Parting is such sweet sorrow

The moral of this post is that if you complain enough, eventually people will get tired and do whatever it takes to quiet you. In a recent email (dated 6/2/2010) to the author, Rea brother Kirby laments:

"...sigh ... i WONDER if i will ever see a bottle of the Shag or EscanabALE, though ..." - KR

Despite his implication that he never tasted Big Shag Big Stout, his forgetfulness is a known quantity on the blog and for the sake of editorial integrity I will point out that his sampling of BSBS was an event previously documented. Readers of this blog should avoid taking anything he says too seriously. That said, in a recent chain of emails he has agreed in principle to documenting a tasting of E.P.B.A. if a bottle ever finds itself in his possession:

"I will give you a words-and-photo record of my EscanabAle [sic] tasting, as soon as I find the suitable occasion to drink it. My first day of vacation thhis [sic] year, perhaps." -KR

Therefore, it is not without some trepidation but with the best intentions that I have boxed up E.P.B.A. bottle #6 in preparation for shipment to Hood River, Oregon: If all goes well the box will be UPS'ed to Kirby by the end of the week with an expected arrival date of mid to late next week. I will keep the readership advised as to when the package has arrived.

The Definitive Review Escanaba Pail Belgium Ale Bottle #2

We submitted a bottle of our Escanaba Pail Belgium Ale home brew to the premier international authority on home brewing for an impartial review.

Currently residing in Corvallis, Washington - Joel Rea (aka Lickspigot) is the proprietor of Corvallis Brewing Supply and a recognized authority by home brewing cognoscenti worldwide.

We are honored and humbled to have our small batch reviewed by this home brew luminary.

note: This post was created by Sean (who joined and uploaded the video) but penned by Mike.

note2: Mike was channeling Sean when he penned it.

Grilled Blugs and Escanaba Pail Ale Bottles #16 and #22

We lost count of how many bluegills we caught, cleaned, prepared and ate. At least two dozen. Among them was the beauty on the top of this post - almost 9". Impossible to say for sure whether Dad or I caught this one, but I think it was me. Jonah contributed a Shag Lake Blue, as well as a rare long neck speckled river bluegill.


Once again we continue to develop the technique for grilled bluegill. Full documentation in the form of yet another Fish Fry Grill Video will be forthcoming. Consider this excerpt a preview of coming attractions:



Dinner included baked potatoes and fresh green beans.


With such a fine repast, we decided to break into the stores of the EPA, and as per Matt's instructions - "Drink it up this summer!" started with the Rea allocation.


Matt traded his Shag bottle for the one we consumed in SF during his visit, so I drank his. HDW chose to drink Kirby's bottle #22. This was HDW's first sample of last fall's home brew. His review:

Brian's Morpheus Blog Sea-date 04/05/10 We Arrive in Bahia Tortugas & Drink Escanaba Pail Ale Bottle #1

12:01 AM
"Mike!" [leg shake] - nothing. "Mike!" [leg shake] - nothing. "Mike!" [leg shake] - nothing. "Mike! Mike! Mike!" - nothing. "Mike!" [shoulder shake] - nothing. "Mike!" [shoulder shake] - nothing. "UNCLE MIKE!" [shoulder shake].

"Huh??"

With that my relief finally woke up and rolled out of bed. He should have relieved me 15 minutes ago because he owed me some watch time, but who keeps track of little things like that. I explained what heading we needed to follow, when he should wake Jim up, and with that I went to bed.



6:00 AM
Time for my morning watch. Grabbed my book and couple granola bars and up to the cockpit I went. I really enjoy the 6AM watch because I get to see the sunrise every morning. Today it rose over the coastal mountains. It made for a great picture. But even the picture didn't quite do it justice. My watch was pretty uneventful and my relief was already awake and drinking his morning coffee.

I was tired and went back to sleep.


11ish AM
I was awakened because my help was needed on deck. We had arrived at Turtle bay Bay and Jim wanted to take down and cover the main sail. For an unexperienced crew we did a pretty good job.

We cruised around the bay to find the perfect spot to park and lowered the anchor. We were very very careful to avoid hitting the boat with the anchor or letting the chain rub against the boat. Jim was happy that we did that job well.


Enrique came out to get us gas. Jim's tank doesn't vent very well, so we had to get gas out of cans using a unique method. We put two tubes into the gas can opening, cover the hole with paper towels and then blow into the tube. This creates a vacuum which sucks the gas out of the can and into the tank. This process need to be repeated several times. Just an fyi... Diesel doesn't taste very good.

