Allen Aue who owns Squashed Grapes, a wine and beer making store two doors down from JJ Brewsky’s, gave me this bottle of Big & Easy Bottle Brew for Christmas. Now I consider myself well-read on all things beer but 2 liter bottles filled with wort with a yeast pill strapped on had not hit my radar screen. Allen tells me he discovered these on a trip to Toronto a few months ago and has been selling them since shortly thereafter.
My bottle was an amber lager. He also sells a Mexican Lager. Not exactly styles for the beer snob but I was curious to try. The “brewing” process begins by removing the cap, dropping in the yeast pill and resealing with a special breathable cap that is attached. After placing in a cool, dry place, the beer ferments for a period of your chosing which the label recommends two weeks.
This seemed entirely too short so I let it lager for four weeks. A good inch of sediment rested at the bottom of the bottle as a removed it from the lagering closet. After a couple days of refrigeration, I finally tasted my creation. The bottle is perched near the sink in the photo for a reason. The taste was what one would expect for a fizzy, American lager. But it was still beer. That I brewed.
The question is what market exists for this type of homebrewing “kit”. The over-simplified brewing process does not give any insight to how beer is really brewed. Allen reports that these sold briskly during the Holidays. This seems like the perfect novelty gift for the beer lover. Other than a novelty, I suppose those looking to save a few bucks on their American Lager purchases may be interested. It is after all bottled wort so using in it in food I suppose is an option. I’ve always wanted to try a fresh wort reduction over pancakes but I doubt the bottled version would come close in flavor.
For a more authentic but easy homebrewing experience, I recommend mead which can be competently brewed using the ingredients shown above. In this month’s Beer Advocate magazine, Drew Beechum makes a great case for making mead at home:
No grains to crush, no long mash or boil, just a little hot water, some honey and yeast.
His mead recipe adds pureed dates and date molasses to the honey. We have some great honey being produced in Ventura County in the Heritage Valley near Fillmore. The plentiful orange blossoms and diverse wildflowers of the valley produce some of the country’s best honey. Island Brewing of Carpinteria used Fillmore honey in its Avocado Honey Blonde they make in the fall for the Avocado Festival.
I will be securing 12 pounds of Fillmore honey from Bennett’s Farm for an upcoming mead making party at Squashed Grapes using Drew’s date mead recipe. Mead needs 8 to 10 months to ferment so the plan is to uncork our mead during the holidays when mulled mead is popular. Mulled mead is flavored with spices (and sometimes various fruits) and warmed, traditionally by having a hot poker plunged in it.
