3 ideas for creating Autumn beers

It's the middle of summer.  Why are you thinking of autumn beers?

If I wanted to think about brewing a beer for Independence Day, it is almost too late now.  It's a good thing I've got an IPA ready to keg.  After July the time flies by into Aug, Sept and before you know if Thanksgiving will be here.

Football season, the cooling of the weather, holidays... I should really stop looking forward and simply enjoy today.  At the same time, brewing takes planning and timing.  Of course creating a good beer will take 3 weeks very minimum or up to 6, 8 or even longer.

The summer beers tend to be light in color, sessionable, hoppy or with wheat.  Refreshing is the name of the game...something to drink after mowing the lawn.  When I think of autumn beers, I think Oktoberfest, malty, darker, caramel, pumpkin, etc.  And then the greatest of beers are reserved for the winter months, the hearty Imperial Stouts and barleywines, etc.  It's almost never too early to start planning for the seasonal beers.

Here are three ideas for brewing Autumn beers.

1. Keep it traditional with an Oktoberfest.  Do you have temperature control enough to make a lager?  This can be a great brew and still stretch your prowess as a brewer while keeping traditional.  A lot of homebrewers only brew ales.  I've done two lagers during my brewing.  Maybe it's time to go Classic Style and lager an Oktoberfest.

2. Did someone say pumpkin?  Sometimes I get so sick of pumpkin beers.  It's like the novice beer of choice during the football season time of year.  Yet, adding pumpkin and spices to a beer can be fun, a learning experience, and produce interesting results.  The Pumpkin Porter we brewed last year turned out pretty nice.  It even scored well in a homebrew competition.  The feedback I received was that the spices weren't pronounced enough to stand out.  I was looking for balance and the judges were looking to identify the flavors.  Here is the pumpkin porter recipe from last year.

3. Brown Ale.  Yes, sounds quite boring doesn't it?  Think about the Session beer trend lately, with people brewing low alcohol IPAs and pale ales.  A good brown ale can have nice flavors and maintain low alcohol content.  Plus, there is no better way to test your brewing skills than to have something without much to hide any imperfections.  If a brown ale it too boring, a nice Robust Porter is tough to beat.

Here is a bonus idea I'm tossing around in my head.  An apple pie porter.  Hmm...

Keep brewing!

Give Me Liberty Ale - Independence Day 2013 recipe

It is almost time!  The second annual homebrew for the 4th of July is chilling.  It's been bottle, and been sampled, and now it awaits the big day.

For the second year now, I've brewed a special batch for our annual beach day in New Smyrna Beach.  We hit the sun, the waves, the pool, the blender and bottle.  The evening festivities begin with dinner... an Old Fashion Southern Boil.  Trust me, it is not to be missed.  And you cannot make this dinner without beer as part of the process.  It simply can't be done.  Good friends, good food, good beer, good times.

As the evening progresses we head back to the sand and watch the fireworks, mostly amateur, though some of these people spend serious money and really know what they are doing.

It is a highlight for us each year.

So what about the beer?  This year's recipe again is an American Style Pale Ale.  It is meant to be easy drinking, abound in flavor, and turn the heads of those not yet custom to craft beer or homebrewed beer.  At around 5.3% alcohol by volume, it is a nice "session" ale, which will pair well with the dinner.  

Clean citrus flavor and aroma, with a balanced malt base.  Not overly bitter and not overly dry, but effervescent and full of flavor.  It is the perfect beverage go accompany the freshness of the food, freshly boiled with spiced all in one large stock pot.  Making this dinner isn't too unlike brewing beer after all.

Mosaic hops seem to be all the rage lately, so I figured I give them a shot.  Flavor and aroma in this one comes from the Mosaic, with Centennial for bittering and some flavor.  A fairly straight forward recipe.

Give Me Liberty Ale, American Pale Ale
Final Volume: 3.5 Gallons     OG: 1.050     FG: 1.010     ABV: 5.3%    IBU:41

7 lbs American Two Row
8 oz Crystal Malt (60L)
4 oz Crystal Malt (15L)
.5 oz Centennial, 10.6% (60 minutes)
.25 oz Centennial, 10.6% (30 minutes)
.25 oz Centennial, 10.6% (Flame out)
.5 oz Mosaic, 12.9% (flame out)
.5 oz Mosaic, 12.9% (dry hop)
Wyeast 1272, American Ale II (cultivated)

See also the Recipes Page for this and other of the Dunerbrew and Galileo's Bane recipes.

Note:  Upon conclusion of writing this post I realized I did a similar post a few weeks ago, sharing the recipe and story of this annual brew.  You can check out what I said then here.  Redundancy? Perhaps.  If you don't like it...well, tough.  It's my blog, I can be redundant if I want to.  :-)  Cheers!

