Digging around in the cellar

Last night while brewing up my first tripel I decided it was time to break the seal on the last bottles of Gravitas and Agave Porter Mk. 1

Why both? Because I had forgotten which was which

So, how did these two hold up to somewhere around a year of time in the cellar?

Wow. Full stop.

The porter was glorious and had developed some more complexities. The agave came through in plum notes which played very well with the roundness and depth of the beer.

Somehow I think I either cracked my imperials too early or just didn't appreciate them enough the first time around. The Gravitas certainly didn't mind hanging out in my basement doing its own thing for close to a year. Rich mouth feel, great tan head which exploded in a world of aromatics, extremely smooth.

And here's the reaction from my brewing collaborator last night

The Porter:
What else can i say that describes it better than that I thought it was the imperial stout? complex bouquet, that nice and balanced porter roasty flavor, a surprisingly supple mouthfeel. it was like that last keg of your favorite local brew that everyone forgot about down in the cellar. suddenly it feels like christmas.

The Imperial Stout:
the imperial stout was quite simply an excellent representative of the species. floral to peaty bouqet, luscious mouthfeel, and incredibly developed flavors ranging from overripe stonefruit to french roast beans to mildly earthy grains. fruity, yet meaty. and yes... somehow that is correct...

I still have a blond and an apricot in the basement. I'm not sure when next I'll crack open an old favorite, but if these two were any indication, the next two should be something special.

Red Oval Classic Lager: You can only dig so far before you hit the sewer

I just found another cheap-ass beer at Trader Joe's. At $2.99 per 6-pack ($1 less than the still "great" Simpler Times Lager) I was able to manage my expectations pretty well. I cracked one and smelled it. My girlfriend described it best: "It smells like a 70's block party." It tastes pretty much like it smells. Its only distinguishing characteristic is an unpleasant twinge of sweetness that I've only tasted in Old Speckled Hen or dirty bar taps.

Pros:
1. it's technically beer
2. the logo that screams "I don't give a fuck" from 50 yards
3. it's dirt cheap

Cons:
1. it tastes like dirt

Simpler Times Lager

Anheuser-Bush doesn't need my money, and with the arrival of Simpler Times, they'll never have it again.

This is new from Trader Joe's. I always look for a basic macro style lager that isn't Bud or PBR, and I always hope to be surprised. The last hit was Frugal Joe's Ordinary Beer, also from Trader Joe's, but Simpler Times just took the crown. It's crisper, lighter, but still manages to have a more interesting flavor. It's initially light and clean, but then there's a curious and tasty malty bloom. I'm not claiming that it's a complex beer; that's the whole thing. It's a simple tasty two part ride with every sip. Sometimes I want a robust porter to kick my ass, and sometimes I wanna collapse on the couch in my boxers and enjoy some simpler times.

Interesting aside, the owner of Minhas Brewery is 24. The site could use an editing pass, but I won't complain because I like the beer.

21st amendment brewery ipa

Miildly hoppy as far as a craft brewery's ipa usually goes, but has a
nice caramely flavor paired with it which leaves you palette feeling
nice and balanced between bitter and sweet. Best beer out of a can
I've ever had, I'd even take it over a guiness.

It's been awhile

We're big slackers. On posting, not brewing.

A brief summary of today for the multitudes not in attendance: The porter is more porter-like this time. We attribute that to fresher ingredients than last time. Half of it is kegged for our next brewing session, half is bottled, a quarter of which is reserved for contest entries. We determined that the beer is pretty spot-on for style 12A - Brown Porter, per the BJCP guidelines.

We put together a holiday spice ale from a kit I had and deferred the spring herb beer to next time. We also discussed maple syrup beer, more mead, and more porter. Wii bowled.

That is all.

Spending Valentine's day with something I love... beer.

Proudly displayed as "new beer" at Gordon's today. I indulged in this 9$ single bottle of Dogfishhead's World Wide Stout. Stout indeed. It's initial taste reminds me of the Palo Santo beer that I just recently tried at our last brew session. After that it's a roller coaster of complexity. This beer has a lot of different flavors and is as much of a nasal experience as it is oral. It hits your tongue and sends a tingle to your sinus in the way sniffing or sipping a fine scotch would. On top of the impressive flavor and smoothness is it's impressive color... or should I say color density. Below you'll see a photo of the beer being back lit, and not letting any light through. A ridiculous amount of barley huh? I'm a believer.

