Resurrection IPA

Finally, another post about an IPA.  This is going to be my first time brewing with Citra, which seems kind of crazy since it's supposedly such a great IPA hop.  I guess I'll be the judge of that once it's all ready to be tasted.  I'm tempted to wait for Easter to tap this, hence the name.  If this is as good as I hope it is, then what better way to enjoy it than to celebrate the Resurrection!  The citrus-floral aroma while brewing will hopefully highlight the greatest holiday we have.  So here's the details...

Here's a 6 second clip of brewing this...
(if this doesn't play, sorry!)
Recipe:
11 Gallons

Fermentables:
17lb GW 2-Row
7lb Simpsons Golden Promise
3lb Carapils
2lb Crystal 40L

Anticipated OG: 1.068
Actual OG: 1.066
Anticipated FG: 1.017
Actual FG:
Anticipated ABV: 6.6%
Actual ABV:

Hops:
4oz Summit for 90m
2oz Summit for 30m
2oz Citra for 30m
2oz Summit at flameout
2oz Citra at flameout
2oz Amarillo at flameout

2oz Amarillo for 7 days dryhop
2oz Citra for 7 days dryhop

IBU's: 148

Yeast:
Wyeast 1056 American Ale in both buckets

Notes:
Smooth brewing.  Finished in a little over 5 hours, which is pretty good for an 11 gallon batch.  Half the batch is for my buddy Randy who is preparing to head to the Dominican Republic to start a baseball ministry to tell kids about Jesus.  You should check it out and support them here.  He's the one who got me into brewing and helped me out early on.

Cana's First Run

Rather than repost what we did, how bout you check this out!
http://canahomebrewclub.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-first-gathering.html

This is going to be sweet!

Cana

Some friends and I were passing around ideas like we always do about homebrewing and the furtherance of the gospel.  We thought, how could homebrewing lead to Jesus?  So we decided to try something out.  We're going to start a small community venture called Cana.  Why Cana?  Well, for starters Jesus turned the water into wine in the city of Cana at the start of His ministry.  This occurs in John 2.  You can read it here, which is also the site for our community ramblings, recipes, and other random tidbits.

Here is the blog address:  www.canahomebrewclub.blogspot.com

We'll likely be meeting on the first Saturday of each month at my house to start.  We'll brew a batch or two of beer, discuss and engage the Bible (probably to start by looking at everything the Bible has to say about alcohol, both good and bad), and enjoy being in community with one another.  Meetings will generally last about 4-5 hours (length of time to brew a batch of beer), although everyone is free to come and go as they wish.  Each meeting will also be the tasting of the previous meetings beer, so there's the incentive to come back!  Also, a suggested donation of $5 will help cover expenses and keep the venture going.  More details will come eventually, but all are invited (21+ that is due to US alcohol laws).

Review: The Search for God and Guinness

Guinness has been one of the most popular beers in the world for over 250 years.  There have been many rumors and stories told about Arthur and his family about how they brewed to save the world from whiskey among other things.  Some of the legend is true, some of it is not (isn't that how most legends are?).

Stephen Mansfield takes us on a journey through Guinness history with the tilt of looking at how God and theology played a part in the Guinness story.  Mansfield looks at Arthur's Protestant faith in a county that was devoutly Catholic.  He shows us how his children went various ways, some into brewing and some into ministry.  He shows how the Guinness' faith always played a part in creating an atmosphere at the brewery of compassion, care, and rebuilding Dublin into the thriving world city it is today.

Mansfield does a solid job of telling the Guinness story and weaving it into their faith and beliefs.  While I would have liked to have found out more about the business, the brewing, and the backgrounds of Guinness, that was not Mansfield's goal.  He accomplishes his goal of showing how an unwavering faith in God is not only compatible, but also benefited with beer (in moderation of course).

You can buy a copy through Amazon here if you'd like.  Buying through this site supports me!  I received nothing for reviewing this book, but I can receive if you shop through the link.  Thanks!

God Gave Wine

This is a review of Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.'s book, God Gave Wine.  I'll start by saying that I highly recommend this book.  This is a straightforward biblical study of alcohol, what the Bible says about it, and how we should treat it.

