tastes better, too (at least to me).

So in thinking about this blog post, I’ve made it out to Listermann, 50 West, and Old Firehouse, and I’ve been to Moerlein and Moerlein Lager House a few times.  I intend to make it to MadTree before or just after this posts.

I’m going to limit the rest to Rhinegeist, Great Crescent, Rock Bottom (I’ve been there before, but that was as a Bud Light drinker), Mt. Carmel, Blank Slate, Paradise (my LHBS, so one of my next trips will involve tasting AND buying ingredients), Ei8ht Ball, and Braxton (I did buy a growler and some stickers through KickStarter, seems I should make it out there!).

There’s a lot more in the region (like Bad Tom Smith, Cellar Dweller, Rivertown, Quarter Barrel, Hofbrau Haus), but the reality is that it is that it is hard to have time to get to them and sample enough beers to make it worth going (and not anger my wife or drag the kids along!).  More are opening this year (Tap & Screw, Fibonacci, DogBerry… and those are the ones we know about!), so that’s why I won’t say ‘all’.  I’m fortunate this year that I have a chance where I will be “in the area” of a brewery for another reason and intend on taking care of blogness after taking care of business 🙂

4. Brew One Style that isn’t IPA, Pale Ale, Amber, Porter, or Stout

I have so far brewed a Pale Ale, an IPA, an Amber, and a Stout.  I feel like I want to brew a saison or a barleywine or something like that.  Or maybe a lambic.  Or a gose for the summer.  I don’t know, but something that isn’t ‘normal’ or a derivative (like a spiced amber ale that can be classified as a winter ale).

5. Make Headway into Kegging

I don’t like bottling beers.  There, I said it.  Like many other homebrewers.  Kegging isn’t inexpensive to get into, but it is inexpensive to maintain (like brewing – it is fairly inexpensive to brew, but not inexpensive to buy the necessary equipment).  I have a small CO2 tank, but no regulator and no kegs.  And no fridge or keezer.  And the CO2 tank may be too small to do more than one keg.  There are dependencies all around, but I do want to be more than 1/4 of the major components into kegging by the end of the year.  Depending on how much I want to look at Craigslist (etc) will dictate when I actually begin… and how quick I can make a better setup will dictate how quick I start buying more kegging equipment.

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So there you have it! Another goal post from another random beer blogger.  Got any thoughts? Leave ’em in the comments!

Cheers!