Bearded Brewing Blog

Labels and labeling

2009-06-30T13:14:00.006-05:00

Well the results came in from the BYO label contest, and I didn't win. To be honest I'm not that disappointed because there were some great labels that got in the mag, and I think my own labels are really good. Plus, art is in the eye of the beholder right? The main reason I enter the contest in the first place is a goal to better my skills from one year to the next and I think I've done that. I should probably learn how to use Photoshop or a similar program because that would probably allow me to make some better labels.
Which brings me to the subject of this post, my labels.
I've had some emails in the past asking me about my labels, how I make them, and what I use to put them on bottles. For starters, I use a really outdated program called Microsoft Picture It! for my labels. I know for a fact that if I learned how to use Photoshop or a similar program I could make better labels, but I'm really comfortable with my program and have been frustrated when I've attempted to use Photoshop, so for now I'm sticking with my old ass program. I have hand drawn, then scanned, some of my images, like my logo and the El Muerto logo. Other labels are a combination of clipart, fonts, and
other things.
As for the labels on the actual bottles, I use a couple different things and wanted to pass my tips on to those interested in putting some labels on your beer. I used to buy the labels at my local homebrew shop. They come from a company called 4th and Vine. The beauty of buying these is the access to their templates, which have a variety of sizes for bottles. I still use the templates, but have switched to a cheaper method of label paper. I buy the sticker project paper at Office Max or Target. They come in packages of 15 sheets, have a peel away sticky side, and can be used for a variety of bottle sizes. It got costly for me to buy 4th and Vine labels for both 12 and 22 oz bottles. With sticker paper, I can adjust the images to fit even odd bottles, like the pint bottle in the picture above. Another plus is that these labels come off very easily if you recycle your bottles.
I really enjoy this aspect of my brewing, it's another avenue to be creative and it's also fun to give friends a six pack with labels on the bottles.
More to come...
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Beer Review- New Glarus Black Wheat

2009-06-25T13:19:00.003-05:00

Summers for me mean a break from teaching, more time for brewing (unless I have a new baby like this summer) and going to Wisconsin to my parents summer home. Trips to Wisconsin means access to some beers not available in Minnesota, most importantly New Glarus. I have professed my love of New Glarus often in this blog, in fact one of my very first blog posts was about New Glarus. This small brewery in Southeastern Wisconsin rates as my number 1 brewery in the country. I don't say that lightly and the reason is that I've never had a bad beer from New Glarus. I have had beers of theirs I don't prefer because I'm not a fan of the style, or it's just a bit too experimental for me (Imperial Weizen comes to mind), but I've never been disappointed by the quality, creativity and sheer craftsmanship of New Glarus. They think outside the box and do it well, or traditional and do it well. That to me is the sign of a high class brewery, everyone can make a super crazy beer or a super hoppy beer. But to do all styles well, I think there are a handful of breweries that can succeed in all they brew. I have a lot of respect for their strong "Drink Indigineous" credo, as they use a lot of local products in their beer to reflect Wisconsin. And even though it sucks for us Non-Wisconsinites, they only distribute in Wisconsin, which I think allows them to focus on quality instead of quantity.

My dad recently brought me two wheats from New Glarus, Black Wheat and Cracked Wheat. I'll get to the Cracked next post, but I've been loving the Black Wheat. It pours a cloudy black with a foamy, two finger white head. It smells like a porter hefeweizen...aromas of roast, caramel and chocolate, but also clove and banana. Its smooth and light, almost crisp in the finish. The "weiss" part of this beer dominates with the "black" taking a backseat. Sweet, clovey and banana flavors mix surprisingly well with the chocolate, caramel and roasted malt going on. There is some lingering "porter-like" for lack of a better term, flavors that are present in the finish, but the roastiness is replaced by a nice clovey-sweetness that wants you coming back for more. I think this is a winter or spring seasonal, and I can see why. It gets you ready to drink light refreshing beers in the summer, but still has enough of a darkness/roasty quality to be really satisfying for a non-session beer. Another great New Glarus.

I will get to my Cracked Wheat review, along with a few others, and I'm going to attempt to brew again soon, so I'll keep you abreast with how that goes...maybe wearing a baby on my back? Not sure of the logistics, but the brew kettle is calling.

Salud!

Bearded Brewing

Beer Review- IAPA

2009-06-16T12:51:00.003-05:00

It's been two weeks now since my son was born and we are adjusting nicely. But the itch to brew is starting to grow and I'm trying to figure out how and when I'm going to be able to start brewing again. At 8 weeks was the first time I brewed with my daughter, but I'm not going to be waiting that long to brew this time around!
When I do brew again, it will be another batch of this Iowa Pale Ale (or IAPA). As I mentioned before, this beer was the second collaboration with my best friend Jeff, whom I grew up with in Iowa and now lives up here in the Twin Cities.
I have been nervous to brew a pale ale for some reason. I feel like pale ales are the kind of beers that can be great, but at the same time if done poorly can be forgettable or just plain bad. I've had plenty of commercial or brew pub examples that fit that description. I remember reading an article by Jamil Zainasheff where he mentioned that his true test of a brewer is to taste their pale ale because it's simple to brew, but easy to do poorly.
It's been several years since I brewed a pale ale, and I wanted to make one that could be my "house" pale ale. Jeff and I's favorite Pale Ales are Summit EPA and Millstream's Iowa Pale Ale. In my mind, Summit's is a classic American pale ale, with a nice citrusy hop presence, a clean bitterness and a nice caramely-malty sweetness. Millstream's is probably closer to an IPA than a traditional pale ale, heavy on the citrusy hops, crisp and clean with more of a subtle sweetness. We were aiming for something in between and I'm happy that I think we nailed it.
It's rare for me to be this excited about one of my beers right off the bat. I generally really like the beers I brew, but I tend to tweak and over-analyze them. Both Jeff and I agree that the IAPA is excellent and doesn't need tweaking. I would put it in the top five of the beers I've brewed. Onto the review:
IAPA pours a clear gold with a finger of white head. Right away nice aromas of classic Cascade hops, grapefruity, with some nice caramel notes coming through. There's a pleasant citrusy hoppiness at first followed by caramel and malty sweetness. There's a bitterness that gives it a good backbone that balances well with the sweetness. It finishes with a lingering caramel presence and refreshing crispness.

