Horton’s Homebrew - After Midnight Porter

For my next batch, I decided to brew a porter and used a slightly modified recipe from John Palmer’s book How to Brew - just buy the book.  The recipe is called Port O’ Palmer in the book and is similar to Sierra Nevada’s Porter.  The changes I made were to hops and the hop schedule.  This is my best batch to date, it turned out really good and should only improve with a bit of age.  The name is in tribute to Eric Clatpton’s song After Midnight.  The ingredients were obtained from The Brew Hut in Aurora, CO and I have enough specialty grains remaining to brew another batch and I plan to add cocoa to the next batch. 

The grain bill all from Briess Malting is as follows:

7# Pale Liquid Malt Extract

0.5 # Briess Caramel 60 L

0.5# Briess Chocolate

0.25# Black Patent Malt

The hop additions were:

0.25 oz. Nugget (14.8% AA) at 60 minutes

0.25 oz. Nugget (14.8% AA) at 40 minutes

0.25 oz. Williamete (7.5% AA) at 40 minutes

0.25 oz. Williamete (7.5% AA) at 20 minutes

I made a 2L starter with Wyeast 1056 – American Ale yeast and 200 g of Munton’s Pale Dry Malt Extract.  The beer sat in the fermenter for 2 weeks at 68 degrees and then was bottle conditioned for 2 weeks at 74 degrees. 

Beer specifications:

Target OG – 1.053

Actual OG – 1.052

Target FG – 1.013

Actual FG – 1.012

ABV – 5.24%

IBU – 40 (using the Rager formula)

American Porter – http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/159 - Beeradvocate

Briess Malting – http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/

The Brew Hut – http://thebrewhut.com/

John Palmer – How to Brew - http://www.howtobrew.com/

Ska – Ten Pin Porter

I had tried Nefarious Ten Pin Porter a couple of weeks ago and thought I should sample the base for Nefarious – Ten Pin Porter (5.5% ABV and 46 IBU).  Ska is based in Durango, CO and the boys from Ska very much enjoy Ska music, and they make really tasty beer.

American Porter - http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/159 – BeerAdvocate

Appearance – Pours a very deep dark brown with ruby highlights and a nice one-finger head. 

Aroma – Mild coffee a bit of chocolate and roast malt – maybe a bit of spice from the hops / yeast. 

Taste – Very nice, a solid porter and it tastes just like it smells.  Very easy to drink

Overall – B+ - A very drinkable porter this one is very good.  Nefarious is a step up and the Ten Pin Porter provides a solid base for Nefarious.

Website description – “Rich, Raw and Robust.  Dark like motor oil on a Minnesota night, it rolls down your gullet like a calming stream full of rich and tasty malt.  Six different malts are combined to create this robust porter.  Perle and Willamette hops are added to fashion the perfect balance for which the Ten Pin is renowned.”

Ska Brewing Co.  – http://www.skabrewing.com/main.html

Flying Dog – Road Dog Porter

Flying Dog is based out of Frederick, MD and is probably best known for it’s IPA – Raging Bitch; as well as, their labels that are “Gonzo-style” in tribute to Hunter S. Thompson.  The brewery was originally founded in Aspen, CO and Hunter S. Thompson lived in nearby Woody Creek.  Road Dog (6% ABV) is an American Porter.

American Porter – description - http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/159 - Beeradvocate

Appearance – Pours brown with red highlights and a two-finger head.

Aroma – Roast / toast from the malts with a very light hop profile.

Taste – Road Dog is porter and it not bad, but nothing stands out about it.  It is not bad, but it is not not great.

Overall – B- / C+ - I would rate this as average – it is not bad, it is not great.

Label description – "Blessed by Hunter S. Thompson...Dog Porter was our first beer to be illustrated by Ralph Steadman. This is a dark, rich and malty beer, with hints of chocolate and licorice resulting from the use of four prized malts. We also defended Road Dog’s honor when the Colorado state liquor board tried to ban us from selling it because “Good Beer, No Shit” was on the label. It took 5 years, but we won.”

URL - http://flyingdogales.com/

December – Beer Tasting – Porters and Stouts

Tibor, Dennis, Chris and Chris came over to my humble abode for the next round of beer tasting a couple of weekends ago with a focus on Porters and Stouts.  Dennis had just returned from a trip to Georgia and brought back some regional offerings from the south.  We sampled a number of beers and there were some really good beers.  Chris brought over some BBQ that went wonderful with the beer.  We also had some Honey BBQ wings and chocolate pie.  One of the most interesting pairings of the evening was a side-by-side tasting of Belgian Yeti and Oak-aged Yeti.  By themselves, everyone liked the Belgian Yeti the best.  It was the first time that I had tasted this version of Yeti and it was very good.  The Oak-aged Yeti was an excellent pairing with the chocolate pie and everyone liked Oak-aged Yeti better when sampled with the chocolate pie.  We had some fantastic beers, good food, and good fellowship.  Below is a list of the beer sampled and pictures of the bottles.

