What is a Hoob and where do I find one?

When I lived in California, my wife, Kim got for me a birthday present a lesson to make beer at the same place that brewed Pete's Wicked Ale. I went and tried to make a beer I called The Finger of God, a very, very alcoholic, almost barely wine, type of beer with plenty of fermentable. The people at the Make-Your-Own-Beer place ruined it when they put it in unsanitized carboys. I know. WTF? (As in a class 5 Tornado is The Finger of God. So, a super alcoholic beer would be like that, oh yeah.)

So, on my birthday last year, John, my brother, bought me a beer making kits. He sells them at the City Brewshop. He also gives you lessons, too. Take one and start brewing. You wont stop.

When we were little, I walked into a convocation of John's friends, I think it was a band practice or something, and I said, "Who believes me?" or something like that because of something that I've completely forgotten so they started calling me a Hooble as ine Hooblee me.

I loved it and started calling John and anyone else that was acting goofy a Hooblee or for short a Hoob. So, when Johnny gave me the kit, he provided the recipe Finger of Hoob, which came out delish. And it's a chocolate stout because I'm a chocolatier.

Finger of Hoob. LOL. Enjoy.

Finger of Hoob -- The Tasting

I got out a FoH for tasting, the nice chocolate stout. First thing I did was knock over and break my tasting glass. My friends and family could have heard me on the West Cost or even in Australia. %-( I had to open another one. ^-)

I tasted it. It's surprisingly exactly like a double chocolate stout, say Young's, with a lot more fizz and hops. Not a heavy stout but also not a sweet stout. However, it is highly alcoholic. I wonder if it is 7% with the dosage/priming sugar? It's very fizzy.

I can detect maybe a touch of chocolate but not very much. I also may be fooling myself because Kim can't taste any chocolate at all. Next time 2 lbs of chocolate and 2 T of each of the cocoa powered. I also need some non-fermentable sugar though I like the dry quality to the beer and I do like the non-heavy taste. The hops are very bitter. I think another week of conditioning and some lagering would help. This is almost IPA in its bitterness.

Very, very delish. It'll probably calm down. This is surprisingly light.

Making Beer at Life By Chocolate Step 1, the boil

Brother John.

Actually, it's making beer at the Greenville Arms. My amazing brother John, talented musician and now beermeistermeister extraordinaire has gotten into making beer and also selling beer kits and giving classes at his store City Brewshop in Brooklyn. Brew, Drink, Repeat! So, for my birthday, he gave me a beer kit and showed me how to brew beer. I'm on my second batch. The following pictures are from the first batch which I have yet to taste but i know will be terrific. We made the Finger of Hoob (see recipe), a chocolate stout using LBC chocolate and some natural and dutched cocoa powered.

The Manual. RTFM!

First we had to make the wort, basically unfermented beer, and boil it and the various specialty grains, malt and specialty additions, such as chocolate.



Way back when, when I was a younger man and lived in California, my wife Kim got me a present of brewing beer at a special beer brewing school. I then attempted to make Finger of God, a VERY strong ale. This, Finger of Hoob, is a childhood nickname that we have for each other, which in and of itself is a LONG story.

While doing all of this, we had to sanitize the equipment. That is something we do very well here at the Greenville Arms.



After sanitizing and doing everything we had to in prep, we mostly drank beer.Let me just mention I am more of a wine drinker than a beer drinker and when I drink beers, I like dark beers and ales. Finger of Hoob is a very dark chocolate stout. Right up my alley.



I am currently doing a Peat-Smoked Porter. And will end with a very light and fruity ale called Saison d'Été, which means Summer Season (ale).

BTW, in all honesty. I did taste the beer several times while checking the alcoholic content. It reminded me of Rochefort 10, a good sign. But I have yet to taste the finished beer because it is still conditioning.