In this video I review Sierra Nevada’s Barleywine Style Ale. Very strong stuff!

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1. Beer Reviews #12 – Saranac Pumpkin Ale

6.6 lbs Dark malt extract
3 lbs dry dark malt extract
2 lbs wildflower honey
1/2 lb choc malt
1/2 lb black malt
1/2 lb Munich malt
1/2 lb flaked barley
1/2 lb malto dextrin
7 cloves
3 oranges
3 sticks of cinnamon
2 whole nutmegs
2 oz grated ginger
1/3 cup molasses
2oz cascade hops (whole leaf)
1oz Galena hops

Mash all the grains for 30 min

Boil the malt extract, honey, molasses and the galena hops for 30 minutes

Add 1oz cascade hops along with all the herbs and oranges to the boil for another 25 minutes, adding the remaining 1oz cascade hops during the last 10 minutes of the boil, for aromatics.

Cool the wort down, strained the oranges and hops and everything before dumping into the primary fermenter.

Pitch yeast.

Adapted from a recipe found on foodandwineblog.com

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1. Winter Beer

Brewing special seasonal beers predates modern history and has its origin in the pagan celebrations of winter solstice. Later, as monasteries often functioned as the local brewery, some monks made the the first holiday commemorative beers to celebrate the birth of Christ. Winter beers are as much a state of mind as a style, but beers best for fending off the cold of a long winter night — such as old ales, strong ales, barleywines and strong lagers — are often associated with winter.

Beer Hunter.com

Fruitcake, the most feared of holiday gifts, who eats it, certainly not beer drinkers. They hope for six packs of beer. If very good over the past year their reward will be a ‘big beer,’ one with sufficient body and alcohol to ward off the cold chill of winter. You can almost hear them say “Give me a big beer, not some wimpy fruit cake.” Surprisingly, it was fruitcake that gave mid-winter brews such distinctive character.

Real Beer.com

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1. Beer Reviews #12 – Saranac Pumpkin Ale

Are you spending too much for wine? Wondering if you have options? Well look no more. See a unique online wine buying club that delivers quality wines for a low cost. How can they do this? Here’s a explanation from their website:

How do we do that? Simple. We cut out the only cost you can’t taste (marketing). And we spend more on the stuff you can taste (wine).

The price you pay for your wine is made up of the cost of the wine (obviously), taxes and duty and marketing.

The bad news for small winemakers is that no matter how good their wines are, they don’t sell themselves (until we came along). So they have to either sell the wine to one of the big brands for peanuts. Or they have to buy a suit, an air ticket, and waste their time and money travelling the world selling their wines. So the price of the wine goes up. Which is bad news for you.

We want to change all that.

We champion small independent producers, who are passionate about making great wine – and not so passionate about being salesmen

We pay them a fair price (we often pay cash on the nail to help their cash flow)
And we cut out all the crap between you and them, that you don’t want to pay for, and you can’t taste. Like shops. And mail order. And importers, wholesalers, agents and other assorted middlemen.

That’s only one feature of this online wine club. Other features include:

Wine Makers – learn more about the person making your wine

Wine – A nice list of over 150 different wine to chose from

Groups – Interact with other online wine club members

Tastings – List of upcoming tasting in the area

Being an home wine maker, I personally enjoyed the Wine Makers section because it gave me more insight into the person making the wine and their styles.

If your looking for a great online wine club to join.

This is a paid review.

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Emily asked:


I just got back from a visit to Ireland. We had some of the beers that are brewed at the Porterhouse pub and they are so good!! I just don’t think I will be able to live with out those beers until I can make it back to Ireland. Does anyone know if they are shipped to the US?

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All the taste of pumpkin pie in liquid form
Written: Sep 14 ‘08 (Updated Oct 25 ‘08)

Product Rating: Product Rating: 4.0
Pros: authentic, organic, strong seasonal flavor; fairly smooth; not too heavy in body

Cons: Might be a little too strong overall for lightweights; could be seen as gimmicky

The Bottom Line: This doesn’t taste any worse or better than a bigger-named pumpkin beer, so why not opt for the underdog?
Read full review

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