A Great Night at the Brewery

It was all smiles at the Shakopee Town Brewery last night. On the agenda was moving a batch of beer from secondary fermenter to keg and one batch from primary fermenter to secondary. I’m getting my last two batches of beer ready for my big 40th birthday party in early June.

I checked my Facebook after I got my equipment ready to sanitize for these jobs and noticed an exciting note from my buddy, and fellow homebrewer, Joe. He said, “Dude, you made the Chaska Herald…..congrats!” That got my heart rate going. About a week ago, reporter Todd Abeln from the Shakopee Valley News came and interviewed me about homebrewing and snapped a few pictures. He said the story would probably run in the Shakopee, Eden Prairie, Chaska, and Prior Lake local newspapers. It was a fun time, and I was really looking forward to seeing the story. After getting the message from Joe, I jumped in the Brewtourmobile and headed over to Chaska to buy a newspaper. I picked up a copy and saw my picture on the front page. I have to say, THAT is a great feeling. Inside on page A12 was a whole page of pictures of my garage and the great story that Todd wrote about me and my favorite hobby.

After enjoying my newspaper reading, I had some work to do. I cleaned and sanitized all of my equipment and decided to keg my Jose Canseco “Juiced” Lager. This is a beer that I call “Honey Steam On Steroids” It’s the same basic recipe as my Fozzie’s honey steam made with twice the malt sugar, three times the hops, and dry-hopped for extra measure. I poured myself a small glass of it as it was going into the keg and gave it a taste after the keg was sealed. Given, this beer was room temperature and flat, but it has the potential to be the best beer I’ve ever made. I offered up a taste to the lovely Debra, and she wrinkled her nose and said no thank you. She prefers cold, carbonated beer. I said, “You HAVE to try this.” She took a sip… smiled… and kept the rest for herself. That’s when I knew this one was special.

Next up was getting the “Red White and Brew” American Pale ale into the secondary with an ounce of Citra hops. The aroma of this one was very nice as well. I can’t wait to taste this one after it spends a week with the hops.

A fantastic evening indeed. I’ll keep you posted on Todd’s article as soon as it’s available online. I’ll also keep you posted on how my last two birthday brews are progressing.
Cheers!
Jesse