Happy Brew Year!

Tonight I drink a Magic Hat Demo Black IPA. It's a very interesting composition with the full flavor of a stout and the bite of an IPA. It's so dark you can't see through it with a nice caramel colored head. You can taste the malt characteristics of both styles that it blends. I enjoy how Magic Hat brings something different to the table.

After much time pondering and planning, I will finally begin brewing this weekend! My first attempt will be a brewing book's recommended first recipe of a Cincinnati Pale Ale. I plan to post pictures and info about the process and how I feel it went after the fact, and then continue to log the fermentation in some small daily posts.

I attended an all-grain brewing class this past weekend that was great. The guys (and gal) at Hoggetowne Ale Works put on a great seminar on the process and were really helpful in answering questions and educating everyone on the process. Not just the whats and whens but the whys of doing what you do in a brew. I hope/plan to move on to all-grain brewing at some point, but for now I will start with the junior version - malt extract brewing.

One of the best things about the class was that a lot of their customers brought over brews of different variety for people to try out and give feedback on. The things I tasted on Sunday were as good a quality of beer as I have tasted from a brewing company's bottle. I am real excited to start my adventure and share it with all of you.