What if you could go to a beer event and try amazing beers, find out about industry trends & issues and talk to some of the biggest names in California beer?
I don’t know about you, but this is the kind of beer event that gets me hyped. Having gone to all the previous California Craft Beer Summits, I’m excited about this year’s summit.
3 days of activities including 28+ educational seminars, an expo where you can talk to manufacturers, suppliers, and vendors while sampling beer from all over California. And it’s that’s not enough there are Food and beer pairings and the summit ends with a beer festival on the State Capitol featuring 160 California breweries.
While my wife and I are not new to road trips, the planning can get a bit heated stressful, and this trip planning was not an easy one.
2 – Flights
9 – States
2 – Baseball Games
2655 – Miles of Driving
15 – days of Travel
1 – 30th Anniversary
? Breweries, Distilleries, and Generally Cool Spots
A little backstory; With a big move last year, a new house and a new job, we decided to put our big 30th Anniversary trip on hold and keep our vacation on the low-key side. The vacation destination(s) were pretty easy to pick. My wife has a goal to visit all 50 States, and she only has 5 left. Although, It would be nice if they were all near each other. Buy hey, more breweries for me. When this trip is complete, she will still have Florida and Louisiana to hit.
We are using Chicago as our hub, both beginning and ending. From there we will be visiting Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Michigan. There is also a handful of “drive-thru” States we will be seeing in our travels.
l look forward to reporting back. I’m sure there will be at least a few beers along the way.
Every one-year-old needs a beer brewed specifically for their birthday party!
A week or so ago I put a poll question on Facebook, asking what beer I should brew for my grandson’s 1st birthday party. Saison just edged out IPA.
Brewing a Saison as my first batch of homebrew after my move to Sacramento seems to be fitting. Sacramento was once home to one of my favorites, Odonata. And I’m expecting it soon to be home to one of my new favorites from Urban Roots Brewing & Smokehouse.
Strangely (or way too obvious) both come from the same brewer extraordinaire and really nice guy, Peter Hoey.
Now I’ve never seen a clone recipe for the Odonata Saison, it did inspire me to brew a number of Saisons. Including one for my daughter’s wedding that was aged on Brett and peaches.
This photo was taken by JILL HEWSTON of ALLYSON MAGDA PHOTOGRAPHY
We some time and equipment restrictions (I’m still unpacking my equipment), I thought I would brew a fairly basic Saison that would come in right around 5% ABV, a perfect beer for summer.
So this is what I’m thinking
Grain Bill
88% Pilsner Malt
6% Munich Malt
5% Wheat Malt
1% Carapils Malt
Hops
I’m going to see what’s available when I hit the homebrew store. The plan is to keep the IBU’s (as if anyone cares anymore) to around or just below 30. I will most likely stick with a 2 hops varieties, with additions at 60 min, 10 min, flame out and dry hop. It might be nice to try using some of the newer varietals for this batch.
Yeast
White Labs WLP568 Saison blend has always worked really well for me. I should probably stick with what works on this batch.
If all goes as planned, this beer will be kegged and on tap just in time for the birthday party.
Here is one of my Saison recipes that I brewed back in 2012.
Threefrenchs: A Fermented Exploration 