St. Patrick's Day T-Shirts for Home Brewers and Beer Geeks

Beer geeks have a love-hate relationship with St. Patrick's Day. More often than not, St. Paddy's parties involve adding green food coloring to a keg of Bud Light and overconsumption to the point of face-down humiliation. Of course, it also can involve flashing and hooking up, which depending on your age and relationship status can be a good thing.

All this notwithstanding, we love St. Patrick's Day because it's an opportunity to reflect of the two greatest things Ireland has given us... Irish Stout and Irish Red. Grab a case one of these delicious beers and put the other drunken Erin-Go-Braless revelers to shame.
Irish Stout
Hats off to Guinness - one of the most recognized and best marketed beers in the world that is actually a good beer. Brilliant! Always satisfying. However, if you want to drink a better Irish Stout, lay your hands on a Beamish. You'll never go back. Murphy's is another good example of the style.
Irish Red
Yeah, yeah I order a Killians when I'm at my local TGIApplebeesBennigans, but U.S. brewed Killians is about as Irish as Sean Connery. A better pick would be a Smithwick, Murphy's or O'Hara's.
Green Beer Geek T-Shirts
Okay, you've picked your beer, now for the wardrobe. It is de rigeur that you wear a green t-shirt to any St Paddy's Day party. These are often of the "Kiss Me I'm Irish" or "Irish I Were Drunk" variety. But you don't have to go that route. Here are a selection of fine green tees for home brewers and beer geeks.

Your Beer Sucks Simple. Arrogant. Green. "Your Beer Sucks - My Homebrew Tastes Better" This works even better if you're drinking a mug of your own Dry Stout.

Home Brewer Seal This parody of the Guinness logo proclaims the following: Home Brewer Extraordinaire - I make hand crafted ales and lagers. Brewed with care and skill, my beer tastes awesome and is vastly superior to the watered-down corporate swill you drink.

Pilsner Rocks "Pilsner" - rock and roll parody shirt, spells out one of the classic beer styles in classic AC/DC typeface.

Bubbly Beer Geek Features "Brew Geek" with the word Beer spelled out with bubbling beer.

Can You Beer Me Now? "Can You Beer Me Now?" Cell phone coverage parody for serious beer drinkers, home brewers and pub denizens.

Craft Brew Revolution "Craft Brew Revolution" - because corporate beer sucks.

Zymurgy Definition "Zymurgy - (zahy-mur-jee) noun - the branch of applied chemistry dealing with fermentation, as in beermaking, brewing, winemaking, the preparation of yeast, etc." A great shirt to explain to people just exactly what it is you do with all those chemicals in your basement.

Pour Favor Pour Favor" t-shirt for draft beer lovers. Tap that keg and get a pint.

You can get all of these great Beer Geek t-shirts Only at BrewerShirts.com, shirts and gear for homebrewers and beer snobs.

Classic Miller Lite Beer Commercials - Tastes Great Less Filling

"Tastes Great!" "Less Filling!" Although I can't really say much about the taste of Miller Lite, known way back when as Lite Beer from Miller, I loved the commercials. The ensemble of former athletes, comedians, pool sharks, and other rogues never failed to make me smile. Watching these commercials as a kid, got me interested in beer. Hey, I guess advertising really works.

The First Annual Miller Lite Board Meeting


The First Lite Beer Open



The First Lite Beer Softball Game


The First Lite Beer Bowling Tournament


The Great Pool Shoot Out

Home Brewer T-Shirt

I love this new t-shirt. Design-wise, it has hints of a world famous stout, with a beige shield displaying a pint of stout with hops and barley.

The words "Home Brewer" across the center of the shield. Around the border of the shield are the words "I make hand-crafted ales and lagers." In the lower portion of the shield "Brewed with care and skill, my beer tastes awesome and is vastly superior to the watered-down corporate swill you drink."

Get it now at BrewerShirts.com!

Home Brewing Beer = Automatic Man Card Points

I hang out with a bunch of "car" guys. They're into classics: Shelby Cobras, Triumph Spitfires, Ferraris, that sort of thing. They break down cars, build engines and take their machines down to a nearby road track to race them. At least two of these guys have full-on garages, complete with lifts and multiple bays.

