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I think I might hate capitalism.   I know this is ‘unamerican’ and all.  But the constant desire to increase next quarters profits doesn’t seem to ever get us anywhere.  Strive to make a better product and money will follow.   Strive to to make more money and you end up with the current financial situation and screwing over the people that helped your company stock pile cash.  Apparently the same happens at breweries, too.  It sounds like Budweiser might take a few steps down (if that is possible) thanks to the InBev buyout.

I think that the goal should of any company should strive to make the best X or do X better than all others.  Not do X for 6 cents less than the other guy.  But what do I know?  I’m probably just drunk.

This past Sunday we brewed our first Saison, which shall henceforth be referred to as the White Flag French Saison in ‘honor’ of the great nation of France.  Here’s a quick recap of the days events:

9:30am get Joe out 0f bed

10:00am head to Beer, Beer, and More Beer in Concord to load up on supplies

11:00am stop at Bakesale Betty’s for vittals (if you ever have the chance to eat here do it)

12:45am start brewing and set goal of not spilling or breaking anything

12:49am spilled several gallons of water on the floor

1:15pm placed 7 lbs pilsner malt, 6lbs Belgian Pilsner Malth, 1lb Munich Malt into Mash tun.  Fill with 152 degree water for 1 hour

2:15pm transfer wort into brew pot.  Add more water (sparge) into mash tun to remove the remaining sugars

2:30-3:30pm Boil for 1 hour to reduce total amount of liquid and get a higher sugar content

4:30pm Added first hops addition

5:00pm Added aroma hops and irish moss to increase clarity.  Nearly had a boil over as we left the pot unattended to deal with moving a car from the driveway

5:12pm start chill with our homebuilt wort chiller

5:48pm into the carboy with a blend of two Saison yeast strains

Hey guys,

Joe and I are kegging our second batch of the zeke chocolate stout.  If you want a glass, drop a comment telling us just why you love it so much.

I love NPR.  When I was in high school a friend of mine used to listen to NPR on his drive to school and tell me of its great worth.  Not only did I not believe him,  I mocked him most thoroughly.  In my defense, this is the same guy that shaved a 36 into the back of his head to harness some unseen power while taking the ACT.  (Coincidently, ACT is also the answer to the following question:  You know you grew up in the middle of the country if you qualified for college based on the score of the _____.)  But I will confesson this,  he was so right.

Now you may be asking yourself, what the hell does this have to do with beer?  And that is a fine question.  The answer is this.  I heard a fascinating interview on Forum with Steven Johnson the author of a biography on Joseph Priestley called The Invention of Air that I want to read.  According to the interview, Priestly discovered how to produce soda water by a tour of his neighborhood brewery.  He noticed the haze above the tanks (the carbon dioxide being realized by the brewer’s yeast) and passed water over the tanks in order to trap the gas inside.  So next time you have a glass of soda water (I have no idea why people drink unflavored soda water, but they do), give thanks to beer and Joseph Priestley.