To Pick Up Where We Left Off...

Hello, Friends!

It's been quite some time since I've had an opportunity to blog about our brewing experiences. To give a snippet of what all we have been working on, we've diverged slightly --albeit temporarily-- away from the Indian/exotic flavors theme, and diversifying our portfolio so to speak.

Our recent endeavors include:

• Blackberry Wheat Ale
• A failed milk stout
• Raspberry Sour
• Cinnamon Chocolate Porter steeped with Cocoa Nibs
• Procuring a Whiskey Barrel which leads us to:
  • Belgian Quad Aged for 6 Months in said barrel
  • Big Bad Barleywine, currently aging in same, said barrel

We're changing things around here! It's exciting. You'll also notice that we don't brew IPAs. Not to hate on IPAs, but there seems to an inexplainable fascination and love of IPAs on the West Coast. And because we're all about making different beers, IPAs simply are not fitting into our list.

Plus... I don't like IPAs ;) 

Amsterdam: A Beer Review Part 2 and a Brief Look into Gender Diversity in the Beer Industry

Upon renting our red bikes that scream look-at-me-I'm-a-tourist-with-no-idea-how-dutch-cycle-laws-work, we were informed of a well-known brewery, Brouwerij 't IJ. This hadn't been my first visit to Amsterdam and it hadn't been my first rodeo at this brewery. Although the cliche of being in Amsterdam in the summer, sippin' on some Dutch brews next to a windmill while locals smoke splifs is perhaps somewhat unbearable, I still had a child-like excitement of going. Since the husband had never been we put it on our list of must-visit breweries. 

Several failed attempts of visiting later, we decided to go when the brewery would actually be open. The inside felt familiar and after a rundown of Dutch vocabulary from Tara, I was ready to order what would be a most delicious raspberry sour. 

For those who don't know, I have a love for bizarre flavors, sours, fruits, and spices in my beer. Don't give me an IPA. Don't give me a pale ale. Ok, give me a pale ale on a hot summer day. But if I'm going somewhere different you betcha I'll be trying something different.

This bartender had no idea what type of palette I had. He had no way of knowing that a small, female American had a love and respect for sour beers. He had no idea that I have this website. And that I brew.

But his question caught me off guard --it made me wonder if something subconsciously was brewing (pun intended) in his mind.

"Could I have the [sour], please?"

"You do know that's a sour beer...... right?"

[Awkward Pause]

"Yeahhhhh."

What really should have come out of my mouth was "Yeah, why else would I order it if it weren't a sour?"

There was an air of judgement in his question, one that may have been a language barrier but somehow it's doubtful. 

Upon my return from the states I came across an article in Slate touching on the microbrewery industry and it's subtle yet apparent sexism. Beers like "Raging Bitch" and "Pearl Necklace" with uncouth looking dogs gracing the labels of their bottles make me wonder in which decade we reside. At what point does an entity such as a company decide that it's ok to place suggestive and disrespectful images that so clearly point to objectifying women?

More and more women are not only drinking in beer, but brewing beer and owning companies. We have societies such as the Pink Boots to help promote and network with female brewers in the industry. We have breweries like the Golden Road Brewery in LA, owned by Meg Gill who at the time of 27 was the youngest female brewery owner. And you know what? She's killing it. 

So next time, Mr. Bartender, when you question if a woman knows what a sour is... please think about why you are even bothering to ask that question. We ladies love our beer!

Amsterdam: A Beer Review Part 1

What a busy month. If you've been following our Instagram you'll know that this homebrewing duo was galavanting around Amsterdam a few weeks ago. While on our vacation, we were fortunate enough to fit a couple of breweries, bars, and local beers into our schedule. It'll be a couple of posts before I can go through them all, but let's start with De Bierkoning, a beer emporium of sorts:

De Bierkoning was introduced to us by our Dutch friends, Tara (who is American but may as well be Dutch) and Barend. Finishing up a bike tour through downtown and heading back home for Tara's birthday party, we made a pitstop at De Bierkoning. The store itself was small, as most stores and homes in European city centers tend to be. But upon entering, that "small" feeling immediately dissipated. Shelves were lined from floor to ceiling with beers. One wrong move with a backpack and you were sure to break a few bottles before leaving.

