Now that graduation is behind us its time to start looking towards the upcoming season of summer beers. Specifically wheat beers as we'll be tapping our Belgian-style wit beer Witty Twitty today, brewing Hefeweizen in the next week or so and tapping our 2012 edition of 97 Pound Weakling, a 10+ % ABV wheat wine for those out there that enjoy a wheat beer with some chew.
Look for some new bottle releases in the store soon as we'll have some Petite Fleur and Mic Czech available for take home. Have a great and safe holiday weekend.
Cheers,
Mike Roy
Friday, May 25, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
This week in the brewery
As we're gearing up for graduation weekend we have some exciting things going on in the brewery. On Tuesday we brewed a new stout recipe, Antilles, a tropical stout ( high gravity sweet stout). We loaded over 1000 pounds of malt into the mash tun starting with Maris
Otter, then loading it with two varieties of caramel malt,oats,flaked
wheat and a special addition of an undisclosed specialty malt.It should come in over 7% with a nice roasted barley character, fruity yeast esters and malt sweetness.
We tapped some reserve kegs of Blasphemous,our 8.1 % sour brown ale, so get this while it lasts.
Lastly a little update for some customers who have asked about bottles, we still have a handful of Anacostia Ale and 10th Anniversary Ale bottles left in the General Store, so first come first serve.
Cheers,
Mike
We tapped some reserve kegs of Blasphemous,our 8.1 % sour brown ale, so get this while it lasts.
Lastly a little update for some customers who have asked about bottles, we still have a handful of Anacostia Ale and 10th Anniversary Ale bottles left in the General Store, so first come first serve.
Cheers,
Mike
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Why Rye, why?
This week presented itself with a number of obstacles and challenges. Beyond a few mechanical issues that we overcame the biggest issue came on Tuesday trying to brew a new double I.P.A. with 33% Rye malt. Yeah, that's not a typo, its just the insanity that brewers sometimes take on when trying to push the boundaries of their brew houses. For those of you who don't know Rye lacks a husk, which makes this grain very difficult (read" gummy and slow) to work with. Normally our beers take about 1-2 hours to lauter (transfer wort from mash tun to kettle) but this particular brew topped out at 4 hours and 47 minutes. No worries however since the only thing damaged in this experiment was my patience at times, the beer itself hopped with Chinook,Columbus and Sorachi Ace is safely fermenting away.
Look for this new this I.P.A. in early June, and I have no doubt it will go down quicker for those who drink it then how it acted in the brew house.
Cheers,
Mike
Look for this new this I.P.A. in early June, and I have no doubt it will go down quicker for those who drink it then how it acted in the brew house.
Cheers,
Mike
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Hooray new beers!
If the release of our new restaurant menu this week isn't exciting enough we're also tapping three new beers- Petite Fleur & Rubber Chicken's Revenge (currently on tap) and this weekend Mic Czech. A bit of background on these beers:
Petite Fleur is a Belgian ale brewed with flowers and checks in at 5% ABV. Brewed from the second runnings of our 97 Pound Weakling and flavored with Chamomile,Heather and Elderberry flowers as well as Rose hips. Its deep golden in color with a sweet fragrant aroma of Chamomile, light bodied with herbal and floral bitterness that finishes dry.
Rubber Chicken's Revenge is a take on the double red ale (8.1% ABV), or as some see it an amber colored I.P.A.. Starting with the same grist ratio as we make the Rubber Chicken Red with, the malt was increased and its hopped like many of our double India pale ales including being dry hopped twice. It comes at you with an aroma of fresh hops,citrus,tang,dank. The first sip will release an upfront assertive bitterness, packing a large dose of malt and an even larger dose of American citrus hops. It finishes with a feeling of be clobbered by hops and you will feel like you will need to scrape them off your teeth.
Mic Czech is the second go around of our take on the Bohemian Pilsner or Pilsener if you prefer. Made with practically all pilsner malt and a touch of light carapils malt keeps it light golden in color and medium bodied. Going the traditional route its hopped with 100% Czech Saaz giving it a herbal and spicy character. Fermented at cool temperatures and lagered at near freezing temperatures, its been a 7 week process from grain to glass. At 5.8% ABV its on the higher end of the spectrum for the style, but drinks as if it were much lower.
Petite Fleur is a Belgian ale brewed with flowers and checks in at 5% ABV. Brewed from the second runnings of our 97 Pound Weakling and flavored with Chamomile,Heather and Elderberry flowers as well as Rose hips. Its deep golden in color with a sweet fragrant aroma of Chamomile, light bodied with herbal and floral bitterness that finishes dry.
Rubber Chicken's Revenge is a take on the double red ale (8.1% ABV), or as some see it an amber colored I.P.A.. Starting with the same grist ratio as we make the Rubber Chicken Red with, the malt was increased and its hopped like many of our double India pale ales including being dry hopped twice. It comes at you with an aroma of fresh hops,citrus,tang,dank. The first sip will release an upfront assertive bitterness, packing a large dose of malt and an even larger dose of American citrus hops. It finishes with a feeling of be clobbered by hops and you will feel like you will need to scrape them off your teeth.
Mic Czech is the second go around of our take on the Bohemian Pilsner or Pilsener if you prefer. Made with practically all pilsner malt and a touch of light carapils malt keeps it light golden in color and medium bodied. Going the traditional route its hopped with 100% Czech Saaz giving it a herbal and spicy character. Fermented at cool temperatures and lagered at near freezing temperatures, its been a 7 week process from grain to glass. At 5.8% ABV its on the higher end of the spectrum for the style, but drinks as if it were much lower.
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