Irie Stout- 9 months later

I'm never that good at saving beers. I tend to drink my beers too early, and rarely let beers sit for a long period of time. Before I got more into kegging, there was always the issue of bottle availability as well. The bottom line, the fact that a bottle of Irie Stout managed to last 9 months is a first for me. Seeing the last bottle amongst my bottles, I was curious about when I brewed this one, so I checked the date in my brewing notebook and found out that it was brewed on March 13, exactly 9 months to the day, so on December 13th, I cracked open the Irie.
This beer wasn't one I was too happy about this year. While some people liked, I felt that I had tweaked it beyond what I had wanted. In an effort to get the ABV high, I added some Black Treacle, an English Molasses, and I felt that it was too present. The beer ended up about 10.5 % abv, and for the first couple months, there was too much heat.
The original Irie had been a nice balance of fruity flavors and chocolate, it was drinkable and captured the Caribbean feel of what I wanted. But over time I tried to make it more "Imperial" and each time felt like I had gone too far away from the orginial plan. This latest version was probably the closest to an "Imperial" beer as the Irie was going to get. It was complex and over time the alcohol definitely mellowed out. While the Irie at 9 months was much better than it was earlier, I learned my lesson that I shouldn't always mess with a good thing. Nevertheless, it was fun to age a beer this long, and I can see how, particularly with a high ABV stout, it really changes the beer in a positive way.

The Irie pours black with a three finger light khaki head that lingers some on the glass. Aromas of tropical fruits (mango, passion fruit) as well as molasses and slight alcohol are present in the nose. There's a fizzy carbonation, which adds some refershing qualities, but takes away from the "stoutiness." Some chocolate and more complex fruitiness at first, with some molasses as well. There's no roastiness, but some citrusy/orangey flavors. The mango-tropical dominates the fruitiness more than the citrus (both Mango and Orange preserve were used in the brew). There's some lingering chocolatey sweetness in the finish, as well as some alcohol. As it warms, the chocolate definitely becomes more apparent.

Overall, I'm glad I saved a bottle. It taught me a lesson on Imperials, that I knew was the case, but it was nice to taste the difference. I felt that the treacle was still too present and the flavors were more complex along the lines of an Impy stout than I wanted for my personal preference. Still a good lesson learned.
I plan on getting in a review of my Holiday Cranberry Orange Wheat in before Christmas arrives.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Beer Review- Bell's Double Cream Stout

It's been awhile since I've reviewed a commercial beer, mainly because I've been so damned busy that blogging has taken a bit of backseat to life. But with holiday break coming up, I should be able to get in some good posts in the coming weeks. I intend on reviewing a couple of my own homebrews soon, my Holiday Cranberry Orange Wheat, and the Norseman Oatmeal Stout, but wanted to give them both a week or two more before the "official" review. Both are tasting nice though.
I wanted to get to this review before I finished off the sixer. I've always been a big fan of anything Bell's, I think beer after beer they are one of the most consistent breweries. Easily one of my top five breweries. You know when you buy a six pack of Bell's that you are getting something really well crafted and exceptionally solid through and through. I recently picked up Bell's Special Double Cream Stout expecting amazing things and wasn't dissapointed in the least. A++ across the board. Onto my review:
This pours thick and creamy, motor oil black with a two finger khaki head that dissipates into a thin layer. Wonderful aromas of coffee, roasted malt, dark chocolate and caramel. The first mouthfeel is perfect, milkshake creamy with a great sweetness at first, but some nice roastiness comes through as well. It's quite chocolatey, but a lot of dark, almost bitter chocolate notes. There's a silkiness to it that makes it very easy to drink, and the roastiness gives it a nice backbone, but a wonderful lingering chocolatey sweetness makes you want to drink more. The perfect amount of roastiness in a cream stout, with a lot of chocolate and sweetness going on. The bitterness of the dark chocolate and coffee notes balance nicely to hold it from being to sweet. A perfect nightcap stout, and one I will most definitley be buying again and again.

