Author Archives: The Suit

Houston City Club – Beer & Food Tasting

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This just in. The Houston City Club is hosting a beer and food tasting event today July 26th. One of the coordinators sent us the following:

‘The event is open to the public but is RSVP due to limited space.  (See the official flyer here for contact info).  Saint Arnold, No Label, Karbach, Southern Star, Buffalo Bayou, Real Ale, and Alamo will be present and featuring select styles for which the Club’s Executive Chef will be preparing bite-sized food items paired specific to the beer.  There will be a speaking lineup as well including Brock Wagner from Saint Arnold, Ronnie Crocker from the Houston Chronicle, and also representatives from several of the new Houston breweries such as Fort Bend, City Acre, and Town In City.  Door prizes will be selected following each speaker, ranging from gift baskets (with beer!), private brewery tours, a “design-a-beer” opportunity offered by Bufffalo Bayou.’

Real Ale – Barrel Aged 15th Anniversary

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real-ale-15-anniversary1 Year Bourbon Barrel Aged Real Ale 15th Anniversary Russian Imperial Stout. One of the longest names of any beers I’ve tried, but also one of the best. While the regular 15th anniversary can be found in bottle at some Spec’s, the just released 1 year barrel aged on tap is quite elusive in Houston. It has been spotted at Petrol Station (sold out!), Flying Saucer downtown (sold out), and currently at Hay Merchant (on tap as of today). If you see it, get it – because it wont be there for much longer. Though it will be $8-10 for a pint or less, but you are getting something that borders more on a whiskey than a beer.

I’ve had bourbon barrel aged beers before, but nothing that took on the flavor like this one. Though called a stout, you will mainly taste a strong whiskey flavor with hints of roasted grain and raisin. The experience is more like enjoying a fine liquor than a beer. Very unique. The ABV has been listed anywhere from 9 – 14%, so this definitely a sipper, but would also make a perfect dessert beer to finish a meal.

Great job Real Ale! The year wait was worth it.

Crooked 3 Brewing Returns with Rainmaker!

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rainmaker-mashThe wait is over!

After over a year hiatus, Crooked 3 has returned to brewing! We didn’t waste time wading back in the brewing waters with a simple blonde extract brew. Like Uncle Leroy at Sea World, we dove right in. We are re-brewing our most famous and most complicated all-grain brew, Rainmaker. Rainmaker is our spin on an American Stout, but more drinkable and hoppier than other stouts you may have tried.

Stay tuned for coverage on its progress and hopefully other brews from us.

7 Days

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This is already one of the hottest summers we’ve experienced in Houston. We here at Crooked 3 have decided to do something about that.

All will be revealed in 7 days…

Homebrewing 401 – How to Make Your Own Beer Recipe

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bottle-questionSo you successfully brewed your first batch of beer using extract in 101. You steeped some grains in 201, and went full blown all grain in 301. Now you have finally arrived at the point for which you started this all. Homebrewing 401, making your own beer recipes.

Brewing is a delicate balancing act. You can’t just throw everything in a pot you think will taste good. Certain ingredient ratios are needed for the process to even work, and your results take months before you can even test. That could lead to literal years of trial and error. So where do you start?

First research established recipes of the style of beer you are going for. There is a wealth of recipes available in books, online, and at local brew shops. You will start to get a feel for amount and types of grain used for the particular style you desire. You could also play it safe your first go and brew directly from a recipe with some minor substitutions or additions.

The second thing you will need to do is… math! Like recipes, there are tons of complex formulas you can research. You can crunch numbers for your recipe and figure out the potential gravity, IBUs and ABV. This can get very confusing very fast. Fortunately in our technological age we have programs that can easily do all this for you. There are many out there, but I found the easiest for me is Beer Calculus, the online calculator by Hopville. You enter in your ingredient amounts and times, and it will tell you everything your beer will potentially be. It will even tell you color and whether it will be sweet, bitter, or balanced. It’s quite fun to tweak the grain to hop ratios trying to get just the right color and bitterness you want. This tool is not perfect, and there are many other variables that can factor in, but it’s a good basis to work from.

Lastly, now that you have your own unique recipe, brew! This is the longest step, since it can take a couple months before you know your results. Make sure to write everything you do down. Hopefully you calculated properly and got close to where you want. Now tweak your recipe with each brew batch until you get what you were going for.

Congratulations! You made your first original beer. Now come up with a cool name, stick a label on it, and mail one to us!