The store was broken up into different regions, including Belgian, French, and Dutch beers. Although I caved and bought a Barbar, I chose to stick to the Dutch flavors, following upon recommendations from Tara. After attempting to buy more beers than I could reasonably carry in my hands, bag, or on my bike, I opted for a few selections that included Oedipus' Salty Dick, a Gose style beer made with grapefruit and lime zest, and sea salt, as well as a local brew of ginger-flavored beer. 

I will say that despite the bizarre name, the Salty Dick was well enjoyed. What started off as a gently sweet grapefruit taste would slowly morph into a salty and lime-tangy aftertaste. On a hot day in Vondelpark, it really hit the spot. 

Next up: our experience at the brewery by a windmill, Brouwerij 't IJ.

Experimentation in Wild Yeast: Mead

Our friend Issac recently introduced us to something we had not even thought about: making mead with wild yeast. 

Issac was a San Francisco resident. Now he's a total wanderlust traveler, in search of the next best thing (probably in Taiwan with his amazing girlfriend, starting up some type of culinary endeavor such as a grilled cheese food truck... YUM). But before departing, he handed us a long list of items for which he no longer had the space or need. I casually skimmed, not expecting myself to jump at the idea of anything (because honestly, a lot of people just acquire junk and who needs more junk).... until I came across a few key items.

Funnels (trust me, as a homebrewer, you want funnels, and you want them in lots of different sizes)

Bread Yeast (please see the post about sustainability if you haven't already)

Air locks

Grolsch bottles

Apparently, our friend Issac had a thing for "wild fermentation." Be it breads or booze, Issac had been experimenting his little heart out. Taking the Grolsch bottle and putting some raw honey, water, and interesting fruits that we had to guess during his tasting, Issac had created some spectacular meads. 

We have quickly followed suit. 

But our endeavors have certainly hit a few obstacles. Our first attempt took raw honey, strawberries, and water into a Grolsch bottle, only to have no fermentation occur. Previously, we had been informed that raw honey has a certain amount of wild yeast in it, so natural fermentation should have occurred. It certainly has not. 

Our second attempt took raw honey, water, and.... beer yeast. I don't know what we were thinking because that obviously didn't work either.

Our third attempt has shown a some activity! We placed raw honey and water into the bottle and... left it open by a windowsill to capture some wild yeast. Seems to have worked, my friends. Yet again, stay tuned.

Perfecting the Rose Water Ale

Eleven days ago we bottle our Layla and Majnun Rose Water Ale. After the immense amount of positive feedback received at Shine about the Rose Water Ale, we knew it was a recipe worth further exploring. 

At Shine, I handed out small tasting samples of the Rose Water, but hid a worthwhile piece of information: in large doses, the rose is too much. When we added the rose water and rose water extract to the fermentor, we had no real idea of how much to add. Online recipes called for real rose petals, and let's be honest, those are only reserved for special occasions -not gunna make the husband buy me roses at every brewing session, am I?

So this time we opted for a two experimental batches, one using rose water extract and the other using good ol', not chemically or alcoholically messed with rose water syrup --with cane sugar for the syrup, mind you.

Prior to bottling, the husband and I did a small taste (something we like to do to make sure we're not eagerly waiting in anticipation for something that's downright a pice of sh*t. 

Verdict?

Rose Water Extract 0

Rose Water Syrup 1

The Extract version, even if only using half a teaspoon of extract, was overpowering and overwhelming. Perhaps carbonation may take the edge off of it a little, but then again, we said that last time and look what happened.

The Syrup version, on the other hand, was delicate, with just the right amount of sweetness. The husband seemed to think that more syrup would be needed in future batches, but then again, people will feel differently drinking a whole pour of something vs. just a small sip. So we've let carbonation occur and in a few more days, that baby will be cracked up (don't worry, no babies will be harmed in the drinking of said homebrew) and our final verdict will be reached. Stay tuned, and if it's a winner, you can guarantee the recipe will be posted soon.

