The Des Moines Brewster 39
GABF – Finding Relevancy and Revelry at America’s Largest Beer Festival
(Brewtography Project // Source) Fifteen months ago, the Iowa Brewers Guild approached me with the opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to spend five days in Denver, Colorado at the Great American Beer Festival. The chance to spend four sessions of pouring craft beers, talking craft beers, and partaking in everything an event of […]
Make Better Beer – Homebrewing Tips from the Pros
I recently did something that, throughout my six-plus years of homebrewing, I’ve never done before: I completely ruined an entire batch of beer. The brew day went well enough; I mashed, sparged, boiled, and hopped without much additional thought. I pitched the yeast starter after the brew chilled to 70°F and let it ferment at […]
A Des Moines Beer Drinkers Guide to Glassware
Often, when I ask a guest of mine if he or she would like to share a beer or homebrew, I ask them if they have a glassware preference as well. And while they are stoked for the chance to enjoy a beverage, their response usually is not a direct answer to my question, but […]
Field Trip | Finding a Niche at Madhouse Brewing Co.
“It sure is a madhouse in here today, isn’t it?” I wryly remarked while purchasing a few bottles of Carpe Diem, a barrel-aged imperial stout brewed with coffee and bourbon-barrel aged maple syrup. The bartender wasn’t impressed. “Yeah it is, and that’s the first time I’ve heard that today too!” she sarcastically replied. We smiled […]
Firkin Fest and Beyond
It happens every year. Winter drags along, cold and miserable, no end in sight. But then just as the calendar turns from February to March, it hits: those first glorious days of sixty-degree weather. That first taste of spring when the office mysteriously empties at 3:00PM and every parking lot at Gray’s Lake Park is […]
Field Trip | Court Avenue Brewing Company
In 1996 I was middle –school aged kid refusing to do homework and jamming to Odelay by Beck on my new stereo CD-player. In 1996, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls won 72 games on route to the first championship of their famed second three-peat. In 1996, the most common term for any beer […]
I-Best: A Beer Festival for Brewers
Even though there was action and excitement around me, I could draw a straight line down the middle of it all. Or at least, walk a straight line down the middle of an empty hallway. On one side, dozens of brewers poured over microscopes intensely absorbed on determining healthy count from a sample of Belgian Yeast. […]
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