The second1 in this “junk drawer” series of “leftover ingredient” beers. After the (relative) success of #1, I looked in on what odds-and-ends were kicking around and applied my imagination toward Hoarder Intervention #2.
A style that wasn’t really on my radar until I started studying for the BJCP exam was the (4B) Festbier. I cannot imagine that I’d never had one before, but I also must believe that I’d always either conflated it somehow with either a Märzen or a Helles (Bock?)1 when trying to place it on the spectrum. Once I’d made a concerted effort to study the styles though, you might say that I fell in love with it. I had to brew one.
So when word came along that the Green Mountain Mashers were going to hold a little OktoBEERfest as a dedication party/ceremony for the Greg Noonan Memorial Library, I knew that I needed to bring a Festbier to share. And so I put together a little formulation for what would become Tilde Festbier:
With 2018 having been flush with hoppy American-style beers, Belgian-inspired ales, and meads, I was feeling like a change of pace. It was time to dust off my Vienna mit Roggen recipe and give an all-grain version a test drive. And that beer is Sirius Moonlight (Mk. II):
The time came for the fourth installment of my single-hop APA series. Having heard a thing or two about Huell Melon, it seemed like a perfect candidate for this experiment. And so… Prosody (Huell Melon):
Like I said last year: “How do I get myself into these things?” Except… now I know how I get myself into these. As a back-to-back Vermont Mead Maker of the Year, I feel like it’s my responsibility to get out there and demo the art for people.
In the year 2018, the Mead Day demo mead becomes A Mead Has No Name:
A project I’d long considered since making that first batch: a little honey and a little grape must gets you a pyment. And that’s what gives us Partial Shade:
Put the drinks from the last two posts’ worth of fermentations together and you get this:
Not really sure what to say about this one. I did a completely unrelated gear experiment1 earlier in the day, and rather than waste the 5 gallons of 100+°F water… well, I could whip up some kind of mead in a half hour or so. And it felt like it was getting late but the sun stays up so long here in the summer so… Sunny Night, a black currant mead:
Given the success of the first batch (second place Saison in the 2018 Greg Noonan Competition), I was determined to dial in my grisette recipe. Taking the feedback from the judges, and a little more speculative process tweaks from Markowski’s book, I applied those here to make Green Mountain Grisette (Mk. II):
After nearly three months1 of waiting, my BJCP Tasting Exam score came back. I was hoping for something in the 70s — that way, all I’d need to do would be to rack up a few more judging points and I’d slide neatly into the Certified rank.
But when I opened the email (my heart all a-flutter) my eyes almost couldn’t believe the number waiting for me.
84
And not only that, but the overall performance summary blew me away:
I don’t say this to brag2 but I really was surprised that I’d managed to get a score that (with the rest of the legwork to come) already gets me partway to a National rank.
This was a hugely important goal for me, and I’m feeling a ton of gratitude for having made it. And to my study group friends that put up with all my blah-blah-blahing — I really couldn’t have done it without you. (You know who you are…)
Cheers!
