NHC Results, San Diego County Fair Results and Honeymoon

I got my score sheets back from the NHC 2nd round a couple of weeks ago but with wedding planning, getting married and getting ready for our Honeymoon to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand I haven't had a chance to write about it or scan in my score sheets. I still don't have much time but here is a brief overview:

NHC 2nd Round: 100% Brett c. 100% Amarillo Belgian Pale Category 23: Specialty Beer. Scored a 40 1st round and earned a second place. In the 2nd round it scored a 40.5, I got some great feedback, and made the mini best of show, I ended up with an dHonorable Mention. I am super stoked about these results. I will be brewing this beer again for sure.

San Diego Count Fair (805 entries in one day!). I have entered this contest in the past, it was the first contest I entered, 4 years ago and I earned a second place for my hefe. I was shut out the next, my hefe didn't carb otherwise it scored really well. Last year I missed the deadline. This year I entered 6 beers for fun. Meyer Lemon Blond in the Veg/Spice category, dark strong, schwartbier, robust porter (same beer as the schwartz), golden strong, and in the specialty category a Sour Cherry Stout. I couldn't make the competition because it was the day after my wedding so my buddy took them. I haven't got my score sheets back yet but I guess I got a 4th place for the robust porter. The robust porter was brewed as a schwarzbier but is was pretty roasty so I decided what the heck. I am surprised the Meyer Lemon Blond and Bon Hiver didn't do better as they scored well at the America's Finest City contest back in February. There is earlier competition results here. I find it funny that the beer that went earned a honorable mention in the 2nd round in 23 Specialty only scored a 24.5 in an earlier comp when entered in 16 Belgian Specialty. Go figure!

We are off on our honeymoon in the morning. We will be gone until early August. Upon return I will have reviews of the wit, peach wheat, RIS and my Dortmunder Export. I will be brewing some of the following upon my return ( I don't have to go back to work until the end of August):

Belgian Pale/Blond with Lemon Grass and Citra Hops

Table Saison

Saison d'Indochine (saison with SE Asian Spices)

Hefeweizen

BRETT 2

10 gallons of a Lambic (5 gallons straight, 5 gallons will get apricots)

Rauchbier

Oktoberfest

Many more....

See you in August!!!

Edgemont IPA-Review

I brewed this beer a month or so back, so the hop profile has faded a bit. I don't typically brew IPAs because living in San Diego I am surrounded by exceptional commercial IPAs all the time. I am also very picky about my IPAs. I like my IPAs to be dry, light colored, lower in bitterness, and have intense hop aroma and hop flavor.

Appearance: Light copper in color (still too dark in my opinion). Large off-white head that lasts a long time. Clear.

Aroma: Big apricot/peach aroma with a nice citrus background, strangely as the beer warms a light grassy like aroma develops. A light sweetness lingers as well.

Taste: Nice fruity, citrus flavor up front followed by the same grassiness mentioned earlier. I think I left the dry hops in a little too long.

Drinkability: Drinkable and actually pretty good, just not what I wanted or had envisioned when I built the recipe.

Although it isn't exactly what I wanted it is the best pale/ipa I have made so far. I am getting better at the style. I probably won't brew another until the late fall. Next time look for Amarillo and Cascade hops, and just pale/pilsner malt to keep it extra dry and light in color. I may even throw in a little sugar like I do for my Belgian styles.

I may not get a ton of post in the next month or so as I am getting married in two weeks and then we are off on a 5 week honeymoon to Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia. I will then brew heavily again in August.

I kegged up the two beers for my work part a American Wheat with Peaches (very fruity and slightly tart) and a basic wit (very nice beer and when cool and carbed it is gonna be a hit). Look for a review...if I have time. Thanks for following and see you all in August.

