First of all, it's bad ass that the beer is named in Madalorian (of Star Wars fame). Two, it looks like BA now has a "black IPA/Cascadian dark ale" category.
Lager-y body, hoppy but more pilsener-like than IPA. Interesting. More honest tasting than other black IPAs I've had and more like a black lager.
Mixed some recipes from here and here. Had a bag of lentils that I got tired of looking at. Got some lamb on sale. Of red meats, lamb is probably the best for rich, spicy dishes. I think I'd still prefer a good cut of beef to lamb if it were a steak though, as lamb on its own may be too gamey.
Browned the lamb in a pan before tossing it into the crockpot with a can of tomatoes, some beef broth for the lentils, and everything else. Pretty good.
From Elise. I picked up some ground veal on the cheap the other day so I was looking for some veal recipes. I was surprised that this one called for only veal and not a mixture of veal, beef and pork, which is typical for a meatball recipe and a meatloaf is basically a giant meatball, in my opinion. I didn't have the red bell pepper, roasted or otherwise, so I just have defrosted spinach in the trough.
OG: Supposed to be 1.044. Mine read very low but I think my wort and chilled water were not mixed properly when I took the reading.
Initial tastings were pretty malty and sticky, heavy enough that I didn't want to drink too many pints in a night. I tapped my last draft bottle tonight and it's gotten much smoother. Very on par for a brown ale, though the nuttiness is nowhere near what I'm looking for. At tapping, I lost a lot of CO2, and the first pint couldn't even pour itself. After pressurizing, it came out with a fine, fluffy head.
Addendum 110415: I am about to polish off the last draft bottle of this soon. The extra months of conditioning really smoothed out and lightened up the body and had a sweeter, nuttier taste. Bottom line, this was pretty good but needs a couple months of conditioning to hit its prime.
OG: 1.071.
Made a yeast starter in my 1L Erlenmeyer. Should really invest in a 2L.
Addendum 110407: After a longer than planned secondary, I bottled tonight into a draft bottle, a case of bombers, and about 2/3 of a case of regular bottles. I used 3/4 cup of dextrose to boost the carbonation a little, hopefully. The recommended 2/3 cup seems to give me low carb levels, but I wonder how much difference 1/12 of a cup will produce. A little concerned about bottle bombs.
Another one of those classically-styled soda. Very mild in terms of sweetness and ginger but unusually carboated. I wish it had more ginger.
First, I love being able to match beers with their glasses.
I can't smell very well since I'm sick at the moment, so all I can get is coffee, a bit like mocha, and bready. Taste is also coffee, and I don't get much vanilla either. Easy drinking, standard porter/Guinness Draught body. It is a nice change of pace from my ultra-light breakfast stout.
Disappointingly filtered. Refreshing spice to it, more reminiscent of a witbier. Coincidentally, I poured this into a Blue Moon glass. Very average.
Spent Thanksgiving with the family, gathering in Chicago. So naturally, I must make my way down to Goose Island. They weren't running tours that weekend due to the holidays, but we still killed an afternoon working on our MBAs.
Sister and I started with the Foxxy and Hex Nut Brown, respectively. Foxxy was a mild brown ale which I found to be pretty uneventful. The Hex was really good though. I would put it a close contender to Blackstone. I hope they start bottling this version since they've discontinued their standard nut brown ale.
The Belgian IPA was tasty, Belgian, and IPA-ish but it wasn't anything unique.
Dominique is a sour ale aged in bourbon barrels, so there's a lot going on. It tastes exactly as they described it. I always try sour ales even though I'm not really a fan. It's always interesting. BIL ended up finishing it since he seemed to like it a bit.
I got a half of the FairytAle, some guest chef collaboration. It was hard to pin down but I was sure that I didn't like it. "It smells like Taylor Swift and tastes like poop smells." Couldn't have said it better. Note to self: construct more colorful descriptions of my drinking experiences. Addendum: Apparently, it was "poop sticks", as in a "stick of poop", not referring to how poop might stick to a surface. Hearing and parsing fail. I like what I thought I heard better.
Frankenporter is a blend of multiple porter recipes. The result is a pretty stout porter with a lot of complexity. Tasty.
Blonde Rascal: A Belgian-style ale, though the hop blend seems IPA-ish to me, and steeped with lavender. A really floral and interesting ale. Mildly hoppy, fragrant, effervescent, light-bodied, and very smooth.
Schwarzbier: B-in-l ordered it. Didn't try it, but took a snap since it's not common.
Had to try the Christmas Ale for 2010. Can't say much without 2009 for comparison.
Had to try the Golden Goose Pils since I've never seen a bottle of it. Tastes like pilsner. Reminded me that I don't really like pilsners.
Finished with a classic: IPA. Delicious.
Not a hopsecution at all. Pretty epic fail for an IPA considering the brown ale fiasco.
Had a nice chocolate coffee nose but it was downhill from there. Starts off like a brown ale but turns into an unbalanced hop taste, too much bitterness and finishes metallic (like Salada green tea). Some people like the heavy hopping, but for a brown ale, I really dislike it. I don't think it fits well with the brown ale context.
