The King

Even though I don’t frequent fast food places, a soon-to-open Florida Burger King will begin serving beer. It’s about time, don’t you think? They’ve been serving beer at fast food places in Europe for quite some time, but why don’t they serve it here, the homeland of fast food?

Here’s where I heard about it.

The Asheville Breweries application is free and can be found in the Android Market on most Android devices, such as Verizon’s Motorola Droid.

Screenshot

For more info, check out the app’s home page. Thanks for sharing, Scott!

I’m getting to the point where I’d like to be a bit more experimental. I’ve brewed a good handful of the recipes in my local home brew store’s little recipe book, but I’m ready to start adding my own touches. Those brews taste generally the same, and I’m realizing that I can pick-out the flavor of the Northwestern malt syrup used in each batch.

So what’s next for me? I’m not so sure yet, but I’d like to brew something for the winter, let it condition for a good while. Maybe I’ll take on an oatmeal porter or stout, maybe an octoberfest or marzen.

I’m definitely not quite ready to start making my own malts, so I’ll just have to stick with the syrups for now.

This time, when making grain tea, we followed Alex’s advice:

• Place the pot with the tea bag in the oven on low (around 150-160º)
• Leave it in there for about 45 minutes

This worked absolutely wonderfully! I definitely recommend you give it a try on your next batch of home brew!

Kashmir IPA

Yet another IPA for the record, Highland’s Kashmir IPA contends with the best of them. It pours with a decent head and a clear, golden-brown color. The aroma is thin but with an abundance of fresh hops.

This IPA goes down pretty smoothly, surprisingly, as I’m not too big on IPAs. In my opinion they’re best reserved for warm summer days in the shade. The aftertaste lingers for a good bit of time, where the potent hops conquer the sinuses and throat. This beer’s pretty dry, which I think lends to it being more drinkable than most IPAs.

I recommend this IPA for the hardcore as well as the fair-weathered IPA fan.

Highland's Gaelic Ale

One of my favorites, Highland’s Gaelic Ale is an Asheville staple in the world of beer. You can never go wrong with a Gaelic Ale!

This beer pours nicely, with a good medium head. A friendly and bold aroma of malt and hops lends to the well-balanced flavor of this favorite beer. Its color is a deep amber to copper.

When sipped a sharp bite cuts in with a nice malty flavor, almost sweet. The hops join the party in the aftertaste, creating a nice balance of maltiness and hoppiness, without being overpowering.

This is a highly recommended beer, and no Asheville tourist should go without at least having a Gaelic Ale.

2nd Home Brew: Smoked Porter

So I finally got a chance to taste my second batch of homebrew! It’s a Smoked Porter, a recipe from Alex Buerckholtz, owner of Hops and Vines, a brew supply shop in West Asheville, North Carolina.

This recipe is based on Alex’s recipe that he brought to the Highland Pro Am. He won (first was his Smoked Porter, second was an American Pilsner), so Highland Brewing will be brewing and releasing something close to this beer this fall (2009).

The color of this beer is a nice, deep blackish brown, with a rich dark aroma of smokey flavor, chocolate, and malt. It goes down very, very smoothly, with a flavorful and kind aftertaste. The aftertaste lingers for a moment while more smoky flavor is released.

This is a winning beer, the best home brew I’ve tasted yet (well yeah, it’s only the second one I’ve brewed!).

Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale

I tried a half-pour of Sierra Nevada’s Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale at Asheville’s Thirsty Monk, and they’re not kidding about the freshness of the hops. A bit too hoppy for me, this beer is much more like an IPA than a typical pale ale. It’s a special beer, though, blending seriously-fresh hops from New Zealand with Pacific hops.

At first there wasn’t much of an aroma, but after a few quick sips, the flavors came pouring out. It smelled like liquidized fresh hops. Really. It tasted like liquidized fresh hops. It wasn’t bad, but just way too hoppy.

The color is a nice golden, almost an amber. It is a refreshing beer, however, if you’re not a fan of IPAs, then you probably won’t like this beer all that much.

Sweetwater Blue

Years ago I gave Sweetwater Blue a shot, and I remembered that it tasted overwhelmingly like blueberries, as if they poured some concentrated blueberry right into the beer at bottling time. So on recommendation from Jeff, I decided to give it another shot; he swears it doesn’t have too much blueberry flavoring in it.

(I’m out of pint glasses, so the bottle will have to do for this shot. So sorry.)

After opening the aroma is sweet and malty, without too much blueberry going on. But on first sip, man, this beer sure does push that blueberry flavoring right in. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good beer, but the blueberry is just as overwhelming as I remember it.

The aftertaste lingers briefly, mostly the blueberry and not so much malt, hops, or any of the other stuff that makes a good beer. Goes down smooth, and indeed it is refreshing.

This is one of those beers that has, at least to me, an excess of fruit flavoring. Whether or not they use fresh blueberries or some kind of extract, I’m not sure, however I would guess they use fresh. For one, the bottle promises me ‘fresh blueberries’ and for two, it does smell and taste so.

Fru-fru beer drinker, this one’s a good one for you. Manly beer guzzlers, I’d recommend you pass on this guy.