Tasting picture..

Last night was probably a bit too many beers to taste, but we did have fun. Here's us trying out one of the beers.

Thursday night beer tasting in the DRB

Me and the dudes are going to do a beer tasting tonight in the DRB.. Here's the line up!

Beer Tasting @ Dayton Road Brewing
February 28, 2008

1. Old Boys' Brewhouse - Brewhouse Bock
Style: German style bock
ABV: 5.5-7.0% ?
Description: Bock Beer was originally brewed in Germany to herald the coming of Spring or, a sign of better things to come. Bock beer in general is stronger than your typical lager, more of a robust malt character with a dark amber to brown hue. Hop bitterness can be assertive enough to balance though must not get in the way of the malt flavor, most are only lightly hopped.

2. Old Boys' Brewhouse - Brewhouse Brown
Style: American Brown Ale
ABV: 5.2%
Description: Medium in body and unique in its flavor complexity. We use a combination of caramel, victory and chocolate malts to give this tasty brew a toasted, nutty flavor which would have made Old Boy himself howl in approval.

3. Bells Best Brown
Style: English Brown Ale
ABV: 6.60%
Description: Rich brown ale perfect for the fall and winter. Plenty of malt character and smooth sweet finish give this brown ale its distinct character.

4. Jolly Pumpkin Bam Noire
Style: Saison / Farmhouse Ale
ABV: 4.3%
Description: Dark, smooth, delicious. Aromas of worn leather and cool autumn nights. Notes of sweet plum and toasted raisin, hints of coffee and cacao. Lingering tart and refreshing finish. Only available for a few short months. Not to be missed.
(Open or Wild fermentation - re-usage of yeasts - aged in oak casks)

5. Great Lakes Conways Irish Ale
Style: Irish Red Ale
ABV: 6.5%
Description: A malty Irish Ale with a notable toasty flavor derived from lightly roasted malt. Second to Dry Stout, this style of ale is Ireland's other most distinctive brew. Named after Patrick Conway, the grandfather of co-owners Patrick and Daniel Conway and a Cleveland policeman who directed traffic for 25 years near the brewery.

6. Goose Island Demolition 2007
Style: Belgian Strong Pale Ale
ABV: 8.0%
Description: Brewed with Saaz and Styrian Golding Hops for a grassy citrus aroma and lots of the finest pale malt for a "honey" malt middle and intense flavor.

7. Michigan Brewing Company Celis Grand Cru
Style: Belgian Strong Pale Ale
ABV: 8.0%
Description: Brewed according to a traditional recipe and uses pale barley malts, Saaz, and Cascade hops, Curacao orange peel and select spices. The combination produces an ale strong in character with a subtle fruitiness and complex flavors.

8. Sierra Nevada 2008 ESB
Style: Extra Special / Strong Bitter
ABV: 5.9%
Description: Combines the best of English tradition with West Coast style. A blend of malts featuring British-grown Maris Otter is balanced with the earthy spiciness of hand-selected English and US hops. The ale is left unfiltered, which enhances mouthfeel and hop aroma creating a slightly reddish-copper hue.

9. Bells Lager
Style: American All-Malt Lager
ABV: 4.5%
Description: As refreshingly crisp as a morning swim in a Great Lake, this brew is crafted with Pils and Munich malts. The pronounced hop character of this golden lager sparks thoughts of sandy beaches and rocky islands.

10. Siera Nevada Pale Ale
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 5.6%
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is a delightful example of the classic pale ale style. It has a deep amber color and a exceptionally full-bodied, complex character. The fragrant bouquet and spicy flavor are the results of the generous use of the best Cascade hops. Bittering Hops: Magnum & Perle. Finishing Hops: Cascade

11. Michigan Brewing Company High Seas India Pale Ale
Style: American IPA
ABV: 7.2%
Description: Assertively hoppy and dangerously seductive. A skillful blend of three premium barley malts with generous amounts of Northern Brewer and Cascade Hops creates a special ale to satisfy even the most demanding palate.

12. Sierra Nevada 2008 Bigfoot
Style: American Barley Wine
ABV: 9.6%
Description: Our award-winning barleywine boasts a dense, fruity bouquet, an intense flavor palate and a deep reddish-brown color. Its big maltiness is superbly balanced by a wonderfully bittersweet hoppiness. Chinook Hops with Cascade and Centennial finishing hops.

13. Stone Brewing Co. Ruination
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 7.7%
Description: This massive hop monster has a wonderfully delicious and intensely bitter flavor on a refreshing malt base. ONe taste and you can esily see why we call this brew "a liquid poem to the glory of hop!"

