Book Review: Ambitious Brew

In honor of my Husband's Birthday today (love you honey!) I'm writing about beer, actually, I'm reviewing a book I just finished about beer! I don’t read very often. When I do it’s only on the plane when I’m flying two and from California. I’m also one of those people that can start a book and never finish it. Fact: I did not finish the DaVinci Code. I probably had two chapters left and I just stopped. I needed them to get to the end of the chase already and they didn’t!

But I just finished a book! And I found it both inspiring and educational.

I’d recommend this book for someone who loves both history and beer. Or that friend who always pulls out the random facts they know while socializing at the bar. If you know someone like this, I can promise you this book with make a great holiday gift.

Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer by Maureen Ogle.

Ogle starts in the 1800s when people like the Miller family were immigrating to the United States, and ends in 2006, when Big Beers (such as Miller,) were selling their American made businesses back to overseas companies.

I loved learning that the majority of the Big Beers we know today, like Anheiseur-Busch, Miller, Pabst, and Coors were all German immigrants and most of them started in Milwaukee. I learned about their struggles, how they got through prohibition (beer trucks make great ice cream delivery trucks too!) and how they made all that money! While reading about the recipe development that is Budweiser today, I really wanted a bud heavy. If you know me, you understand why that would be an extreme choice for me. And of course – Ogle ended the book with the start up and success of the microbeer industry, an industry I support often.

Fun Facts I learned:

Anchor Steam was saved in the 1960s by the Great-Grandson of Maytag – yes, washing machines!

In 1982 the first Redhook beer was poured by Paul Shipman and Gordon Bowker – the same Bowker that founded Starbucks.

Fred Miller bought the Boston Braves baseball team and moved them to Wisconsin

When Budweiser was first brewed with rice, in the 1870s, it wasn’t to save money. It was brewed this way to mimic a Bohemian beer called Budweis that Americans seemed to like. When Anheiseur-Busch brewed with rice then, it was actually more expensive to brew with rice than barley.

Don't those few facts make you curious?

Hoppy Thursday : Week 5

The hops are still growing very quickly! Do you remember last week's Hoppy Thursday post?  Our tallest sprout was 43".  Check out the photos below, we're now at 61"!  That's an average of over a foot a week!  We're getting closer to transplanting them outside which I'm excited for because A) I hope they thrive and I can't wait until they get really big! and B) the photos will be a million times better!

The big goal of growing your own hops is of course eventually using them in a home brewed beer.  We haven't thought about a beer recipe using our homegrown hops.  An IPA style beer (indian pale ale) would be a good contender since they are known for being very hoppy and it would showcase all of our hard work.  For today's beer review I chose a brewery known for their IPA, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.  However, the beer I'm reviewing is much more special.

Beer Review: Sierra Nevada Estate

{Image from www.sierranevada.com}

I'm sure you've heard of an estate wine before.  They tend to be more expensive and that's because all of the grapes come from the vineyard where it's made.  It's special to be an estate wine because not all grapes grow in the same climate and most vineyards needs to use grapes from another region combined with their grapes to produce wine.
Sierra Nevada has brought this traditional wine practice to the beer world with Estate - a homegrown Ale.  Beer is made from four ingredients, barley, hops, yeast, and water.  In Estate, the water is from Sierra Nevada Brewery's land, the barley and hops is grown in their rich California soil, and the yeast is proprietary.
Buy it if: You can find it! They don't make much of the Estate Beer each year so grab it if you see it. \
Buy it for: a gift.  Do you know someone who might be really into wine and dabbles in beer? This would be the perfect gift.  It would also make a great host gift for a foodie.
Don't buy it if: you're not into the cost
Cost: $10 for a bomber (22oz bottle)