Saugatuck Brewery
A new brewery has just recently open up along the lakeshore. Saugatuck Brewery has a selection of excellent beers brewed on the premesis. The recipes change frequently, and that makes it a nice reason to visit it often. The also have a menu that is a little thin, (Deli sandwiches, chips, appetizers, etce) but the food is top notch.
And if you have always wanted to brew a batch of beer, but did not know where to go or how to do it, the Saugatuck Brewery has small scale capacity for making about 11 gallons of beer at a time. (60 22oz bottles.) They supply everything you need, including the ingredients, bottles, and clean-up and sanitizing. They can even supply you with a list of recipes to choose from, or use your own. The will walk you through the process. Brew it one week, return in two weeks to bottle. The cost is $250 for the first batch, then $200 after that when you bring your own bottles.
It is a good way of discovering the brewing process and gain a lot of practical knowledge that may come through a lot of trial and error otherwise. The likelyhood of having a bad batch is limited to you choice of recipes.
In addition to the smaller capacity equipment, the also have a large capacity brew kettle to meet their production needs. The entire staff is very friendly, and eager to talk about brewing.
This place is a must visit.
You can find them at:
Whats Brewing
August:
The last of the Southern Brown is history, as is the All Grain version. Try as we could, we could not quite match the same character in the all grain version as the original batch. Close, but not a match. None the less, it was very good.
As Summer heated up, a nice lite, refreshing Belgian White seem the ticket. Member Irwin found a reicpe at BeerRecipes.org. Normally I prefer to develop original recipes, finding it much more satisfying than just taking someone elses work. However, this recipe was extremely good! An additional batch was subsequently made. I will give credit where credit is due. The recipe is firefly wheat (I think). It is definately worth trying.
With fall soon aproaching, it is time to stockpile some good beer for the winter. Since my All Grain brewing technique results in 6 gallons initial boil volume, it is necessary brew it in a turkey fryer in the back yard. This is not something that I can do in the middle of winter. My stove is not capable of that capacity. In the colder months I prefer a darker beer, Ambers and Porters. So they will be our next trials
April 08: The Southern English Brown Ale is in the bottle, and in the glass. It turned out wonderful! This one will definately be made again. The next time it will be an all-grain version with the same color, hop profile, and flavor.
I am tempted to enter it into Siciliano's homebrew contest. A bit of unbiased opinion is always welcome. If anyone else is interested in entering a homebrew in the contest, the cost is $5 per entry. The awards ceremony / party is $30 per person. There is a morning seminar also, and a $25 lunch with beer and food pairings. For more information go to http://www.sicilianosmkt.com
Changing directions 180 degrees, a Northern English Brown is in the works. It too is an extract batch. It was modeled after a Newcastle clone, with some Cara Red and Biscuit added for good measure. Not trying to create "The Beer" here, just playing with flavors a bit. Brewing commenced on the 27th.
The stout made in January is definately improving with age, as expected. I don't drink a lot of stout, or very often. That made it easier to allow it to age properly. I was not initially impressed with the effort back in January when I cracked open the first, but I am quite pleased now. It seems like patience is the most difficult ingredient to add.
February 08: A Southern English Brown Ale is in fermentation. Much research has been done on award winning recipes and an original recipe was created based on those. Depending on the outcome, this beer will be entered into the homebrewing competition at the Michigan State Fair. Bottling is scheduled for the 2nd week of February. January 08: The extract batch of Sweet Stout brewed last month turned out very well. It should get better with a little age.
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