Review- Big Ass IPA

Sometimes beers turn out better than expected.
Like most of you, I am obsessed with beer and homebrewing. I read articles, blogs, and books about brewing. I've grown over the years in my knowledge of ingredients, flavor profiles and techniques. While still not as technical as some, I have tried to better myself in that arena. But despite all that, there are times that you just plain fuck up...and sometimes that doesn't even matter. The more I brew and learn, the more apparent it becomes that save for an infection, it is fairly hard to screw up the brewing process.
Big Ass IPA was the final beer on a string of increasingly hoppier beers I brewed starting last June. As my taste and appreciation of hoppy beers grew, so did my desire to better myself at brewing bigger and hoppier IPAs. I had success with my Steelhead Slammer, a big IPA brewed with a lot of Centennial hops. I have struggled with my brew house efficiency and attenuation (despite a starter) with big beers in the past. Not sure if it is temperature issues, or what. But knowing that the chances of getting an IPA into the 9-10% range was going to be challenging, I opted to call this beer what it was...a big ass IPA. Hoppy and high in IBUs, but not big enough in ABV to truly be an imperial.
Brew day didn't go as well as I would have wanted, for some reason I was distracted as I brewed, ended up missing my timing on a late addition of malt extract ( put it in the last 5 minutes), and completely missed adding a pound of sugar that I was hoping would boost my abv. Not huge mistakes by any means, but annoying nonetheless.
What I was really going for in the Big Ass IPA wasn't the abv or even a chewy body of a DIPA. I was aiming for bitterness. I felt that I had nailed down aspects of IPAs in the past, but never could get the bitterness to where I wanted. As it turned out, despite the misteps, I felt that Big Ass turned out great. The hops turned out bright and vibrant, and a nice bitterness rounded it out. As my buddy Jesse wrote me: The citrus/pine is there... but there is almost a bursting, somewhat sweet sensation midway through the mouth that is borderline bubblegummy... now I'm not saying it tastes like bubble gum, but rather that flavor burst of bubble gum is there.... so i'm talking logistics not flavor... and yet the flavor is an orangish/grapefruity/piney that is more sweet citrus than fruity citrus like most...

I'll leave my review at this: Pours dark gold with a white finger of head. Aromas of orange, tangerines, and pine. Sweet and hoppy at first, bright, but followed by some nice bitterness. Bitterness lingers throughout,some hints of caramel and malty sweetness. Finishes sweet and citrusy with lingering bitterness.

Here's the recipe: 6 lbs Organic Pale LME @ 5
3 lbs Amber DME @ 60
Steep: .50 lbs Org Crystal 60, .50 lbs Org Vienna, .50 lbs Org. Carapils
Hops: 1.4 0z Org Pacific Gem (13% AAU)
1 oz Simcoe @ 15
.5 oz Amarillo @ 10
.5 oz Centennial @ 5
.5 oz Amarillo @ 3
.5 oz Cent @ 2
Dry Hop: 1 oz Cent. leaf hops, 1 oz Amarillo leaf hops
Wyeast American Ale II (w/ starter)

More to come on my thoughts on Surly's Abrasive Ale and the Ichi Agave Wheat Ale I just brewed.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

A year later- Mike's Saison

Over a year ago, I went to Denver for work and also had an opportunity to brew my first (and only) all-grain batch with my cousin-in-law. Mike, an accomplished homebrewer, is very adept at brewing Belgians, and I enjoyed some of his out there, as well some more he hooked me up with in September when I saw him again. Of the beers I've had of Mike's its clear that he nails down the subtle and complex flavors that make Belgian's unique, and in the case of the Saison we brewed, and a Wit he gave me, he can brew up a perfect example of the style to compete with any commercial brewery.
Last weekend it was a perfect day outside, sunny and 70 degrees and I thought it was the perfect time to crack open the remaining Saison I had, almost 1 year to the date we brewed it. The beer poured crystal clear as you can see, straw gold with a thin white head. Spicy and funky aromas with some slight grassiness. I think some of the funkiness has dissipated with age, but is still present. Sweet right away with nice fruity and citrusy flavors (orange and tangerine). There's some nice spicy-peppery notes going on as well. Perfect mouthfeel, creamy but has some nice carbonation, bright and fizzy. There's some sticky sweetness but finishes dry.
A great sasion...aged well. It was fun brewing with Mike and having my first all-grain experience. Mike is a great brewer, especially belgians.
I plan on reviewing my Big Ass IPA, as well as Surly's new DIPA, Abbrassive Ale this week.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Ska and Deschutes Beer Reviews