On Sustainability: Spent Grain Part 1

I hate waste. I hate wasting things. It drives me nuts. When I lived alone for awhile, I had a hard time finishing all my food before it went bad. It's hard to finish food before it rots when you're a small person with no one around who will help you share. Even now with my husband, we have the occasional food waste that I hope to reduce down to zero. That includes the waste that is produced when making beer. 

Beer has waste and it's every brewer's job to figure out how to curb it. Water constitutes the largest ingredient in making beer. Even though water is boiled off to some extent while producing the wort (the sugary, unfermented liquid prior to pitching the yeast), the majority of it remains. Hops added during the boil leave some residue behind, and the yeast, after doing its job of producing alcohol, can be saved and reused. Most of that waste is minimal. But what about all those grains?

Beer requires grains to extract all the necessary sugars for the yeast to consume. Grains are selected, milled, and then steeped in hot water so as to bring out the sugar from the grain without breaking down the starch. But after extracting the sugar, you're left with spent grain and not a lot to do with it. 

More often than not, this grain is disposed of via a pig farm (spent grain's nutritional value, which is high in protein, low in carbohydrates, and high in fiber, makes it a decent food option for pigs) or the garbage disposal. As we continue to brew more and more, we started to wonder what we could be doing to be less wasteful. 

Reusing spent grain is not a new concept. Multiple breweries across the country find themselves teaming up with other industries to make better use of this spent grain. Breweries face their own challenges, such as space and transportation of large batches of grain or worse, having the grain go bad before it can all be used. But as the homebrewer I am, it's time to encourage other homebrewers to extend their creativity outside of beer making.

I recently attended HustleCon, a conference for "hustlers," with speakers of startups and organizations who started their companies and have no coding experience. The founders of Back to the Roots were there, showcasing their mini mushroom farm, where coffee grounds are used as nutrients to grow oyster mushrooms.  Surely there must be something that we can do with spent grain, right?

So we'll be experimenting not only with beers but with spent grain. We've used the grain from our Rose Water Ale to make sourdough bread! A little dense (I may not have let it rise enough after it's second punch), but not bad when toasted and served with soft brie. Stay tuned to hear what we do next with our grains. 

The Passion Co

By vocation, I'm a systems engineer for an IT giant. Systems engineering has a lot of different meanings but in my role, I help sell networking solutions to customers so that their security infrastructure actually exists. 

The hours can be long. Coupled with the commute to San Jose and I come home exhausted, incapable of doing much other than drinking beer, eating Chipotle, and watching YouTube. After falling into a rut a few months ago, I came across the Passion Co., an organization dedicated to honoring your dreams. 

I needed a kick up the backside. I needed to uncover my passions because other than Chipotle, I felt as if I had none. I needed to be part of a community that would support whatever endeavors were close to my heart. And I needed to be held accountable --so that maybe I would actually do something instead of just talking about it.

I created this website as a creative space for Tyler and me to showcase our homebrews, brewing experiences, photography, as well as a space for other homebrewers/future homebrewers to interact with us, talk about recipes, and give feedback.  

Who knows, maybe the Far Yeast will be a microbrewery one day.

How It All Began

When I was in college I hated the taste of beer. 

My first experience was through my college Ultimate Frisbee team, and someone had poured disgusting commercial beer (not going to name any names, here) into the concave side of a frisbee. In case you're wondering how many beers can fit, the answer is a little over four. 

It was awful. There was no way I would ever drink beer again.

Until one day, our college introduced a pizza + brewery restaurant on campus. It was here I discovered delicious craft beer with freshly squeezed oranges in the pitcher. But this was not where my true love affair with beer began.

Instead it was France, specifically the north of France, which may be the only part of the country that does not produce its own wine. Instead, they are known for their trappist beers, with a helping hand from their Belgian neighbor to the North. It is here that I discovered what real beer was like. 

Christmas specials, seasonal delights, tripels, quadrupels, abbey ales, and the list goes on. Weekends were spent taking a bus to the border of Belgium, crossing over the country line, and making an extensive B double-E Double-R-U-N to the beer emporium (in case you're wondering, taxes make beer cheaper in Belgium than in France --not to mention the fantastic selection at these places). My obsession had begun. 

Upon returning to the States I told my husband, who was then just my boyfriend, that beer had to be made. 

And thus, it began.