heres another

and another

and another

and one more....

Hi Amber, great to hear from you! Your javanica has grown so much! I'm delighted!

I almost lost my plant after keeping it underwatered next to my hot western sliding doors, and chopping a bunch of it off. But now it's taken off again, replaced all its dropped leaves, and will be blooming soon. What a relief. I didn't realize how much I enjoyed those dependable flowers until they were gone!

Are you brewing any porters?

oh we havent started brewing yet, we are gonna start doing that next year, probably ipa's and stouts mainly until we get the hang of it... for now we have been doing "research" by trying as many different higher end beers that we can. i dont know if you get firestone brewerys stuff where you are but their sucaba from this year is amazing! its a burbon barrel aged barley wine... im also trying to research brewing as much as in can this year so that we have a little knowledge of what we are doing come next year.

back on the javanica note... i would cry if i ever lost this plant...

I haven't seen that brewery around here, but I do love both bourbon aged brews and anything with barley in it, so I'm sure I'd love that one!

have you tried any of the sierra nevada Ovila's? ive tried the belgian-style abbey quad thats brewed with plums... if you havent tried it yet you should find it and try it... its amazing... ill post the beer advocate link for it on here...
there are a few different kinds but ive only been able to try the one so far...

Here is a link that might be useful: beer advocate sierra nevada ovila

I have tried an ovila before, I know, but I can't really put my finger on whether it was that one. I feel like I would have remembered a plum one, though... I guess I should pick up a 6 pack sometime. I find sierra nevada a dependable kind of brewery if I don't know what else to order. :)

I'm typically a dark beer (and wine) kind of girl, but lately I've only felt like drinking pilsners and saisons. Idk what's up with that.

i am mainly a dark beer girl, and my husband tends to drink more ipas but we love all beers and have expecially been into belgian type beers recently such as Chimay (the blue label) ... sierra nevada, for their normal beers are a dependable brewery if you dont have any other choices... but the ovila is way above their normal mark... they actually callaborated with belgian monks to make it... its amazing... and i know around here its only in 4 packs or bombers, and they are cork topped... recently the breweries ive been mainly into have been Founders, Stone, firestone, dog fish head and lagunitas.... if you EVER run across Founders breakfast stout make sure you get some... its really good... what breweries do you get where you are? what ones are you into?

Amber, your Hoya Javanica is really pretty! Ive never grown it but I've always liked it!

Now for this brewery stuff, you guys started speaking another language! I have NO idea what you are talking about! Do you make your own beer?

-Teisa

haha! i know that for anyone who doesent drink beer or drinks only beer from the big breweries it can sound like a different language! i dont brew my own beer yet, but i plan on doing it by this time next year... there are thousands if not millions of different beers besides the big companies (budweiser, coors, labbats, ect... ) we have 4 different craft breweries (that i know of) in our local county that wouldnt be known 50 miles from here but are amazingly good... i am so excited to start brewing and maybe someday my husband and i will be able to open our own brewery and then ill be able to afford a greenhouse in the backyard... hehe...

Ahahahahahahaha. Excellent plan. Use one hobby to subsidize the other. If that doesn't work out, you'll have to start selling Hoya cuttings to pay for your hops.

I assume you are asking about American craft breweries? Well, Founders and Lagunitas are here.

Off the top of my head...? Sprecher, Abita, Tallgrass, Odell, North Coast, Schells, Squatters, Crabtree, New Belgium, Weyerbacher, Wasatch, Ommegang, Brau Brothers, Boulevard, Ska, Anchor, Boulder, Breckenridge, Goose Island, Summit, Great Divide, Rogue, Pyramid, Shmaltz, Okoboji, Lightning, Lakefront, Green Flash, Great River.

Local to the Omaha area, there are two breweries I recommend: Empyrean and Nebraska Brewing Company. Nebraska Brewing Co I like for their apricot saison, which is really flavorful and complex without being too aggressive. Pretty much everything Empyrean puts out is remarkable. Their vanilla porter is one of my favorite beers and they have a nice oatmeal stout.

