Another year winds down, but instead of wondering where the year went, I’m glad to see 2010 scoot its butt out the door. I’m ready to welcome 2011 and all it has to offer.

2010 was a quieter year for our homebrewing. Our wedding was in November 2009, so we took time off from brewing for that. Surprisingly, we only brewed twice in 2010: the Extra Fancy Brown Ale (which we have yet to review) and the  Bee Sting Ale, one of our favorite recipes from 2009. We also had friends over for a brew day, so they could experience what goes into making our favorite fermented beverage. We had an awesome time, and once we got the Bee Sting into the bottle and carbonated (yes, it took us 3.5 months to get the damn thing bottled), we knew we had a winner on our hands.

So why did we homebrew less? There were a number of factors.

• A little bit of brewing burnout
• Ray began working toward becoming a full-time indie game developer
• We had so much beer aging that there was barely any room to put it
• The condo went on the market

I’m also a firm believer in not forcing myself to do something when I’m not feeling up to it. And in the earlier part of the year, I just wasn’t feeling like homebrewing and writing about it. But the spring arrived, we brewed the brown ale, then summer came, we brewed the Bee Sting, and as Ray got more and more involved with his first game, he had less time. So, it was up to me to take the reins of Bathtub Brewery, and I think it’s worked well.

Ray’s still here. He does all the tastings with me and sometimes even pops in with a video. And that works. We’re still a homebrewing team — I just do the writing now.

On top of that, I joined the Ladies of Craft Beer as a contributor, offering reviews of craft beer, homebrewing advice, cooking/baking with beer recipes and an occasional opinion piece now and then. It feels good to be part of a community of women teaching other women about craft beer.

Though 2010 may have been a quiet year for our homebrewing, it was anything but quiet in regard to the beer festivals we attended. We kicked the year off with the High Street Grill Winterfest, which was unfortunately crowded, cold and too short. But our friends Ryan and LeeAnne came with us and we had fun nonetheless.

In May, we made it back to one of our favorite fests, the The Brandywine Valley’s Craft Brewers Festival at Iron Hill in Media. The fest was great as always, and Ray even managed to get video of me snagging a sample of one of the two rare beers Iron Hill Media poured into the frenzied crowd (for the record, I managed to snag samples of both).

In June, we attended SAVOR with Ryan in tow. The beers were excellent, the food was meh, and now we have to decide if the festival is worth its $95 ticket price for 2011.

July saw us stumbling into the Royal Stumble with Ryan, LeeAnne and a whole horde of revelers. As always, the Stumble was excellent, and topped off by a few roller derby bouts.

In August, we sent a bottle of our Barleywine with the Dish Trip crew to have it delivered to Charlie at Harpoon Brewery in Boston. Apparently he liked it, a lot.

September was our busy month. Before leaving for Denver, I represented Sly Fox at Geraghty’s Fall Beer and Food Fest, seeing first hand what it was like to be behind the table at a fest. Then we hopped on a plane and did a crapload of amazing things in Denver, including attending our first GABF. Wow wow wow!

Earlier this month, Ray and I attended a Philly Food Bloggers Potluck, where we chatted with Amanda Hesser about homebewing, served her, Dave from Victory Beer and some of the guests our beer. To say our homebrews were well-received is an understatement.

Huh. Looking at this mammoth post, I guess you could say that we didn’t have that quiet of a year. We may have scaled back on our brewing, but we were out in full force participating in the craft beer community.

As for 2011, we already have a Dubbel on the docket — now we just need to write the recipe. We may never get back to brewing monthly, but I think we will get back to brewing when the creativity strikes. That’s not a bad thing.

Happy New Year!

Craft Beer, Homebrewing, Miscellany 1 Comment »

This Christmas, Ray and I joined our friends Ryan and LeeAnne at their quaint Philly row home for a Christmas night of noshes and craft beer.

Joined by the effervescent Amy, her boyfriend Bob and his brother Tim, we feasted upon soup and stew and meat and cheese boards, stuffed dates, tzatziki-filled cucumber cups, cookies and more. An excellent night had by all as we often filled our glasses and laughed ourselves silly while playing Cranium. We couldn’t have asked for a better end to our family and friend-packed Christmas celebrations. We hope you all had a merry and beer-filled time as well.

