Deschutes Brewery Clone Recipes

If you’re familiar with the ever expanding, high quality beer from one of the Northwest’s largest craft breweries, Deschutes Brewery, then you may be as thrilled as we were to discover the homebrew page on their website.  Deschutes is famous for its Black Butte Porter, Mirror Pond Pale Ale, and Inversion IPA.  They have won many Great American Beer Festival (GABF) awards for their high quality and unique brews.  Venture over to the Deschutes website and delight in the fact that you can find the recipes for almost all of their offerings.  Deschutes won’t tell you the brewing schedules or volumes, but experimentation is part of the fun of homebrewing.  As they say: “Temps, times and weights are the challenge. Happy Brewing!”  We agree. Brew On!

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Brewing in Baltimore by Maureen O’Prey

Part of the Images of America series, Brewing in Baltimore ($21.99) is a brief 128 page history of how beer played a pivotal role in the city’s history and shaped the city into what it is today.  For a synopsis of the book, check out this article on City Paper; and if you’re lucky enough to be near Heavy Seas Brewery on Dec. 17 from 11 A.M.-5 P.M, Maureen O’Prey will be there to sign your copy.

“Throughout its rich and vibrant history, Baltimore has been known by a variety of names: Mobtown, the Land of Pleasant Living, or Charm City to name just a few. Perhaps “Beer Town” would have been more appropriate. Several pivotal events in Maryland’s history involved the brewing industry. Baltimore brewers were vital to building the fledgling town into the bustling city it is today. These brewers established some of the earliest churches in Baltimore. Eagle Brewery’s Harry Von der Horst helped build the Orioles into a pennant-winning team in the 1890s. Mary Pickersgill sewed the stars upon the Star Spangled Banner on the floor of Brown’s Brewery during the War of 1812.”

The 10 Best Books on Brewing and Beer

The guys over at BeerBooks.com have put together a list of 10 of their favorite and most popular books on brewing and beer.  The list contains the obligatory and absolutely excellent Joy of Homebrewing and the Brewmaster’s Bible but there are some other less expected titles as well such as beer advertising memorabilia and a history/trivia book about beer through the ages.  If you’re looking for a great present for that homebrewer or beer drinker in your life, follow the links below to see the collection.

Homebrew Competitions

Probably the greatest aspect of brewing and beer in general is how accessible every facet of the field really is.  If you’d like to try to recreate your favorite IPA at home, there’s a decent chance the recipe will be on the brewery’s website, or at least on a brewing forum like HomebrewTalk.com. Even at the commercial level, one will often find local breweries working together to create a collaborative beer or hosting a homebrew competition for the local community.  These competitions are often entered by homebrewers as a way to gain some constructive criticism and attempt to take their brewing to the next level.  But again, they are remarkably accessible to anyone with a couple extra 12 oz. bottles of homebrew and the five dollar entry fee.  The fee will vary of course, but the point is, competitions are very ubiquitous and very easy to enter.  Here are a few resources to get you started on entering your local competition.

A Case for Labeling

The label sets the expectation

It’s a step in brewing process that is often overlooked even though I believe it contributes to the quality of a homebrew just as much as any ingredient in the beer (except hops or malt or any ingredient that actually goes into the beer).  The label is what sets the expectation for the entire drinking experience.  A bottle with an interesting and unique label will be much more remembered than that 2nd IPA you brewed last February without a name in a nondescript brown bottle and handing out a nicely labeled beer is a satisfying, enjoyable gift.  I believe in labeling every beer I make, not only for others, but it helps me remember each specific beer much more vividly.  A great resource I use is a website called BeerLabelizer.com.  It’s a great starting point for a nice looking label plus it’s always fun to add some personal touches as you can see in 2 of my labels above.  So consider this a recommendation to not skip that final step, it’s a great way to increase the quality of your beer.  Prost!

-Travis Neufeld

The Dangers of Hops to Your Pets

Though rare, hop reactions can be fatal

There is somewhat of a mystery to whether or not hops are bad for pets.  With very little data available on the topic (only one veterinary journal article has ever been published) most pet owners are ignorant of the dangers that this all-important ingredient can pose, yet many homebrewers have hops around the house for brewing or may even grow their own in their back yard.  We here at Brewing and Beer love our hops, but we also love our dogs, so continue reading to educate yourself on the dangers hops can present to your pets.