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August 30, 2020 - 1 comment.

The Great Estibrew Challenge

es·ti·brew
/ˈestə,bro͞o/

noun: estibrew; plural noun: estibrews
a type of beer brewed partially or entirely through human-sensory estimation.

verb: estibrew
past tense: estibrewed; present participle: estibrewing
to make (beer) using varying degrees of human-sensory estimation.

Folks and friends, first time readers and foes,

Have you ever wondered whether you had the brewing chops to brew a competent beer based purely on estimating each end every variable by feel alone? I'm talkin' grain bill, water chemistry, hop additions, water volumes, water temperatures, the lot? Read more

September 25, 2019 - Comments Off on For the love of God – DON’T contract brew! Actually, you should. No you shouldn’t. But yes, it’s fun! No, it’s brutal…

For the love of God – DON’T contract brew! Actually, you should. No you shouldn’t. But yes, it’s fun! No, it’s brutal…

I write this post with mixed feelings. Can you tell? I'm pretty confident that this post will get a few views, if only because I believe there are many who have at the very least "thought about it" (contract brewing) as a means of getting their feet wet in the brewing world.

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March 22, 2019 - 2 comments

There and Back Again: a New Zealand Cycling Tale in Search of Great Hops

In January I set forth with my partner Sara on an epic 6-week cycling trip across Middle Earth, and while we sampled some tasty beer, our trip was admittedly less about "hoppy drank" and more about escaping the depressive horror of a bone-chilling Canadian winter. Oh, that and finding Hobbit meat. They were not home.

"Where is all the Hobbit meat?", wondered Sara.

Fortunately, before returning home we did manage to score a kilogram worth of New Zealand's highly regarded and sought after Riwaka hops - a hop variety that's currently unavailable in North America (unless you're exceedingly well-connected).

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July 4, 2018 - 1 comment.

Our Homebrew Con 2018 Recap (…And Why You Should Attend Next Year)

Homebrew Con is an annual homebrewer's conference and celebration organized by the American Homebrewers Association. The event takes place every June and is perhaps best described as a sort of "homebrewer's Mecca" to where thousands of devotees and clubs from across the world (but mostly the United States) travel for three glorious days under the banner of delicious homebrew. The purpose: learning, drinking, and celebrating all things beer and homebrew.

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November 3, 2017 - 20 comments

Silly Sir Visits Germany: Our Gold-Winning Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Recipe

Note: post updated March 10th, 2018 with batch 2 revision and notes.

Writing to you live from Silly Sir Brewery/a tiny apartment somewhere in Toronto it's me again - here to share with you the fantastic learnings we had drinking beer and visiting breweries in Berlin and Munich, Germany. Yes: we went to Weihenstephan and and sampled fresh Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier and yes, it was the best part of the trip.

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October 8, 2017 - Comments Off on Event Recap: Small Batch Beer Festival by People’s Pint

Event Recap: Small Batch Beer Festival by People’s Pint

We were stoked when Doug Appeldoorn of People's Pint Brewing Co. asked us to take part in their annual Small Batch Beer Festival – Sept 23, 2017.

But how is this different than another Toronto beer festivals?

With small batch, mostly homebrews, this is exclusive stuff! Only 5 gallons exist. That means once it's gone, it's gone. It's not mass produced. There is a certain charm and craft that goes into small batches. You can really taste the love in each drop, can't you?

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April 10, 2017 - 1 comment.

Breath of the Kveik – A [Gold+Silver Winning] Black IPA Recipe

A couple weeks ago at my BJCP Study Group we sampled various IPAs from the United States and Canada. One of my favourites was a limited release Black Rye IPA from Amsterdam called Demon Host. It was bright and complex with a touch of roast with a very slight spicy heat that I really enjoyed. As such, I was inspired to try my own interpretation of a Black IPA and submit it to competitions for feedback. I was happy to learn that I received a score of 36.5 at the Cowtown Yeast Wrangler's Homebrew Competition. While I didn't medal, I consider that to be a good score for a first go at the style. I fermented high with a kveik strain, and was pleased with its surprisingly low phenolics and pleasant rummy profile.

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June 12, 2016 - 1 comment.

Durian + Alcohol = INSTANT DEATH?!

Most Malaysians go absolutely crazy for this perplexing, stinky fruit called durian. Its creamy fruit centre is encased in a hard, spiky shell, and its distinctive sulphuric stink immediately envelops its surroundings in a foul, garbage-like wave of offence. It is said that consuming alcohol and durians together will result in an instant death. Sara's younger cousin insisted that I not drink any beer while consuming the controversial fruit as I'd immediately keel over and die.

I was skeptical. Being the experimental brewer that I am, I bet against this notion and almost took it as a challenge. 'I'll show you!' I thought, 'I'll even craft a durian beer to in order to falsify this silly myth!' (though I'd give it to the suckers in my local homebrew club to try first, of course, just in case).

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