01/22/2020

Join me for a two hour cider tasting workshop.  We will touch on the basics of cider making and apple varietals, and will delve more deeply into the elements of cider tasting and cider styles.  The workshop will include tastings of six different ciders, including New World, English, French and specialty ciders.   RSVP online here.   You might enjoy this workshop if: you are a BJCP judge and are interested in pursuing the new cider certification (if there is enough interest, I will schedule

01/13/2020

Last month, two of Hugh and my beers won bronze medals at the Happy Holidays Homebrew Competition in St. Louis.   The first was a batch we brewed for the Chicago Chorale's Suds in the City event.  Its an English-style pale ale brewed with honey.  It features an English yeast (Windsor) and English hops (East Kent Goldings and Challenger).  Our recipe was adapted from the White House Honey Ale, formerly brewed by the White House chef for President Obama.  The Chicago Chorale is an extraordinary

12/13/2019

Jeff Whelpley and I will present the third of six monthly workshops on beer styles and evaluations on Wednesday January 22nd at 6 pm at Great Central Brewing's Taproom at 221 N. Wood - two blocks from the Green and Pink lines and the Damen and Ashland buses.   RSVPs are required, follow this link to let me know if you'll be joining us.   Our focus this month will be on porters and stouts.  The styles we'll cover include Baltic Porter, English Porter, Irish Stout, Irish Extra Stout, Sweet Stout,