Our Tastes-- Brooklyn Local 2

Same brew different location? Nope apparently, "Second verse same as the first" is not the case? This is a same location brew along the same "Belgian" line. Color is almost night and day. This one is a medium nutmeg brown. Head is a nice flat tight creamery. Local 2 is vastly apart from Local 1 in that it has a great divide on the mouth that starts with the raisiny twine of the palate that gives part to the same nose of heavy dark fruit. The Enabler and I agree there's more acidity and a quickly dissipating hop flavor. Made with NY state raw honey and Belgian dark candi sugar, not to mention orange peel this is a good follow-up. Hops include Perle, Aurora, East Kent Golding with a secondary champagne to yield 9%abv and a life experience while watching American Pickers Alabama!

Our Tastes-- Brooklyn Local 1

Been dying for a while to try this brew, so The Enabler volunteered his palate and liver. Local 1 has a nose that evolves for sure. Initially cold yeast and now as it warms the banana starts to come forth. It pours an even flat head of cloudy almost light orange in our tulip glasses. The palate changes ever so gently with or without aeration/swilling. A straight scoot across the tongue is sweet, with residual grape and the usual suspects of clove and banana. When jostled back and forth, and the froth builds in your mouth more aroma builds in your nares and the taste doesn't appear to be so sweet forward. Hops may be in it to balance the palate but it's gentle. So with a plethora of grains and German Hallertauer Perle, Styrian Golding hops for balance it's a very complex beer that changes with temperature for sure. Warming changes the profile, but for a Belgian golden ale, that's understandable. 9%abv, makes it a shareable brew! BTW 243cal/12oz.

Our Tastes-- Victory's Saison du BUFF

An interesting plot to make the same recipe at 3 different breweries a part of a collaboration. DFH, Victory and Stone all make the same beer. Oddly enough, I picked up the first batches of the original 2010 releases at GABF. I was real hesitant to open the bottles but they have kept great. The nose wafts of yeast but the taste is a masterpiece of complexity. When looking at the cloudy straw colored bevvy, one wouldn't think that a sip would have a lemon zest, rosemary, thyme and on the exhale, I swear there's a hint of chamomile or lavender. It reminds me ever so gently when I breath in through my nose while drinking of an herbal cough drop. That's how intertwined the palate and nose are on this one. I like it but a single is enough. 6.8%abv makes is a smooth slide into the sheets.

Our Tastes-- Belgian Session

I find it more and more difficult to keep up with the new array of beers constantly being offered by Sam Adams. Belgian Session is just another example. I thought DFH Sam was bad about throwing stuff together and calling it off-centered but Jim is all abut testing the waters of marketing and following the palates of micro-brewerians. It pours a very clear medium straw with obvious suspension of small particulate. A light nose of Noble hop perhaps. It proves to be as labeled, a session beer of high quality. A light, crisp, gently citrused quaffable low alcohol imbiber. As a departure from lawnmower lagers, this beer offers the same quenching factor with no lime needed through the neck. Yeah, I've guzzled a few of those, know how to get the lime back out the easiest with no mess? It's a great Belgian pale ale session made from 2-row and Gambrinus honey malt. Throw in some Hersbrucker Noble hops, Ahtanum, and Strisselspalt and you've got a 4.3%abv lip smacker.

Brew Batch #49 Smashed Pumpkin

A little behind the season but I wasn't going to let another fall go by without me trying my hand at this one if I could help it. It sampled out a phenomenal dark marmalade with a heavy pumpkin nose. This is what the brew dudes and I have been talking about is the difference in "pumpkin" beers. Some are more pumpkin PIE and others are more PUMPKIN ale. This is showing to be more of a PUMPKIN ale. I'm really looking forward to this one getting down in temp and then me trying not only the 4 bombers I put up tonight but the other 4.5C of kegged that I can divvy out to the TnDC/Beat-12 fans of the world. FG 1.008+ 0.001@ 70F to yield a healthy 7%. If I do it again, there'll be a crown from bottlemark.com involved!

Our Tastes-- Swamp Ape

Picked this one up at Kwiker Liquor,  a great place down near Sea Grove during Labor Day vacay. It's the last of the 6er. It's a knuckle draggin' hairy chest beaten double IPA. 10%abv,  a nice round number,  with the standard cloudy dark golden hue and light creamy off white head. Oddly enough the nose doesn't seem very hoppy but the taste absolutely chews of BIG C hop additions. There's a bitterness that settles onto the tongue like concrete setting up. At first there's a little sweetness then an over whelming bitter fire that races across your palate and burps shortly thereafter. Swamp Ape is made with Europ, 2-row and Smoked Cherry Wood malts and hopped with Tettnang, Chinook, Cascade, Amarillo and Centennial.

Our Tastes-- Chocolate Bock 12oz

Still trying out part of the Harvest Sampler, Chocolate Bock is in the mix. This is a 12oz offering of the 750ml annual that was crazed about initially in February of it's debut year and then offered more often after that in multiple batches. I know, I sold them on Ebay! I will say this about the 12oz size. It to me tastes more altered than the 750s I have sampled from. The longneck has the same opaque brown color and nose of nearly no hop and touch of sweetness. But the taste is more forward cocoa nib sweetness and vanilla than I remember, that's what struck me the most about this brew. Cocoa nibs from Ghana, Ecuador, and Madagascar make up the chocolate spine on this one and Hallertau Mittelfrueh Nobles make up the hop addition. I like it but it's a full bodied brew with 5.8%abv, have 2 desserts and be out tummy-wise.

Our Tastes-- Mikeller Black Tie

Promised Junk I'd save this one for him and FINALLY we sip on Mikkeller Black Tie. Great wafts of vanilla oak and honey. Absolutely opaque. Deep brown tight froth. The hint of peat smokiness is light and an awesome complexity. Alcohol is undeniable at 11.5%. Currently rips a 99 at ratebeer.com. From what I can gather stouts are Mikkeller's "go-to". And the brewing with honey is not only somewhat cheaper and more easily managed than grain on the small scale, but enticing to replicate over and over again utilizing subtle changes in aging or recipe to create "one offs". From what I read this may or may not be retired. I'd spot $20 to have it again, but for now it has become an Avogadro's constant of me.

