Thursday, January 29, 2009

Rhodell Brewery

I've visited Rhodell Brewery, 619 SW Water Street, many times over the more than 10 years they've been gracing the riverfront. I had not brewed beer there until just recently, though.
Just before the holidays we met our friends, Dr. Z and his lovely wife, for our brewing appointment at Rhodell. Everyone in the group but me had brewed there in the past.
StfRon asked to see the recipe book, and our brewmaster, a jovial gent, said they no longer had one, but that he could tell us what was available to brew.
After finding out that a Pilsener was not an option and debating for a bit, we settled on an Oktoberfest brew.
We ordered a few pints from the bar, which was seeing a pretty steady business, and headed into the brewing area to get started.
We were tasked with measuring, grinding, pouring and stirring the goods into our brewing vat. I had invited my parents to stop by, and they came by with some more friends who watched our progress.
We took turns popping out of the brewing area to enjoy some pizza we had ordered and a great tray of veggies Dr. Z's wife had brought in.
The whole beer mixing process took a couple of hours. We finished up and headed on our way, with the news that our beer would be ready near the end of December.
StfRon decided to have the beer put in a keg rather than bottling, so he dropped the keg by a couple of weeks later.
Once the beer was on tap at home, we invited Dr. Z (whose wife had other plans) to come by and sample the fruits of our labor.
And some did call it fruity, indeed. StfRon's sister, our "Dining Companion", upon sampling the beer said it tasted like bananas! Once she said that, I could taste it, too. With the grains and fruity flavor, it had a hint of banana bread flavor to it.
It was a nice brew with hints of caramel. At first the CO2 was not quite up to what StfRon wanted, so the beer was not as carbonated as some. After some tweaking, though, things evened out.
Dr. Z's wife stopped by last weekend with friends to try the beer, and pronounced it a success.
Brewing beer turned out to be something a little different to do on a winter night, with the added benefit of something to look forward to a few weeks later.

1 comment:

Dining Companion said...

It difinitely tasted like bananas to me!! Even before I helped "blow the keg"!!