Monday, June 18, 2007

Let Me Put It This Way...

That's currently how it is. However, I would like this chart to look a bit different, particularly in the Chemisty and Microbiology areas. I will say this - I'm trying. I've been working my way through George Fix's Principles of Brewing Science as well as Greg Noonan's New Brewing Lager Beer, and I have found both to be quite challenging. They both contain numerous illustrations of molecular structures and describe processes with technical precision. That is - I'm finding them difficult.

But hey, I'm doing what I can. That's where Technical Tuesdays come in. On select Tuesdays, I'll post about something new that I've learned in the past week or so that deals with a technical issue in brewing. This week, it will be about the importance of Redox Reactions. The best part is that we get to learn together. Hopefully my strong desire to convey accurate information about brewing science will not only help me to remember what these things are and how they work, but it will do the same for the readersip. Here's hoping! You can look forward to that tomorrow.

Weekend Recap:

Holy Hell that was intense. The Harrisburg Brewers Fest was amazing! I had the opportunity to taste delightful offerings from a number of killer PA brewpubs that didn't even register on my beerdar until about two weeks ago. Some serious hats off to Abbey Wright Brewery for their Bittersweet Porter, Marzoni's Brewing Company for their Dortmunder Export, as well as Church Brew Works for their mouth-fillingly malty and exorbitant Pious Monk Dunkel.

I ended up meeting up with the ever-awesome Woods sisters and had the opportunity to pour killer Sly Fox beers at the fest! Even better, I got to come back and pour some more beers during the second session! I couldn't believe how much fun it was to be able to pour samples for fellow beer lovers. The overwhelming majority of the crowd had questions about the brewery's location, distribution, and, of course, beers. Serving them was a total delight. Many thanks once again to Suzanne Woods for the chance to hang out!

After the second session wrapped up, it was back to the hotel to meet with the rest of the crew. We mustered all of our strength, got some funny-sounding directions from the front desk of our hotel, then ambled over to Appalachian Brewing Company. The second floor houses the aptly-named Abbey Bar. Touting 50+ Belgian and Belgian-style bottles, as well as nine house drafts, this place is glorious. It will be a stop whenever I'm in Harrisburg or going through Harrisburg again. The food was delicious, the beers were reasonably priced, and even the band was pretty rockin'. (They did a cover of the theme song to Super Mario Bros.!) I bought a pint glass just to convince myself that such a place had actually existed. Damn, damn good.

Can't wait until next year!

1 comment:

Jonathan said...

sounds like you had a blast, and that brewpub in harrisburg sounds particularly tantalizing. i'd like to see that glass. also, are you telling me that a brewpub had veg food that went well enough with beer that they weren't ashamed to serve it? surely you jest!

Technical Tuesdays sounds like a great great idea. I look forward to reading them.

Cheers from the 'Kong! PROST!