Giving Props

I've learned that beer drinking/brewing sometimes go hand-in-hand and when you do it, you need a good T-shirt to do it in. The following are some shirts that I've gathered lately and man/lady, you just have to share it with others when it's good.

Picked most of these up at shirtpunch.com or my fav driving T for long trips, which is, "Looking for Love in Alderaan Places.." But then again a good google search will do the same. However, Alan Ashcraft was the original designer on my favorite T. Other notables in the side bar.

Crowners and Cappers Only Please

Ever needed the perfect crown but didn't have the perfect tool to make sure it came off the bottle unscathed? It only costs 25¢!

Our Tastes-- Samuel Adams Hazel Brown

An old recipe from the 96' World Homebrew Contest (Hazelnut Brown Ale), Sam Adams kicks up the marketing notch once again by offering this brew in the Harvest Collection sampler. This is a straight brown pouring beer with a butterscotch toffee nose. Hop are nonexistent. The palate afterwards is fully consumed by the hazelnut profile. A great beer to throw in the fall/winter lineup. Haven't done an NBA in a while. Grains were two-row pale malt blend, Caramel 60, Dingeman's biscuit, Paul's roasted barley (who is Paul?) along with Hallertau Mittelfrueh Noble hops, East Kent Goldings hops rounded with a 5.2%abv and 174cal/longneck.

Out of the Closet

I'm not big on looking into another man's closet but Junk finally came out of his:)

Our Tastes-- Danktoberfest

Part of the Dank series of beers from Sweetwater.  I received a package while out in Collbran, CO from Junk and within it was a nice bomber of this brew. Under pressure to share the above shown box o' libation, I shared my 1st bottle with the owners of Vega Lodge. However, The Enabler also had my back and picked up a little love for me at Derk's Filet & Vine. So now I get to relive my introduction to this brew using my notes form the first tasting for quality control. It pours a medium brown with a cereal nose and flat creamy head. Heavy Munich malt and Noble hop. Ron, the owner's brother-in-law, said it had a nice sweetness at the end on his palate and had an assertive grainy-ness.  8.5%abv and the story of Dank here.

Our Tastes-- Fat Jack

Another small batch series offering from Sam Adams, Fat Jack is a truly awesome pumpkin beer.  I can't remember pumpkin beers being this broadly offered, but I have drank my weight in them as the orange spring of fermented bevvy spews forth from microbrews across the nation. Damn, I think I'm turning orange from all of the beta carotene left over in my skin! The aroma, conversely of others, is of more malted grain than pumpkin or all-spice. Color is right on, and blends into the melancholy of all of the gourd-related brews I've swigged down this fall. Not complaining, just stating the truth. From what I understand Sam Adams has wanted to try brews of this kind, but not spend the money on smaller packaging and availability, hence all of these specialty beers in bombers, one at a time, with more volume dispensed and only one label with no cardboard six pack wrapper. Well, I could stand a 6er of this, the only thing stopping me is the 8.5%abv. Harvest Pumpkin is more in-line with the pie session offerings. Taste brings forth a sweet pulp to the sides of the tongue and a hint of smoked malt. I tried all season to find this and finally picked it up at an old watering hole at Mike's Handy Foodmart. Ask for Denny. Btw, 288cal/12oz, in other words, a bomber is a meal.

Brew Batch #48 Honey Kölsch (aka Jake's Juice)

Well this one went to bottles/keg today and yielding 30 or so long necked browns with traditional golden crowns. Thought my builder would get a kick out of them looking "traditional". Also kegged about a gallon to sample and draft off for him into a growler, so he can have a couple pints without bottle involvement. The chilling Red told me about dropped it so beautifully clear that only the true color of the brew shines. A great almost bourbon-esque color with slight red hue. FG 1.002+0.001 @67F to yield a 5.7%abv. Been a long time since I bottled (thanks to The Enabler for the donation). It was fun but keggin' and bombers is where it's at for me. For batch #50, I'm thinking I can do Reinke's and dry-hop the stink out of it this year, an Über IPA or do I throw it back to a style I shared with the Wolf Pack in 10' for the first time and limb it out on a Black IPA? Man, I wish I knew how to do a poll on this website. Maybe I'll look into that.

Brew Batch #49 Smashed Pumpkin

Inspired by Red, and his success at BlackStone Brewing with their 3rd offering (I think) of their Pumpkin beer, I've decided to try my hand at it. I had to do as much research into properly preparing for this beer as I did for Wicked Merry's Berry or even Reinke's Revenge that was over raspberry. The reading and prepping has been half the fun, I just hope it yields a palatable beer! After a labor intensive brewing OG 1.058+ 0.000 @58F. Smells great.

Our Tastes-- Harvest Pumpkin Ale

Trying to keep my palate up with Sam, Harvest Pumpkin Ale is a sixth of the Harvest Collection released this fall along with other Samuel Adams comrades. These styles of beers always pour such a deep ruby garnet that I enjoy the variation of color almost as much as the pumpkin bang in the taste! (Hint, I have a uncarved 10 pounder on the back porch and I'm off Friday) and I'm a pumpkin guy. Head is a creamy light tan with a nose of cereal malt, cinnamon and pumpkin spice (no allspice to note that I can tell, which tends to be a bit sweeter on both the nose and palate). The taste is awesome. I've tried a few pumpkin beers on a straight taster with The Enabler, and I think Shipyard came in 1st but I'm not sure this one was in the panel at that time. Made with two-row pale, Caramel 60, Special B and a nice Smoked malt this one will be a perennial fav of mine from now on. 5.7%abv, 199cal per long neck, 17lbs of pumpkin per barrel, East Kent Goldings and Fuggles. Think I'll finish them all.