Mike and I jumped into the Bay. It was cold. Well... about the temperature of Lake Superior. It was a very short swim to say the least. The rest of the day was spent on the boat relaxing and drinking beer.

7:00 PM
Mike and Dan prepared a great dinner.

They made sashimi, ceviche, seared tuna, marinated beef brisket, served on a bed of brown and wild rice medley with jelly beans and Mrs. Fields cookies for desert. My favorite was the ceviche.

We toasted the meal with a bottle of EPA home brew and all wore festive sombreros during dinner. I volunteered to do the dishes due to the fact that I didn't cook anything. We ended the day by watching The Hangover - a great way to celebrate the half-way point.

Did I mention Mike is the only one without cell coverage?

Escanaba Pail Ale - Bottle #7

Cousins Matt, Tina and daughter Kira are visiting our fair city. They claim to not have time for a "power tour", but skies were clear - so after they finished rubbing elbows with King Tut and a few thousand fellow tourists at the DeYoung Museum - I took them up to Twin Peaks for the view.

Click image to enlarge

It was a bit windy

Afterword we meet Brewmaster Sean at 21st Amendment, sample some of their brews, and compare it to a bottle of Escanaba Pail Ale I smuggled into the micro-brewery.

Sean was concerned about being thrown out of his neighborhood watering hole.

Bottle #7 bites the dust.

Matt assesses the bouquet

Just a little housekeeping - prior to consumption, we agreed to swap my bottle #7 for Matt's bottle #16 currently residing at Camp. The spreadsheet has been updated to reflect this change.

I am hoping for tasting notes from this bottle to be added in the comments, so we can update the tasting notes spreadsheet without relying on my sometimes imperfect memory. However, I am not optimistic. This branch of the family has proven to be singularly irresponsible about documenting their consumption of this fine home brew.

Escanaba Pail Ale - Bottle #4

Continuing the new MW Mobile Blog tradition of stealing content from relatives, the following report was shamelessly ripped from nephew Roy's blog. Photos, video and copy presented and backposted here in order to preserve the status of MW Mobile Blog as the Official Blog of Record for Escanaba Pail Ale.

The Roy Report:

Tasting EPA bottle #4

The Escanaba Pail Ale was created from ingredients indigenous to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, most notably the water from the Escanaba River, documented on EATARF. This post documents the tasting of bottle #4, the Brett Favre addition, 5 months after the brewing.

First things first, the EPA needs to be rescued from it's frozen crypt.

The hero stands with his prize.

EPA poured into our drinking glasses.

We wanted to make sure that the bouquet, color, head, and taste could be properly appreciated.

A toast to the future, and the excellent (decent?) pictures of the 82nd Academy Awards.

So.... what do the people think?

• JC: "Light and subtle when drank, almost too light. The aftertaste sustains itself, building to an excellent experience."
• R(W)C: "This beverage will not overwhelm the palate at first, but provides a taste that has long lasting impact, even after the glass is empty."
• R(A)C: "Smells bitter like beer. Tastes bitter like beer."

EPA bottles #13 and #15

The following report was shamelessly ripped from nephew Brian's blog and copied and backposted here in total, in order to preserve the status of MW Mobile Blog as the Official Blog of Record for Escanaba Pail Ale. The Brian report:

EPA: Bottle 13 and Unknown

I apologize for this post being a long time in coming. EPA Bottle 13 and Andrew's Bottle (# is unknown) were consumed on the twenty-third night of January 2010. It was Andrew's going away party. For those of you who don't know, Andrew was leaving for basic training on January 27th. Andrew and I had decided that we would start the night off by drinking a beer that had been made with our own sweat, labor, and intellect: Escanaba Pail Ale.

The Beer is cold and we are ready

We are a little nervous at this point due to the amount of sediment that can be seen floating around in the bottles. Others at the party are suggesting this may not be a good idea...

What do they know. We made it, soo it must be safe....Bottles raised, we toasted to a good night, a safe journey for Andrew, and for Andrew to make an acquaintance with a camel preferably female for his sake.

Down the hatch

It was delicious!!!

The rest of the night couldn't have gone any better. Andrew made it safely to Fort Jackson in South Carolina. The army did not turn him away for having any strange toxins in his blood. Its been over a month since the tasting and we both are alive and well. I hope everyone enjoys EPA just as mush as we did. Looking forward to the next brewing. Hopefully we will have a better supervisor who has more faith in us next time. Or I get promoted to supervisor because of my excellent work record and the current supervisor has to experience what it is to be like a common laborer. It will help him to become a better supervisor one day.