Pop Gose the Weasel- Review

I brewed this Gose about a year ago with the yeast cake from my Berliner Weiss. The beer was accidently infected with Brett (probably brett c. during secondary) The grain bill was simple 3.5# Pilsner, 3.5# Wheat Malt, a small amount of aged cluster hops in the mash, brought to a boil, salt and coriander added at flameout. I lost the details when my computer crashed in the fall. This is definitely a great beer which I will brew again this summer.

Appearance: Light yellow/straw in color like a really light beer. Slight haze from the wheat, but this beer has been sitting for 8 months or so. The big evervessent head disapates very quickly.

Aroma: Lactic acid and grain in the aroma. Slight herbal note from the coriander but coriander aroma has faded over time.

Taste: Bright lactic acidity, very sour at first taste but then mellows after. A funky and malt/grain flavor follows. The finish is tartness, coriander, and a slight saltiness in the end. You can only taste the coriander/salt if you know it is there, which I guess is a good thing.

Mouthfeel: Evervesant, with a tart mouth puckering dryness. Easy to drink.

On a side note, if you blend 3/4 Gose with 1/4 IPA it is really good.

IPA review up next.

NHC Beers Sent, and other updates

A quick up date. I sent my NHC 2nd round beers off to Minnesota on Saturday. It is a 100% Brett c. and 100% Amarillo hop beer, built around a Belgian Pale Ale base recipe. I still say that is one of the best beers I have brewed and making round 2 helps validate it.

I will also be brewing at least 3 beers before my wedding at the end of June. With wedding planning and such I have to find ways to sneak brew days in. My fiancee will be having her bachelorette party next weekend so I plan on brewing at least 2 beers (a wit, a hefe, and my next brett beer, or a berliner). I may try and brew one during the week but we will have to see.

I also brewed (not sure if that is the correct term) a batch of Viognier wine. It is my second wine, the first was a Italian Red and it was very nice. Viognier is one of my favorite styles of white wine. It is dry, but has a wonderful fruitiness. It kind of reminds me of what a good Belgian style beer is like, dry but sweet and flavorful. I hate dry mineral or metallic wines. It is one of the few whites my fiancee and I can agree on. The wine should be ready by the late summer early fall which are typically the hottest days in San Diego.

I will have a review of my Gose, and my IPA soon.

Best Ale in the Universe 2- An American Peach Wheat

I am not bragging about the quality of the beer, the Best Ale in the Universe, but our school considers itself the Best School in the Universe, so I figured I would make a beer in our schools honor. This is actually the second beer I have made for work. I like to include a component of the school lunches into the beer. For the holiday party I brewed a imperial southern brown with graham crackers in the mash, it was a huge hit and was tapped in a about 2 hours.

When I got off work today I decide that I would brew a batch for my work's end of the year party. I brewed an American Wheat that I will be adding frozen peaches to. I will also be brewing a pretty standard wit bier, but that will have to come this weekend. The brewing session was pretty painless (although I forgot to add the final aroma hops at flameout)and a great way to relax after work. I even got a chance to workout during the mash rest. The peaches I will be adding are from frozen fruit cups, that have peaches, sugar and vitamin C (ascorbic and citric acid) see image below.

Best Ale in the Universe 2

4.5 # 2-Row

4.5 # Red Wheat

.25# Crystal 10L

.25# Honey Malt

Cluster @ 60 minutes 14.3 IBU

Hellertauer @30 min 7.4 IBU

Hellertauer @ 1 min left out!!!

WL American Wheat Yeast

( I used this yeast for a dunkle a year or so again, and it had a ton of apricot and peach flavor/aroma, it sucked for the dunkle but I think it will be perfect for this beer)

The beer will be 5% abv and so will the wit so they will be easy drinking refreshing beers to go with the street taco cart that we always have for the end of the year party. It should be a good party.

Schwartzbier Tasting

Here is a tasting of the second lager have brewed my Schwartzbier. I wanted a beer that was nice to drink as San Diego's freezing winter ends and the spring heats up. I have actually been drinking this beer for a few weeks now and I am really happy with it. I wanted to aim for a mixture of an American and German style, but my beer ended up on the more American style.

