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Justin on Friday, February 12th, 2010 |
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Here is a beer I brewed up back in the fall that I hadn’t shared up this point. Northern English Browns are malty beers with just enough hop bitterness to keep the beer from being overly sweet. Commonly malt flavors include nutty and biscuit. Northern English Browns typically are a bit drier on the finish and a little more hop oriented than their Southern English brethren, which tend to be a bit sweet on the finish. The picture is a bit darker than what the beer really looks, the color is more medium brown with some amber hues when held to a light.
Here’s the recipe for this brew, it’s quite tasty!
- 8.00 lb Maris Otter
- 0.50 lb English Crystal 55L
- 0.75 lb Biscuit Malt
- 0.25 lb British Chocolate
- 1.00 lb Flaked Barley
- 1.5 oz Kent Goldings – Bittering, 60 minutes
- 0.5 oz Kent Goldings – Aroma/Flavor, 5 minutes
- Wyeast 1968 Extra Special Bitter Yeast
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Justin on Monday, February 1st, 2010 |
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I couldn’t be more happy with the way the Carty Cascade 2009 turned out! Recall I was shooting for a straightforward APA recipe that would showcase the hops we harvested in September. Here’s my writeup of a recent tasting and a picture. I really enjoy the hops and look forward to future harvests!
The beer pours a dark golden bordering on amber with a very clingy white head. The aroma is moderately hoppy, citrus and spicy with a noticeable sweet malt in the background. The flavor is moderately hoppy but there is also a noticeable and competing malty flavor, a bit sweet, slightly bready and something a bit different than any other beer I’ve made, perhaps the wheat malt shining through. (I’ve only used flaked wheat previously.) The bitterness is medium-low and provides a nice balance combined with a slightly dry finish. The carbonation is moderate and body is quite smooth. Overall I’m very happy and very impressed with this beer and the hops! I don’t know I’d change much with this recipe, it is quite tasty.
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Justin on Monday, January 18th, 2010 |
No CommentsIf you’re wondering how the marriage of Maibock grains and and a healthy helping of German hops turned out, keep reading. I’m quite pleased with the appearance of this brew, a nice golden color with a frothy white head. Here take a look:
More importantly is the aroma and flavor. The aroma is moderately malty, quite bready and a bit sweet, the hops also shine as well, spicy and a bit floral. I wish the hop aroma would have come through a bit more, but I’m not complaining, this beer is very inviting. The flavor is malty upfront and remarkably smooth. At the swallow the moderate hop bitterness and spicy German hop flavor cleanse the palate. I very much enjoy how both the malty flavors and hops shine in this beer, it really captures what I was intending. German malt flavors akin with Maibocks and a hoppiness typically seen with American Pale Ales (albeit a German hop flavor/aroma).
Would I do anything different next time? Yes. The hops just don’t come through quite as much as I wanted. I’d prefer the hop flavor and aroma both to be a bit more noticeable, but not too much more. The bitterness is about right. The thing I like most about this beer is the exceptional smoothness and the fact the malt and hop flavors are both quite evident.
Brew this one up today! Let me know how it turns out!
Justin
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Justin on Saturday, December 6th, 2008 |
No CommentsIt’s been a while since I chimed in with my latest thoughts. I meant to share this sooner, but better late than never right? Here is the other beer leg of my vacation earlier this fall.
So after stopping in Chippewa Falls for the Leinenkugel’s Brewery Tour we reached our vacation spot of Duluth, Minnesota. The Duluth-Superior area has some great hiking trails in state parks (Pattison State Park in northwestern Wisconsin has the 3rd highest waterfall in the US east of the Rockies), the shipping canal and harbor in Duluth is a great place to spend some time as well, especially if you’re interested by the Great Lakes shipping industry like I am. There are some great restaurants in Duluth, Blackwoods and Pizza Luce are two favorites, but Fitger’s Brewhouse is by far my favorite Duluth watering hole and restaurant.
Fitger’s typically has at least 10 beers on tap, sometimes even more! My favorites would be their Double Hopped El Nino IPA and their Big Boat Oatmeal Stout. But seriously you can’t go wrong with anything you order. I always get a sampler tray and follow that up with another pint or two of something that wasn’t on the sampler. Hungry? Well kill two birds with one stone. Their food is awesome! The hard part will be picking something off the large menu. Also check out some live music during the evenings, with the University of Minnesota-Duluth campus nearby it has a fun, young vibe. So your typical travels will probably not take you through Duluth, but if you’re ever around plan on stopping for at least a few pints, hell stay the night.
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Justin on Thursday, November 13th, 2008 |
No CommentsSo I was on vacation on the way to Duluth, Minnesota and that took me through Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Chippewa Falls is small town, a few thousand people, but home of the Leinenkugel’s Brewery. My favorite Leinenkugel’s beers are their Oktoberfest, Creamy Dark, Red and Honey Weiss. I really don’t like some of their latest ‘beers’. I don’t care for Sunset Wheat, Summer Shandy or the new Fireside Nut Brown. But enough of my preferences on to the brewery tour!
Since we were going on a Saturday we made a reservation since tours are limited to rather small groups. The tour starts at check-in in the new Leinie’s Lodge. After check-in you are given two coupons for a free 7oz sample, you can sample before or after your tour. The lodge is pretty big, with a nice fireplace, lots of merchandise to purchase and a lot of nostalgic Leinie’s stuff.
The brewery begins outside around all the buildings, some of the buildings on the brewery grounds are the original from the mid 1800s! The tour then proceeds through where the mash is performed, then you follow where the wort is chilled and finally to the huge fermentation room. The fermentation room has a lot of tanks, I believe each holds 400 some barrels of beer! In homebrew terms, that’s about 2500 5 gallon batches! After the fermentation room, we got to see the bottling line and finally warehouse area, where there were thousands of cases of beer, truly a delightful experience.
Overall I enjoyed the tour. It wasn’t overly informative, the tour guide knew their stuff as long as your followed the lines, anything out of the ordinary was given the typical ‘I can check for your response’. Also production only runs Monday-Friday, so if I did it again I would try to stop by on a weekday to see some of the stuff in action.
http://www.leinie.com/tour.html
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Justin on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 |
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Fall is the time for Oktoberfests! I love the Oktoberfest style! Oktoberfests have a lot of range in terms of are they sweet or malty or a bit bitter, but all are equally delicious! If you haven’t tried many Oktoberfests they generally fall into the amber color range, usually have a notable malt presense (toasty, bready, biscuity) and can finish from sweet to just a bit bitter. A few Oktoberfests will even include a touch of spicy European hop flavor and/or aroma.
Victory Festbier is one of my favorite Oktoberfests. I had one the other night and thought I’d share a few notes about it. The Festbier pours a clear copper color with a thin white head. The aroma is moderately malty, toasty, bread-like and slightly sweet. The flavor is highly malty; bready and a bit spicy. The hop bitterness is medium-low and there is just a hint of hop flavor at the swallow. The body is full and carbonation is medium with a very smooth swallow. Overall a well done Fest, smooth and a bit of a unique aftertaste!
Check out the Victory Festbier webpage and pick up a six pack tonight!
