For the upcoming Febtoberfest, I've been asked to create a brief history of Hopbonkle Brewing and how it all came together. I suppose it's about time I put one together anyway so here goes.

In the summer of 2000 I pilfered a prepackaged home brewing kit from my father (he hadn't used it and it had been years since he'd gotten it) and convinced a few friends to brew with me. I was living with Sean Boyd at the time, and we were going to do it all indoors in the kitchen. I shudder to think of the equipment and knowledge we had then, but it all worked out in the end. The two friends that helped me brew I also credit for introducing me to the world of beer in the first place. These two men were John McCorkle and Steve Hopkins, (now you see, Hopbonkle=HopkinsBonkowskiMcCorkle)both former roommates of mine at 1408 E Spring. I believe Joe Tynan was present during the first brew, but nothing but a bystander. Our water supply came via a hose through the second story window; you see, the fitting wouldn't work on Seans faucet. To start the siphon of the finished product into the fermenter, we rinsed our mouths with vodka for sterilization, and suck started the hose siphon. This left my mouth feeling very very raw the next day to say the least. Even with all of this gone seemingly wrong, the beer turned out ok. It was a cinnamony flavored beer with good carbonation. Let me retrace, we used extract brewing for at least the first 5 recipes we brewed becasue we were limited by equipment. We fermented primary in a bucket, and secondary in the bottles. Now we brew full grain recipes and keg after the secondary fermentation.

Don't forget for those of you interested (I won't make it) Rogue Alehouse in Issaquah, San Francisco, and Portland will be unvailing brew number 4 in their series of month long specialty brews. This month's will be 12th street pilsner. No description as of yet.

Sorry about the delay, this unemployed stuff takes more time then one would think...

Yesterday, Joe Tynan and myself brewed up a new batch of what we hope to be a brown ale with a mellow malty finish. This was our first 20 gallon batch. Yep, you heard right, 20 gallons. We brewed a 10 gallon batch like last time only we made it a high gravity mash so we could split it and dilute it at the boil into two 10 gallon boils. We used a mixture consisting of primarily two row brown malt with some chocolate malt and a little cara pils (dextrine malt). The hops were Northern Brewer for flavor, and domestic Fuggles for aroma. We used wyeast 1084, Irish ale yeast for the ferment. So, mark 20 more on the tally sheet to the left...

Awhile back I mentioned that Rogue Ales was creating a series of specialty beers that would only be on draft at their ale houses for a month at a time. While, one is being served now at the Portland, Issaquah, San Francisco ale houses until it runs out, or January 15th whichever comes first. On the 15th at 15:15, they will unviel and begin serving the next specialty ale on the list. This months ale comes from a mistake and one they gladly recreated for this special series. They were making a batch of mogul ale and accidently doubled the malt in this already malty beer. The result was taken to the brewfestival in oregon that year and was well recieved enough that they have recreated it.
We'll have to wait and see what the next one will be...

Tuesday Night for my Fathers Birthday (We WOn't go into how old) we went again to the Taphouse in Bellevue. Some interesting things were tried. My sister's boyfriend Nick had what they call a raspberry truffle. It is half lindemans Frambois (a delicious beer in which raspberrys are left in the cask) and half Youngs Double Chocolate Stout. The taste was good, very dessertish.

This is the unbelieveable part, at the end of the evening, they said they are having a holiday promotion and dropped three twenty dollar gift cards on our table! The gift cards require that you purchase two entrees while using the gift card, but that's like going to a free meal where you have to pay for some beer!! I thought it was cool. Not sure to whom they hand these out, but bear it in mind when deciding dinner reservations for the next couple of weeks.

