So, I brewed beer!

As I write, I’m enjoying a glass of the Scottish Heather Ale that I brewed on February 15th with the help of my patient husband. I have many friends that are infinitely talented when it comes to home brew, so drinking beer made by someone I know isn’t really much of a big deal anymore -  but something I came up with myself, now that is a big deal!

Jon has been brewing since last June; I wanted to brew back then myself, knew I wanted to brew with Heather flowers, just because, well… you know, the whole name thing. After watching Jon a few times I had a fairly good handle on how much time it took and how much work it is… thus, I put it off for half a year.

Anyway, in February I finally started researching Scottish Ale recipes brewed with Heather flowers. I didn’t find any I liked, so I adapted an existing recipe to use Heather in place of some of the hop additions.

Personally, that it even tastes like BEER, without any strange taste additions, makes me happy with it. That it tastes good is a bonus. I’m already thinking of what I’d like to do next… I’m thinking of a vanilla porter.

I saved some of the grain from my Scottish Heather Ale (that Jon helped me brew!) to bake with. I haven’t had too much success baking with spent grain in the past (cake-y chocolate chip cookies and a still raw inside loaf of bread), but I was motivated to make something tasty with spent grain for a St Patty’s party that would be filled with home brewers.

The last time I made spent grain cookies I used a recipe I found online. The recipe seemed like something that was adapted to be vegan and/or “healthy”. Thus, the cookies weren’t too great (sorry vegans and/or healthy cookie bakers, I like fat in my cookies, especially in the form of BUTTER!). They were tasty, but not the right texture - and texture is really big in my book when it comes to really, really good cookies.

So, I decided to adapt a regular cookie recipe to use spent grains. I wound up coming up with two types of cookies, both of which were good and got rave reviews from co-workers and home brewing friends alike.

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I had a baking post all ready to be my “First Post of the New Blog!” but really I just need to talk about The Decemberists today. Specifically their new album, The Hazards of Love, which was just released this morning on iTunes (CD release is March 23rd).

This album is incredible. For me, saying a band is My Favorite Band means that I love all of their albums. But there are always certain songs or certain types of songs that I enjoy and love more. This album, which is a concept album similar to their last full length album The Crane Wife, is completely comprised of the type of Decemberist songs I love: long, progressive rock tunes telling tales of shape shifting lovers, ghosts in the woods, inexplicably angry queens and unapologetic murderers.

I don’t think I’ve ever had this feeling about an album that I’ve looked forward to - there is always some disappointment, some song that’s just “eh” or doesn’t call to you as much as the rest. That is totally not this album, not for me. The Decemberists are kicking off their tour Short Fazed Hovel tour in May and will be playing the album from start to finish as their first set. I already have tickets and plans to go with Stephanie - I am pretty damn excited to hear this entire album played live!

I’m not much of a music review writer - I can’t speak to the musical arrangements and technical details of the album. I can just say that The Hazards of Love effing ROCKS.