The Bees' Knees Mead© 2010

Not mentioned since about February 2010, but sampled tonight via wine thief. The "plain" if you will was a bit warm with regards to the EtOh mouth feel, but the 2.5C of blueberry/vanilla bean ferment was excellent. Still in the carboys but soon to be in bottles for aging, I am convinced had I done a cherry batch that it would have really brought out some great flavors or even some aging on oak chips. Regardless, it's been 2 years since I've brewed, fermented, racked and started aging so it may be time to rip it again in January.

Brew Batch #48 Honey Kölsch (aka Jake's Juice)

Racked over and dropped to 1.002+0.001 @75F. The swill test shows a beautiful slightly cloudy straw, but the special honey addition gives it a great crispness. I'll cold age in a few more days for about 10 or so. Can't wait to have an ice cold one.

Hand in hand

For me, running and brewing go hand in hand (or foot in foot) so check out what you can do with your old running shoes after that race and refreshing cold beer.

Brew Batch #48 Honey Kölsch (aka Jake's Juice)

For #48 and to get back into the swing of things, I'm trying my hand at a honey kölsch for the builder of my house. He's helped me out a ton this past year with items around the house that I simply didn't have knowledge about so hence forth it will be Jake's Juice. I'm hoping to turn him from a macro light lager to something with a little bit more finesse. I've even found a pound of little honey from Auburn to give it that special touch. A pretty easy recipe this one calls for only wheat malt and 2 hop additions of Vanguard, a hop I've never used, but the alphas pull in at 4.8%. I'll keg about 2.5C and bottle him off a case of brown long necks, then toss him a fresh growler when the pressure is just right. OG turned in at 1.0042+0.001 @75F.

Our Tastes-- Vas Deferens

I know the name of the beer for the majority of the population causes the Cremasteric reflex. As a great gag to my pop-in-law and I this past SeaGrove venture, I was going to try this brew with him. But time flew by and I figured Junk and I would try this curiosity; however, he went into rut early so I'm sipping alone! Pouring a cloudy medium brown with somewhat frothy head this beer smacks of orange peel and cereal. Aroma is of stale fruity pebbles, taste of a sweet wit beer. Made by Caldera Brewing Co. with blood orange zest, orange bitters and dark Belgian candi sugar. An 8.1%abv makes it a closer and unfortunately seems to be a one and out fall release with no plans for reproduction?

Validated and Quantified, Kind of....

I'm more of a dopamine/GABA kind of guy but there's no denying the serotonin effects as well after knocking out a 10K (or 750ml). Read on.

Our Tastes-- Lil' Napolean

Picked up in my latest SeaGrove venture, Lil' Napolean, with special guest Junk tasting this evening. Brewed by Pensacola Bay Brewery and picked up for sharing in a 32oz draft from Kwiker Liquor. It pours a medium brown to copper with highlights (of the green lightsaber on the wall). Aroma is of a big C, but no mention of that on the website, to quote Junk, "....light to the nose....little hot on the tongue....poured out of a tuber draft into a 32 oz grownler from kwicker licker, as we listen to eric clapton unplugged...., (the best part of this beer seems to be Slow Hand!)...very little flora....hot to taste....good introductory ipa to the weekend...russo is hot....6.5%ish...website says 7.5%....70 ibu....as it warms mpore come thru), hey nuff' about the brew said, right? Of course, I have to be transparent and let the audience know we are having Gurka Colorado cigars with great weather, clear at 63 F, low humidity. With no impact on the tasting just pure entertainment, Auburn vs. LSU in 14hrs...kazoo....

Our Tastes- Grumpy Monk

Ole Jim at SA has really tapped into a neat niche for trying beers. Back when the only thing going for the company "trial-wise" was the Beer Lover's Choice Awards, along came the LongShot contest (your's truly made it to the quarter finals with RR and some great feedback but that's another story). Now he has the Small Batch series. Brews that they want to try in the open market but it seems to be more cost effective to put them in bombers, possibly due to label costs, etc. Well the only small batch beer that I have found not in it's own 22oz bomber is Grumpy Monk. It pours a fantastic marsh mellow head of off cream froth in my tulip glass. Aroma is subdued, not too much malt, yeast or hop. Slightly orange in color with a spank of red highlight. The taste is awesome and reminiscent of my Belgian IPA. The bitterness of the American hop comes forward after the mouth is cleared with little yeast residual; however, the linger of peach will definitely be noticed due to the yeast strain used. Made with Bohemian Pils Malt, and Honey Malt, then hopped with Simcoe, Fuggles, Saaz, Cascade, Amarillo, and Ahtanum, this beer is a keeper year round for me. This was a great educational beer, reminding me that the Belgian beers come from importance of yeast strain from monastery to monastery and the IPAs derive from hop character that started with the East India Company (yes, like in the Pirates of the Caribbean). 5.7%abv.

Our Tastes-- Golden Monkey

Picked this one up on my latest trip to Sea Grove Beach. Initially a bottle for my Pop-in-law and I because he likes the Belgian side, but time flew by and it became a sip between The Enabler and I. Pouring a very light yellow with an extremely thick white froth in our tulip glasses it takes the color at least of a belgian tripel. The aroma gave way to almost all pilsen malt with subtle touches of orange and yeast. I havent' tried a lot of Victory beers but not many of them are making an impression. Golden Monkey fits the style but the "European whole hop flowers" don't lend too much to the overall profile, granted it should be more on the sweet perhaps light side and there is definitely some warmth of EtOH (9.5%abv) but I find myself looking for more belgian candi in this one. I'd drink it again but expect a heavier than usual dose of wheat protein in your mouth.

