Home Brewing: Part III

After several weeks of waiting for my first home brewed beer to age properly, here we go:



Scotch Ale ("Wee Heavy") in a "thistle" tulip glass

Appearance: Pours a 2 finger-width head which reduces down to a very thin lacing. The color is deep brown with a copper tint.

Aroma: Spicy sweet molasses, cherry, chocolate, plumbs, and alcohol.

Taste and Mouthfeel: Bold flavors of bitter coffee, dark chocolate, tobacco and caramel with the cherry returning in the finish. Mouthfeel is soapy and slick, with a slight buzzy carbonation. There's a good blend here of the bitterness from the hops and and that overarching "scotch ale" sweetness.

Notes: There was an initial "sourness" that decreased as the beer aged. The first bottle I opened made me think the lot was ruined, but as the weeks rolled by each bottle got smoother and sweeter. The drinkability is high as it is not so heavy that it can only be enjoyed by the fireplace in the winter, but it still is also not a casual summer beer. A very successful first try - and it's a good thing I like it because I've got about 40 more waiting in the closet.

Home Brewing (Part II)

Home Brewing

Last night I began my first venture into home beer brewing. My first attempt is the warm and malty SCOTCH ALE - in other words: LOTS of malt and grain, very little hops (as seen below).



The wort is a-brewin'...



And of course you can't MAKE beer without enjoying some at the same time. I had a couple of my beer buddies over and we knocked out some leftover growlers from the Lafayette Brewing Company (The 85, Prophet's Rock Pale Ale, and the Phoenix Strong Ale).



And since there wasn't much in the growlers to begin with and they emptied very quickly, we had to go with SOMETHING else, so we figured what the hell, let's just open up one of the stored Dark Lord Stouts.



And now we wait!

Sticky Fingers

My wife is being punished for her klepto, beer-stealing ways by Newton's Third Law, Karma, or some combination of the two.

Twice in the last few months she has taken one of my quality beers (without asking) and made food out of it.

First it was bratwurst boiled in - get this - Young's Double Chocolate Stout. Wow.

Now, tonight, it was Beef Stew, marinated in a bitter, pungent IPA - which, as you can tell by her post - she didn't care much for.

It was either Jesus or Elmo that said, "You reap what you sew." Ya, take that, ye Bogarter of Beers.

Dark Lord Day 2007

As it turns out, the #2 rated beer in the entire world (at least according to one list) is brewed at Three Floyds Brewery in Munster, IN - a mere 1.5 hour drive from my home. To make this even more interesting, the brew is available only ONE DAY A YEAR for purchase - Dark Lord Day - from said brewery.

The beer at hand is the Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout. I could go into a weighty review from my own palate - but that would just be too geeky - so here is the excellent description from the bottle's label:

Dark Lord is a gargantuan Russian Style Imperial Stout, with a reverse cascading head that starts out billowing the color of burnt oil like the Dark Lord rising from the black primordial beginnings. Its Resonant vinous aroma has been described as cherries, sweet malt, molasses, burnt currants, plums with a port wine alcohol undertow. Mochachino notes buried within. Motor oil consistency, hellishly smooth yet divinely burnt and vinous. The first sip coats your palate with a palatial charred fruit and chocolate blanket. Alcohol burn wiggles its way down your throat with a thick body.

(and by the way, is this stuff is viscous! It haaaaaangs on the glass like nothing you've ever seen.)



I attended the event with 3 good friends, all of whom have a similar tastes for hoity-toity beers (cough, beer snobs all of us, cough). The line was about 4 hours to purchase the stuff - at $15 per wax-sealed bottle. Doors opened at noon and there had to be at least 1,500-2,000 people go through the line before I left (around 4 pm). There were also picnic tables set up all around with open bottles of home-brews and BYOBs that anyone could walk up and sample. I got to try a number of beers that I had been wanting to try for some time.

So does the Dark Lord live up to its hype? Definitely. It's not every day you get to taste something as wickedly complex and delicious as this thing is. Especially since I only bought three - and they have to last until next year.

New Brews

I realize that most of you could care less about this, but these posts are mainly for my own sake (so I can remember what I've tried and enjoyed). Over the past few weeks, I've tried...

1.) Ayinger Ur-Weisse - A German Dunkel Weizen, which are known for their clove and banana flavors. This beer in particular is known for tasting like Banana Bread, which it did, and was actually quite excellent. In fact, I'd rate this in my Top 3 favorites so far on my premium beer quest. A little pricy at almost $6 a bottle, but worth every penny.

2.) Mackeson Triple XXX Stout (Milk Stout) - In the same vein as Young's Chocolate Stout, but found it to be less chocolate than Young's and more of a mocha latte flavor. Very, very good.

3.) Tucher Urfränkisch Dunkel - Another Dunkel, which I had later in the evening the same night as the Ayinger. Not a bad beer at all, but found it to be mediocre after the Ur-Weisse. I'll have to try this again on its own sometime.

4.) Thirsty Dog Siberian Night Imperial Stout - A dark-as-night, can't-see-any-light-through-it-at-all stout from Ohio's Thirsty Dog. A slightly bitter, roasted coffee flavor with a pretty high ABV. Good stuff when looking to go heavy.

5.) Black Angus Oatmeal Stout - My favorite brew at the Lafayette Brewing Company (the town where I live). Gotta love and support the local micro-breweries.

6.) I also had some brand of Mocha Stout around the campfire with Tommy a few weeks ago... can't remember the exact name. Care to help out, Tom?

T&T in GA

I had the pleasure of connecting again with blogger-turned-real-life friend Tommy (from Isaiah Knows Nothing) for an evening of enlightened conversation in Savannah, GA. Each time we visit the in-laws down here, our two families try to get together to hang out. This time sans spouses, Tommy and I went back to Anonymous Tattoo to get my tattoo touched up and then hit a downtown restaurant for some Savannah Brewing Company Ghost Ale and interesting southern food (a mussels soup, fried green tomatoes, and black-eyed pea cakes). I always enjoy our conversations, which seem to contain at least an ounce more depth than most.

On a related note, Tommy's blogger account is all messed up... so for those of you who frequent his site, please be patient while support tries to figure out what happened.

Beer Advocate (and a couple mini-reviews)

After trying a few new beers the other night (see below), I jumped online to see if I could find anyone's reviews. I found this really great site: the Beer Advocate. It's a great site for rating beers and reading up on beer styles, basics and much more. Be sure to check it.

Anyway, the other night, BIL and I (brother-in-law, that is) headed to Chumleys in downtown Lafayette. We tried...

1.) Young's Double Chocolate Stout - Wow, beer and chocolate in one creamy mouthful! Could life get any better? I really, really enjoyed this. Now if I could only find someone locally that carries it in take-home packaging (See BA's reviews by clicking here).

2.) EKU 28, which, in its brewing process, is dropped to below the freezing level of water and some of the ice is then extracted ... making it an 11% ABV beer which is a bit syrup-y and majorly intense - although quite tasty and "warming." BIL said it was like the Nyquil of beers. Definately one that you sip on over a period of time instead of glugging through. (See BA's reviews by clicking here).