solobrewing-blog

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SoLo Brewing // 2 x 7 // IPA

Recently, I took a couple of my beers up to a pro not too far away for analysis.  He immediately pointed out an astringent, lightly soapy flaw in the finish of my brews.  I never really noticed this until he pointed it out, but now that it has been brought to my attention, it’s glaringly obvious.

His first suggestion was wacky water.  I’ve never bothered to treat my water; more out of ignorance than lack of desire.  Up until this past year, the water I was brewing with was pretty fair untreated; hitting my mash pH would not have been difficult.  

A little investigation turned up that my current water is sinfully alkaline.  Only the blackest of black stouts would have enough acidity in their grists to balance out my mash pH.

An investment into a pH meter and toying with some water calculators led me to the conclusion that I desperately need to cut my water with at least 50% reverse osmosis water (and probably 75% for pale beers).

And thus the 2 x 7 was born.  Something pale and hoppy to test out my new water treatment regimen.  The paleness would let that soapy character shine through and the hops would really lose their punch if my water was still off kilter (or if these flaws were from something else).

Thankfully my brewer friend was right, and the beautiful (read: expensive) 14 oz of locally grown Centennial hops were not put to waste! 2 oz at 7 different points in the process, thus 2x7!

Estimated OG: 1.064 OG: 1.064 Estimated FG: 1.010 FG: 1.012 IBU: 86 SRM: 5 ABV: 7%

Grain Bill: 11 lbs 2 row 21 oz bonlander munich 6 oz flaked wheat 6 oz caramel 20

Hop Bill: 2 oz Centennial (9.1% AA) @ 90 min 2 oz Centennial (9.1% AA) @ 15 min 2 oz Centennial (9.1% AA) @ 5 min 2 oz Centennial (9.1% AA) @ FO 10 minutes 2 oz Centennial (9.1% AA) @ 160F whirlpool hopstand 10 minutes

Yeast: 1 pkg White Labs WLP 090 San Diego Super Yeast built to a cell count of ~358 billion

Other: 1 tsp wyeast yeast nutrient @ 15 minutes 1 tsp irish moss @ 15 minutes

Brew Notes: mashed at 152F for 60 minutes 50% RO water dilution 5 mL lactic acid added to mash 8.5 g gypsum added to mash water (for pH and Cl/S04 ratio correction) pitched at 60F oxygenated for 60 seconds with pure O2

Dry hopped in primary and in keg!

Appearance:  Pours hazy with hop debris, and likely some still flocculating yeast.  A burnished gold with a dense head of white foam that hangs around forever and leaves soapy lacing.

Aroma:  Amazing nose, loaded with dank pine, grapefruit rind, tangelo and fresh green hops.  Super juicy with some light caramel and bread malt tones to balance it out, but this is all about the Centennial.  Yeast is almost non-existent, but might be throwing a little nectarine type esters if that isn’t just the hops.

Taste:  Fruity sweet with a little malt up front and then an immediate assault of bitter citrus rind which gives into deeper, more resinous bitterness on the finish.  Long and sticky.

Palate:  Moderate body, not as thin as I thought it might have been with so little character malt.  Moderate plus carbonation helps to deliver the hop load and keep this easy to drink.  

Overall:  Oh and it is SO easy to drink!  Hides the alcohol well, lots of in your face hop flavor.  Easily the best beer I have ever made.  I only wish I had started adjusting my water sooner.  The difference is astounding.

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Sour Saison

I had an empty 3 gallon carboy in my closet that's designated for sours and felt like it was wasted just sitting there empty, so I came up with a simple recipe using some odds and sods that I had on hand.  

A very pale Saison to be fermented primarily with the new (and supposedly aggressive) White Labs Lactobacillus Brevis, 'secondaried' with Lallemand Belle Saison yeast and finished with fruit, light toast American Oak and White Labs Brettanomyces Claussenii.

All told this should be ready just in time for late spring/early summer thirst quenching.

This one was a no-sparge, 15 minute boil.  Chilled to 90F and pitched the lacto, and will hold in the old aquarium heater bath for a few days before letting the temperature come down and adding the Saison yeast.  It'll get the fruit, oak and brett once fermentation subsides as I don't want too much funk.

Got better than expected efficiency for the no-sparge.  I usually hit 80% with sparging and was expecting something like 65% without.  Actually landed 85%. Must be the ultra low gravity.