Our Tastes-- Rustic Saison

Keeping up with Jim, I sample Rustic Saison from Sam Adams. About the only brew I've tried of this kind that made an impression has been Yazoo's Saison, possibly because it was the first (man I love linking to me, that's when I know I'm creeping up on Avogadro's number of brews sampled) of this style that I remember from label to palate. Pouring a very translucent yella, with light froth head. This is a very interesting non-French brew. Some saisons have a distinctive sourness (or ester) to them as this one does, but it also has a slight honey profile to it. Made with heather honey, Samuel Adams two-row pale malt blend, wheat, and Bohemian pils malt and hopped with Hersbrucker and Tettnang Noble hops this is nice 4.4%abv BELGIAN brew. This was a great marketing ploy to pull people into microbrews by SA. For the summer pack we're given 2 great non (yet closely palate related with regards to lightness) BMC (Bud Miller Coors) brews with some great history and just enough pull on the palate to bring someone into different types of beers/homebrewing.

Our Tastes-- East West Kölsch

In the last year or so Sam Adams has exploded with new beer, whether within a traditional style or out on the fringe of one already established. This in part explains why SAM stock has been as high as $128 a share up from last October's paltry $72! I've tried to keep up with every nuance they've offered but have fallen short. Today I get back in the saddle with East West Kölsch. This is a light and lovely brew that even my wife digs (she's finally broadened her palate to included this style and not just lambics and fruits) High five! It pours a very light straw with a slight honey nose. Taste is even, sweet, a dash of lemon, and a floral with little aroma hop and just a smidgen of bitterness on the back on the tongue. Alsatian Strisselspalt hops were used and classically kölsch beer is less bitter than the closest kin, a pilsner and lighter in color than pretty much the same beer, an altbier that's made the same way just with darker grains. The one character that I've noticed that seems to be out of character for SA beers is that this beer seems to have a light particulate which could have been imparted by the Jasmine Sambac that it is aged on. Brewed with Samuel Adams two-row pale malt blend, wheat, and Bohemian pils malt and hopped with Spalt Spalter Noble hops and Strisselspalt to yield a brew of 5%abv. I like it, not sure I would do a sixer of it but enjoyed the inclusion in the summer pack.

National IPA Day

To commemorate National IPA Day, I'm downing some of the new Heavy Seas Dubbel Cannon. It's a play on their Loose Cannon recipe with the use of a Belgian yeast. Color is a bit more brown than the usual character. The aroma and taste are worlds apart. The yeast nose whafts to you while the taste is a complex of banana and clove up front followed by the pepper of the Warrior, Simcoe, Amarillo, Palisade, Cascade, Centennial hops used to make it. There is a nice dicotomy to it all. 7.25%abv (never seen an abv with a hundredth place) . The labels on these beers own me, you never know what the parrot will be doing or saying.

Our Tastes-- Cinder Bock

Cinder Bock is another donation by Junk, and part of the small batch series from Samuel Adams (whose shares on the exchange have sky-rocketed, btw) that is a Rauch Bock. A half breed between a rauchbier and a bock. The label to is flaming awesome! Who doesn't like a ram with his rack aflame?! The nose is VERY malty for what my mind had already conjuered up. But the taste is a full blown smoky peatness that repeats itself on the exhale through your nares. Head quickly dissipates, in part due to the abv, 9.4%, but for me is a definite winner.

Our Tastes-- 8-4-1 Expedition

Conjured by Harpoon, 8-4-1 is an Imperial Brown made in Spring of 10'. A flattening head of 9.5%abv dissipation on a pint of deep medium brown mahogany. EtOH is noticeable on both the nose and palate. It's past it's overall impressionable prime, but still a good beer. It's amazing what you find when cleaning out the beer fridge and organizing the garage. Cereal comes forward in this one, mainly due to the Pale, Wheat, Munich, Caramel, Chocolate, and Smoked Malts used. Hops used include Alchemy, Cascade, Willamette, Crystal, and Sterling. You'll notice "Alchemy" hops which is not a registered hop that I can find but found in many past Widmer Brothers beers, (which I think has been bought out), if I'm not mistaken part of the brew triangle I sipped from was Widmer-RedHook-Kona Brewing, in which they all shared parts of a proprietary strain of yeast and sometimes hop blends. Of course since then they have been also bought out, but the explanation for the "Alchemy hops" from Widmer at the time is:
""Alchemy hops are not a single variety, but rather several different varieties custom blended and packaged specifically for Widmer.* Currently the blend is combination of Warrior and Millennium, though in past years it's also included a small percentage of Horizon hops as well (the acreage for Horizon has been declining the last several years, and with it the quality of selection)* **All three varieties are high alpha, low cohumulone cultivars. **Unfortunately, I can’t give you more details about the current mix because the actual percentages of Alchemy is proprietary.* To ensure against crop failure situations there is a good chance we will look to add another hop to the blend if the Horizon crop doesn't rebound, but at this point it’s hard to say what that variety it will be or at what inclusion percentage.*"
"We call it Alchemy because on an annual basis we look at the quality of the crop and try to mix those elements together to make the golden hop.** In addition, we hand select our hops each year at harvest time to ensure we get the very best that's available.* Alchemy is used as the bittering hop in all Widmer products and it’s been a very successful hop (s) for us."
The beer itself is pretty complex, with all of the brown and candi sugars floating around with the honey and all aged in oak barrels. It's almost taste overload.

Our Tastes-- Dočesná

Session number 38 out of 100, of Harpoon's 100 barrel series! I remember when the 1st one came out! Pours a nice medium brown with copper highlights and little white froth. Aroma is soft but has a very distinct hop to it. This entire series has been interesting. The bitterness lingers with a pleasant soft "pineness". The hop profile to this one seems to be the most interesting part of the beer. Dočesná is the Czech hop harvest festival, hence the beer type, but for a hop harvest beer it doesn't seem very "wet" like most. However, still a good brew even though brewed on 8/11/11 and bottled 8/25/11. Sládek hops from Zatec. A neat ale at 6.1%abv.

