Busy day - stout and nut brown

Brewed another round if breakfast stout. Just waiting for it to get to temp so I can pitch my yeast.

Also bottled the all grain nut brown.  Now the long wait while it carbonates. 

Brewing on the new patio is a lot nicer than brewing in the driveway. Its a lot easier to move around and the shade is awesome.

Green's Gluten Free Dubbel Dark Ale

Product of Belgium. First thought was Belgium is known for some good funky beers. This isn't one. I think it suffered from low turnover and long transport. It could be the sorghum or it could be the transport but it had a distinctive twang that I couldn't get past.

The dark dubbel description was accurate. Nice dark brown color, high carbonation and 7% abv.  Had it not had the off taste, it would have been 7/10 as it was 3/10.

Barley Island

Friend Tyler and I went to Barley Island in Noblesville on Monday.  We had a great time. Beer was good and so was the food. I did a 9 beer tasting and really enjoyed the Old Ale. All the beers were well made and pretty yummy. The casked barleywine was especially fruity.
Ty and I both decided we would be going back for another visit.

Crazy Fun Beer Weekend

It's been a beer week here in Indianapolis. Indiana Brewers Cup results were last weekend.  This weekend is the beer bloggers convention, and Indiana Microbrew Fest.  I was not involved in the bloggers convention, but found a bunch of new people to follow on twitter.

Personally, I was able to attend 2 events.  Kahn's Fine Wine and Spirits had an Indiana beer tasting open to the public on Friday night.  As it's just a few blocks  from the house, I was able to head over on Friday night and try some local craft beers.  I was pretty selective and didn't stray outside my comfort zone.  Everything was wonderful

Beers I tried Friday
Upland - Nut Hugger Brown
Sun King - Cream Ale
Flat 12 - Pogue's Run Porter - Awesome - Must find and buy
Shoreline  - Imperial Raspberry

Saturday was Indiana Microbrew Fest

Thanks to Amy and Ty for the tickets.  Unfortunately They unable to attend, so he and Amy gifted both tickets to me.  I was able to take Cousin Ben and we had a great time.

Bob from Monarch / World Class Beverage had put the word out that World Class needed some volunteers to help out at some of the booths.  Since Ben was also meeting several of his friends there, I left him in good company and headed off to help out with World Class.  I was assigned to the Rivertown booth were I got to spend a couple hours meeting people and pouring some great beer.

I was between Schlafly and Atwater Brewing and got to know some of the guys from there as well.  Everyone was super friendly and great to talk with.  Also in my row were Bell's Victory, and BBC.

Beers I tried Saturday
Sat:
Barley Island - Nickleplate Apricot Wheat, Dirty Helen
Figure 8 - Northern England Nut Brown Ale
Atwater Brewing - Dirty Blonde, Helles Lager, Voodoo Vater Dopplebock, Cherry Wheat
Rivertown - Helles Lager, Roebling Imperial Robust Porter, Unit 6 American Hefewizen, Jenneke Belgian Blonda Ale
Schlafly - Kolsh, American IPA, Yakima Hoppy Wheat

Just an awesome day all around.  Loved meeting people, loved pouring beer, loved talking to the brewery people about beer.  If you have a chance to go, attend Indiana Microbrew Fest.

 Personal Top 5 for the weekend
Flat 12 - Pogue's Run Porter
Atwater - Voodoo Vater Dopplebock
Schlafly - Yakima Hoppy Wheat
Barley Island  - Nickleplate Apricot Wheat
Rivertown - Roebling Imperial Robust Porter

My Reward

This is what you get when you work all weekend outside around my house.  One of my homebrew vanilla oatmeal stouts + a great honking scoop of ice cream.

Best, dessert ever.

Sam Adams Cinder Bock

This is a good beer.  I must be predisposed to the Bock style, because this one really floats my boat. Nice amber brown color and some really good caramel and toffee notes.  Malty without being overly hoppy I believe it to be well balanced.  Feels like it has a decent viscosity in the mouth.

Its supposed to be a rauchbock, but honestly it's fairly mild. I can't pick out the smoked flavors. Of course I'm having it with lunch which includes a sandwich which features home smoked pastrami so it may just be overpowered.  The label lists it at 9.4% ABV.  Certainly it has some kick, but doesn't seem to have any alcohol bite or taste.

The label on the back of the bottle lists it as batch #1.  This is one I would buy again and would try to emulate. However, I don't have a lagering setup, so I guess I'll just have to buy it. 

Hobgoblin Dark English Ale

500ml bottle poured nicely with a short head that retained nicely. Beautiful brown color. Low carbonation and pretty malty. Unusual twang and aftertaste. On the viscous side and slightly chewy in the mouth.
I think I'd really enjoy this if it wasn't for the twang.  Its really distracting and I find myself reaching for some peanuts to get the taste out of my mouth. I may try this again to see if it is just an off bottle. If it is inherent to the beer though I'd say no thanks.