Dark Wednesday, Hopsgiving

Hey, it's only been 11 days since my last post! I had to dedicate an entire post to this since I had so much to share. I went to Pennsylvania over Thanksgiving weekend to spend time with family, as per usual since I moved out of state. My mini-holiday-cation turned into an interesting five-day excursion filled with lots of interesting beer-drinking.

So I was planning on heading up to PA on the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving and my friend lives, literally, around the corner from Victory Brewing Co. in Downingtown. I texted him on Monday to see if he wanted to get dinner or something and the same day, my future brother-in-law (FBIL) texts me asks what I am doing on Wednesday. I tell him I am thinking of going to Victory. He then mentions something called "Dark Wednesday" and tells me to look it up. If it has to do with Victory, of course I am in. In case you hadn't heard, Victory had themselves a little limited-edition beer release on November 23. The beer is Dark Intrigue and I'll just let you read the label to see for yourself what it is:

Intrigued yet? Victory brewed this beer a few years back for the first time when they decided to age some of their Storm King Stout in bourbon barrels for a few months. It's back by popular demand now, but they stated that this is the last time they will ever brew this beer. The only way to guarantee yourself any of this was to go to the brewery for the release. So my FBIL, my wife, and I headed down there at 9 am on the 23rd for the 11:30 am release. They had food, coffee, and prizes that they were giving away (although we didn't win any). There were about 100 people there when we got there but by the time they opened the doors, that number had swelled to over 300. They started telling people that they could only guarantee the first 300 people, although it looked like everyone that wanted some got some.

My FBIL Steve (left) and me at Victory

We waited an additional hour in line just to get into the shop to buy the beer and we ended up getting a case and splitting it four ways. Luckily for us, one of our friends only wanted two bottles, so we ended up drinking one a couple nights later (more on that below). We then had lunch at the brewpub and were able to snag a couple Dark Intrigue tasters on tap. All I can say is, holy crap. I feel like you have to like bourbon to like this beer. When we had it on tap, there was a dominant bourbon character to it throughout. I am personally a fan of bourbon so I was a huge fan of this beer. I also got to try their Otto, which is a new and not very easy to find smoked Belgian Dubbel. It's super good and if you can find it, I highly recommend it. As I mentioned, we ended up drinking about bottle of the Dark Intrigue later that weekend. I hate to say that I was disappointed, but I kinda was. Something about the bottling process caused it to lose a lot of bourbon flavor and made it taste much more ordinary. Don't get me wrong, it's still a damn fine beer but I was expecting to taste that full bourbon body throughout. Instead, it tasted like there was something missing, a sentiment that my friend Alex also shared. However, I have three bottles aging so we'll see how the flavor changes after some time in the dark.

Anyway, my weekend wasn't finished yet. Wednesday night I ended up going out with some friends from home to a small bar in my small hometown of Boyertown, PA called Congo Hotel, or Union Jack's as some refer to it. I had heard of it before and of their nice beer selection but it was my first time there. That's when I saw it... a flyer advertising their Saturday event, the 2nd annual Hopsgiving. It was a special beer event they were holding with numerous rare or hard-to-find beer, including one of my holy grails, Russian River's Pliny the Elder. This beer is rarely found in the wild and is normally only on tap in Russian River's tap room. So of course I was in. The closest thing I can compare it to is Troeg's Nugget Nectar, which very well might be my favorite beer of all-time. It's very hoppy with fruity notes and a smooth, crisp finish. However, I only had one glass of it because another beer stole the show for me.

That beer was Ballast Point's Sculpin IPA. I had tried one of Ballast's beer, which for the life of me I can't remember now, but this was my first time trying the Sculpin. And it was absolutely outstanding. It is fresh and hoppy, with lots of fruity notes disguising the 70 IBUs. This was probably my favorite beer of the day. Anyway, they were offering two different flights and of course I had to try both of them. The first consisted of Golden Flash's West Coast IPA, Port's Mongo IIPA, Sculpin, Firestone Walker Double Jack, and Great Divide Fresh Hop Ale. My favorites here were the Sculpin and the Double Jack, but all these beers are solid. The Double Jack had notes of grapefruit and tangerine up front but a nice smooth finish for a beer that checks in at 9.5%. Honorary mention goes to the Mongo. It has similar characteristics to the Sculpin and Double Jack in that it's hoppy with fruity undertones.