Sour Blood Orange Saison -- 15/02/15

Estimated OG: 1.030 OG: 1.040 Estimated FG: 1.000 IBU: 4 SRM: 2

Grain Bill: 4 lbs 2-row 3 oz bonlander munich 2 oz caramel 20L 2 oz flaked wheat

Hop Bill: 1 oz Strisselspalt (1.2% AA) @ 15 minutes

Yeast: 1 pkg White Labs WLP 672 Lactobacillus Brevis 1 pkg Lallemand Belle Saison 1 pkg WLP 645 Brettanomyces Claussenii

Other: 1 tsp wyeast yeast nutrient @ 15 minutes 1 tsp irish moss @ 15 minutes

Brew Notes: mashed at 152F for 60 minutes pitched lacto @ 90F

Fermentation Notes: primary fermented with lacto @ 90F

While I was originally imagining blood orange for this beer, it got 1 lb/gal of Muscatel grapes.  It is also insanely tart.

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Brouwerij Rodenbach // 2012 Vintage // Flemish Red

With Goudenband available early last year, and this beauty available in limited quantities this February, the LCBO has been doing a bang up job keeping on top of the demand for sour red/brown ale in Ontario. *cough* *cough*. 

Unfortunately the LCBO beer program uses a strict ‘get what you are given’ policy.  That being said, being given a Rodenbach Grand Cru really isn’t that bad!

Appearance:  Pours a gently hazed mahogany with a great cap of russet-tinged foam that subsides rapidly.  It’s deep red, woody color hints at the jammy fruits and oxidized barrel tones that the beer assertively delivers upon serving.

Nose:  Very port or sherry like on the nose with big tart cherry and red currant and green apple, lots of vanilla-laced, oak barrel character, careful oxidation and balsamic-ish acetic acids.  Underneath all that there is a current of bready malt, subtle chewy toffee and light, earthy brettanomyces.

Taste:  Amazing balance for an un-blended barrel.  Playful layers of deep malt sweetness, jammy fruit, warm barrel, lactic and acetic acidity.  Very nice.

Palate:  Slightly creamy with subtle tannins from the oak.  Light to moderate body with moderate to full levels of carbonation. Finishes lightly tart on the palate, but oddly clean on the finish.  Comes off refreshing despite it’s complexity.

Overall:  There’s a reason why Rodenbach is the reference point for Flanders Red Ale.  This might very well be it.  Delightful on it’s own, but would make a lovely post-prandial companion to blue cheese or chocolate torte.

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SoLo Brewing // Modern Belgian Pale // Belgian Pale Ale

A few weeks ago I cranked out this recipe to the tune of a Belgian Pale Ale balanced liked an APA.  A paler grist, increased hop rates, and the use of a non-traditional hops variety for aroma puts this beer well outside the style guidelines for a Belgian Pale, but well inside the guidelines for a delicious session beer.

It pits a combination of Galaxy and Saaz hops (which play quite well together) against the Orval yeast strain, which throws a note I can only describe as lemon drop.  A simple, lightly toasty base of Maris Otter and Munich rounds it all out and keeps out of the way of the other aromatics.

Vitals: OG: 1.046 FG: 1.008 ABV: 5% IBU: 26 SRM: 5

Appearance:  Pours a hazy peach nectar, with a thick froth of stable white head that leaves plenty of lacing.  Clarity could be better, but between Belgian yeasts, wheat malt and dry hopping there are too many reasons for this to be cloudy.

Aroma:  The nose on this beer is fantastic, the herbal tones of the Saaz fade into the grassy, tropical notes of the Galaxy dry hop, which easily become muddled with that lemony, stone fruit, pear character of the Bastogne yeast.  These elements seem to blend into one cohesive zestiness, nothing particularly over or understated.  A gentle, crackery maltiness rounds out the finish.

Taste:  Dry up front, giving way to a soft malt sweetness and finishing slightly bitter, even with a hint of fruity tartness.  Balanced for refreshment and ease of drinking, this would make a lovely lawnmower beer.

Palate:  Despite a low finishing gravity, this beer has plenty of mouthfeel and a light, but not thin body.  Carbonation is moderate and could use a slight bump into the moderate plus to full zone.  Finishes a bit sticky.

