Beer Bottling and Tasting Updates

One post per month - I should be savagely beaten. The reason for the lack of attention to the brog is simple: I haven't been doing much notable beer stuff. I am doing my best to reduce my massive finished-beer supply and, thus, not actively brewing anything. Time is ticking away though and the itch to brew is in desperate need of scratching.

Beer bottling:

Elderflower Ale #2 - eleven 12oz. bottles
Old Tjikko #2 - thirteen 12oz. bottles
Amber (control beer) - fourteen 12oz. bottles

I will bottle the two cherry ales this week and, after a month or so, will pop a few of each to test the experiments.

Tastings:

Two solid beer tastings in the past month. A couple of weeks ago we went to a beer festival in Baltimore. Unfortunately, despite a generous beer pouring policy, very few beers really stood out as great, "must buy" options. A few interesting brews: Lancaster Brewing Co.'s Strawberry Wheat, Pratt Street Ale House's (Oliver's) Cherry Blossom Ale, and Old Dominion's Spring Buck. Fruity and/or sweet really dominated these beers but they were, nonetheless, pretty fun and tasty. Also, a previously unknown-to-me brewery, Stillwater, had two versions of their saison (one was cask-conditioned) with distinctively different aspects. They were both pretty good and it was nice to be able to compare the two side-by-side.

This weekend we went on a beer sampling adventure at Rustico in Alexandria, VA. I tried about a dozen beers - mostly from breweries I don't regularly drink. Eggenberg's Spezial Dunkel and Mikkeller's Nelson Sauvignon were winners; Hitachino's Classic Ale was a real disappointment - it had been billed as an English Ale aged in cedar casks (from a Japanese brewery!). Frankly, it was just Kirin Ichiban. They lied to me. A surprise winner: Duck Rabbit Craft Brewery's Barleywine. It had just the right amount of hops to offset the hops and no funny alcohol taste. It just goes to prove that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a rabbit, it might turn out great. Maybe that doesn't prove anything.

Travel and Beers

For the past three weeks I have been traveling like a fiend. I wish I could say I experienced some great beers.... I tried Efes in Turkey, Mythos in Greece, and Tropical in the Canary Islands. I didn't bother with 1664 in France (I've had it before and really didn't need it again). Basically, all were typical light Mediterranean lagers. While they were all very refreshing in the heat, none of them were distinctive or really all that flavorful. I did take a moment to have a Paulaner Hefe Weissbier in Greece (just to escape the monotony) - it was well worth the high import price (9.50 Euros). In short, I am glad to be back to the wide variety of beers here (both in my brewery and the vast array of bars and stores in the DC area). Cheers!

Beers of 2009 Tasting Extravaganza

On Saturday night Snyderson Brew Hus held its Beers of 2009 Tasting Extravaganza. The entire neighborhood was snowed in so we had a really solid turn out of guys looking to escape their homes and drink beer.

All 20 beers from 2009 (including experimentals) were sampled by eight beer aficionados (i.e. guys who will consume any beverages with an alcoholic nature). As expected, not all beers were favorites. Unexpected: Based on prior comments by non-attending regular Snyderson drinkers, I thought Tomten's Jul Ol (holiday brew), Crazy Bear Honey Nut Brown Ale, and/or Night Bandit Porter would take unchallenged top honors - they didn't. Also, an interesting twist: Old Tjikko (spruce ale) had strong support from two attendees. Obviously, different strokes for different folks.

In short, a great night of drinking and comments. Surely, this event will only lead to better brews in 2010.

