Lagarto Beers

I homebrew, and I like making labels as much as making the beer (almost). South TX for me is where beaches and ranches come together...surf, sand dunes, mesquite trees, and cactus.

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Pensive Cowboy spent secondary with a couple of pieces of mesquite bourbon, and you can taste it.

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My kind of flowers. Lagarto, 4/9/2016.

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For my next brewing experiment, I’m making a batch of bitter which I’m going to split in two for secondary fermentation. One batch will be my control, and in the other I’m going to try infusing some mesquite and bourbon flavor. I took a piece of mesquite from the ranch split off a bunch of pieces, then put these in a jar. Bought my first bottle (two, actually) of Jim Beam in a long time and filled up the jar. Got this idea from a great book, Home Brew Beyond the Basics, by Mike Karnowski. In a section on adding wood flavor, he said you could either toast the wood to sanitize it, or soak it in alcohol for a couple weeks. Naturally, I liked the idea of soaking it in alcohol. Looking forward to a Mesquite Bourbon Bitter, which I plan to call “Pensive Cowboy.” That space you see in the jar in the second picture is after a couple of days. Definitely absorbing the bourbon. 

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Wildflowers in Lagarto, 4/2/2016. Took this photo the same evening one of my dogs got bitten by a rattlesnake. Looks like he will survive, but I wouldn’t have been relaxed and taking photos if I had known!

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Lagarto on the beach, Port Aransas.

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Prison rodeo posters for label inspiration. They had a clip playing on loop from a documentary I dug up at Peabody that was a real find, Convict Cowboy. Unmarked, and not for sale in the gift shop as it should be.

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Bottled Belgian Gold this weekend. This one is a recipe from Austin Homebrew, 20th Anniversary Belgian Gouden. I mixed the water with a little less than half Lagarto well water. Didn’t want too much minerals for this one. Tasted great going into bottles. 5.2 ABV.

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Cosmic American Ale, featuring Mosaic hops, is in bottles. Original artwork by Andy Don Emmons (see below). Can’t wait to crack one of these once carbonated. 46 bottles + 2 bombers. The dregs out of the fermenter tasted pretty good!

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Who else could take surf and country music to space? Proto-Cosmic American Music by the Ventures with Red Rhodes.

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Colorado hunting trip, 1968. This Bronco was bought the year before by my uncle. It saw plenty of action until the 1980s, during which it sat in the barn in Lagarto until I bought it for $400 in 1990.

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Visit Original Link

My friend, media consultant, Survivor contestant, and Cosmic American music enthusiast Max Dawson has been dropping some incredible mixtapes via Aquarium Drunkard. Here’s one featuring pedal steel work by Red Rhodes on recordings by Michael Nesmith, Willis Alan Ramsey, Rick Nelson, and much more. 

http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2015/06/23/all-roads-lead-to-red-a-pedal-steel-mixtape-tribute/

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The artwork for the Cosmic American Ale label is being done by my cousin, Andy Don Emmons. He splits his time between Dallas and (my East Texas family’s home) Fairfield, making art and ranching. You can see more of his work on his Facebook page . He has a show now at Might Fine Arts. 

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In 1971, my parents took their Ford Bronco to Colorado. A large proportion of their slides from that trip conspicuously feature the Bronco, which by the time I can remember it had no roof or doors. These pictures make me want to travel a) to Colorado and b) in time.

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Cosmic American Ale is now in secondary. Key ingredients: Mosaic hops, Blackland Pale Moon 2 Row malts from Texas, Lagarto well water, Gilded Palace of Sin by the Flying Burrito Bros.

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Nelson Sauvin IPA has been bottled as of 1/16/16. All long necks plus two bombers. I will open and taste in two weeks. 

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Slide photos from Lagarto taken in the first few years of the ranch (1964-67) by my grandfather Hodge. I rescued these from a store room in our barn, scraped off a lot of dirt and worse, and did some touch-up.