Review: Double Dry Hopped Imperial IPA

Double Dry Hopped Imperial IPA

This was brewed as Derek's birthday present. We had it over his birthday weekend as both a lawnmower and palate cleanser. It was light for it's abv, balanced for it's IBU, the aroma burst from the glass, the hops filled the flavor, and it finished smooth. I had Derek review it for the blog (Thanks Buddy). It may have faded before Derek drank it because he reported less aroma than I remembered, or perhaps it was personal perception.

Appearance: (B) Nice copper color with slight haze, nice head with good retention, settles down to a foamy quarter inch

Aroma: (B) Light floral hop noted, fairly understated

Flavor: (A) Pine and floral hops with a mild bitter finish

Mouthfeel: (A) Medium bodied with pleasant carbonation

Overall: (B/A) Nice summer, good character and quite refreshing

Improvements: I might consider adding more hops. Add another charge to the aroma step and or layer hops known for their aroma into the beer to accentuate that. Also I'd use a Wyeast liquid culture instead of a packet. Possibly a good candidate for filtering if you were trying to win a competition.

Beer Review: Enjoy By 4.20.14 IPA

Another beer style I want to brew this year is an IPA. Having a black IPA and an IPA on tap is something I'd like to do. I just need to find friends to help me drink beer. Also I need tax season to be over so that I have time to brew. In the lead up to eventually brewing an IPA I wanted to sample some of the freshest and newest IPAs I could find. Enter the devastatingly dank Enjoy By 4.20.14 IPA by Stone Brewing company. This beer was bottled 17 days before I'm drinking it. Wow. Stone sure does take their product seriously. 

This IPA weighs in at 9.4% ABV. Per a variety of webpages this is a mosaic of hops(not to be confused with mosaic hops) Bertus Brewery identified Citra, Cascade, Centennial, Nelson Sauvon, Galaxy, Target & Simcoe are all included. The Full Pint reports it as 13 varieties in a unique blend. They Tag it with probably some insider information as having Ahtanum, Super Galena, Simcoe, Delta, Target, Amarillo, Calypso, Cascade, Galaxy, Nelson Sauvin, Motueka, Citra and Helga. So I'll have my work ahead of me if I want to draw out what I like about this beer.

(please read more after the break.)

Beer Review: Green Flash Black IPA

Every once and a while it's fun to drink other peoples beer. Tonight this beer is from a brewery 2146 miles away. I've actually been to Green Flash, it's an amazing little brewery with lots of hoppy beers on tap. They do hops justice and if you get a chance to try one of their hoppy beers you should do it.

This beer pours a a dark black with a brown/tan head, The carbonation is evident as the head billows up from the beer. The glass reveals garnet edges so it's not all black, but close. As I sip the beer it leaves lacing and each sip refills the glass with hoppy aroma. The aromas are more floral than pine, and the roast fills out the aroma nicely. The taste is lots of floral hops, and minor amounts of roast. The mouth was dry and hid the colossal 12% ABV well. I had a buzz before I even realized how strong this beer was.

Upon further scientific research (read: google searching) the hop varieties used were Warrior, Citra, and Cascade. Which reinforces my perception about floral hops.

I liked this beer, it was a bit strong, but the lack of finishing gravity made it easy to drink. I'd get drunk before I got full.

In comparison to my amateur home brews this had some things I liked and some I didn't. I liked the carbonation, low finishing gravity and high aromatics of what I can assumes is lots of late hop additions. I disliked the floral combinations with the roast in the flavor. I'll be sticking to piney hops. This was a good beer and I'm glad I bought it, I can't say enough good thing about Green Flash and would recommend this to a friend looking to try a black IPA.

They made a good Black IPA but I think I can make a better American Black Ale, look forward to a new ABA recipe coming after April 15th.

Flanders Red & Other Sour Tasting.

Group photo, smile!

I wanted to sample my Flander's as I had done over the fourth of July with my lambics. I thought I should try the other sours to see if the results were as disastrous. A quick recap of my early lambics: Nothing great, a couple of acceptable, a few bads. Lets see how this goes.

So this second sampling of sour beers could not have started out with lower expectations. I mean How do you go down from, utter disappointment and near total failure? There is hope though, time does funny things to sour beers, so that could be a blessing as well as the potential to blend and have two things become more than the sum of their parts. I need to blend two beers from this to enter into the NHC to meet my entries. Lets see what I have to work with.

(Please read more after the break.)

Book Review: Brewing with Wheat.