I plan on getting to some reviews of my own beers soon, as well as some commerical offerings as well. Winter has definitley arrived here in Minnesota, which means a lot of negative things, but for me it means I'm drinking a lot of great winter warmers and dark beers. Both of which are in an abundance in the stores, so it's good beer drinking season (not that there isn't always one.)
More to come.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Oso Brown Ale Review

This weekend I finished off the keg of Oso Brown Ale. This was the second time I've made this beer, but this time around I made some changes to it in the hopes of making it more interesting. The first time around, reviewed here, I was happy with the overall turnout, a nice drinking mild brown ale. However, while highly drinkable, it was a little too mild for my taste, and lacked something to make it memorable.
The latest version has been much more on track.
I made a few changes to the hop bill, adding 2 oz of organic whole leaf cascade hops, as well as adding 1/2 lb of honey in the secondary. I think the extra sweetness complimented the beer and gave it the extra something I was looking for.
My review:
The Oso pours cola brown with amber highlights and a finger of tan head. Aromas of honey, brown sugar and biscuit. Sweet at first with some nice honey and brown sugar flavors. It's followed by some faint biscuity and bready flavors. Not as much as I would have wanted, but I had kept the Munich malt low in the grain bill, so I will want to up that next time around. There's some slight hoppy bitterness that is quickly replaced by lingering sweetness. A nice mouthfeel, smooth with a some body but also highly drinkable. The honey is just present enough to let you know it's there, but fades nicely into the beer. Glad I held back and only added 1/2 lb. Quite an enjoyable brown ale.

Overall, I was quite happy, with the holidays around I always like having beers around that are easy drinking for everyone to enjoy. This beer really served that purpose as a variety of people enjoyed it. My next brown ale is going to be an India Brown Ale after having Dogfish Head's and also Derek's @ Beer This blog. Derek brewed a killer India Brown Ale that I had the pleasure of tasting. My next brown ale will most definitely be a more hopped up version. Here's the latest Oso recipe:
6 lbs Organic Light LME
1 lb Wheat DME
Steeping Grains: .25 Org Munich
.50 Organic Crystal 60
.60 Organic Chocolate

Hops: .50 oz Organic Pacfic Gem (14% AAU) @ 60
1 oz Organic Cascade Whole Leaf Hops @ 15
1 oz Organic Cascade Whole Leaf Hops @ 1
.5 lbs Honey in secondary
Wyeast 1056 American Ale


I will brew the Oso again for sure. I plan to get to some reviews of some commercial beers in the coming posts. More to come.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Power to the Porter

For our third collaborative ale, my buddy the Jefe and I wanted to do a porter. We both are huge fans of Summit's Great Northern Porter, and wanted to create our own tasty porter. We played around with names for some time, I always want the name of our collabroative beers to reflect something of our 25 year friendship. I've always thought it would be cool to somehow play off of Public Enemy's logo by putting the Bearded Brewing logo in the crosshairs. When Jefe and I were in junior high and graduated from the likes of MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice, Public Enemy was one the first groups to really blow our little small town minds and became a monumental group for us. When I started looking through song titles, Power to the People jumped out at me. To be honest, this is one of my favorite labels, probably because I spent countless hours drawing the Public Enemy symbol on various school notebooks, so putting it on my beer feels nostalgic in a way.
But the important thing is the beer. Jefe and I did a comparison tasting of two of the best porters IMO, the aforementioned Great Northern and Founder's Dark, Rich and Sexy Porter. We thought the main difference was the amount of roastiness, with the GNP having more of a roasty quality and the Founder's having more of a chocolatey emphasis. We opted to go for the roasty side of a porter. Here's the recipe:
6lbs Light LME
1 lb Amber DME
1 lb Crystal 80
6 oz. Org Chocolate
6 oz Black Patent
Hops: 1.5 oz Fuggles @ 60
.5 oz Fuggles @ 20
1 oz Kent Goldings @ 10
1 oz Kent Goldings @ 5
1056 American Ale yeast.

