It’s going to be a tough year for cherry melomels, cherry wheat beer, cherry lambic, and (sob!) cherry pie. I have a cherry mel in secondary that needs a boost.  It’s a bit thin, and the cherry flavor could be better.  Of course, it’s January – not a fresh cherry [...]

If you want to make really good hard cider, you need to use vintage apples. But where do you find these superb cider-making apples? I live smack in the middle of prime apple-growing country here in Maryland; Virginia, our next door neighbor, is one of the top five apple-producing states [...]

Curling up with a mug of steaming mulled cider is a lovely thing this chilly, dank time of year, but I beg you, don’t get those silly, frilly, expensive  little kits to make your cider with.  Making showstopping spiced cider is stupid easy and much less expensive than getting a [...]

This is a recipe in progress for a sparkling ginger mead.  I’m adding all my thought processes and decisions here.  I’m making it for my friend Cynthia, unless she tells me she doesn’t like ginger… Sanitize EVERYTHING, except the spice bag, which doesn’t sanitize well so I boil it.  Spatula, [...]

I guess it’s not too soon before Christmas to share the very best recipe for hot spiced wine I know. I make a single gallon of this at Christmastime every year, in honor of the man from whom my family got it.  We called him Bud; he was my sister’s [...]

News flash for some folks: you can make apple juice from any apple, but you can’t make good hard cider – I mean the fermented stuff – from just anything.  If you buy all your apples at an American grocery store, you’ve probably forgotten what an apple can really taste [...]

Baltimore Brew Festival hosted a Gruit Ale competition last night.  I asked whether they would post their recipes on their website – don’t have an answer yet.  One of the competitors did send me his.  Good gruit is hard to find, so I thought I’d share.   Ryan Boddy’s Gruit [...]

Brooklyn BrewShop’s Beer Making Book is my latest find in the domain of beer brewing.  I’ve added it to my Basic Brewers Books list.  It’s designed for folks who a) like good beer but don’t drink a ton of it, and/or b) don’t have a lot of space to spare.  [...]

I am gearing up to try the White House Honey Porter recipe this weekend.  There are a few mysteries in the two beer recipes released by the White House, which of course are being widely discussed among homebrewers as many of us buy the ingredients to check these puppies out.  [...]