So, I have been kicking this idea around for a while, and I think I'm ready to go full steam ahead finally. At this point, I'm looking to get about 10 people together and have our first "meeting" on Saturday November 3, 2012. Why that day? That is Learn to Homebrew Day, so it only seems like a good day to do it.
As of right now, I'm liking the idea of having a few different backgrounds represented, especially craft beer consumption backgrounds. I'm not going to say no to someone that considers the best beer one of the Big 3, but I'd like them to also want to learn more about beer as a whole and even want to try different kinds. The old adage from growing up rings true: I may not like it now, but I may like it when I'm older.
Consider this my open invitation to friends in the area that want to join a low-key homebrewing club that will look to meet roughly once a month and brew a different batch of beer each time. Of course, part of brewing beer is also enjoying beer, so we will be experimenting with some different kinds that everyone brings (I'd prefer it not being of the Big 3).
A typical meeting will be establishing who is the brewmaster for the day (gives everyone a chance to run the gambit, but allowing them to have extra brewers around for input and insights), brewing a batch, taste testing about 5-6 different beers (2 ounces per sample, to avoid angry significant others), and hopefully collectively learning more about this ancient beverage.
We may explore some time in the future if we want to establish this in a more formal club with officers, minutes, competitions inside & outside the club, etc. We can even consider entering someone into the Great American Beer Festival Pro-Am competition and get some recognition for the brewer, brewery, and our club.
That is all a seriously long way off, so let's focus on the immediate. About 10 people that want to learn about brewing, make some beer, drink some beer, and have a damn fun time. If you are interested, feel free to shoot me a message as a comment here or via your favorite brand of social media.
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Brewery Tour: Milwaukee Brewing Company
Oddly enough, I made my way to another tour while I was in Milwaukee. This happened to occur at MKE, or Milwaukee Brewing Company.
This place is really just a big brewing area, with no frills or sunshine. Does that matter if the beer is good? Um, not even a little.
When you walk in, you are given your pint glass (not a tasting glass, a full pint glass), which does have the tendancy to be themed to a current seasonal release. I like the incentive to return to get the newer glasses, or the certain "gotta catch 'em all" mindset.
Before your tour starts, you head over to the bar, and yes, you read that correctly. It is a full fledged bar serving full pints of their beers to the crowd. Some limitations do apply, but it is really cool to get that kind of service.
As soon as you have your beer, your guide summons you to watch a quick video introduction to the brewery by its owner. This might be the only ho-hum point in the tour for me, but you have to give a nod to the bossman at some point, so I'll allow it.
The tour transitions to the various equipment items (mash/lauter tuns, liqour tanks, etc), but not before you are told to make sure you have enough beer. I liked how this was less important to the tour guide and more allowing people to get hands-on and directly involved with the ideas behind each stage of brewing.
The tour ends, ultimately, with another beer, and a quick view of some of their bottling and storage aspects.
This particular tour really came down to having great people leading us around. They were funny, enjoying the day, and really cared about their product. This was a smaller tour, but fun in a totally different way from the other great tour I took (check the other posts!). I would highly recommend that you take this one on if you are looking for something else to do in the Milwaukee area.
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
This place is really just a big brewing area, with no frills or sunshine. Does that matter if the beer is good? Um, not even a little.
When you walk in, you are given your pint glass (not a tasting glass, a full pint glass), which does have the tendancy to be themed to a current seasonal release. I like the incentive to return to get the newer glasses, or the certain "gotta catch 'em all" mindset.
Before your tour starts, you head over to the bar, and yes, you read that correctly. It is a full fledged bar serving full pints of their beers to the crowd. Some limitations do apply, but it is really cool to get that kind of service.
As soon as you have your beer, your guide summons you to watch a quick video introduction to the brewery by its owner. This might be the only ho-hum point in the tour for me, but you have to give a nod to the bossman at some point, so I'll allow it.
The tour transitions to the various equipment items (mash/lauter tuns, liqour tanks, etc), but not before you are told to make sure you have enough beer. I liked how this was less important to the tour guide and more allowing people to get hands-on and directly involved with the ideas behind each stage of brewing.