Here's the recipe:
2 lbs Organic 2-Row
1 lb Victory
.75 Org Caramel 60
.25 Org Carapils

4 lbs Org Light DME (2 @ 60, 2 @ 15)
Hops:
.60 Organic Pacific Gem @ 60
1 oz Fuggles @ 30
1 oz Cascade @ 2
1 oz Cascade @ flameout

American 1056 Yeast

More to come...
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Beer Review- Lost Coast Brewing

2009-06-10T10:17:00.008-05:00

My parents are snowbirds that spend their winters in Tucson, Arizona and summers in Wisconsin. Before making the journey back to the Midwest my dad told me to look up a beer superstore he'd been going to called Total Wine and More and pick out some beers I wanted him to bring up. The selection was impressive and it was hard to narrow down the list. Aside from Alaskan Brewing Company, the rest of the beers I had him bring up were California breweries. Out of all the beer he was going to pick up, the one my dad insisted I needed to try was Lost Coast because he was impressed with their brown ale he had picked up before. My dad brews one of the best browns I've had, so I figured it must be good. He picked up their Alley Cat Amber Ale, and 8 Ball Stout along with the brown, Downtown Brown, and all three were outstanding. Onto the reviews:

Downtown Brown: Pours a nice mahogany brown with ruby red highlights and a finger of off white head. Nice aromas of toffee, malt, caramel and nuttiness. Right away there's a nice malty sweetness with great flavors of brown sugar, and nuts. Sweet and slightly roasty with a faint bitterness in the end. Very well balanced and a great creamy mouthfeel. An outstanding brown ale.

Alley Cat Amber Ale: Pours a cloudy amber with a thin white head. Nice aromas of malt, biscuit, and flowery hops. There's some nice spicy notes and caramel flavor right away. Very nicely balanced between biscuit, malt, and hoppy spiceness. Great mouthfeel, creamy with some hoppy bitterness in the finish. A perfectly balanced amber ale.

8 Ball Stout: Pours dark, chocolate brown almost black with a finger of tan head. Wonderful aromas stout aromas of caramel, roasted malt, coffee and chocolate. Smooth, creamy mouthfeel, with a great roasty flavor. A lot of caramel and chocolate milk sweetness going on as well. It finishes sweet and malty with a lingering roasty backbone. Another outstanding beer from Lost Coast.

Overall, I was really impressed. All very well balanced and highly drinkable, I wish I had access to more of their product. In the coming posts, I'll be reviewing the rest of the beers I got, which include Green Flash Brewing's Hop Head Red, a couple Alaskan Brewing Company beers, Anderson Valley Boont's Amber Ale, and a couple beers from Mad River Brewing Company.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

New Brewer Arrives

2009-06-05T09:33:00.003-05:00

Bearded Brewing has added the newest brewer to the fold, my son was born on Thursday. As a result, my summer will be filled with little sleep, diaper changing, trying to manage a two year old, and probably little brewing. I will continue to post when I get a chance, I have a lot of beer reviews I have yet to post, so stay tuned for those. I am going to try to sneak in a couple of brewing sessions. I have a Saison recipe I'd like to brew and would like to brew another batch of IAPA (review coming soon). I have to say I haven't been this happy about a beer I've made in a while. I generally really like my beers a lot, but can always find a few flaws, because I'm anal like that. But, the IAPA is a spot on pale ale in my opinion and exactly what I had in mind when I made the recipe. I want to brew another batch since I split half the batch with Jefe and he's got a case of it.
I still have to get to the reviews of all the California beers my dad brought me from Arizona, and also a new New Glarus he brought me down from Wisconsin...a Black Wheat... I love New Glarus, traditional or experimental, they always bring it!
Stay tuned, I'll try to post when I can...even if it's in a sleep deprived state.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Beer Review- Bearded Fury IPA

2009-05-28T21:44:00.003-05:00

Well, no baby yet, so I'm going to get to another posting and review my recently tapped Bearded Fury IPA. I've felt for sometime that I haven't quite nailed the bitterness I want in an IPA. The Bearded Fury is definitely a keeper in my opinion, but I still feel like I can up the bitterness a bit more to just add some more of a bite. Regardless, I feel like this is my best IPA yet, so I'm on the right path. It's on the low end of the IBU scale, only at 43. Where the Fury does hit, is the citrusy hoppy sweetness I was aiming for. I think that the Fury is definitely the IPA to be added to the rotation, especially once I figure out this bitterness thing.
Onto the review:
Bearded Fury pours a cloudy orange with a finger of white head. Nice citrusy aromas of orange with some nice grapefruit notes. Right away it's sweet with some nice caramel presence in the body, but quickly it's dominated by citrusy, hoppy sweetness. There's some lingering bitterness in the finish, but as mentioned before, not as much as I would want. A nice balance of aromas and sweetness, this is an IPA that goes down nicely on a hot day.

Here's the recipe:
2 lbs organic 2-row
1 lb organic munich
.75 lb org crystal 20
.25 lb org Belgian carapils
Mash @ 152 for an hour
6lbs org Light DME
Hops:
1 oz Nugget @ 60
.50 oz Centennial @ 15
.50 oz Centennial @ 10
1 oz Cascade @ 1
1 oz Cascade @ flameout
1 oz Cascade Dry Hop
Yeast: Wyeast 1272 American Ale 2

More to come.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Race against time

2009-05-23T08:32:00.005-05:00

My wife is 37 weeks pregnant, and we have been told that our second child will be arriving anytime. I plan to brew this weekend...plan being the operative word. The first time she was pregnant, she found out right before our first ever Bearded Brewfest. So as everyone tried the variety of beers I made, she had to drink juice. It was unfortunate that during the pregnancy was when I really started brewing frequently and honing my skills. So when our daughter was born, she wanted the beer I had made for her, Inky's White Ale, to be ready for postpartum drinking. This time around I have debated between Inky's and Bangy Tangy, another favorite of hers and a great summer beer. I chose Inky's out of tradition, and seeing that it will most likely be the last time I brew a beer for a birth, I thought it was appropriate. But the Bangy Tangy is a very similar recipe, with cranberries added to the boil, so I decided to try to get the best of both worlds. I'm going to use the Inky's recipe and add the cranberries. It won't quite be either beer, since there are some differences in the grain bills and hops. But both beers are fan favorites and I figure with a lot of people coming to see the baby, the beer should be a nice summer beer that most will enjoy.
If all goes according to my plan, I will be bottling the El Muerto tonight and brewing the Inky's tomorrow. I've posted Inky's recipe before, but I'll post it with the changes once I brew it.