Overall:  Happy with this session ale.  The Saaz I got were stupidly fresh, but the Galaxy were questionable.  There were 2 ounces of Saaz added at 5 minutes, and Galaxy at both flameout and dry hop.  I would have hoped for a little more tropical character here.  The biscuity malt notes generate a slight clash with the hops for me as well.  While it's certainly not offensive, next time I might opt for Pale or Pilsner malt as the base, and a little more Caravienne or CaraHell instead of the Munich to avoid this.  All in all good, this keg won't last long.

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Les Trois Mousquetaires // Barleywine Americaine // American Barleywine

I nabbed a bottle of the 2013 edition of this beer and enjoyed it four months ago at 8 months old.  It was tremendously well integrated, deliciously rich and still vibrantly hoppy.  The 2014 edition was just recently released in Ontario and I thought I might enjoy this one young as a comparison.  While the aging seems to have mellowed the alcohol and turned the hops to more sweet-fruity than fresh-herbal, this is cake is delicious no matter how you slice it.

Appearance:  Pours a deep rich orange with a huge head of off white foam that lasts the whole glass and laces sloppily.  Really a glorious looking thing and it compliments this beers split personality.  A vibrant hue of and a bit of haze suggest a nice fresh DIPA, while the dark tint and sticky mess of head sceams Barleywine, Barleywine, Barleywine!

Aroma:  Pronounced hoppiness in the nose.  Just green and juicy, lots of dank herbal tones, tropical mango, tangerine and bitter grapefruit.  Backed by a rich caramel malt with the slightest hint of toast.

Taste:  Great balance for such a big beast, especially so young.  Lots of fresh hop fruit on the forefront, easing into plenty of sweet, chewy malts and finishing on a bitter, yet inconspicuous, 101 IBUs.  Alcohol just slightly present on the back end, but that does fade with age.

Palate:  Rich, heavy, sticky.  A thick, mouth-coating beer with moderate carbonation.  Full bodied and full flavored, this is certainly a delicacy.

Overall:  Another hit from LTM, they really know how to work these big beers.  Right up there with their tremendously complex Baltic Porter and ridiculously refreshing Hopfenweisse.  Job well done.

[solobrewing-blog]

Vienna Lager

A week or so ago our restaurant tapped a keg of the lovely Vienna Lager from King Brewery in Nobleton, Ontario.  While their flagship Pilsner is award winning and excellent; something about the superb balance and malty warmth of their Vienna Lager really makes me tingle.  I decided that after almost 2 years of homebrewing, it was about damn time I made a lager.

I formulated a simple recipe using the character malts I had on hand, and picked up some of the notoriously easy going and versatile WLP090 Mexican Lager yeast.  A massive two step starter for a beer with a measly OG of 1.047 seemed outrageous to my ale-oriented mind.

Vienna Lager -- 08/02/15

Estimated OG: 1.047 OG: 1.049 Estimated FG: 1.012 IBU: 25 SRM: 14

Grain Bill: 8 lbs vienna 8 oz caravienne 4 oz crystal 150 2 oz de-husked carafa III

Hop Bill: 1 oz Perle (6.5%AA) @ 75 min FWH 1 oz Hallertauer (4.1%AA) @ 5 min

Yeast: 1 pkg White Labs WLP 940 Mexican Lager Yeast built to a cell count of ~480 billion

Other: 1 tsp wyeast yeast nutrient @ 15 minutes 1 tsp irish moss @ 15 minutes

Brew Notes: mashed at 154F for 60 minutes pitched at 54F oxygenated for 60 seconds with pure O2

I intended only to boil for 60 minutes, but I ran out of propane half way through.  I extended my boil by 15 minutes just to make sure there was no residual DMS from being simmered for 20 minutes or so.

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Bottling Flanders Pale + Repitching Flanders Red

Finally time to bottle up this Flanders Pale Ale from what seems like so long ago.  It has soured nicely, but not as much as I would have liked.  Commercial sour blends are notoriously more powerful on their second generation, so I decided to reuse a 'slice' of the yeast cake from that beer to start up this years sour: a traditional Flanders Red.  It'll be seeing some Sangiovese soaked oak beans once primary fermentation is over.

