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Brewing Schedule

Posted Sat, 02/13/2010 - 09:44 by Jon

I'm beginning to plan out my beer brewing and bottling schedule for the year. On tap (sorry) for 2010:

Early Spring: Irish Red
Late Spring: SpingBo(c)k
Early Summer: Lemon Spice
Late Summer: West Coast Pale Ale
Early Fall: Pumpkin Lager
Late Fall: Coffee Stout
Early Winter: Cranberry (?)

Winter Drink Edition

Posted Fri, 12/25/2009 - 11:58 by Jon

My fall/winter pumpkin porter turned out well, and at our Xmas Eve party last night we also served Jamaican Sorrel (a hibiscus, ginger, and lemon rum punch), mulled wine, hot cider, and egg nog. The local blogs have been featuring other, more innovative winter/holiday libations available at our local bars:

http://www.thehillishome.com/2009/12/winter-libations/

http://dcist.com/2009/12/the_weekly_feed_mulling_it_over_edi.php

DC Octoberfest and Beer notes

Posted Mon, 10/26/2009 - 10:29 by Jon

DC has been abuzz with exciting beer news and upates

DC might be getting a German style beer garden?
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/youngandhungry/2009/10/20/dc-fi... on H St. :

End of Summer Brew: Boysenberry Wheat Ale

Posted Sun, 09/20/2009 - 12:50 by Jon
Boysenberry Brew Label

Brewed a wheat ale with boysenberries for my end-of-summer brew. It started out tasting pretty wretched after the first 2 weeks of bottle-aging, but another week in and it's showing some good flavors, and less yeasty. I'm hopeful it will continue to mellow out in the next 2-3 weeks.

Also, I brewed an Octoberfest-style bock with a 1/2 cup of coffee and some brown sugar in the wort -- it'll be at least a month before that concoction is drinkable, but I have high hopes.

August Beer: Czech Pilz

Posted Mon, 08/03/2009 - 09:12 by Jon
Czech Pilsner

Bottled this weekend was the previously-mentioned Pilz. The West Coast Pale Ale was a resounding success; one of the cleaner, most balanced (sweet, light, hoppy) beers I've made in a while.

To be fair, I try to brew stuff that's not available in stores, like Pumpkin porter (a repeat favorite, coming in late October), and Coffee Bock (a new recipe for my annual Octoberfest bock).

Early Summer Beer

Posted Sat, 06/13/2009 - 13:17 by Jon
West Coast Pale Ale

The first day of summer will also be the first day for drinkability of my West Coast style Pale Ale. I'd confused myself as to what I had brewing, so the Pilz has to wait for full-on summertime. I'll get a label done for this soon (ish)

July Beer: Czech Pilsner

Posted Fri, 06/05/2009 - 15:06 by Jon
Czech Pilsner

Ooops I got ahead of myself here, up next is actually a pale ale for early summer; the pilz should show up in July.

The early-summer seasonal beer and follow-on to the Kolsch is a Czech Pilsner.

You beer history lesson is that Pilz is the result of repeated failure with standard ale-style brewing in Pilsen, Bohemia. Fed up with their traditional technique, they (purportedly) smuggled yeast from a Bavarian monastery and hired Josef Groll to bring bottom-fermented beer to Pilsen. Combining that style with locally available Saaz noble hops and you get Pilsner, which was first served on 11 November 1842. In gratitude of Groll's contributions to the beer world he was then fired.

I should be bottling the Pilz as soon as I have enough empties from the Kolsch to fit it.

Beer Brewing: Kolsch

Posted Fri, 05/15/2009 - 15:21 by Jon

Kolsch The first brew of the season was a leftover from fall, a relatively dark Vienna Lager. I added some extra honey to sweeten it up a bit. It turned out as an excellent beer for a crisp autumn day, but was drinkable in the early spring as well.

Carbonating and conditioning right now is Kolsch, an ale that masquerades as a lager, native to Cologne. It has a mild aroma of dried banana (seriously), and took quite a while to get ready for bottling, so I'm hopeful for a complex taste.

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