Of all the beers I made last year, one of my absolute favorites was my American Amber Ale. It wasn’t the biggest, it wasn’t the hoppiest, and it might not have been the most exciting, but I really enjoyed having it on tap. So it was long over due that I made another batch of this.
So, confession time: I’ve never brewed a Russian Imperial Stout. I had planned on brewing one a few years ago, but for whatever reason, I pushed out the brew day. Then for some other reason, I never got around to brewing it. With winter approaching, I figured it was finally time to get around to making a big, massive, roasty stout.
So in keeping up with the beers brewed last year, it’s time for a post on the Southern Hemisphere Pale Ale. This beer was basically an attempt to brew something like Stone’s Enjoy By IPA in a 5.5% ABV Pale Ale. Obviously the beers would be different, but my hope was to hold onto the core flavor profile, in a beer that’s much more drinkable.
Whew, I’m back from a short writing hiatus. Between the holidays, getting a new puppy, work, and just not making the time, it’s been a little while. On the bright side, I have been brewing in the meantime, so I’ll have a bunch of new content up shortly. For the sake of keeping thing chronological, let’s start with this Scottish I brewed to have on tap for Thanksgiving and Xmas.
UPDATE: Alright, thanks for the wait guys; we have two winners!
Amarillo – Jacob Dennis
Citra – Steve Greco
Drop me an email at bertusbrewery@gmail.com with your shipping addresses, and I’ll get the hops in the mail. Thanks again to all who entered. Hopefully we’ll do something like this again in the near future!
Between brewing a lot of clone IPAs, and then beers for the wedding, it’s been awhile since I’ve brewed an IPA of my own. The timing is good, as now is also a good time to finish using up the remainder of my 2012 hops before the new 2013 ones come in. Also, we’re going to be camping this Thanksgiving with the in-laws, so I’m going to make this a 10 gallon batch, and bring a keg out for the weekend.
Fall is in full swing here in Phoenix. Our definition of Fall is quite different from a lot of the country (80s and sunshine), but the nights are cooling off, which is putting me in the mood for a dark roasty beer. I started flipping through my brew log looking for some inspiration, as I often do. Literally 50 pages deep, still digging for something, I realized it had been nearly three years since I last brewed a milk stout. A milk stout it is. Never one to leave well-enough alone, I decided to throw in some cacao nibs as well; Milk Chocolate Stout does have a nice ring to it.
Alright, one more non-beer related post before we get back to the regularly scheduled programming. I know it’s been a month since our Wedding weekend, but there were a few more cool things worth sharing from it.
I’m on a quest to brew a really tasty low gravity Pale Ale. I want something in the 1.035-1.037 range that has the hop quality of an IPA. To be perfectly honest, this recipe has been harder to put together than I thought it would be. Last time I brewed this, it was a little rough around the edges. I’ve since tweaked the recipe some, and we’re giving it another go.