My #Beersaturday this week started by brewing an early morning lager. I have made this lager a few times in the past and it has been a hit with friends and family. Brewing is one of my favorite hobbies. I have been homebrewing for about 30 years now and started with my father and brother. Below is a picture of my brewing rig.
The brewing process starts a few days earlier with the starting of a yeast culture. I start a yeast culture going to have enought yeast cells to pitch into my brew. This picture of the yeast starting up on a stir plate.
I also grind the grains to prepare them for the brew.
For this lager I use a 2 row and 6 row malted barley along with flaked rice. For the hops I use Willamete and Saaz. It make a great lager, similar to a Coors light but with a touch more barley flavor.
After the brewing process is complete I move the brew to a fermenter and pitch the yeast. Becuase this one is going to be a lager the fermentation has to be cold, so I plugged in a chiller to the fermentation tank.
The picture above the lager is in the fermenter on the right, the box in the front of the picture is the glycol chiller. The glycol chiller pumps cold glycol through a sealed coil inside the beer which cools it to a desired temperature. So now it needs to ferment for a few weeks before it goes into a keg.
I cleaned up the brewing equipment and waited for my wife to get home from work. When my wife got home she asked if I would like to go to Buffalo Bill's Brewery and of course I said yes.
Buffalo Bill's Brewery is located Hayward, California. This place opened in 1983 when laws in the United States were changed to allow small craft brewers to sell their beers directly to the public. The brewery was opened by Bill Owens. Buffalo Bills Brewery is in the Smithsonian museum as America's first brew pub. Prior to 1983 only mass produced beers were allowed to be sold. Once the laws changed and Buffalo Bills Brewery opened it gave way to the huge and still booming craft beer market that we know today.
Buffalo Bills has always been the happening spot. Due to it's popularity they have doubled it's indoor space since it first opened and have created a large outdoor dinning area. In front of the brewery there is outdoor seating that wraps around the side. The outdoor seating on the side of the brewery has a tent type structure that is heated and allows this space to be used year round. Buffalo Bills struggled however during the Covid shut downs. The owner Bill was not sure if he wanted to keep running the business since he had done it for so long.
Buffalo Bills was shut down for about 2 years with some breaks where it would open for a short time, during the Covid years. My wife and I visited Buffalo Bills when it was open and happy to see America’s first craft brewery remain open. Eventually, the owner decided to sell the brewery. It was bought by another local guy that owns numerous Mexican restaurants. We have visited the brewery a few times since the new owner took over and it seems to have remained the same quality.
We arrived at the brewery about 4PM so we beat the Saturday night crowd. There was about 30 people inside, some just sitting at the bar but others were eating a meal. My wife and I ordered a few drinks and pizzas.
The first beer I ordered was called Haystack and it was a hazy IPA. The Haystack is a good hazy IPA with the typical tropical fruit notes. Haystack is slightly sweet but a good example of a Hazy IPA. It has a 6.5%ABV.
I finished the Haystack before our pizzas arrived so I got my favorite beer at the brewery called Tasmanian Devil or "Taz".
I enjoyed the Tasmanian Devil, that has been brewed since 1986 and even appeared in Newsweek magazine. The Tasmanian Devil beer is an Imperial Ale with 8% ABV. The hops in this beer are a blend of Australian hops, Cascade hops from Tasmania, Pride of Ringwood from Victoria, and Cascade from Washington. The beer is very well balanced and fruity with a touch of sweetness.
When the pizzas arrived they were as good as always. I had a "Carne" pizza, which has peppered pastrami, smoked ham, salami, pepperoni, and mozzarella. My wife had a "Greek" pizza, which has Kalamata olives, feta, mozzarella, fresh basil, and fresh pesto.
We headed for home after the brewery for another beer or two. I had a Deschutes brewing Haze Tron Imperial IPA. Deschutes Brewery is from Bend, Oregon and has produces one of my favorite IPA beers called Fresh Squeezed. I had never seen Haze Tron so I thought I try it out. Being that it is an Imperial hazy it has an ABV of 8%. Haze Tron is brewed with Simcoe, Experimental 360, and Chinook hops. It has strong citrus notes with a little bit of a piney note. Overall for being an Imperial it is easy to drink and very good.
I closed out our night with a beer I have wanted to try which is out just for the holiday season. The beer is the Belgium brewed Delirium Noel. Delirium is brewed by Brouwerij Huyghe brewery.
Pouring a glass it definitely looked like a dark Belgium ale. It has flavor notes of apricot, cherry, and cinnamon. This beer did not disappoint, in fact the next day I went back to the store and bought a few more to share with family on Christmas.
I hoped you enjoyed your weekend as well and wish you a great week.
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