-My parents came up from Arizona on their way to their summer home in Wisconsin. My dad had called me before leaving Tuscon. There's a crazy beer store he frequents called Total Wine that has a great selection of beers. Weeks before he left I printed out their beer list and chose some beers for him to bring up. He arrived Thursday with a case of beer for me! I'll get to those reviews soon.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Label Contest Entries

2009-05-17T10:01:00.006-05:00

For the last two years I've entered some labels into the BYO label contest. I first started to make labels after stumbling across the annual contest winners in a Brew Your Own magazine. I had just started brewing enough to have multiple beers at a time, and was trying to think of a better way to give my friends six packs than saying "the dot is a pale ale and the x is a wheat beer." I was inspired by the labels I saw, and thought this was a great way I could use some creativity and combine it with my love of brewing. I love the whole process of naming the beer, to designing the label as much as I enjoy brewing it and drinking it. I do enter the BYO contest with the hopes of getting published, but I also enjoy using it as a vehicle to improve over the previous year's labels. This year I entered the following labels:

-In another note, I want to send a thanks out to Stuart at the Twin Cities based Friday Night Beer Blog. We met at the Town Hall Brewery so I could give him a couple beers. Stuart's a very cool guy and we had a good time talking about beer and other things over an amazing Raspberry Cherry Stout at Town Hall. Stuart recently reviewed my El Muerto and Gringo and I thank him for the kind words.

- I'm planning on reviewing my Bearded Fury IPA soon, I've been happy with the turn out. Also, my dad is bringing me up some beers he picked up in Arizona. I think I'm getting a few six packs of some West Coast stuff not available around here, so look for some reviews in the somewhat near future.
More to come...
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Interview- Odell Brewing Company

2009-05-09T19:28:00.003-05:00

It's been quite awhile since I have interviewed a brewery. On my recent trip to Colorado I had a great red ale from Odell Brewing Company and decided to check out their website when I got back. What I found out was that this Fort Collins,Colorado brewery not only brews very good beer, but they also do a number of excellent "socially responsible" things, like giving a lot of money to charities (as a lot of breweries do) and a number of other cool things. After contacting the brewery, I found out that they also are also very environmentally conscience as well. My previous interviews have all centered around breweries who are either organic, or socially responsible, and I am always happy to be able to "spread the word" about breweries doing great things.

1. How long has Odell Brewery been in operation?

Odell Brewing Company was founded in 1989 by Doug Odell, his wife Wynne and sister Corkie, they are still our operating owners.

2. What kinds of sustainable practices do you have at your brewery?

We have a number of sustainable practices that help to minimize our impact on the environment. We send all of our spent grain to a local dairy farmer for feed, collect our used yeast for another farmer that adds it to his cattle’s feed (it is extremely high in vitamin B12 and has lots of other benefits). These 2 practices aid us in recycling/reusing 98% of our solid waste, we have an extensive recycling program that allows us to recycle all of the obscure packaging materials we get on a daily basis like shrink wrap and plastic ties (and of course all glass and paper are recycled!). We have changed brewing, cellaring and packaging habits to reduce our water use from 4.8 gallons of water per gallon of beer down to 3.85 (it is an industry standard to use between 4 and 7 gallons!). We participate in Fort Collins’ program “Climate Wise” allowing us to purchase wind power. It also helps us to regulate our energy use by installing “hot shot boxes” on our chillers to cut them at peak hours of the day. We package off peak hours (to minimize our stress on the grid) and run our local delivery trucks on Blue Sun Biodiesel. We also use Zero Hero to lower our waste impact on large events like our Small Batch Festival. Those are just some surface things I can think of… let me know if you’d like more!

3. Do you brew organically or have plans to do so?

We are brewing a beer this fall that will be lightly bottle distributed that will be made with organic hops grown on the Western Slope near Palisade (as local as you can get!) We are thrilled to be able to use “local” organic product in our beer and hope to use more in the future!

4. Could you explain a little about the charitable and socially responsible aspects of your brewery?

The Odells have always had a strong sense of responsibility in their community and it is reflected through their mission statement and practiced through their unique charitable program. When you visit us in our tap room and purchase a taster tray, the proceeds benefit our charities of the month. We typically have two represented; one locally and one from a further reaching area within our distribution. The monies are split and the charities get to showcase themselves on our charitable board for the month. Because of our size and desire to make an impact, we have limited our parameters for donation to include Human Services, Sustainability and Education. Our budget for this year is projected to be right around $110,000! We also donate lots of beer and goodies to fundraisers and events outside the brewery.

5. Where do you think "green brewing" practices are headed and why should breweries move in the direction?

It honestly seems to me that it has become an industry standard which is a great source of pride for all of us involved, particularly for those of us that work for companies that have been doing their best from the beginning. I think with large breweries like New Belgium and Sierra Nevada setting wonderful examples of ways to limit their impact alongside their immensity, it gives those of us with slower growth the opportunity to take advantage of practices that will sustain us. Our friends and patrons are better educating themselves about the products that they purchase and voting with their dollars, it is important to offer them a quality product made with creative passion that fulfills our need to be gentle to the Earth and good to our communities.

For more info, check out their website, including this cool video about their operation:

Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Beer Review- Gringo 09

2009-05-05T00:01:00.000-05:00

Seeing that it's Cinco de Mayo, I thought it would be fitting to finally getting around to reviewing The Gringo. This is the second year that I've made this beer, and it has definitely improved over last year. Last year I decided to brew an "Imperialistic" Mexican Lager. I tried to think of something that would be my own twist on the "Imperial" everything that seems to dominate beer today. Not really sure what I was going to end up with, I was pleasently suprised by the result, but it still wasn't as good as it could be. This time around I had a much better idea of what I wanted. I wasn't aiming so much for a big, imperial beer, more of a hoppy-citrusy Mexican cerveza. For a final touch, I decided to add some Agave Nectar, which is very similar to honey and one of the main ingredients in Tequila.
The Gringo 09 has turned out very well, and while I think it could use a few minor tweaks, I think I'm definitley in the ballpark of what I want. Here's my official review:
The Gringo pours a dark straw yellow, crystal clear with a thick, foamy white head. An aroma of citrus and honey right away, with some nice grapefruit notes. Smooth at first with a lot of sweetness , and some hoppy puckering. The agave is there, in fact a little too much, I think it hides some of the hops. But they are not lost in the sweetness, as there is still a very hoppy presence. It finshes smooth with a lingering honey sweetness and some citrusy hops.