A couple of thoughts. One - as I explained to both Brian and Andrew, Escanaba Pail Ale is a bottle conditioned brew. This means the final fermentation took place in the bottle and the sediment is normal - even desirable. Two - neither of these guys has any idea about how to drink a bottle conditioned beer,. The proper method is to pour the brew off the sediment into a glass, where the bouquet, color, head and taste can be properly appreciated. I blame myself. I had no idea that my supervisory responsibilities would still be required to help them actually drink the beer.

Still, an excellent report and perfect occasion for an EPA.

Good luck and godspeed to Andrew in his service to our country.

Escanaba Pail Ale - Bottles #5 and #19

For the ceremonial opening of the first bottle of Escanaba Pail Ale (#19), Mike K, Emily, Matt and Olive made the pilgrimage to the place of the brew's birth - lil' camp on the the Escanaba River.

The Chief Quality Officer was on hand to follow up the fruits of her handiwork.

The first pour (confirmed by photo time-stamp).

Only residue remains.

The first sip...

...and the second.

Clarity was sacrificied in the trek to the source.

Ju-Si-Ba-Be-Ma-Pa-Ol

The official report:

"The EPA tasting took place at the height of deer season. As we approached Lil Camp hunters in blaze orange littered the landscape like so many brightly colored plastic bags clinging to the underbrush. We all dressed accordingly.

The beer, Escanaba Pail Ale, although somewhat cloudy with some sediment, had a surprisingly vigorous head. The taste, mellow, more like a Scottish ale, had an aftertaste of the river. There was no suggestion of hops. I'll be curious as to how some aging will affect this brew." - MK

Meanwhile, on the left coast...

The brewmaster assembled an elite cadre of premier west coast beer connoisseurs for the auspicious event.

The pour.

The toast and first taste.

The last sip of #5

The verdict: Delicious but not what we expected.

In contrast to the report of #19 sampled at lil' camp, #5 had a weak thin head. Apparently variation in the quality of bottle seals will be found across this batch. In my refrigerator, the #7 bottle is soft and easily dimpled, #23 is solid and resists pressure. It's a crap shoot. Best of luck to all recipients.

The ale glows with luminous honey amber warmth. It is an approachable, easy drinking, and - dare I say - affectionate ale. If judged by the expectations of a robust IPA, it will disappoint. The brew is, frankly, starved for hops. I blame HDW, whose insane non-stop e-mail rants about overhopped ales during the long pre-brew preparation process apparently intimidated our young and impressionable brewmaster.

That said, if considered on its own merits and without prejudgment, this is a unique brew. MK notes a similarity to Scottish Ale. I find the color and feel more reminiscent of a Belgian Ale, without the alcohol kick. A geographical compromise puts this brew somewhere in the North Sea. But that is too cold for this confection.

Welcoming and inviting, the malt provides a floor on which apple and anise dance a pas de deux across the palate. Subtle hints of yet to be recognized flavor notes echo faintly from the orchestra pit perhaps to emerge with aging in the second act. Just when you think the pleasant but unremarkable orchestration of flavors is fading away, a crescendo with the shimmer of steel leaves the drinker with a biting fatalistic aftertaste of rust that never sleeps. It is a lingering reminder of and returning us to the minerals buried in the ground through which the Escanaba River flows.

It's really good.

The first tasting of Escanaba Pail Ale...

...will occur shortly. I am at Brewmaster Sean and Katie's place for the first sip. Brewed in October, the E.P.A. has been deemed ready to drink. Mike K. and crew are theoretically at little camp for a simultaneous tasting at the birthplace of the brew. More pics from SF and the Escanaba river later along with tasting notes.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

UPDATE:

A clip of the first pour and first taste in SF. We have decided to delay posting our initial tasting impressions, until we hear from the U.P. crew. They are easily impressionable and we do not want to unduly influence their reviews.

Ale Allocation Addendum

Some additional Escanaba Pail Ale allocation notes to supplement the Reference Post:


Sean's allocation to the four Rea boys (pictured above) were left at Camp, and are among the 11 bottles stored in the secret wine cellar. Sean also attached an interesting condition to this allocation. If any of these four bottles are not claimed at camp in person by their owner by the end of the 2011 Shag Camp season, ownership of these bottles reverts to a first come first served basis.

The key to the bottle numbering can be found on the allocation spreadsheet.

The Brian and Andrew allocations were handed off to Wendy before the Bear game.

Andrew subsequently received his allocation at an undisclosed location, but ...

...something happened to the bottle in the transition - looks like Brian replaced the hand drawn label with his much more professional looking custom design. Well done Brian.