On to the new year

Involdstout Mocha Porter
It's official. The Involdstad sisters approve of the name! Sorry, Stupp, no homocha.

The Involdstout comes heavy on the coffee side with a strong, bitter, chocolate aftertaste. This is more of an after dinner drink to accompany a medium bodied cigar. I would also pair it with a number of desserts. I had with homemade cheesecake and it was extraordinary.

Now for the history lesson. Ingvoldstout comes from a combination of the last name and the German city. (Funny thing is, Germans don't make stouts). The town of Ingolstadt is quite famous in the beer realm. Ingolstadt was the city where William IV, Duke of Bavaria wrote and signed the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot in 1516. (Yes I copied that from wikipedia, but I knew it beforehand!!) The Reinheitsgebot is the German purity law which originally decreed that beer could only contain barley, hops and water. Yeast wasn't included because no one knew what the hell it was until the 1800s! German monks actually used to call yeast "god is good" because they knew it created alcohol but they didn't know how.
Lastly, Ingolstadt is the town where Dr. Frankenstein created his monster. This beer may not be a monster but it will have you howlin' after a few....
















The Devil's Double IPA is bottling and should be ready for the new year. Who needs champagne when you have 10% abv lip smackingly delicious beer?

The final beer of the year is going to be a collaboration. Stu's brew came up with the name Graduator for what's going to be adios to law school and hello to Barbri...
The Graduator will get you through those long days of studying. It will be a German style bock brewed with homegrown hops and American Ale yeast. Cold storage will keep this spring time savior nice and smooth.

Beer fact: Bock means "goat" in German. If you ever see a beer label with a goat on it, its most likely a bock or a doppelbock. Doppel just means double, as in twice as much malt is used thus making the beer stronger in alcohol.
The reason these beers are called bock is not because of goats, but because they were originally brewed in the town of Einbeck. Somewhere along the line beck became bock and goats became associated with beer!
These beers are also especially associated with monks. In particular, monks in the order of St Francis of Paula brewed a type of beer as "liquid bread" to sustain them during Lent. They called it "Salvator," Latin for Savior. Hence, all the bocks that followed used the suffix "ator." Do you now see why we are calling ours the Graduator? Also, remember back to my Wolfenator?? Twas a bock.

To be fair, true bocks are lagers. I'll probably never make a beer with lager yeast because I don't have the capacity for sustained cold storage. Lager's are boring anyway. You Stella drinkers know what I'm talking about.

Well, hope you enjoyed my rant. Don't be afraid to try new beers! Especially in the winter, forget Stella and ask for a nice, strong, dark beer... maybe even a bock! (though, generally, bocks are brewed for the spring.)

Cheers!

It started with a Pale Ale

So this "blog" is really going to be an update on my home brewing. I just wanted someplace to keep track of my beers and give my friends an idea of what they should expect to be tasting. If anyone actually reads this I would love feedback on my beers, and any ideas for future brews are always welcome.

Douglaston Pale Ale
I started with a basic Pale Ale. A simple, refreshing, hop-centered beer. I used whole hops grown in my friend's backyard (aka, the Stuart estate). The beer came out well except for the fact that it was flat! I was tentative to use a lot of priming sugar for fear of over-carbonation, and I ended up with no carbonation. Oh well. The aroma screamed of fresh hops with distinct grapefruit overtones. Ill eventually make the beer again but tweak the recipe to give it more body and of course, carbonation.

Wolfenator Oatmeal Weizenbock
Big name
Big Beer
My second beer was inspired by my colleague (we'll call him the grower of hops). He convinced me to be unique and think outside the box. As it turned out, that box was of oatmeal and the Wolfenator was born. I started out wanting to brew a Weizenbock, a German style strong wheat beer. The oatmeal came about when I bought my mom the wrong oatmeal and had to figure out what to do with it. Why not throw it in my beer?
Most of you are probably familiar with Oatmeal Stouts, but I had never heard of combining wheat and oatmeal. The grower of hops said it would be chewy, and he was right. The Wolfenator came out dark, strong, and chocolatey. The oatmeal and wheat made for a very thick beer. Once again though, i screwed up the carbonation! 0-2. However, the Wolfenator is great for marinading steaks and pork loins.

Iggy Wit
Three times a charm. This beer was perfect. If I do say so myself, it put Coors' Blue Moon to shame. Fresh coriander, orange peel, ginger and a touch of grains of paradise made this beer spicy and delicious. It was typical of the familiar Belgian Wit style with the addition of a healthy dose of freshly ground ginger and a touch of the peppery grains of paradise.
The name is derived from my friend's very cute and white dog, Iggy (seen here with my dog, Wolfie). The Iggy wit will be a summer specialty.

Nightcap Dark Wheat
Originally named the Schvartza Weiss (Black in Yiddish and White in German... think Obama), Nightcap really describes this 8% abv brownie companion. I started out wanting to make a typical German dunkel weizen (darkwheat) but ended up doubling my malt and adding a lot of black patent and chocolate malts to give it a real chocolaty feel. Most dunkels are dark amber to brown in color but this one is pure black.
Germans also make Schwartz beers (black beer) but they are typically lagers. I guess the Nightcap is a combination Schwartz and wheat beer with a healthy alcoholic finish. In all, it tastes delicious as a dessert beer served with brownies or as a stand alone drink to put you to bed. A perfect way to cap your night.

Mocha Porter
Number five is currently in the bottling stage. As a yet unnamed beer, I am open to suggestions. What I can tell you is that you better like coffee if you are going to quaff this caffeinated porter. Brown coffee, black patent and chocolate malt give this brew a dark hue and a roasted bitterness. The kick comes from the pot of Gevalia coffee I added! (Again at the suggestion of the grower of hops). I wanted a 50/50 blend of coffee and chocolate flavors but the coffee is definitely dominating. Being only about 4-5% abv, it will be a very drinkable beverage but will be flavorful enough to stand up to hardy winter foods and weather.

The Devil's Double IPA
6-66, the number of the beast! Sacrifice is going on tonight!
The Devil's Double IPA is sacrificing your taste buds to the gods of Hoppiness! (I just came up with the name now).
Brewed with 2009's Stuart Estate harvest of Chinook and Cascade, along with a host of dried hops, and rolling in at robust 10% abv, it's gonna knock the hell out of you. As I sit here writing, the devil is dryhopping to spread its evil aroma. I tasted it after primary fermentation and it was even bitter for me, a hophead. It should mellow out a bit as I rack it again after the dryhopping and the malt presence should show up. This beer is only for the faithful!

For the lovers of knowledge, IPA stands for India Pale Ale. During Britain's occupation of India, beer was shipped to the soldiers stationed there. Much of this beer spoiled and didn't make the long trip. To combat this, hops were added for preservation. Hence, hoppier beers were coined India Pale ales. If you have been to Britain, you will not see any beers like double IPAs because Americans have gone hopraving mad. Brits use much less hops, and their beers are nowhere near as bitter or aromatic. A typical British IPA may approach 5% abv while the typical American IPA will start at 5-6%. (Also, abv stands for alcohol by volume). American IPAs will smell overwhelmingly hoppy because they are most likely dryhopped. Dryhopping is adding hops during fermentation so as to add aroma but not any bitterness.

Hope you enjoyed this little spiel of mine. Hopefully reading this makes you thirsty for the oldest and greatest alcoholic beverage!

Cheers.