All I Want for Christmas is a Pint of Winter Wamer

It's Christmas time over at C'est Bon Biere. We have made sure to decorate the beer room accordingly (Yes, we have a room called the beer room). Can you guess my favorite Christmas movie based on the decorations?

Fragile`... Must be Italian!

In honor of the Christmas season, we have decided to brew up a new batch of beer. Some of you might remember tasting our award-winning Christmas ale last year, Wreck the Halls. We brewed it with a big group of friends who were interested in learning how to homebrew beer. Instead of brewing the same great beer (which will happen in the future), we decided to create a Winter Warmer, a dark Scottish ale with an elevated alcohol content. So cozy up next to a fireplace/significant other/bonfire/dog/cat/space heater/leg lamp and enjoy a cold pint of  C'est Bon Biere's Frostbite Winter Warmer.
 

 

This beer was very exciting to make. After enjoying Maple Nut Brown Ale from Tommyknocker Brewing in Idaho Springs, CO (Just a short drive through Clear Creek Canyon from Golden), we decided to try and construct a brown ale similar to Tommyknocker's. From the original attempts at making a brown ale recipe, the maple syrup changed to Steen's cane syrup, American ale yeast turned into Scottish ale yeast, and the grain bill was increased to increase the alcohol content. Frostbite is considered a Scottish Wee Heavy with a modest alcohol content of 7.4%! 

I know next year we will definitely brew both winter ales, so everybody has a brew they can enjoy. Maybe next Christmas you can be the judge, and decide which beer you enjoy more, Wreck the Halls or Frostbite. What you will find out is that you can't go wrong regardless of which one you choose.

We hope everybody has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

When Did We Start Measuring Beer in Gallons?!

It seems like just yesterday we were handing out a 12-pack of our flagship beer, Belgian Missile Crisis" at the 1st Annual Bayou Beer Festival in Houma, Louisiana. At that time, it was the only homebrew we had available. We had a great time, and got great feedback about our beer. There was no question that we would be back!

Since that first Bayou Beer Fest, we have announced our branding as C'est Bon Biere, started kegging our beer, and have gained brewing experience and homebrew competition awards. That's right, C'est Bon Biere brews award winning beers.

This is my horn, I am tooting it because my beer is awesome.

This year was the second annual Bayou Beer Festival. There was an increase from 3 homebrewers last year to 21 homebrewers this year handing out 40+ beers. The turnout was great, and the feedback was even better. The Guilty Pleasure Chocolate Stout came in 4th place overall in the homebrew competition. What was more exciting was how quickly we ran out of beer at the festival.

In less than 3 hours, we handed out 15 gallons of beer. These included 5 gallons of Guilty Pleasure Chocolate Stout, 5 gallons of I Can't Believe It's Not Butterbeer Cream Ale, and 5 gallons of Oktoberfest. One group of festival-goers even remembered us from the previous year. I guess next year we will be bringing more beer!

Looks like our garage before Bayou Beer Fest next year.

For the first time in over a year, our home is beer free. Last Sunday was dedicated to brewing, so we could re-stock our kegs and keep those taps flowing. A batch of Belgian Missile Crisis was brewed, since it is considered our flagship beer. An easy to drink Belgian Wit brewed with coriander and fresh orange peel. A new Christmas seasonal beer was also brewed. It is a Winter Warmer, roughly 8-9% alcohol by volume (I mean 6% alcohol by volume) and brewed with Steen Cane Syrup. Take a look at the new label.

Give us a couple weeks, and we will have some beer back on tap. If you are interested in sampling some homebrewed beer, give us a shout. C'est Bon Biere is always willing to help people try different types of beer. Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!

It's the most wonderful time ... for a beer!

"The best way to spread Christmas cheer, is singing loud for all to hear!"

-Buddy the Elf

Buddy, you're really onto something here. Christmas cheer... presents... chocolate pancakes... and family! 

Well if he spent enough time with either of our families, he would quickly know the most enjoyable way to spend time with them... With a beer! 

But really now... it helps. 

In lieu of the season, we decided to make a Christmas Ale. Since the previous weekend had been National Learn How to Brew Day, we invited a coworker over to learn how to brew. This event, as usual, escalated from a two person team, to a four person team, to a brewing night with about twelve people. Everyone got to taste the Belgian Missile Crisis and it was a huge hit!

We brewed up the Christmas Ale without a hitch. It is a California Common spiced with ginger, cloves, cinnamon, orange zest, and honey, YUM!

This brew could even knock the big man on his back side.

During the fermentation process, we noticed that this beer was far less active than others that we had. Of course, we didn't want it to explode in the closet, but a bit of bubbling would have been nice. We worried because it was our first time using dry yeast, we had done something wrong. We visited Keith at LA Homebrew and he recommended we wait. At the end of two weeks, we took the gravity reading, and the beer measured at a whopping 9.0% alcohol by volume!

That's when it earned it's name... Wreck the Halls

We are headed to the Rockies for Christmas, so we will see what the family thinks! After Christmas Taylor and I will be revealing the new name of our blog and brewery concept, so watch out for that. Have a wonderful and safe Christmas!