14. Stoudts Double IPA
Style: American Double (Imperial) IPA
ABV: 10%
Stoudt's Double IPA is a strong, full-bodied ale with an intense hop character and deep golden color. This unusual brew is characteristic of the newly recognized style of extremely hoppy and malty ales of American origin. The Double IPA is our strongest beer with an alcohol of over 10% abv and bitterness of more than 75 IBU's. Multiple kettle hop additions and generous dry hopping contribute to the powerful yet smooth and fragrant hop character of this beer.

15. Bells Hopslam
Style: American Double (Imperial) IPA
ABV: 10%
Description: A biting, bitter, tongue bruiser of an ale. With a name like Hopslam, what did you expect? A great example of what it might be like to eat a handful of hops with a big alcohol warming finish.

DRB events!

For some reason, it didn't cross my mind that I should post events on the DRB page. We have something happening every month, mostly low key hang out parties, but we have a lot of fun. There's usually a chess match that breaks out mid-way through the night, and the broom is always handy if an empty pint hits the floor. We always have good snacks on hand too, from pirogi's, chips and salsa, taco's and always peanuts (shells on the floor!).
Anyhow, I'll start posting pictures of the events.. here are a couple of recent ones.

Bryan and Aaron are making me a frame with a mirror in it, to go behind the bar. I acquired a 5 gal. korny of bells best brown, so we're going to enjoy some of that after the mirror is hung.



Cow tongue provided by Nick from work. It was awesome. The pico salsa was amazing.


Cow tongue night - the gang.

The Two Hearted Challenge

My favorite beer is an India Pale Ale. I can't get enough of them. I brewed several batches before trying one. The batch I picked up was a Bells Two Hearted clone. I had heard that it's a pretty close comparison. I like Two Hearted, so I figured I would give it a shot. The beer turned out fabulous.
I was at 129 in Monroe the other night, drinking a Two Hearted, and thought, wow, this kind of tastes like my beer.. kind of forgetting that mine was a clone. Gave me an idea.. next time I'm at the grocery store, I'll pick up a sixer of Two Hearted, and put them up against each other. This is live blogging at it's finest.. here goes:

Both beers poured at the same time. DRB IPA - Keg / Two Hearted - Bottle

Appearance:
DRB IPA - More amber in color, yet really close to the bells. A little thicker too. A small white head sits on the top, maybe an 1/8th inch.
Two Hearted - Orange in color and clear. A creamy color head, not as big as the DRB's.

Aroma:
DRB IPA - A definite malt smell comes through with a slight hop smell.
Two Hearted - Larger hop smell, malt is definitely in the background of this. The hops really shine in this beer.

Palate:
DRB IPA - Smooth creamy mouth feel. Medium body. Finishes smooth.
Two Hearted - Crisp thin mouth feel. Medium to light body. Finishes smooth.

Taste:
DRB IPA - A creamy malty flavor starts out with a big mild hop bite. Grapefruit like flavors really come out in this beer. Very well balanced flavor.
Two Hearted - Thinner in comparison, lighter. Much less malt flavor and more immediate hoppiness.

Overall: Boy. Let me have another sip of each.. I'd definitely have to vote for mine. Maybe that's just me being partial to my own beer, but I think if I was blind tasting this, I'd go for the fuller bodied creamy IPA. I can totally see the similarities between the two, which explains why whoever made this recipe up, would call it a clone. But yeah, I'll take the DRB IPA!

80 Shilling Scottish Ale

Had another brew day today. This recipe was quite simple. Grains, malt extract and an ounce of Kent Goldings hops. The brew went well - the thermometer I tried out this time was one of those that you set the temperature, and an alarm goes off when it hits it. Worked pretty good - but it went kind of crazy when I was chilling the beer. I had to resort to my back up thermometer. I probably chilled the beer a little too much, but it ended up being around 172 in the carboy - which is perfect for pitching the yeast.
The original gravity came out at 1.040. The recipe says it's supposed to be at 1.045 - so I'm not too concerned. Hopefully by tomorrow morning I'll be kicking back on the sofa hearing the bubbling action from the kitchen.

6lb. liquid malt extract
10 oz 60 L Crystal, 1 oz Roasted Barley, 4 oz Aromatic
1 oz Kent Goldings (bittering)

I put the grain bag in a pot on my garage kerosene heater.. it's kind of like potpourri beer style.. haha. The only mistake I made today was knocking my empty glass off the table as I was filling my carboy - crash! oops. Lord knows I have enough of them. :)

Rackin the oatmeal

I woke up really early today for some reason, and decided to do some beer work. I cleaned up the bar some (lot's of empties and empty glasses from this past wknd). I also racked the oatmeal. The yeast cake on the bottom was probably the biggest I've ever seen.. it was hard getting out of the carboy! Pretty weird looking too, if you can imagine how that looked dumping it in the toilet. :p I gave the beer a taste, and I think it's going to be a good one. I'm going to let it sit for a week or two, then bottle most of the batch. I haven't decided how much I'm going to bottle, possibly all of them. Opening day will be St. Patricks weekend.