The Beer List (and its general response):

Canada Goose Cream Ale (very positive; a winner)

Yellow Fever Lemon Ale (despite prior good reviews, not a favorite at all)

Elderflower Ale (surprise: a great response)

El Hefe [Hefeweizen] (good to great)

Dropwater Ale [Licorice] (most people agreed that the licorice should be an addition to another beer, not its own brew)

Boo-Ya Pumpkin Ale (although almost everyone thought it needed more pumpkin, it was well-liked by nearly all)

Cherry Wheatseeker (good to great)

Red Squirrel Lager (the widest spread of votes, from "no" to "8")

Old Tjikko [Spruce] (surprise: at least two people loved it)

Billy Goat Bock (good to great)

Crazy Bear Honey Nut Brown Ale (generally very good)

Night Bandit Porter (good)

Tomten's Jul Ol [Holiday] (good to great)

Stout Lite (good response)

Questionable Stout (good; strong)

Broc Irish Stout (good; coffee flavors)

Joe's Java [Coffee Stout] (great)

Freja's Ebulon [Elderberry] (surprise: good flavor; frankly, the plan was to use this as a base for other beers)

Trojan Celebration Ale [Pale Ale] (very good)

Daddy-Mite IPA (good to great)

Bottling, Tasting, and Brewing (oh, my!)

It was a long weekend but a busy one for the Brewhus. First off, we bottled the Broc Irish Stout and, frankly, this one is going to be a great one. Awesome dry stout taste with a clean finish... and that was on bottling day. A few weeks of conditioning and we will have a winner. End count: fifty-three 12oz. bottles.

Second, we uncapped Tomten's Jul Öl on Thanksgiving and it was fantastic. The aroma was full of holiday spice and the flavor was clean and magnificent. Even though we used 22oz. bombers, I expect they won't last very long. Better get 'em while they're hot (er, cold)!

Third, Friday was a brew day: Canada Goose Cream Ale. This is the second generation of this beer - that is, I previously brewed a cream ale under this label and, although it is not the exact same recipe, it should come out similar enough. Note: Brewing on day two of a four day weekend was really nice - plenty of time and no pressure. I need to find a similar weekend to do so again.

Starting gravity: 1.036

Ingredients:

6 lb. Gold LME
8 oz. Carapils specialty grains
2 oz. Cascade hops

Finally, after a solid win against our cross-town rivals, the pale ale is officially labeled Trojan Celebration Ale.

Another Loss and a Tasting Update

One more bottle went boom this week - this time it was a spruce ale. Both the licorice and spruce ales were primed "manually" (my term for adding sugar to each bottle instead of a full bucket.) While it is possible that too much corn sugar caused them to explode, it also seems likely that the warmth upstairs was the main culprit (it is now around 70 degrees instead of the usual 60-65 degrees.) As such, I moved all of the experimental beers down to the basement storage, which is much cooler.

We tasted a bottle of the Questionable Stout last night and I have mixed feelings. That is, we definitely have drinkable beer but it is far from style. Basically, a dry stout should have prominent coffee/roasted flavors with slight chocolate notes. The Questionable Stout has a stronger chocolate flavor with a much more limited roasted presence. Also, the beer is missing the creamy mouthfeel that dry stouts should offer. In short, with a little more aging this beer will be fit for consumption but not for competition.

Festival and Bottling

Several beer-related details from the weekend. On Saturday, the Maryland Beer Festival provided a solid opportunity for tasting the area's best (and worst) beers. Still going through the notes though. One of the top beers was DuClaw Brewing Company's Sawtooth Belgian White Ale -just a really great beer.

Also, we did some bottling on Sunday: Questionable Stout, Old Tjikko, and Dropwater Ale. QS is still questionable but, with a finishing gravity of 1.020, it meets the technical definition of beer (but only with a little over 50% attenuation.) OT is a bit light on taste (and alcohol); however, with aging, it may turn out to be a nice, refreshing beverage. DA has a cider-aroma to it but, has real promise. I intended to prime the DA with molasses then changed my mind (since I am not familiar enough with the priming properties of said sugar.)

Finally, we moved the Broc Irish Stout to secondary for a nice aging period. Although many people say that Irish Stouts don't really need aging, I find that dark beers of all sorts benefit from a period to "mellow out".