Thursday, April 14, 2005
Liquid Gold
Holy crap can I make a good belgian-style tripel.
The tripel I brewed back in mid-Jan (my first attempt at formulating a belgian recipe) has been aging for about three months now, so I decided to pour a little taste of it. I can't friggin believe it. It probably has another few months to go, but right now it is just amazing.
And while I was down there (and sampling the keg right next to it) I got some of what was supposed to be an IPA, but I went waaay to light on the late addition hops. Its about as pale a beer as I've ever brewed, and it does have a nice, smooth hop flavor and bitterness with a nice "signature" cascade aroma. Just for the hopheads in the club I recently ordered some Chinook (4oz), Warrior (2oz) and Nugget (2 oz) hops to mix up a really potent double IPA (to mix in with the rest of my hop arsenal).
Went to HDYB. They barely had any base 2-row at all, no Crystal 40L, and only had one of three hop varieties I was looking for. I asked them to order me a 50lb bag of American Pale 2-row, but since I anticipate this to be another fiasco like last time I also ordered 50 lb from MoreBeer along with 25lb of Golden Promise for some upcoming Scottish / Scotch batches. * grumble grumble *.
The Ramberg Cascade hop shoots are growing like mad - I've got some pushing 6 inches now. In another week or so I'll have to cut the shoots back to 2 or 3 to a patch... and seriously think about running some twine from the fence to the house for them to climb... Our back fence just ain't gonna cut it at 4 feet high. Still no sign of the 5 rhizomes we planted a couple weeks ago... hopefully we'll see those shoots break surface in a couple weeks.
Tomorrow is the Belgian tasting at State Line. I'm sure it'll be a complete zoo. When I called they talked about 100+ people. I know that a bunch of our members will be among the crowd, me and my best friend from Dover included. I think I talked the data manager from work to go as well - Donna and I ran into him at the Kennett Square Brewfest last year, so I know he's a beer guy. Should be fun.
Oh yeah... Meeting next week! I will be bringing some Oak-Aged Vanilla Imperial Porter provided it survives the weekend. I'll do my best... but no promises. If it doesn't, I will be tapping the second keg on for my B-day at the May 20 meeting. I'll also probably bring a growler of the Honey Pale Ale I brewed from MoreBeer.
The tripel I brewed back in mid-Jan (my first attempt at formulating a belgian recipe) has been aging for about three months now, so I decided to pour a little taste of it. I can't friggin believe it. It probably has another few months to go, but right now it is just amazing.
And while I was down there (and sampling the keg right next to it) I got some of what was supposed to be an IPA, but I went waaay to light on the late addition hops. Its about as pale a beer as I've ever brewed, and it does have a nice, smooth hop flavor and bitterness with a nice "signature" cascade aroma. Just for the hopheads in the club I recently ordered some Chinook (4oz), Warrior (2oz) and Nugget (2 oz) hops to mix up a really potent double IPA (to mix in with the rest of my hop arsenal).
Went to HDYB. They barely had any base 2-row at all, no Crystal 40L, and only had one of three hop varieties I was looking for. I asked them to order me a 50lb bag of American Pale 2-row, but since I anticipate this to be another fiasco like last time I also ordered 50 lb from MoreBeer along with 25lb of Golden Promise for some upcoming Scottish / Scotch batches. * grumble grumble *.
The Ramberg Cascade hop shoots are growing like mad - I've got some pushing 6 inches now. In another week or so I'll have to cut the shoots back to 2 or 3 to a patch... and seriously think about running some twine from the fence to the house for them to climb... Our back fence just ain't gonna cut it at 4 feet high. Still no sign of the 5 rhizomes we planted a couple weeks ago... hopefully we'll see those shoots break surface in a couple weeks.
Tomorrow is the Belgian tasting at State Line. I'm sure it'll be a complete zoo. When I called they talked about 100+ people. I know that a bunch of our members will be among the crowd, me and my best friend from Dover included. I think I talked the data manager from work to go as well - Donna and I ran into him at the Kennett Square Brewfest last year, so I know he's a beer guy. Should be fun.
Oh yeah... Meeting next week! I will be bringing some Oak-Aged Vanilla Imperial Porter provided it survives the weekend. I'll do my best... but no promises. If it doesn't, I will be tapping the second keg on for my B-day at the May 20 meeting. I'll also probably bring a growler of the Honey Pale Ale I brewed from MoreBeer.
