Apricot Abbey Ale

After bottling my Here Be Dragons! series of winter warmers I moved back to a belgian beer, but again with some experimentation involved. In this brew I plan to rack to secondary (a first for me) on to apricot preserves. 

Adding jam/jelly/preserves is not a common way to make fruit beer, but in this case the apricot preserves were free and sound delicious to me. I plan to follow the instructions for making wine from jelly, namely boiling the jelly and adding pectic enzyme ahead of fermentation to break down the thick preserves. Only half the batch will be added to the 14 oz. of apricot preserves with the other half bottled straight.  The recipe is as follows.

6 lbs. Northern Brewer Gold LME

1 lb. Briess Pilsen DME

1 lb. Belgian Candi Sugar (the weight is approximate as this was just the remainder of candi sugar from my previous batch)

.4 oz. Nugget hops (60 minute bittering)

.1 oz. Nugget hops (15 minute flavoring)

.25 oz. Sweet Orange Peel (for a bit of citrus)

Wyeast Belgian Abbey II yeast (1 quart starter)

I forgot to add irish moss to this recipe so I expect it to be a bit less clear but should otherwise come out tasty.

Honey Brown First Tasting

I brewed a brown ale with a small amount (less than half a pound) of honey on May 28th and here, fully 2.5 months later, (1.5 months after bottling) I am doing a recorded tasting.

Let me start by noting that this beer does not really fit the category of brown ales, instead it is really a sweeter lighter porter.  That being said this one seems to have come out pretty disappointing but I felt I should at least record my thoughts to have as a reminder.

Aroma- Dark brown with light tan and ruby highlights.  Extremely small head fades immediately into light carbonation bubbles on the surface.  Not too impressive looking.

Smell- A lot comes off here but nothing too good.  Slight waxiness (maybe the honey?), light fruitiness (too high ferment temp?) some astringent roast and a bit of sweetness.  Not what I was going for but the nose can be deceptive sometimes.

Taste- A bit of astringency and a flat, one-dimensional sweetness with a bit of a thin alcohol bite at the finish.  This is nothing like a brown ale with no part really coming together the way I would like.

Mouthfeel- Thin with just a small carbonation prick, much thinner than I would have liked.

Drinkability- This beer is light years from what I had hoped.  I fear the one month in primary may have been a touch too long for a beer this small and a bit of autolysis has touched this. Additionally the honey seems to have only worked to thin this beer out more than I had hoped.  While this is not a terrible beer (it is drinkable without forcing it down) it is not very good and definitely not something I would pay for.  All in all I feel that this beer could have used a drop in the chocolate malt and some serious increases in lighter caramels to give it a more rounded character.

Session Belgian IPA

I brewed this beer in honor of my father's birthday and styled it largely after one of his favorites: Flying Dog's Raging Bitch.  As my father is (quite) a lightweight but also enjoys to have a few beers regardless of strength I wanted to knock down the ABV on this from the normal belgian IPA strength and, due to the decrease in OG, also knocked down the BU's somewhat.

Appearance - A very clear amber with a bit of a reddish tint that almost appears violet.  A small head of about one finger fades quickly into a thin white film. Pretty good in terms of looks, wasn't going for anything in particular in this category but it seems to be my clearest beer so far.

Smell - Wow, right up front there is a ton of fruit. Some is yeast derived ( cherries, plums, apricots) and a lot is from the American hops (orange) with a bit of sweet candy malt also present.  When I first tasted this prior to carbonation I feared the dry hopping and overall hop presence may have entirely outshined the yeast, the aroma now seems to favor more towards the Belgian side than the hops.

Taste- Like the aroma the hop taste seems to have faded very quickly.  Part of the problem is the under attenuation and residual sugars which I blame likely being due to the extract.  This puts the beer far from the level of bitterness desired and adds sugars which detract from the hoppiness all around.  That said the belgian yeast components do come through with a bit of fruit and spice and the hops make their presence with the nugget definitely apparent.  A bit of bitterness at the very end alludes to the 40 IBU's estimated.

Mouthfeel - Fairly full bodied, again likely due to underattenuation, but also highly carbonated.  The carbonation does allow the bitterness and hops to coat the mouth somewhat but again the residual sugars shine a bit more than I would have hoped for.