The tour ends, ultimately, with another beer, and a quick view of some of their bottling and storage aspects.
This particular tour really came down to having great people leading us around. They were funny, enjoying the day, and really cared about their product. This was a smaller tour, but fun in a totally different way from the other great tour I took (check the other posts!). I would highly recommend that you take this one on if you are looking for something else to do in the Milwaukee area.
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
Brewery Tour: Lakefront Brewery
So, I just had a very long week last go around and never got a chance to post this, but I had to let you know about this and another tour I took with Coren (to follow later today). Lakefront brewery has been doing the craft beer thing since 1987, which predates my personal favorite brewery, Schlafly. I had been told by a great deal of folks that this was a tour that you just have to take, and with a rating of the 4th best tour in the country, how could I possibly resist.
If you get an early tour, which I have got to suggest as the best possible time, you get a coupon to get a beer at a local retailer after the tour is done (free beer rules!). All the tours get you the following: a pint glass, 4 samples of approximately 6 ounces (you can buy full pints before and after the tour, however), and a wonderful walk through the brewery.
I was a bit skeptical about a tour starting before noon being as fun as this was claimed to be, but I was proven wrong in the most delightful ways. For starters, the people giving the tours really do love their work, which is always a big plus for me. I don't care if they don't know much about brewing science, but I sure as hell want some energy! Well, we got that in spades. Our tour guide was one of their sales/marketing people, and she knows how to do it right.
As you walk through the building, you are getting the basic things you get with any brewery tour: this is a mash tun, that is a liquor tank, here is a lauter tun, etc. What made this tour different was the theatrics. We had a number of points where we were quized by the tour guide, with correct responses earning more free beer (yes, I did win a question). There were also times where we were given some neat insights into the world of Lakefront, including the legendary oversized mug of beer with the logo on it from a certain sporting venue. I especially liked how the audience was asked to participate, from naming one person the "hop princess," to having the group sing-a-long with the theme song to Laverne & Shirley as the actual bottling line from the show displayed its prowess.
If you have the time to be in Milwaukee and enjoy good craft beer, get yourself to Lakefront and take this tour. This was a total blast!
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
If you get an early tour, which I have got to suggest as the best possible time, you get a coupon to get a beer at a local retailer after the tour is done (free beer rules!). All the tours get you the following: a pint glass, 4 samples of approximately 6 ounces (you can buy full pints before and after the tour, however), and a wonderful walk through the brewery.
I was a bit skeptical about a tour starting before noon being as fun as this was claimed to be, but I was proven wrong in the most delightful ways. For starters, the people giving the tours really do love their work, which is always a big plus for me. I don't care if they don't know much about brewing science, but I sure as hell want some energy! Well, we got that in spades. Our tour guide was one of their sales/marketing people, and she knows how to do it right.
As you walk through the building, you are getting the basic things you get with any brewery tour: this is a mash tun, that is a liquor tank, here is a lauter tun, etc. What made this tour different was the theatrics. We had a number of points where we were quized by the tour guide, with correct responses earning more free beer (yes, I did win a question). There were also times where we were given some neat insights into the world of Lakefront, including the legendary oversized mug of beer with the logo on it from a certain sporting venue. I especially liked how the audience was asked to participate, from naming one person the "hop princess," to having the group sing-a-long with the theme song to Laverne & Shirley as the actual bottling line from the show displayed its prowess.
If you have the time to be in Milwaukee and enjoy good craft beer, get yourself to Lakefront and take this tour. This was a total blast!
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Beer Review Challenge: 3 Floyd's & Mikkeller Risgoop
Ok, we are at the end of this rant of beers that were too good to pass up over the weekend. I'll be doing my best to avoid 3 Floyd's for a bit, as I feel like they have been the brunt of my posts (hint hint to my marketing team).