Overall, I'm quite happy. It's smooth like a lager, but the hops and the agave make it interesting. "Americanized" to the point of almost being unrecognizable as a "Mexican lager." My only complaint is that instead of using 12 oz of Agave in the secondary, I think 1/2 to 3/4 of that would have been better, allowing the hops to come to the forefront more. However, I think this is very drinkable, unique and is on the right path. I gave a couple bottles to Friday Night Beer Blog and he said it was like a hoppy Corona. What I was aiming for!
Here's the recipe:
3 lbs Organic Pilsner Malt
.5 lbs Organic Cara-pils
.5 lbs org. Munich
.15 lbs org Vienna
Mash @ 154 for 1 hour
4 lbs Organic Light DME
2 lbs Cane Sugar

Hops:
.35 oz Centennial Hops (9.1 % AA) @ 60
1 oz Centennial Hops @ 15
.50 Centennial @ 10
1 oz Cascade @ 5
.50 oz Centennial @ 2
1 oz Cascade @ 1
.65 oz Centennial @ flameout

Wyeast 2112 Cali Yeast
12 ounces Light Agave Nectar in Secondary
Lager for 2 weeks @ 35 degrees.

Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Bad father?

2009-05-03T15:33:00.006-05:00

I preface this by saying that this isn't about self promotion. It's simply for those demented beer loving parents out there like me that has introduced their young children to craft beer at a very young age. One of my daughter's first words was "brew." This came about from her playing around in the Bearded Brewery with me (brew spoons and buckets are pretty fun toys for toddlers). She accompanies me to buy said "brew" and to the homebrew shop. Now that she's almost two and has more words in her vocabulary, she associates rabbits and frogs with "hop" and it made me think of this design. I have wanted to make a Bearded Brewing shirt for my daughter, but this seemed better. For those interested, I have the shirt available at zazzle. Like I said, it's not about self-promotion, I make a whopping $1 off a shirt. I just thought I'd share in case there are other parents like myself who think there's nothing wrong with your young child wearing beer related clothing!
Here's the link if interested.

Salud!
Bearded Brewer
-

Summit Horizon Red Ale

2009-04-29T20:53:00.005-05:00

I'm sure that most people have that "fall back" beer. The brewery, or beer that they go to when they aren't feeling adventurous. For me Summit beers are those beers. I know what I'm getting, know that I will enjoy it, and can fall back on it when I'm not in the mood to try something different.
Summit holds a special place for me because Summit is the beer that made me get into craft beer. In college I did like most people, and drank whatever crap came out of a keg at a party, or whatever I could drink a lot of for cheap. After college I started getting more bold, going for such radical beers as Rolling Rock, Leinenkugals, and Grain Belt Premium.
Then I found Summit. I can't remember if it was the Hefeweizen, or the EPA that I first had, but the beer that turned me was their Maibock. Word spread amongst my friends that there was this beer that got you really drunk after two or three pints! When late Febuary, early March would roll around, we were excited for the famous blue and white checkered tap handle that said that Maibock had arrived. From there I moved into other Summits, mostly their EPA and summer offerings. It opened the door to craft beer for me. Years later, it was on a trip to the Summit brewery that I was introduced to a style I didn't like at the time but have grown to love, porters. I thought I didn't like "dark beers" until a free token at the Summit brewery resulted in a glass of Great Northern Porter (still my favorite porter) and my love for this style began.
Summit is the forgotten big brother of the craft beer industry in Minnesota. Once Surly came along, the hype followed as Surly was producing the beers that beer geeks love; hoppy, bold beers. They canned them and had a really edgy marketing theme to go with it. Surly makes great beer, and the hype as the new kid on the block was well deserved, but I think that people began to forget about Summit. Summit made very solid German and English style ales. EPA was the standard in most bars, and their Scandia was a nice Belgian Wit that became a popular summer beer. But I think that amongst a lot of beer geeks, they lacked that "umpf" or "sex appeal" for lack of a better word.
Well, Summit has answered that call with their Horizon Red Ale. This is their answer to hop heads who have been lured by the aggressive beers now available in Minnesota. Horizon is by far their hoppiest beer, and a damn good one at that!
Horizon Red pours a reddish brown with some ruby red highlights, a white head and wonderful flowery, hoppy aromas. Right away you notice some nice malt and biscut notes. At first there is some malty sweetness along with a heavy biscuit presence, those are quickly replaced by a dose of hoppy bitterness. It's well balanced, especially the more you drink. There's quite a bit of hop presence throughout, bitter, yet citrusy and floral. There's also quite a bit of maltiness and sweetness as well. There's some lingering bitterness in the finish as well as some caramel and citrusy sweetness.
A refreshing new beer for Summit. I think it's their most aggressive beer, but doesn't lose the extremely well balanced quality they have in all of their beers, and is definitely going to be added to my "fall back" options of Summit beers.
An excellent addition to the local beer scene.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

A couple random things

2009-04-26T10:23:00.003-05:00

A couple quick things:

1. I will be reviewing the new Summit Horizon Red Ale soon. My quick thoughts: I really like this new Summit and its an encouraging sign, since its probably the most aggressive of their beers. I think this beer is Summit's answer to the hoppier, more aggressive beers in the industry, especially the growth of Surly. I will write more on this beer this week, but I really like this hoppy, bitter, red ale.

2. I bottled my Irie Stout this weekend. Its been sitting in the secondary for a month to mellow out, and hopefully blend the flavors a bit more. Granted, it needs time to bottle condition, but I'm not overly optimistic about the turn out. I think I tweaked this recipe too much and combination of treacle (too much molasses flavor) and the 10.2% abv (very present at this point), right now it's not extremely drinkable. I know I need to give it some time, but the two previous Iries were drinkable at the bottling. This might of been the case of me overthinking, and trying to hard to get the beer to fit into a category, when before it might not have been stout like, but it was damn good. We'll give it some time though.

3. Speaking of tweaking, I also will soon get to my Gringo 09 review. This is my Hoppy Mexican Lagerish beer. I don't really know how to exactly explain the Gringo in terms of style. Its made mostly from Pilsner malt, I used the Cali 2112 yeast, and lagered it for a couple weeks. It's very smooth and crystal clear in color. I used 4 ounces of Centennial hops.I also added 12 oz of Agave Nectar in the secondary. Never using Agave Nectar before, I wasn't sure how strong of a flavor it would produce...the answer...a lot! 12 oz was entirely too much. There is a great smoothness and citrusy hoppy presence to the Gringo...once you get past the honey flavor (agave nectar is essentially a light honey). Its not undrinkable by any means, its light and crisp and sweet. Too sweet though, and I just keep thinking of how much better it would be with 1/2 the Agave Nectar. I'll post an official review and the recipe soon.

4. I'm submitting my labels into the annual BYO label contest this week. I've chosen 4 labels and will post about which ones soon. I think I've improved my label designs since last year, and for that reason alone it's nice to have a contest to better yourself for.

5. One quick beer thougt...I recently got some Troeg's beers sent to me. If you have the ability to buy Hopback Amber Ale, by all means do so. Such a damn good beer!

