General Update

I’ve fallen way behind in my label making and posting, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been slacking in the brewing department!  Several beers have come and gone that haven’t gotten their own individual write ups.  Here’s the short list:

Amandrew’s Holiday Saison – Amanda and I came up with the recipe together for this one.  Saisons are one of Amanda’s favorite beer styles and when we sat down to write the recipe for this one we decided right away that it should be a saison.  It was a spicy, warming ale and brewed with rye and made you feel as cozy as sitting next to the fireplace looking out the window watching the snow fall.

Boo’s Porter – A very straightforward Robust Porter that had a rich chocolate, roasted body and turned out very delicious!

Black Bohemian Kolsch (BBK) – I wanted a beer that looked like a stout or porter but drank like a pilsner.  A beer to usher in spring.  This beer recently received an Honorable Mention in the specialty beer category at the 17th anual Amber Waves of Grain Homebrew Competition in New York!  One of the judges comments in the overall impression section said it was, “strangely delicious.”   That is the perfect way to describe this beer!  It looks dark, but held up to the light is brilliantly clear.  Has a soft malty nose, prickles the tongue and tastes like what you’d imagine a black pilsner would taste like.  I’m definitely going to re-brew this one again soon.  It was drunk way too fast and was the beer most people gravitated towards when they came over.

Snow Day IPA – A revisit to my Rainy Day IPA idea.  This time around I wanted something simpler, hoppier and more citrusy.  The grain bill was 2-row just a little bit of chocolate malt.  It has an intensely rocky head that I haven’t seen before.  Almost cone-shaped.  I used Citra and Galaxy hops and the final product was pretty close to what I was going for.  A sessionable IPA that was super easy and enjoyable to drink.  The only change I would make would cut back on the bittering additions and increase some of the later additions to bring out the hop flavor a little bit more.

Red Velvet – This is on tap right now.  What I really wanted for this one was to brew something that better represented the name, something that was red and had a full body and fluffy head.  In order to accomplish that, I brewed this one with oats, wheat and rye.  These add a graininess to the beer that is delicious and the mouthfeel is very full and pleasant.

Hop Monster IIPA – This is the biggest/craziest beer I’ve ever brewed.  It has a pound of hops in it (6oz in the dry hop) and Beersmith’s estimated IBUs were 250!!!  It’s conditioning right now, and the ABV is 8.5%.  More to come.

Love Potion – I rebrewed this on Saturday and will keep brewing it until I have enough to host Amanda and my bachelor/bachelorette party at the end of June!  So much Saison!!!

That pretty much brings us up to date.

Cheers!

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