Down the Rabbit Hole Brown Ale - Tasting Notes

Tasted 11/27/2010

Appearance

Semi-transparent dark brown, with a white head that fades quickly

Smell

Coriander and celery are predominant, but there are some rich coffee notes in the background as well, along with a little bit of grassy/fruity hop aroma.

Taste

Coriander, roasted malt, and a very slight tang (presumably from the Brett) dominate the flavor. Fortunately, the celery flavor is more muted than the aroma would seem to indicate, and only really comes in at the very end, creating an interesting, almost dry, finish to the beer.

Mouthfeel

Medium body with medium carbonation.

Notes

This is a very interesting beer. Despite all the different flavors, it actually seems to work pretty well and is surprisingly drinkable.

See the recipe for this beer.

Delta Single-Hop IPA

I recently ended up with a ton of free hops courtesy of a talk at the University of Colorado by Charlie Papazian, Darwin Davidson (a hop botanist), and Maureen Ogle (a historian who’s written about beer in America). Darwin works for Hopsteiner and showed up with about 5-6 bricks of new experimental hops, which he offered to anyone interested. I ended up with an ounce or two of some really interesting hops – one smells like a piña colada, while the other is incredibly resiny and oily – plus about 6.5 oz of Delta hops. These are a cross between Fuggles and Cascades and have a great floral, earthy, spicy aroma. To my knowledge, the Harpoon Brewery is the only brewery that has actually made anything with them thus far, but I haven’t gotten a chance to try that particular beer yet.

I thought it’d be fun to try making an IPA with all of the Delta hops to get a sense of their full flavor profile and end up with something totally unique in the process. Instead of dry-hopping the beer, I’m going to add the majority of the hops towards the end (late hopping), which I’ve read can create a fuller, smoother hop flavor.

Delta Single-Hop IPA

(Partial Mash)

Batch Size: 5 Gal

OG: 1.066

Anticipated Alcohol: 6.3% abv

Anticipated SRM: 7

Anticipated IBU: 85

Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Fermentables:

8 lbs Light malt extract syrup

2 lbs Pale ale

1 lb Crystal 10-20 L

Hops:

1.5 oz Delta (6.3% AA) – 60 min

1.25 oz Delta (6.3% AA) – 15

1.25 oz Delta (6.3% AA) – 10

1.25 oz Delta (6.3% AA) – 5

1.25 oz Delta (6.3% AA) – 3

Yeast:

Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale

Mini Mash Schedule:

60 min @ 150˚ F

Notes:

Brewed 11/20/10

Looks like the scale at my local homebrew store wasn't calibrated correctly – I ended up getting about a pound less extract than I was planning on. Since the beer will still end up at around 6% abv, I'm not going to worry about adding more extract to make up for it (I've altered the recipe to reflect this change).

Racked 11/27/10

Sour Cherry Saison - Tasting Notes

Tasted 11/12/2010

 

Appearance

Beautiful reddish-orange color, crystal clear (though I poured a bit of yeast in by mistake for the photo), and with a thick white head that gradually fades but never quite goes away entirely.

Smell

Cherries, acid, funky spicy notes, and a slight bready character in the background

Taste

Slightly sweet bready character followed by tart cherry flavor, finishing dry with the classic spicy yeast characteristics and a little acid. There's a hint of grassy bitterness at the end (presumably from the dry hops) that works well with the acid from the cherries, even though it's not really in style for a saison.

Mouthfeel

Medium body with moderate to high carbonation.

Notes

Apart from being a little bit bitter at the end, this is pretty much what I was hoping for – a classic spicy saison with added complexity from the sour cherries. It'll be fun to see how it changes with age!


See the recipe for this beer.