At this point, I have mixed feelings about Mendocino. The barley wine was interesting enough, but the imperial IPA was an absolute disaster. The imperial stout pours dark and thick with a thin but capping and persistent head. Aroma is very strong, bitter, almost to the point of burnt coffee. Mouthfeel is moderate for an imperial stout, nothing out of the ordinary. Taste is a bit confusing at bit. Malty, then very bitter, but mellowing out partially into something smoky, again, maybe to the point of being burnt, maybe some leather. Finish is either unusually sweet or bitter with a bit of fruit like some coffees.
It reminds me a bit of Blackstone Maris Otter but with a bulkier body and more ash and tar in the fire.
The rye gives a spicy aroma, body and hop complexity more on par with an IPA though the bitterness is reasonable and well-balanced. Has a bit of a sour finish like a rye sourdough but also very mild. This is a very enjoyable, unassuming beer that stands well enough on its own in a session.
B-in-law had this when we went to the Goose Island brewpub. It was pretty great so I decided to give it a shot. I used plain pork ribs but boneless country ribs would have been best. I used Hank's BBQ sauce from Elise which is simple enough to commit to memory. Halves of tomato sauce, lemon juice and cider vinegar, thirds of dark molasses and Worcestershire, quarters of butter and oil with grated onion and a pepper. some brown sugar and salt. And a whole cup of bourbon or Tennessee whiskey. I used Knob Creek (and it was sad to see so much go into the unknown) since I didn't have enough George Dickel that I cared to spare. It is a pretty tangy sauce with the right amount of sweetness.
I had to do the ribs in the oven, also via Elise. 250F for 90 minutes, then saucing every 30 minutes or so. Mine took about 3 hours total and I think that was a touch too long. The ribs I had were not as fatty as a stack of boneless country ribs.
The grits were just Quaker quick grits that are way past their expiry, but everything turned out pretty tasty.
A fresh hop beer. It smells and tastes like the hops are pretty green still, haven't been concentrated, not a lot of resin, not a lot of floral either. Head is a creamy cap. A bit more amber and malty than I'm used to in an IPA but presumably adjusted for the winter warmer season. BA registers it at 6.8%ABV but it goes down like a session beer, though a bit heavy for that. Definitely a likable, sociable beer but isn't the life of a party.
A bit malt forward, low hopped. For an ESB, I've had much richer ESBs. And that's the last of the Sweetwater varieties I have.
Sweetwater is a session brewery through and through. Nothing too exotic, forward, or aggressive. Mild interpretations. Good meal drinkers, little interference but runs fair risk of getting overpowered by heavily spiced or rich foods.
I remember liking this. It's a pretty mild, unspiced wheat ale. An easy, uncomplicated drinker, good with turkey or chicken.
I haven't had a pale ale in quite a while. Generally, pale ales are too bland for my taste (though I can't say I remember a time when I preferred pale ale). This tastes very much like the IPA but less hoppy. Interestingly, it has a more solid finish or perhaps the contrast between the taste and the finish is less dramatic. Nothing much to say here.
A bit biscuit-y on the nose, mild hoppiness, some floral. Mild hop bitter on the tongue, assertive but not forward. A step up from pale ale but not too much. Light carbing, medium body, clean but maybe a bit watery finish. Less distinguished and aggressive than the Sam Adams Latitude 48, this is an easy way for sensitive drinkers to ease into the deep sea of IPA.
There is certainly a class of drinkers who worship heavy-hopped, high IBU IPAs, and I think they prevent more people from exploring the IPA style. Trying IPA after a life of American macros or even lagers can be startling for most. Giving a Stone Ruination (100+ IBU) to a Mich Ultra drinking is not a good introduction. And I think that's sad when a hop-head gives a heavy IPA to a light drinker and admonishes them when they can't handle the bitterness.
I like hops. That being said, I've had high-IBU beers that I haven't liked. They're like the bro-dawgs of IPAs. And there's more to hops and IPAs than IBUs. Just saying.
So this is not a West coast IPA, maybe not even an east coast IPA. It seems like a hoppy version of an English IPA. But it's mild enough that it can accompany a meal so that's an accomplishment.
Unusually creamy for an IPA. Pretty resin-y. Sharp hop bite. No floral. Otherwise, hoppy but still pretty run of the mill.
First offering from Mendocino.Typical color; very fine, thin head. Very mild hop aroma, a little buttery. Taste is a complete biscuit bomb, not in the typical malty way. Almost no hops in the taste, very mild. Overall, fairly average and uneventful.
It's really pretty silly that I hadn't thought of this before. It's basically just ground chicken broken up in a pan with mirin, soy sauce, and ginger. They called for ginger juice, which would have been better, since I had to use a lot of ginger powder to get a reasonable presence.
I was looking for ground chicken recipes since I picked up some ground chicken on the cheap the other day. Basically , my only real ground chicken recipe is from Deb who makes baked meatballs with tomato paste on top and in the mix. Found this here. It is basically just a sloppy joe recipe with ground chicken instead of beef and then pour onto a par-baked pan of cornbread, topped with cheese, and then baked some more. It is pretty good.
