Winter drags its ass out, Spring rolls in like a lazy bum, and Summer scratches at the door like an enthusiastic dog. And with that backdrop, we’ll need ourselves a moderate-gravity, crushable lawnmower beer. Thus, the Uncle Rico1 cream ale is just what the doctor ordered:
Six beers judged in ninety minutes. Even more challenging than it sounded. But it’s done.
I think it’s fair to say that I would eventually have gotten the itch to get a BJCP certification. But it was that November 2016 BYO Boot Camp with Gordon Strong that really kicked off this journey.
In retrospect, it was only natural that he would encourage me to go seek my certification. But at the time it was flattering and just the kick I needed. Continue reading →
Our twenty-fourth and final session covered the Belgian Ales.
Over the years, I’ve drunk more than my fair share of craft beer. And of all those craft beers, most of them were from our local Vermont breweries. And of those breweries, Burlington Beer Company has (in a short time) taken over the #1 slot. That is due, in large part, to their very (very) fine rye IPA called Light in the Window. So imagine my dismay when I learned that they were discontinuing production.
No matter. A little social media harassment and begging/pleading later and I got the next best thing to a revival. I got the recipe. Clone in the Window:
Yesterday was the 2018 Greg Noonan Memorial Homebrew Competition. I went pretty big this year, with 12 entries between all my beers and meads, and it paid off with seven medals — including a successful defense of my Mead Maker of the Year title. In addition to competing, I had the privilege of judging and hopefully I will earn some experience points for it after the exam in two weeks.
One of my goals for 2018 was to branch out a little more as a brewer, especially with respect to styles. I have the things that I like to brew, and the things that I like to drink, but I thought it would be good to do… oh I don’t know, make at least four new-to-me styles.
The first style I picked was a German Pils and thought that I’d do a little Vermont take on it. Hence Grünberg Pils:
For our 23rd session, we took on Category 25 — the Strong Belgian Ales.
The story behind this brew is as simple as it gets. I made a clone of Havoc’s Root of All Evil; it was a huge hit here at home, and we were running low. The obvious solution? Make some more of Evil Clone (Mk. II):
It started with an observation that turned into a challenge. Jason noticed you could get 5 lb. of clover honey at CostCo for $11.99 — $2.40 per lb. as opposed to the nationwide average of $7.57 (c. January 2018). Obviously this meant that there was virtually no excuse for any of the club members to try their hand at making a mead. So we started the ExperiMEADal Challenge with the goal of having a bunch club members offer up their first mead entries for the Noonan Competition, and in the meantime… we cross-pollinate and see what different kinds of meads we could manage, all from the same inexpensive source.
I gave mine the descriptive but not terribly creative name: Kirkland Clover Challenge Mead (or just “KC”):
