Distracted but brewing and beer research continues...

Yes, that time of year again for those of us with smaller children - end of school. Why is it seems the last week or so of school is the busiest for the parents but the kids don't really do much of anything to do with school? This is one distraction that has kept me from posting for quite some time.

I've also been quite busy with airing of my most recent appearances on The Brewing Network's "The Jamil Show - Can You Brew It?" as a British brewing correspondent. There have been three programs to date, the first being Black Sheep Brewery's "Riggwelter" dark ale. Had a fabulous time doing a phone interview with Head Brewer Alan Dunn that was then aired on the program. Also really enjoyed my first "live" appearance on the program. Jamil is perhaps the most decorated homebrewer in America and his knowledge of brewing and beer styles is simply quite amazing for someone that does not brew as a profession. I highly encourage you to buy his book, Brewing Classic Styles, whether you are a homebrewer or not.

It is the best book on worldwide beer styles that I've read and, lucky for we homebrewers, is full of award winning recipes. The next two programs were for Fuller's ESB and London Pride. I had no idea how great this assignment would be. Just visiting the historic Fuller's Griffin Brewery in London last fall was exciting enough but sitting in Head Brewer John Keeling's office for well over an hour talking about parti-gyle brewing and Fuller's beers was a privilege and experience that I'm still pinching myself from that it actually did happen. John has been incredibly helpful since the interview as well with follow up questions and I have some great discussion via email with various folks since the shows. My thanks, John! And, thanks so much to Jamil Zainasheff and Justin Crossley at the BrewingNetwork for giving me the opportunity and helpful with technical details, respectively.

Speaking of books on beer styles, for British style beers, there is no better book than Martyn Cornell's "Amber, Gold and Black". Unfortunately, it is not yet available in the US. If you're too impatient to wait, I'd recommend ordering it from my good friend Paul Travis at BeerInnPrint in the UK. And one of Martyn's other books, "Beer The Story of the Pint" is also fabulous.

Also, on the homebrew front, I mentioned during the Riggwelter show that the whole reason why I started homebrewing some 13 years ago was in an effort to clone Caledonian Brewery's "Deuchars IPA". I cannot state how many different batches of this I've tried over the years constantly varying the recipe to try to get closer to the original. I figured other than moving to Scotland (which I would still do in a heartbeat if I could get a worthwhile job there), this is the only way I would get anything similar to this great beer as it is not available in the States. Well, an attentive listener from Glasgow, Geoff Traill, gave me a recipe he came up with. On brewing day after having already started I discovered I didn't have the hop variety I thought I had and I had to substitute. However, as I'm drinking this brew now, it is the closest I've ever come and I predict the next one will be really close. Thanks Geoff! This, my friends, is the beauty of homebrewing. I can't say enough about it as a hobby - and think of the fruits of your labor!

I've also regained momentum on my book on Scottish brewing history. Still a long way to go but I'm rolling again and finding some great historical insights. I'm just finishing up a chapter on monastic brewing in Scotland and ready to start medieval brewing. The best is yet to come.

Yours Aye!
Neil