More to come...
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Gun to My Head List

2009-04-21T18:05:00.002-05:00

I'm not usually one to fill out the "top five ________ lists" on Facebook, but I did fill out my top five beers. This was virtually impossible for me! I can't pick just five. I can't ever go to the store and pick out some beer, I have to look at all my options, see if there's anything new or seasonal out, it depends on what kind of beer mood I'm in, dark, light, hoppy, Belgian, etc. In fact I rarely buy a specific beer often, I'm constantly trying out new beers or taking advantage of mix your six pack deals. Ever since I made the top five list on Facebook, I keep thinking about others I would put. So I decided to come up with a list of beers I would buy with a gun to my head...just go in to the store and grab a six pack kind of moment. These are in no order of favorites, but are simply based on these two rules:
1. I have to have had bought the beer multiple times.
2. It has to be available to me either in Minnesota, or something I could get on my frequent trips to Wisconsin or in the case of Millstream, what I have people pick me up in Iowa on a regular basis.
3. Can't be seasonals, so no Hopslam or special releases.

The categories are: Pale Ales, IPAs and Ambers, Dark beers and Belgians

Pale Ales:
1. Summit EPA
2. Millstream Iowa Pale Ale
3. Left Hand Jackman's Pale Ale
4. Stone Pale Ale
5. New Belgium Mighty Arrow Pale Ale *
* technically a seasonal...

IPAs and Amber Ales:
1. Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA
2. Stone IPA
3. Lagunitas IPA
4. Bell's Two Hearted
5. Rush River Unforgiven Amber Ale
6. Rouge Dead Guy
7. Left Hand Sawtooth (Amber)
8. New Glarus IPA

Dark:
1. Surly Bender
2. Bell's Best Brown Ale
3. Left Hand Black Jack Porter
4. Left Hand Milkstout
5. New Glarus Fat Squirrel
6. Summit Great Northern Porter
7. Millstream Oatmeal Stout
8. Rogue Shakespeare Stout

Belgians:
1. Ommegang Three Philsophers
2. Ommegang Hennepin
3. Triple Karmaleit
4. Hoegaarden
5. New Belgium Triple
6. New Belgium Abbey
7. New Belgium Fat Tire
8. New Glarus Spotted Cow
9. Millstream's John's Generation White Ale
10. Surly Cynic Ale
11. Unibroue Fin Du Monde
12. Unibroue Maudite

So...there you go. So much more satisfying than the Facebook 5. There were more that I could have added, but didn't fit into my category of having them multiple times. If only I bought more of the same beers...but what would the fun be in that? I encourage people to create your own lists and post them on the comments. I'd love to see what others have...
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

IAPA

2009-04-18T09:50:00.004-05:00

My friend Jeff and I have been best friends for over 20 years. Throughout the years we've been into a lot of the same things, starting with GI Joes, through skateboarding, Public Enemy and RUN DMC, the grunge era, punk rock, and various other phases as we've grown. For the last several years, Jeff has gotten more and more into the craft beer obsession I have. We grew up several miles apart in a small town in Iowa, and he moved to the Twin Cities about 3 years ago. Jeff has been involved with my brewing through small projects in the brewery, designing the first Beardedbrewing website, and helping out with bottling, etc.
Last year he decided to take the plunge into brewing and we brewed up a beer I originally made for him called El Jefe, a light Belgian ale. For his second beer, we decided to do a pale ale. I haven't made one in quite a while and Jeff's favorite beer is probably Summit's EPA.
Jeff and I have always collaborated well creatively and we talked about my ideas for the label and name. We bounced names back and forth for awhile trying to settle on something that represented us. Through many, many names we settled on IAPA. Not wanting to steal Iowa Pale Ale from Millstream, we decided to go with IAPA. The next fitting thing was going with a John Deere inspired label. John Deere tractors are made near our hometown and Jeff's dad worked at John Deere for a long time. It only made sense to go with a John Deere inspired label, and I was excited to find the font they use on the actual John Deere logo.
As for the beer itself, we settled on a pale ale based loosely on the Summit EPA, which means heavy on the caramel malts, and some fuggles hops at about 30 minutes. There are 2 ounces of Cascade in the end of the recipe. It's been fermenting nicely for a week and I'll be excited to see how it turns out.
In other notes, I'm going to be bottling my Irie Stout 3 soon. It's been mellowing out in the secondary for over a month. At 10% ABV, it's had a bit too harsh of an alcohol taste going on, and I've wanted it to bulk age for a bit to hopefully take care of that. Also, I created a list I want to post soon.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Bearded Fury IPA

2009-04-13T20:44:00.002-05:00

Last week was my spring break, and I was excited to be able to get not one, but two brews in. I have a second child arriving in June, and with a 2 year old already in the mix, I know it's going to be a busy summer. My plan is to get as much brewing in as possible (aiming for 3 more before end of May) so that I have some beer stocked up for the summer and can feed my habit before I need to take a short hiatus.
Anyway, I've been into hoppy beers lately and so I decided to brew up an IPA and a Pale Ale. I'll have more on the pale ale later in the week. As for the IPA...I've never felt like I've gotten the style down. My first IPA was made using a concoction from Northern Brewer called Hopshot. It was a decent extract IPA I called (cleverly) Hopshot IPA. Overall I liked the beer and it had some nice citrusy hops in it. My next IPA was my all organic IPA, Green Beard IPA. I got a really nice review of Green Beard from Ted @ Tedbrews, but I felt that it missed the mark on some of the bitterness. Especially compared to some excellent IPAs I've had by homebrewers like Ted and Dave @ Muckney.

So onto the Fury. Originally this beer name, and orginial label was the first from scratch beer I made. It was a pale ale that was brewed with fuggles and was a fairly tame PA. The last time I brewed it I was dissapointed in the turn out, and have not brewed it since. I'm hoping that the Pale Ale I brewed last week (and name to be revealed) will be my "house" pale ale, so I thought that the Bearded Fury needed an upgraded label and more appropriate beer to be applied to. I thought a hoppy IPA fit the bill. Enough about the name...
Bearded Fury is a little on the lower end of the IBUs, actually in the mid 40s, but I'm hoping that there will be enough bitterness to give it a backbone but really accenuate the citrusy hops. Depending on the turn out of this one, I might up the bittering hops. It's brewed with Nugget, 1 ounce of Centenial, 2 ounces of Cascade and is currently being dry hopped with 1 ounce of Cascade leaf hops. I used organic munich, organic 2-row and org Crystal 60. I'll give the full recipe when I review it. I just transferred it and it smelled great and tasted pretty good, so I'm excited for the turn out.
Later this week I'll discuss the pale ale I made with my buddy Jeff and also get to a list I've been meaning to post.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Holy Hops!!

