In early September I brewed a "Sticke" version of a Kölsch-style beer. My son and I tried the first samples of the finished brew last night. It is definitely well-balanced and yummy. This keg I will serve as-is, but the other keg I'll probably dry-hop for an extra bit of "umph" & aroma.
This past month, I've also brewed a Scottish Ale and a Mocha Imperial Stout. The Scottish will be going to tertiary conditioning tonight, and the stout will be in the primary until at least tomorrow.
The Mocha Imperial Stout is an experiment, like many of my beers. At the end of the boil, I used 6 oz of Scharffen Berger Unsweetened Cacao Nibs and 5 oz of (ground) Starbucks Café Verona Coffee for this 8-gallon batch of Imperial Stout.
Inventory:
In the past month, I've run out of 2 Belgian styles: my Strong-Dark, and the Saison.
I'm also down to the last of the Oak-aged Whisky Barrel Imperial Stout that I brewed on Dec 26, 2005. It is almost perfect, so I bottled some for posterity. The Hop Harvest IPA is doing fine. It's slightly unbalanced and overly-hopped (to me), but my friends always go for that tap handle. I still have about 3 pints of the May 5th Big Brew Day "Poor Richard's Ale" (18th-century period beer) left. I need to feed it to my neighbors (or drink it myself), to give me some tap room.
What to brew next? I have the heavy styles covered. I think I need a lighter brew on tap. I'm thinking about a lager; specifically a crisp, slightly-hoppy Northern German style Pilsener. More than likely, I'll brew another couple of Saison's, though.
Any other suggestions?
This weekend, I'll take a keg of the "Sticke" Kölsch and the IPA to a race that I will be supporting.
I plan to run in the Heartland 50-mile trail race with a couple of trail-running buddies. Afterward, my friend Raul and I want to set up a "gypsy" aid station about 4 miles from the finish line of the 100-mile trail run event, (which will still be going on for many hours after we finish the 50). We're going to call it the "Mirage Aid Station." There will be hot soup, food, water, loud music, half-crocked aid station volunteers, and 2 styles of ale on tap. What more could an ultrarunner want at mile 96 of a 100-miler?
4 comments:
Hey, good to hear the nano brewery is still up and running. Its always a bad feeling to run out of the last of a batch of beer though!
I've started to "home" brew again (at my brewery, doing test batches) and it feels great to make my own recipes. I'm going to try to brew at least 1 if not 2 per month!
Cheers!
Bob, I'm really glad that you're homebrewing, again. You need that "artistic outlet."
I go through cycles when it comes to brewing. I brewed 4 batches within a 6 week period, recently. That's mainly because of pent-up desire, after not being able to brew during our "especially hot & humid" Summer, this year.
I have to control my brewing habits, though. I can only drink about 1/10th of what I brew in a given year, so I have to find venues to "offload" my art.
This weekend, I'm running a trail marathon, then I will go to the KC Chiefs game and take 2 corny kegs with me. My son and I will tailgate, see the game, tailgate, and wait for the traffic to subside before leaving. My son and I don't drink to excess, but we share. We always have disposable cups and share with all of the tailgaters around us. I figure that I'll offload 10 or 15 liters on Sunday, (so that I can brew some more).
hello,
i found your blog while looking for beer-food pairing. you said that you liked maytag blue + kriek on another site. is there another beer that you think would go well with blue cheese (blue cheese fries) that i can serve before spicy steak-alesmith ipa?
A Scottish 90 would pair well with that.
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