American Craft Beer Week
American Craft Beer Week was started in 2006 as a week of support and to promote knowledge of craft beer and craft breweries throughout the country. Being held at the beginning of the summer, ACBW kick starts the wonderfully busy summer of beer events. In 2012, ACBW begins May 14th and runs through May 20th.
What is Craft Beer Week? Well, it’s whatever you decide to make out of it. American Craft Beer week (#ACBW) is a time to celebrate the craft brewers and breweries throughout our country. From the smallest nano-breweries to the pioneers of craft brewing to the home brewers, each individual that creates and enjoys these unique beverages supports the movement of craft brewing that has allowed this amazingly diverse (and delicious) brewing culture to take hold in America. To me, ACBW is a time to try a new brew, check out some of the numerous educational or social events and pay tribute to all those who dedicate their time to providing us with amazing beer.
Beer Festivals: What to know before you go.
To those new to beer festivals, or even those with experience, here are some tips and tricks that you can use to make your time tasting some of the best brews in the world more enjoyable (though that may be hard to believe). With the Winter Brew Fest quickly approaching I thought it would be a good time to throw out a couple ideas to help you prepare for the night. Please, check the rules and regulations of your particular beer festival before you plan, though many festivals are similar, some may not allow certain things (most do not allow outside food or backpacks).
Brewer’s Bread
Here's another way to reuse spent grain. Bread! Whether there is much flavor or nutrients in left in the grain or not, there is certainly fiber in the husks. If nothing else it can act as a filler, and the more complex mashes will get roast character from the malt. We made this one with grain from our brown ale on Christmas eve. It turned out to be quite delicious. I'm not very patient so I didn't let the bread rise enough in the pan (step 7) so it came out a bit flat but that was fine. We sliced it at an angle to get "thicker" slices and made French-toast for Christmas morning and my wife was picking at the bread the next few days until we used it in a breakfast casserole. Would have been good as sandwich bread or toast as well. Let us know what you think!
Barley Barkers Dog Treats
We got this recipe from here and our dog Gypsy really seems to like them. We just rescued Gypsy from an animal shelter for Christmas and have been going through treats like crazy in our efforts to train her. Also, since we are using a lot we had been cutting up the treats to make them into pea sized bites as recommended by our training book. We found this recipe and saw an answer to both of our new problems; the need for lots of treats and the need for treats sized as we wanted them. Obviously you can cut them to whatever size is appropriate for your dog but we have been cutting them into about 1/2 inch squares. Try these out and let us know what you think. Also if you have your own recipe we are always looking for new ideas to keep Gypsy from getting bored. 
Ingredients:
- 4 cups spent grain
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 2 eggs
Directions:
- Mix ingredients well and roll out on baking sheet.
- Cut most of the way through.
- Bake at 350 F for 30 min.
- Break pieces apart
- Dry in oven at 250 for 3 hours or until completely dry
Notes:
Mash-Out Chocolate Chip Cookies
Looking for ways to reuse spent grain? These chocolate chip cookies were an adaptation of the normal chocolate chip recipe my wife and I like to make. We try to use whole wheat, flaked grains, etc anyway when we bake and spent grains seemed like the perfect addition. If you don't want to use, or don't have, whole wheat flour, these will come out a bit more like "normal" chocolate chip cookies if you use all-purpose. Here's what we did.
Pumphouse Brewery & Restaurant
My wife and I were on our way to Estes Park and looking for a new brewery to try. Driving through Longmont, Left Hand Brewing Company was an option, but they didn’t serve food and we were pretty hungry. We really like their brews but we kept looking. Another option that looked quite enticing was a place we weren’t familiar with called Pumphouse Brewery. Reviewers had given the place nearly five stars. I checked out their website, and it was appealing right off the bat.
Homebrewers Association Rally
Members and non-members alike, if you homebrew or are interested in homebrew, join us at the Wynkoop at 1634 18th Street in Denver across the street from the Union Station at 1pm today Nov 12th, 2011. Membership is only $38 a year for a single person or 43$ for a family membership. RSVP @ http://bit.ly/RallyRSVP See you there!
Boulder Beer President on The Session
Check out the Brewing Network this Sunday 13 Nov, 2011 as Boulder Beer Company president Jeff Brown joins the Sunday Session. Watch it live online at justin.tv/brewingnetwork or listen at http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/812.
edit- Jeff Brown was unable to make the show, we'll update you when he is rescheduled!
Win Tickets to Denver Summer Brew Fest
While you're here getting your tickets for the Winter Brew Fest (Jan 27th, 2012) be sure to sign up for a chance to win FREE tickets to the Summer Brew Fest. Both events are held at Mile High Station, a short walk from the light rail. While they do sell tickets at the door there was still a line during the 2011 Summer Brew Fest when they sold out!
Free skis from Tommyknocker…
... if you win. Tommyknocker Brewery is holding a drawing with plenty of prizes to include a pair of Tommyknocker custom Icelantic skis, lift tickets to Loveland, gift certificates, gear and more. To sign up just enter you name and email at their site. They will be holding the drawings on Dec 1, 2011 and Mar 1, 2012.