The second flight consisted of Ithaca Flower Power, Port High Tide, Green Flash Imperial IPA, Coronado Idiot IPA, and Prism Felony Double IPA. Let me just say... the first flight was better. However, there were some good beers here, most notably the Flower Power. There is a definite flowery taste to it and has a smooth finish. It's very earthy. I told my cousin that it tastes like eating dirt if dirt tasted good. The High Tide was also decent, although not distinguishable. It was a solid IPA with a smooth hoppy character throughout. The Green Flash was very hoppy with sharp notes depicting Simcoe and possibly Cascade. The Prism was the consensus worst among most people at the bar and everyone was waiting for it to kick so that the bartender could tap the keg of Dogfish Burton Baton (it didn't happen). The Felony features 10 hop varieties, over 100 IBUs, 10% ABV, and it depicts what can go wrong when you try to do too much. I personally didn't think it was terrible, but my buddy Alex couldn't even finish his taster. I had a decision to make after that second flight. I had one beer left in me. Would I choose the Pliny, my holy grail, or the surprising Sculpin?

I went with the Sculpin, which should be high praise for it. I had the pleasure of having this in a bottle about a week later and, like the Dark Intrigue, was disappointed. All that tasty fruitiness from the hops disappeared when I had it out of the bottle and it was rendered as an almost generic west coast IPA. That's not to say that it was bad, but it certainly wasn't what I was expecting. Anyway, I headed to my in-laws' house afterward and my FBIL and I ended the night with a vertical tasting of Victory's Golden Monkey and Weyerbacher's Merry Monks. I have to say, this wasn't even a fair comparison. Despite both being classified as Belgian Abbey-style ales, the Golden Monkey simply can't hold a candle to some of the better Belgians on the market. Merry Monks won in a landslide. I also got the opportunity to try the limited release Ommegang Gnomegang, which is similar in style to the Merry Monks. I believe it is only sold in a three pack with Hennepin, Three Philosopher's and an Ommegang etched glass. It's worth it though because, let's face it, you were going to buy that Three Philosopher's anyway.

In addition, I also got to try a couple Dogfish beers I hadn't had before. I'll mention Chicory Stout first even though I've already had it. It's been a year-round beer at the brewpubs this year, but it's out in bottles for the winter and if you like coffee beers, go out and get some. You won't regret it. It's probably one of the best coffee beers I have had. Next up is their special release, Faithfull Ale, paying tribute to Pearl's Jam's 20th anniversary of their debut record "Ten". It's a fruit-forward Belgian-style beer with lots of currants. Compared to other Dogfish limited edition releases, this one was disappointing. There wasn't really a defining characteristic of it and I was left wanting a lot more. Speaking of limited edition releases, I was also able to snag a couple bottles of Dogfish's new batch of Bitches Brew. I've mentioned on here before. If you happen upon it, you should probably pick some up. My wife was also able to spot a few bottles of the collaboration that Dogfish did with The Bruery in support of the Japan relief efforts. The best I can describe it is a blonde with ingredients such as nori (Japanese edible seaweed), chili peppers, sesame seeds, and kumquats and fermented with sake yeast. Solid, but not spectacular. The final two I tried recently are two seasonals, Fort and Immort. The Fort is a high-gravity ale brewed with a ton of raspberries (literally, a ton). It checks in at a hefty 18% and is not recommended if you are planning on driving (I wasn't). I personally really enjoyed this beer but it is very heavy and fruity so it's not for everyone's taste. I decided to drink one and age one, so we'll see how that goes. Finally, Immort. It's classified as an American Strong Ale. At 11% it packs a punch. They use maple syrup from Sam's family's farm in Western Massachusetts, peat-smoked barley, juniper berries and vanilla. It is fermented with a blend of English and Belgian yeasts, then aged in giant oak barrels. For me, this beer is on par with my favorite Dogfish beer, Burton Baton. It is similar in flavor, but you get more of the oakiness (?) coming through in the Immort. I currently have two of these aging as well, so we'll see how the flavor evolves as it ages.

Finally, I have a homebrew that I bottled about two weeks ago. I attempted a clone recipe of Dogfish's Raison d'Etre. And I think I failed miserably. Sure, it's drinkable. I'm just not sure who would want to drink it over Raison. There are some characteristics of Raison in it, but there are also some off-flavors that come through and affect the finish. I have been having issues with off-flavors in my homebrews and I think it is related to the amount of yeast that I use. I am hitting my target gravities within an acceptable efficiency range, but I think my yeast amounts are throwing in off-flavors. I read a recent article in Zymurgy regarding this. They did a blind taste test of two of the same beers with different amounts of yeast (one had the recommended amount, the other, not enough). Both were on the target gravities and ABV, but almost all of the blind taste testers preferred the one that used the recommended amount of yeast. This was an extremely interesting article for me to read because this is the main problem I have been having with my beers. Time to break out Jamil's yeast calculator for my next batch. I think I am going to try my Nugget Nectar clone again since it's that time of year again. I want to get it down pat and do a vertical tasting to compare.