Gentry breaks his book down into 6 main chapters, with an introductory chapter and a conclusion chapter.  His primary premise in his work is that God gave wine/beer/alcohol to mankind as a blessing, and when used in moderation is not only biblically permissible, but biblically encouraged.

He demonstrates thorough exegesis with the texts used, both in Hebrew and in Greek studies.  His use of context to explain passages and willingness to allow the text to speak for itself is refreshing when dealing with such a controversial topic.  In addition to addressing the Bible Gentry also deals with other works on the subject of alcohol.  His primary opponents are Stephen Reynolds and Jack Van Impe.  Both men are quite opposed to the use of alcohol and are willing to not only misuse scripture to argue their point, but will even distort the authorial intent of the Bible and change God's Word!  This is simply appalling to me.

Gentry is adept with his writing and this is a highly recommended book.  I originally came across this book while reading Mark Driscoll's, The Radical Reformission: Reaching Out without Selling Out.  This is another recommended book, which does bring up the subject of alcohol, but that's another review I reckon!  So do yourself a favor and pick up God Gave Wine.

St. Patrick's Day

So today is St. Paddy's day.  A day of corned beef and drinking, right?  Afterall, everyone's Irish on March 17th!  So here's a few bits of info to think about while enjoying you Irish (or non-Irish) ancestry...

St. Patrick's day is a religious holiday started by the Roman Catholic Church to celebrate St. Patrick, who was a Catholic priest and brought Christianity to Ireland.  While there were later, more successful missionaries to Ireland, St. Patrick was the first and got things going.  The clover was employed by Patrick to teach the locals the doctrine of the Trinity, and green wasn't the official color of the holiday until the 17th century.

One of the more popular beverages on St. Patrick's day is Guinness.  This is one of my favorites personally, so I thought a bit of history on Guinness would also be in order for today.  According to the book on the side bar here, Guinness began as a way for Arthur Guinness, who was a follower of Jesus,  to provide a better beverage for those who didn't have quality drinking water.  So the brewery was started after paying 100 pounds and signing a 9000 year lease for 45 pounds a year.  Talk about a great deal!  Guinness also has antioxidants in it which make it a good beer to drink for health reasons!  The translation of the Old Irish on the poster is "Guinness is good for you!"

So pour yourself a pint of Guinness and praise God that St. Patrick brought Jesus to Ireland back in the 400's!  God is Good!


(Please note that I haven't read this book yet, but I am looking forward to reading it!)

"Drinking with Calvin and Luther" -Book Review

Drinking With Calvin and Luther!: A History of Alcohol in the Church

I got this book a week or so ago from Amazon and managed to breeze through it pretty quickly.  The author, Jim West, is a pastor in the Covenant Reformed Church and has a really good grasp of Reformation Era history and theology.  He is quite extensive in his quotes and stories from Calvin, Luther, and other Reformation theologians.  He also covers quite a bit of the Puritans views on alcohol and the early church in America, although he glosses over the early 20th century aspects that brought about prohibition.  That wasn't the primary focus of the book though, so that's not too big of a deal.

West handles the historical aspects of alcohol in the church well and does a decent job of incorporating the Bible.  He divides the book into 3 parts: history, theology, and a beer & wine guide.  Not too many books about Christianity and alcohol will provide a guide to help you make better tasting decisions!

The flow of the book is okay.  There are parts, especially in part one, where the author seems to jump from quote to quote and story to story with little transition.  I suppose it is difficult to weave all the different stories and quotes together well, but I feel it could have transitioned a little better.

My only real complaint about the book is that the author sometimes make an argument for alcohol biblically from silence.  The one that stood out to me was in regards to the Acts 2 accusation of Peter and the disciples being drunk and Peter responding that "it's 9 in the morning, we're not drunk."  The author takes this passage to imply that they would do their drinking later in the day, surely not at nine.  While I don't doubt the truth in that statement, we need to be careful about making conclusions from the Bible that aren't stated in the text.

Many of the other passages West deals with are handled quite well and there were quite a few great quotes from the book.  The one that stood out to me the most is in regards to Bible translation committees changing the translation of a Hebrew word for "strong drink" in Deuteronomy 14 so that it softens it for the Church.  West responds with the following: "The Moses Stout Text (Deut 14), then, is diluted and becomes a symbol not only of translation dishonesty, but of the watered-down message of much evangelical Christendom." (page 145).

