SCENES FROM THIS WEEKEND: BEER!

On Saturday we went on a brewery tour to Oakland's Linden Street Brewery with one of Alan's mom's groups. It's a small production facility so the tour is mostly a q&a about the brewing process and their particular brew, but it was still fun. We love going to breweries. Afterward I was all fired up to brew our own so we went to the beer/wine making store, bought our supplies, and set up for a Sunday brew session. It started off a bit rocky when I heated the water to the wrong temperature. Then, midway through Alan looked at the 5 gallon recipe (instead of the 1 gallon) and added too many hops. I also deviated from the prescribed recipe to add my own spices to concoct a holiday blend. At this point we have no idea what the final product will end up tasting like, but it was definitely an experience. Unfortunately, it was one that Alan's decided he loathes. As in, he never wants to brew beer again. I've convinced him to give mead a try, so we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, we wait to see what we've wrought.