Man, I'm so tired of coming to my blog and having nothing to really talk about... Life isn't that bland for me these days, but I just can't find topics that are pressing my brain to share on the blog. Funny enough also, the last two blogs were beer oriented, and that's more of what I'm going to talk about today. BEER!
I've managed to find a pub in Toronto that WILL BE carrying the specialty ales I've mentioned in my previous post. It's called "The Fat Belgian" and they are specializing in Belgian foods and drinks. So I'm pretty darned excited about that. They'll be receiving shipments of the beer in about three weeks. It's interesting to know why it's so hard to get their beer. There are two main reasons. Number One: The Trappist brewers only make so much beer, hence it's limited in it's exporting (as mentioned in the previous blog). Number Two: The LCBO is a pack of self-serving morons who have been placing import restrictions on a massive variety of European beers over the past six months. So it was interesting to learn this information as that's the reason The Fat Belgian doesn't have the beers right now. The silver lining of course is that in three weeks time, I'll be sipping a Rocheforte 10 at The Fat Belgian so I don't give a care in the world as to the how's and why's they're not here.
In equally exciting news, my co-worker and I got together two weeks ago and made a homebrew styled after the Belgian Ales we liked. It was my first time making my own beer and I have to say, it is a freaking awesome experience if you really appreciate beer. You learn so much about why beer tastes, smells, and looks a certain way and how to create those characteristics. Plus you can totally experiment and create some really awesome flavours. Now of course I'm not talking about the "Kits" that are sold where it's basically paint by numbers. I'm talking about actually buying choice malt extracts, grains, yeasts, hops, etc... and making your own recipe. The beer has been fermenting for the last two weeks and is almost ready for bottling. We're going to measure the specific gravity of the beer tonight to see if it's almost done fermenting. Upon the initial reading it looks like we'll achieve the traditional alcohol content of 8% for a Trappist Dubbel Ale, which is actually what contributes to the amazing flavours. We're so pumped, but we have to wait another three to six months for the beer to fully mature in the bottle. So we'll have a taste in a month though and save the rest for full conditioning.
The funny thing is that through this whole experience we've become really interested in starting a Micro-brewery. We figure that this style of beer isn't represented at all in Canada and would be a hit for sure. Obviously there's more needed than just a desire, so we're starting small with an online Home Brewing Supply Store that we hope will help us grow in stages into a Micro-brewery... it's kind of pipe dreamish, but hey, that's what makes life interesting.
Final Confession for the Day: For those who are interested, I give an open invitation to come over to my place and make our own beer. I've got most of the brewing equipment, we would just have to split the cost on the ingredients and plan our own beer. My next brewing desire is an Irish Red Ale... should be good.
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