This is an interesting option for any brewery to make, especially in the way they did it. With this being a collaborative effort from two breweries, I guess something different was bound to happen. The style of this beer, technically, is an American Barleywine, but I'm going to stop us for a second. Usually, when you say barleywine, you expect a dark color with a huge alcohol content to compliment some seriously complex flavors and aromas. Most of the time, you would be right, however, this is not one of those times.
3 Floyd's & Mikkeller used rice in this beer, hence the name, and that changes it in my eyes considerably. Rice has been used widely in Asia for thousands of years to make alcohol, but when you hear about it in beer in the US, most people in the craft industry think it is a gluten-free attempt or something from the dreaded "Big 3" to save on costs. Firstly, the gluten-free aspect is possible but unlikely because most breweries are going to use some kind of barley, but that does not mean it doesn't happen. Secondly, the cost of rice is actually higher in some cases than barley (the thing that is cheap and "ruins" beer is the addition of large amounts of corn, which the "Big 3" are extremely guilty of using).
So, what do we call this? I'm going to use the term they used on the label, which as rice beer, and make my decisions from there, keeping in mind that the style is that of a barleywine.
Color: Very golden, almost orangish to an extent. The rice clearly has taken the malt that was used in this and really lightened it up, almost to the point of being straw-like. It is very interesting to see something this light not be a pilsner.
Head: As is expected with the barleywine style, the head on this is wickedly strong and lasts like a certain battery-powered rodent mascot (not looking to get yelled at for copywright infringement here after all). I figure this may even be able to take some designs in it, along the same lines as a good Irish stout.
Aroma: The first word that came to mind was HOPS! Who would have guessed an American Barleywine, even if it has rice in it, has a huge hop profile? More or less everyone, which is my point. The citrus/floral notes mix nicely with some piney aromas, clearly giving me the impression of some American hops (Centennial, Cascade, maybe Columbus?).
Taste: Upfront, this beer smacks your taste buds with good hard bitterness, but it starts to soften as the sweetness of the malt and rice catch up. After a few sips, this beer was going down far too smoothly for a ABV of 10.4%, which indicates just how good the flavors are at masking it. The body of this beer, lightend from the rice, was a bit off-putting for the style. The after taste was the big no-no for me, due to being just too much bitter in an already pretty bitter beer. The saving grace was the finish here, because the rice gave it a clean and crisp ending, even with the after taste.
Overall: This beer was an attempt to rewrite the script on something that is still having its rules defined. The style of barleywine is as varied as anything can be, and introducing rice is a really novel idea. I enjoyed how it lightend such a big beer, and I suspect that they plan to work with it, should it be brewed again, to avoid some of the off-flavors in the after taste and possibly thicken its body a bit. I'd like to try it again in the future, and I'm curious if this will be revisited by either brewery in the future, but only time will tell.
Score: 7.5/10
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
This is an interesting option for any brewery to make, especially in the way they did it. With this being a collaborative effort from two breweries, I guess something different was bound to happen. The style of this beer, technically, is an American Barleywine, but I'm going to stop us for a second. Usually, when you say barleywine, you expect a dark color with a huge alcohol content to compliment some seriously complex flavors and aromas. Most of the time, you would be right, however, this is not one of those times.
3 Floyd's & Mikkeller used rice in this beer, hence the name, and that changes it in my eyes considerably. Rice has been used widely in Asia for thousands of years to make alcohol, but when you hear about it in beer in the US, most people in the craft industry think it is a gluten-free attempt or something from the dreaded "Big 3" to save on costs. Firstly, the gluten-free aspect is possible but unlikely because most breweries are going to use some kind of barley, but that does not mean it doesn't happen. Secondly, the cost of rice is actually higher in some cases than barley (the thing that is cheap and "ruins" beer is the addition of large amounts of corn, which the "Big 3" are extremely guilty of using).
So, what do we call this? I'm going to use the term they used on the label, which as rice beer, and make my decisions from there, keeping in mind that the style is that of a barleywine.
Color: Very golden, almost orangish to an extent. The rice clearly has taken the malt that was used in this and really lightened it up, almost to the point of being straw-like. It is very interesting to see something this light not be a pilsner.