Anyway, that's all for now!

Another Big Update

"Miles Davis' seminal Bitches Brew album was a game changer - a bold fusion of rock, funk, and jazz. To honor the 40th anniversary release, Dogfish Head has created a bold, dark, beer that's a fusion of three threads imperial stout and one thread honey beer with gesho root. Like the album, this beer will age with the best of 'em."

The above is the text of the label of Dogfish Head's rare Bitches Brew, a special super-limited edition beer released late last year coinciding with the debut of Sam Calagione's now-canceled show "Brewmasters". Well, guess what? It's back! Good luck finding it though. As of Wednesday, November 9 at 9:43 PM, the Falls Church Dogfish brewpub has it on tap, but I doubt you will find it anywhere else. I was lucky enough to snag two 750ml bottles of it at my local Total Wine when I was there last Saturday. Needless to say, one is joining my aging collection, but I am currently drinking one as I write this post. I was lucky enough to grab one of these last year when it came out at the Fairfax Dogfish brewpub, but revisiting this beer is great. It is basically an imperial stout at 9% alcohol and pouring a very dark brown. You can instantly taste bitter malts, most likely chocolate and perhaps some black patent. It's brewed with honey and gesho root, which is used in Africa as a substitute for hops. See, hops are unable to grow in Africa, so they substitute the gesho root for the hops (the beer still has hops, as it's required for any beer brewed in the US). There is honey in it, but it's very subtle, coming through only in the finish. It's a bold brew that has chocolate and coffee-like character with a smooth sweet finish. Very tasty.

But that's not all I found at the Total Wine. In fact, it was quite a successful trip. I was able to find another tasty, rare Dogfish beer, Hellhound On My Ale. This was another limited edition Sony collaboration that Dogfish did and was supposedly on it's way out, but apparently they brewed another batch. It's an IPA brewed with lemons and it's super tasty. I found another coveted IPA while at Total Wine, Stone's Double Bastard. This wasn't exactly what I was expecting. If you have tried any of Stone's big IPAs, you would know that most are super hoppy and some are almost undrinkable for some people. This was decidedly different. Yes, it was hoppy. But there was a very complex malt character to this beer that was unexpected. By the end of the 750ml, I was ready to stop drinking it, but I would definitely get it again. The hop character gave a tasty, citrusy flavor to the beer and it was highly enjoyable for any IPA lover.

But wait, there's more! I also found a new Bell's Beer called Hell Hath No Fury. I have always trusted Bell's since the first time I tried Two-Hearted Ale and they did not let me down. Hell is a brown ale and it has a very nice smoky character. It's not a beer for the faint of heart, but if you like brown ales, you will like this beer. Finally, I found a beer that I've been looking for for a while. Rogue's Double Chocolate Stout. I've tried a lot of chocolate beers, but this might be my favorite. Rogue's regular chocolate stout is tasty, but the best I've had might previously might have been Young's Double Chocolate Stout. As soon as I cracked this beer and gave it a whiff, I knew it would be fantastic. It's so thick it almost pours like a syrup and it basically tastes like a Hershey's Dark Chocolate bar. Imagine putting a dark chocolate bar in your mouth and just leaving it there. There is so much chocolate character in this beer. I paired with it a barbequed pork and rice dinner, but it would work well as an after-dinner beer as well. Fantastic beer and I would recommend it to anyone. Also, you can't miss it, as it comes in a bright red bottle.

I also was able to try the newest addition to Stone's Vertical Series, their 11.11.11 edition. It's brewed with cinnamon and California chilies. It's... interesting. You can definitely taste the chilies in the beer and it's not a flavor you would generally associate with beer. It's definitely a good, different beer to try, but it's not one I am likely to try for a second time. The pepper taste stays with you after you're finished and it's not entirely pleasant.