Flanders Red Ale -- 01/02/15

Estimated OG: 1.054 Estimated FG: 1.005 OG: 1058 IBU: 10 SRM: 14

Grain Bill: 2 lbs maris otter 2 lbs vienna 2 lbs munich I 2 lbs munich II 1 lb flaked oats 8 oz caravienne 8 oz crystal 45 4 oz special B 4 oz crystal 150

Hop Bill: ½ oz East Kent Goldings (6.3%AA) @ 65 min

Yeast: 1 pkg White Labs WLP 665 Flemish Ale Blend from a vial with a best before of 09/04/15 2/3 cup slurry from Flanders Golden Ale

Other: 1 tsp wyeast yeast nutrient @ 15 minutes 1 tsp irish moss @ 15 minutes

Brew Notes: mashed at 156F for 60 minutes pitched at 64F oxygenated for 60 seconds with pure O2

Fermentation Notes: fermented @ room temperature

Ended up a little short on volume and high on gravity, but I'm not all that worried.  Still hitting a happy 80% efficiency. 

That said, there's 15 x 375mL bottles and 6 x 750mL bottles of Flanders Pale happily carbonating.

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Scotch Martini // SoLo Brewing // Best Bitter

As I mentioned in the post from brew day, this beer was made with some help from a colleague of mine and his friend, both of whom are interested in homebrewing.  They came by to tap the keg and level a few pints with me one evening after work (I had the day off) and proceeded to tell me an interesting story regarding my restaurant's owner, an old man, a very dirty washroom and a pair of martinis made with Scotch: hence the name.  If you know me personally, feel free to ask for full disclosure--this is not the kind of tale you post freely on a beer blog.

I actually casked up 1 gallon of the Bitter, and kegged the difference with some dry hops.  This review is for the cask version, which I prefer.  While tasty, the brightness of carbonation and serving temperature lighten the beer a fair bit and dim it's complexity slightly.

Vitals: OG: 1.046 FG: 1.010 ABV: 4.75% IBU: 27 SRM: 9

Appearance: Wicked clarity, a perfectly rich, medium copper, with a thin lace of white head that never really leaves.  S-04 drops out like a rock.  I can literally tip my mock cask side to side and watch this heavy, dense yeast move around the bottom of the cubitainer rather than stirring up into the beer.

Aroma: Caramel toffee, crusty bread, biscuity malt, very warm.  Woody, earthy hops, a hint of dried orange peel perhaps.  A little disappointed with the lack of esters here, but I kept the ferment really cool.  I'd read about the dreaded bubble gum tones of S-04 if it gets too warm and opted to keep it on the bottom end of it's limit.  I would feel well comfortable bringing the temperature up to 65F next time to see if I could get a little apple or pear in here.

Taste:  Probably balanced slightly bitter for a traditional BB, but very much suited to my tastes. It opens with warm, sweet malt which subsides to a clean mid palate and a firmly bitter finish.  While I intended the beer to be slightly smaller (OG 1.042) and finish slightly sweeter (FG 1.012) I don't imagine it would have altered the balance much.

Palate:  My basement is just a little on the warm side for cask serving temperature. The beer is just cool to the touch and tongue.  Carbonation is also slightly shy, it just barely pricks the tongue.  Body is light to moderate and the finish lingers quite some bit.

Overall:  Honestly, I love this. Only a few minor alterations.  I'd like to hit my predicted numbers, so next time I will adjust the recipe for 80% efficiency and mash at 154F.  Rather than scaling all the ingredients down slightly to accommodate my better than average efficiency, I will probably take the difference out of the base malt to see if I can eek a slight bit more malt character out of it.  Aside from that, a simple increase in fermentation temperatures and a move to a similar, but liquid, yeast culture such as WLP 002 or WY1968.

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Modern Belgian Pale Ale

White Labs just announced that one tasty ale strain, WLP 510 Bastogne Ale Yeast will become available full time rather than one season per year.  This yeast is claimed to be from Orval, brewers of one of my personal favorite beers, and was also recently used in the delicious 18 Hands by Amsterdam Brewery of Toronto.  I wanted to brew a rustic Belgian Pale Ale to really showcase the yeast but I didn't necessarily want it to be malt-centric.  I kept the grist very pale (just out of style) and used some real-fresh-looking Czech Saaz and Australian Galaxy and the very end of the boil.

