Saturday, January 7, 2012

The brews so far

If this is going to be a "brew journal" I guess I have some catching up to do. Since October I have brewed eight beers. You would think that, at roughly two cases per batch, I would have a lot of beer sitting around. Oddly enough that is not true. The first and second brews, St. Paul Porter and American Rye Ale, have somehow disappeared.

By the way, I should mention that I get all of my beer kits, and other brewing supplies, from Northern Brewer. You'll have to Google it, since I can't find a way to hyperlink with Blogger for iPad. They are based in St. Paul, Minnesota, and I visit their original store on Grand Avenue whenever I'm in the Twin Cities (which is not too often these days). But they have a great online store and fast UPS shipping that costs less than the gas to drive to St. Paul. They also have outstanding customer service. If you like a certain microbrew, they can usually give you a recipe that will give you something very similar. But their malt extract kits are crafted so well I would be happy just brewing them and not making recipes on my own. By the way, I am not getting paid anything to say this.

The first kit I brewed since my brewing renaissance was St. Paul Porter. I love a good porter, especially in the fall. The second was American Rye Ale. I had never tried rye ale before, but I found this to be very refreshing. The grain is not 100% rye, which I guess would not be very fermentable on its own, but there is enough to give it a distinctive flavor. I would consider adding a little caraway and orange peel, to make it taste like a good rye bread.

Next, keeping with the rye theme, I brewed a rye stout. Now, I've got this love/hate thing going with stout. I enjoy one once in a while, but so many people think stout should be a sweet, dessert type beer. I prefer the dry Irish stout, with no syrupy aftertaste. I had a coffee stout once, and decided nevermore. But the rye stout is just what I enjoy. The Northern Brewer catalog describes it as "...oatmeal stout, but with an oilier mouthfeel and pumpernickel bread overtones thanks to the spicy, earthy character of rye." I am drinking the next to last bottle right now.

Belgian ales have largely been a mystery to me. There are so few of them available, especially here in the hinterlands, that I have not tried many. So when my chief procurer, aka The Hermit decided to order the Patersbier kit, I said "okay, whatever". But have I ever been disappointed with a home brew? Not yet! The NB catalog describes it as "made only from pilsner malt, hops, and yeast, the complexity that results from these simple ingredients is staggering: perfumey floral hops, ripe pear fruit, sour apple, spicy cloves, candied citrus and a slight biscuit character on the drying finish..." Yeah, my palate is not quite sophisticated enough to detect all that, but it is a beer to be savored. Two 23 ounce bottles left.

The next beer was also the last one I made before I stopped brewing for a while. I even blogged about it on Sand Creek Almanac. Back then it was known as "Three Hearted Ale", after a certain brewery's popular ale named after an Ernest Hemingway short story. I guess Northern Brewer received a letter from the attorneys representing the brewery, so they had to rename it "Dead Ringer IPA". IPA stands for India Pale Ale, a style known for it's big malt body and generous hop additions. I am a hophead, so I like IPA. Since the last time I brewed this they have added another step: dry hopping, or adding hops to the fermenter after primary fermentation. Did I mention I like hops? One case left, going to enjoy one later today.

Continuing on the hop theme, my chief procurer ordered a Lakefront IBA, one of Northern Brewer's "pro series" kits. I don't know what IBA stands for, but this another dark, smooth, full bodied but outrageously hopped ale. This one is just getting ready in the bottles, so I have been resisting the urge to open up a "taster". I have had one, and it will be worth waiting for.

Next up, and I admit to doing a bit of tasting since I bottled this a week ago, is "T-can and Bearcat's Wheaten Beatdown". How's that for a name? From the catalog: "Is it an over-bittered American wheat beer, or is it an American pale ale with too much wheat in the grist?" I don't know, but it is tasty.

Today I will be bottling my second batch of American rye ale, which leaves very few extra bottles and only one beer in the fermenter: another Belgian, Lefse Blonde. The name is a humorous tribute to the Scandinavian culture here in Minnesota. It is the only brew I have made which includes rock candy sugar as an ingredient. It sounds like it might be a good ice fishing beer, if there is still good ice in mid February. The way this winter is going, you never know. Cheers!

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