I have also tried two beers in Ommegang's new series, their Aphrodite and their Adoration. They are both Belgian ales and both brewed with winter spices. The Aprhodite is a fruit beer with pear and raspberry, with a funky Brett middle and a very dry finish. The carbonation is champagne-like. It's definitely one to try if you can find it. The Adoration is their winter beer. It's a winter warmer style, brewed with dark malts and complemented with fives spices: coriandor, cumin, mace, cardamom, and grains of paradise. It's one of the tastier winter warmers I've tasted this year. I also was able to taste another new Ommegang beer, their Gnomegang, which is coming packaged in a three-pack with Three Philosopher's and Hennepin with a souvenir glass. It's a Belgian Abbey-style ale and it compares to Golden Monkey in terms of style. It has hints of spice from the yeast that are understated enough to not make them harsh on your palate.

I had another winter warmer recently as well, the Delirium Noel. It was very similar to the Gnomegang. It was actually somewhere in between a Gnomegang and a Weyerbacher Merry Monks. Very tasty and a must for any Belgian-style beer lover. Finally, I tried a local beer from Starr Hill called Monticello Reserve Ale. It is based on Thomas Jefferson's recipe and is brewed with wheat and corn and lightly hopped. I personally thought it would be better than it turned out to be, but unfortunately it was just okay. There isn't much flavor to it and it lacks... something. I don't really know what that something is, but it's not a great beer despite Starr Hill's good portfolio of other beers.

As for my beers, I finished a Vanilla Robust Porter a couple months ago. It's super dark, almost black in color, and was finished with a vanilla tincture solution in secondary. I also added some vanilla extract prior to bottling to give it some more vanilla taste. It turned out great. It has a sweet vanilla flavor throughout the taste and finishes smooth, leaving hints of vanilla on the back of your tongue. At this point, it's almost all gone. I also have a batch of a Dogfish Head Raison d'Etre clone sitting in bottles carbonating. I tasted a bit while I was bottling and I was surprised by how much it tasted like the real thing. I can't wait to try this one.

That's all for now, but stay tuned for a post in the near future about my Thanksgiving holiday and an event I went to called Hopsgiving!

BIG update

Wow, time flies when you're busy as hell. The most notable update is the Dogfish Dash. If you live in the mid-Atlantic region, you've likely heard of Dogfish and each year they host a 5K race at their brewery in Milton, DE. This year it was a 5K/10K and a few friends and I competed in it. I really got into running this year, so the Dogfish Dash combined two things that I love: running and beer. Registration cost just $20 and included entry into the race, a sweet Dogfish Dash t-shirt, and hours of free beer after the race in the Dogfish parking lot. It was a lot of fun to see the brewery and hang out afterward (including doing keg sprints!). But the gem from the day was this:

That's right... it's the man himself, Sam Calagione, and we got a picture with him (I'm just to the right of him). He apparently finished the race just behind us (I passed him in the last stretch and didn't even notice) and as we were walking away we saw him walking toward us. We asked for a picture and he graciously obliged. Afterward we got to drink some of the finest Dogfish beers before heading over to the brewpub in Rehoboth Beach for some post-race dinner and beer. All in all, it was a great time and I'm looking forward to doing it again next year.

As for other beers news, my pumpkin ale (which I named Pumpky Brewster) was done in late August and it turned out great... at first. I really liked the taste of it and it was a big hit with friends and family. And then I opened a bottle that had been sitting around for a month or so just the other day... and it exploded. Like, almost literally. I'm not sure where I screwed up, but there was way too much pressure in some of the bottles that didn't go in the fridge right away. Good thing we drank most of them before I found this out, because the beer was delicious and I hate wasting beer.

My current creation is a vanilla robust porter (name pending), which is waiting to be bottled. I think I'll bottle it this weekend and it should be ready to drink by Thanksgiving, possibly earlier. I combined some very dark malts with a few light hops and a vanilla bean tincture that sat for a week prior to being added to the secondary fermenter. I have high hopes for this one. My next brew is going to be a clone of one of my favorite Dogfish beers, Raison d'Etre. I'll post results when it's finished.

