Sept 26th - Pumpkin 2

Pumpkin 2 has been bottled.  I think I used way too much DME for priming, so everything is in a cooler with a lid in the basement just in case.  I'll check it Thanksgiving weekend.

I played a game of whats in the fridge when I went to see the guys on Monday night.  We found a couple Belgian Quads and a quart of pumpkin 1.  I should really do better labelling my bottles.  Darrell seems to be the biggest Quad fan amoung us, so he has a bottle waiting in his fridge now.  Pumpkin 1 really held up well, even stored for 9 months.  I'm very hopeful for pumpkin 2, but I have decided that it needs some vanilla next time.

Most Wonderful Time, of the Year

Fall will soon be upon us and with it my favorite time of the year.  Today for example was almost perfect weather and temperature.  Also, Oktoberfest and Pumpkin Ales have been released.

Oktoberfest or Marzan beers are traditionally release in mid September after having been brewed in March and lagered (stored) over the summer.  Traditionally the storing was done in caves with temperatures in the mid 50s, but in modern days it's often just refrigerated.

Either way Marzens are traditionally very malty with a very clear light brown color.  Not as pale as a Budweiser lager, but some of the same characteristics.  Very clear, finishes dry on the pallet, with malt flavor on the tongue and subdued hops bitterness, but still retaining some hop flavor.

Today I was lucky enough to find a freshly tapped Oktoberfest in the local Upland Tasting Room.
http://uplandbeer.com/eat-n-drink/indy-tasting-room/  Since it was my first time in the tasting room, I didn't know what to expect.  What I found was a quiet little hangout that does a lot of growler fills and walkout business. (For those who don't know a growler is a 1/2 gallon refillable bottle for carryout beer) Upon walking in, I was greeted quickly and offered a sample of really anything I wanted to taste.  Since I was there for the October fest, I asked for a sample.  It definitely was pleasing to the palate so I ordered a pint and found a chair.

Seating capacity for the tasting room is only about 30.  However since it was still afternoon there were plenty of empty chairs.  I found a nice green upholstered chair in the back, connected to the free wifi and proceeded to enjoy my beer and just poke around on the internet.

It took me about 40 minutes to savor my Oktoberfest.  As it warmed the flavor changed slightly and it was a little more robust and slightly maltier as the temp increased.  Finishing my beer, I had my growler filled and was out the door to go get dinner for the family.

Upland Oktoberfest - I'm sure all the statistics are available on the Upland website, here's my take.  Very malty, finishes dry.  Probably around 5% ABV and 20 or so IBU. This style fits my tastes very well.  Just enough hop flavor and hop spice to let you know you aren't drinking a mass market beer.  Way more malt flavor than I ever find in non craft beer.  Perfect beer for ordering by the pitcher to do with some pizza, beer, or anything that has some meat and spice.  This is a style of beer I could drink year round and in many ways is the epitome of what beer should taste like  8/10.

Beer Fridge

I just had to rearrange my beer fridge because it is too full of awesome beer.  Feel free to give me a call, I need someone to help me drink the deliciousness.

In the fridge
Pogue's Run Porter
Schlafly Pumpkin Ale
Waberbrew - Brown
All grain nut brown
breakfast stout
Honey Wheat
Sierra Nevada Tumbler
Sierra Nevada Oliva Quad
Trappistes Rochefort 10
Sam Adams Cinderbock
Woodchuck
Life and Limb 2

Coming soon
Mocktoberfest

Sierra Nevada Fall Seasonal - Tumbler

I love fall seasonal beers, Octoberfests, Browns, Pumpkin ales, I love them all.  I recently met Steve the Indiana Sierra Nevada rep at a couple of different parties.  I thought I'd see if his product is any good.

The fall seasonal - Tumbler seems at first glance like it would be my kind of beer.  Brown, malty, not too bitter, sounds like a Waber kind of beer.  Also, being a fall seasonal in September, I'm pretty sure it will be fresh and not sitting around too long.

I picked up a 6'er at my local package store and I have to say I like it pretty well.  It has a lot of the same flavors as the English Mild I brewed, just bigger.  The English mild is exactly that, mild.  Not to strong, not too hoppy, just gentle.  Tumbler is like the English Mild punched up a bit. 

It's pretty good. I don't normally drink much Sierra Nevada.  Most of the time all those west coast breweries are way to hop focused for me.  Tumbler isn't.  Extremely drinkable and really good in the evening when the heat of the day is gone.  I'll buy at least one more 6 of Tumbler, and I'll be looking forward to it again next year.  Solid 7 of 10 and one I'd recommend.

Bottle Time 8/26/2012

Bottled the breakfast Stout and the Mock Octoberfest today.  Bottling went pretty well and I had some partials to hold as samples and check carbonation. Getting the itch to put something in the fermenter, but can't decide what to brew next.

All grain mock octoberfest

Notes for Waber: brewed 8/3/2012 og 1.042 too much water in mash. Boil off wasn't as much as I wanted. Pitched on notty yeast cake from AG nut brown. Fermenter in 60 degree water bath

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. 

Scottish Ale - revisited

Well after being bottled for almost 5 months, my Scottish ale isn't doing so well.  Its lost almost all it's flavor.  It's generically malty and not hoppy at all.  Carbonation is very nice and  1/8" head remains even after 2/3rds of the glass is gone.   It's not bad in any way, it's just not really great anymore.  It is simply beer.

I have about 6 or so bottles left, so I'll finish those off and move on to something else.  The honey wheat seemed to be well received last night.  I'd like to give that one another try with some slight variations.

Newcastle Mini Keg

I like Newcastle beer.  It's nice and malty and really fits the flavor profile I enjoy.  The problem, they ship it in clear bottles and it skunks really quickly.  Therefore, I only order it on draft.  Most of the time that works out pretty well.

About a month ago I found a 5L mini keg with integrated CO2 at the grocery store.  Price was a little high, but because it's in steel, it shouldn't be light oxidized.  It was great.  So convienient to just pour a glass whenever and it tasted fresh and wonderful.  A resounding success.

Last week, I made a beer run, stopped in the local liqour store where they have a good selection and what do I see on the bottom shelf?  That's right, a cold Newcastle 5L mini keg and it's $5 cheaper than it was warm at the grocery store.  Boom, in my cart.

Tapped it last night.  I am so dissapointed.  It must have been improperly stored at some time.  It's off.  It doesn't taste fresh and has some wet cardboard smell / flavor going.  Once again I'm going to have to get  away from purchasing Newcastle unless its on tap.  I'm so very sad.

I guess this means that I'm going to have to brew my own.  The English mild I brewed is actually pretty similar in flavor.  I'm sure a couple tweaks and some research and I could find a decent clone recipe.  Seems a shame though. It's good beer when it leaves the brewery. Too bad that some retailers can't store beer in a way to help it continue to taste good.