Anyone get the plate number of that beer?!?

Friday night my out-of-town drummer and his wife stayed over so we could hit the studio hard in the morning. They rolled in at 1am, and I offered the road weary travelers some home brew.

We started with the Blonde. It's surprisingly full, round, and sweet for being so light in color, and really shocking considering how thin it tasted before bottling. Something pretty amazing happened in the bottle. It's lightly carbonated, smooth, and has a nice blend of fruty and light malty flavors. Complex, and highly drinkable. (BTW, would we use "drinkability" to describe good beer if it weren't for cheesy ads for cheap, mass-produced American beers smacking our brains around every 7 minutes?)

Next we cracked a round of Jamb-Ale-Aya. This is a shocking beer, and we knew it before we started drinking. The first things you smell are a delicious floral zing, and alcohol. Tell me we recorded initial gravity on this thing, because it HAS to be off the chart. The flavor, in addition to carrying through the floral note, has a solid malty base, maybe the strongest malt flavor of anything we've made.

About halfway through the Jamb-Ale-Aya, it occurred to me that my head was no longer firmly connected to my feet. I was already pounded, but I soldiered on. My drummer's wife was too tired for her second beer and went to bed, so my drummer took care of 90% of her glass. That's two beers for me, three for Drummer Boy. By morning, I had more than a little twinge in my head until I fought back with the strongest coffee I've had in months, and my drummer overslept, and admitted he had seen better days. Think about that. He's a DRUMMER. If Jamb-Ale-Aya is even a pinch below 12% ABV, I'd better consider hanging up my drinking shoes. Can we get a number on this? I have to know what humbled me.

Some Beers

I've fallen behind a bit here, and some of this reviewage is from memory...

Superbowl Sunday I had one of our homebrew blondes and one of the jamb-ale-ayas.

The Blonde

Even last week it was heady enough to be enjoyable. It was light, crisp, and refreshing. I could easily see going through them by the dozen.

The Jamb-Ale-Aya

Was still a bit flat as of last week. I was away this weekend and so I did not get to try them again. I shall do so tonight.

Geary's London Porter

I had a Geary's Porter this weekend in Maine. It was smoky, dark, and immensely satisfying. It was really all you can hope for in a porter. I snapped a photo of it on my cell phone and will try to remember to upload it later.

Dr. Hyde's Angry Ale

This is a custom brew made by Geary Brewing for the Jameson Tavern in Freeport, Maine. Sam ordered it and I sampled from hers. A slightly sweet pale ale, nothing spectacular, but I wouldn't object to drinking it again.

Giving In To Peer Pressure

After hearing from grynch on Friday that he was antsy to open one soon, and that EF already had, I just opened a bottle of the blonde we bottled last week. It had carbonated enough to have a small head, similar to that you'd see on any domestic bottle you just poured. It's got this extremely delicious and unique sweet and sour flavor which I attribute mostly to the honey we added. I think this would make a great summer beer, but I'm more than happy to drink it the middle of winter!

Magic Hat Single Chair Ale

Served from a growler, collected as interest from Kit. Interest accepted. It's a surprising beer, very light in color but with some flavor complexity that even after half a growler I still haven't nailed down. Perhaps on finishing it I'll have more of an idea.

It's a definite win, and a beer that could very easily be constantly poured and consumed in quantities that may shock you when you realize how much you've had. At least, that could happen if it were more widely available.

Milking a Glass Cow, Upside Down

Just remember we said that.

The Homebrew Shuffle

So I finally got around to bottling my experimental batch of ESB. (Real ESB, not Grynch's fake ESB), and wanted to let the bottles condition indoors rather than in the garage where it's too cold for effective fermentation.

Of course that raises the question of lagering in the garage, but that is a sure way to create a warm front.

So I decided to re-arrange all of the on-hand stuff and inventoried a bit. I got 9 ESB's from the gallon, (plus the half of one that I drank this afternoon. It's good. Very hoppy. Full review to come when it's ready.) and I have 2 Novemberfests, 3 Fail Ales, and a half-dozen Gravitas's left, plus that first Belgian Hans got arrested with. I'm saving at least one Gravitas to have a black-and-tan with my ESB.

Considering what to do next, I think we might want to start planning for St. Patty's day soon and skip straight to those batches. We need to determine when a bunch of us will be available.