But yeah, wasn’t my favorite spot, I’m with Ryan on Team Hops & Pie. But I have been to FR several times over the years and am sad to see them go.

Totally concur with Ryan’s sentiment too….. hard to spend the money if you have something tasty at home!

I never got to go to the legendary GABF week parties there unfortunately, with 1-2 GABF trips, Rare Beers + the KROC annual fundraiser that week, I had no more time for beer events. I do regret that.

I will say that I enjoyed drinking the vintage beer at Falling Rock on my visits though. It was cool to see one of the few places out here that actually kept a legit cellar. But as I got more into cellaring barleywine, big belgian beer and some stouts, it was far cheaper to build my own cellar than to spend it commercially. And you can curl up next to a fire with a snifter of JW Lee’s on a cold winter night without having to leave the house. I’ll be especially sad if I ever cannot do that!

I don’t know about a downtown replacement but Colorado Tap House is opening in the fall in West Arvada by the Ralston Creek trail. I will be able to walk to it.

So long and thanks for all the beers…

The whole process is fascinating.

So this project somewhat fell off the table for me as I didn’t check in on it as often as I thought I would. I did probably let these meats dry out a week or two more than I typically should have. My losses of weight were in the 42%-48%; where as ideally they should have been around 35-38%. So the meat weighed less than ideal; so it is a little more hard than it should have been.

This was also a test of faith in some ways as I didn’t have a god way to check the PH of the meat. This is the largest indicator if your starter culture is working with you or against you. The alternative to give time the benefit of the doubt and let the nitrogen do its work and convert in the nitrogen cycle. Basically meaning that the nitrates have to turn into nitrites for it to be safe to eat. The reason we have to use nitrogen is so that it will kill the potential for botulism. The term botulism roughly translates from latin to meaning Sausage-pathogen.

In letting these salami’s go a little longer than expected which means they have to be safe to eat at this point. Consuming pink salt #2 can have adverse effects if consumed in its original state. So I knew I was safe to eat the meat. Although, there is a always a lingering feeling of “Am I going to die” when consuming homemade charcuterie.

Removing the collagen wrapper from most of the salami was simple; in the folds where it really dried out proved to be difficult as the wrapper would get pinched in the folds.

You could also see the transfer of the protective culture to the outer layer of the meat where I poked the holes to dry out. I thought this was sort of interesting.

Then the slicing started, think to win was the goal.

I then packed them in mix packs, labeled and sealed them up. Honestly this was the most fun meat project to date. All of the meats ended up tasting great. The salami was the most true to form in texture and taste but the spanish chorizo was the gold medal winner here, dynamic taste and explosive flavor.

All recipes and information can be found here.