All that stuff above is this: malt extract, roasted barley, hops, yeast. Not pictured: water. (I’m guessing you already know what that looks like.) That stuff, plus a big old kettle, a couple of five gallon plastic buckets, and a few other basic accessories is all you need to brew your own beer. Why brew [...]
Nov
8
2010
8
2010
Jun
30
2010
30
2010
Local Goes on the Road
We are vacationing in the mountains of North Carolina this week, but still trying to stick to our local way of thinking. We brought homemade yogurt, rolls and pita from home and were hoping to find some local fruits once we got here. No luck at the supermarket, but on the way back to our [...]
Jun
13
2010
13
2010
Cherry-Vanilla Braggot
The fellow with the big head is our cherry-vanilla braggot — a hybrid of mead and beer. We made our version with six pounds of clover honey, two pounds of our favorite dried cherries, and two whole vanilla beans. For a number of years, we’ve followed the recipe for “Crandaddy Braggot” from Extreme Brewing by Sam [...]
Sep
26
2009
26
2009
Raspberry Liqueur
The raspberries were growing wild in the park at the end of the block, and on a sweltering weekend in July, we reached into the briers and filled our baskets until they overflowed. We made jam. We put them into our oatmeal. We froze some for later. And we made raspberry liqueur. Using a recipe [...]