Our Tastes-- New Belgium Lips of Faith

My first try at the Lips of Faith series is Biere de Mars. This is a very orange pouring spring offering with a frothy white head. The nose is a flat malt with a splash of sourness, in true French saison fashion. There is no hop aroma that I can detect. The taste is crisply zingy with that same sourness across the palate, no doubt given in part to the Brettanomyces, wild yeast strain, used during fermentation. Brewed with barley, oats and wheat malt, with additions of lemon zest and lemon verbena, this one has a light twang. It's hard to believe that Target, Willamette and Cascade are even in it. 6.2%abv and 195kcal per brew (wonder if that's the caloric for all 22oz?) I like it and would buy it for a palate refresher for sure.

FYI

The leech has 32 brains (ganglia in their case for simple purposes), 31 more than the human (granted we have tons, yes I know about ganglion, Csub0 phase neurons, etc especially for research along with white and red fiber quick "twitch" muslce, even though auto-correct spelling doesn't always kick in). Case in point, more isn't always better and the 1 (true brain) most of us have reading this could possibly use an XtRa? Be smart and think about it..over a great brew. (someone else made a comment to me 'bout bloggin' "beer":(

Our Tastes-- The Incredible Hop

And finally for me The Imperial Black IPA (which may have been the 1st in the series), but I can't confirm this. I was turned on to this style of beer at GABF 2010, when it was first being considered as a true style according to GABF guidelines. At the time, T-rav (BJCP) and former brew master at BlackStone Brewery, was tasting Imperial Stouts, CDAs (Cascadian Dark Ales or Black IPAs) and something else. I just remember his palate and liver being bombarded with the styles he was assigned/chose. Bull n Bush had one on tap and a legged back a couple from Deschutes called Hop in the Dark. These are outrageous brews. However, see previous Junk's Junk posts for Stone's version of the same style of beer, so there's a bit of an argument as to where the style originated? It pours a healthy black with reddish hue and flattening light brown head. I've read 10% but the series seems to hold true at 9.5%abv. The aroma of grapefruit jumps out of the shaker (or tulip) to your nose. These types of beers have really started to grab me by the shorts because of my amour with dark beers but the perplexity of the hop aroma/palate. This one is no different. It gained a 96 via ratebeer and thoroughly deserves it. This one apparently pushes the calorie content but you end up with a fresher mouth:) I'd buy this one over the wheat, but it's a toss up on the BIPA due to the complexity of the yeast.

SB294 Holding Pattern

Well it's official. No bombers (crowned not winged) shall enter the state until August 1st. So at this point they're amassing an onslaught into our state at the borders. As we've all heard many times, "stay thirsty my friend". And at this point your Free the Hops t-shirt may become a collectible soon to be seen on American Pickers!

Our Tastes-- The Incredible Hop

Another in the Fort Collins Brewery series from 2011, was their Imperial Belgian Style IPA. Pouring a a light golden pale with flattening pure white head, this one's hop aroma is cut by the whiff of alcohol and yeast! Upon first gulp, the taste as expected of any other IPA but the bitterness of the hops cuts like a knife across the middle part of the tongue and begins to linger. There is a heavy peppery zest to it and enough hop load to start swelling the ole nasal mucosa. A good beer but not great. The melding of these 2 styles, I've tried myself and anything more than an exact measure of each results in a beer to yeasty or in this case a beer too bitterly hop blown in my opinion, then again those are like elbows, most folks have a couple. 9.5%abv seems to be the standard for these beers, let you know when I get to the next one.

Our Tastes-- The Incredible Hop

Fort Collins Brewery released a series of 4 high gravity, high hopped brews with Imperial India Style Wheat Ale being one of them. Pours an amazing light blonde color and soft white head. The aroma jumps out of the bottle with the explosion of citrus from the hop additions. With the taste comes a nice bitterness that envelopes the tongue only to have what almost appears as the wheat protein taste down the center of it. Any drinker of wheat beers will recognize this characteristic because of the almost universal occurrence of this particular flavor in the overall wheat profile. I've noticed an inclination to hop all things/recipes which is fine because I've spent a lot of years "in the dark" and have started enjoying more hopped-up brews in an effort to identify different hop varieties. This one is especially interesting with it's wheat grain base and piney, chewy hop profile. Not sure what they used,  but some Big Cs had to play a part. Maybe Centennial. I'll give due notice to the 9.5% abv and though it's a great beer, I'd buy it again but won't be hoarding it.

Brew Batch #47 Baltic Porter

Well the last of the dark beers for me for a while hit the keg tonight with a FG 1.014+0.002@ 77F to yield 6.9%abv using my same method or using the 7.5 division that Red told me about for 6.4%. Honestly, they are both fine for what I am doing, using Plato is what is universally used in large scale brewing anyway. It had a great swig to it and the only other dark beer I'd like to do right now is a CDA or Black IPA. Ever since tasting Stone Self Righteous (see Junk's Junk tasters) and having some in CO at GABF, I've started to gravitate fairly easy to this official class of beer. If I'm not mistaken it was just recognized in 2011? I'm going to try my hand at my new Blichmann beer gun on this one and hope I don't blow too much of it all over the ceiling while trying to bottle some 12s or 22s.

Our Tastes-- BlackStone BlackJack

Blackjack is a Texas brown ale made at BlackStone BrewPub. I was granted a growler of this after brewing with Red, (so what! this is how we ended up with Manhattan). I got to share this one at the local cigar shop with my bro-in-law and the consensus was about the same. A great med to dark brown with a nice tan thick marshmallow head. Nose of heavy hop. The taste is an even light malt bill with an even bitterness across the tongue. 7.5%abv. For trivia it was named for the brewer's brothers' army squad in Texas, Red really out did himself on this one. The guys at the stogie shop are thinking about bartering smokes for samplers and feedback, that's when you know you've made it. People willing to not only pay for your brew but trade things they too appreciate to have more of what you've created.

