This package was originally supposed to arrive on Friday, but unfortunately the FedEx guy showed up before my lunch time and I wasn’t able to be home to accepted the package.  So my poor beer had to sit in a hot truck all day on Friday and then in a hot warehouse overnight.  Sure one more day of heat probably doesn’t mean much after sitting in a truck coming all the way from California, but it still hurts a bit.  As for the beer, we drank the Pliny and the Blind Pig the night they arrived.  Both lived up to their reputation and were fantastic beers.  What did you enjoy this weekend?

I mentioned in Friday’s Round-Up that I was brewing a clone of Russian River’s Pliny the Elder. I thought I’d provide a picture of it fermenting because I was pretty shocked just how violent it became. I brew 5.5 gallons of beer and put it into 6.5 gallon carboys to allow room for the krausen (that brownish-yellow foam on top). But when you have bigger (as in sugar/alcohol) beers such as this one, you’ll usually need to have a blow off tube to catch any additional krausen that may come out of the fermenter.

Here are some quick specifics about my beer:

• OG 1.088
• IBUs: 100+ (ProMash estimated it at 284)
• Lag time: About 8 Hours

This is a bit bigger than Vinnie’s beer, but I’m sure that the amount of hops added should be able to handle the extra 15 points of sugar. After the primary finishes I’ll rack to a 5 gallon carboy and dry hop with about 7 more ounces of hops. This will probably be the first beer I try my Randal on. Exciting stuff, though I guess this means I’m officially a hop head.

Paul from the Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton informed me that a very special beer has made it’s way to St. Louis. The beer is Avery and Russian River’s second batch of Collaboration not Litigation. Here’s the back story on it:

Salvation. The name of two intricate Belgian-style ales, created by Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing and Adam Avery of Avery Brewing. After becoming friends a few years ago, we realized that we both had a Salvation in our line-ups. Was it going to be a problem? Should one of us relinquish the rights? “Hell no!” we said. In fact, it was quickly decided that we should blend the brews to catch the best qualities of each and create an even more complex libation. In April 2004, in top-secret meeting at Russian River Brewing (well actually it was packed in the pub, and many were looking over our shoulders wondering what the hell was going on), we came up with the perfect blend of the two Salvations. Natalie, Vinnie’s much more significant other, exclaimed, We should call this Collaboration, not Litigation Ale! “Perfect!” we shouted. We celebrated deep into the night, (or is it morning?). Fast forward to February 2008, and we completed our second blending of these two fine ales. Batch 2 will become available to the public February 12th.

All profits from this joint venture will fund a return educational trip to Belgium with our bros Tomme (Port Brewing), Sam (Dogfish Head Brewing) and Rob (Allagash Brewing). This pilgrimage will enable us to learn even more about traditional brewing techniques to combine with our already strange and unique styles here in America. Gezondheid!

This is a very unique beer, created by two amazing brewers. I can’t imagine this one will last long (especially if I have my way with it.) Hurry up and pick it up!