The Bar Towel

J343MY wrote:

matt7215 wrote: i had J343MY's bourbon wood aged barley wine tonight and it was mind blowingly good. this guy can really brew!

So when we trade again you want another bottle?

yes please!

An American styled barleywine, which we threw a half lb of chocolate malt into. We went with a recipe that leaned to a drier take already, and with the roast it's barely recognizable as a barleywine. Right now, fresh, drinking like a roasty American strong ale, quite a pithy bitterness and juicy hop aroma. I'm curious to see how this one develops, so I got it ready for aging....

ritzkiss wrote:An American styled barleywine, which we threw a half lb of chocolate malt into. We went with a recipe that leaned to a drier take already, and with the roast it's barely recognizable as a barleywine. Right now, fresh, drinking like a roasty American strong ale, quite a pithy bitterness and juicy hop aroma. I'm curious to see how this one develops, so I got it ready for aging....

Those are some sweet labels!

oak aged winter warmer right now. marris otter, c120, and black patent are the grains. than added some molasses, cinnamon, ginger, and bourbon soaked oak chips. Started out kind of rough, but is starting to taste really good right now.

My homegrown Zeus 'IPA'. I didn't get the bitterness or hop flavour/aroma that I expected, and with the specialty malts I used, it comes across as more of a Maibock (ala rogue dead guy).

This is my first time using Zeus. It's quite resiny, but less dank than columbus. It certainly still has that herbal/minty aspect though (I'd say it's more like Perle than Nugget).

It's interesting, but I think I'm more likely to blend it in the future. It went nicely in a CDA, along with cascade & centennial.

I'm also growing chinook (which I like a lot) and nugget (which I'm not really fond of). I really like Nugget Nectar, but I'm not sure how I'll use this hop... I really didn't like it at all in my brown ale.

Derek wrote:My homegrown Zeus 'IPA'.

This is my first time using Zeus. It's quite resiny, but less dank than columbus. It certainly still has that herbal/minty aspect though (I'd say it's more like Perle than Nugget).

Zeus is Columbus, I'm guessing it has more to do with your local climate/terroir.

markaberrant wrote: Zeus is Columbus, I'm guessing it has more to do with your local climate/terroir.

Yeah, I know it's of the sisters of the CTZ varieties, but how much genetic diversity do they have? Any? My climate is very similar to Yakima, so perhaps it's our sandy soil? Could also be that it was only the second year, so it's was still putting down roots. Columbus just seems MUCH more dank.

My cascade & chinook were much like expected, though the Centennial was actually a bit more dank than expected. I don't have previous experience with Nugget.

drinking a Gumballhead inspired wheat beer dry hopped with Amarillo and Simcoe, and a porter brewed with coffee and vanilla.

I did a split batch of Cascadian Darks... the first runnings were 9% and I hopped it with a variety of homegrown hops. I think I used too much carafa... it's very dark.

I'm drinking the second runnings right now, which came in around 5.5%. All Nugget hops for sort of an American Brown/Cascadian Dark. Initially I didn't like this one at all, very herbal and odd, maybe a little cheesy/sweat sock like. A few months later, that has totally changed. It's sort of a light spearmint flavour with a plethora of pine. Much nicer, a bit like the 'Nugget Nectar'.

There's a lot of oily resin in the Nugget... I don't know what changed it, a bit of oxidation or some additional work by the yeast, but it's nice.

cracked open my "8 lbs" sour mango blonde (fermented with brett claussenii). it was bottled 9 months ago. mango's dropped, brett's picked up, and man, it is a great summer beer.

Hazed & Confused
India Rye Ale

My annual hefeweizen. This year the 3068 didn't through off much banana... lots of vanilla and some clove, but I miss those esters!

Drank plenty of my Kolsch yesterday at a friend's housewarming party. Used multi-award winning recipe courtesy of Lethbridge's king of homebrewing Mark Whitehead.

Gonna brew another 10 gallons to last through CFL season, but will split with the seasonal Wyeast Kolsch II strain.

Derek wrote:My annual hefeweizen. This year the 3068 didn't through off much banana... lots of vanilla and some clove, but I miss those esters!

I have resigned myself to the fact I will never brew a decent hefeweizen. Anyone that can pull off that balance gets a tip of my hat!

sample of the home brewed Orval clone - I'm liking where this is heading

Unfortunately I had to de-gas the keg as the hop bag broke and completely clogged the out port as I went to draw a growler off