Tuesday, January 6, 2009

In the Brewery

It was a busy fall for brewing. From our return from Michigan in late August, here's what happened:

A Strong Golden Ale made with yeast from a Duvel bottle.

A Strong Golden Ale spiced with coriander, ginger, and grains of paradise, and made with yeast from a DT bottle.

An American Barleywine with Chinook, Centennial, and Amarillo hops.

An American Stout bittered with Magnum and flavored with Cascade hops.

An American Brown Ale with Amarillo hops.

An American Pale Ale with a whole mess of wild hops from the Upper Peninsula.

An English Mild.

An Ordinary Bitter.

A Robust Porter.

An Amber Ale with the remainder of the wild UP hops.

Another English Mild.

A Scottish 70 Shilling Ale.

A Dubbel with Wyeast 3787, supposedly sourced from Westmalle.

A Dubbel with Wyeast 1762, supposedly sourced from Rochefort.

A Tripel with Wyeast 3787.

An IPA with a lot of Columbus and Centennial hops.


I think that's all -- and sort of kind of almost in order. Some went into bottles, some into kegs. Three are still in fermenters: the second Dubbel and the Tripel need to be bottled; the IPA needs to go into a keg.

But it's 2009 and that means it's time to make more. Planned for the future, then:

Another English Mild. This is my new favorite style. It's small, but surprisingly rich and flavorful, a little caramelly, a little fruity, and fairly bready. Plus, I don't know of any bottled commercial examples, so not only do I have to make it if I want it, but I also don't have to worry about comparing what I make to anything else.

Another Robust Porter.

A Dry Stout, made small, maybe 3.5% or so.

An English Pale Ale -- maybe something like Fuller's ESB.

A Belgian Dark Strong Ale with the yeast from Rochefort.

Maybe a Double IPA for the early spring, round about the time that the cherry blossoms emerge, we get near spring break, and the HopSlam arrives.

And yet I want to get back into climbing shape, too. These goals may, in fact, be incompatible.

4 comments:

Nobis said...

We'll be there in April. Please save some. Please.

Honkymagic said...

Very well, Mr. Nobis. We shall shoot for a late March publication date for whatever the double-IPA winds up being.

For Those About to Hop, We Salute You?

It's a Long Way to the Hop (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)?

Nobis said...

Is "Misty Mountain Hop" too obvious? Like "Hip Hop Hooray"?

Or how about, "Hops--collaborate and listen. Ice is back" something something something.

Honkymagic said...

Maybe so obvious that they're brilliant, Mr. Nobis.

Surely, someone has made money marketing Misty Mountain Hop Pale Ale, right? Surely, someone has tapped into the otherwise-unexplored Urban Craft Beer market with Hip Hop Hooray Double IPA?

(My IBUS were 87 on the record, yo
So now I go Bronco).