Lately, I have been thinking about what I want this blog to BE....let's be serious, it's a portal for me to transfer my rants about craft beer from mind to cyberspace

I am not writing for or to anyone except my single loyal follower (he might not even be that loyal) who I'm certain carries the same passion as myself when it comes to that sublime beverage we know as beer. I have not been brewing much lately so not a TON of news there but I will write a bit about the last two batches of beer... First off, a smokey, malty, full-bodied brown ale. I built the recipe to cater to my thirst for a mild smokiness in the more robust styles (porter, stout, wee-heavy). Final ABV is around 6.5 after a month sitting in secondary (and a slow but steady fermentation in the secondary). It will only get better with age.

The second, an english bitter. We stole the recipe from a traditional english ale recipe book and though we have brewed it four times, we can't seem to get the abv to cooperate and I know it all starts with the mash. We can't seem to hold a steady temperature for long enough, our temperature drops too low and we end up with too much fermentable materials. The challenge continues and is ever changing. Regular blog postings hopefully to follow.