Hop Storm - DIPA

Born on February 22nd 2011

HOP STORM eminent - Lupulin warning in effect

At the taps Tuesday Feb 22nd 2011 at 5:00pm we have 'Hop Storm' double India Pale Ale. This is another SMaSH (Single Malt and Single Hop) brew, but not really - the new hop utilized here 'Falconer's Flight' is actually a blend of several hops including Simcoe, Citra, Sorachi Ace, a new numbered only hop cultivar and several other Northwest varieties.

Hammered with 7 lbs of hops per barrel, this is a massive, massive taste of the new hop blend that doesn't disappoint. If you like hops, be sure to get on this one.


Vital Stats:
Gravity - 18.5P/1.077
IBUs ~ 100+ (235 calculated)
Hop Rate – 7.0 lbs/bbl
ABV - 8.7 %
Hops - Falconer's Flight
Colour ~ 7.5 SRM
Malts - Pale Ale


Hopunion LLC will be contributing proceeds from each Falconer’s Flight™ purchase to the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation. The unique hop blend was created to honor and support the legacy of Northwest brewing legend, Glen Hay Falconer, more info below.

It is with great pleasure that Hopunion LLC announces the release of Falconer’s Flight™, an exclusive proprietary hop blend created to honor and support the legacy of Northwest brewing legend, Glen Hay Falconer.

In celebration of Glen’s cutting edge style and the ever-evolving nature of the craft beer industry, Hopunion has developed Falconer’s Flight™. This novel proprietary pellet blend is comprised of many of the Northwest’s most unique hop varieties and is perfect for any Northwest-style IPA. Each hop has been hand selected for its superior aromatic qualities, imparting distinct tropical, citrus, floral, lemon and grapefruit tones.

To honor Glen and support his legacy, Hopunion LLC will be contributing proceeds from each Falconer’s Flight™ purchase to the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation.

Falconer's Flight™ is a proprietary pellet blend comprised of many of the Northwest's most premier hop varieties including the highly acclaimed Citra™ and Simcoe® along with experimental hops and numerous other NW varieties.

Usage: Dual (great bittering qualities and fantastic aroma profile)
Description: Tropical Fruit, Citrus, floral, lemon and Grapefruit character
Alpha Acid: 10.5%
Beta Acid: 4.3%
Cohumulone: 27%

Bacon-Off 2011 Recap

Ladies and Gentlemen....


And the BIG PIG Trophy goes to.....
Alan McKay with his 'classic' bacon! That's right, no crazy flavours just plain old good bacon. I heard that was some good shit. However, I didn't get a taste! Ya hear me Alan? Congratulations brother, a well deserved win, but be warned - I'll be gunnin' for you next year. You can follow more of  Alan's charcuterie adventures on his blog right here: http://www.urbanhippy.ca/

Both 2nd and third places both went to yours truly! 2nd place for my Cinnamon bacon and 3rd place for my Rosemary bacon.

A 3rd entry from yours truly was decided as the 'Brewnosers Choice' for my Carribean Bacon.

Congratulations again to Allan and everyone else involved. I'm looking forward to seeing you all make total pigs of yourselves again next year! Extra big thanks to the Brewnosers Beer Appreciation Club and of course the team of judges; Jeff Pinhey, Zane Kelsall, Bruce Keith and John Carpenter.

Here's a couple action shots from the event. Click on the photos to enlarge...

 

 

Bent - Brown Ale

Born on February 8th 2011

Our latest brew to hit the taps on Tuesday February 8th at 4:00pm is 'Bent', a wee brown ale infused with Guatemalan Finca La Soledad and the rare Ethiopian Wollondi espresso beans. Huge kudos go to Phil & Sebastian Coffee Roasters and Zane of Two If By Sea Cafe for hooking us up with these fabulous coffees.

Enjoy.


Vital Stats:
Gravity - 14.6P/1.059
IBUs ~ 19
Hop Rate – 0.5 lbs/bbl
ABV - 6.0 %
Hops - Celeia
Colour ~ 21 SRM
Malts - Pale Ale, Carastan, Crystal 150, Chocolate, Carafa III, Dextrine (CaraPils)
Other - Guatemalan Finca La Soledad, Ethiopian Wollondi Coffee Beans

 

At the Taps...

Well folks, our 90 Degree IPA sold out last night! A sad sad day indeed. All is not lost though, we still have the delicious Commissar RIS on tap.

On Deck we have a new Brown Ale infused with some very special coffee beans that will be coming online within the next couple days.

Behind that we have another monstrous DIPA SMaSH brew, this time brewed with the recently released hop blend from Hop Union - Falconer's Flight. Calculated to 235 IBUs and pummeled with over 5 lbs/bbl we are going to have a true taste test of this new hop blend.

Here's some info about the new hop blend to chew on while we're waiting....

It is with great pleasure that Hopunion LLC announces the release of Falconer’s Flight™, an exclusive proprietary hop blend created to honor and support the legacy of Northwest brewing legend, Glen Hay Falconer.

