We got together with Josh at Hops & Grain and brewed a hoppy Rye black ale we’re lovingly calling “Night RYE-der”.

Come out and get the first taste of it this Friday night at Billy’s on Burnet at 7pm on the patio.

We’ll also have another batch of MUSTACHE GLASSES out for this Austin Beer Week event.

After we float the Night RYE-der Billy’s will begin pouring Hops & Grains’ pale ale.

Come early, get in line, enjoy the beer, see you there!

April 29 Uncle Billy’s celebrated their third anniversary of slinging beers in Austin [we realize this is nearly two months tardy; we're still playing catch-up...]

Yup. And they had a party and a special beer to celebrate.

Specifically, the “Dave Tripel”; a Belgian style tripel that truly hit the celebratory spot. It’s been said before, but since I put it in my notes I’ll say it too, similar to the Real Ale Devil’s Backbone, but not in a hacky way.

I was told by Ryan Fulmer (UB manager) that the Dave Tripel was brewed close to the Tres Diablos from the Bitter  End. Sadly, I never tried any of their beers, so I have to take his word for it.

Also on deck were the second anniversary ale, the “Boozer Chavez” (a belgian style quad), the GABF/World Beer Cup medal winner Hell in Keller, a cask of the Axe Handle pale, and a round up of the usual suspects.

The 2nd Anniversary quad aged well. It was very smooth wt a good mouthfeel and a raisin finish.

I also imbibed in the Hell in Keller; my first time since the medal winnings. It was a bit awash after having both anniversary ales back to back.

All the beers were $3, the new parking lot was packed out, we ran into Jordan Weeks of South Austin Brewing Co (you ate our fried Okra and therefore owe us a video…), Josh Hare of Hops & Grain, JB of Austin Homebrew, Stuart West of the Church of Zmurology, and a few other Zealots and BeerAdvocates.

Also, congrats to Otis (formerly the assistant brewer to Brian Peters) on his promotion to full time brewer.

<unfounded blogger speculation>Perhaps this means Uncle Billy’s is prepping up to brew beer in a second location???</hopes and dreams>

All in all, it was a great event with some great beers.

Thanks for all you do in Austin, Uncle Billy’s and here’s to three more years!

This is what it’s all about, folks. Blogging=free beer.

Mr. Josh Hare of Hops and Grain fame had us out to try his newest brews a few weeks ago.

We drank his beers, chilled on his south side patio, then moseyed over to Red’s Porch for more patio and beer action.

This jerk was there too.

I took notes on my iPhone whilst drinking, and I think it would be most honest (seeing how I already lost all objectivity and integrity wt my lead in) to present the notes as is:

Pleaz excuse the spelling…

Hops and grain

Alt- American yeast. Abv 5.3 halertau dry hopped wt saaz. Hops more accentuated. Hoppy crisp finish. Clear finish. Good mouth feel.

Schwartz- super dark. California lager yeast. “like a porter but no residual taste” rich but drinkable. Smooth. Josh thinking of barrel aging. 5.5 abv. Smokey.

Pale- simcoe Amarillo columbus dry hopped simcoe Cascade. Crisp.  5.9 abv. Citrus nose. Spicy finish. Solid pale ale. Good mouth feel. Refreshing. Tasty.

Red- hoppy hazzy. Dry hopped in keg wt simcoe and amarillo.  3 different crystal malts. Cara pilz and Munich. fuggle simcoe Amarillo. 6.2 abv

Hoppy brown- oh shit. Chocolate malt black patent two row crystal malt. All Columbus.  Super smooth drinkable yet crisp refreshing. 8.0 abv. Super dark. Favorite.

August one deadline to get into space. Very confident to be in production by end of yr.

There you have it.

I think I liked the Alt better with the German yeast, but this one was not bad, just not as biscuity as I’d like. The schwartz (be with you) is impressive. Super rich with an exciting dry finish. The pale was not bad, but didn’t really stand out to me. Besides, there are already lots of pales in this town already. I liked the red. I liked the red last time. Hopefully we’ll see this one in production.

And finally, the hoppy brown. I loved this beer. I think the only one I had seconds on. Josh told us we were the first people besides himself to taste his new recipe. It’s amazing. Recently I’ve been a big fan of the Lagunitas WTF, and Josh’s beer is along the same lines, only a bit maltier. I am really looking forward to drinking more of this one.

