American Craft Beer Week, and other happenings

Back at the blog, where have I been you ask, I have actually just been really lazy. Haha, sorry if you were checking for a new blog post. Even though I have not been updating this thing, that doesn't mean that we haven't been busy over at 747 Ale House. Since the last blog post both of our beers are done and are now being consumed on a daily basis. The first beer is our Stout. It was a brand new recipe for us and I think it turned out pretty well. With a few tweaks it will be a keeper. The second beer that we finished was our Black IPA. This one also turned out good, but a little underwhelming. I think we got some old hops so that punch in the face hop aroma just isn't there like in our older IPA. Don't get me wrong, both kegs are going to be drunk within a few weeks! Hopefully we can make this beer a little better next time too. There is still a decent amount left of both, so please hit me up if you would like to come by and see our little operation and try the beers.

I am proud to say that we finally made the step up from extract brewing (what we have been doing this entire time) to all grain brewing! This probably doesn't mean a thing to you all, so let me explain it really quickly. Basically extract brewing is a good start for beginning home brewers, and even though we are still beginners, we wanted to challenge ourselves a bit more. All grain brewing is essentially what professional brewers do, but we are just brewing at a MUCH smaller scale. It allows us to have more control over the whole process and hopefully it will turn out better beers. The new beer, which is actually a recipe we did with extract brewing before is going to be a 9% Double IPA and should be drinking in around 5 weeks or so. I am really looking forward to seeing how this one turns out.





Today marks the start of American Craft Beer Week. All over the US breweries and brew pubs and bars put together events and special tastings that celebrate all of the amazing beer being made in the States. Even if you are not going to go out and visit any of these events it doesn't mean that you can't have your own little celebration at home with friends.

If you have been reading this blog and still haven't ventured outside of your beer comfort zone, then my message obviously isn't getting across. This week is the perfect time to go to the store and grab something new, DO IT!!! If you aren't sure of what you like as far as styles go, read my first few posts and you will find some good links to help you figure things out. Another fun way to explore your local beer cooler is to start local. There are tons of amazing breweries in California so start there.

A quick list for those of you that are not familiar with local brews.

San Diego:
Ballast Point
Green Flash
Pizza Port (Port Brewing)
Lost Abbey
Stone

Fullerton:
The Bruery
Bootlegger's Brewery, (I haven't tried any of these yet, but have seen them at Cooke's)

Los Angeles:
Eagle Rock Brewery, (newer brewery, they are not bottling yet but look for their taps at local bars)
Strand Brewing Co., (Torrance, they are also a newer brewery with no bottles. Try their 24th St. Pale Ale at Naja's, Simmzy's or Manhattan Brew Co.)

North of LA: Instead of breaking down the rest by city, I will just list the rest as North of LA
Firestone Walker
Russian River
Marin Brewing Co.
Bear Republic (they make Racer 5, which some of you may know)
Sierra Nevada
Anderson Valley Brewing

The list goes on, but this should be plenty of information for you to get out there and try some new beers this week in honor of American Craft Beer week. If you have any questions or want some more specific suggestions let me know. It's good to be back on the blog, thanks for reading.

Cheers