Belgian Pale Ale -- 20/01/15

Estimated OG: 1.046 OG: 1.046 Estimated FG: 1.008 IBU: 26 SRM: 5

Grain Bill: 5 lbs maris otter 2 lbs light munich 1 lb pale wheat malt 8 oz caravienne

Hop Bill: 1 oz East Kent Goldings (6.3%AA) @ 60 min 2 oz Czech Saaz (4.1%AA) @ 5 min 1 oz Galaxy (15%AA) @ 0 min

Yeast: 1 pkg White Labs WLP 510 Bastogne Ale Yeast built to a cell count of ~190 billion

Other: 1 tsp wyeast yeast nutrient @ 15 minutes 1 tsp irish moss @ 15 minutes

Brew Notes: mashed at 150F for 60 minutes missed mash temp, hit 152F pitched at 64F oxygenated for 20 seconds with pure O2

Going to let this ferment out around 68F for the next two-ish weeks and keg it up!

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Royal City Brewing Co. // Lock, Stock, in a Sour Barrel // Chardonnay Barrel Aged Sour Stock Ale

Their first commercial foray into the world of sour beers; Guelph's Royal City Brewing Company usually cranks out a wide variety of clean English and German styles for their taproom.  According to their brewer, their Stock Ale recipe is used as a base for all kinds of experiments, Thyme, Pear-Vanilla and even Lacto!  

Appearance:  Pours a brilliantly clear, light amber with a short lived, white head that gives way to a fine ring of soapy foam.  Nice color and clarity.

Aroma:  Nose is toasty English-type malt, with some subtle lemony-tartness; wonderfully herbal, light oak and just the slightest touch of vinous fruit from the barrels former inhabitant, a gentle hint of what seems like intentional oxidation does wonders for the beers complexity.  Very much dry sherry-esque.

Taste: It's nice to have a sour with a little bit of sweetness to it.  There's no brett or pedio evident in this beer, and it retains a lot of its original character and shape.  Sweet grains on the front end with a woodsy bitterness in the mid palate that gives way to a light, tart finish.

Palate:  Once again, no brett or pedio here, so there's body a-plenty.  Moderate body with a similar texture and a lingering finish.  Light carbonation in typical Royal City style.

Overall:  Glad to be only half an hour away from a talented, progressive brewery like this one.  Lots of great clean beers and cool one-offs like this.  Complex enough to make itself standout among the crowd but understated and sessionable.  Very nice work.

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Special Bitter Brewday

Brewed up a batch of special bitter today with one of my colleagues and his friend who are interested in taking up homebrewing.  With any luck they will be cranking out a recipe or two on my equipment in the upcoming months.

In a keep-it-simple-stupid type demonstration, we cooked up 6.5 G batch of bitter today, a recipe they could easily manage on their own with minimal startup equipment. 1 gallon of this is destined for a mock cask experiment: in a cubitainer a la qhrumphf; the rest to be kegged and growled for my helpful aides.

I've also taken up oxygenating with pure O2. 

Special Bitter -- 12/01/15

Estimated OG: 1.042 Estimated FG: 1.012 OG: 1.046 IBU: 28 SRM: 9

Grain Bill: 8 lbs maris otter 8 oz flaked oats 8 oz biscuit malt 8 oz crystal 45 4 oz crystal 150

Hop Bill: 1 oz East Kent Goldings (6.3%AA) @ 60 min 1 oz East Kent Goldings (6.3%AA) @ 15 min 2 oz East Kent Goldings (6.3%AA) @ 0 min

Yeast: 1 pkg Safale S-04

Other: 1 tsp wyeast yeast nutrient @ 15 minutes 1 tsp irish moss @ 15 minutes

Brew Notes: mashed at 152F for 60 minutes pitched at 65F oxygenated for 20 seconds with pure O2

Fermentation Notes: fermented @ 57F ambient

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Indie Alehouse // Temporada // Tequila Barrel Aged Saison

Downtown darling Indie Alehouse has a small bottle shop and limited draft availability outside it's brewpub. The Toronto core is a good hour away from me, so this is not a place I venture often. 650mL bombers and growler fills always delight; but I have never been into the restaurant proper. It was with some hesitation that I purchased this tequila barrel aged saison. A few bad run-ins with Mr. Jose Cuervo put me on bad terms with the beverage. I never intended to review this for the blog, but it's just so damn good. An exercise in subtlety and restraint. Potted plants and tropical fish complete the beers subdued appearance in the photo below!