A few Winter Ales leading up to Christmas

Winter and Christmas Ales are popular this time of year, and I've attempted to sample several.  In fact, I intend on another trip to the store to pick up a few more, leading up to the Big Day.

Here is a quick overview of what I've had so far this year, with a few brief comments.  While some of these are nice, others just may not be worth the investment.  These are listed in the order in which I drank them.

1. Shiner Holiday Cheer:  I posted a review on this one other week (see it here).  Overall OK, but this isn't really a craft beer...  More "crafty" which has become more of a technical term these last few weeks. (More about that later perhaps.)

2. Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale:  This is a good one each year.  A fresh hopped IPA, very much in the Sierra Nevada style.  Nice hop aroma and flavor.


3.Harpoon Winter Warmer:  I'm not a big fan of this.  The nutmeg spices and other were maybe too pronounced.  Perhaps I prefer a cleaner beer and this one tends to linger.

 4. Breckenridge Christmas Ale:  I like the label and graphics on this one.  Overall, I'd give it a "good".  Nice warmth to it.  The finish is a little odd and takes some getting used to.  I drank it one evening and the next day at World Of Beer, my buddy selected it (he arrived before me, so I had nothing to do with it).  He thought it was just OK, if that.

5. Bell's Christmas Ale:  Overall I like Bell's beers.  This one is no different.  It seems similar to their Amber Ale, with a nice malty backbone.  This has a nutmeg flavor to it, but it is much less pronounced and seems to balance well.  This is a great one to bring to a party.  Very nice and drinkable.

As I say, I have a few more days to go and need to make a trip to the store.  I already have one reserved for Christmas Eve though... Which beer could be more appropriate than Santa's Private Reserve?

A Quiet Afternoon...

Right now it is a quiet afternoon here at the house...and in the middle of this busy holiday season, it is rather nice indeed.  I'm sitting at the kitchen table with the computer and beer in hand.  Aside from the clothes drier, it is quiet around here now.

A few weeks ago I posted a photo of the 2010 Celebration Ale by Sierra Nevada, and I'm presently drinking the 2012 Celebration Ale.  It is a nice IPA, with "fresh hops".  You should check it out.  ...sorry I don't have much else to say at the moment.

There are a lot of beers to try during this time of year.  It can be quite enjoyable to find these and drink them.

Cheers!

Review: Shiner Holiday Cheer

The other week World Market had a special on their Winter Brews 9 pack...I think it was $9 or so with the coupon.  Overall it had a good selection, some of the beers were more holiday centered, while others just dark winter type ales.

It is time to try the Shiner Holiday Cheer.  Brewed at the Spoetzl Brewing in Shiner, TX, this ale is described as a Bavarian-Style Dark Wheat, with further description as an "ale brewed with peaches and pecans and with natural flavor and caramel color."  I understand the peaches pecans, but "natural flavor and caramel color.?"  Sounds more like something on a juice bottle.  Perhaps it's just a simple way to explain the beer flavors?

At any rate, upon opening this (twist off top) a nice festive aroma presents itself.  "It smells like Christmas!" my wife exclaimed.  I smelled the peaches mostly.  The flavor is smooth and malty (the peach aids to the smooth character as well), with a bright and rather dry finish.  The nutty tones in the finish are probably due to the pecans adding a little character.

The color is a nice deep golden amber.  Very clear, with little head retention.

It is an interesting beer, and I'm glad it is a special occasion type brew, as I found myself getting bored with it rather quick.  Overall it is a little sweet, and a slightly irritating tangy sweetness lingers in your mouth.  (Maybe I wasn't pairing the proper foods while drinking.)  If you too get bored, they have supplied a story about the beer on the rear label, which is an interesting read.

If you are sampling some holiday beers, its worth the try.  The peach is nice and has given me some ideas for homebrew experiments too, which it always worthwhile.

I'll finish this post as they do with their description... Prosit!

Sunday Beer Photos

Seasonal beers come and go.  As July comes to a close, the wheat beers of the summer fade and the pumpkin beers suddenly fill the shelves.  I can appreciate the more traditional Oktoberfests that come next, and then the darker specialties and fresh hopped IPAs are also welcomed.  The holiday seasonal beers come next.  All these transitions can be quite enjoyable, especially through the holidays... something limited and new.  After all, how boring would life be if we had to drink the same beer all the time.

Along with drinking specialty and seasonal beers, I've make a hobby of taking photos of the various beers I drink (yes, I know... nerdy).  While browsing through some old photos recently, I came across these two from Dec 2010 and 2011.

What will be the photo for 2012?  I'll be sure to pick some of these up again this year to both drink and photograph.  What are some of your favorite holiday seasonal beers?