What else? Well, I've tasted a few great beers recently. New Belgium has slowly been invading the northern Virginia area, with every one of their beers now available in the area. My personal favorites are the aforementioned Fat Tire and the Hoptoberfest. I also took a trip to Penn State for a football weekend two weeks ago and was able to stop at the Troeg's Brewery. They have a scratch beer series that they have been putting out for years now. They're all recipes that the Trogner brothers brewed before they started the brewery. They only release them in the brewpub and they're single-run and extremely limited. They just happened to release their latest one the day I was headed up so I decided to stop and grab a case on my way up. It's called their Fresh Hop Ale, Scratch #49. It's a hoppy blonde ale, a curious combination of a light summer style and a smack of hops that lasts throughout the taste. It's different than I expected, but good nonetheless. I was also able to find a rarity at Penn State, at a bar called The Deli. Last time I was there, it was just a regular bar, but now they have a ton of rare beers. We were checking out before the game when one of us spotted a bottle of Troeg's Mad Elf, a beer brewed with chocolate and tons of cherries. We bought a bottle and drank it on the way to the game, then came back later and ordered some more. Turns out, it was from 2009, so not only was it Mad Elf, but it was vintage Mad Elf. So tasty. I also was able to finally find Founder's Breakfast Stout, which is officially dubbed a "Double Chocolate Coffee Oatmeal Stout". I'm not usually a big fan of coffee beers, but this one is spectacular. It's the perfect blend of chocolate and coffee and it smacks you in the face. It's heavy, but highly enjoyable, a good after-dinner beer.

The final new beer I've tried since my last post is the holy grail, Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA. This was actually a mistake. My wife went to Total Wine looking for Founder's Canadian Breakfast Stout on release day. They were sold out of the CBS, but they did have a few plain white four packs sitting on a shelf that looked inconspicuous enough, but actually turned out being the 120 Minute. It checks in at 18% and is one of the strongest beers I've ever tasted. It immediately hits you when you sip it, is extremely malty in the middle and finishes dry. It's obviously a beer that should be aged, though, so the other three are currently sitting in a nice, dark spot in my apartment and will stay there for the foreseeable future. Until next time...

Saison Fever and new Dogfish

It's been a while since my last post, but I've been busy with vacation and brewing. My latest creation is a saison. I've always loved the saison style. It's a light, crisp, high volume beer, with a dry taste resembling champagne. The best part about homebrewing it is that it ferments at very high temperatures. When I say high, I'm talking between 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit. So it's perfect for a homebrewer with no way to regulate temperature in the sweltering heat of the summer. I found an award-winning recipe online and decided to try it out, with some minor modifications made due to ingredients I had lying around. The most important ingredient, though, is the yeast. I used a French Saison yeast, the 3711, and I have to say-this yeast is a beast. I read a lot about it online before brewing this batch, but even I was impressed. This is a beer with an OG of around 1.070-1.072 (mine came in just below that, at 1.067) and a finishing gravity right around 1.000, so you know the yeast strain has to be good. The recipe recommended just one smack pack of this stuff and I have to say, I was skeptical. I read online that this yeast strain brought the FG down to its expected level in about two weeks. Well in my case, it only took 7 days. My OG was 1.067 and 7 days later it was all the way down to 1.002. The recipe also calls for sugar to be added when the fermentation slows down. I decided to go with Belgian Candi Sugar and the fermentation started up again and lasted about another day or two before dying out again. The FG wasn't affected much, but the alcohol content will be a bit higher since Belgian Candi sugar is 100% fermentable. I carbonated it with 1 oz of corn sugar per gallon to give it a nice, crisp, sparkling character and dry it out real good. It's finished after about 3 weeks in the bottle. More on this below.

To celebrate my saison homebrew. I have been looking for The Bruery's Saison Rue for a while now, but it's always been sold out. It's been billed as one of the best saisons in the country by a lot of publications, and I've wanted to try it so I could compare it to mine. Well, I settled for another one of The Bruery's saisons, Saison de Lente. It's a bit lower gravity that the Saison Rue, but it was fantastic. It has the carbonation of a champagne but was incredibly light at 6.5%. It starts sharp but finishes smooth, leaving spicy notes in the back of your mouth. Today, I went back on my search and found some Saison Rue. It's Saison de Lente's big brother at 9%. I have to say that I was a little disappointed. For as much as it is hyped, I came away with just an okay opinion of it. It's certainly more earthy than any saison I've tasted, and almost had a grassy taste, with not much carbonation, but it finished incredibly dry. I would drink it again, but it certainly wasn't my favorite.

