*Many apples were harmed in the making of this blog.* For the second year in a row, I recently attended the fun annual Urban Wild at Lurie Garden in Chicago’s Millennium Park. Millennium Park is a wonderful 24-acre oasis flanked by Chicago’s downtown loop, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Lake Michigan shoreline. I …
Author Archives: Lucas
Sweet & Spooky Haunted Cherry Princess Ale
I caught the bug to brew a cherry beer while ruminating on the recipes for Sour Cherry Ale in Sam Calagione’s Extreme Brewing and Cherries in the Snow in Charlie Papazian’s The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. I mostly followed the Extreme Brewing recipe for this one. 9/14/2014 – Brew Day 8 oz German Wheat Malt …
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Dogfish Head Ancient Ales
Digging around in my blog, I just excavated this draft entry from July 2012. I say it’s high time this get published: In my relatively young quest for rediscovering ancient ales, I’ve come upon many articles about breweries and homebrewers trying to recreate the ancient recipes. Pat McGovern’s books Ancient Wine and Uncorking the Past …
Himbeer Bier
Resurrected from my Germanic youth, raspberry beer! That image just cracks me up!
Good Beer at 30 cents a bottle
They say you don’t get in to homebrewing to save money on beer, but it’s totally possible. Let’s call that a bonus feature. Even expensive homebrew comes out to a little over $1.00 per bottle. Typical craft beer in the store will cost you around $8-$12 for a six pack. That’s $1.33-$2 per bottle. As …
Pharaoh Hop’n’khamun – Ancient Egyptian inspired beer
Inspired by the recipes of Ancient Egyptian beer and wine and taking a page form Egyptian mythology, Pharaoh Hop’n’khamun is a work in progress. The gist of it can be gleaned from this fun little video I put together: http://youtu.be/RPIGPXcP2gs As I say in episode 52 of my Ancient Art Podcast about Wine in Ancient …
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A Toast to Ninkasi: Sipping Sumerian Beer
A couple weeks ago, the wife and I visited the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago for an evening of ancient Sumerian beer “exploration.” It was exceptionally informative on Sumerian texts, brewing, and archaeology and included a good discussion by Great Lakes Brewing on their partnership with the OI to replicate Sumerian beer. What …
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No Chill Method – Keeping It Simple, Keeping It Real
I wrestle with balancing authenticity and technology in my home brewing. Sanitizers, clarifying agents, wort chillers … I somehow doubt ancient brewers concerned themselves with the “cold break” to draw out particulate matter for clarifying their beer. In an effort not only to simplify my brew day, but also with the pleasant bonus of authenticity, …
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Tilted Jaw IPA, 3rd time’s the charm
After a hiatus of many moons, Morgue Brewing (i.e. me) is back in the saddle! Kicking things off with my signature IPA, Tilted Jaw. Who’d-a-thunk a move and a baby would consume so much time (besides everyone, lol!), but the family is more or less settled and the brewery has some nice new digs. I’m …
Scorpion’s Cedar
King Scorpion (yes, there really was a King Scorpion) enjoyed the good life … and also the good afterlife. Found in Scorpion’s tomb at Abydos from about 3,100 BC, the earliest wine in Egypt was imported from the region of ancient Syria or Jordan. He went out in style, being buried with over 4,500 liters …