First-time Poster - Wanted to say Hello!!!

Greetings, everyone.

Jeff "The ViperMan" here - wanted to stop in and say hello.

I've been meaning to join BA for some time now as I've been getting into the Craft scene and such, but I'm already linked to SO many social networks (and I hate social networking...) that I've just been hesitating...

I'm an avid homebrewer - been brewing since 2010. In fact this-coming Saturday I'm hosting my third-annual tasting event for friends and family at our residence - I'll have a total of 8 different beers to sample.

I'm looking forward to getting involved here, meeting some folks, learning some things, and hopefully lending some advice wherever I can. I'd also really like to get into beer trading, but I see I have some hoops to jump through first.

Anyways, just saying hello!

Jeff

 

Lol! Thanks for the warm welcome, folks! Dues and replatory six-packs are on their way! Hah!

inchrisin,

My wife supports the homebrew hobby, which is cool. The daughter is a bit too young to care either way, at only 4 months of age! The only problem I have is that there are now CASES of beer sitting around my house, and NEITHER of us drink very much, as I'm trying to lose weight and she doesn't often care for the darker stouts and hoppier ales that I produce. Thus the tasting parties, and last month we even attempted a "99 bottles of beer" party which actually had about 130 bottles of beer available. I've also joined a local homebrewing club that gives me another avenue to hand out some brews!

My tasting events are relatively simple but a bit more formal than a regular "party." We usually setup on our deck with tables and chairs, a few tiki torches, and/or white Christmas lights strung up along the back of the house. My first tasting was basically ONE beer recipe presented 16 different ways, using various combinations of orange peel additions and extracts. (I was trying to pick the perfect recipe for a beer called "Yeah It's a HEMI Orange" for a car-show event we were attending later that summer.)

Last year I had somewhere around 6-8 beers, including 2 that were total flops (and I knew it, but I figured I'd share my failures as much as my successes.)

I make little score sheets, but as most of my friends aren't true "beer nerds," I simply ask them to make general comments about likes and dislikes, and vote on a scale of 0-100, considering the percentage of likeliness that they might "order another" if at a bar or restaurant. Of course, hilarity ensues the further down the page you get, and in the past I've had comments such as "Your sister is hot" or "I'm sorry but I totally farted."

This year I'm upping my game just slightly as I have a decent variety of beers to share, so I'm adding some palate cleansers in the form of salt-free crackers and cucumber slices, and also making three different beer breads using Racer 5 IPA, Raisin D'Etre, and Milk Stout (Lancaster Brewery).

This year's brews are:
"Melanie's Cider" - a simple, tart hard cider
"Bodacious Brother's Ale" - amber ale with paradise seed
"Bodacious Brother's Lager" - same wort but with a lager yeast
"Crazy Cooter's Apple Ale - Batch 1" - Pale Ale with apples and citra hops
"Crazy Cooter's Apple Ale - Batch 2" - Very similar grain bill, more apples, and apple juice concentrate (still neither have the apple presence I'm looking for though...)
"Chocolate Grapevine" - Brown Ale brewed with cocoa nibs and raisins
"Poopy Diaper Ale" - Milk Stout with hints of coffee and chocolate
"ViperDen's Best" - a show-winner in my opinion, a ROASTY coffee stout with hazelnut and a pinch of lactose