Homebrewing Rounds 3 & 4

After a brief hiatus for the holiday's, being busy in general and a little time for some beer brewing research, the last 2 weekends I have brewed small batches (1 gallon each) of beer. These 2 were my first attempt at a all-grain recipe. There really wasn't much difference in the process other than the straining and sparging of the grains.

The first beer was a recipe I took from the Brooklyn Brew Shop's book, Beer Making Book, called Everyday I.P.A. It was almost the exact same recipe I followed for my first I.P.A. that I bought from Listermann Brewing here in Cincinnati. It was nice just to get the ingredients and follow along the directions to get me back into the flow of beer brewing.

This past weekend, I decided to try my first from scratch recipe. I wanted to try making a Brown/Amber ale that was a little more bitter and hoppy than the 3 previous beers I had brewed. I researched a few recipes and found some similarities and principles for what I was going for. I called up my buddy Trevor, over at Crosier Lane Homebrew to see if he wanted to hit up Listermann to gather our ingredients (Trevor was planning a new brew himself).


My basic recipe (from memory):

86% American 2 Row
10% Crystal Malt 40L
4% Chocolate Malt
Columbus Hops
Cascade Hops

60 Minute mash, 60 Minute boil with Hop adds at Boil, 15/30/45/55/Cool.

The house was filled with an overly bitter aroma after the Columbus hops were added, probably way to much, but only a few weeks will tell if that rings true or not.

I was pretty stoked try my own recipe (I took a crazy amount of notes) and I know that I want to try to tweak this until I get it perfect, the unknown of what it will taste like and the subsequent experimentation is truly exciting.

Happy Drinking!

Dixie Jazz Amber Light

Beer #3 from the parents stash...

Dixie Jazz Amber Light from New Orleans, Louisiana. The brewery was almost completely demolished in Hurricane Katrina. During the rebuilding process, Dixie's brands are contract brewed by the Joseph Huber Brewing Company.

I've never been to New Orleans, but friends who have said I needed to try some Dixie beer. Amber light lager has a very nice light orange amber color, which distinguishes it from other American light lagers. Toasty malt smell, which is expected because of the Amber styling. It was a very bland / poor tasting beer. Not really much going on, just a very typical light lager without much flavor. It is very watered down and reminded Cathy and I an awful lot of Natural Light.

Really the most impressive part of the beer is the label. It totally captures that New Orleans feel with the typeface choice, piano keys and jazz singer silhouette.

Who: Cathy
Where: Home
Price: Free
Score: 1 / 5

Happy Drinking!

Rogue American Amber Ale

Rogue American Amber Ale

Pours a very nice reddish brown amber color with a fair amount of white head at the top. Very hoppy taste for an amber ale. I was very much expecting a more malty flavor but this tastes a bit more like an American Pale Ale than your typical sweet amber beer. Maybe that is why they called it the American Amber...

As I have found with other west coast brews, Rogue comes in with big flavor (a lot like Stone, Full Sail, etc). Not a bad thing when done right, and this beer was done right. It wasn't my favorite beer and I am not going to be rushing out to buy a 6 pack, even though I think that some of my friends could enjoy this beer, especially those who aren't hop heads. I believe that Dead Guy Ale is a much better beer to drink, but all in all, this turned out to be a nice surprise for me and I will definitely try it again.

Who: Joe
Where: Beer Engine
Price: $$$
Score: 4 / 5

Happy Drinking!

Dos Equis - Amber

Another Mexican beer has made its way back into our refrigerator this week -- Dos Equis coming to us from Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma Brewery in Mexico. Mostly because it was on sale for Cinco De Mayo. Cathy and I thought we would give it another go. Previously I really enjoyed this Amber lager, not so much anymore.

I just don't find the taste that good. Even if you shove a lime into the beer it still doesn't help. The beer is a dark amber color and smells of sweet malts. It has a slight malty and carmel taste. I also think that there is another flavor in there, I just can't get my finger on. All in all it is a pretty average beer, which is probably why the 6 pack was only $5.99.

I would much rather have Pacifico or even a Corona over this beer again.

Who: Cathy
Where: Home
Price: $
Score: 2 / 5

Happy Drinking!

Full Sail Amber

Full Sail Amber - Hood River, Oregon.

When I am tired of IPA's, I always seem to turn toward the amber style. I guess it's a nice change up from the bitter hops of the IPA's.

The beer pours a nice dark amber color as you would expect from the style of beer that it is. A nice mix of citrus fruit, hops and malt are the first things you notice when you smell the beer. Also notice a sweetness (maybe caramel from the sugar).

Pretty smooth and sweet beer. I had 3 last night while watching the Dayton Flyers @ Ohio State basketball game. I think that I would have been better off with 2, as the 3rd didn't go down as easy as the first two. A touch of bitterness showed up towards the end of the last beer that wasn't there with the previous two.

I think that this is a well crafted beer from Full Sail. They talk about how they first started brewing this beer during the 80's light lager craze. Almost as if they were the first brewers to try something different during that time period. I will most likely try others from their collection if I see them in the future and I might even buy another 6 of the Amber if I want a sweeter taste in the future. Overall it was an unexpected pleasant beer.

Who: Billy
Where: My house
Price: $$
Score: 4 / 5

Happy Drinking!