This book is a good companion to Wild Brews. Why? because they talk about a few of the styles which were not the seminal focus of that book. This book also explains the intricacies of the unique ingredient which distinguishes so many continental European styles from their American and British counterparts. While reading this book I couldn't help thinking that these Brewers Publican books should just have been one large book with lots of cross notes. Brewing is so intricate a craft a times even when you are making a Belgian sour ale by the book (that book being Wild Brews) you might not be told exactly what you're gaining from the wheat which is the base of your beer. I recommend this book if your even considering brewing a beer with 5% wheat so you can know all about which variety and why you might want to use it.

(please read more after the break.)

Review: Imperial Doppelweizenbock

Imperial Doppelweizenbock

This beer was dynamite at kegging. An unkegged sample had loads of chocolate and toffee waiting for me. I liked it. kegging made the beer different but better? You'll remember this bee is inspired by, a beer inspired by a tripple weizen bock. I brewed it over a year ago and let it age. Fermentation blew the bung off and I can report no infections took hold because of that.

Appearance: (B+) it looks dark but clears up when held to the light. The picture at right doesn't do it justice showing just how beautifully brown this beer is.

Aroma: (A-) Dark fruity malts are pushed up by the carbonation, they are active where as scents reminiscent of chocolate and toffee are lost somewhere under the alcohol and fruits.

Flavor: (A) Dark fruit, sweet caramelly toffee and subtle hints of darker chocolate. No roastiness meant that the sweet flavors were not checked by that harsh coffee char flavor roasted malts can have. The beer wasn't sweet persay because of sugar but it had a sweet flavor.

Mouthfeel: (B-) Perhaps I over carbonated it but it feels thin, it's either over attenuated, which I'll check, or over carbonated which I'll fix.

Overall: (A-) One of my best efforts. of the Imperial beers I've made I think this one is a keeper while the other two might see revisions.

Improvements: I might try this as a wheat wine with an English yeast strain.

Review: Belgian Dark Strong Ale

Belgian Dark Strong Ale Recipe

I brewed this beer in early 2013 and let it ferment and age for ten months. The aging was to let some of the harsher byproducts of fermentation mellow out a bit. Aging big beers has almost always improved them in my experience. The priming yeast worked its magic again offering a well carbonated beer after only 2 weeks in the bottle. a bit of haze in my sample could be attributed to this yeast because the beer was beautifully clear at bottling. 

Appearance: (B+) A bit hazy and only garnet colored against the light. Without the light it was brownish and without clarity it looked like a thicker darker beer than the recipe intends for.

Aroma: (A) Significant fruit in the nose. The fruity esters filled the glass and my nose. Deep aromas of blackberries and raspberries were identified by myself and Kyle. 

Flavor: (A) Trappist monks know their stuff. The recipe was spot on and I wouldn't change it. The same fruity esters are the show in the glass. You get a lot of them. I don't know if it's the candi sugar or the yeast but it works in this style. The beer is not to sweet and without knowing the finishing gravity I would guess that it's around 1.010.

Mouthfeel: (B+) Carbonated to my desired level. Allowed a larger beer of greater strength to be less formidable than it should have been. The ease by which it went down surprised me.

Overall: (A-) No complaining here. I loved it.

Improvements: I will do a side by side with my lone bottle of Trappist Westvleteren 12 around Christmas time and discover more. I remember not liking 12 as much as the 8. I liked mine a whole lot more than 12. Being that mine was a clone of the supposed 12 recipe I think that there is insight to be gained here. Look for a tasting notes post later this month.

Book Review: Brew Like a Monk

This was a Christmas Gift from my dear mother. Thanks, Mom. It is also a book written by acclaimed brewing author Stan Hieronymus. If you were a fan of Hops, or Brewing with Wheat, you'll probably enjoy this. This book focuses on Belgian beers, and specifically those brewed and derived from brews made in monasteries, hence the title, "Brew Like a Monk". If you were ever curious what you could learn on a trip to Belgium but can't afford to go, this book is for you.

(Please read more about the structure and my personal thoughts on the contents of the book after the break.)

Review: Imperial Chocolate Porter Two

Imperial Chocolate Porter Two

I brewed this a while ago (10/8/12) but I bottled it a few weeks (7/28/13) ago and I tasted it last week(8/22/13). High alcohol beers take a little bit of time to age but when they turn out I find the wait was worth while. I was a bit pessimistic after the failure of my bourbon vanilla oak aged improvised imperial chocolate porter. The favors were okay once I got it carbonated but it wasn't what I wanted. 

