The Gringo- Imperial Mexican Cerveza

I've held off from reviewing this beer because I was curious to see how it would age. As I've written before, patience is not one of my qualities as a brewer. It would serve me well to be more patient, and this is a beer that proves that.
This beer came out of the idea of brewing an imperial beer, and seeing that imperial beers seem to be a big American trend, I thought it would be fitting to "Americanize" a Mexican lager. So in the spirit of Taco Bell and other such American bastardization of something Mexican... I took the concept of a Mexcian lager and upped the alcohol content and added a lot of hops. It took awhile for this beer to really mature, and this weekend I drank the last couple bottles I had, and I was really pleased with the turn out. It was an experimental 3 gallon batch, so I'd give this beer a B for effort and definitely have a foundation for a future beer that could be good with some tweaks.
For starters, I'll give my thoughts on the beer:
It pours a clear golden-light orange color with a foamy two finger white head. What hits you at first, and pretty much throughout the whole beer is the citrusy hops. This is what I was going for as I thought it would be cool to get that citrusy flavor we associate with Mexican beer, but from the hops (and no...not like Miller Chill). So I chose to use 2lbs of Centenial hops. These are characterized by their citrusy aroma, and The Gringo has a strong grapefruit flavor and smell to it. The citrus continues throughout the beer, as the hoppiness of the beer really centers on the Centenial hops. There is a puckering bitterness in the finish, but the lagering gave it kind of a smooth finish as well.
Overall, I was pleased with the experiment and actually plan on brewing it again because I think it would be a good summer beer. It is really hoppy, which is nice, but also kind of refreshing. I think that it loses most, if not all of the lager characteristics. I plan on using White Labs Mexican Lager yeast next time, as opposed to the Cali Lager 2112 yeast that I used. I'm hoping that might give it a bit more lager feel to it. I also plan on using some Agave or honey at the end of the boil or in the secondary to give it a nice balance at the end. I'm not saying this beer is on par with Bell's Hopslam at all...but there are some similarties, and I really liked how Hopslam had some honey at the end to really balance out the bitterness of the hops. Agave would make sense given the theme. If anyone has any experience using Agave, I'd love some thoughts because I've only had Breckenridges Agave Wheat, which was good, but have never used it before in a beer.
The point of my 3 gallon batches is to try something different and this beer falls under that category. I'm sending a bottle to [BW] Beer Blog, and am excited for Rick's thoughts on it. I also know now how long to let it mature, which is about 3-4 months. When I brew it again, I'll post the recipe, because I want to make some tweaks to it. This week I'll try to get to my review of the Irie Stout, but I also know I'm getting a big ol' box of beer from Pennsylvania, so I'll have plenty of treats to review in there as well.
Salud!
The Bearded Brewer

"Imperialistic " Mexican Cerveza

A couple months ago I was talking to a friend about the hoppiness of beers, and the recent imperial beer trend. I wrote a post about how I think there seems to be a trend in American brewing to make beers as big and hoppy as possible. While I can respect that people enjoy it, I think it can be excessive at times, in a very American way. Obviously everyone has different beer tastes and luckily there's enough great craft beer to satisify all those tastes.

In that post I mentioned a beer from East End Brewing Company in Pittsburgh called the Ugly American. I've never had this beer, but I loved the description: "A perfectly enjoyable classic Belgian Trippel corrupted almost beyond recognition with a completely inappropriate amount of US hops. Only in America can such excessive excesses be fully appreciated, celebrated, and enjoyed.."

I love the concept of this and the sentiment. I'm not a huge hophead, but I do enjoy hoppy beers. So that got me thinking of what I could do similar to that idea, and I came up with a hoppy Mexican Lager. I've spent a lot of time in Mexico and enjoy some Mexican beers: Negro Modelo, Bohemia, Montejo. The Gringo is based partially off Bohemia, I'll post the recipe, but I'm using Munich, Vienna and Pilsner malts. I also threw in some flaked maize to lighten up the body. But to "Americanize" it, I am using 2 ounces of Centennial hops for a 3 gallon batch. Another first for me, I'm going to use the slurry of California 2112 yeast left over from the Yinzer Lager. It'll have alot more hoppiness than a standard Mexican Cerveza (and hopefully some citrusy overtones from the Centenial hops) and at 6% abv, its stronger as well.


I'm planning on brewing it this weekend. It's not quite a true Imperial, but in the spirit of the Ugly American, The Gringo is definitely an Imperialistic Mexican lager. We'll see how it turns out.

Salud!
The Bearded Brewer