Taste Test - Angry Dwarf Holiday Ale

Christmas has come and gone.  I was sick but found enough time to go to the family gathering and do a taste test of the Angry Dwarf next to some Mad Elf.

First up was the 2013 Mad Elf - Cherry flavor was more in the background.  Pretty sweet flavor overall.  String alcohol taste though.

Next was the 2012 Mad Elf - The cherry flavor really came out in the older version. This one tasted more like booze though.

Finally was my Angry Dwarf. You know what I think of it based on my previous post. So here is what the general thoughts from the rest of the family are.  Everyone thought the cherry flavor - both tart and sweet - was more prominent and made it something a bit more special than the Mad Elf.  The reduced ABV due to the BIAB method was a happy accident.  Coming in at 9.5% its still a big beer but it does not taste boozy like the Mad Elf.

Overall this was huge success.  My friend Speedy is the one I brewed this for so we will see what he says this weekend.

Looks like this will be the new holiday brew.

On another note, I got a lot of gift certificates and the new Dark Star Burner.  It's time to brew.

Tasting Day: Angry Dwarf Holiday Ale

I cracked open a taster bottle for the Angry Dwarf Holiday ale last week when we were trapped in our new house due to the ice storm.

What better time to enjoy a holiday ale with a big punch to help combat cabin fever?

It will head out to the Vorp holiday party tomorrow to see how the crowd likes it.

Appearance - Deep ruby red with a thin beige head.

Smell - Sweet Cherries, hint of the honey may be some of that sweetness smell. Alcohol. Clove. Banana. Maybe even "cough medicine" could be used to describe the smell. No hops.

Mouthfeel - Medium mouth and medium carbonation. Seems to be right for the type of beer.

Taste -Big strong cherry and honey flavor with the traditional trappist yeast flavors in the background. Very easy drinking.  As it warms the alcohol flavor shows up and the Belgian yeast flavors start to take over.

Overall -  I tasted this on Saturday and then a Mad Elf on the following Tuesday. They are clearly different as mine has more sweetness fruit flavor than the Mad Elf.  I find it to be just as good - if not better - though.  I don't know if I would really change anything.  I think it's a great beer.  We will do some side by side tasting tomorrow.  Maybe I will post the results.

Ho. Ho. Ho.

Wood Barrel Sours - Updates

Last weekend I found some time to transfer beer out of the wooden barrels into some plastic buckets to age with some fruit.  Here is a rundown of what happened.  This first batch of sours was a quick soured wort and then aged for 4 months with some Roeselare Yeast/Bugs.  Dregs from other bottles where added along the way all in an attempt to inoculate my barrel for future long-aged sours.

I collected 5 gallons from the barrel.  0.3 gallons must of been lost to the angels share or soaked up by the oak - or both.  Here is how I broke it all down.

1 Gallon - Straight
2 Gallons - On 2.5 lbs of tart cherries to create my version of a kriek
2 Gallons - On 2 lbs of Zante Currants.  Copying the idea of Consecration by Russian River

Another thing to know is that this is the same wooden barrel that stored one batch of Cab Sauv.

All three vessels got one last shot of Brett with White Labs Brett Trois and some more Lacto to hopefully add a bit more of a punch in the sour department.

If you go back and read some of my other quick sour experiments a lot of the times the beers seemed to be coming up a bit short in the complexity department.  This is why I decided to add the majority of the beer with fruit.  I hope this will create that next layer of depth it has been lacking - not to mention aging in a used wine barrel for 4 months vs a glass jug for 3 months.

I will let this age another month an begin to take gravity readings. I want to be at 1.008 or lower.  I was at 1.010 when i moved it over so hopefully the fruit and added Brett will stir up another round of fermentation and take it down a few more notches.  Once I read the desired level I will bottle with some red wine yeast and age for at least another month.


Meanwhile, after the barrel was emptied I transferred the batch that has been aging since the creation of my blog.  Back in November 2012 I created a batch of a Red Flanders ale and it has been aging ever since.  It is now taking some time in the barrel while it ages some more and picks up some of that oak flavor while hopefully getting hints of the Cab Sauv.  I will also add some more bottle dregs as I finish a few sours I have been saving for this sole purpose. 

I just added dregs from a Hill Farmstead Brewery Elaborative #1 bottle from last night.  I have a few sours from The Bruery that will also have the dregs saved and added to the barrel.

This beer was already down to 1.007 which is in the target range but I may let this sit for 3-4 more months and dose it with more Brett.  I will sample some in a month and see where it is at.

Next up - Angry Dwarf tasting...

Wyeast Labs - French Saison Yeast - Farmhouse Saison Ale Update

So back in late April or early June I brewed a traditional Saison from the Farmhouse Ale book.  See previous post here.

So I felt I needed to do a follow up because after our move I found two bottles of this Saison left.  Cracked one open and didn't even know what it was at first smell and taste.

This beer completely changed.  And it has changed for the better. Way better. I am going to let the other one age another two months to see how that tastes but at 6 months in the bottle this beer is amazing for a Saison.  Crystal clear.  Perfect carbonation and the funky flavor associated with the typical Saison is just so much more refined.

If you are using White Labs French Saison keep a few bottles and let them sit in the bottle 6 months before you crack one open. If you had the success that I did you wont regret it.  If the 8 month version is better I will post some more notes on it.