This beer quietly aged in perpetual darkness from October to July. The dark beer remained steady with no sign of infections or other faults just sitting in a carboy. When I tasted it at bottling time I wasn't super excited but I had been given hope by the carbonated sample of my previous attempt. 

Appearance: (A-) Dark black with a brown/tan head about one half of one inch high. Slightly apparent carbonation.

Aroma: (B) a bit muted and underwhelming. Nothing exciting other than vague aromas, roast, chocolate, alcohol. A good palate to stand on but it needed more, or I needed allergy medication.

Flavor: (B+) Good flavor, surprising and subtle. The dangers in this beer are that it's higher in alcohol but is still not too flavor forward. I nice balanced imperial porter with some forward alcohol. I am glad I let this age because I have a feeling that fresh that slight edge of alcohol would have been more like the rock of Gibraltar than a rock in your shoe.

Mouthfeel: (B-) A bit under carbonated. Perhaps it was the head space? Perhaps it was the finishing yeast? Perhaps it was the sugar used to prime the bottles. Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps.

Overall: (B) Solid effort. On my second attempt I see the beauty and subtlety of this recipe. Turn up the specialty grains and you could have a solid imperial stout, turn down the grain/water ratio and you could have a solid porter. 

Improvements: I might consider adding more flaked barley or oats for mouth feel as well as force carbonating it in a keg. This beer is ready for a variation I think so the next batch might be 4 gallons, One gallon to add bourbon or chocolate too. I should brew this again in October, schedule permitting.

Book Review: Wild Brews by Jeff Sparrow

First and foremost this is a book about the process of brewing wild beers. The science in this book can be applied to Flanders Ales, Lambics, American Wild Ales, Saisons, or pretty much anything else with funk. This is my go to tome for questions I have about brewing these kinds of beer.

What you'll find inside is more of the same from brewers publications. Jeff Sparrow writes about his treks across Europe sampling historic sour style ales. The breweries pictured in the centerfold are as beautiful as any centerfold model. Seeing the historic equipment gives you a feel for just how differently things are done in the commercial sour breweries. You get the sense reading this book that Jeff Sparrow really loves Flanders style ales and Lambic beers. The care he takes describing them and discussing them shows a reverence of the source materials that I think would make the traditional brewers happy.

(read on after the break to find out more of what was in this book.)

Book Review: For the Love of Hops by Stan Hieronymus

It's a book about hops. Done. Review over. Go home. 

Just kidding. This is another great book. It is of the quality that I think you can expect from any modern brewers publications book. Stan Hieronymus compiles facts, testimonials  and personal experience into a book based on age old wisdom supported with science. The book covers hops from cultivation through fermentation explaining how decisions at every level impact what you perceive in your glass. The content of the book ping pongs from highly technical to humorously simple as Stan moves from topic to topic attempting to explain how hopping a beer is both science and art. Read on to find out what is actually in the book. What I thought of what he wrote and more.

(please read more after the break.)

Jolly Pumpkin - Traverse City

Situated on the west coast of Old Mission Peninsula in the Grand Traverse Bay Jolly Pumpkin has a location few breweries can match. I was excited to go here on a recent day trip with my girlfriend. It wasn't the best part of my day but my complaints were few. JP describes the location as "historically situated among the generous cherry orchards and distinguished lakes of northern Michigan. Inspired by natural surroundings, our esteemed restaurant and brewery offers a rustic atmosphere marked by fireside warmth and earthy woods in a comfortable cottage like setting." This is an apt description of the structure but some good and bad things happened once I got inside. 

(please continue reading after the break.)

Book Review: IPA by Mitch Steel

IPA by Mitch Steel - Brewers Publications

Let me start out my saying that this is a worthy book. I am glad that I own it now. There is a wealth of knowledge from historical brewing to modern techniques contained within the pages of this book. If you're new to the style and you want to be brewing IPAs DIPAs BIPAs or WIPAs this book can help. Mitch breaks down all of the techniques from mashing to whirlpool hoping. He covers ingredients from hops to grains. He explains what impact your water may have on the beer. The section that I found the most interesting was the breakdown of modern brewing techniques from a man with a wealth of real world experience. He relates techniques used by Stone and others to things you could do at home. This review will focus on telling you what is in this book without re-writing the book on my blog. If you are looking for a cutting and pasting of the best tidbits so that you can circumvent the book you should look elsewhere.

(Please read more after the break.)

Review: Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Belgian Single

Brett Belgian Single

So this is my final review of a brettanomyces pale ale. This is the third of the three strains of brett which I made a 100% fermented Belgian single. This was the best of the three. The brettanomyces Bruxellensis made the most funk of any strain in this wort. The beer was dry as can be. I liked is but it wasn't the most drinkable beer ever because the funk, flavors, and dryness were completely unchecked.

