New Beer

I get excited about 3 weeks after bottling a new batch of beer. It is about this time that the beer undergoes its almost magical transformation. What started off barely drinkable turns into this wonderful, carbonatey elixir that the world calls beer. At least it is supposed to, sometimes really BAD magic happens during the 3 weeks. Fortunately for us (the Marquise and I) the beer gods have smiled upon our efforts. The latest batch is really maturing into a tasty drink. It is actually rather quite sweet, which is surprising because this is the first batch we have not added any sugar to. This batch is all malt extract. It should be really good when we head off for the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in about 3 weeks or so. We will be prepared this time and bring our own beer. We are not going to have another repeat of last year when we couldn't find a beer to save our souls. (for those of you that don't know, the games are held in a "dry" county - no alcohol available for sale in the county) So far I've only had the beer warm (it kinda grows on you - warm beer that is). It should be really good cold. Somehow, I've gotta make the beer last another 3 weeks. It's a good thing that the Marquise doesn't drink as much as I do. At least there's a really good chance she'll have a lot available if I succumb to the temptation.

Next batch - - An Irish Stout!