Photos courtesy of Amy’s camera and Tim’s photo-snapping skills

Miscellany 2 Comments »

This past Wednesday night, Ray and I attended The Essential New York Times Cookbook Philly Food Blogger Potluck and Book Signing, hosted by NYT food columnist and food52 founder Amanda Hesser, Audra Wolfe of Doris and Jilly Cook, Marisa McClellan of Food in Jars and Victory Brewing. Attendees were encouraged to bring their favorite dish from the NYT, whether it be the paper, a cookbook, or even the newest cookbook.

I selected a Devil’s Food Cake cupcake recipe to reflect my baking blog, MelBee Says…, but decided that I needed something to reflect Bathtub and my writings for the Ladies of Craft Beer. After checking with lovely PR gal extraordinaire Katarina that I wouldn’t be stepping on Victory’s toes, I decided to bring some of our homebrews.

A six-pack of this year’s Bee Sting and a bomber each of the Barleywine and Ginpel traveled alongside the cupcakes. And suffice to say, I think the homebrews were a bigger hit.

The first shocker of the night was when Amanda came over to chat a bit—I did my best to keep my cool, sipping Storm King and devouring Derek’s Sesame Noodles topped with peanuts. We discussed the dish, Ray’s peanut allergy, and then somehow got onto the topic of beer and homebrews. Ray and I chattered at her about the joys of homebrewing and she seemed genuinely interested, asking questions.

We also met Dave, online media guru for Victory, and got to talking about homebrewing and craft beer in general. It wasn’t long before bottles of Bee Sting were cracked open, red silo cups were partially filled and our own mini tasting began as other food bloggers, unaware of the huddle by the beer table, ate myriad NYT dishes and traded blog URLs. Dave was blown away by the Bee Sting, as was our newly-made homebrewing friend Christina. A few other party-goers became wise to the growing group of people around the drinks table and more cups were passed around.

Ray then cracked open the Ginpel. Our friend Jen requested that it’s aroma be made into a perfume. Others complimented the nose, and Ray realized that the bomber seemed more mellow than the 12 oz bottle we had shared for our tasting earlier in the week. More cups were passed around.
At one point, someone shepherded Amanda over, and a sample of Bee Sting was poured for her. She liked it, and even said so later on Twitter(!)

Dave also gave our homebrews a shoutout via Twitter the next day, but what he said before the end of the evening still rings in my ears. After trying the Barleywine and beginning to pack up his table, he told Ray and me that we had it in us to go pro. He complimented our skill and noted our passion for beer. I was probably grinning like an idiot, but it felt so good to be paid such a high compliment. What a night!

Homebrewing, Miscellany 2 Comments »

Approximately a year and 3 months ago, we brewed the Ginpel; a Frankenstein of a beer, inspired by Ray pouring a shot of Dogfishhead’s Jin into our homebrewed Tripel.

While we’ve been drinking the Ginpel, I always found it to be too strong in juniper and alcohol flavor. But today we decided it was time to crack one open, and I’m glad we did.

Unlike our usual tastings, there was only one 12 oz bottle of Ginpel in the fridge, so we split it (instead of the usual bottle apiece). It seems when Ray poured the beer, a bit of sediment got in my glass, which is reflected in the separated tasting notes below.

TOP OF THE BOTTLE (Ray)
Appearance: Bright golden orange. Clear. Thin, white head.

Nose: Mainly juniper. Some citrus and spices as well, but the biggest note is the juniper.

Taste: Lots of juniper and fruity candy sweetness. Subtle clove, citrus, and rosemary notes.

Mouthfeel: Light to medium and very smooth.

Overall: Definitely a little heavy handed on the juniper, still evident even a year plus later. Can’t decide whether it nails the gin/tripel so well despite or because of the extra juniper. Worth doing again with less juniper, regardless, if only to let the other spices show themselves.

BOTTOM OF THE BOTTLE (Mel)
Appearance: Thin white head, deep amber in color, slightly hazy.

Nose: Very herbal. The juniper pops, and there are hints of sweetness and citrus.

Flavor: Herbs and spices dominate (makes me think this would be good to cook with). Very smooth. Alcohol taste has mellowed considerably—this does not taste like a 11.4% ABV beer.

Mouthfeel: Medium and smooth; a little dry.

Overall: I’m happy to see how much this beer has mellowed. The juniper still dominates, and the recipe could benefit from it being scaled back a bit. I think this is a beer that a straight-gin drinker would really enjoy.

Homebrewing, Tasting 2 Comments »