Kitchen Sink Ale

Gunslingers and Comrades: Bear witness to this tale of woe turned to joy as the ill-begotten love of a spring dream blends into the rays of summer light. I took everything that I had and brewed the following concoction saying only "go with the gods" as I pitched the wort into the carboy.

Kitchen Sink Ale

Fermentables: 6 lbs Gold Malt Extract, 1.5 lbs Light Lager Malt Extract, 2 lbs Wildflower Honey (at 30 min).

Specialty Grains:
Cara 10 (steeped for 15 minutes pre-boil)

Boil Additions:
1 oz Saaz (45 min)
1 oz Willamette (2 min)

Holiday Ale Review

Now that the holidays are over (what day is this?), the Holiday Ale is ready to drink if still a bit premature. This spiced beer has been a long time in the making. I recall making it with a friend one evening during a debate between Barak Obama and John McCain. Shit, that's like 3 dog years ago! I think that it will actually take another 3-4 months to be really ready and probably peak around christmas time.

Although it is quite good now, the flavors need time to mellow, blend, and overall smoothen out. The beer is almost black but retains a high degree of clarity. I would definately describe the flavor as sweet and heady. I taste smoked nuts, pumpkin, clover and a very low grade cinnamon banana (almost phenolic) flavor. The alchohol content is rather high for what I usually brew at around 9 or 10 percent. This is definately not a session beer and I'm glad that we bottled everything in pint-32oz bottles. While I would not keg this beer, I think it will make great gifts for friends and fellow drinkers. As an incredibly "spicy" beer, I think it would do better on its own, or with an appetizer or dessert, rather than with a main course.

The Innkeeper

This is the final of a series of beers to keep warm the soul through the Minnesota winter. The Innkeeper is a limited edition English Ale kit from the NB:

"Thirty six major awards. Four-time Brewers International Champion. Four-time CAMRA Beer of the Year. Simply put, the muse for this kit has won more awards than any other English beer, period. From very simple ingredients comes a wonderfully well- balanced dram. Spicy, herbal, and English biscuits. Flashes of clean citrus and chewy minerals blend into a complex finish that is refreshingly bitter and remarkably dry. The way a pint was meant to taste. Truly spot on!"

We shall see.

Here is the tale of the tape:

Specialty Grains	0.25 lbs. Simpson's Extra Dark Crystal 0.25 lbs. Belgian Biscuit Malt
Fermentables	3.15 lbs. Pilsen Malt Syrup 1 lbs. Pilsen Dry Malt Extract 1 lbs. Priming Sugar
Boil Additions	1 oz. Fuggle (60 min) 1 oz. Kent Goldings (45 min) 1 oz. Styrian Goldings (5 min)
If you choose dry yeast	Not recommended.
If you choose liquid yeast	Wyeast #1469 West Yorkshire Ale. Optimum temperature: 64-72° F.

Whoa! A whole pound of corn sugar at the boil. This'll be gettin us fucked up!