We had good luck with our IAPA being what we had in mind, so I'm hoping the PTP hits a similar mark. I plan on posting some more reviews over the Thanksgiving holiday, been behind on my beer review posting. More to come...
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Cranberry Wheat Ale

I haven't done a holiday ale in a couple years, but this year my wife wanted to give out beer for a gift to some friends. I was trying to think of a recipe that would appeal to everyone, and be ready by early December when the Holiday party season begins. Seeing that most "holiday" beers contain a lot of spices that sometimes take time to meld, I thought I needed to go with something accessible, but that is also ready pretty quickly. I decided to brew a wheat ale, and add cranberries. I've brewed a lot with cranberries in the past, and have had a lot of success. I had two pounds of frozen whole cranberries that I needed to use up, because they are about a year old. I decided to add some orange zest, because orange and cranberry always goes well together in food, and I thought it would add a little complexity. My recipe was pretty straightforward and I'm going to add the cranberries to the secondary, which should give the beer a nice coloring and not an overpowering, but present cranberry flavor. In the past I've brewed a Belgian Ale with cranberries, using a Belgian wit yeast, and also brewed with the Weistephen yeast, which is heavier on the clove-like characteristics you find in German Wheat beers. I thought the clove would go nicely with the "Holiday" aspect of the beer, and in the past this yeast has helped bring out some tanginess in the beer and keeping down some fruitiness.
Here's the recipe:
.75 lbs Organic Wheat
.25 lbs White Organic Wheat (ran out of organic wheat).
6 lbs Wheat LME
1 oz Organic American Pallisades @ 60
1 tsp orange zest
Wyeast 3068 Weistephen Yeast

On another note, I transferred the Norseman the other day and was surprised how light in color it was. Despite using .5 lbs of Black Roasted Barley and .75 lbs Chocolate Malt, it is more of a chestnut brown... I used light LME (only organic available) and so that probably contributed. I think I need to throw in some black patent or debittered black next time. It tasted good though, just didn't have the ominous black look I wanted. I'm debating throwing in some coffee since it's changed a bit in what I wanted, so why not experiment at the this point? More to come on that.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Satisfied Customer

This big chunk of feedback is about the Steelhead Slammer and is from the man for whom the beer was made. Jesse has put together a collection of feedback from friends he gave the Slammer to, as well as his own critique of the beer. It's so entertainingly written (and too big to fit in the comments section of the post), that it deserves a post all its own. So a big thanks to Jesse for collecting and typing up impressions, and of course what a better compliment than to have such satisfaction from the person who commissioned the beer. - Bearded Brewer

Hey Ol’ Bearded One,

It is your slacker friend who requested a special commission that would further invigorate the gusto of a fall fishing trip on the rivers flowing into effervescent Lake Superior. I desired a pungent heart of an India Pale Ale with a kick. There is just something just so right with a full bodied, envelop the mouth with popping hops-filled beer that settles splendidly on a cool crisp day after fishing. Not that one should necessarily abstain from drinking one before or during fishing. You created a spectacular brew my friend that left all who tasted wanting more. So, I absolutely loved it. Here are some general reviews, comments, and random notes.

The Bearded Brewer makes plenty of good beer that has left me wanting more, especially of my favorite flavors. So to convince him to put a spin together just for yours truly was special. Hats off to the nice label as it further adds to the character of this beer, much like all of your beers. Further, the label and name always have another story – I think this makes beer taste more real. No different then food in my opinion. You could eat this mouthwatering fresh Coho that your buddy caught two days ago at “the big bend” or you could eat some potatoes that were grown by a green giant on some massively pesticidal, steroid infested commercial farm. Kudos.

I had the opportunity to listen in more than usual and even help bottle while Mr. Bearded tried to enlighten me to the finer points of brewing. I liked the tasting part the best. I couldn’t believe how excited I was for the flavor of the uncarbonated beer. I was full of anticipation for the final deal.

My mom in law was one of the first tasters. She likes good beer, and I never back down from trying to earn some points occasionally. She begged for more.

One fellow fisher tripping lady said “Heady, Hoppy, HOOOWHEEE,” when asked for a review. Nearly everyone who had the Slammer on the fishing trip was extremely impressed. Now I don’t think anyone truly appreciated your beer necessarily as much as I did on the trip, although my wife was impressed. We had wine connoisseurs and cocktail drinkers for the most part. As far as I remember, nobody dissed the beer although I was slightly surprised that there were a couple to bring home. Their loss, my gain.

I had a really great review from my neighbor. Noticed I said I had… great apologies to you and a fellow brewer who gave you more than a decent review. He had some technically sound compliments regarding gravity with such hoppy beers. There was much more to it, in probably less words than I provide now, but I can’t remember the particular “brewer” vocabulary he used. I somehow erased the desirable comments, or so they seemed, on my crackberry.

Another friend of mine, who works in the beer, amongst other adult beverage, industry, provided this detailed report. Besides being a beer aficionado, Mr. Taylor is a talented fisherman giving his review that much more credibility.