Along with that, I picked up a bottle of Saison DuPont, another saison billed as one of the best in the country. It's a little bit lighter than the Rue, but I liked it much better. When I think of a saison, I think of the DuPont. It's light and crisp, sparkling and finishes dry with a nice heady middle. Also, I bought a new flavor from Victory called V-Twelve. It's billed as a Belgian Ale, but tastes kind of like a saison. It's definitely the heaviest of the ones I picked up at 12%. It's another win for victory (pun intended) as it was a great-tasting beer, but deceptive at such high alcohol content. Last but not least, I finally found some of Dogfish Head's Chateau Jiahu. It's a seasonal beer that comes out around July or August every year and it's possibly my favorite beer that Dogfish brews. At 9,000 years old, it is the oldest known beer recipe. It's brewed with Hawthorn fruit and fermented with grape juice, and it comes in at 10%. It's a bit sweeter than their year-round Midas Touch, but similar in flavor.  I also was able to get one on tap at the brewpub before they were all out. Also on the Dogfish front, I was able to grab a couple bottles of their Sierra Nevada collaboration, Life and Limb 2. It's brewed with birch and maple syrup, and it's supposed to symbolize the union of the two breweries or something, and contains live yeast in every bottle (news flash, most good beers do) to encourage aging. Anyway, it's a solid beer, not fantastic, but definitely worth a try. You don't get much of the sweetness of the syrups in the final taste, which is disappointing, but it's still a solid effort from two of my favorite breweries. We'll see how much the taste changes after aging a bottle for a year or two.

As for comparing the different saisons that I tried, I have to say that the DuPont was probably my favorite, with the DeLente coming second and the Rue as my third place finisher. Now, on to my saison. What I was going for with this beer was a sharp, crisp, heady taste, with a dry finish that leaves spicy notes on the back of your mouth. I may be biased, but I think this was the best of the saisons that I tried. It has a medium body, darker than many of the others that I tried, but it has more character as well. The spice from the 3711 yeast hits your taste buds right away and stays with you, but it finishes very dry, begging you to take another sip. I think this could be the best beer that I ever brewed. I also did an experiment with cloves, adding a couple to the final quarter gallon or so before bottling and the spice stands out even more in the final product. Delicious. I did complete one more beer since, my first attempt at a pumpkin beer. I just bottled it Sunday night. More on this later!

E

Troeg's, Harrisburg Brewers Fest, and homebrew update

Last weekend was my long-awaited trip to Troeg's Brewery and the Harrisburg Brewers Fest. I went with 7 other people, a couple of whom had already been to Troeg's. It's quite a small brewery, as it pretty much only ships beer to the states surrounding Pennsylvania. There's a small bar area when you walk in that has all their year-round beers on tap, including a seasonal (Sunshine Pils) and maybe a specialty (Flying Mouflan FTW). I got a sampler tray, which consists of 3 oz samplers of all 7 beers on tap for $7. And yes, I finished all of them myself before my tour (but it wasn't easy).

The cool thing about the brewery tour is that one of the two Troeg's brothers gives the tour. We got John, who is more into the brewing side of things. It was interesting to hear the story of how the brewery was started. In a nutshell, the brothers were both working jobs they couldn't stand and decided to start a brewpub, but neither of them knew how to brew or how to cook. After some bouncing around in the industry, they decided a brewery was more their style. They started the brewery in 1997 and have been steadily expanding for the last 14 years, although they're still a small business, employing just 49 people in the brewery. They are moving to a brand new brewery in Hershey, PA later this year and selling the current one to a local brewery. It was interesting to hear John speak about Troeg's business, which is basically just, "brew what we like". They have strong ties to the local community and other local breweries in Pennsylvania (they sponsored the Harrisburg Brewers Fest) and the surrounding areas. If you see any of their beer in your local store, pick some up. The Flying Mouflan is fantastic, but my favorite non-seasonal flavor of theirs is their Hopback (but if you ever see Nugget Nectar, GET SOME).

Then it was time for the Brewers Fest. I meant to take some pictures, but after a few beers I didn't even think of it. It wasn't a large event, not nearly as large as SAVOR or the Great American Beer Fest, but there were still about 40 breweries there, including some big names like Dogfish, Stone, and Ommegang. Unfortunately, the selection of beers from the big names left much to be desired. Instead, I found myself trying a lot of the local brewers' offerings. Among the local PA breweries, I tried beers from Yards (Philly), Weyerbacher (Easton), Sly Fox (Collegeville), Victory (Downingtown), Swashbuckler (Manheim), Marzoni (Duncansville), Otto's (State College), Allentown (Allentown, duh), and Iron Hill (various). I can't say I had a bad beer among the lot, but a couple of my favorites were the Hopsolutely IPA from Allentown, the Yakima Glory from Victory (one of my favorite PA breweries), and the 113 IPA from Sly Fox.

