Mead - Christmas day

Served with brie, a baguette, and a wood stove in the background

Okay, let me preface this by saying that this mead is nothing like the one I made last year. As it is my only other point of reference on mead, comparisons follow...

My first mead was like a dry white with floral notes but no grape flavor, light body and mouth feel, hints of tannin to keep it crisp. Very light in color, best served chilled.

When I uncorked this one (at room temp) I knew this was an entirely different beast.

The color was not that of straw but rather gold.
The aroma was floral, but had a depth I can't put my finger on.
The mouth feel was round and full, like a port
There was a sweetness to it that reminds you from whence it came.
The first taste... well, I didn't say anything for a minute or two...

I'd given this bottle to my mother for Christmas, as she'd loved my last mead, and I didn't want to influence her first sip by commenting on all the things racing through my head. She took a sip and paused. "Wow."

So yeah... I was a little blown away by this mead. It has me contacting every apiarist I know, or anyone I can think of who may know one, and offering to barter some of this elixir in the future for honey today. Seriously.

I love Port, like buy-a-bottle-of-'77-on-my-birthday-to-celebrate kind of love, but this has me thinking of cheating on Port. Port won't mind; It'll still be there when I come home disshevled and reeking of flowers, asking how my day was.

Port's good like that.

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This Mead is like the pin-up girl Port wants to be, but which her lowly grape origins keep her from becoming.

Saranac 12 Beers of Winter (continued)

There were four more beers to sample in this holiday pack: Bohemian Pilsener, India Brown Ale, Season's Best, and Belgian Ale.

Simply put, the Season's Best was a wonderful surprise - the clear winner in this pack for my tastes. It's very distinct from everything else in the pack and has a great mix of holiday spice and hop flavors. It was bitter yet pulled off the sort of cinnamon/nutmeg/cardamom flavors you'd expect from a holiday brew.

The Belgian Ale was pleasant. Typically I don't enjoy Belgian Ales but this one felt like it had a little more body than your run of the mill Belgian Ale (did somebody say Blue Moon?) does, and it made me want to drink the 2nd one in immediate succession (AND I DID!)

The Pilsener and the India Brown Ale were less memorable, the Pilsener is solid and I enjoyed it. There are so many Pilseners out there and unfortunately this one seems to blend into my palettes memory with many of the rest of them. The India Brown Ale reminded me of a weak IPA. There wasn't enough flavor in it, another disappointment.

Gravitas and Saranac Holiday Beer Reviews

Merry Christmas!

I brought one bottle of Gravitas home to NJ and let it chill for a day. It had been in the bottle for about 2 weeks yesterday, when I drank it.

Two words came to mind after a poking my nose in its frothy head and tasting a sip... GREAT SUCCESS! I think it hits the mark with what we set out to make: a rich, full bodied imperial stout with nice a hop flavor as well as hints of other sweet flavors, perfect for a cold winter night.

I was a little worried it might be too early to open one judging by some emails sent between the brewers who said they had opened one after a week and thought it was too early, but still tasty. Well I was worried for no reason. The head on the beer was massive, rising up to 2 inches after a proper slow pour down the side of the glass. I can't wait to see what it's like at week 3, hopefully even better than it is now. (Gravitas, above)






Every year Saranac Brewery (Matt Brewing Company - Utica, NY) puts forth a holiday variety pack, featuring 6 different beers. It's a 12 pack, so you get to try each one twice (unless you're a wimp that likes to share.)

I bought their holiday pack on Christmas Eve, planning to whittle it away over the holiday weekend. After opening and finishing a delicious Gravitas, I went on to try the Saranac Vanilla Stout. I could certainly smell the vanilla in the head of the beer, but it wasn't a distinguished flavor in the stout itself. It tasted like it had been muted and was actually fighting with the hop flavor of the stout rather than complementing it.

Next I noticed there was a real E.S.B. and thought I have to try this, as its something we jokingly labeled one of Grynch's bottles of Novemberfest that we dry hopped, and also because Andrew just made a batch of his own. (Speaking of Grynch, can you believe that guy didn't make a Christmas blog post?) I'm pretty disappointed in this one as well. It seemed almost flat, the hop flavor wasn't prominent. It didn't seem very bitter either. There is a bitterness, but it's too subtle and diluted. All in all I was just expecting more of a punch in the taste buds. There's a dry flavor and crispness going on in the aftertaste here that reminds me of a something you'd expect out of a very dry white wine. It isn't awful, but so far I've been let down of what I remember from last years holiday pack. Four more to come! (Saranac E.S.B., above)

Untitled Brewing Co.

Some of the better suggestions today:

Crit and Run Brewers
D20 Brewing Co.
Pixel Pirate Brewing Co.

Add more!

Well, shit

There's a brewery called the Rapscallion Brewery. And they're in Boston. How did we not know this?

New subject for discussion: what to call our band of beermakers.

Deuce: Novemberfest thoughts

My thoughts on the Novemberfest are inexpressible. I'd been instructed that it was good with any kind of food and have been methodically testing that theory drinking some at Thanksgiving dinner, and with a steak dinner the other night, and with pasta, and with pizza, and with a buffalo chicken calzone. So far, it's right. This will be good with everything.

A note on the ESB referenced earlier: I have a real ESB batch going now, so ignore everything Chris said.

Recipe Formulation Thoughts & more

As Rapscallion Beermakers' unofficial recipe-master, I'm in the process of considering the next batches for this week's brew.

I'm looking forward to the ones that are in process, the Gravitas should be excellent, but for me this formulating recipes is a good time. Hans suggested this time we should do something light, for a change of pace, and I agree. We'd been discussing 10 gallon batches but I think we'll do two 5-gallon batches at once instead.

For the light, my researches led me to a Blonde Ale, since we don't have the means yet to do any lagering. Comparing recipes in three or four books and several websites I've come up with something that I think should be golden blonde, smooth and delicious. More fun was coming up with my ancient ale recipe. I thought these will be really ready to drink around Mardi Gras, so a Carniv-Ale might be appropriate. (I apologize for the continual use of puns in beer names. I can't help it.) I also thought the idea of Saturn-Ale-ia could be good, but this will hardly be fermenting by that time of year, so for this time around, it's going to be a Carniv-Ale.

I found a clone recipe for Dogfish Head's Midas Touch and worked from there and based on what we have kicking around. Sam suggested that to make it Mardi Gras-themed, it would be appropriate to have some bourbon flavor, which Hans cleverly decided means we need to ferment it on oak chips soaked in bourbon. Not sure who wants to buy the bourbon for that. It was also suggested, again by Sam (who enjoys coming up with these recipes even though she barely drinks beer), that a jambalaya would be apt. Thus, I decided we'll use what we've got, which is another option we'd discussed. It will be appropriately ancient with the presence of honey, and it'll probably be pretty dark but mild in flavor. I'll only have to buy 1 can of extract and some hops for this, so it'll be cheap too. Which is comforting, after the Gravitas.

Grynch: Second-Through-Whatevereth Impressions: Rapscallion Beer Makers: Novemberfest

I only have two left, and every time I open a new one, the beer gets deeper. It's not sweeter or richer, just deeper. I don't know how else to describe it, so I won't. Anyone else going to post to this thing?