Appearance: Golden and clear with an active white head. The brett flocked well and dropped from suspension leaving a beautiful beer.

Aroma: Funk. This has a hay and spicy barnyard aroma to it. The aroma was great. This strain kicks off those signature aromas that brett is known for.

Flavor: The flavor followed the nose but because of the dryness of the beer it was a bit much as it warmed. I might have enjoyed it more with a bit of residual sweetness.

Mouthfeel: The mouth was bone dry and carbonation was at an acceptable level.

Overall: This was the funkiest of the Belgian singles. It was also the most enjoyable/least drinkable. I like the flavors but I think that this strain might work better in a more substantial beer or in conjunction with the other brettanomyces strains. I am going to rate this beer as a solid B and move onto phase II of the grand brett experiment.

Review: Oak Aged Belgian Single 100% Fermented with Brettanomyces Clausenii

Belgian Single 100% Brettanomyces Fermented on White Wine soaked Oak

Review:

Appearance: Clear, Carbonated, and Yellow. Brett makes a beautiful beer.

Aroma: Funk developed in this one. The scent was a bit of yeast and day old fruit rind. It was unique but I liked it. I'm struggling to describe it but I definitely liked it.

Flavor: Ehh, there wasn't as much flavor from the brett as I'd have liked. It had mild fruit tones but was largely grainy, and not sweet at all.

Mouthfeel: Carbonated and dry. Easy drinking.

Overall: Brettanomyces makes a unique beer. It seems as the flavors it creates are dramatically effected by the stress you put on it. I'd like to do more tests on brettanomyces and I probably will at some point. I'll see how brettanomyces does in my rustic saison before I pass judgement on how it works in a saison. The dryer beer leads to an easy consumption. Average overall because it lacked anything other than an interesting nose and slight funk. This beer is a C effort.

White Peach Golden Sour Review

Sanctification Clone White Peach

This was one of my highlights from last summer. When I went to rack my beer into secondary there was almost a gallon left over. So I quickly cleaned a one gallon carboy and filled it with beer. I had a golden opportunity to try something new and exciting! This became white peaches after a tour around Meijer's fruit department. The peaches were delicious, among the best I've ever had, very fleshy and sweet without any of the flavor I hate from canned peaches. The beer wasn't ready when I cracked the first bottle but the bottle I cracked was well aged. I became very hopeful after drinking it that I was doing good work.

Review:
Appearance: The body is a deep golden color. The wheat seems to have made the body quite cloudy. The thin white head is not quite as robust as I had hoped for.

Aroma: The aroma has a nice lactic note to it. The brett funk is earthy and barnyard like. There is that classic sour scent that let me know I was doing well.

Flavor: Lactic, horse-blanket barnyard, hay. The brett was funky and the lactic notes were pleasant  Brett Blend 9 and Bug Farm 6 made a great beer thus far. The white peach was a subtle note under the sourness and funk. The flavors were of a juicy peach right there under the funk and sourness when the beer warmed. This was a winner.

Mouthfeel: Flatter than I wanted. Dry.

Overall: This was easy to drink as it had next to no body. The carbonation on this could have been bumped up by 100% and I would have enjoyed it. I might try the carb cap and see if it dramatically improves things. I'm excited to bottle and drink the regular version of this beer that is still bulk aging

Review: American Double Stout

American Double Stout w/ Bourbon Oak with Cocoa Nibs and Vanilla Beans

Notes:

First let me say that this beer did not carbonate in the bottles, I added red wine yeast at bottling along with sugar and it didn't turn out. I had bought some champagne yeast but couldn't find it so I used the red wine yeast figuring it would work. It did not. The first picture is of the flat dead beer. Zero carbonation developed in the bottle. I did what I could do; I used a clean empty two liter bottle and poured in the beer, I then used the carbonator cap to force carbonation of it.

Review:

Appearance: Rich, dark, nice tan head when carbonated. The beer coated the glass after drinking and the tan head remained as a ring throughout the experience.

Aroma: Somewhat limited; Roasty, and chocolaty. Rich is how I would describe it. Like a somewhat burned chocolate cupcake. Negligible bourbon, vanilla, or oak.

Flavor: Roasty! the roast flavor was upfront and had notes of bourbon and oak tannin. I never really got the vanilla from the beans or the oak. The chocolate wasn't as forward as I had hoped for. 

Mouth: The carbonation was on the high side for a russian imperial stout, it made the beer seem more alive that I'd have liked it to be. It was prickly where it should have been coating. The carbonator cap has its limits.