As for the out-of-town breweries, I sampled varieties from Fatheads (Ohio), Thirsty Dog (Ohio), Union (California), Oskar Blues (Colorado), Boulder (Colorado), Stone (California), and Ommegang (New York). Some of my favorites here were the Headhunter from Fatheads, the Mojo IPA from Boulder, the Smoked Porter from Stone, and the BPA from Ommegang. Overall, I sampled about 16 or so different beers before we ran out of time. It was a great time and I would definitely do it again, but next year, I want to make sure I hit a bigger event like SAVOR in addition to this one.

As for homebrew news, I finally got to try my Nugget Nectar clone. My wife came up with the name for it, Hoppelganger IPA (trademark pending). The aroma is quite hoppy, but the taste is surprisingly smooth. There is a subtle hop character, but the Nugget hops don't bite the way Nugget Nectar does. There are couple possible reasons for this. First, I think I just need to add more hops in the finishing phase, or even possibly in the flavoring phase. The other thing that I didn't do (because I didn't have the facility to do it) is a hop back. I've read this is possible by using a french press and making what basically amounts to a "hop tea", but I didn't have the equipment for this, so I bypassed it. I think adding this could really bring out that extra hop burst present in Nugget Nectar. Overall, it's a good IPA, but not quite a clone.

I also cracked a bottle of my English Honey Brown Ale last night (name pending) and I think it's really good. There isn't much of a honey taste left, but it's just sweet enough to be enjoyable. It's light, crisp, and dry, and it turned out surprisingly clear for an extract brew. The original and final gravities of this homebrew came out almost exactly to my estimates and this is by far the most perfect beer I've brewed to date. This one is a keeper. I also got to try a couple of homebrews from my friends this weekend. My friend Alex brewed up a hoppy amber IPA called Surly Furious and man was it good. It has an outstanding hop aroma that arrests your nose and just the right amount of hop bite. My friend Steve, in honor of the final Harry Potter movie set for release in a month, brewed one called Harry Porter (and the Wizarding School of Hopwarts), a strong, bitter porter that is just fantastic. My wife said it definitely has a "Dogfish taste" to is, which is pretty much the best complement you can give a homebrewer. My next project is going to be a little more advanced, as I'm going to try my hand at a saison, the perfect late summer beer. I'll update the blog with my brewing experience. Later!

Burton Baton, bottling day, and other random things

I finally experienced the joy that is Dogfish Head's Burton Baton the other night. I kept hearing about how good this was and how limited it was, but the funny thing is, there was no shortage of it in Northern Virginia. Every store I went to that sells beer seemed to have it, most notably the Total Wine stores. It's pricey at $14.99 for a 4-pack, but I decided to suck it up and buy a pack because I had to try this stuff for myself. The general gist of this beer is that they brew up an English-style Old Ale and an Imperial IPA. After fermenting the each separately in their stainless tanks, they combine the two in large oak tanks. It then sits on the wood for about a month before it's bottled. The Dogfish Head website says that you should notice citrusy notes from the Northwestern hops melding with vanilla notes from the oak. And that's pretty accurate. The oaky flavor is a nice subtle addition to this smooth ale. I don't taste much of the citrus, as the hops are drowned out somewhat by the oak flavor. But all in all, it's a very smooth beer, not too hoppy (even at 70 IBU) and it has a great finish. I drank my bottle with a steak dinner and it was the perfect compliment. Careful though... this is a 10% ABV beer but does not at all taste like it. Dogfish says this is a good beer to age, so I'm planning on doing just that. I have three left that I'm planning on aging for 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years, respectively. Now let's see if I can wait that long.

I tried a couple of other beers this week as well. I keep seeing this Dogfather Imperial Stout and I see it rated highly so I thought I would try it. I have to say, it's a bit overwhelming. I know stouts are heavy, but this one is very heavy. You can instantly taste the notes of chocolate in this one. I could only have one glass and had to save the rest of the tall bottle. It's good, solid stout though. I had another new one last night, this one from Sierra Nevada. It's their new seasonal Southern Hemisphere Hop Ale. If you're a hop head, get this beer. This beer contains hops imported from New Zealand. See, hops normally ripen in the fall, but it's fall in New Zealand when it's spring in the US. The hops are imported days after the harvest and put in this beer fresh. This is definitely a hop head's beer. The aroma is pure hops and you can smell the freshness. The taste of this one bites you almost instantly. It's a very bitter beer and may even take some getting used to. I personally like that hop bite so this beer was a welcome surprise. And at $4.50 for a tall bottle, it's worth the price.