Head: As is expected with the barleywine style, the head on this is wickedly strong and lasts like a certain battery-powered rodent mascot (not looking to get yelled at for copywright infringement here after all). I figure this may even be able to take some designs in it, along the same lines as a good Irish stout.
Aroma: The first word that came to mind was HOPS! Who would have guessed an American Barleywine, even if it has rice in it, has a huge hop profile? More or less everyone, which is my point. The citrus/floral notes mix nicely with some piney aromas, clearly giving me the impression of some American hops (Centennial, Cascade, maybe Columbus?).
Taste: Upfront, this beer smacks your taste buds with good hard bitterness, but it starts to soften as the sweetness of the malt and rice catch up. After a few sips, this beer was going down far too smoothly for a ABV of 10.4%, which indicates just how good the flavors are at masking it. The body of this beer, lightend from the rice, was a bit off-putting for the style. The after taste was the big no-no for me, due to being just too much bitter in an already pretty bitter beer. The saving grace was the finish here, because the rice gave it a clean and crisp ending, even with the after taste.
Overall: This beer was an attempt to rewrite the script on something that is still having its rules defined. The style of barleywine is as varied as anything can be, and introducing rice is a really novel idea. I enjoyed how it lightend such a big beer, and I suspect that they plan to work with it, should it be brewed again, to avoid some of the off-flavors in the after taste and possibly thicken its body a bit. I'd like to try it again in the future, and I'm curious if this will be revisited by either brewery in the future, but only time will tell.
Score: 7.5/10
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
Beer Review Challenge: 3 Floyd's Munsterfest
Don't be too surprised, because it is time for another review! As I said in the last post, Coren got ahold of a ton of beer, so I'm just doing this in one big effort, one beer at a time. It is a tragic life being someone that drinks beer to learn from it and offer their insights, but I am willing to take up such a heavy mantle.
This time, we are looking into the Oktoberfest from 3 Floyd's, Munsterfest. For those that don't know the history, the beers given the brand Oktoberfest are required to be brewed within the city limits of Munich, Germany (sorry, Indiana isn't quite close enough for that one). They also must be made in accordance to the Reinheitsgebot, or the German Purity Law that says you can only use 4 ingredients: yeast, malted barely, hops, and water. On the latter point, 3 Floyd's was very accurate and used only those ingredients, at least that is what they indicated on the bottle.
The heritage of Oktoberfest beer is the Märzen, which is March in German. In the Middle Ages, the brewers had to make a ton of beer for the summer months in advance, like the month of March, because it was hard to make it then (no fridges makes room temp a hard thing to pull off!). When they would get to the fall months, specfically October, they needed to unload all of the left over Märzen they had left, so a party was held.
This party was used by a certan Prince Ludwig to celebrate his marriage. For this party, the brewers would have undoubtedly wanted to make something a bit more special, so we end up with Oktoberfest bier, something a bit bigger in every category. The Märzen party and Ludwig's reception merged into one at that time, and from that point forward, you have what most call Oktoberfest (the Bavarians call it die Wiesn after the place it is held, so who are we to judge?).
Now then, with the quasi-history lesson out of the way, which I hope at least one person appreciates, let's get to the brew!
Color: The traditional color of a festival beer is unmistakable, and they totally nailed it. A nice ruddy brownish-orange shows through the glass on this batch, but I'm always preferable to the slighty more brown than orange/amber colors. Still, a solid demonstration of the style.
Head: The style would dictate a head that is wildly strong and lasts until the party ends. They got this part right too, with a stupid thick head that has crazy levels of retention. I let it sit for a good 5 minutes (so agonizing to wait that long!), and it barely moved.
Aroma: The nose on this was slightly sweet and malty, but not as big as I would have expected. When this beer walks into a bar, it should stand shoulder to shoulder with them all, but I found this one's aroma lacking in the malty notes meant to celebrate the end of the season and Ludwig's wedding.
