Don't Stop Me Now

That's what she said.

It's only March and I've brewed four beers with two more are on the way.

A comm0n theme among my beers is their namesakes. I am on a quest to be a real law school dork and name a beer after everyone in my study group . I'm officially down to my last person, Dave Bloom. The Bloomenator? Dave's -oh shit i spilled my coffee-ale? Bloom's bubble bursting bock? We'll find an appropriate one soon enough.

As for everyone else, we started with the Ingvoldstout for the lovely Lauren. Then we moved on to Little C's Lavender for none other then Little C. Andrew was upset at being left out so I hurriedly honored him with St. Andrew's Tripel. I still think he feels he gets no respect. Maybe he's right.

Either way, it was time to honor the rockin' Roshelli. This is a woman who has done it all, UPenn, airforce, nurse, federal clerk... but she lacked that all important honorary beer. It was time to step up to the plate. I really don't remember how it came about but all of a sudden we were discussing whether a certain phrase was copyrighted, or trademarked or whatever was the right intellectual property issue. Four law students sitting at a bar having no idea what how to make sure we could use the term "Naughty Nurse." Kristin's biggest concern-- making sure the 'a' in Naughty connected to the 'a' in Ale. The genesis of Kristin's namesake was born.

Wait, I'm naming a beer after this?

But what was Naughty Nurse Ale to be? She loved Sam Adams Cherry Wheat and Ommegang's 3 Philosopher's. I thought about the amber malt I had lying around and then I thought about the two beers she liked. Then I thought about the cherry tree in my back yard. Ergo... Naughty Nurse Cherry Amber was born. Unfortunately, The Naughty Nurse will have to wait until the right season. We don't want to pop the cherry too soon...


Ingvoldstout, Naughty Nurse and Little C














That brings us to the next big beer, the Blonde Hopshell Belgian Imperial IPA. Big name, big beer. I want to raise the bar in homebrewing by pushing the alcohol content without sacrificing flavor. I dislike the really strong beers that leave a somewhat winy alcohol aftertaste. Beer is supposed to go down easy and I want to brew a big beer that slides right down. The idea is to have a Belgian Blonde, like Duvel, infused with with American hops and candy sugar. I'm using yeast called Ardennes, so you know it's going to be intense! Just like Germans tried to bulge through the American line, this will bust through your notion of beer... only I won't fail!


Soon We will be standing in front La Brassiere de Loup, or De wolfbrouwerij.












The next post will have tasting notes on St. Andrew's Tripel and Little C's Lavender so stay tuned! Plus I will recap my trip to Oregon... hopefully the Blond Hopshell will have some Cascade hops straight from the Cascade mountains! Soon this picture of me in Brugge will, like my beer, be juxtaposed with the American West Coast.

Cheers

Taking Chances

Well, this is a montage blog. A blogtage?

The Tripel is bottled. The Graduator is delicious. The latter having a phenomenally drinkable malt centered flavor. In other words, it's closer to the flavor and smell of what most people consider beer. Of course, it's high in alcohol and full bodied. I had it today with some spicy chicken. I thought I was opening my Double IPA but it didn't smell overwhelmingly of hops. It looked just like the IPA, same color, same head, but alas, it was the Graduator. Luckily, the beer was a fine accompaniment and actually mellowed out the spiciness, as opposed to the IPA which would have intensified the heat. After six hot wings the malty sweet Graduator was seriously good relief.

Onto the main course.

Little C and her lavender beer.
Phase 1
Open the lavender and realize how intense it smells!
Sift it around and try to figure out how much to use.

Get some floss and tie it around the lavender sack.
Stick it in the carboy.

Nothing to exciting. Just getting it wet so it sinks a bit.




Most importantly.... DRINK IT ALL!!!














As of now, it tastes like a Belgian Strong golden ale. If i were to puff myself up, i''d say it tastes like Duvel. The flavor mostly comes from the Belgian yeast. The lavender should add quite a unique and potent aroma. We'll see what happens. Right now, its a tasty honey belgian ale . In a week, it will be a lavender infused alcoholic flower in a bottle.


Figured I'd get a picture of Little C herself in here.


Cheers!

I Hope It Doesn't Taste Like Shampoo

Little C's Honey Lavender

The thought of a honey lavender beer never crossed my mind. In fact, The idea of lavender in general never blossomed. My intentions were to make a spruce beer in honor of my Alaskan fisher friend.

Two events changed my course.
1. Stuart had me try his mead.
2. An old friend suggested I "mead him in the middle."

The latter was suggested to me while sitting in a Williamsburg beer hall. Why not combine elements of mead and beer? Why not use lavender? Well, there was no reason not to. I still have no idea where he came up with meade me in the middle but he seemed to think he was a visionary. I went home, did some research, and found that honey and lavender go together like peanut butter and jelly. Maybe this kid was on to something.

My only concern was how to cook with lavender. Apparently, lavender is quite bitter. I love bitter beers, but usually the bitterness comes from hops, not flowers. Therefore, I decided to use the dryhopping technique with lavender. Instead of cooking the dried flowers and absorbing their bitterness, I would use them solely for aroma. I left the bittering work to my trusted green friends Glacier and Simcoe.