Overall this was an enjoyable read, albeit choppy in parts, but the overall message is good: that God created all things on earth to be enjoyed to His glory.

Purchasing this book from the link at the top of the page or here helps support me!  Thanks!

The Son of Man

Matt. 11:18 ¶ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’  Matt. 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”

So this is a passage that really stands out to me.  Let me set up the context before fully jumping in...John the Baptist had been thrown into jail and so he sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he really was the Messiah.  Jesus sent them back to tell John about all they had seen Jesus do and decide for themselves.  After that Jesus turned to the crowds around him and rebuked them for rejecting John as well as calling himself a drunkard and a glutton.  This is what intrigues me.  

In order to be considered a glutton and a drunkard, one would have to spend time eating and drinking.  You would never call someone a drunk who never drank a drop of booze, so Jesus was definitely associating with drunks.  This is something that really stands out to me.  Jesus didn't come to teach the religious people, he came to reach out to those hurting.  He came to redeem humanity and he spent a lot of time with those society considered to be sinners.


I wonder how people who abstain because it's "sinful" deal with this passage?  How do you reconcile Jesus associating and drinking with "sinners" to mean he fully abstained?  You can't.  Drink or don't drink, that's not the issue.  The issue is that Jesus understood what it meant to reach out to humanity and to be real with them.  He met people on a common ground and then shared an eternally changing message with them.  Alcohol isn't the only way to find that common ground.  Neither is it the only way to share the Gospel message with someone.  However, Christians need to be careful that they aren't letting their 'holiness' get in the way of meeting people in the trenches to share life with them.  

This is something that I believe as disciples of Jesus we need to do a better job of. This is actually a reason I enjoy brewing beer.  I hope that by making, sharing, and discussing brews with people, I can share something of even greater importance.  I've found that people are a lot more likely to discuss God over a pint.  I don't know if the alcohol opens them up or if it beer just makes people more comfortable, but there's something about a pint and theology that just go good together.  

So brew some good beer and invite people over to share Jesus with them.  Could be the best thing you ever do for them.

Jesus and the Brews

So this is something I've thought about before and since this here blogosphere is about beer and the Word, I thought it would be appropriate to bring up. Jesus and alcohol. Those can become quite heated items depending on one's background and culture.

I was watching this reality show one time about a big family and the oldest kid was getting married. One of the camera men was asking the father of the bride if there would be alcohol at the wedding or the reception. He proceeded to say no, because alcohol is sinful. In fact, he even said that when Jesus turned the water into wine, it was really grape juice. For some of you, you've probably heard this before. That is a ridiculous statement. Here is what the text actually says.

"On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.* Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” John 2:1-10 ESV

Now does that sound like Jesus was making grape juice? Now, if someone chooses not to drink alcohol, I have no issue with that. The issue I have is when someone is uncomfortable with scripture, so they change it to fit their worldview. Let scripture speak for itself and don't impose your agenda on it. If the guy on the show had said that they choose not to drink and so they won't be serving alcohol, I have no problem with that. In fact, I would respect that. However, to change the meaning of scripture to fit your agenda...That I have a huge problem with.

But here's a fun passage from the Old Testament in regards to alcohol to look at. Show this one to your pastor and see his reaction...

“You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. 23 And before the LORD your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always. 24 And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the LORD your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the LORD your God chooses, to set his name there, 25 then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the LORD your God chooses 26 and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household." Deuteronomy 14:22-26

So there you go. If it's too far to travel to tithe, buy some meat and booze and have a good time rejoicing unto the Lord.

Really the main point I want to make is this: Alcohol is not evil. It is a blessing from God when used in moderation and not abused. Now alcohol isn't for everyone, however it is important to let the Bible speak for itself and not impose your worldview on the text. So I'm going to brew some tasty beer and rejoice unto the Lord for the blessings he has bestowed upon me and my family. To quote the great theologian (sarcasm!!!) Benjamin Franklin..."beer is proof that God loves us and he wants us to be happy."

So since Jesus was a homebrewer (and a dang good one at that), I am honored to get to follow in my Savior's footsteps and make some beverages to enjoy!