Ligne Maginot- First Tasting.

This is what I have decided to call my beer/wine blend. The Maginot line was a series of fortifications erected by France on their shared border with Germany after WWI. The idea was that the line would protect France from another invasion. Well, WWII rolled around and after a brief siege, Germany invaded Belgium and from there headed south into France, completely outflanking all of France's protection. This went down in history as one of France's greatest military blunders.
This beer pours a slighty hazy golden color. Ample, streaming carbonation, but no head. Brett is definitely apparent in the aroma- tropical fruit, nuts, hay, a little barnyardy.
The beer definitely tastes more 'beery' than it smells, by which I mean more like a beer brewed with a captive yeast strain. A nice nuttiness and hay continue into the flavor, with nice carbonation and mouth feel. I am not sure how much the wine really adds, but I am sure if you had some without to taste against this, you would notice the difference.
All in all, I would say I am happy with the results, and it is an experiment worth repeating.

lost for life.

With this beer I am taking aim at one of my all time favorites - Unibroue's Maudite. This is an excellent Belgian strong dark ale style beer, though it is lighter in color than most.
I very carefully looked at Unibroue's new website while formulating my recipe. In specific I paid attention to the srm, or color of the beer at 18. The clarity- cloudy which says to me there is some wheat in the grain bill. The head- fine rocky foam- unmalted wheat? The nose and flavor, which give clues to the mash temperature and possible spices added- Nose- Malt, orange, wild spices with fragrances of coriander and cloves and floral hop notes. Flavor- Robust maltiness and spiciness with a crisp hop finish. And the listed IBU of 22.
This is what I came up with...
6lb 2 oz Pilsner malt
2 lb Pale wheat malt
1 lb 9 oz table sugar
1 lb Munich Malt
1 lb flaked wheat/spelt
14 oz special b
.5 oz Styrian Goldings pellet @ 90 min.
.75 oz Styrian Goldings pellet @ 15 min.
.5 oz Styrian Goldings pellet @ 10 min.
.5 oz Styrian Goldings pellet @ 5 min.
.5 oz Styrian Goldings pellet @ 1 min.
14 g dried sweet orange peel
14 g coriander
.5 g clove
1 g white pepper
1 g grains of paradise all @ 10 min.
Wyeast 3864.
og- 1.063
fg- 1.007
7.61% abv, 71% attenuation
I think that this recipe should hit close, and if not, I'm sure it'll be delicious anyway!
11/10/10- Brewed a bit after I thought I would get to it. Mashed at 154 for 90 min with 3.5 gal water. Had a 90 min boil, forgot to add 1 min hops. Though it tastes good, low efficency again. I am not sure what the problem is. I did discover that my hydrometer is a little off (add .007 to each reading).
Yeast starter.Sugar, hops, and spices. I used a mix of table sugar and rock sugar.The boil.
Racking from pot to fermentor.12/22/10- Bottled with 7/8 c of corn sugar. I had cold crashed it for a week or so in the garage before. Ended up at 7.6% abv, which is a touch shy of Maudite. Does taste similar, though with too much hop aroma and flavor. Should have added more for the boil and little or none towards the end.
But the beer beneath those hops! Very close to Maudite I would say.
2/1/11- Side by side tasting with Maudite.

Peat Smoked Stout.

I like scotch and some of my favorite scotches come from Islay, which is on the west coast of the UK, north of Ireland. The thing that gives these scotches their distinctive 'peaty' flavor is malted barley that has been dried over a peat fire and allowed to be exposed to the smoke. The peaty flavor can be described variably as smoky, phenolic, medicinal, seaweed, iodine, salt. Just try a glass of Lagavulin and you'll see what those descriptors mean!
Those strong flavors mean that most people who don't drink scotch or those scotches in particular may very well not like this beer or even find it disgusting. But I am ok with that! More for me.
7.5 lb British pale
2 lb peat smoked malt
1 lb black patent
1 lb dark crystal
1.5 oz styrian goldings pellet @ 90 min
.5 oz styrian goldings pellet @ 15 min
1056
1 oz of med toast hungarian oak cubes soaked in Ardbeg 10 to secondary.
10/6/10- Mash at 156 for 90 min. Had quite a brew day. The yeast I was going to use is dead. The regulator on my burner ceased functioning. The new one I bought didn't connect to the hose correctly and when I connected it directly to the burner, it is not burning with the same intensity. Oh well.
10/22/10- Moved to secondary along with 1 oz of m toast hungarian oak cubes soaked for awhile in Argbeg 10, along with 2 fl oz of Ardbeg 10. Tastes pretty medicinal and strongly flavored.
11/23/10- Bottled with 1/2 c corn sugar. Aiming for an over all lower carbonation. This one seems pretty wacky, as my attenuation is lower than expected, though it must have fermented out completely in the almost two months it was doing so. Hopefully I don't get bottle bombs.

JK's Scrumpy Hard Cider.

This is an organic farmhouse English style cider made in Michigan. I have been seeing it on the shelf at my favorite liquor store, but have yet to get around to trying it until today. It's too bad I waited!
This cider pours into the glass a rich golden color. The aroma is unsurprisingly that of vinous, tart apples. The taste is rich and deep of apples, pleasantly carbonated with a little bit of a funky side, but not as much as you would see in my favorite French ciders. Very tasty and definitely worth a try!
And as a plus, it is also certified organic.
My rating: A must try.
Abv: 6%.
Website: JK Scrumpy.
Price paid: 6-7 dollars.