Taste: The malt is always the first thing you get from an Oktoberfest, and this was no different. It was very smooth and had a great sweetness to it, not to say the noble hops weren't present, because their earthiness helped to balance out the sweet of the malt. Again, the pieces were all in place, I just didn't get as much as I would like in the flavors. The body on this actually seemed to be a little watery too, very surprising for a beer with tons of malt in it, which is another aspect I was disappointed in.
Overall: This was a beer made in as much a way to uphold the purity law, but I found myself thinking the whole time that the recipe could have been bigger and bolder. The malt was there but not as forward as I would like it, which impacted the aroma's ability to draw me in and left the body of the beer a touch on the watery side. I would say this is in line with the style, but not the tradition of celebration. If you were looking for a beer this Oktoberfest, this is a good choice but there are some others out there that may be more worth your time.
Score: 7.0/10
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
This time, we are looking into the Oktoberfest from 3 Floyd's, Munsterfest. For those that don't know the history, the beers given the brand Oktoberfest are required to be brewed within the city limits of Munich, Germany (sorry, Indiana isn't quite close enough for that one). They also must be made in accordance to the Reinheitsgebot, or the German Purity Law that says you can only use 4 ingredients: yeast, malted barely, hops, and water. On the latter point, 3 Floyd's was very accurate and used only those ingredients, at least that is what they indicated on the bottle.
The heritage of Oktoberfest beer is the Märzen, which is March in German. In the Middle Ages, the brewers had to make a ton of beer for the summer months in advance, like the month of March, because it was hard to make it then (no fridges makes room temp a hard thing to pull off!). When they would get to the fall months, specfically October, they needed to unload all of the left over Märzen they had left, so a party was held.
This party was used by a certan Prince Ludwig to celebrate his marriage. For this party, the brewers would have undoubtedly wanted to make something a bit more special, so we end up with Oktoberfest bier, something a bit bigger in every category. The Märzen party and Ludwig's reception merged into one at that time, and from that point forward, you have what most call Oktoberfest (the Bavarians call it die Wiesn after the place it is held, so who are we to judge?).
Now then, with the quasi-history lesson out of the way, which I hope at least one person appreciates, let's get to the brew!
Color: The traditional color of a festival beer is unmistakable, and they totally nailed it. A nice ruddy brownish-orange shows through the glass on this batch, but I'm always preferable to the slighty more brown than orange/amber colors. Still, a solid demonstration of the style.
Head: The style would dictate a head that is wildly strong and lasts until the party ends. They got this part right too, with a stupid thick head that has crazy levels of retention. I let it sit for a good 5 minutes (so agonizing to wait that long!), and it barely moved.
Aroma: The nose on this was slightly sweet and malty, but not as big as I would have expected. When this beer walks into a bar, it should stand shoulder to shoulder with them all, but I found this one's aroma lacking in the malty notes meant to celebrate the end of the season and Ludwig's wedding.
Taste: The malt is always the first thing you get from an Oktoberfest, and this was no different. It was very smooth and had a great sweetness to it, not to say the noble hops weren't present, because their earthiness helped to balance out the sweet of the malt. Again, the pieces were all in place, I just didn't get as much as I would like in the flavors. The body on this actually seemed to be a little watery too, very surprising for a beer with tons of malt in it, which is another aspect I was disappointed in.
Overall: This was a beer made in as much a way to uphold the purity law, but I found myself thinking the whole time that the recipe could have been bigger and bolder. The malt was there but not as forward as I would like it, which impacted the aroma's ability to draw me in and left the body of the beer a touch on the watery side. I would say this is in line with the style, but not the tradition of celebration. If you were looking for a beer this Oktoberfest, this is a good choice but there are some others out there that may be more worth your time.
Score: 7.0/10
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
Beer Review Challenge: 3 Floyd's Topless Wytch
Good day to everyone and welcome to another review. Today, we have another 3 Floyd's brew (seriously not my intention; Coren cannot help herself when they have 4 or 5 bottles she has never tried at the store), Topless Wytch. This is a baltic porter, so you can expect it to have a lot of complexity and flavor with a decent ABV hidden inside it, so let's get to the details.
