Many of the beers I enjoy are brewed only from malt, hops, water and yeast, for example IPA and Octoberfests. But, I don't shy away from beers that contain other ingredients. I generally like coffee stouts or coffee porters and also recently wrote an article about brewing with coffee (May/June 2010 issue). If you were ever to stop by my house, you'd also know that I like cats. So, imagine how happy I was when — a year or so ago — I heard of a beverage that combined beer, coffee and cats. 

My homebrew club's homebrew contest — the Austin ZEALOTS Homebrew Inquisition — is coming up. As my homebrew supply has dwindled to next to nothing, I needed to brew some beer. So, that's what I've been doing every other day for the past few days.

Over the Fourth of July weekend, I brewed three beers — an IPA, a porter and a dry stout. In the process, I also got a bunch of brewing equipment cleaned up.