Alistair Reece
@velkyal
Scot living in the VA Piedmont. Corbynite, Mitteleuropaphile. Unbashed lager boy. Hiker, gardener, reader, writer, gourmand, all round fascinated by the world and life. Twin dad. Author of "Virginia Cider: A Scrumptious History"
A variation of my best bitter recipe for my brewday tomorrow... #homebrew
Introducing EuroTrash, my amber kellerbier!! All the malts were from Murphy & Rude, in this case mostly Vienna malt, also Munich 9, and 15, CaraMel Light, Blonde rye, red wheat, VA pils, and Belgian Amber. Hops are 39 IBU of Magnum and Hallertauer Mittelfrüher. Good old 34/70 gave me a 4.2% beer.
Pet hate with craft breweries...when they boast about stealing the IP of bigger breweries as if using their logos is somehow edgy and out there . Tennents are 100% in the right here.
Since my kids were born in 2017. Scotland has won or retained the Calcutta Cup 7 times and lost it twice. From 2000 until 2017, we won it 4 times. #AsOne #ScottishRugby
My current #homebrew on tap is "Supercharged Bitter". Pretty simple grist, just Murphy & Rude English Pale and Biscuit malts. Hopped with Fuggles for an estimated 38 IBUs, and fermented with good old S-04 to give me an abv of 5.3%.
An honorable mention from @nagbw.bsky.social for "Virginia Cider: A Scrumptious History"!! Look at the folks that placed though...I am thrilled beyond words!
Was drinking this absolute banger of a 10° Czech style výčepní pivo at Selvedge earlier, made me miss Czechia more than usual.
Not going to lie, I will miss this iteration of Haus Lagerbier when the keg kicks - likely this weekend.
15 seedling apple trees of various sizes potted on and now on the back deck for the summer. I love that they won't be the same as the fruit they came from, and sure, it'll be a long time before I know if I have anything noteworthy, but in the meantime I have 15 trees, and perhaps an annual project.
Been in Florida for a staff retreat this week, and wanting to keep my month boozeless, I finally tried sonething from Athletic. Very decent indeed.
Tapped my Winter Solstice 14° lager yesterday, and it's fair to say I am pretty pleased with it. Some notes: Sight - gold, good clarity, white foam lingers Smell - water biscuits, spice, hay meadows Taste - crackers with gentle spiciness Medium body, clean finish, could be a bit more bitter.
A little bit of haze, but otherwise another grand batch of my house best bitter, this time hopped with Endeavour. I think Endeavour has replaced EKG as the default hop in this recipe, it has such an amazing character. #homebrew #bestbitter #endeavourhops
Maybe I am an anorak, but I always enjoy the Spotify Wrapped thing... One of the slides asked, "Where do you find the time?"...it's called the school run, and there is no way my boys are growing up on "kids" music. Surprised Rammstein weren't in the top 5 though.
This is currently on tap in my kitchen. It's a 3.4% ABV ordinary bitter, hopped to about 35 IBUs with Endeavour. Perhaps the best thing was waking up without a hangover - got to love session beers. This is making me think about using schankbier as inspiration for my house lager project in 2025...
Look at this thing of beauty...that is Loden, a Vienna lager brewed by Selvedge Brewing in Charlottesville, Virginia, and served from a stichfaß, oh did I mention it is unfiltered?
Oo-er missus, the first review of my book on Amazon.... #cider #craftcider #VirginiaCider #VAcider
I've been away for a few days with work, the day job that is, and while I was away, look what arrived in the post... It feels deeply surreal to physically hold a book that I wrote. For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a published author, and that dream has been realised.
Small funnel cloud over central Virginia this morning, a cold air funnel I think.
Kegged my latest lager, nominally a pale kellerbier, though a tad strong at 5.5%. Grist 40/30/30 of Virginia Pils, Vienna, and Munich 9, respectively, single decoction. Sterling hops for 32 IBUs. Fermented with TUM-35, Franconian lager yeast. Will be on tap when blonde ale kicks.
Not going to lie folks, but I may have bounced around my house for a few minutes when I saw that "Virginia Cider: A Scrumptious History" is the current top ranked new or future book in the alcoholic spirits category on Amazon. Pre-order your copy today at: a.co/d/gjpPTWx
4.7%, 37 IBU of Magnum and Tettnang, 100% Virginia grown and malted barley. Pretty pleased with my first proper stab at a German style pilsner, which I named after my street: Espenwiese Pilsner...