Aroma: The beer has a very clean aroma, with a slight maltiness followed by a light roast. No hop aroma.

Appearance: The beer has a very dark color, almost black until held to the light, when a garnet hue is visible. The head is dark tan almost espresso in color much more stout-like in color.

Flavor: The flavor is clean with very little Munich malt flavor, bummed about this. The dominate flavor is a nice bitter sweet dark chocolate/roastiness. There is not burnt flavors, but a little roastier than I had hoped for. The beer finishes with a slight roast derived dryness leaning towards astringency, followed by a light maltiness. No hop flavor detected. It does leave my mouth tasting like I just had a piece of 70-80% cocoa chocolate (which I love).

Mouthfeel: Nice medium body, with a strong carbonation. The beer, as mentioned above has a slight astringency.

Overall: The beer is a very nice beer, but not a "black Pils" due to the lack of hop bitterness/aroma and the fact that there is too much roastiness. I will reduce the roast malt and increase the dark Munich malt as a well as the hops.

NHC First Round Results

I received my results for the NHC first round on Thursday. I had never entered this contest before, but with a 2nd place finish in preliminary contest (America's Finest City) in February, I thought what the heck. I entered three beers; the 2nd place finisher a Dark Strong, Meyer Lemon and Lavender Blond, and my 100% Brett c. and 100% amarillo Belgian Pale.

For more info on my predictions for the beers going into the contest check out this earlier post

Unfortunately, my computer crashed earlier this year and I lost the recipes for all three beers, if any one wants more info let me know and will put together a recipe from memory.

Here we go:

Belgian Dark Strong: Category 18e. Overall Score 30.5 (29, 32). It scored a 35 in earlier contest. I originally brewed this as a Belgian BarleyWine, but after 18 months the hops have faded. The beer used a base malt of Marris Otter and the traditional Dark Strong grains. I think it mainly got marked down for the lack of esters. I really liked the marris otter as the base for this style, and the judges all said the malt was a highlight.

Meyer Lemon and Lavender Blond: Category 21a. Overall Score 28 (29, 27). Scored a 33 in earlier contest. Neva Parker of White Labs was one of the judges so I know I received some quality feedback. I didn't have too much hope for this beer but I thought if I specified the base style (forgot to do this in earlier comp) I would have done better. It is a good beer, and everyone who tries it really like it, but the lemon and lavender are a little too strong for the base style. I will brew this beer again because on a warm spring/summer evening it is very refreshing. As Ms. Parker said "just a few adjustments and this would be a fantastic summer refresher. The Champagne of beers-yum"

100% Brett c. and 100% Amarillo Belgian Pale: 2nd Place Category 23a. Overall Score 40 (40, 40). Scored a 24.5 in earlier comp in Category 16e. I was really disappointed in the earlier comp. I thought the style is very Belgian-like, but after talking to a friend who is a BJCP judge he advised me to switch to specialty beer. Good call Andy! The beer has been a big hit among other homebrewers who know funky wild beers and I feel this is the best beer I have ever brewed. So earning this score and moving on to Nationals is a great feeling. I got some advice from Sean Paxton The Home Brew Chef on this beer, so thanks Sean. I hope the beer does well, but I think the next level is gonna be tough. I will brew this again soon with Brett c. and Nelson Sauvin Hops. So look for a post in the next few weeks, I just have to source the hops.

On a separate, but related rant, I really think BJCP needs to update the guidelines to include wild, funky and non-traditional sours. If a beer can score 24.5 in a Belgian Specialty and 40 in Specialty beer there are some issues in the categories. I think that as the landscape of american home brewing changes the guidelines need to change to reflect that change.

Congrats to all the brewers moving on, especially all those who's blogs I follow, those I get advice from on the Babble Belt and to my own home brew club CHUG. We are a small club, only 15 people and have only been around for about 3 months. But at least 3 of us placed and are moving on to the NHC!