In celebration of Glen’s cutting edge style and the ever-evolving nature of the craft beer industry, Hopunion has developed Falconer’s Flight™. This novel proprietary pellet blend is comprised of many of the Northwest’s most unique hop varieties and is perfect for any Northwest-style IPA. Each hop has been hand selected for its superior aromatic qualities, imparting distinct tropical, citrus, floral, lemon and grapefruit tones.

To honor Glen and support his legacy, Hopunion LLC will be contributing proceeds from each Falconer’s Flight™ purchase to the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation.

Falconer's Flight™ is a proprietary pellet blend comprised of many of the Northwest's most premier hop varieties including the highly acclaimed Citra™ and Simcoe® along with experimental hops and numerous other NW varieties.

Usage: Dual (great bittering qualities and fantastic aroma profile)
Description: Tropical Fruit, Citrus, floral, lemon and Grapefruit character
Alpha Acid: 10.5%
Beta Acid: 4.3%
Cohumulone: 27%

Bacon-Off 2011

We're hosting Halifax's 1st Bacon-Off on Tuesday Feb 8^th 2011 7:30pm at the pub! That's right, a bacon-making competition. Imagine, sweet sweet bacon coming in any flavour you can imagine, cured with spices, herbs, exotic sugars or infused with your favorite booze.

Grab some pork belly, cure it, smoke it, bring it. It's just that simple!

Entry guidelines:

- Must be pork belly bacon.
- Entries should be turned in by 6:30pm

- Submit a minimum 1 lb 'chunk' unsliced bacon
- Up to 4 different bacons per person may be entered

- No commercially sold bacon permitted

- Competition is open to all, from the pro Chef to home Charcuterie nut

- Pork belly must be federally inspected meat

Judging will be based on flavour, salt/sugar balance, appearance and creativity with the main focus based on overall impression.

* One of our chefs will prepare all entries for judging

* 4 Judges will determine the overall winner

* Brewnosers Choice Award as selected by members of the Brewnosers beer appreciation club

* Winner receives bragging rights (come on, it's bacon!) and of course - the trophy for your mantle

From the latest issue of MacLean's Magazine:
http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/02/01/no-holding-the-bacon/

No holding the bacon

Demand and prices are soaring. Even the pork-belly futures market is at risk.
by Nancy Macdonald on Tuesday, February 1, 2011 9:00am


Maybe it was the Wendy’s Baconator, an alarmingly thick hamburger packed with six strips of bacon, with sales of over 25 million in the first two months after its debut in 2007. Or it could have been Baconnaise: yes, that’s bacon-infused mayonnaise. Whatever the cause, by the time the recipe for “bacon explosion”—a barbequed brick of meat wrapped in two pounds of the crispy treat—appeared on the Internet in 2009, North America’s love affair with bacon was in full swing. The artery-clogging side dish had already inspired everything from new desserts, doughnuts and liquors to alarm clocks that wake you with the smell and sizzle of the real thing. Fast-food restaurants, of course, offer it atop a range of calorie-, fat- and sodium-soaked burgers, wraps and breakfast sandwiches. Even high-end restaurants have made it a big part of the menu, while bacon-wrapped asparagus and dates are popular cocktail treats.

All this demand has sent prices soaring. In fact, bacon currently retails for more than pork chops and ground beef, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics. And the wholesale price of pork bellies, the stuff used to make bacon, rose 72 per cent last year. Traditionally, demand for bacon drops off during the winter months, and producers store and freeze pork bellies. “Bacon tends to be a seasonal food—BLT sandwiches are a popular summer meal,” says Tom Cawthorne, director of hog marketing at R.J. O’Brien & Associates, a Chicago-based brokerage firm. But these days, pork bellies are being produced and sold immediately, leaving the pork-belly futures market, which bets on future frozen supplies, in jeopardy.

The weak U.S. dollar is also adding to demand, says Cawthorne. “American producers are shipping a lot,” he says, “mostly to China and Russia.” And key overseas exporters are facing supply problems of their own. An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in South Korea has forced a 15 per cent cull of its hog population. Meanwhile, a dioxin contamination in Germany has resulted in a temporary ban on both hog and poultry exports.

But if you thought all this spelled good news for Canada’s pork producers, think again, says Manitoba Pork Council chair Karl Kynoch. The animals eat like, well, pigs, he explains, and feed costs are through the roof, with corn at $6 per bushel, up from $3.50 last June. “That’s really eating into profits,” says Kynoch, adding that producers are “losing on every hog they produce.” And grain prices, he fears, could jump another 15 per cent, fuelled by high demand for everything from ethanol to sweeteners.

So consumers should expect retail prices to remain high, says Cawthorne, especially as more and more choose to “make it bacon.”

Now here's a little bacon porn to get you into the spirit! Mmmmmmmmm. Bacon good.