Appearance: Pours thoroughly hazed golden straw with a thick cap of white head. Uber-minimalist packaging with a starving artist level of functionality gets a slight scowl of disapproval, but the contents make it worth while.

Aroma: Jackpot! Gentle (read: expensive) tequila evident in the nose, some bright citrus that my sub conscious equates to lime, white pepper, fresh cut grass, cream of wheat, oak, cinnamon and a touch of banana. A real roller coaster of aromatics that toys with the senses. Despite all that's going on here, this is a very delicate beer, nothing is overstated.

Taste: Dry with an acidic brightness to the finish, not much in the way of bitterness. Once again, subtle and understated, not heavily hopped like a lot of New World saisons and appropriately balanced.

Palate: Light bodied with full carbonation, very refreshing. Creamy texture suggest a high proportion of wheat malt. Would make for an excellent summer beer. Lingers ever so slightly.

Overall: I loathe the pungency of tequila, but this subtle, delicate and excellent. My first instinct says to pair this with spicy Mexican food, but I somehow feel like any type of meal would drown out the intricacies of the brew.

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SoLo Brewing // Pleasant Pastures // Biere de Garde

Vitals: OG: 1.060 FG: 1.011 ABV: 6.5% IBU: 30 SRM: 9

Appearance:  Dark burnished copper with a thick layer of eggshell head that settles to a chunky collar and leaves some soapy lacing.  Crystal clear after 6 weeks of lagering, very pretty.

Aroma:  Complex malt tones on the nose; graham cracker, biscuit, mild toffee sweetness, subtle raisin and whisky-esque rye.  Over ripe apple and banana yeast esters, with a hint of musty earth.  A spicy, peppery finish that could be yeast, hop or rye malt derived.  Even fermented at the low end of the listed tolerance (70F), Wyeast 3726PC Farmhouse Ale is beautifully expressive and delicate: certainly a winning strain.

Taste: At a slightly higher FG than I expected, this beer is sweeter than I imagined, but there's lots of hop bitterness and a hint of alcohol to keep it all well balanced.  A nicely rounded brew.

Palate:  Creamy and moderate bodied with full carbonation.  You can really sense the flaked grain in the mouth feel. 

Overall:  Yes, yes, yes!  Hands down both the best tasting beer I have brewed and the closest end product to what I had planned.  That being said, I really cracked down on fermentation control for this batch: checking and adjusting my chamber temperature every 14 hours or so.  My two small complaints would be a muddy malt character that could be solved by a paired down grist and a high FG that suggests I might want a bit of table sugar in there as well.  My reformatted recipe will use only 4 malts: Maris Otter, Biscuit, Flaked Rye and Special B; as well as table sugar.

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Fuller's // Limited Edition Imperial Stout // Russian Imperial Stout

Flavored with Centennial hops and rose buds, this rich, gigantic beer is advertised to cellar well until 2023.  Glad I bought 3 of them; it's a beauty.

Appearance: Dark black, thick and syrupy, reddish brown at the edges and thick head of cafe au lait foam that laces slightly. While it doesn't effect the taste of the beer, the packaging reflects the luxury and grandeur of the Imperial Courts.

Aroma:  Uniquely layered aromatics, big chocolate and coffee up front that gives way to dark fruit and molasses type sweetness in the midpalate.  All this eventually leads to an expansive, floral finish, laquered with the tones of Centennial hops and rose buds, lingering earthy leather and loamy bitterness.

Taste: Big rich sweetness, offset with a bittersweet chocolate type roast and some moderate hopping.  Certainly low on the roasted malt bitterness, but more assertively hopped than many.  Finish is balanced, but this is still a heavy hitter.  Sip conservatively and enjoy the multilayered finish.

Palate:  Thick and heavy on the palate, full bodied with moderate hopping.  Sticky and coating, this lingers for quite some time.

Overall:  A unique RIS, unlike any I have ever had.  While ultimately malt driven and certainly not on the dry spectrum of the style; it's focus isn't aggressive roast or bold hopping but the synergy of all the components.  Tasty now, but will certainly benefit from a year in bottle.

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SoLo Brewing // Autumnal // Lacto-Brett Saison

Vitals: OG: 1.058 FG: 1.004 ABV: 7.25% IBU: 7 SRM: 14

Appearance:  Lightly hazed, this beer is a reddish amber hue, not unlike buckwheat honey.  A small crown of off white head dissipates quickly.  Considering saison yeasts aren't particularly flocculent, and the grain bill here was loaded with flaked rye, this beer is pretty clear.