While out in Arizona last week I was able to try quite a few beers that I normally don't have access to. While on a visit to a store my dad had been raving about for some time, Total Beer and Wine, I was able to pick up a fair share of good beer. The store itself is impressive for its prices and quantity. For example, compared to Minnesota where typical bombers run to $6-7.99, I was impressed to find a lot for $3.99-5.99. I think beer stores are always a grass is greener type of situation. While the aisle of strictly single bottles makes a geek like me drool, the selection was no different than a good store in any area, just that the brands they carried tended to be ones I can't get my hands on locally. With only so many days to drink, and not wanting to be sloshing drunk while visiting my parents, I restrained myself and instead filled out an order for my dad to bring up when he drives up to the Midwest this May.
That said, I still dropped some coin in the store and sampled a fair share of beer. I drank a number of different beers, including some Alaskan, Lost Coast (Raspberry Brown Ale is amazing), and some Lost Abbey. But the two I'm choosing to do extensive reviews are Deschutes Hop Trip Pale Ale and Ska Brewing's Modus Hoperandi.
Deschutes Hop Trip Pale Ale:
Apparently while I was gone last week, Deschutes arrived in the Twin Cities. A very good thing since everything I've had of theirs has been awesome. This pale ale is a wet hop ale, in fact they claim that the coordinate everything so that the hops are picked, put on the truck, and dumped in the kettle in about 4 hours! Pretty cool. This beer pours brilliant gold with a thin white head. Sweat aroma of caramel, malt and soft aroma of pine and citrus. It's sweet with caramel tones, and some nice citrus notes. There's very little bitterness, the hops are sweet and bright and the body is malty. Perfectly balanced. It finishes smooth with some nice lingering hops and malty sweetness. Outstanding pale ale.
A


Ska Brewing Modus Hoperendi
This is the first beer I've ever had from Durango, Colorado's Ska Brewing. What a great IPA. What a great name for an IPA. Modus pours caramely-amber with a two finger foamy white head. Great blast of citrusy piney hops right away. Perfect mouthfeel. Creamy and smooth with sweetness up front and a nice bitterness in the finish. Chock full of citrusy hops, grapefruit and orange that is present throughout the beer and balances nicely with the maltiness. The finish is sweet with a great bite. Excellent IPA.
A

More to come.
Salud!
Bearded Brewer

Nimbus Brewing- Tucson, AZ

My parents live in Tucson in the winter and the several times I've been down to visit I've picked up the local brewing product, Nimbus Brewing. This time down, I finally was able to make it to the brewery/brew pub of Nimbus located in an industrial park in Southern Tucson. I've never been blown away by the products of Nimbus, but at the same time I have had a couple of their beers that have been pretty good. I was looking forward to checking out the brewery and sampling a larger selection.
The restaurant/tap room is attached to the brewery, which is part of an industrial park. Not your typical locale for a brewpub, but as you can see from the pics, the restaurant is connected to the brewery. In fact our table was separated from the bottling line by a tall gate. Usually a brew pub has a fancier seperation like glass of some kind, but a metal gate separates the warehouse with fermentation tanks and bottling line, from the restaurant. It works though, I liked the vibe.
I bought the sampler, which consisted of their six regular taps plus their seasonal, a Belgian Golden Ale. Here's the brief breakdown:
Pale Ale- A pretty decent pale ale, a nice hoppy nose, some nice bitterness. Fairly hoppy with some good citrusy/Northwest hop flavors.
Dirty Guera Blond Ale- I've had this beer before and didn't really drink it this time around. I'm not a big fan of blond ales, and this one is quite light. For the style its good, crisp and smooth, slightly sweet. I just find blond ales boring.
Red Ale- A nice amber ale, malty body, quite sweet with some faint bitterness that helps balance it out. Good example of an American Amber ale.
Oatmeal Stout- A good example of an oatmeal stout. Smooth, creamy mouthfeel with some nice roastiness, chocolate notes and a dry finish.
Belgian Golden Ale- This seasonal is a good Belgian Golden ale. Not overly fruity or funky, but nice spiceness and sweet. I thought it was more of a "gateway" Belgian than a golden ale in the vane of Duvel or something of that category. But not a bad alternative as a lighter ale with more character than their blond ale.
Old Monkeyshine- Described as an English Strong Ale, this beer was probably the best beer they offered. I thought this beer was a unique beer, not a style you find often. This beer poured dark brown and was all about the caramel sweetness. A great aroma of brown sugar and caramel, the beer is malty and sweet and lighter in body than the 8.3% ABV would suggest. An excellent ale.
Nut Brown Ale- I've had this beer several times before and think (along with Old Monkeyshine) it's the best beer they make. Almost closer to a porter than a brown ale, this beer is quite dark and roasty. It's nutty and chocolaty, but the use of black malt gives it a roastiness I don't usually associate with brown ales. Regardless, its a really great ale.

Overall, Nimbus has some good beers and a couple great ones. Arizona seems to only have a couple breweries, yet every year I find some new ones, so it seems to be a growing scene. I also picked up a fair share of beers from out West that I normally don't have access to, including the always outstanding Lost Coast, Deschuttes and Ska Brewing. I plan on reviewing those soon.

Salud!
Bearded Brewer