2009-04-08T16:55:00.006-05:00

I haven't always been a hoppy beer fan. I've liked pale ales for a long time, but it took some time for me to learn to appreciate and even crave a good IPA. Little by little I opened up to appreciate hops, and last year took the leap into Double IPA territory with Bell's Hopslam.
I had heard the hype but figured that my adversity to super hoppy beers and the $15 six pack was enough to keep me away. Eventually, my curiosity got the best of me, and since I love every other Bell's I've had, decided I should just try Hopslam. What a beer! The honey mixed perfectly with the hops and it wasn't anywhere close to bitter. I have since tried a number of double IPAs and nothing compares. The style still tends to be hit or miss with me, so I decided to pick up several to review.

Bell's Hopslam: For Christmas this year my wife bought me a gift certificate to a local liquor/beer store with an impressive collection. I purposefully saved the last $20 for the release of Hopslam. This beer is so good, it's quite scary. At 10% you can't put down too many and be functional, yet it is surprisingly refreshing and the honey it's brewed with leaves you with a taste for another swallow! It pours a golden orange with a lacy white head. Right away the wonderful citrusy hops assert themselves but are quickly followed by the honey aroma. The beer is surprisingly smooth and not overly sticky like some double IPAs. It doesn't have much in the way of maltiness, it's all hops and honey! Very sweet with a crisp, almost dry finish. There's a lingering sweetness that entices you for another drink. This beer is outstanding! It will turn reluctant hop heads and impress any beer lover.

Sierra Nevada Torepedo Double IPA: This double IPA pours a copper orange with a thin white head. Nice citrusy west coast hop aroma nose hits you right away. Sweet at first with a grapefruit flavor, and a slight maltiness and caramel in the body. In the finish there is a strong bitterness that lingers. There's also some nice sweetness as well as some citrus and a noticeable heat from the alcohol. Much more bitter than a lot of DIPAs I've had. I liked this beer, but it wasn't as well balanced as some I've had.

Victory Hop Wallop: Most beers I've had from Victory Brewing Company have been really enjoyable and this one is no exception. It pours a cloudy golden yellow with a thin white head. Huge citrusy, grapefruity, and reisiny aromas. Sweet right away with a lingering bitterness in the finish. Throughout the beer is a lot of grapefruit flavors. It's sweet with a nice bittering finish and just massive hops throughout. A very good big, hop loaded ale.

In other notes, this week was my spring break and I brewed twice, an IPA and a Pale Ale, I'll be posting about those coming up.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

El Muerto- FINAL RECIPE!

2009-04-05T17:30:00.000-05:00

I feel satisfied. A rare thing in my brewing, or anything I tend to be a perfectionist about. This current batch of El Muerto, or more specifically, my recipe is the recipe I've finally settled on. About four years ago, I made my first beer that I didn't make from a kit. I got a recipe from the internet, and at the time it was a big deal. I was used to going to the store and getting the kit and that was that. My first non-kit recipe was a clone of Rogue's Dead Guy Ale and I named my version "El Muerto" and designed the label. Its the one label I haven't tinkered with and instead have been messing with the recipe over and over. What started out as clone of Dead Guy has morphed into something that doesn't resemble Dead Guy at all and is now a beer I have a hard time defining.
The last time I made this, I decided to up the amount of biscuit and to go with more of an amberish ale with a heavy emphasis on a biscuity quality. I was happy with the beer, but wanted more of a hoppy presence. Using Organic Pacific Gem hops as both the bittering agent and some at 45 has given the beer some currant flavors going on. Also, I use cascade,first gold, and saaz hops, which creates a unique combination of citrusy sweetness and some floral/fruitness. Onto my review:
El Muerto pours a clear amber-dark orange with a thin white head. Some nice aromas of malt and fruit, berries with some citrus. Sweetness right away with some nice maltiness and fruitiness, in particular currants. There is a lingering bitterness in the finish as well some biscuit, which is more toned down than the last version. Much more of a malty profile with some hoppy/citrusy sweetness that is nice on top of the bitterness and the malty body. I'm really happy with the complexity of El Muerto, it's hoppy and bitter, along with an almost Belgianish fruity aroma and berry fruitiness. Like I said...I'm satisfied and need to make sure I resist the urge to make any tweaks the next time I brew this one!

I'm on spring break this week, so I plan on brewing twice, a new IPA recipe which I'm calling Bearded Fury, and the second collaboration with my buddy Jeff, this time an ode to our home state, IAPA (Iowa Pale Ale). More to come on those beers. Also I'd like to finally get to my double IPA reviews.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Denver Follow Up

2009-03-30T20:35:00.002-05:00

Round 2 of the Falling Rock happened Friday night, but before hitting the bar, I hooked up with my cousin and her husband in a suburb of Denver. Mike, my cousin's husband is a fellow homebrewer, who's Belgian Dubbel I learned took 1st at the Iowa State Fair last year. Mike had emailed me to see if I wanted to brew the night I planned to hang out. We decided to brew a saison, and I was excited since it was my first all grain experience. We brewed and sampled some of Mike's great beers as well as some New Belgium Abbey and Pilsner. As Mike was taking me back to the city, he asked if I wanted to be dropped off at Falling Rock...well...I guess I did have quite a few beers left to try there... So, we drank a special New Belgium release that was tapped that night, called Mike's Golden Ale. It was an excellent golden ale brewed with grains of paradise. As I mentioned before, I sadly forgot my beer geek moleskin for notes, so I don't have any details, and Friday's were fuzzy anyway. I followed Mike's Golden Ale, with another wonderful Belgian Golden Ale, this time from Russian River, their Damnation. Damn! Another phenomenal beer from this brewery...so worth the hype. An excellent Belgian strong ale, crisp and fruity and smooth. This was followed by Russian River's Pliny the Younger, a triple IPA that was a fantastic hop bomb and worth the hefty price. There were a few more samples that night and an Alaskan Smoked Porter to cap it off, which was a shame because I've had the beer before, but it was too smokey and roasty following all of the Belgian sweetness I'd had leading up to it. Even though I have somewhere around 60 beers or so left to get through at the Falling Rock, it'll sadly have to wait until another visit. A great bar, with great service who were nice enough to feed me samples as I poured over which beers to pick from. Again...if headed to Denver, hit up the Falling Rock.

