1st post

Hi All,

Welcome to Bill's Brew-B-Que blog, where I will regale you with tales of adventures in beer and bbq and maybe some other kinds of cooking. I'm weird like that. I can never stay firmly on topic.

First the Beer. I want to say I'm an avid homebrewer, although I'm not quite sure what the requirements for being "Avid" are. I've been brewing for about 14 months so far and I've made about 12 beers to date.

Batch 1 - Red Eye Irish Red - Oct 2008 - Extract  (3rd Place SCA's GWW Brew comp).
Batch 2 - Black Bear stout - Nov 2008 - All Grain
Batch 3 - Headless Hessian Pumpkin ale - Nov 2008 - Extract
Batch 4 - New Years English style Ale - Jan 2009 - Extract
Batch 5 - Black Oak Kreik Belgian ale with Cherries - Feb 2009 - All Grain (entered in Bruery Batch 50)
Batch 6 - Kvasir Cream Ale - Feb 2009 - Extract
Batch 7 - Valkyrie Vanilla Imperial Russian stout - March 2009 - Extract (1st place + Best in Show @ SCA's GWW Brew comp)
Batch 8 - Heimdal Hefeweisen - May 2009 - Extract
Batch 9 - Gungnir Gruit Ale - July 2009 - Extract (3rd Place SCA's GWW Brew comp)
Batch 10 - Unnamed (yet) Pale Ale - Oct 2009 - Extract
Batch 11 - Unnamed (yet ) IPA - Oct 2009 - Extract (in secondary fermenter now)
Batch 12 - Unnamed (yet) Beire De Garde - Nov 2009 - Extract ( in primary fermentation)
Batch 14 - Unnamed (yet) Big Brown Maple - Not yet Brewed - Extract

I will be posting more on them as I open them up and drink whats left. I think I still have some of the vanilla stout, belgian, the gruit, and the Pale ale left at the moment. The rest are gone.

On to BBQ! I got a small smoker from home depot this year for my birthday, and I have been smoking everything I can get my hands on! I did a turkey for thanksgiving and I plan to do a ham for Christmas dinner. I might get really ambitious and deep fry a turkey using my brewing burner!

The highlight of my brewing career so far was winning a BBQ recipe contest from the Bruery and getting a recipe on the menu at Beechwoods BBQ in Seal Beach. I originally did the recipe as a brisket but they had a brisket on the menu so they did it with ham. Here's the way they describe it:

Smoked Ham Sandwich:
Beer and coffee glazed smoked ham.
Served on an onion bun with smoked
onions, Brie cheese & arugala

I haven't made it down there yet to try it by I do plan to! I'll post the recipe up here shortly.

Welcome to the journey!