Color: This is a seriously dark beer, as the style dictates. The intersting aspect occurred when I held this to the light and could see hints of a ruddy brown color, so they might have avoided a true black by mixing with some different grains or additives (coffee or chocolate would be my guess from the color).
Head: Not a shock here, but the head was ok with minimal retention. The body of this beer and lack of hopping would not lend it to having a thick lather on top, but it is nice to see a touch of it here.
Aroma: Wow, this is what you want to see from a serious baltic porter on the nose. I was blasted by malty & roasty notes up front, but the hints of coffee/toffee started coming through as well. A lingering sweetness, possibly from chocolate or the malt itself, left me hoping the taste would be just as interesting.
Taste: First flavors that hit your tongue are chocolate, but it changed drastically into coffee and roasted malts. The complexity and balance of these flavors really made this an easy brew to down, but also made you want to savor it a bit longer. The body on this was good too, as it did match the style, even if I prefer it to be less watery, which was the case here. The finish on this, which is what made me like the body a bit more, was just velvety enough to leave me very satisfied. The coup de grace was no harsh aftertaste, which coffee has a tendancy to do.
Overall: Never let it be said that I'm not a fan of what 3 Floyd's produces, but rather a hopeful critic that wants to have it all. Some of their offerings have not been up to par in my eyes, but this is not even in the same realm. The Topless Wytch is complex, different yet true to the style, and always makes you want the next sip. I'll be looking to get this again in the future, especially as we hit the colder weather.
Score: 8.5/10
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
Color: This is a seriously dark beer, as the style dictates. The intersting aspect occurred when I held this to the light and could see hints of a ruddy brown color, so they might have avoided a true black by mixing with some different grains or additives (coffee or chocolate would be my guess from the color).
Head: Not a shock here, but the head was ok with minimal retention. The body of this beer and lack of hopping would not lend it to having a thick lather on top, but it is nice to see a touch of it here.
Aroma: Wow, this is what you want to see from a serious baltic porter on the nose. I was blasted by malty & roasty notes up front, but the hints of coffee/toffee started coming through as well. A lingering sweetness, possibly from chocolate or the malt itself, left me hoping the taste would be just as interesting.
Taste: First flavors that hit your tongue are chocolate, but it changed drastically into coffee and roasted malts. The complexity and balance of these flavors really made this an easy brew to down, but also made you want to savor it a bit longer. The body on this was good too, as it did match the style, even if I prefer it to be less watery, which was the case here. The finish on this, which is what made me like the body a bit more, was just velvety enough to leave me very satisfied. The coup de grace was no harsh aftertaste, which coffee has a tendancy to do.
Overall: Never let it be said that I'm not a fan of what 3 Floyd's produces, but rather a hopeful critic that wants to have it all. Some of their offerings have not been up to par in my eyes, but this is not even in the same realm. The Topless Wytch is complex, different yet true to the style, and always makes you want the next sip. I'll be looking to get this again in the future, especially as we hit the colder weather.
Score: 8.5/10
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
Monday, October 1, 2012
White House Honey Porter
Well, another brew day took place 9/29/2012 and it was a special session. I finally got off of my duff and made the honey porter from the White House, and I observed a few things that I wanted to share.
First of all, this was a very technical recipe for someone doing a partial mash, including some very specific measurements of the speciality grains. That is an odd decision on their part, but I applaud the desire to make something that is unique to them.
The other major observation was the ease of the day. It may be that the more batches I brew, or the continued exposure to the material, but regardless of the source, I found this was an extremely streamlined day. I never had the brain fart moment or had to may any corrections to the process, which indicates that the entire day is so nicely meshed within my mind now that I'm not second-guessing it anymore. I am not the only one that noticed this being an easier day for me; Coren also noted that this seemed like a day of brewing that went by with little to no hesitation or waisted effort.
To say that I'm excited about the noted improvements in my process and ability barely touches it. I'm all the more excited to see what the next recipe will bring, and the next, and the next.
Oh, and to hint at my next potential creation, it will be another dark beer and one I have blogged about already: Plowed Porter. That will be followed up by a new creation, that any and all hop heads will be happy to support...more to come later on this one, as I'm still tweaking the recipe.