Drinkability/Overall - This beer met some expectations (my dad does seem to enjoy it) but it did not work quite right. I blame the low attenuation (about 72%) on low fermenting temperatures (around 68) and extract which is generally not mashed at low temps.  While I do enjoy this beer quite a bit and love where the aroma is I think more flavor hop additions should have been used, and with this high amount of residual sugars a bit more bittering as well.  One of the most important things about this beer to me is how much better it got as it warmed, I pulled it straight from the fridge and everything was much stronger and simply better by the end.  I'm not a huge hophead but this is definitely one I will make again.

Northern California

So this is very much a backpost but I feel it is important.  In early June I visited one of my older brothers who fortunately happens to live in Napa.  The trip was great and loaded with lots of camping, poker, a concert, some games of Madden and lots of tastings of all natures.  Sparing the details here are a few highlights of breweries and beers:

• Silverado Brewing Company - For some sort of "completeness" to my Napa beer tastings my brother decided we would stop in here despite having placing them on his "worst of napa" list.  We did a sampler and got the garlic fries.  The fries were AWESOME, as ubiquitous as they are in this region my brother claimed they were the best he had ever tasted.  Served with Rice Bran Oil and a healthy amount of parmesan and garlic they were great.  The beers were nothing amazing with most being somewhat boring, but the coffee stout was near the top of my list as far as coffee beers go and the others were passable if nothing special.
• Calistoga Inn and Brewery - This was near the end of my trip but is a nice little brewpub with good, but not great (at least not nearly as good as Silverado's), garlic fries and the best red ale I have ever tried. The caramel and citrus components played very well and didn't come off with any "cardboard" or "stale bread" flavors that I have noticed in other red/ambers (e.g. Fat Tire).  It's also a nice little place in a quaint little town not too far from a nice little hike where Robert Louis Stevenson honeymooned at a silver mine.
• North Coast Brewing Co. - Having seen this brewery's beers offered in Maryland I had some expectations.  I tried an '08 old ale with my brother that he had been saving for a special occasion.  It was delicious with a nice blend of light hoppiness, moderate bitterness, alcohol warmth and some warm sweet cherry character that made it all around great, and according to my brother more rounded than when it was fresh.  We then hit up the brewery and, while I was a bit disappointed by some of the fair (Old Rasputin Imperial Stout and Brother Thelonious Dark Belgian) their take on a Saison (Le Merle) is the best I have had to date.  I left with a corked bottle under my arm to cellar.
• Anderson Valley Brewing Co. - This "solar powered brewery" is a really cool spot to hit with some great drinks.  Me and Matt got most, but not all, of the items as samplers and we were both blown away by the Summer Solstice Cerveza Crema.  While other beers here were decent, the Summer Solstice was super creamy, had hints of vanilla and other spice and was just the thing for a hot California day. I bought a 6-pack (in cans, sweet!) and only one made it back to Maryland, which has since been consumed. This wasn't meant to be a long keeper but seems to be a beer that anyone would enjoy.
• Russian River Brewing Company - To say I had high expectations for this brewery may be an understatement.  Looking solely at ratings for their beers this would easily be the highest rated brewery in the country, and likely the world.  Their Pliny the Elder (and Pliny the Younger) are amazingly well received IIPA's and their whole line of sour/belgian styles is very popular with those who enjoy that style.  Having had only one or two lambics I didn't know what to expect.  The sampler featured almost every beer they brew including a great hoppy brown and a tasty American IPA.  Many of the Belgians were quite different from what I'd had before but were for the most part enjoyable and I ended up buying a full pint of Supplication to go with my pizza.  Supplication is quite different, the best I could explain it would be that it tastes a bit like a Belgian Strong Dark with cherry yogurt character.