And that last little bit about him hoping to be in his space by early August and brewing by the end of 2010, sounds good to me. Josh said he is ditching the 5 barrel pilot system quick start, and going for full funding for a complete brewhouse. Cans are still in his future, as are brew biscuits (yum!)

Josh, here’s to your success and thanks for the beers, cheers!

Here are some photos Shawn took of us being nerds and taking ourselves too serious.

Saturday, March 13th, Austin Homebrew celebrated the grand opening of their new location at 9129 Metric Blvd with beer, music, food and good times.

It was a great party. I’m pretty sure the first “hot” day this year… and it barely capped over 85. Geeze.

Beer by Uncle Billy’s, Real Ale, Live Oak, Independence, (512), NXNW, Lovejoys, Saint Arnold, Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams, and Draught House (although the DH keg fell through at the last minute, it’s the thought that counts).

At one point there was a snaffu with the plastic cups running out, but the crowd got wise and went inside to purchase the new AHS laser etched glasses. These things are hot as shit, and you know the wife was pleased as punch when she learned I brought home another pint glass.

Not only was it a great event, there were great people present. The guys from Black Star Co-op were pouring the beer, Jester King were present with an impressive presentation board and brewery information, and it’s always a great day when I run into Josh from Hops and Grain.

Also, in the most random of coincidences, I was standing in line when Carl, the Beer My Valentine runner up, walked up and introduced himself and even before I finished shaking his hand Janice, the Beer My Valentine winner, got in line behind me and said hello.

Isn’t that crazy?!?!

Moving on.

If you haven’t made it out to the new location, you should. It’s great. JB explained they moved from the previous 6,000 sqf location on Burnet to the new 18,000 sqf one.

That’s something like three times as big.

He explained that part of the move to the new location allows AHS to purchase in larger bulk and trickle down the savings to us homebrewers. Nice.

Also, they have more registers at the counter in the show room!

All in all, it was a lot of fun. The various kegs moved quickly (the Uncle Billy’s Wood Eye Rye was gone before I could blink), but there was always something good ready to go.

And true to form, it being a hot day, I decided to start off with the Live Oak Primus, cause that’s always a good idea.

Thanks to Andrew Pogue for the photographs and JIB for the fancy video work and Garageband for the rockin’ tunes!

Alright. I was traveling last week, thus the tardiness of this post.

Also, it’s our first Sunday post I think.

Welcome to part two of Knocking ‘em Back at Flying Saucer. Check out part one here.

In this second part, we cover a lot of ground and try our hand at a NEW BREWERY ROUND UP!

It was tedious (which is a good thing because there are so many new breweries on the block!).

We recently visited with the brothers Jester King and gave a recap on them. Had a small update on Hops and Grain. Talked a bit about Thirsty Planet (this was prior to our visit wt them), South Austin Brewing Co, Orf Brewing, Moonlight Tower Brewing, Barbed Wire Brewing, Black Star Co-op, Flix Brewhouse, and Ranger Creek Brewing & Distilling.

Phew! Just typing all that up got me worn out all over again.

We chatted a bit about Deschute’s, Leonardo DiCaprio, Salt Lick, and some other stuff I can’t recall.

Again, huge thanks to Tim from the Get Dressed Show for sitting in and producing this episode and to Flying Saucer for sponsoring.

Remember, this podcast is not suitable for pregnant women, people who have had heart problems, high blood pressure, a history of stroke, or generally live in the 1950s.

Enjoy!

Direct link to the mp3 HERE.

We plan to record a few this month about and during SXSW… because that’s a good key word to put on your blog for more traffic.

January 9, 2010, Flying Saucer celebrated their second anniversary. With $2 Sierra Nevada Anniversary Ale pints and special tappings every hour, they did it well.

2pm (512) Double Pecan Whiskey Barrel Porter
3pm Stone Double Bastard
4pm Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA 2007
5pm Allagash Victor
6pm Sierra Nevada’s Edge of Darkness (Thanks, Drew!) [I can't remember what this cask was... if you know put it in the comments and I'll update]
7pm Randal with 471 IPA and pineapples and mangos 
8pm Sierra Nevada/Dogfish Head Collaboration Life and Limb
9pm Saint Arnold’s Divine Reserve #9
10pm Dogfish Head Pangaea

I missed the 4pm to 8pm beers, I was helping a friend move, and they all floated within the hour they were tapped, but what I had was good. I regret not getting any of that 2007 120 IPA or the Breckenridge 471 IPA via pineapple/mango Randall [and I'm sure I missed out on the 6pm cask...]. It was pretty cool that the guys reached out to the local BeerAdvocate community for Randall inspiration… you guys should do that more often.

