Whilst there have not been many blog updates this year, there has been a lot of brewing and beer drinking going on.

Wobbles in Oregon, drinking Arrogant Bastard Ale. You are not worthy.

This year has been a year of travelling, brewing and general tourism.  Not that I have the luxury of pure beer tourism, just more the opportunity to visit brewery’s and pubs whilst travelling for work.  There has to be some fun in it all!

Bottling the Ginger

The end of this year has been marked by the bottling of my latest Ginger Beer.  A 8.5% cracker that smells & tastes fantastic. I cant wait to get into them once they are ready.  This years brewing has been a bit hit and miss since I purchased my Coopers HomeBrew kit this time last year.  Mostly due to me attempting silly things and not paying attention whilst brewing.  Under the careful guidance of Brewnut, I have managed some drinkable brews, but also managed to punch out some absolute shockers.

The biggest brewing disaster was the Apple, Pear & Cinammon Cider.  We had such high hopes.  The unfermented cider tasted phenomenal, but after it went through the fermentation & bottling, it ended up rancid, flat and sour.  Still, it is through these brewing processes that we learn.  I have learnt that I will be doing a hell of a lot more cider research before we give it another crack, including a few site visits to breweries specialising in cider.  Onwards and upwards.

No more LME's

So what does next year hold?  Well first up, I will be moving on from using LME’s in my homebrews.  They have been a fantastic learning tool, and very handy while I found my feet in homebrewing, but I think I have gotten to the stage where it is best that I move on.  There are plans for a ‘from scratch’ Ginger Beer, (the Gingers have been my biggest success so far) and I am rather keen on having a crack at a Trappist style beer, possibly a Saison.

Next, I plan to be doing a lot more with this site.  Regimenting myself to writing once a week, no matter how small the post.  To aid this, I now have WordPress installed on the iPad & iPhone so I can write and post from just about anywhere.  It also allows me to start drafting on the road, and finish it off on the big computer.

Wobbles getting expert guidance from Brewnut

The other thing I have done is invited my close friend and brewing mentor Brewnut to join me in posting bits and pieces on TheWobblyThong.  He has a fantastic mind for brewing and has already produced many quality beers.  Now if only I could step up to the plate….

So as we step forward into the New Year, there are plans for more brewing, blogging and beer drinking. Sounds like a bit of fun.  Time for a beer!

Tags: craftbeer, homebrew, LME