Overall: I am disappointed that the bottles didn't carb up. The flavors weren't as eye popping or distinguishable as I'd like. Aging for a year took some of the heat off but I think It could have gone even longer. I'll probably dump 2 of the three remaining bottles and save the last one for some future date. I'll resurrect it with about 8 psi carbonation and see down the road how everything turned out. I'd give the carbonated version of this beer a C/D because it was a roasty large imperial beer with plenty of alcohol. It lacked the bold bourbon flavors I had hoped it would have, and it didn't really offer the multi-dimensional roast/chocolate/vanilla flavors that I had hoped for. I've had worse imperial beers than this but I am dissatisfied with the outcome. We'll see next year what the second attempt yields.

Review: American Black Ale

American Black Ale

Appearance: Black with amazing head and lacing. the head is rock solid and sticks around for a while leaving lacing behind when it falls.

Aroma: Even in a snifter the hoppy aroma is quite apparent. The hop aroma grows as the beer warms. This is hoppy. The roast is crushed under the hops. The aroma smells like a wet pine forest (Simcoe dry hop) with just a hint of burnt chocolate.

Flavor: The hints of chocolate and subtle roast add complexity to what would otherwise have been a very good IPA. Even with a pronounced hop dominance the dark malts are a well hidden but undeniable element of the flavor. The flavor is long lasting with roast sticking after each sip fading into a lasting bitterness.

Mouth: Crisp and prickly. Medium high carbonation lifts the hops with a smooth creamy mouth feel that hides the abv of this beer well. The large quantities of hops used here increase that sticky resinous feeling that I was hoping to achieve.

Overall: A; I can give this beer no other grade. I would order this at a bar, and order another. I would like to rotate the hops used in my home brewery to find the perfect combination. Galaxy is a great hop but the high amounts of Simcoe have left it powerless to keep up. Simcoe is a very dominant hop in my opinion.

The Future: I'll try this with other hops in the future. Good combinations have included Amarillo & Simcoe, Citra & Cascade, Centennial & Cascade, Chinook & Simcoe, and many others.

Review: Brettanomyces Pale Ale

100% Brettanomyces Galaxy Citra Pale Ale

Appearance(A/B): Brown-Golden, not as bright as I would have hoped. The active carbonation shows itself in the glass, and the cool temp creates a haze almost immediately. Impressive mousse like head and lacing remain in the glass.

Aroma(A): Tropical Fruit! This is the high point of this beer. The aroma is potent and lingering. The scents are truly remarkable. The next morning after drinking a glass my kitchen area still smelled like tropical fruit.

Flavor(C): Slightly disappointing. As you'd imagine in a pale ale, there isn't that delicious and inescapable hop flavor. The grain is more forward and the Brettanomyces Clustersianus doesn't quite bring out the same flavors as Wyeast 1056.

Mouthfeel(A/B): Carbonated, smooth, not biting.

Overall(B/C): If it had just tasted more like how it had smelled. I regret not using higher quality base malts. I believe for this brew I didn't use Briess organic. It was good, and if I can get this tropical flavored brettanomyces strain reliably I will continue to use it.

Brettanomyces Clusterianus ECY19 (East Coast Yeast):
This is a hit. The Brett adds so much to the aroma. Normally when I am making hoppy brews they smell and taste good, but they never smell this good. The aroma of this beer is strong and lingering and for a 30-40 IBU pale ale it really delivers in the nose. The beer fermented out reasonably well, perhaps a bit too dry but that's not a fault in an APA necessarily. The relatively small bittering addition comes through here, and while I like bitter, a novice wouldn't be as impressed as I am. The brettanomyces also plays up the grain in a big way leaving a husky grain flavor left after fermentation. Again it's not bad. But the little faults start to add up and show my inexperience with the strain.

Review 2011 Hard Apple Cider

2011 Cider Blend

Appearance: Thick and Yellow, active carbonation is apparent upon a closer look but not so much by looking at it. The head is nearly non existent.

Aroma: Sweet and fruity, this has a pleasant aroma of apple cider/apple juice.

Flavor: Too sweet. The sweetness was still apparent even after fermenting. I might try dry cider yeast next time. The Pasture Champagne yeast still isn't my favorite but the yeast flavor has mellowed out after a year in bottles.

Mouth-feel: Full and carbonated, not as crisp/dry as I'd like.

Overall: I am going to give this a C/D. I'd prefer basically any professional cider over my novice blend. Someday I'll own a fruit press and make my own cider. Someday like a year or two.