The Festivus Beer is ready to be served at the unrelated hanson brothers festivus bash. What began as an IPA is now a great amber with a very smooth finish and almost no lingering hop flavor. This is very odd considering it was supposed to be a hoppy IPA. Our collective analytical minds will set to work on this problem immediately and attempts will be made to brew an actual IPA. Or perhaps next time we'll try a winter warmer. On that note, the festivus amber ale weighs in at about 8% alcohol by volume. The alcohol flavor is not even noticeable in this smooth drinking ale, but put a few back and you are sure to feel the punch.

Now that I am seasonally unemployed again, you'd think I would get more opportunities to write, but so far with the Christmas season approaching and the Thanksgiving season departing, its been work work work. I am now an official house husband.

In other news, we will be brewing again tomorrow. Braving the cold of the outdoors to bring you more drinking pleasure.

Last night, The Stumbling Monk and the Chimay distributors put on a great evening with lots of sample cubes of Chimay's two cheeses, Chimay trippel on draft, and red and blue by the bottle as well as discounts on all Chimay beverages of course. We also all walked away with limited edition Chimay chalices, several pub mats, and a brochure on Chimay.

It was good to see Josh, Victor, Joe, Micah, John, Sean, Joey, Lisa, Duncan and of course, the Love of my Life Alexia.

I'm ashamed to admit this was my first time enjoying the ambiance of the Stumbling Monk (Sorry Rob) but it definitely won't be the last. The atmosphere and size were perfect for the 40-50 people that were there, although after a few beers (Especially at 8-9%) the polk-a-dots on the bathroom wall prove an interesting visual experience. I was pleased by the plethora of nationalities present as well. I first met Ash, a charming fellow from Scotland that lives in Maui (Haven't quite got that figured out yet), and then Francois from (you can probably guess) France. He is a cheese importer and it was interesting to chat politics for a bit. I didn't see the next fellow, but Joey claims to have met an actual Belgian by the bathroom. (Say that 10 times fast).

In conclusion, the cheese was fantastic, and a wonderful accompaniment to the beer. The Chimay, while admittedly usually more expensive than your average microbrew, is truly one of the best beers in the world and worth the price. It's so good, even Alexia drank a pint!! (For those unfamiliar with my wife, she REALLY doesn't like beer.)
Chimay can be found at most grocery stores. Enjoy.

Yesterday, (yeah for vacation days) Joey and Joe and I brewed our first 10 gallon single batch. We decided to brew up some more of the IPA recipe that went over so well last year. The Malts are Marris Otter Pale and Victory and Munich. The hops are (just because I like to stay local) Cascade for bittering and Willamete for aroma. The yeast is trusty Wyeast # 1056 American Ale yeast.

We used a single temperature infusion mash in our 12 gallon kettle. 26 pounds of grain and a 12 gallon kettle almost full of water was a bit heavy to move around, but we managed. The color turned out great and light golden. We had to ferment in two buckets though since we made so much.

Tune in in three weeks and we'll see if we got it right.

For those of you that remember our favorite little beer storekeep Rob (proprieter of the Stumbling Monk). He is hosting an event at his Belgian only pub of the same name. (Stumbling Monk) Chimay is hosting parties at places they are distributed along with realbeer.com. This Nov. 11th the party is coming to the Stumbling Monk. Arrive early to possibly recieve (This is what Rob mentioned at the previously spoken of Cask Beer Festival) Chimay Glassware, T-shirts, and other swag. I believe he said it begins at 3:00, but my appearance my have to be a bit later. Chimay on Draft...

Let me know if you are planning on attending and we can coordinate from there.

Weekend before last I ended up at a couple of sports bars in Renton with Joey. The first bar (Shooters) is not exactly something I would recommend; loud old school rock coverband (dire Straits, Oye Como Va etc) too few pool tables, almost empty and bright lighting (come on, it's a bar). On the plus side though, a very cold frosted glass for our pitcher of Fat Tire Amber. This spawned a short discussion on the merits of cold beer over the traditionally served warmer variety. This got me to thinking (always dangerous) about my own experience with cold vs. warm and seeking more facts on the age old debate.