It's been awhile

So this is obviously my first update in awhile...law school has kept me busy. But, now that finals are over, I finally have some free time.

My Nightshade Ale (blackberry-blueberry wheat) didn't turn out half bad. It's a very fruity beer, and tastes almost more like a soda than a beer. It's definitely something I'd have to be in the mood to drink, and not just something I'd reach for when I have a beer. Interestingly, the ten pounds of fruit I used in this batch lended a much stronger flavor than did the ten pounds of fruit I used in my sour cherry beer from awhile back (Charlie Papazian's "Cherries in the Snow" recipe). In this batch, I used frozen fruit, whereas in the cherry beer I used canned cherries. I'm guessing there's some kind of difference there?

My imperial stout seems to be coming along nicely, too. It's been sitting in secondary about a month and a half now (I think), and has been aging over vanilla beans the entire time. I'm pretty excited to see how it turns out. My original plan was to let it sit in secondary all summer, but since I won't be around I'm a little hesitant to leave it fermenting in the high temperatures without any way to check on it. So I think I'm going to bottle it in a week or two, and then let some sit here to age and take a few bottles home with me.

I won't be brewing anything else until the fall, so my posts over the next few months will probably be few and far between. For my next batch, I'm planning on doing a pale ale/IPA, with an emphasis on citrusy hops. I wanted something I could just go to whenever I was in the mood for a beer, and that flavor profile seems to fit the bill.

Cherries in the Snow, and more

So I'm impatient, and decided to go ahead and try one bottle of my variation of Charlie Papazian's "Cherries in the Snow". It's only been a week or so since I bottled, but I'm impatient, what can I say. I stashed one in the fridge this morning, and tried it this afternoon. It obviously could use longer to condition, and I plan to let the rest do so. I bottle primarily in 22oz'ers, but I bottled a couple of 12 oz bottles as well, for purposes like this.

Poured a reddish-brown in color - much darker than I wanted, but after watching it brew, what I expected. If I make this recipe again, I will definitely use "extra-light" or "extra-pale" extract instead of regular pale or light. Poured with a decent head, and while the beer definitely tasted well-carbonated, the head wasn't particularly full. Hopefully this will correct itself with more time conditioning.

I couldn't entirely place the aroma. It was a sweetness, but not the kind I was expecting. I don't think the batch was contaminated - after my debacle with my Irish Stout, I'm *very* careful with contamination. It also doesn't smell like anything that could contaminate a beer, based on what I've read. It wasn't a bad smell either, just something I wasn't used to. Just couldn't place it.

The taste wasn't what I was expecting - good, but not what I was expecting. A hint of hops in the background, so the cherries could shine through...but I didn't really taste the cherries. I definitely tasted the tartness of the cherries, but it was more a generic tartness and not the cherries themselves. I think this could have been due to the fact that I used canned cherries (it's all I could find), and could have used something else (maybe mixed in some sweet/dark cherries?) to compensate. It definitely tasted like a Belgian beer, like Papazian's description stated, but I guess even knowing that it wasn't what I expected. The tartness was a little overpowering, so I'm hoping that will mellow with a few more weeks bottling, and more of the cherry flavor will come through. Either way, it's definitely a good brew. I'm happy with it so far. I'll see how it is in a few weeks.

I also racked my "Chocolate Thunder" porter to secondary. And I am VERY excited about this beer.

I took a whiff as I was racking, and the aroma of chocolate and...well, beer...filled the room. When I finished racking, I reserved a few spoonfuls to taste.

Wow.

A very strong chocolate/coffee aftertaste, but that's what I was looking for. You can definitely smell and taste the chocolate in the background. It's not as dark as I would have liked - ironically, I used "extra light" extract for this one, due to the high amount of dark malt. I think the addition of all of the chocolate actually helped lighten the color of the beer - it's a very milk-chocolate colored brown right now. Cleaning up all the trub/yeast cake wasn't so pleasant - but it smelled a lot better than it looked :)

The semester ends soon, which is a blessing in more ways than one. I'll be driving home for a few weeks, so the porter will have plenty of time to sit in secondary. It'll give me something else to look forward to when I come back down here.