Aroma:  A complex nose, some floral and spicy Old World hop tones from a light dry hopping, a touch of lacto-lemonyness and layers of mildly sweet, fruity malt.  Banana, black mission fig, overripe apple, black tea and some bretty barnyard.

Taste:  Dry but unctuous with fruity sweetness, leading into a nice rounded mid-palate.  Finish is slightly fruity-tart (think more raspberry than lemon).  Was hoping for more lacto character, but I have heard that it can take it's time to develop in bottle.

Palate:  Light to moderate body with  elevated carbonation.  Quite easy drinking with a lingering finish.

Overall:  Yep, this is good!  Very happy with the way it turned out.  I was wanting a bit more lactobacillus action, so I could probably let it run its course a bit longer before pitching Saccharomyces, but all in all this is a nice treat.  In retrospect, my grain bill seems unnecessarily complex, but alas, you live and you learn.

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Forked River // Riptide Rye // Pale Ale

Every now and again you find yourself looking for a sessionable beer with moderate complexity.  Nothing groundbreaking, but not a beer that will set your palate asleep either.  Turns out the folks at Forked River Brewing in London, ON have you covered.  Their Capital Blonde Ale is a delicious, grain oriented endeavor with subtle hopping and superb drink-ability.  This pale, enhanced with rye malt, is the darker, hoppier counterpart of their two year-round brews, and offers the same ease of consumption with assertive rye notes and generous character.

Appearance:  Crystal clear, no visible notion of rye here.  Copper with a thin cap of white head that leaves subtle lacing.  Normally I don't take packaging into consideration (or at least I try not to), but their branding is very clean and attractive.

Aroma:  The nose is ripe with rye spiciness, bready, munich-y melanoidens, mild caramel and slightly citric hops.  Earthy, bread crust and a hint of pine.

Taste: Mild, malty sweetness with a bitter back end. Well balanced, clean.

Palate:  Moderate body with cask-to-light carbonation.  I've read a few folks complain about the carbonation level, this might have been an off batch, but nonetheless, I find it suitable to the brew.  Slightly sticky.

Overall: Sessionable, and nothing to complain about.  Well rounded and tasty, but certainly not going to change anyone's world view.

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SoLo Brewing // House Saison MKI // Saison

The first beer I churned out since I've commited to going Belgian.  Brew day was a breeze and the beer came out most exactly as I imagined.  The damn thing took ages to ferment out and I am fairly certain the yeast profile is tamed due to the fact that I couldn't get it as hot as it wanted.  While it is a tasty first rendition, it needs some tweaking before I'd call it my house saison: the vienna malt is overpowering, the yeast and hop profiles are a little off kilter.

Vitals: OG: 1.056 FG: 1.006 ABV: 6.5% IBU: 30 SRM: 5

Appearance: A real thing of beauty.  The beer is a hazy golden with a billowing white head that holds well for a few minutes and leaves thick lacing in the glass.  Very likely the most attractive beer I have ever brewed.

Aroma: The nose is crackery with Vienna malt character, delicate spicy Dupont phenolics, banana, applesauce and apricot.  Hop presence is simple and rustic EKG earthiness.  A hint of musty smoke on the finish.

Taste: Malty for the style, depite being very dry, there's a lingering arrowroot cookie type sweetness that suggests an amber, rather than blonde brew.  Crisp and well bittered with a round finish.

Palate:  Creamy with high carbonation and light body.  The flaked wheat gives a glorious mouthfeel.  Nothing to change here folks, classic saison mouthfeel.

Overall:  I learned a lot from MKI. I have a finite starting point for MKII.  The beer is good, but it needs work to get to my dream saison.  I'm going to give up on 3724 until I have a sure way to get it up to 90F.  I'll go for 3726PC Farmhouse Ale if it is still around when I rebrew; barring that, it'll be 3711 French Saison.  I'm going to step down the Vienna Malt to slightly less intense Maris Otter, and use Flaked Rye instead of Flaked Wheat for a bit more character.  I may also add some Acid Malt.  As far as hopping goes, I need to see some more assertive bitterness (bitter with Magnum or Perle) and a slightly fresher aroma (EKG for flavor, but finished and dry hopped with Saaz). Very happy.