Tag: IPA

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Flavor Combinations

A few people have recently asked us, “how do you pick your flavor combos?!” Super Berry Cider, Blackberry Mint Sour, and Ginger Lime Seltzer, are just a few we’ve brewed recently. We simply tell them: We’re always thinking of beer.

Every time we go out to the grocery store, a new restaurant, or to visit a brewery, our eyes and minds are always open. Sometimes we just wander through the grocery store and see what we can find and start with one ingredient and build from there. If you start with a tart ingredient, you cater your brewing style to add a bit of sweetness or if you use a bitter tea, there’s no need for a ton of bittering hops.

We also recommend to scour the internet not just for beer recipes and ideas but for anything edible. You never know where your inspiration will come from. Sometimes we look up cake recipes and see how their built and their proportions and build a recipe based from something unrelated.

We always look forward to recipe creation because it helps us put our creative foot first and let our brewing skill show the rest. What do you do for recipe creation? How do you handle developing new recipes? Let us know… there’s always room to grow!

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Juniper Leaves

https://www.etsy.com/shop/juniperleaves

https://www.instagram.com/shop.juniperleaves/

As I mentioned last week, relationships help small businesses grow. Well, our good friends from Seattle (originally from the true Best Coast – the East Coast), run a small business out of their home. It’s always been close to our heart because it involves dogs. It’s called Juniper Leaves. It’s a Dog Mom + Me accessories site but as a dog Dad I feel I can enjoy pampering my dog too!

Don’t tell my wife but my favorite son is our dog, not the silly cat she’s had since we first met. The cat’s a jerk – the dog’s great. So, to help pamper my buddy we try to get him new toys when he goes to the groomers and new bandannas when the mood strikes. That’s where Juniper Leaves comes in. Stout, our pup, is a big fan of her stuff. He seems to love wearing her materials and cuts and they always seem to fit perfect. We have 2 beer bandannas and a Penn State bandanna from here.

Juniper Leaves and I are working on a collaboration beer and some Warzy Brewing gear. Keep your eyes open so you can shower your pet in gear and help small businesses along the way.

If you have any ideas of doggo, mom, or dad accessories you’d like to see in the Warzy Brewing swag catalog please let us know and we’ll work to develop something for you and your fur babies!

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Building Relationships

One of the most important parts of success is building relationships. Relationships are about give and take. They’re about helping each other out and going above and beyond. Without relationships, small businesses don’t work.

Over the next few weeks I’ll try to spotlight some of the relationships we’ve built while developing Warzy Brewing. If you’re interested in getting involved with our brand or collaborating on something for the future please let us know. We can grow together.

Keep your eye open for the relationship spotlight next week. I think this one is a paw-fest one to start with. This one isn’t a ruff relationship at all… More to come next week – stay tuned!

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Fruited Beverage Combos

My uncle always says “you don’t fruit the beer” or “I never put fruit in beer”. We get that sentiment from a ton of old school beer drinkers – the responders typically like super hoppy west coast IPAs or light American lagers. I don’t mind that opinion – I myself rock Miller Lite at tailgates or a nice Bells Two Hearted when the mood strikes. However, lately I’ve been enjoying adding fruit and/or spices to beer styles and they’ve been turning out great. Below are some combos I’ve used and the beer style I went with:

– Blueberry and Cinnamon – Milkshake IPA

– Cherry and Cinnamon – Hard Apple Cider

– Cucumber and Honeydew Melon – Gose

– Blackberry and Mint – Kettle Sour

– Mango – Hard Seltzer

– Ginger and Lime – Hard Seltzer

What are some flavor combos you’ve used lately? Anything I should try? I’m curious to see the bounds of adding fruit and spices to beer, cider, and Seltzer styles!

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3 Rules for Homebrewers

Homebrewing is a fun hobby. You can make some incredible beer that you get to share with friends. Lately, I’ve been asked what “rules” homebrewers have and I jotted down my 3 most important.

1. I can’t sell you my product. I wish I could. I have had folks at beerfests ask “okay… so how do you make money?!” Simply put, I don’t. I brew as a hobby and a stress reliever. I enjoy getting feeding and seeing others try my beer. Thus, my slogan #BrewingBeerForFriends .

2. Homebrewers can add almost anything to a beer. Professional breweries have limitations on what they can add or when they can add it. Homebrewers don’t. Lately, I’ve been in a fruit, tea, and spice mood, so my products have any had one of the above in them! It’s fun!

3. Newbies that want to try brewing for the first time ask: “what’s the most important tip?” My answer: sanitation. If your process is sanitary and you keep everything clean and the bottles/kegs/fermenters sanitary that the wort is going into, you’ll make beer.

Do you have any other must-follow rules for home brewing? I’d love to see the questions you get!

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Upcoming Beer Fest – Homebrew & Chill

We’re very excited to be part of Greensburg,’s craft beer week. We put together some incredible beverages that we’re really proud of:

-Mango Hard Seltzer

-Blueberry Pie Milkshake IPA

-Darjeeling Blonde Ale

-Blackberry Mint Sour.

Details for the Beer Fest are below. We hope to see you there!

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TICKETS ON SALE NOW

The official home brew competition & beer tasting of Greensburg Craft Beer Week! You won’t want to miss the chance to sample these great beers — and possibly discover the area’s next brewer.

