Our Tastes-- Olde School Barleywine

Still attempting to close in on every DFH beer, I'm sniftering up some Olde School Barleywine. On the bottle it gives you 2 tasting options, I'll be doing the 1st one now and the 2nd later. Pour into 2 snifters and enjoy, (I will pour 1 snifter twice). The other says to take bottle into woods, dig 2x2x3 ft hole, memorize location, bury and return in 1 year to enjoy. It pours a very clear head flattening, brown sweet tea. Heavy alcohol and slightly sweet wood notes. As you roll it over the palate there is absolute raisin, fig, plum with warm white oak. I can't get over the color on this one! Ah yes, lest we not forget Sam adds pureed figs and dates form a Cellarman's technique he met in England. A great find today, let you know how it is later. Oh and read the story about the cowboy on the front of this label just to amaze potential converts, we must use every weapon to our advantage.

Brew Batch #36 REINKE'S REVENGE 2009

Well after fermenting or aging in some form or fashion for 67days, Reinke's was split between 25 long neck browns with black crowns (in their usual and customary way) and 1/2 corney keg. Melonhead did a little taster with me and the oak chips really brought out some great woody vanilla, it seem to cut the roasted coffee flavor and give it more caramel. Man, I am really proud of this one. This recipe has really evolved and I think I could have been a better contender in the LongShot with this one. What really shocked me was that between 11/13 when it was racked from primary and placed on 2 oz of chips is that is dropped another 14pts. FG 1.012+0.0 @64F, this gives it 9.85%abv, by far the heaviest RR, but the alcohol seems to be cut a little from the palate and more pronounced in the nose this year.

Our Tastes-- Avery Hog Heaven

Though my palate has turned dark, I still have 2 new "dogs" to try (see previous posts) and yet tonight starting 5 well-deserved days off, I try QQWW (my kegged wheat wine) and want a little slice of flying bacon..Hog Heaven Barleywine-Style-Ale. Pouring this first into my handy 3oz snifters, I notice a cloudy light-med brown bev. I've experiences with beers that settle lately and this brew I inverted gently a few times prior to pouring to get an even mix of bed through every glass (because I'll be having it all). The nose is a pungent C, not sure which one but there is something about the "C" hops that you'll always notice (Centennial, Cascade, Chinook). The head immediately flattens and after looking at the label I can see why, 9.2%abv and 2.5lbs of Columbus hops per barrel, haven't tasted it yet but there must be a load of malt in this one, hold on, still have it rolling around in my mouth as the bitterness hits first AND remains well after swallowed. I find little else in this beer other than the overwhelming hop, the caramel and Crystal 75L are trace tasted at initial tongue contact and washed away by the astringency of the hops. I guess I should get away from the mold on some beers but this one simply doesn't have the malt backbone I enjoy in a "typical" barleywine.

End of a Learning Era

Zeus IPA bit it tonight. I am pleased with this beer but overall learned quickly as the beer changed profile that an ounce of Zeus at 45mins needs more aromatics at the end for balance. I'll remember this for next time, this is the time in life when you start perfecting some great recipes. Now it's replacement in the keg will be...

The Bear is Here...

And I don't mean Bryant. This year I just realized that Stout Mouth has crept up on me like an Indian (feathers not dots). Since just before Christmas I have been lapping up Reinke's Revenge 08' and all things dark. I believe the monster has awaken and is here to stay til just past the Ides.

TnDC Field Trip #13 cont'd

And finally as we were looking for a Target of some sort, we stumbled across a Total Wine & more and of course I got to do a little shopping, oddly enough Merry wanted several different kinds of lambics that we had seen in Tampa, "to do her own taster". What can I say, the worm has turned for her. This is where I snagged 2 more DFH beers, so just when I thought I had my hands on all the DFH beers I could consume, I pick up some Old School Barley Wine and White Squall IPA. Lest we not forget that vibrating dingaling covers are also legal there....

TnDC Field Trip #13 cont'd

A win in the rain, then in the cold. After sitting through 4&1/2 hours of grinding back and forth great football, Tigers win. Then on to dinner. We returned to Ybor, after going to the Hard Rock Seminole to pick up a tee for Merry, then iPhoned it to the public parking deck because I got a ticket for parking in front of someone's residence without a permit, not my damn fault they live downtown and the sign was at the end of the street not to park there. We went to the second tier of Centro Plaza and there was a sign that said 2-for-1 drafts and it was a hamburger place!! Sweet, so we went in and the hostess and waiters were friendly to me, we looked at the menu and it had great sounding burgers, Gerald P. was in for the Grand Opening from West Hollywood where another big location was and hooked us up with a great "Mo' for Merry and all the draft I wanted. And as we perused the menu, looked at the clientele and realized even the bar was painted pink (not Red), it hit me. Hamburger Mary's wasn't your average burger joint that had a great beer deal, the beer deal was to pull in curly haired guys like me, after all my "friend" paid for dinner. Yeah, well those close to me I'll tell the details to, needless to say if I'm ever in West Hollywood I'm supposed to look our waiter up, but damn it was a great burger and beer. After this we skipped to one of a plethora of cigar bars and picked a few for the ride home. Will try my handrolls next weekend after long work.