Penny Higgins - Storyteller • Artist • Scientist
Combining Science and Joyful Creativity
Today I joined a webinar that went over the top five rules that breweries fail. Most of the reasons can be boiled down to not having a good business plan and not having planned beyond the first few years of business. I mean, any viable business is going to grow. You need to plan for that.
But one of the points was about branding. This is something I can wrap my brain around without special instruction. I get this.Continue reading “Thirsty Thursday – Brewing up a Brand”
A couple of months ago, I posted about my Baltimorphic Complex beer. It’s a Belgian-ish style beer seasoned with Old Bay. At the time of my last post, I had only kegged the beer, but had not tasted it yet.
One of my favorite things to do is order something interesting that’s on tap at my local restaurant, then try to replicate it at home. That’s what happened when I tried Brewery Ommegang‘s Hennepin some months ago.
I was able to find a clone recipe published by Brew Your Own magazine.
As is typical, of course, the ingredients that I found weren’t exactly what was in the recipe. But what I made was a fantastic beer!
The Belgian
(5 gallons, extract only)Continue reading “The Belgian (an Ale)”
I’m a little worried. This brewing thing might be getting out of control. It might be consuming me.
It started harmless enough. Just a little brew every other weekend or so. But now… Now I’m brewing on the weekends and during the week! It’s a sure sign.
I’m addicted.
Over the winter holiday, I discovered that yams have a particular sweetness that I really felt must be included into a beer somehow. I started looking for yam ale recipes, but none gripped me. Then I stumbled upon a porter recipe for pumpkin, and simply decided to substitute yams for pumpkin and adjusted the batch for my experience and what grains were available to me.
My recipe:
5 gallon partial-mash
Continue reading “Yam-Tastic Oil Change Porter”
Something clicked in the last couple of weeks, and I’ve been brewing like crazy. The end result is this current state of my living room:
Continue reading “Thirsty Thursday – December’s Brewing Madness”
Two weeks ago, I started a hard cider using locally grown apples.
It’s been happily bubbling away in the dining room these past two weeks. It was time, yesterday, to rack it into a smaller carboy.
Time to rack the cider. #brewing pic.twitter.com/U5nkuvarh0
— Penny NaNo Higgins (@paleololigo) November 27, 2014
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsContinue reading “Thirsty Thursday (on Friday) – Racking the Cider”
Last weekend, I finally got to bottle my pumpkin ale. Two more weeks, and I get to drink it.
It was ready to be bottled, for sure!
Continue reading “Thirsty Thursday – Penny’s Pumpkin Ale… and More!”
My weekend was very, very busy, in terms of brewing.
Saturday, I finally bottled by Sam Adams Summer Ale clone. In two weeks, I’ll finally get to drink it!
Once it was bottled, and all the carboys cleaned, it was time to start the Pumpkin Ale.Continue reading “Thirsty Thursday – My Own Pumpkin Ale”
It’s October now. That time of year when all the summer seasonal drinks disappear to be replaced with pumpkin spice everything.
This weekend I should be bottling my Sam Adam’s Summer Ale clone. You can’t buy it anymore because it’s no longer summer, but we’ll get to enjoy it all winter long! Last week, I racked it to clarify it a bit.
Penny Higgins - Storyteller • Artist • Scientist