I'm still trying to decide what I'm going to make next. I'm thinking about picking up another carboy so I can have two brews going at once. If I do that, then one of the ones I'll make is a Raspberry-Chocolate Stout, hopefully ready in time for Valentines Day. For the second beer, I think I'll try to make that pale ale/IPA I wrote about last time. I still want to make a "Thanksgiving Ale" at some point, but I figure that recipe will be a little more complicated, and it's not something that's pressing. I'll have plenty of time to formulate recipes when I'm at home :)

Well that's all for now. I'll be in New Jersey for the next few weeks, so if anyone there wants to talk homebrewing over a homebrew - or at a microbrew - let me know.

Review: Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale (2008)

My first review. I'll try to intersperse these once in awhile.

I had one of the Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale's on tap at Recreation Billiards in Winston-Salem, NC a few weeks ago. I liked it, so I picked up a sixer.

It pours a very nice reddish-gold (amber?) color, with a very thick, creamy and lasting head. Down to the last sip there was a good 1/4 inch of head. Started off with an inch of foam or so. Left a very high amount of lacing down the glass as well.

A strong aroma of hops and a slight citrus aroma pervades. First sip was very hoppy - I love IPAs, and am what would be considered a "hophead", so naturally I enjoy this beer. As the beer warmed, the hops mellowed out slightly. A bare hint of citrus can be tasted in the background as the beer warms, but for the first few sips, all there are are hops, hops, and more hops (not that that's a bad thing...).

Overall, I really like this beer - but it's nothing particularly special. To me, it tastes just like any other IPA - there's nothing in particular that makes it stand out. Personally, since I thoroughly enjoy hops, if I want something like this, I will just get an IPA to get the full-blown hop flavor. However, that being said, this is still a beer I enjoy. It's something I would definitely order again, but if there are other IPAs on tap, I would probably choose them instead. In fact, I would probably choose Sierra Nevada's "Anniversary" Ale - I don't have any in front of me so I can't compare directly, but from what I remember, it was hoppier (just the way I like it!).

As I said, it's definitely a quality beer, and one I would drink again, but there's nothing particularly spectacular about it. If you like IPA's and hops, you will enjoy this beer. If you're not particularly fond of hops, I wouldn't reccomend it.

On a home-brew note, my batch of Charlie Papazian's "Cherries in the Snow" has been bottled, and I hope to open the first one in a week or so. I brewed the "Chocolate Thunder" I wrote about last time a few days ago, and I'm excited about it. When I was brewing it, I was skeptical about the amount of chocolate - once I put the cocoa in, the chocolate was all I smelled. However, once the beer went in the primary, the hops and malt began to come through. I definitely want the chocolate flavor to come through, but I want beer, not hot chocolate. I think it should turn out pretty good. When I rack it to secondary in a few days, I'll post another update.

The semester ends in a week or so, so I won't be brewing anything else until after the new year. I threw around a few ideas I was considering last time, but I'm also considering now brewing a pale ale/ESB/IPA (something in that general area). Generally, if I'm out somewhere, I'll order an IPA over a pale ale simply because I love the hops. However, I'm thinking about making something thats still hoppy, but smoother, and has a greater depth of flavor. That's why I'm thinking about cutting down the hops a little bit and allowing some of the malt to come through, and making a pale ale. Something like that is more of an "everyday" beer, something that one could pretty much grab whenever they want a beer, whereas my other recipes have been more "specialty" (at least to me), and are things you have to be in the mood to drink.

That's all for now. I picked up a bottle of Sam Adams Chocolate Bock the other day, and I'm really excited to try it. However, I'm waiting for a night when I really want it - it's too expensive, and too specialized, to drink just for the sake of having a beer. I'll post a review for that when I eventually try it - hopefully sooner than later.