the grades are in

So. The Drinking Goat Brewing Co. graduated from college. Bummer. It's very sad. But you're probably not interested in that. You're interested in the brews. Well. Here's what we thought.

Straight Up Mead
-magna cum laude (B+)

comments included:

"A spritz of your mead went well with sweetened ice tea."

"You know, chilled this isn't half bad."

"This is way better than the last time we drank it."

We intend to keep Straight Up Mead recipe whilst giving it some minor twists and adjustments. We like this drink and it likes us.

Cyser
-no laudes (C- -)

comments included:

"This tastes weak."

"This tastes weak."

"This tastes weak."

So our cyser tasted weak. But you can truly taste the potential in it, if only the fake-Frenchman and the real-Frenchman hadn't watered the wort down to modify our initial SG. But oh well. We'll take a second crack at this one come apple season and this time we won't eff it up.

Ultra Dry Red Wine
-no laudes (F +)

comments included:

"This tastes like shit."

"Oh shit."

"You know. It's not half bad. I kind of like it."

"What happened? This was so much better when we racked to secondary. I'm pouring the rest of it out."

So. For the record. I hated this one. And I'm pretty sad because we worked extra hard on it. The consensus was pretty much that somewhere somehow this one got seriously messed up. However, some people liked it despite its obvious failures. Not me. This one is a drink to forget about and never write home about. The only reason I've given it a "+" next to its "F" is because a couple crazos could stand the taste and actually asked for another bottle (which they received).

Basic Braggot
-no laudes (incomplete)

comments included:

"Hmm..."

This one needs a couple more weeks in the bottle before it gets its real grade and evaluation. Carbonation and conditioning have not occurred yet.

Pumpkin Braggot
-no laudes (incomplete with honors)

comments included:

"This shows promise."

"Wow. This smells really good."

"At least it's not the ultra dry red wine."

Our pumpkin braggot DOES show the most promise. It also is an ENTIRELY original concoction, so that is kind of fun. The pumpkin and pumpkin spices are very present in the smell and the taste, in a good way. But the honey is a little overpowering too, giving it a pretty powerful mead flavor/smell instead of a beer flavor/smell. This one will be rated again after another few days of bottle carbonation and maybe after a week of cold conditioning. Look out people. The pumpkin braggot is in town.


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The sad news is that the DGBC crew has scattered to the far corners of the earth. Many are still in Chicago, some in Boston, some moving to Colorado, some in Missouri, Kentucky, etc. But we'll stay friends and brewing/drinking buddies as long as there are grains to be had and brews to be consumed.

Tune in frequently as the fake-Frenchman and the auburn Appalachian attempt to tweak past recipes and embark on all new and all grain brewing adventures.

Many thanks to the injured intellectual for making this wonderful sketch of a rather drinky-goat. We'll be including it in future label designs. Hooray for art!



Remember, for updates, questions, comments, concerns, recipes, pictures, etc, you can always e-mail the DGBC at: drinkinggoat (at) gmail (dot) com

Great Finds, Great Friends

It has come to my attention that the fans of the Drinking Goat rock.

Your encouragement meads...means a lot to us here at the DGBC.

I wanted to point out two lovely pieces of art brought to my attention through said fans:

above: Bernini-goat with infants

Is the "infant" on the left milking the goat? Why does the goat look so happy? Is this goat encouraging underage drinking? What is going on here? Whatever it is , I hope it's not.

above: your friendly neighborhood photoshopper gives the DGBC crew a much needed makeover

In other news the DGBC has been in contact with a friendship who is going to help us concoct a label.

Also, when the fake-Frenchman went out to Ethiopian food last night, the manager of the restaurant recommended their homemade "honey wine." Intrigued, the fake-Frenchman perused the wine list whereupon he discovered that they hosted a whole selection of various homemade and/or African honey wines, many of which contained a shocking ingredient: hops?

Thanks to Ethiopia, I will be taking hops under advisement in our next mead recipe, a bitter bite with your sweet delight? I think so. I think so.

The Drinking Goat’s first beverage: mostly straight up mead

Vikings are under appreciated. If you’re honest, when you think of a viking you think of a giant smelly oaf with an undersized brain and an oversized sword. However, vikings were clever. For example, they switched the names of Greenland and Iceland to trick other folk into avoiding the better island. Apparently they wanted the tectonically active island all to themselves!

In addition to being clever the old Norsemen also had quite the palate. That is to say, anthropologists credit them with the invention of the oldest alcoholic beverage on record. Smelly and oafish? Maybe. But only because they were the first guys to get a buzz. Their invention is now commonly referred to as “mead” or “honey wine.”

On December 19th, the Drinking Goat crew bottled and corked 22 bottles of our mead.

“Must” recipe:

10 lbs of local (wheaton, il) honey
1 can of riesling concentrated grape juice
5 gallons of fresh water (non-chlorinated!)
1 packet of Red Star’s Côte des Blancs Wine Yeast
5 teaspoons of yeast nutrient

This mead’s primary fermentation began somewhere around the end of February last year (2009). After 3 separate rackings that took close to 9 months total, to get our mead off of its lees, it will age in bottle until the beginning of May. Just in time for graduation.

Hydrometer readings show our mead to be around 14% alcohol by volume.

Vocabulary:

must (n.): the liquid (or juice, if you’re into that sort of thing) that is formed when you first mix all of your ingredients together. basically, it’s the unfermented and therefore non-alcoholic form of your mead, beer, wine, cider, etc.

yeast nutrient (n.): a powder of diammonium phosphate and...this is actually gross...urea (apparently it’s “food-grade,” but come on, that aint foolin’ anyone). this is added to nourish the yeast and ensure they stay healthy and able to complete their very important mission (turning sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide).

primary fermentation (umm...adjective?): when the yeast is added (or “pitched”) into the must and allowed to eat as much sugar as it can before the alcohol it creates kills it. vicious, we know.

lees (n.): the nasty residue left at the bottom of your must after it has been allowed to sit and settle out. in our mead the lees consist mostly of random bee parts, wax, pollen, and dead yeast.

racking (a sweet verb.): the process of siphoning the clear liquid of the must from one container to another, where it is given more time to sit, settle, and clear.

hydrometer (n.): a handy tool that measures the specific gravity of your beverage before and after fermentation, which allows one to determine the final beverage’s alcohol content. neat huh? we thought so too. that’s why we bought one.


above: the fake-Frenchman and the real-Frenchman siphon the mead from its carboy into the bottles


above: the fake-Frenchman and the beautiful Swiss lady use a very fancy hand corker to seal up the bottles


above: the fake-Frenchman samples the final product straight from the carboy

The Drinking Goat would like to thank the folks at Chicagoland Winemakers Inc., our go to homebrewing supplier.

Stay tuned to the Drinking Goat as we wait out the winter developing two new mead recipes, brewing a stout, and bottling our ultra dry red wine.