Best Beer Sign Contest

We have seen some hilarious bar signs before, but I am sure we haven't seen them all. So we are going to give you the oppurtunity to show us!

Post a picture of what you think is the funniest, most clever, or just your favorite, bar sign on our Facebook page. You can even design your own if you have a great idea. The person whose picture gets the most "likes" wins a personalized, solid oak 8" x 12" bar sign! A $30 value!

We'll tally up the votes ("likes") on June 20th, so start posting for a chance to win! Happy sign hunting. Cheers!

A list of those who have posted pictures on the Facebook page will be posted on the "Info" page of the BrewTaps facebook page. If you posted a picture, but don't see your name let us know.

- BrewTaps

www.BrewTaps.com

BrewTaps is back and better than ever!

The site is back up and running! We have some new products to offer and the still offer same great ones you have come to love. Like our new custom-engraved bar signs. The signs come in three different sizes and are made of high-quality solid oak. Prices start at just $29.99! Order by June 12th to receive in time for Father's Day.

Don't know what to get Dad? We also offer gift certificates good on any BrewTaps purchase!

Cheers!

- BrewTaps
www.BrewTaps.com

Changes at BrewTaps

We are making some exciting changes here at BrewTaps! As a result, we will not be accepting orders for a few days, but we will be back online soon. Some cool stuff is on the way!

- BrewTaps
www.BrewTaps.com

A Royal Wedding Deserves a 'Royal Virility' Enhancer

Scotland's BrewDog brewery is releasing a beer commemorating the royal wedding, but it is not quite what you might expect. While other brewers and merchandisers are jumping on the Prince William and Catherine bandwagon, BrewDog is doing so in a decidedly tongue-in-cheek way.

 

They are releasing a 7.5% ABV IPA called "Royal Virility Performance." According to the company's website (www.brewdog.com), the beer is "brewed using various well known aphrodisiacs" including "Viagra, chocolate, Horny Goat Weed and a 'healthy dose if sarcasm'." 

This is not the first time BrewDog has pushed the limits. If anyone remembers, the brewery released "End of History", a 55% ABV brew bottled in taxidermied small-animal carcasses, back in July of 2010. I do wonder what they will come out with next.

- BrewTaps 
www.BrewTaps.com

Tasting Notes, Kegerator Contest, Suds of the South, Site Updates

It has been a little while since we posted, but we have been quite busy. So let's catch up on a few things first.

Tasting Notes
As featured in our first "BrewDay" blog post, our English Bitter and Coffe Malt Stout brews turned out really nicely. The bitter was a little hoppier than we expected, but is a nonetheless really tasty, clean and easy to drink. The stout also turned out pretty good. A little sweet for my taste; I think I prefer a drier stout. But the coffee flavor in it is great. It makes a wonderful dessert.

Kegerator Contest
Overall, we had a lot of fun watching everyone comment on and post pictures of their draft beer setups. Congratulations to Paul Kilgore! He is the lucky winner of a free, personalized tap handle from BrewTaps.com. Unfortunately, it seems that we has some technical difficulties with the posting of pictures on the Facebook page that led to some misunderstandings. However, we will not let this deter us from another Facebook contest; we already have several ideas for fun stuff to do and great prizes to give away.

Suds of the South
We had the great oppurtunity to get to attend the 2011 Suds of the South beer festival (http://wellthatscool.com/sots/) in Tuscaloosa, AL. We had a great time sampling beers and meeting people from all across the South, as well as this year's "Southern Sympathizer," Bell's Brewing. Honestly though, sometimes these super high-gravity beers that places are pumping out just taste horrible to me. I suppose my palette just isn't trained enough to appreciate them, but it really makes me appreciate a nice, smooth beer than won't make your breath fire.

Site Updates
The site had been down for a few days while we upgraded the ordering system. It took a little longer than we thought to get everything running smoothily, but as of today, we have worked most of the kinks out and she is up and running! We added a "shopping cart" system to make ordering multiple handles easier. We are going to be making a few updates here and there, but we will keep you updated.

That's all for now. Talk to you soon, and cheers!

- BrewTaps
http://www.brewtaps.com/

Beer: The Newest Sports Drink?

The Erdinger Weissbräu company of Germany is touting its non-alcoholic offering as the newest replacement for Gatorade. The company insists that the beer is an isotonic, vitamin-rich, all natural beverage with naturally regenerative powers. The Erdinger website literally refers to the non-alcoholic brew as "the Sports and Fitness Drink."

The company has been a long time sponsor of athletes in the national and international biathlon and triathlon circuits, and Erdinger Non-Alcoholic is regularly distributed in the finishing areas of such events.

Nutrition experts acknowledge the that it may have some regernerative value for athletes post work out, and the lack of alcohol to further dehydrate an athlete's body is more ideal than a beer with alcohol. However, Professor Mary Ellen Camire, a nutritionist at the Unviersity of Maine, said "It will help with rehydration. Whether it's the ideal drink to have, I'm not sure."

I've always heard a single beer will rehydrate you better than a glass of water, and after reading this, I'm sticking to it.

- BrewTaps
http://www.brewtaps.com/

BrewDay 1: North German Lager

North German Lager grains steeping

Yesterday was brew day around here. We brewed a North German Lager recipe (a la St. Pauli's Girl, or so it was described) from Austin Homebrew Supply. This is one of our first attempts at lagering beer, but since the weather is cool, we thought this would be the time to do it. Plus, this way, it will be ready when it starts to get warm and spring-like outside. It was a partial-mash brew. Not very hardcore I know, but like we always say, we are tight on space around here, so it makes sense.

New keg fermenter setup



This was also the first brew where we used our new Sanke keg fermenter. We got the keg conversion kit a few months ago from BrewersHardware.com. However, it took some extra time to find a slim quarter barrel keg to use with it. The 7.75 gallon size is perfect for 5 gallon batches because it leaves plenty of extra head space for all the fermenting action while not taking up too much space in the already crowded work area. In the close up picture you can see that it took a little rigging to get an airlock in place with this new setup. I think next time we'll just set up a blow-off tube. (Note: It is important to obtain Sanke kegs legally).



New setup and corny kegs



In the larger picture, you can see the very high tech method we are using to keep the lager yeast and beer at a happy 50 - 60 degrees Fahrenheit: a tub of water and a frozen half-gallon milk container. The frozen jugs get rotated every 12 or so hours and have done a pretty good job of consistently keeping the water the right temperature. We are also excited about being able to push the finished beer directly in to a corny keg for conditioning and lagering. The beer will have hardly any contact with oxygen until it is served!



The English bitter



In the last two pictures you can see what else we have in the works. We already have a coffee malt stout keg conditioning from a few weeks ago. We love stouts and coffee, so we can hardly wait for this one to be ready in a couple weeks. Also, in the carboy we have an English bitter. This is the first bitter we have brewed, but we really enjoy the style, so we hope it turns out to be tasty. It was a little bit of a gamble, in that the recipe is from AHS's Session Series collection. All the beers in the collection are designed to be ready in just a week after fermenting. I don't know it the flavor is going to be smooth and blended enough after that short a time, so we might give it an extra week or two before we taste it.

So that's the first installment of "BrewDay" here at BrewTaps. We'll post again when we get to transferring and tasting these brews. In the mean time, we'd love to hear what y'all are brewing and any great recipes we have just got to try.

- BrewTaps

http://www.brewtaps.com/