Brews and Pubs: Homebrew Edition {kyle} |

I don’t know how many of you guys remember the South Asheville restaurant Province 620. I don’t because I never tried it, but I heard it was pretty good. For whatever reason they went out of business a few months ago and now a new restaurant is in it’s place. I would drive by this place every day on my way to work wondering what it was going to become. Finally, they put up the sign and to my pleasant surprise it was a burger bar!

Juicy Lucy is named after a style of hamburger where you stuff the patty with cheese. I still haven’t tried an actual Juicy Lucy, but we did go there for some late night drinks recently and I was reasonably impressed. They have a wonderful beer selection featuring 22 mostly local draughts and a large bottle selection as well. We did order some wings with our drinks and they were a little disappointing, but that’s not what this post is about.

My first pick of the evening was Mama’s Little YELLA Pils from soon-to-be-local Oskar Blues Brewery. This little pilsner is quite refreshing, but I didn’t find it all that spectacular. Definitely a little more flavorful than it’s mass marketed counterparts, but still not a lot going on here. Very mild flavors and a low ABV make it a decent choice for a summer afternoon.

Next I decided to try 21st Amendment‘s Back In Black IPA. This is a good beer. An American style IPA with the addition of dark malts that give it the midnight black color. This brew is bold with flavorful hops but finishes nice and smooth.

This month I also decided to try out my first homebrew. I’m very excited about this and not sure that I didn’t already screw it up. But I’m about half way through the process now, basically just waiting at this point. I thought I would share a few pictures of the process.

: Brooklyn Brew Shop Kit: Summer Wheat {found on sale for $19.95}

: It’s crucial to sanitize everything that you plan to use. Otherwise you may kill the yeast.

: Get the water to 160*

: Mashing In – aka adding the grain to the water

: The Sparge – aka running hot water over the grain, repeat. This creates the wort which will become the beer.

: Slow boil the wort for 1 hour adding hops throughout the process.

: Put into ice bath to cool down quickly. I did not plan ahead and therefore did not have enough ice.

: Filter and pour into growler.

: Add yeast.

: Cap with blowoff tube. Place other end in “bowl” of sanitizer and keep in a dark place for 2-3 days. Then replace blowoff tube with an airlock and keep in a dark place for 2 weeks. More to come!