Our Tastes-- Adam Bomb

This is version 1.1 or edition 2 of this awesome hop bomb Red has created at BlackStone Color is a great light brown plus sweet red highlights with nice frothy head that quickly dissipates. The nose alone is enough to make me sneeze my head off. Zythos and huge coffee filters used in this one. Not sure about abv but I'm guessing around the 7 mark or so. I got to share this one with some of the guys at the cigar shop. Oddly, I thought this would be the crowd favorite, but almost all if them preferred Blackjack. For me though this beer is beyond description and I can't wait for the next offering.

SB294 Passes

Gov. Bentley, against my personal surprise, has signed SB294 into law! Aka The Alabama GBB, Gourmet Beer Bill. So bring on the bombers. At last check that puts our state abv at 13.9% and the allowing of the entire bomber line from Rogue and Stone.

TnDC Field Trip #21 Brew Day at BlackStone

>0500hrs came early this morning, finally arrived at BS at 0600hrs to brew with Red. Today's batch is Nut Brown Ale and the teacher has officially become the student! Mashing in (aka Getting our Mash on) has become my new favorite upper body workout and the steam has done wonders for my pores. May refer to it as getting a brewer's facial from here on out:) To go with brewer's jacuzzi.
>Mashed for an hour now we recirculate, through a grant to aid in clarifying the wort and pack the grain bed. The "tea" tastes great already. I've also been subjected to cleaning the yeast/perlite cake off of the filter. It's like scraping gooey talcum powder. Wonder if that's a newbie task?
> Let the sparging begin, Red's adding about 100 gallons to our 800lb grain concoction to pull the last tasty remnants out of the malt.
>And the boil begins, with just over 2000 grams of Willamette jumping in the kettle, followed by some super moss and zinc sulfate
>Just tried the Rye IPA and after only the slightest sip 2 sneezes came violently. It's a great piney nose with an evenly distributed bitterness across the sides of the tongue
>1305hrs And a trip through the heat exchanger on the way to the fermenter will complete the process
>Now the Texas Brown Ale to finish our day, pours a great dark brown from the use of molasses and brown sugar, the nose is appreciable different from RIPA above in that it is more grapefruit and citrus from the Centennial/Cascade combo

TnDC Field Trip #21 Day 2

After a deathly 5k on the never ending hill with a little cardio at the end of the cardio to finish (thanks for buying a house on a 1/4mile 40degree incline, Junk) we headed on to the depot for some quick home improvements. After tightening up the energy efficiency of the house and treating ourselves to matching Lunarfly+3s, we started our run into NashVegas with a Midtown Wine & Spirits browsing. Then we bellied up at Jackalope Brewery for Ts and a brew or 2. First up, Spruce beersteen (named by Bailey Spaulding because she is a big Springsteen fan) a black ipa with 6 hop additions almost akin to a hoppy stout with all of the roasted taste not so much a "dark grain" ipa. After a couple it grows on you, just have an open mind if your previous BIPA experiences have come with less roasted malt bills. Thunder Ann APA has a great medium brown color and slight nose, but oh what a disappointment! More cereal forward, light hop nose, should have stayed with the black ipa! And to round out the night, Boscos.  Ice Age pale ale made within Glacier hops a relatively new variety yielding OG 1.066 and 80 IBUs with a minty and a good pale ale backbone... can't comment on color it's in MY MUG! Isle of Skye Scottish ale is up next (as my compnay and I listen to hand-shake etiquette from the woman behind us?) eight malt types with 2 hops. A nose of light cereal with a nice bite from the hop addition. OG 1.066 30 IBUs. And to quench the night,
Boscos Bombay IPA, OG 1.062 54 IBUs, a great fresh clean IPA of standard expectation good clean crisp bite. Brew day 715 mash in!

TnDC Field Trip #21 Arrival

I landed in Franklin, TN in 3:40, which allowed Junk and I a little time to grab some grub and brews at Cool Springs Brewery. A couple of Pecker Wrecker IPAs led to a late night/early morning with foolish speak of a 5K at around 300am.

Brew Batch #47 Baltic Porter

It's spring time and the windows are open, but no matter how many and what variety of Yankee Candle Company candle I burn there's no escaping the aroma of fresh boiling malt in the house itself! Granted the back porch windows are open but hey, this is when you save on A/C. I decided to hang this recipe again because, for me a porter has become a "year-rounder". Nay to those that sip light translucence when the boys start round the bases. It's like tattoos right now, to be different, don't have one. Swallows become California vultures when you get older, guys and gals! Had 2 or 3 boil overs and the alpha acid on the 1st Perle addition was a little higher than last time, but it smells like a winner. OG 1.062+ 0.002 @75F.

Our Tastes-- Latitude 48 Deconstructed

And the coup de gras, Latitude 48. The culmination of all aforementioned hop varieties. A smooth creamy frothy head that would support a small coin (or child). A well balanced IPA that has a less bitter harshness than other favs like SW 420 IPA. I culmination of bittering with Zeus and UK East Kent Goldings, and additional dry hopping with Simcoe, Ahtanum and Hallertau Mittelfreuh. All grown on the 48th Latitude. Way to go Jim on the marketing piece for this one and the idea to capitalize on Single Hop IPAs (sometimes known as bitters, except these are NOT session beers).

Our Tastes-- Latitude 48 Deconstructed

Bringing on the Zeus. I will say that the head is much more frothy, which is a great indicator of alpha acid content for the untrained brewer or brew drinker. The higher the alpha the headier the beer and this one has a good inch on it. No cereal so there must be a ton of hop to it. Wow, it hits the sides of the tongue and paints a coat of bitter across it like a roller and roof tar! Alphas has to be huge on it. I know this because I have 3 VERY healthy rhizomes of this and have brewed with the whole cones. This may be my most favorite hop varietal mainly due to hardiness, but there's nothing like picking a whole cone of this I've grown in my back yard, rolling it around in my palms and whiffing the oil complexity. Don't have a pic of the Zeus label but how about some Mitchell Farms 2010 growth?