As for wineries here is a (very short) list of the ones I felt worth stopping at again and worth remembering:

• Prager Port Works - Their "Aria" is an interesting white port with notes of vanilla and hazelnut.
• Breggo  - Though I didn't buy any of the wines here they were all quite tasty and well worth the visit.
• Yorkville - Bought they're Sweet Malbec, I like Malbec's and I like dessert wines, this one really stuck with me.
• Girard - Make a lot of nice wines including one Cab that was great (if pricey) and a 2010 Cabernet Blanc that I couldn't resist purchasing.
• Indian Creek - Liked all their wines but especially enjoyed the slight smoke on the 08 Syrah.

There were many others that had good wine but were overpriced or simply didn't seem exceptional enough to buy.

All in all it was a great trip with lots of experiences (both related to and entirely separate from the alcohol)

Mixed Drinks #1

So let's face it, there are more potent potables out there than just our beloved B. E. E. R. I myself like most versions of alcohol when treated correctly, served in a nice way and not overindulged. While I'm not big on shots and personally detest most "brown liquors" when consumed straight I do enjoy mixing drinks up and either trying out classic cocktails or coming up with my own.  Tonight I found in my fridge Amarula Cream, Kahlua and some Spiced Rum and little else.  Well naturally I got to thinking whether these might go together so I looked it up and actually found a drink called Blesbok made with Amarula and Kahlua (and with the addition of milk becomes a brown elephant #2) I tried the drink (with 1 part of each of the liqueurs and 1 part milk) and it was quite tasty.  I then tried a similar creation but replaced the 1 part of milk with 1 part spiced rum and placed it "on the rocks." This drink is quite strong but pretty tasty. I call it a Somalian Pirate for now as it is essentially an African drink (Blesbok) mixed with a little spiced rum which seems pretty piratey to me.  For those who don't know Amarula is a cream spirit and is a bit like a Bailey's Irish cream and goes down easy. Enjoy responsibly.  Back to posts on beer (and probably some on wine, cider and or mead) very soon.

Second Pumpkin Pie Coffee Spice Tasting

Since this beer has changed a lot in just a few months I felt it worth doing a retasting and showing what it has become.

Aroma - Very small layer of head which quickly fades.  Light amber decent clarity and a light orange hue.

Smell - Big spice nose of cinnamon with a little nutmeg and a bit of sweet maltiness underneath.  Pretty good really.

Taste - Sweet up front followed by a big middle of spice and a bit of bitterness on the back end.

Mouthfeel - Fairly thin and high in carbonation but overall nicely rounded and very fitting for the taste.

Drinkability and notes - This is really a nice beer.  Originally this beer had an off-putting bitterness but that has rounded out quite nicely after 6 months.  The spice is still quite high but seems to have gone down a notch and while still a bit high, it is pretty tasty none the less.  Overall I'm quite content with where this beer has gone and hope that it ages as well for another 6 months.

So many updates...

So rather than actually make all the postings I would like to in this post I am just going to give a quick overview of the few to come soon.

1. My trip to Napa Valley and the northern California region.  Complete with wine tastings, beer tastings, transvestites, Madden and even a skunk.
2. My brown ale. It was bottled a little over a week ago, it has been a little disappointing but hopefully a few more weeks should mellow it out some. Much more on that to come.
3. My sessionable Belgian IPA. Just brewed and not even dryhopped yet.
4. Tastings: Re-Tasting one or more of my older homebrews to see how flavors have changed over half a year or so and maybe throwing in a few prime tastings of commercial beers I have particularly liked (e.g. my two new summer favorites: Anderson Valley Summer Solstice and Heavy Seas Summer Ale).
5. Probably lots of other things I haven't gotten to but hopefully good stories and a pic or two to make them worthy of this blog.

Additionally I will simply post here my next planned brew (following the finish of the Belgian IPA). It is titled Here Be Dragons! and is intended to have some characters of an Old Ale, Winter Warmer and a Strong Scotch Ale.  I am additionally contemplating on breaking off part of the batch to turn into other "Dragons". A few ideas so far have been.

• Here Be White Dragons: Bottled with a spice tea of coriander and bitter orange
• Here Be Red Dragons: Bottled with a spice tea of cinnamon and sweet orange
• Here Be Black Dragons: Bottled with coffee and/or black pepper
• Here Be Green Dragons: Bottled with herbs, likely heather tips.

