First State Brewers' Blog

Well, tonight my wife and I counterpressure filled 30 12oz bottles of my Strong Dark Ale, in effect kicking it and making way for the Queen's Darkness Imperial Stout. I like both, but the Queen's Darkness is definitely more of a "tap" beer than the other. I won't be bringing a growler of it to the next meeting - At 7.9% ABV, we wouldn't get through it. I'd also have to sneak it by my wife, who has decreed that anyone who wishes to sample it must beg her first. Maybe I'll fill up a flip-top and bring it to the meeting.

I am also wondering what else to bring to the meeting. I had a growler of both my English Bitter and the Peated Scottish when I went down to the Fordham outing with our southern DE brethren, however most of our club members seemed put off by the Scottish. I distinctly remember Scott saying about my peated Scottish (and I quote): "What the heck did you do to this?". Perhaps I didn't understand the spirit in which the feedback was given, but I didn't take it as a compliment. I was suprised since many people were very praiseful, but hey - different strokes.

I also got high praise for the Oak Aged Vanilla Porter and the Native Rage India Red Ale. A few others enjoyed the Oatmeal Stout and Pumpkin Ale, however everyone seemed to really dislike the witbier - too much coriander or something, I supposed. Oh well, its my wife's beer and she loves (as do I), so it just won't go on more outings with me.

Maybe I'll bring a couple of my remaining Sled Dog Doppelbocks and a couple other bottles of homebrew to the next meeting. I think I'll save the 3 bottles of Ommegang and the bottles of Weyerbacher Decadence, Victory V12, and Iron Hill Old Ale for later.

My third batch of oak-aged vanilla porter is sitting in a secondary on 2oz of oak chips and 2oz of oak cubes and 3 vanilla beans. I've also got a carboy of abbey dubbel chugging away at 65-66 degrees with a sleeping bag wrapped around it. Hopefully the yeast will have enough energy to finish the job... I'd be annoyed if my third try on a dubbel went awry too - 3 strikes and you're out? I'm sure it'll be fine though.

Next on deck is my Homegrown Pale Ale for 2005... I'm going to use all 5 oz of hops (1oz Nugget and 4oz Cascade) in the batch so it'll be 100% homegrown hops. It might end up tasting like grassy butt hell, but hey, I'll drink it anyways. I have to admit that I am still really sketchy about when the optimum time is to harvest them.