As for my own beer, I bottled my Nugget Nectar clone last Friday night. I was a little disappointed by the batch size of this one at under two cases (43 bottles). I think I lost a lot in the boil, as it was a 90-minute boil. I also had a lot of trub from secondary due to the dry hopping process. Next batch I make of this will be a 6- or 7-gallon batch. I did sneak a taste of it though and even though it's not carbonated, I think it tastes pretty good. I think I'll crack one tomorrow night to try again and test the carbonation, but the goal is to have this one completely ready for the Harrisburg Brewers Fest on June 18th. I also racked my English Honey Brown to secondary on Friday night. This beer fermented super quick, completing in just 4 days. I gave it an extra day just to be safe, but my thinking is that the yeast went nuts on the honey. It was a fairly aggressive yeast strain as well (Nottingham), but I never expected it to be finished within 5 days. The gravity reading was right on and I'm looking forward to this one as well. I tasted a bit and I think it's going to turn out great. Tasted like a brown ale with just a hint of honey up front. Bottling for this one might happen as early as tomorrow.

That's all for now. The Harrisburg Brewers Fest is taking place in just over a week and I'll be there, sampling beer from up to 40 breweries. I'm also taking the tour of Troeg's Brewery on the same day. I'll take plenty of pictures and post them later!

Black & Blue and Brew Day

I'm a huge fan of Dogfish beers. There aren't many that I have tried that I'm not good friends with (ahem, Black & Red). I've been hearing the hype behind Dogfish Head Black & Blue for a few months now. It's the first time they have brewed this beer and it's a limited release, meaning it could also be the last time. I spent the last couple of weeks casually searching for it, until I went into Total Wine a few nights ago and asked a clerk if they had any in stock. He said they already sold through a shipment and that a Whole Foods in the area had some. Well, wouldn't you know I was heading to the homebrew store the next day and I just so happened to drive right by a Whole Foods. After scanning the shelves for a minute, my heart dropped. None left. But wait! What's that odd-looking bottle on the wrong shelf? You guessed it! It was the last bottle of the stuff. So I took it home, chilled it and cracked it at sunset, sharing half with my wife, Sarah. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this could be one of my favorite Dogfish Head beers. It has just the right amount fruit flavor (black raspberries and blueberries) and only in the finish. It's incredibly smooth and extremely drinkable. It's a great spring/summer beer, and is best sipped (10% ABV) while in a relaxed environment. Sarah said it's the perfect sunset beer, as we sat on our balcony and watched the sun set. If you get the chance to try it, by all means, do it.

Also on my agenda is brew day. I've recently started homebrewing again. See, I started homebrewing with my buddy Steve but I moved out of state about 8 months ago so haven't done a homebrew since. He's done a couple, with some success, but I'll let him post about that. I have a batch in my secondary fermenter and today I'm putting one back in the primary. In my secondary is a clone of one of my favorite beers of all time, Troeg's Nugget Nectar. This is an outstanding beer for hop heads and is only brewed three months out of the year (February-March-April), so it's out of stores right now. If you've never had it, it's got a crisp, clean taste with lots of hops, but the hops don't overpower your palate. It's finished with a hint of sweet, which is likely the nugget and warrior hops that go in during the dry hopping phase. Mine is dry hopping at the moment and bottling day is coming up next weekend. I can't wait to see how this one turns out.

Today though, is a new creation. Today I'm trying my hand at an English Honey Brown Ale. I've always been a fan of English Browns and Newcastle Brown Ale in particular. I had my list of ingredients for a Newcastle clone but when I went into my LHBS, they had a kit that the owner said is even better than Newcastle, with a bigger flavor. I thought I would take it one step further and add some honey at flameout. My only fear is that the yeast attack the honey, filtering out any sweetness and drying out the beer. But hey, this is why we experiment as homebrewers, right? For the honey, I found all natural honey imported from Germany, complete with honeycomb and all. I really hope this turns out because this honey is top grade and is amazingly sweet. I'm hoping that hints of honey come through in the final product, making this a great beer to please your palate on a warm summer evening.

I'll post results of my brews when they're finished. If you want my recipes, let me know. Until next time.

First Post!

So I had an idea whilst sipping some Dogfish Head Black & Blue and watching the sunset last night... beer blog! This is probably going to end up being more for me (and the other potential authors that contribute) than anything else, but if anyone else reads this... you're welcome. Anyway, this is a blog that is all about beer. I've become quite fond of beer in the last few years and a couple of my friends and I have started homebrewing with dreams in our heads of one day starting our own brewery. Who knows if that will actually happen? I can say that homebrewing and craft beer have become a big part of my life and I hope to continue this for a long time. Enjoy!