El Muerto has been my biggest brewing project since I moved away from kits. I designed this label about 4 years ago and the beer has gone through many renovations. I started with a "clone" recipe of Rogue's Dead Guy, which was the first time I brewed a beer without using a kit. Over the years El Muerto has morphed, but I've tried to stick to an amberish ale. Its gradually become hoppier and more biscuity. The last time around, I felt like it was the closest to what I've had in my head all along. Using Organic Pacific Gem hops, I was able to get a nice bitterness that I think it had been lacking. Also, I was really happy with how much biscuit came through. But I still wasn't 100% satisfied with a beer that I want to become one of my staple beers. So this time around I upped the crystal, I felt it was missing some sweetness, and I also added more citrusy hops, using Cascade and First Gold. I still kept the Saaz hops in the final minute. I've done this since my very first recipe and I feel that the Saaz gives the beer a nice spicy finish that can be a bit unexpected. Last night I took a sample and it's not quite done fermenting, but the hops were very nice and the citrus I'm going for was present at this point. I plan on transferring it to a secondary in the next couple days. I'm eager to see how this turns out. More to come...
I have been waiting to review El Oso Brown Ale because I don't think it's quite ready yet. Brown ales in my opinion get better with age, and I'm hoping that will be the case with El Oso. There's some nice biscuit and nutty flavors going on, but it seems to be a bit thin and I'm hoping with age the flavors will round out. I also have been enjoying the kegged Cherry Stout, but want to wait until the bottles are ready to do a comparison. I put cherry juice and some oak chips into the part of the stout I bottled and I want to see what a difference it makes in the final product.
Stay tuned
Salud!
Bearded Brewer
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