Our Tastes-- Latitude 48 Deconstructed

Delving into Simcoe this time. Color, froth are the same with a nose that cuts the cereal all together. The palate is overall much more bitter up front. Simcoe , just released in 2000 as an official hop variety, seems to be a an overall hard bittering hop. Check out the alpha acid on this one. You can really feel the punch. No picture this time.

Let 2012 Growing Season Begin!

Nugget (on the left) meet Sunbeam (on the right)! Sunbeam has been destroyed 2 years in a row by insect and army worms. This is the most healthy growth I've ever seen from it! I may actually have some hop cones this year. I used to grow it on the back porch with partial sun but I think it will stay right where it is. To give you an idea, the posts are 7 feet tall and 6 feet apart except the one around the pine tree that has Sunbeam on the diagonal, they're 5 feet apart. You do the Pythagorean on that one.

Our Tastes-- Latitude 48 Deconstructed

Almost done with the sampler we embark upon Ahtanum. When I say it, I think Native American horse riding tribe. Head, color as expected, which means for someone who wishes to truly test their hop palate this is a great experiment. Not a lot of nose picked up on this one grown in the "Yakimaw" Valley (see Dirty Jobs Vellum Maker episode), but the bitter is intensely up front. Not too much lingers on the backside and it smacks of citrus grapefruit pine! Much more intense than the 2 prior hop varieties we've tried and aggressive on it's bitter character. (And oh yes, we taste in the rain)

Our Tastes-- Latitude 48 Deconstructed

Continuing with our "Deconstruction" sampler we swig away at Hallertau Mittelfrueh. The color remains the same as we have found out that the same malt base is used for this IPA sampler, only the bittering, aroma and dry hops vary with each brew. Head is maintained but the nose is more subtle and not as "cereal" as the East Kent Goldings taster. The taste is more well balanced and not quite as bitter as the East Kent hop. This isn't my favorite IPA so far, I guess because it is more bland than anything else. I understand Hallertau is somewhat of the grandaddy of most hops but the newer versions tend to par better with my palate. The Beer Tasting and Hop Appreciation Kit really helped narrow this subtle hop variety down.

Our Tastes-- Latitude 48 Deconstructed

The Enabler was kind enough to have Bootleg Bonnie grab us a 12er of this stuff so we've finally gotten around to breaking one down. Latitude 48 East Kent Goldings IPA is what we're starting with to better appreciate how the overall "full" version comes into complexity. Color is a marmalade with an off white, slightly yellow head of nice tight fluff. The aroma seems to be of cereal and slightly over powered by the malt bill. Very interesting taste profile, it's slightly bitter intially and comes forward much more as it lingers and warms on the palate. East Kent Goldings seem to have a hint of mint to their profile. Using our Beer Tasting and Hop Appreciation Kit really brings the hop forward! I love referencing myself, means I don't have to have to use quotation marks! 6.0%abv I think throughout this collection.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

This year for the 1st time in a LONG time I took a hiatus from the debauchery of wonderful dark beer, the stout mouth hasn't really reared it's head since winter started, perhaps due to the mild conditions and apparently we're going to skip spring weather all together since it was 85F today. All of my crew had to work and I had but one beer, boy oh what a brew! Tried RR on the gas and had forgotten what a stupendous brew it is fresh, very heavy roasted bill with well balanced bitter. But by the looks of things outside though, I know what I'll be doing next week when I'm off.

Brew Batch #46 REINKE'S REVENGE 2011

Bottled/kegged up Reinke's for the year. The 1st pre-keg swill was amazing. I guess I've altered the original so much that I had lost sight of what the real recipe and feel was like. The roasted coffee is straight forward, there's no beating around the bush with this one. This is the nerdy kid in high school that says, "The hell with it, I'm asking the popular girl to prom" kind of straight forward. I can't wait to see what this one is like after being on gas for a while or in the bombers. Speaking of which this year's crown is something special. In school I couldn't ever afford the labels I wanted so I settled for doing customized crowns. (See post below) FG ended up at 1.016+ 0.001 @69F to yield about an even 9%abv.

BottleMark

Now I don't always endorse product or sites. I'll drink your beer, review it, put a link to your stuff on my sidebar, visit your brewery and blog the experience good or bad, but a few encounters are worth permanence. For example, The Grill N' Ice, Thermacell, Sam Adams original pint glass, stickers for the 72hour cooler but this year I wanted something special for Reinke's, so The Enabler turned me on to BottleMark.com. I played with some ideas and finally saw where I could get a free digital sample and voila! These are the 1st ever customized crowns for Reinke's Revenge. They turned out awesome! I got a little help from Haley at the site and can't speak enough about them, so I thought I would blog the actual results. This is the 7th time I've done this recipe and had to have something to set the original recipe apart from previous year's divergences. The image is that of a deadly virus obviously linked to Dr. Reinke at AUHSOP. Can you name it? Nothing says Bugs n Drugs like Ebola:) Please visit BottleMark, create a profile and start making your own homebrew crowns. The rate of 12cents each and shipping can't be beat!

Our Tastes-- Chainsaw Ale

It just so happens I'm swigging another LFH brew. The nose was of hard cereal, but even though the initial taste bit at me the "after-bite me" was awesome and mellowed? LFH Sawtooth Ale (which I don't care) for squared. This is a respectable beer that should be bottled in Sawtooth's place. The scenery is just sad, its bitter drinking and ok at best I guess. A medium orange color and listed as a Double ESB. Made with "Glen Eagle, Pale 2-row, Munich, Oats, Light Crystal, Caramalt, Special B and Black Malt" then hopped with "Magnum, US Goldings and Cascade". The 9.4%abv is a redeeming quality but quite honestly I may pass it up for something else if given the opportunity. Wicked label though and once again marketing pulls the consumer in for the purchase.