If you still want to see the recipe of the White House Honey Porter, it is located here. I am going to add my own flavor to it, simply enhancing the malty taste and honey sweetness, but I'm not going to show my hand until it comes to fruition (never can be too careful these days with recipe plagiarism).
Stay tuned for updates!
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
Update 1: The fermentation has been very strong on this one thus far, and only slowing down noticeably late last night, which leads me to believe I was able to do better than the 70% efficiency projected. I suspect that this beer will be stronger than the estimated 5.5% ABV, possibly closer to 7.0%.
First of all, this was a very technical recipe for someone doing a partial mash, including some very specific measurements of the speciality grains. That is an odd decision on their part, but I applaud the desire to make something that is unique to them.
The other major observation was the ease of the day. It may be that the more batches I brew, or the continued exposure to the material, but regardless of the source, I found this was an extremely streamlined day. I never had the brain fart moment or had to may any corrections to the process, which indicates that the entire day is so nicely meshed within my mind now that I'm not second-guessing it anymore. I am not the only one that noticed this being an easier day for me; Coren also noted that this seemed like a day of brewing that went by with little to no hesitation or waisted effort.
To say that I'm excited about the noted improvements in my process and ability barely touches it. I'm all the more excited to see what the next recipe will bring, and the next, and the next.
Oh, and to hint at my next potential creation, it will be another dark beer and one I have blogged about already: Plowed Porter. That will be followed up by a new creation, that any and all hop heads will be happy to support...more to come later on this one, as I'm still tweaking the recipe.
If you still want to see the recipe of the White House Honey Porter, it is located here. I am going to add my own flavor to it, simply enhancing the malty taste and honey sweetness, but I'm not going to show my hand until it comes to fruition (never can be too careful these days with recipe plagiarism).
Stay tuned for updates!
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
Update 1: The fermentation has been very strong on this one thus far, and only slowing down noticeably late last night, which leads me to believe I was able to do better than the 70% efficiency projected. I suspect that this beer will be stronger than the estimated 5.5% ABV, possibly closer to 7.0%.
Update 2: Not only was this porter showing some good signs as far as its fermentation, but the damned thing keeps going. It is now brew day + 5, and I'm still seeing a strong krausen and just enough CO2 activity in the blow off bucket that it makes me wonder just how long it can go. I'm thinking that when I had suspected a bit more mash efficiency I may have been pretty close, and I'm sad now I don't have a way to calculate it accurately. Cest la vie. I'm just looking forward to seeing this bad boy go into secondary, which I'd estimate is roughly 2 - 3 days away (I've nothing against letting it have its protein rest in primary, as I doubt the yeast cake will contribute any funky flavors/odors in such a short timeframe). I'll post when I go to secondary.
Update 3: I'm super impressed with this batch, simply due to how long the krausen has lasted. I'm at the point where I am going to move it to secondary in a few days, but this was a serious fermentation (lasted over a week, even if it was down to a crawl for the last 2 or 3 days). I'm looking forward to taking a sample from it and testing its ABV and flavor, but this was a seriously fun brew to make. My personal addition will be coming when I go to secondary, so stay tuned to see how that turns out.
Update 4: We made it to secondary! The aroma on this is really nice, sweet, and has some good malt on it. I did test it, and had some others sample it, and the result was just a solid beer. I added my secret ingredient to this as well, but I still need to keep some secrets.
Update 5: I took the secret ingredient out and I like the impact it had on this batch, but I'm a little apprehensive if it may have impacted the flavor too much. I may be overreacting, because everything I read said to relax and let the flavors mellow out during conditioning.
Update 6: Racked and bottled as of today, and the aroma is still great, but that flavor is a bit stronger than I'd like, but like I said last time, I'll let it ride. To keep this a true beer in the sense of the White House's recipe, I used honey from Harvard, IL in the original boil and I decided to keep it local with some Southern Wisconsin wildflower honey for the priming sugar (dark and really flavorful stuff). In 2 weeks will be the first sample, so here is hoping!
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