The White House Honey Ale poured into a glass

Brew #3 – White House Honey Ale

Back in late October, I made a batch of honey ale using the White House Honey Ale recipe with my buddy, Dan, and my wife, Michelle.

For those of you who don’t know what this is, Obama’s staff was petitioned to release the recipe for the homebrew they have been making in the White House. They actually released two recipes: one for a Honey Ale and another for a Honey Porter. For both of these recipes they use honey from the White House garden, but that’s besides the point. Continue reading

Brew #1 – Irish Red Ale

Back in mid-August I brewed my first batch of beer!

To get in the swing of things, I purchased a two-stage starter kit from Northern Brewer online, and one of their Irish Red Ale extract kits. Michelle, my wife, gave me anΒ “I owe you” for my birthday in May, but I put it off a little while because I didn’t want to drop the $200 for the equipment, ingredient kit, and brew kettle. Nevertheless, she convinced me to spend the money and I was so happy that I did! To be honest I felt like a 5 year-old on Christmas day when it arrived on our door step.

Along with the starter kit, I purchased on of Norther Brewer’s Irish Red Ale recipe kits. I decided on this kit because it appeared to be one of their most popular beers, and didn’t have a long fermenting process. Continue reading