The two pounds of Minnesota Clover honey will more than balance any residual hop bitterness. The use of Belgian Ale yeast will add a nice spiciness that I hope makes for an interesting, unique and delicious beer. While I want this beer to have a strong hop presence, I'm hoping the lavender and honey aroma will leave first impressions of sweet and flowery. Once that occurs, imbibers will be less likely to notice any lingering hop bitterness. My hope is that this beer will allow non hopheads to try other hoppy beers without adverse reactions (i.e. my Double IPA!).


Speaking of which, to the left is my Mocha Porter and Double IPA with beautiful foamy heads. Who doesn't love some good head?

To the right is my very expensive and technically savvy cooling device. One cannot pour boiling hot wort into a glass carboy without disaster. Luckily, I have "created" a natural cooling system.

In addition, two plus two equals four.

Sorry, that's an old Norm MacDonald joke from SNL.
I'll just give a brief update of my other beers.

Graduator
This malty bock impostor is bottled and yet to be tried in its carbonated form. I probably should have tried it before writing this blog but I'm sure all my die hard fans will live without tasting notes. It should be malty sweet with some residual hop bitterness. It's my attempt at attracting Stella drinkers. You know who you are.

Belgian Tripel
This Trappist infused creation is still sitting in secondary fermentation. I've been slow on the alcohol consumption so I am yet to acquire the requisite amount of bottles. I'll get there soon enough. I am very excited about this because I love tripels. They are light in color, spicy and strong in alcohol. If this comes out right, there should be no real alcohol presence on the tongue. This means you are going to drink it, not realize how strong it is, have another one and then have trouble standing up. Now do Monks know how to make beer or what?

Until next time, thanks for reading and keep trying new beer!!

Cheers

P.S. Suggestions on what I should brew next are always welcome!
I'm thinking of remaking my Iggy Wit for the summer and trying a Bishop's Best British Bitter Beer. (I don't care for alliteration). Spruce beer is still an idea.

Sexy Hops

As I am on break, I have a boat load of time on my hands. I've brewed two beers and prematurely tried the Double IPA. Now what to do? The same thing you're doing right now; read about beer. First I'll give you some updates on my beers and then entertain you with tales of the "wolf plant."
Devil's Double IPA
As the image shows, hops grow high. This is what the Stuart's backyard looked like during the summer. Beautiful female cones of humulus lupulus. The next stage is harvesting the hops. Unfortunately, i missed out on this experience. What I didn't miss out on was the finished product. I used a boatload of homegrown Chinook and Cascade hops.


To the left is a great image of chinook and cascade being harvested. After they are taken off the vines they can be immediately put into a boil to make what we call "wet hopped" beer. In my case, I used them a few weeks after harvesting so it's not an official wet hopped beer, but it is fresh and delicious.







As I said, I opened my double IPA prematurely. It wasn't fully carbonated and the hop flavors were incredibly dominant. In time, the malt will balance out the hops a bit, but leaving the beer smelling of citrus and puckering your lips. By the time I write my next blog my double IPA might be gone! I can't help myself, I love these beers.


Belgian Tripel
This beer was another collective effort. I had my boys over to help.
I guess I forgot to mention the importance of these two pictures. A key ingredient to homebrewing is enjoying homebrews!! My staff here are quaffing a couple of Mocha Porters. Mike, however, may have had too many...















Over the course of the evening, we drank every beer in my fridge to the point where old Miller Lite's had to be used for consumption. (I did not take part in that). The yeast was finally ready to be pitched and the yet unnamed Belgian Tripel was ready to ferment. And what better way to end a night of brewing than by watching the Hangover? Ok, you're right,that wasn't enough... what's missing you ask? Cherry Valley.

The Graduator
Before I started brewing the Tripel I racked the Graduator. This process just involves transferring the beer post fermentation from one carboy to another. The purpose to to isolate the dead yeast to avoid off flavors. It also allows me time to acquire enough bottles for bottling. The beer can sit in the secondary fermentor for a while with no negative effects. In fact, it allows the beer to mellow and the flavors to come together.
Yes, I use my mom for help. She is the omnipotent preventer of boil overs.

Back to the Graduator. It's definitely NOT a bock. Tasting it immediately made us all say "IPA." Stuart's hops are just too overpowering. The beer should end up having nice balance of the hops and maltiness. We'll see what it ends up tasting like. My bet is a well balanced amber ale smelling very citrusy. Should be delicious.

Now, what you've all been waiting for. Sexy Hops.
During the break, I came across some interesting information. This information explains a lot about college and inevitably links me to hops.

First, as we all know, hops are members of the same botanical family as cannabis. (Don't try smoking them). What I didn't know is that hops are an aphrodisiac for men, yet a sleep inducer for women!! I can finally connect the dots to many nights in college.... Who knew the very reason I loved beer, hops, prevented me from getting any? Oh the bitter sweet irony of it all.

Of Wolf and Hops
Second, my name is linked to hops. Pliny, a 6th century Roman writer, was the first to write about hops. He called them.... get ready for it.... "Lupus salictarius," or "Wolf plant." Apparently they had a fondness for growing wild among willow trees and soil, like a wolf among sheep.




Thanx again for reading. Hope you can enjoy a delicious brew with me soon.

Cheers

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.