Another disappointing pumpkin ale, though not nearly as bad as others I've had which are over-spiced or too thin or some other common problem with fruit/vegetable beers. That being said, it's a decent, easy drinker. It just doesn't bring much to the table, and I expected a little more from Cambridge.
Real malty, but not sweet, nose. Way hoppier than I would expect from a barley wine. Almost imperial IPA-ish. Hints of chocolate on the finish. Average-bodied in the mouth, slightly lighter viscosity than I would prefer but still a thick and persistent finish. In contrast to Widmer Deadlift Imperial IPA, this is a barleywine that wishes it were an imperial IPA.
It's built as a session beer so I guess I shouldn't expect too much. OG was 1.038, FG was 1.020. Tastes like Guinness Draught with a more chocolate-y and oatmeal tone, less bitterness, and exceptionally smooth.
Too malty and a bit burnt sugar in the first bottle I had. Didn't really like it.
After a good chill, it takes the edge off. I actually can't taste anything now.
Had a little pumpkin beer tasting. It was a bit for naught since I failed to pick up what was supposed to be the star of the show, Southern Tier's Pumking. Pumking is an imperial pumpkin ale and probably the best pumpkin-based beer I've had. ST's pervasive and often overpowering sweetness does really well here and the extra body from imperial-izing it helps a lot.
Overall, a pretty dismal tasting, drinking a bunch of mediocre to awful beers. About half of it ended up going down the drain. I already knew that Pumking is my favorite pumpkin ale. I also now know that it is only brewed in October and supplies are very limited. Now that I've done this tasting, I'm happy to say I never have to try this tasting again.
Made a more real beef stroganoff. No can, no seasoning packet. Sauteed things in butter, made a roux, a little beef broth, a lot of sour cream, served over fried potatoes with some tabasco sauce. Awesome.
A rich, malty, hop vehicle. The rep at the store called it a red ale but with more hops. It's a rich red, fine head, malty body loaded with hops. Heavy lacing all the way down. I like it. Not nearly as sessionable as an IPA, but a nice, heavier brew for a slower drinking, cold winter night.
Also, there's no good definition of a stock ale. BA redirects to old ales, and other stock ales get reclassified as American IPAs. Nosterfatu is classed as an American strong ale, also a super-ambiguous style. Someone said the brewer marks it as an imperial red. In any case, it's pretty good.
Buttery and warm up front, a bit gin-like but more cereal-y rather than herbal or botanical. Hot finish with some acetone, But what do you expect at 125 proof.
Picked up a fresh growler fill. Thick but very smooth body, less hop-bomby than, say, ST Unearthly. The taste focuses more on the sweeter, floral aspect. A pretty good brew. It's like the barleywine of imperial IPA.
Described as a Belgian pale ale steeped with hibiscus flowers. Bottled on September 17, 2010. It tastes pretty green still. I can get the Belgian yeast, though not very hoppy to bring up the pale ale part. There's a sweet, wine-y taste, more herbal than floral. I think it has some aging potential. I have two bottles put away. It's all I could find. Either the store had a very limited supply or it's super popular. Lucky I got it.
Nose is stopped up so I can't get a good whiff. Fine, fluid bubbles, low carb, no lacing. Body is more like a standard stout. Smooth and filling mouthfeel, hints of chocolate. First taste had a hollow, metallic finish but subsided with time.
Nothing interesting, but it was on sale.
After having cheated and read some BA on it, I would say it's like an overexposed wine. I don't get the feeling of a doppelbock as much as some others did. It's still very much stout in my taste. Some dark fruit and typical rich stout tones. But still, at the end of the day, not much to write home about.
When I had a taste at bottling, I was a little worried that it was too watery. I pulled a draft from a forced carbed (one week) tap-a-draft. Still kind of watery. It's mellowed a bit and the malt comes in, but I'm used to more full-bodied and hoppier beers. Maybe I was just expecting too much from a straight bitter, which what this is, presumably, as opposed to an ESB, which is what I normally get. The carbing is a little low, though I did tap it a day early.
It's not terrible, but I wouldn't really want to show it off to anyone. It's sessionable in that it has relatively no weight. It's a little like Newcastle, only more unremarkable.
I am undeterred though. I will have to watch my water volume more carefully next time. I had added a little extra in the boil thinking that I would lose some to evaporation and steam, but perhaps that was a bad idea. Also, way more hops. There is also the issue of not letting it condition for very long. Two weeks is the standard, some said 3 weeks. Since beer has to condition anyway, natural carbing is probably the better way to go.
Things to keep in mind for next time. I have a breakfast stout kit already, but I'm planning on picking up a nut brown (always on the search), an IPA that is said to do well with a dry hopping, and a double IPA.
ADDENDUM: It is definitely a session beer. I knocked back 6 pints one night and still felt pretty good.
From Kevin. He also calls it spanakopita pasta. It is basically spanakopita filling turned into a pesto. It's pretty good. I used frozen spinach, but it might be better with fresh spinach and it would definitely be better with fresh herbs.