Our Tastes-- Weyerbacher Blasphemy v1.0

Getting back into the tasting saddle, I'm giving Blasphemy a whirl tonight. I can tell you 1st impressions are enormous! Cracking the crown on this one allowed super wafting of tart raisins and alcohol to perfuse to my nares from at least 12 inches away! The color is a medium extremely cloudy brown with a head that dissipated as soon as it hit the glass thanks to the 11.8%abv. Weyer's usual quad aged in oak barrels has made for quite a beer in these 22oz bombers. Anyone who has ever enjoyed an oak aged or fermented beer knows the sharp tones and vanilla hints that the wood imparts to the beer. With this beer being so heavy on the EtOH it reminds me a little of Reinke's. It's almost as the alcohol acts as a solvent to pull very woody, sugary, sharp vanilla, caramel tones out the oak, and the higher the abv the more pronounced! I've had this particular bottle long enough for them to change the label? Apparently I've had this bottle prior to 2011 for sure because now it is a corked 750ml ONLY that graduated from a 12oz bottle. This is a great beer for one person in a 220z bomber.

TnDC Field Trip #20 Cupid's Chase

So we shot up to NashVegas for a little charity run with Junk. But prior to that endeavor we dropped in at Cool Springs Brewery for a little grub and some brew. Merry tried Franklin's 1st. that she said was a nice Kolsch with a good bitter bite, very clear and the lattice was ok. It had a nose of pilsner malt. This seems to be her new fav style. On to Junk with his Hefeweizen that was of course cloudy, flat-headed, good banana clove nose and a great citrusy bite. Me next with my Pecker Wrecker IPA and it was superb; however, I tried the Centennial stout and it was straight roasted coffee, wouldn't have it again . The Enabler sipped away at Fatback amber and it "drank pretty good".
Saturday we woke to 25F with snow and a wind chill of 12F. I'll be honest, I can't remember the charity we ran for, it froze out of my brain early.
To rewarm the cockles a little trip to BlackStone to see Red and his latest concoctions. The coffee stout was a truly memorable beer, so much so I've got a pic of it in my man room. It had a great smooth dryness and slight bitterness of the Costa Rica coffee. Phenom brown head and 11 barrels has gone that fast. Adam bomb is a mind altering IPA made with Zythos hops at 65lbs per 15bbls with a crazy aroma as a green IPA. Brewed, bittered, whirlpooled and 2 stage dry hop. 81 ibus makes this a must have repeat brew and will only get better as conditioning continues.
After we got "Junk Drunk" and skipped out of Antique Archeology, whaddaya know there's a new distillery in Yazoo's old brewery that has brews on tap. Corsair Distillery had Calfkiller Dark Earth which was a superb stout. Well balanced light coffee. Dark flattening head. Low etoh warmth of 6%.

Next up was Jackalope Brewery for some Jinga and a Hairy Highlander for me. A nice Scottish ale with some nice smokiness to it. Then a Rompo Rye, an ale that poured an extreme red which lifted my hopes of a spicy taste of rye that was instantly dashed on the first sip. There is no apparent major rye bill in this ale though the nose is of great cereal.
Boscos Poor Richards Ale rounded the evening and by then I had forgotten about the frost bite in several key areas.

Salute to Ronald Reagan

Today to honor what would have been Ronny's 100th B'day I did the following:
I bought myself some Star Wars action figures (that is after all what he is known in part for, right), I drank some American beer (which you will read about shortly) and thanked God that I could openly do both (because in President Reagan's visit to the Soviet Union, yes it was called that then, he was told not to talk about Jesus/God during a public USSR address, so he told the audience a story about a man from Galilee:) When he died I was on Lake Martin with a very good friend and my many years later-to-be wife fishing!
So I'm trying another GABF 2010 beer on it's own. Oxymoron a "Teutonic India Pale Ale". A low-level off-bitter ill balanced wheat concoction offered by LFH. I've supported them in the past and even sent pics of my dog trying to "jail-break" the fridge for more of their offerings. About the only enticing quality is the aroma, it IS exquisite! Color is an off settling brown. 7.2%abv and a lineage of hops, "Magnum, Northern Brewer, Perle, Tradition, Spalter Select, Hersbrucker and dry hopped with Tradition, Spalter Select and Hersbrucker". Overall profile is that I wouldn't bootleg it back from GABF again, but I had already bought it BEFORE thoroughly tasting:( Hey, at least it's no 400lb Monkey.

Brew Batch #46 REINKE'S REVENGE 2011

Racked over today to a healthy 1.022+ 0.00 @66F. Taste is nice. I had forgotten what a "green" Reinke's tasted like. Another few weeks and I'll be kegging and bottling this one.

Brew Batch #46 REINKE'S REVENGE 2011

Well, the last time I brewed I hadn't in almost 5 months, now as bad as it hurts to type it Reinke's was the last batch I brewed (#44) almost a year ago, nope actually is was Hopbursted (#45)! So like I said last time if the Mayans had it right there will be 2 batches in 2012 which should conclude the rule of humanity on earth. It's a windy 70F day but as usual beautiful for brewing on the back porch. This marks the 7th time I've done RR and I think it's time to go back to the original recipe. No extra hops, oak chips, fruit blending. Just the original. So for this one, that means only 12lbs of dark malt, the usual blend of roasted barley, black and chocolate malts with additions of Galena, Fuggle and Willamette. That's how I'll brew it and bottle it; however, I do reserve the right to Randal some of the kegged version. But that's an after packaging augmentation, nothing to do with the actual brewing process. Merry is even helping with the stir action! OG 1.080@ 60F. Spot on!

New Year's Mimosa

I'll admit I've never had a mimosa but when my main squeeze suggested having them for breakfast I had to try them. Made traditionally with champagne and orange juice, she put a twist on it. We had orange pineapple banana juice mixed with some sparking wine (champagne) called Poema. Made in the Penedes region of Spain Poema Brut is a great double fermented fruity wine. You'll notice the fermenter and smack pack in the background, news on those to follow.