The AHA is definitely speeding up their turnaround times! Just a few weeks ago we were all chilling in San Diego - now we're able to catch up on the things we missed! All of the seminars and speeches are recorded by the AHA and offered as a member perk. That's right, you have to be a member to access all the talks, but look, why aren't you?

N.B. - Craftmeister (aka National Chemicals) sent me a sample kit to try out. After Denny broke away from his usual cheap ways and gave the Craftmeister products his thumbs up, I had to get my hands on a kit to test out as well. In the kit - 3 lb tubs of the Alkaline Brewery Wash, Oxygen Brewery Wash, a jar of Keg & Carboy Tablets and a jar of Growler Tablets. In this test, we'll look at one of the most common tasks facing homebrewers - the carboy yeast ring of crud - aka a wonderful amalgamation of protein and yeast detritus.

I've now reached the age where I have to assume that there are number of people who no longer share (or were at least exposed to) common cultural touchpoints for my generation. So here you go - I still to this day sing this song when I'm making a salad. It's usually in my head because the world doesn't need the torture that is me singing.

John Palmer, Denny and Drew Brewing Selfie It all started with Denny being a smart ass. To some of our dallying All-Stars, Denny sent the following line in an email

I really didn't want to have to bug you like this...really! But Drew said if I didn't he'd release his recipe for Manhattan Clam Chowder Saison.

If you like Saisons (and who doesn't) and really want to know a lot more about them - I just dropped a new guide to Saison over on MaltoseFalcons.com. Help me out and let's get the rest of the yeast table filled out!

A Guide To Saisons and Saison Yeasts

I've been homebrewing for 17 years and in that time have brewed about 475 batches of beer. Nearly every one of those batches has been on my "Cheap'n'Easy" cooler mash tun system, as I chanted the mantra "The brewer makes the beer, the equipment doesn't". While I still love my cooler system, I may have to rethink that mantra.

Feds seize $2 million of illegal Chinese honey - (source: Modern Farmer)

From the Guardian - more proof that wine tasting is bunk:

You may be aware that one of my favorite beers is a chanterelle mushroom infused wee heavy that I call "Wee Shroomy" (recipe in Experimental Homebrewing"). I'm extremely luck y to line in the Pacific Northwest for a number of reasons, but one of the biggies is the surfeit of wild mushrooms we have here. During mushroom season, I can walk out of my back door and usually find the several pounds of mushrooms I need to make a batch of it.

One of the biggest attention getters in the book is that we feature a couple of "Meat" based beer recipes, like Jeremiah Marsden's "Pork Soda" or Charlie Essers' "Bacon Helles" or our own spin on Digby's Cock Ale. The recipes certainly grab your attention and make you cock your head in such a way as to go "huh?" (There's a real reason too.. read to the end of the article) Why the meat talk? Because thanks to our kooky friends at Dogfish Head - meat beer is back in the news - since apparently they are producing a Scrapple Beer for their Beer for Breakfast.