Back in the Minneapple, I have spring break next week and plan on brewing at least one if not two beers. I also will get to my reviews of my final version!! of the El Muerto. Finally I'm satisfied with that recipe. Also will be getting around to my double IPA reviews and probably some other thoughts as well.
Stay tuned...
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Heaven? No Just Falling Rock

2009-03-27T09:49:00.002-05:00

I'm in Denver for a conference, and being that I'm in one of the beer meccas of the US, I knew that I had to get away from the conference to enjoy the beer culture of Denver. I had been told that Falling Rock Tap House was the place to go. Falling Rock is considered one of the best beer bars in the country with over 70 beers on tap. As you can see from my grainy cell phone picture, the tap lineup is something to behold, one on top of the other, with an impressive array of beers from around the world. They stay true to their motto, "No Crap on Tap." I think Guinness is the only macro brew on tap.
I regrettably forgot my beer notebook, so I didn't take any notes on the brews I drank. But I stuck to beers I've never been able to drink, starting with the infamous Pliny the Elder from Russian River. This was a great Double IPA, and lived up to the hype. I followed that with another California IPA, Green Flash IPA. This too was fantastic, a great piney smell to it, and wonderful hoppy sweetness. I could have put down several of these. I followed that with Dale's Pale Ale from Oskar Blues Brewing Company. This too, was a great beer that lived up to all the hype I've heard about it. Very sweet and had a strong caramel presence to it for a pale ale. A unique taste for a pale ale, but outstanding. I could have stayed at Falling Rock for quite some time, days actually. Hands down the best beer bar I've been to, good food, great ambiance, and an amazing selection of beers.
More to come...
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Dark Horse Stout Reviews

2009-03-19T19:37:00.002-05:00

Recently Dark Horse Brewing Company has had a few of their line become available around the cities. I've had their Crooked Tree IPA and put it up there with some of the best I've had. So impressed with this perfect IPA, I was excited to come across their stout series. They have released a series of seasonal stouts, each one a little different. Last year I had "Four" which was a smoked stout. I actually thought it was very bad, and was hesitant to try this series again. But I came across a bottle of "Tres" their blueberry stout, and was too curious to pass it up. I'm certainly glad I did. Then on a trip to a liquor store I don't go to often, I found single bottles of the first two in the series, "One" Oatmeal Stout, and "Too" Cream Stout. All very impressive. I'll go in numerical order.

"One" Oatmeal Stout- This pours motor oil black with a thin, khaki head. It has wonderful roasty, caramely aromas, as well as some slight biscuit. Right away you notice the perfect mouthfeel for an oatmeal stout, slick and smooth with a chocolate milk consistency. Wonderful chocolate flavors at first, followed by some nice bitterness and roastiness, with a nice lingering dry finish. The most drinkable of the three, a spot on oatmeal stout. A perfect balance of roasty flavors and sweetness. Perfect.

"Too" Cream Stout- This pours thick and motor oil black as well, with a thin khaki head. Wonderful roasty, and chocolatey aromas in this one as well, with some toffee and espresso as well. Smooth and flavorful right away with some great sweet chocolate flavors and some bitterness in the finish. It has a lingering bitter chocolate finish and a little bit of dryness, but not as much as the oatmeal stout. Just an outstanding stout! Creamy, chocolatey, smooth and extremely drinkable. Hard to determine which one is better, if you're in the mood for a sweeter stout, this is the way to go.

"Tres" Blueberry Stout- Definitely the most intriguing of the bunch. I was curious to see how they balance the blueberry. The answer...perfectly. This too pours jet black with a thin tan head, but lighter than the other two and a slight blue tint to it. Wonderful roasty aromas at first with some blueberry aromas as well. Nothing overwhelming in the blueberry aroma, just faint enough to know it's there. Great smooth, creamy mouthfeel like the others. A very roasty backbone, with less chocolate than the others, and more chalkiness that is present right before the blueberry comes through. Nice winey-blueberry sweetness that works perfectly on top of the roasty flavors. It's sweet, but not overwhelming at all, a perfect balance between a typical stout and some fruitness. I think it's really easy to overdo or under shoot fruit beers, and this one doesn't come close to either. It's so well balanced that it enhances the beer without overwhelming the flavors. It also is present enough to make you know it's there without having to look at the label and say "oh...blueberry, is that the weird flavor I'm picking up?" For someone who likes to experiment with traditional beers and add interesting twists, this beer is a great bar to aim for. Exceptional.

I need to try the other Dark Horse beers that become available, because including the Crooked Tree and these three, they set the bar high!

I plan on doing a trio of Double IPA reviews soon, as well as an update on Irie 2.1, a review of my most recent El Muerto and some other thoughts.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Irie Stout 2.1

2009-03-14T09:53:00.002-05:00

Last night I brewed the Irie Stout for the third time. The first time I brewed this beer I was really pleased with the turn out, but it still was lacking in some roastiness.The second time I brewed it, I changed the recipe a little to be compliant with the National Organic Homebrew Competition, making it 100% organic. I was happy with the turn out, but it still was a bit too sweet and lacked some body. The reviews came back from the contest decent, but it needed some tweaks.
This time around I wanted to use more roasted malts and some more spices and additions to give it a bit more complexity. Both Ted @ tedbrews and the judges mentioned the lack of body, so in addition to adding some carapils, I also added some wheat malt to the boil. I also bought the Wyeast Imperial Stout yeast, which is only available for a short time, which is unfortunate if it gives the Irie the push it needs.
I also used a product for the first time in this beer, but thought it would give it some nice flavors and complexity, as well as boost the gravity. I used Lyle's Black Treacle. This is a refined sugar similar to molasses that imparts a strong molasses flavor as well as some licorice flavors. I used .5 lbs, about half the can. The flavor is really tasty, and it seems like it will fit the beer perfectly. I also used 2 grams of paradise seeds because I think there was some spiciness missing the last time around. This beer was really good the first two times, and the reviews from friends were overwhelmingly positive, so I don't want to tweak it too much, but the anal brewer in me knows it could be more and hopefully these changes will work. The OG last night was 1.092, which is a nice start, the combo of the roasted malts and the treacle made it very black. Another change is that I'm going to add rinds from a Clementine in the secondary, as opposed to the orange marmalade I used in the boil last time around. I really want the orange to come through, and didn't feel like it did as much as I wanted with the marmalade. Stay tuned.

This week I want to review some Double IPAs, Hopslam among them, and also a trio of stouts from Dark Horse Brewing Company I was able to pick up.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Beer Reviews- Surly, Rush River, Flat Earth

2009-03-11T20:38:00.008-05:00

It's been a little while since I posted and with very little happening in the Bearded Brewery, I thought I'd review some local beers. Before I get to the reviews, a quick update: time has treated the Oso well and the reviews from friends have been positive. While stated last week that it was a bit thin and lacked some character, I think that it's improved with time (even though that's only been a couple of weeks). It does lack something, hops and/or honey, but it definitely is a nice session beer with some nice drinkability and some malty-biscuit going on.
After close to two weeks of very active fermentation, I transfered the Gringo into the secondary and added 12oz of Agave Nectar. It had some great citrusy/hoppy flavors before I threw it into the fridge to lager for a couple weeks. I'm eager to see how this turns out.