Personally, I'm not that into cars. Don't get me wrong. I can respect the power of a V8 and all that but I'm not going to be able to disassemble, deconstruct and rebuild my engine, I'm just interested in making sure the darned thing starts when I want it to.

Our weekly gatherings inevitably end up with half the guys out in the garage examining parts while the rest of us prop up the keg. And that's okay. It has introduced me to "Top Gear", the hilarious BBC show hosted by three gearheads who do unusual stunts and tricks with cars and car culture.



One evening, discussion among the group turned toward manly things and the inevitable challenges to the status one's "man card". Is Formula One manlier than NFL Monday Night Football? Baking cookies did not cut the mustard. Racing cars. Running a business. Building houses. Fixing household problems without calling a repair guy. Illegal file sharing. Siring offspring. Barbecue (not grilling, I mean smoking meat of a charcoal pit). That kind of thing counted.

Then it was my turn. Before I could say anything, a voice from the other side of the room chimed in, "Dude, Dave brews beer." They all nodded, grunted and raised their glasses.

Yes. I brew beer. It's my contribution to the group, no, it's my contribution to society.

When the economy collapses and social order breaks down, my ability to turn water and grain into beer ensures me a revered place in the loosely assembled mob of survivors. So I got that going for me.

Contribution to Society T-Shirt
"I brew beer. What's your contribution to society?"

Beer Geek T-Shirt

Are you a beer geek?

Do you pontificate on the differences between traditional British India Pale Ales and the newer American IPAs?

Do you keep a beer journal?

Does vacation planning for you consist of researching the local microbreweries, brew pubs and beer festivals of your destination city?

If so, then you need the Bubbly Beer Geek t-shirt from BrewerShirts.com for your collection.

This smart looking shirt expresses your affinity for and knowledge of great beer in big bold type, with the word "beer" formed out of bubbling beer.


This design is available in a variety of colors and sizes.

Other items available in Beer Bubble text include...
- Beer Snob shirts
- Home Brewer shirts
- Brew Master shirts
- Hop Head shirts

Get these and other great shirts for beer enthusiasts at BrewerShirts.com.

Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA Clone Recipe

I am a big fan of the hoppy American-style India Pale Ales. This is my take on the amazing Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA. It's an easy recipe for even the novice homebrewer.

Steep for 50 min:
1/2 lb crystal malt
1/2 lb carapils

Bring to boil - 6 gallons H20

3 lbs amber dried malt extract

1 oz Warrior pellet hops - 1 pellet/minute for 60 min.

1/2 oz Amarillo pellet hops - 1 pellet/minute for 30 min

1/2 oz Simcoe pellet hops - 1 pellet/minute for 30 min

3 lbs amber dried malt extract - add at 15 min

1 oz Irish Moss at 15 min

Ferment - Safale US -05 dry yeast
2 weeks minimum - fermentation

Secondary Fermenter....
Dry Hop - 1/2 oz Simcoe pellet hops
Dry Hop - 1/2 oz Amarillo pellet hops

For extra flavor, I add skip the secondary fermentation and add the dry hop additions above directly into the keg. Place some glass marbles at the bottom of the keg. Then add your hop pellets to a nylon knee-high stocking (just a couple bucks for a 12 pack at the your local grocery story). Tie off the end and drop it in the keg. The marbles keep the stocking away from the end of the dip tube to avoid clogs.

"Humulus Lupulus" T-shirt for HopHeads

Captain Dave's Pirate Stout

Toasty roasted stout with a hint of coconut rum flavoring. This is an easy to brew beer using dried malt extract, milled adjunct grains and pellet hops.

5 gallon batch

Steep to 150 degrees in 5 gallons H2O
- 1 lbs rolled oats
- 1/2 lb crystal malt
- 1/2 lb chocolate malt
- 1/4 lb roasted barley
- 1/4 lb black patent malt

Bring to boil

5 lbs amber dried malt extract

1 oz Fuggles hops
1 oz Williamette hops
30 min boil

1 oz Irish moss
15 min boil

Ferment through, approximately 3 weeks.

Add 250 ml (approximately 1/3 of a bottle) Cruzan Coconut Rum prior to bottling/kegging.