This a ticketed event where guests will be able to taste and vote for their favorite home brews entered into the competition. Enjoy live music, food trucks and the photo booth then grab some GBGCBW swag at the merch tent!

30 Home Brewers will be present, attendees will be able to taste over 60 beers!

Best in Show Winner – Will be able to brew their beer with a local brewery

People’s Choice Winner – Collabs with First Sip Brew Box

VIP Admission (2-6pm) – $50

– Early Entry (2pm)

– VIP Hour with lite bites (2-3pm)

– Collaboration Beer Tasting Hour (2-3pm)

– Signature Tasting Glass

– Live Music

– Food Trucks will be parked and food available for purchase

General Admission (3-6pm)– $35

– 3pm entry to the event

– Signature Tasting Glass

– Live Music

– Food Trucks will be parked and food available for purchase

Designated Driver Admission – $10

– Entry to the event (GA or VIP)

Please be aware of your entry time. VIP gets entry at 2pm, General Admission gets entry at 3pm. No exceptions.

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Water Chemistry Series: Chloride

Chloride (Cl-)

Chloride, not to be confused with chlorine, is a common addition to brewing water. If you’re looking to boost the malt character of your beer, you want to focus on chloride content. The easiest way to increase clhoride is by adding NaCl (table salt). Adding 0.8 tsp. (5 grams) to 7 gallons of brewing water will increase chloride to about 115ppm. Note, it will also increase sodium by about 75ppm.

Available forms: table salt, calcium chloride

Effect on beer taste: accentuates malt characteristics, enhances beer flavor and palate fullness, high concentration leads to salty taste in finished beer.

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Observations from Europe

Culture, especially in bars and restaurants is an interesting thing. Visiting Europe opened my eyes to a few things, listed below. (I will note that we visited Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. If your experiences differed or were the same, let us know below!)

1. Most restaurants still allowing smoking – even in eating areas.

2. Cafes, restaurants, and bars are a great place for no-cost bathrooms (most bathrooms in Europe charge you to use). So if you go to a bar/cafe and purchase and item you get to utiilize their WC (water closet / bathroom) for free or a reduced charge.

3. Trough toilets and low/no-flow toilets are the norm here. Even in older pubs, toilets have been upgraded for conservation.

4. Big breweries don’t seem to be common. Many small restaurants produce their own beer.

5. Very few IPAs/Bizarre beer varieties. Most place have a light beer and a dark beer – typically a lager and a dunkel. They may also have a Radler. The places that make their own beer will have more variety but it’s still not as vast as USA breweries.

6. Most places are more relaxed and social. You’re not bombarded by the wait staff. They wait for you to ask for something. You have to ask for your check. Tip % is much lower (10%). You can wait at the table as long as you’d like without feeling pressure to leave so the waiter can “turn tables over” to make more money.

7. Water isn’t free. You pay for it. Sometimes it’s tap water and sometimes it’s bottled.

8. In some countries you have to specify still water – otherwise you get sparkling water.

9. Outside seating is all the rage. With minimal AC, most people eat outdoors because the inside of restaurants get hot. Plus, who doesn’t enjoy outdoor eating?

10. Cash is king. Unless you run up a large bill, most places prefer cash.

11. Try not to grab beers at your hotel. Drinking a block away at a local pub can save you 60% on the cost of beer and food.

Similarities:

1. Bartenders are still great and happy to recommend options nearby.

2. All types of alcohol are still available – beer, wine, and liquor.

3. Drinking is still arguably the best way to meet people.

A few photos from the trip below:

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Water Chemistry Series

My background is water. I work for the largest for-profit provider of water and waste-water services in the United States. My day job revolves around water – from source to tap. It makes sense that my first blog mini series should focus on water and how it directly affects beer quality and taste.

Different water sources can create different tastes, odors, flavor expressions, fullness, etc. when brewing beer. This mini series will attempt to cover the basics of water quality and what you can do to determine a baseline of your water profile and how to modify it to better serve your beer styles.

Good beer can be brewed with almost any water style. Great beer however, focuses on every detail of the production – including water profile and design. The “best” beers of each sub category are surrounded by specifics from their local water or water they choose to use.

Two Chemistry items to relearn before starting this series:

Ions: An ion is an atom or a group of atoms that has a positive or negative charge due to the loss or gain of an electron. The primary ions we focus on are Calcium (Ca+2), Magnesium (Mg+2), Sodium (Na+1), Bicarbonate (HCO3–1), Sulfate (SO4–2), and Chloride (Cl–1). Each of these items we’ll discuss more in depth each week and explain their role in brewing.

Hardness/Alkalinity: Water hardness is the amount of dissolved calcium (Ca+2) and Magnesium (MG+2) within your water source. A “harder” water has a lot of calcium and magnesium; a “soft” water does not. Many homes, specifically on hard water sources, have water softener systems. Water softeners work by replacing the calcium and magnesium in the water with sodium or potassium.

Water Quality Report: This first step I took when modifying my own home water quality was to define what my water ion/hardness baseline looked like. I’d recommend utilizing Ward Labs ( https://www.wardlab.com/BrewersKitOrder.php). I’m not sponsored by them nor do I have a working relationship with them but the end producti (seen below) gives a great snapshot of what your water quality looks like.

Start by determining your baseline and we’ll build from there. Next week we’ll jump into the water quality report and breakdown where to go from here.

If you want to go the additional mile and read up further, a few sources:

John Palmer – How to Brew: https://amzn.to/2IpHRZO