Super excited for this Friday night’s brew. It’s going to be a Belgian Wit / Hard Cider hybrid that Justin dreamed up. I think the two styles will blend well together, and should be a most excellent brew to enjoy during the ensuing fall evenings. As an added bonus, we will be able to enjoy some fully carbonated samplings of our first wheat beer.

For Justin and Brian, this will be their first time getting to sample a beer that they brewed with their own hard work. It won’t be my first, but it will be the first in a good while. Good times will be had by all.

In the meanwhile, we have been hitting a bit of a brick wall thinking of names for our beers. We have two more batches in various states of fermenting or bottle conditioning, and we have been struggling to find the appropriate monikers for them. For the time being we have settled on “Killer Bee” for our Honey Brown Ale…seemingly appropriate since it was brewed with honey, and well, you know…honey comes from bees.

The American Pale Ale however has been much more of an uphill battle. We find a name, we like it, then we don’t like it. We just have to find a name that sticks. Here are some of the names we have torn through so far:

  • Pipefitter Pale Ale
  • Hard 8 (which we have decided to use for our Cider Wit instead)
  • 8 and the Gate
  • Union Man
  • Armstrong (in honor of Neil, who passed away on the day we bottled the APA)

At the current moment the working name is “Wooden Robot.” It’s a bit of an inside reference to a life-size wooden robot that I made as a potential movie prop for a film I wrote but never actually shot. That’s him at the right…though I have since changed the head to look a bit more awesome.

The bot, affectionately named “Goby” by my wife, currently resides in Brian’s basement, where we used it in the background of a scene we shot for our 2012 entry into the St. Louis 48 Hour Film Project. But if the name sticks, I think my lumber creation might have to make the move to our brewing HQ – Justin’s garage. Hope his wife won’t mind.

So coming soon (maybe)…Wooden Robot American Pale Ale