These are all very preliminary ideas which I will be working on as the brew date, and bottling date, get closer though I plan on fermenting this for quite some time and expect to brew it in August to be done sometime next winter or early spring.

edits: After looking more into these ideas I am still very excited about them. I tried a mix of coffee, vanilla and pepper tonight and it worked surprisingly well (like Kahlua with a bit of a bite).  That coupled with the description of Belhaven Brewery's Wee Heavy as having "Gentle, fresh cracked pepper spiciness" by Draft magazine and alternatively Old Curmudgeon (an Old Ale) having this review: "The big bursting bubbles above this deep golden brew exude intense black pepper spice, cinnamon and cedarlike hops."  These sere to make Black Dragons much more tempting. Additionally the realization that Jacobite Ale is spiced with coriander makes the White Dragons seem much more appropriate. I'm thinking now that these 4 sets of ingredients will certainly be tried at bottling time, potentially with one or two additional variants.

Batch #4, English Porter Tasting

I brewed the Old Horse and Jockey porter about a month and a half ago and am finally getting around to a proper tasting.  Sorry for the bad photo, girlfriend took the camera memory card to Asia with her so I had to use a webcam.

Appearance-  Very dark but quite brown under the light with deep garnet highlights. Pretty much what I was going for on this one, but might be a little more opaque than I had hoped.  A very thin head which fades slowly into a thin film (as seen in the picture, took me a few minutes to get the computer situated).  The lack of head may be due to low carbonation.

Smell- Roasty flavors like cooked meat with some definite coffee and candy sweet aromas as well.

Taste- Light roast with some cocoa and coffee but with the sweetness coming through more upfront. Finish is bitter roast with hints of hops.

Mouthfeel- A bit thin and undercarbonated.  I had expected the body on this to be a little bit higher but had aimed for low carbonation so its around what was expected.  If there is one aspect I would change it is the lack of body, which may be accentuated by the lack of carbonation.

Drinkability- Not the best porter ever by any measure but very drinkable and flavorful.  My favorite beer I've brewed yet and all around seems to hit what I was aiming for, if not blowing away.  The mouthfeel is the worst part of this beer but it isn't enough to hurt it too badly.  My grandmother who is from England and grew up in her grandparent's pub ("The Old Horse and Jockey" which I named the beer after) said "It tastes like beer should taste." I have to agree.

Honey Brown Ale

Currently brewing my brown ale recipe: http://hopville.com/recipe/636396/northern-english-brown-ale-recipes/turn-of-the-century

Should have a little chocolatey bitterness but mainly caramel sweetness and a bit of honey.  In many ways it is the weaker cousin of my porter, using smaller amounts of most of the same ingredients.

Will update further as this one progresses.

5-28-11

Brewing went off without too many problems.

•  The thermometer appears to be off (boiling began at 220F rather than 212)
• Some of the honey got stuck in the container and was thrown out (probably less than an ounce of honey, and this had been expected to some extent)
• I forgot the Irish Moss so this one might not clear up as others have, but otherwise went according to plan.

Saison Tasting

Over a month after bottling and 2 months after first brewing I'm finally getting around to doing a tasting of my Saison.

Appearance: Not surprisingly similar to the pumpkin spice ale with their similar malt bills with a light brown/amber with some orange notes on the sides.  A 1/2 inch off white head appears initially but fades very quickly (wasn't the cleanest glass).

Smell: Wow that is enjoyable. A nice citrusy blend that feels like part hops, part yeast character and part orange peel inspired with a lot of depth and complexity.  Its followed by caramelly sweetness.

Taste:  Just like the nose but with more complexity.  Not overly strong in any direction but the hops are the star up front with a fair amount of sweetness and hints of Belgian spicy character.

Mouthfeel: Lots of carbonation and fairly thin in body this one is an easy drinker but the carbonation is a bit higher than I intended with TONS of bubbles flowing up from the bottom consistently.

Drinkability: Fairly enjoyable I could have a few more gladly.  The hop level of this beer and the subdued yeast character for the style (probably due to low fermentation temps) make this a bit more like an american pale or amber than the classic saison (the lack of attenuation to dry out the beer doesn't help either) but this is still a tasty beer with a moderate orangey character.