Besides all the great beers, there were a lot of great people that showed up. We shot a short live stream edition of Over a Pint with the Saucer GM, Ted, and ran into Josh and Jeff of Hops and Grain and talked with them some on the live internet channels.

It recorded real choppy but you can watch it here.

Oh, and we recorded this neat time lapse video. Let’s cross our fingers Youtube doesn’t remove it due to the music.

Flying Saucer, congrats on two great years, here’s to many more!

S’alright, alright.

Welcome to our 15th episode of Over a Pint. It’s getting up there, starting to notice girls, it’s body is changing, face is breaking out, taking defensive driving, too big for its britches, you know, a typical 15 episoder.

For our 15th endeavor in amateur vlogging (video blogging for the non-internet annoying), we meet with Josh Hare and Jeff Russell, more commonly known as Hops and Grain. Hailing from Boulder, CO, Hare and Russell have set out to start an environmentally sustainable craft brewery here in Austin. With out going into too much detail, these guys are looking to leave a lighter footprint via turning their spent grains into dog biscuits (which are pretty tasty) and investing in canning their beers right off the bat.

Hops and Grain plan on starting out with four beers, two canned and on draught, an Alt and Kolsch, respectively named the Downtown Brown and Dirty Blonde and then two only available on draught. Josh is very passionate about the Alt and Kolsch and reclaiming the German lager brewing tradition in America from the larger macro breweries.

Josh describes the Kolsch as such:

This beer is a tribute to the kolsch style that originated in Cologne.  We use a base of German Pilsen malt, a German Ale yeast and noble American Saaz hops to provide a slight citrus aftertaste that blends perfectly.  This is a very exciting beer to both brew and drink.  When you put your nose to the glass you get slight hints of vanilla and banana.  The lighter body is a perfect compliment to the delicate German yeast.  There is very slight hoppiness to this beer and is most noticeable in the aftertaste.  The yeast is moderately sweet and the citrus aroma and crisp flavor that the noble Saaz hops provide balances perfectly with the Pilsner and Munich malts.

And the Alt:

This beautiful brown ale is full of malty sweetness and smooth hop bitterness.  Brewed in the traditional style of the Dusseldorf Altbier, Downtown Brown is cold-conditioned like a lager but brewed with a German Ale yeast.  We use a German Pilsen Malt base with additions of Munich, Vienna and Black Patent malts to add complexity.  We use Noble hop additions of Hallertau and Saaz to create a slight hop bitterness.  The Altbier style is practically extinct in the US but it represents a rich history in craft brewing.  The yeast leaves a slightly dry finish but accentuates the malt character well.  Downtown Brown is a very quaffable ale to be enjoyed any time of the year.

Hops and Grain offered a tasting of the Alt recently but it is still changing. Josh let us try a different version brewed with a German Yeast (which was better, in my opinion). I also was able to try the Big head Red, a super hoppy red dry hopped with Amarillo and Fuggle hops. It was very good. It had a nice balance of malt to hops and finished very nice and grapefruity. Yum.

Josh also shared some of his Christmas Kringle, which was huge and malty and cinnamon-y. They also had a nice porter made with Owl Tree Roasting coffee they offered at the Rogue tasting, but were out of when we visited. All good beers, the Red was my favorite.

The guys plan on starting out with a five barrel pilot brewing system and a two man canning tool. Being from Colorado, Josh and Jeff have a lot of influence from that scene, and credit the pilot brewing start out idea to O’Dell, a great craft brewery in Fort Collins (my favorite one in Fort Collins). They say they plan to begin brewing in Spring or Summer of this year and will be manually canning the beer off the bat.

Hops and Grain are still in the investment process. You can get more info about that here.

Josh and Jeff, we wish the best and can’t wait to try your beers in production.

We are drinking the Big Head Red in the video, and hopefully you can drink one sooner than later. Until then, crack open a cold one and join us over a pint.

Enjoy!