Onto the reviews: Surly Coffee Bender
I thought I'd review some local beers, and I'll go in order from my favorite to least favorite of the bunch. First up is Surly's Coffee Bender. This beer won the best coffee beer at the GABF last year, and I was excited to see this in cans and become their winter seasonal. While I'm not a fan of the Furious, over time Bender from Surly has become one of my favorite beers. Adding organic coffee to the mix made it even better. When I first had it a bar, it came in a Surly Coffee Mug...which I thought was really creative.
This beer pours a dark chocolate brown with a two finger tan head. Those wonderful Bender aromas of roasty, toffee, chocolate, and biscuit but with an intense espresso/coffee aroma over top of it. A really enticing smell. Right away there's an intense coffee flavor. In fact most of the coffee stouts I've drank offer this much coffee flavor. The mouthfeel is smooth and soft, and the coffee gives way to a creamy/caramely body with roasty and chocoalte flavors throughout. A lingering bitterness and some coffee in the finish make this one of the better beers I've had in some time and hands down the best coffee beer I've ever had.

Rush River Lost Arrow Porter: Rush River is a brewery that has been around for a couple years, first south of St. Paul near Red Wing, Minnesota, and more recently across the river in River Falls, Wisconsin. With a bigger brewery to operate out of, Rush River started bottling and putting out more beers in the their line. I've always been a huge fan of their Unforgiven Amber Ale, and also really enjoy their Bubble Jack IPA. I was excited to try this because porters are one of my favorite styles of beer. Lost Arrow pours dark chocolate brown with a thin khaki head. Wonderful aromas of toffee, caramel, and roastiness. Smooth and sweet at first with a nice creamy mouthfeel. There are some nice chocolate and caramel flavors with some nice roastiness and a slight bitterness in the finish. Hardly any hop presence, this is a very silky, well balanced beer. Not as good as Summit's Great Northern Porter, but a close second and a damn good porter.

Flat Earth Cygnus 1 Porter
Flat Earth Brewing Company has been in St. Paul for a couple of years and has been steadily growing their roster. I'd had this beer on tap before, but never picked up a bottle. They call this beer a Canadian Porter, it is brewed with rye and Canadian 2-Row. It pours a dark brown, almost black with a ruby hues and a thin off white head. Wonderful toasty/biscuit aromas, with a lot of roastiness and chocolate as well. Very smooth, slick mouthfeel with a lot of roasitness and chocolate notes. It's quite biscuity as well, with a lingering bitterness/sourness that I wouldn't normally expect in a porter. I'm assuming that can be attributed to the rye malt. There's a little bit of smoke in the finish as well and some more toast. Overall, not bad, but not great either.

I plan to have some more reviews coming up and also the much anticipated swap of the Bi-Partisan Porter.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

El Oso Brown Ale Review

2009-03-03T20:55:00.004-06:00

I've been waiting to review this beer because I wanted to give it some time to mature. I'm fairly happy with this beer, but feel like it definitely could be better. There are some nice flavors, but overall I think it's fairly thin and lacking some character. The beer was kind of a kitchen sink concoction, I threw in some ingredients I had lying around and made a beer using some grains that I had picked up on accident. You can read the story of it here. Regardless, that isn't an excuse, and this beer isn't bad by any means. I had resisted the urge to add some honey, and I think I shouldn't have ignored that instinct. There's some nice biscuity-malty flavors in it, and some honey in the secondary would have given it a nice finishing touch. I digress, onto the reivew:
It pours a nice mahogany brown, with ruby red highlights and a tan head. There's some nice aromas at first of toast, biscuit and malt with a faint nuttiness. It's fairly light, with a bit of a thin mouthfeel, it only clocks in at 4% abv and I think that is noticeable. Some caramel flavors going on, as well as a lot of biscuit. I had wanted it to be fairly biscuity, and I think that was achieved. There isn't as much caramel sweetness I would have wanted, and it lacks some nuttiness as well. Very easy drinking, and it leaves some lingering malty-toasty notes in the finish. Reading through the BJCP guidelines, I think the beer hits some of the marks, such as "A light-flavored, malt-accented beer that is readily suited to drinking in quantity." Where this beer lacks however is in the flavorful category. I think it's very easy drinking, but lacks some umph. I think I have a good base, but next time around I want to add some more late addition hops, perhaps that honey, and maybe something to give it a bit more body. It's almost closer to a Mild than a Brown Ale.
For a throw together beer, not a bad start, but I generally like my Bearded Brews to be a bit more memorable.
Here's the recipe:
2 lbs org 2-Row
1 lb org Crystal 60
.5 lbs org chocolate malt
2 oz org caramunich
6 oz org Vienna
* Mash @ 152 for 1 hr
4 lbs Light Org DME (1 lb @ 60, 3 lbs @ 20)
1 oz Org Perle Hops @ 60
.60 oz Org EKG @ 15
.40 oz Org Admiral Whole Hops@ 5
1056 American Ale Yeast

I will post some reviews of some local beers coming up, as well as an update on the Gringo, which is still fermenting almost 10 days in.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Gringo '09

2009-02-25T20:26:00.003-06:00

Last year I decided to make a hoppy Mexican lager. The Gringo was only a three gallon batch, I used the Cali Common 2112 yeast, and then lagered the beer for close to three months in my fridge. The end result is hard to categorize because I drank it in intervals, and never felt like I got a good idea of what this beer was. At first the beer was unbalanced, hoppy and light, with a clean finish. As the beer aged, the citrus came out more, and the final couple of bottles were quite good. I decided to brew up 5 gallons this time around, and make some adjustments. I think in the past year my knowledge of hops and appreciation of very hoppy beers has increased. With that knowledge, I knew more of what I wanted from the Gringo. Toning down the IBUs, I only used .35 ounces of Centennial hops for a bittering addition, and opting to add close to 4 ounces in the last 15 minutes. I also used mostly Pilsner malt and some light DME in the boil along with 2 lbs of cane sugar. The plan to round out the citrusy hops is to add 12 oz of Light Agave Nectar in the secondary. Even though I have a better idea of what I'm aiming for...which is a light bodied, extremely hoppy and citrusy beer with a sweet, smooth finish... we'll see what turns up. The key is patience, in my notes I wrote down that 10 weeks was when the bottles (the last two!) tasted great. Encouraged by those last bottles of last year's Gringo, I'm hoping that this time around what I have in my head turns out to be the end product.
Stay tuned...