Pete Giovinco Thyme Machine

Another of Pete's homebrews crossed my doorstep and this one was a pale ale brewed with thyme. Originally Pete was going to name this Thyme Bomb but they changed it at some point and decided on Thyme Machine instead. Let me say, thyme bomb may not be the name, but that's certainly still the theme.

Big thyme nose. Shocking description, I know, but man, it smelled like thyme. Crazy. Basically like drinking a glass of thyme. There's a nice mild pale ale underneath but every sip started and ended with thyme. Was it good? Was it bad? I'm honestly not sure. Actually, no, I don't think it was bad. Bizarre as all hell but not bad. It did go decently with my pizza I'll say that. But, heck, if homebrewing isn't about experimenting then I don't know what the point is so kudos to them for trying something even if I don't think I ever want to have another taste of this one again.

Also, don't forget I'm in Belgium now. Look for some quick write ups over the next few days.

Nodding Head Monkey Madness

Okay, before explaining anything, let me just drop this right here.

Have I set the scene? I think I have. And yes, the assistant brewer Fava is inside.

So this past weekend was another Second Saturday event at Nodding Head, this time named Monkey Madness. The theme for this was beers with lemongrass and ginger, following along from their world famous Monkey Knife Fight (or at least it should be world famous, best name ever). Along with two variations of that beer, they brewed a couple others using lemongrass to round out the lineup.

Left Hand Juju Ginger

Left Hand Juju Ginger is classified as a spiced beer and is made with ginger as expected.

Well, the first thing I'll say is it's definitely made with ginger. Mostly ginger in the aroma with some notes from the base beer. Not sure what the base is, possibly something wheat. Who knows. A little tangy up front followed by some sweet ginger and finishing with some bitter ginger flavor. I'm guessing the sweetness and bitterness come from the base which is why the ginger appears in both situations. This is a decent enough beer, but definitely slightly odd. If you like ginger, you'd maybe like this. If you hate it, then you'd hate this. Simple as that really although even if you like ginger it's not really something to write home about.

Chris Dengler Lemongrass something or other

After stopping by to deliver something, a friend of mine gave me two bottles of his homebrew. They were variations of his lemongrass beer, brewed with different yeasts and hops. The first one I opened was hopped with Sorachi Ace but I don't know the type of yeast used.

Smelled like fresh ginger, almost tea like. Incredibly clean flavor with hints of ginger. As it was well balanced and understated, the ginger worked really well. I believe he might have added some actual ginger along with the lemongrass and with the Sorachi Ace flavor everything worked well. Really delicious. Definitely looking forward to trying the gold cap soon and seeing the differences.

San Francisco - Beers and Beer Week

An amazing coincidence occurred with our trip.  Somehow we planned it so that part of it overlapped with the beginning of San Francisco beer week.  I have no idea how that happened.  I totally didn't look it up before we decided on dates and then convinced Jo that it was a good idea.  See, just a big coincidence!  Or I'm totally lying.  Whatever, stop looking at me like that.

While we managed to make it to a couple events, there were a bunch of other places we went as well.  After getting back from Sonoma and all the breweries, Jo and I visited her sister's neighborhood and, lucky for me, that included a trip to the Toronado.