But what is really amazing is their Third Stone Brown. It has this constellation of subtle flavors that emerges in waves as the beer temperature changes. It's like watching the light change on a beautiful landscape. A lot of beers are complex and tasty, but they tend to be creations you can really only drink one pint of (if that), whereas the Third Stone has all that character, and you can drink it all night.

My broader favorites aside from Empyrean... I like Tallgrass, Abita, Ommegang, Sprecher, Schells, and Goose Island. Crabtree has a good red if you're into that.

I think a lot of the time local beers are best consumed locally. A lot of the time their best beers don't reach the broader market even if they do go nationwide. So, I try not to be too critical of a brewery if I've never drunk them in their home state.

i love ommegang! we only live a few hours from cooperstown where the brewery is, and my husband and i are going to go spend a weekend this summer and enjoy all their beers that we can find... there supposedly is a small underground tavern in cooperstown that serves ommegang beers that you can only get there... in your list i see a good handfull that ive never heard of (so ill have to investigate!) a few that ive heard of but never tried and a few that ive tried (such as ommegang)... ive had rogue a few different times and i know its a brewery that some people rave about but ive never quite liked them. i am actually enjoying a pyramid apricot ale right now which i will follow up with a pyramid oatmeal stout... we were able to buy a few cases of pyramid's beers at our local distributor on sale for $13 a case... i know ive seen great divide around here but i can not remember if ive had any of their stuff before... ive only tried one kind of goose island and it was their christmas one that i found extremely horrible and had to drain pour it because i disliked it so bad, so i guess ill have to give them a second try, it their any particular one i should try?

I never liked Rogue either (!), but my friend (who has good taste in these things) recently visited the brewery on a road trip, said that he sampled a ton of small batch selections there, and raved about them. Different stuff than they export to us non-locals, apparently. lol

On that note, Goose Island is out of Chicago, where he lived for many years, and he actually laughs at me for liking the stuff of theirs that we can get over here in Omaha, because I guess the local stuff is a lot better. That said, if I were you, I would try Matilde, Juliet, Lolita, Pepe Nero, Sophie... that whole line. All lovely. I didn't like the Christmas one either. 312 is decent, for what it is.

So cool that you are so local to Ommegang. I've acquired a whole collection of Ommegang beer glasses, too, because I love their design as much as their beer. ;)

The pyramid apricot ale is good - I like it too, but there is another one I like even better that I just can't put my finger on right now... I'll let you know when it pops up at the bars again this summer and triggers my memory.

my husband and i have been possibly looking to trade with people who are not around here (you send us something from your area we cant get and we send you something from our area that you cant get) we thought it would be a cool idea... if you are ever interested let me know and we will figure out how to go about it...

Haha. I was thinking the same thing. I'm taking an alcohol sabbatical atm, but I'll reach out to you guys in a few months if that's cool.

yea that would be super cool!

Hi Amber!

Nice to hear from you again. Yup, this lurker has been wondering of your whereabouts.

The beer thing sounds cool. What about equipment? Are you going to start up a really minor scale operation, or something that will produce a substantial volume?

Kami

hi kami! lol, it seems like no one noticed i was gone! oh well... we dont have any equipment yet, we are talking about joining forces with one of our good friends who used to make wine, he seems interested in the beer brewing process... we are going to start off as a very minor scale operation, mostly for personal consumption and if we get good enough than maybe as presents to friends who like beer... who knows though, maybe some day we can have a big enough operation to not have to work other jobs?!?! that would be really neat if my husband and i could work together to produce something that we both love... i will be doing mostly research this year but we have enough land that in the spring next year we are going to start growing our own hops and barley.

Amber this all sounds very interesting! Especially growing your own barley and hops! I don't know much about it but it sounds cool.
Now as far you being missing, I also wondered where you and your Hoyas had went to!! I was hoping everything was well and you were just busy!
So don't think for a second that "no one" missed you!!!

Ttyl, Teisa

Amber this all sounds very interesting! Especially growing your own barley and hops! I don't know much about it but it sounds cool.
Now as far you being missing, I also wondered where you and your Hoyas had went to!! I was hoping everything was well and you were just busy!
So don't think for a second that "no one" missed you!!!

Ttyl, Teisa