Steelhead Slammer....

Color - slightly cloudy amber with hints of orange/yellow/brown on the edges of a good white/white/brown head.
Nose - fresh with hints of citrus/lemon/orange/zest with spice and sweet water.
Body - Sweet on the tip, turning light on the middle pallet, finally turning medium on the back.
Finish - hoppy yet good acidity that leaves the tongue cleanly.

Over all impressions - I liked it...Slammer lacks the alcohol content (which I noticed right away in the nose and finish) of many intense IPAs but more than makes up for it in finesse and mouth feel. The brighter citrus notes separate it from the likes of Bells which tends to have more malt/hop/bitterness to it. The surprise is in the lack to lingering hops on the finish. This is not bad in my opinion. Yes it coats the tongue but its coating is less viscous than most hopped up brews probably do to the toned down backbone of maltiness - two thumbs up.

Thanks for the bottle! I really enjoyed it – Todd

And here is my official review for the Slammer… or general notes that I took one night.

Big head, maybe a little too much for me, a hint champagney in terms of carb. Quickly levels down though and I ended up appreciating that aspect for its originality amongst Double IPAs. Not quite double enough IMO, not that this is necessarily a bad thing, regardless, still strong and full of plenty of ABV overall. Would’ve liked a final reading of 9-10.5. Very smooth for an IPA but still has quality depth and plenty of body. Rich flavor of India (not that I know what this means in a beer type)… hits it perfect with a nice blend of citrus/fruity goodness with enough bittery hoppiness (being a huge hophead, I would take more of all of this flavor, hops, bitterness.) to know what your drinking is what you desire. With the head, lesser ABV, and overall smoothness you would think this beer wouldn’t really be a true Imperial IPA. Yet, wikipedia quotes “Imperial is a term that is used to describe something that relates to an empire, emperor, or the concept of imperialism.” Further, I really like the synonyms “domineering, kingly, lordly, magisterial, majestic, royal, sovereign, stately” This beer truly fits the definition to a T. Despite not being what one would expect, anyone who drinks the Slammer could close their eyes and believe they are tasting a private reserve label made for royalty. An IPA is my beer of choice. After drinking many more than I can remember over the last few years, this would be a six pack that I expect would sing a favorite Replacement’s song everytime I walked through the door, “Here comes a regular.” When can I get some more?

Thanks buddy.

The Norseman

I felt that on a chilly, Halloween night, it was only appropriate to brew a dark, roasty stout. I have been planning on brewing an oatmeal stout for some time. I've only brewed three stouts in my 6 years of brewing. The Irie Stout, a cherry stout, and La Vaca Milk Stout. In each of these stouts, there's something that I added...but as far as a nicely balanced, roasty, silky oatmeal stout, I have yet to brew one. This past year I've tried to move away from "experimental" beers in some ways, and tried to really hone my skills on some more "basic" beers. Hence the pale ales and IPAs, brown ale, and now an oatmeal stout. I love brewing outside the box, but at the same time, I want to really get better at the subtle nuances that separates a good beer from a memorable one.
There are a ton of recipes out there for oatmeal stouts, so coming up with the parameters and personal tweaks of the recipe wasn't that hard. The hardest part for me, ironically, was coming with a name and concept. Which is usually the first thing I come up with. I wanted to go with something dark and "metal" but kept floundering. I liked the idea of a hearty dark beer for the coming winter and a hearty name to go with it. Jefe suggested "Viking Beard" and feeling like the Viking vibe fit and of course they were a bearded lot, so I settled on the Norseman.
Here's the recipe:
6 lbs Organic Light LME
Partial Mash:
1 lb Organic 2 Row
.75 Organic Chocolate Malt
.75 Organic Crystal 120
.50 Organic Roasted Barley
1 lb Flaked Oatmeal
.70 oz Organic Pacific Gem Hops
1084 Irish Ale Yeast

In Jamil Zainasheff's book, 80 Classic Recipes he suggests mashing at a higher temperature to achieve some nice mouthfeel and creamy texture. I mashed at 160 for 45 minutes, so hopefully that was high enough for the desired effect. I have high hopes for the Norseman, because as the cold weather comes, I start craving dark, hearty beers.
More to come...
Salud!
Bearded Brewer