LikeTelevision Blog

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

India Gains Independence - Made an I.P.A.



It was 60 years ago today, on January 26, 1950 that Indian finally gained its independence from Great Britain. Two Indian heroes were mostly responsible for the country's freedom - Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Their weapon of choice - passive resistance. Though they were promised independence by British Prime Minister Atlee in 1945, those stubborn Brits were downright slow to let go... I mean 5 years is a long time mates. Here's a video with some historic footage of the landmark event in India's history.



So - to honor this historic day - I decided to bottle a batch of some home brew, an India Pale Ale to be exact - which had been fermenting in a lovely state of what is called wort. Zymergy (the art of fermentation), Moshing - or making home brew is my new hobby. One of these days I will make a video about it as it is loads of fun and downright delicious if you know what you like in brewskis and are patient. Since this I.P.A. was a strong batch - meaning a bunch of alcohol content by volume, it is best to let it ferment in this wort state for at least 2 weeks. After that - it is time to bottle it - which entails adding 3/4 teaspoon of sugar into each 12 oz. bottle, pouring in the wort and capping it. Give it a good shake, and let it sit for about 10 days to get the beer nice and carbonated. The yeast is still active and it will ferment the sugar, letting off gas which has no place to go except into the beer to give it that nice fizz and a solid head when you pour it. After this - it is two months of lagering - which just means you put it into the fridge and try not to drink it because it is still immature. Well, I am immature too - and as of yet - I cannot wait the whole time and try a few before they are totally ready - but waiting does make the beer a ton smoother, so you really want to. Knowing my weakness - I have brewed several batches so far - with fun names to boot. Fat Man in a Bathtub Stout, St Arnold's Schwartz a Negre, Squirrelly's Nut Brown Ale, Fat Ass Bass, and most recently - Jenny's Juicy Juice, which is my favorite to date, already half gone and less than a month of lagering. Yikes! So - in an effort to stay ahead of the game, I also began a new keg of wort - I am calling Crazy Mixed Up Kid - because I am using a Pilsner Hopped Malt Extract combined with an Amber Unhopped Malt Extract and Gr Spalt Grand Hops and some Galcier Hops, with a cup and a 1/4 of brown sugar. This batch will be ready around planting time in the garden.

If you are interested in a how to make beer video, just drop me a line at info-at-liketelevision-dot-com. Cheers! And especially to all my friends from India - Cheers!

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Thursday, July 30, 2009

Beer Summit - The Conference at Malta



Time for a beer summit of our own at LikeTelevision - yep, it looks like the time is right - it just turned beer thirty. And today we have an incredible cast of characters joining us today. PLUS this lovely portrait taken by an olde artist at a beer session with a dog - be careful not to tip the Cold Nukie lil fella!



Our dear chum - W.C. Fields starts off the tap with - A Fatal Glass of Beer. Now, no worries as Mr. Fields has been dead for some time now. Not sure - I think Mae West might have devoured him a few decades back after she objected to being called a chickadee.

And sorry folks - ain't no way we are going with a Budweiser. Not gonna happen - sheesh, it is made outta rice and this is a beer summit, not a Saki Session with Sushi. And we are not really that interested in Blue Moon or a Red Stripe either, though we have always been big fans of Jamaica, especially the Sunsplash Music Festival in late summer in honor of Bob Marley. For our taste - we prefer a cool Newcastle, a Bass Ale and if we want something light - few brewskis top the PBR, or Pabst Blue Ribbon to the uninitiated.

But - lest we forget, we are olde school here - so let's get some top picks from back in the day. Well - Colt 45 (Skydiving) or Colt 45 (Surfing) has got to be way up near the top. Besides having some awesome commercials, it tasted pretty good and believe it or not, we were in a band that had a slight twist on the name. The band was called Cult 45 - and was known for the ridiculous album cover (Will design web pages for beer). The top radio cuts off the vinyl were Popemobile and Turn Me on Dead Man. Now before you get your opus dei cilice all tangled up in your panties, another name in NASCAR for new tires is Virgin Rubber and we are from the south, where people actually like shrimp with grits.... so Chill Ace. You will have to listen to Popemobile to understand what the heck I am talking about.

And to wrap it up - one of our favorite beer commercials from back in the sweet days of gentle women happy to go get us guys a beer while we relaxed in the hammock --- ahhh. Was it so long ago. I do miss the days when women were actually less ambitious and obnoxious as men - but that was then and this is now. Remember back with this Carling Black Label beer classic.

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