Basement Brewing at Moon Under Water

This past Sunday I spent a great day brewing at Victoria's newest brewpub, Moon Under Water. Don, Ron, and Bonnie Bradley, the proprietors of Moon, were good enough to allow me into the inner sanctum of the pub to help out with a bit of brewing. Ron and myself spent the day labouring over the incredible nano-brew rig (55L batches) constructed in entirety by Don (the elder Bradley), a contraption that just about any homebrewer would kill for.

Review - Jolly Pumpkin Weizen Bam

Its been awhile since I've posted a beer review, but during a quick trip to the Cook St. Liquor Village to buy my roommate a replacement beer after a recent party, I found myself walking out with Weizen Bam, from Jolly Pumpkin. For myself, of course.

Home Brewing at Hoyne - First BrewVic Meeting in the Books

The past weekend's inaugural meeting of BrewVic is all done and was a great success. Thanks to the hospitality of Sean Hoyne we were able to conduct the meeting at the brand-new, soon-to-be-pumping-out-stellar-beer Hoyne Brewing in Rock Bay. My brew system, as well as that of Dave and Dan from Beer On The Rock were in action for all to see. My brew system is somewhat ghetto compared to the boys' rig, so people could see a couple different takes on home brewing.

Brewday - Russian Imperial Stout

After making an oatmeal stout I wanted to up the ante a little and brew a new Russian Imperial stout. Last year's RIS the Beard of Zeus was well received, although it didn't do as well in competition as I had hoped. I have, however, noticed that in recent months it seems to have improved and perhaps it merely needed some aging to improve its standing. Whatever the case, I wanted to move in a different direction with my newest Imperial. I wanted to scale back the raisiny, plum-like flavours of the Beard and emphasise more rum and chocloate. I also wanted a bigger hop presence and a bigger beer in general, something that cracked the 10% abv mark at a bare minimum.