Deschutes – Black Butte Porter – 5.2% ABV and 30 IBU

Lazy Magnolia – Southern Pecan – 4.39% ABV and 19 IBU - Nut Brown Ale

Stone – Smoked Porter – 5.9% ABV and 53 IBU

Alaskan – Smoked Porter – 6.5% ABV and 45 IBU

Great Divide – Belgian Yeti – 9.5% ABV – Imperial Stout

Great Divide – Oak-aged Yeti – 9.5% ABV – Imperial Stout

Left Hand – Wake Up Dead – 10.2% ABV and 45 IBU – Russian Imperial Stout

Alltech Lexington Brewing - Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale – 7 – 9% ABV

Terrapin – Rye Pale Ale – 5.5% ABV and 35 IBU – Pale Ale with Rye

SweetWater Brewing Co. – Georgia Brown Ale – 5% ABV and 24 IBU

Yuengling – Black and Tan – 4.7% ABV

Yuengling – Lager – 4.4% ABV

Next month we will sample Pilsners.

A trip to Dry Dock Brewing Co.

Dry Dock Brewing Company is a small craft brewer that is located in Aurora, Colorado.  I met my friend Aaron and his mother-in-law’s friend Carl to taste a few samples from Dry Dock.  Dry Dock has a sampler that you can choose 6 – 3 oz. samples of the beer they brew and I had the following:

Coffee Milk Stout (5.3% ABV and 30 IBU) – incredible coffee aroma and a really nice sweet stout that had a solid coffee taste.

Two Tasks American Stout (6.5% ABV and 65 IBU) – a bigger stout than the previous stout, more alcohol, more hops, and most roast.

HMS Bounty Old Ale (6.9% ABV and 35 IBU) – a really nice old ale with a sold malt base tasting of toffee and caramel.

Three Heavy Wee Heavy (9.5% ABV and 30 IBU) – a very tasty Scottish Ale – I am fond of Scottish Ales and this is a good one.

USS Enterprise IPA (6.4% ABV and 63 IBU) – very drinkable IPA.

Double IPA (8.5% ABV and 90 IBU) – excellent double IPA with a citrus hops aroma and bitterness on the finish.

+ Vanilla Porter (5.5% ABV and 33 IBU) – very enjoyable and I would love to do a side-by-side with Breckenridge’s Vanilla Porter.

I was impressed with all of these beers and I can easily understand why Dry Dock won the Small Brewer of the Year at the 2009 GABF.  Dry Dock has won awards for various beers and I think they won 5 in 2010.  If you are in the Denver area, take a trip to Dry Dock and enjoy a sampler.

Left Hand – Fade to Black Vol. 3 – Pepper Porter

I tried Left Hand’s Fade to Black Vol. 2 at the beginning of the year and I really liked the Smoked Porter.  Vol. 3  is a Pepper Porter (7.2% ABC and 1,984 Scoville Units) and I picked up a six-pack when I saw it.  It pours very dark – black – with a lacy head.  One can definitely pick up pepper on the nose and I was somewhat surprised that I did not pick up a strong pepper presence on the taste.  This is a very nice porter and has a great taste, I was expecting a bit more of a pepper bite, which may have been somewhat muted by the spicy dish I was eating.  I think Left Hand brews two volumes during the fall and winter and I will purchase these when I see them.  They are always something a little different, are here for only a limited time, and are always tasty.

Website Description – “Imagine Robert DeNiro sitting in your darkened parlour near the fire in his Louis Cyphre persona smoking a Tuscan cigar. This may be the beer with which to save (or lose) your soul. Dried fruit flavors entwined with smoky pepper and licorice embossed on roasty malt sweetness open on your tongue as the slow warmth of chilis creep up on your tongue and throat, finishing in an herbal smoke ring flourish.”

Boulevard Brewing Co.

I have been on vacation and needed to catch up with a few entries into the blog.  Recently, I tried three from Boulevard Brewing Co., based in Kansas City, MO.  The three I tried were Unfiltered Wheat beer (4.4% ABV and 14 IBU), Bully Porter (5.4% ABV and 49 IBU), and Single-Wide IPA (5.7% ABV and 57 IBU).  These were all good and I really enjoyed the Bully! Porter.  I was in the mood for a porter and it went well with strawberry shortcake, vanilla ice cream and a little chocolate syrup.  Boulevard does a great job with the descriptions of their beers and they provide the ingredients, recommended pairings, awards, the “stats” on beer, and a Sensory Profile that is very accurate.  Below are pictures are from me; as well as, the descriptions and sensory profiles from the Boulevard web site.

Description - Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat Beer is a lively, refreshing ale with a natural citrusy flavor and distinctive cloudy appearance. This easy drinking American-style wheat beer has become our most popular offering, and the best-selling craft beer in the Midwest.  

Sensory Profile - A slightly cloudy, light-bodied, straw colored beer with a sweet, bready malt flavor, low hop bitterness and a hint of citrus.

Description - Bully! Porter - A dark colored, medium-bodied beer with a prominent burnt, roasted malt aroma and flavor and an equally prominent hop aroma, flavor and bitterness.   The intense flavors of dark-roasted malt in Boulevard’s rendition of the classic English porter are perfectly balanced by a generous and complex hop character.

Sensory Profile - Bully! Porter’s robust nature makes it the ideal companion to a variety of foods, from seafood to chocolate.

Description - Boulevard Single-Wide I.P.A. is our take on a style that originated in 18th century Great Britain. This American version—inspired by our Smokestack Series Double-Wide I.P.A.—boasts a heady combination of six varieties of hops, some of which were employed for dry-hopping.

Sensory Profile - A golden colored beer with a prominent flowery, grapefruit hop aroma, a moderate caramel malt flavor and a dominant hop bitterness and flavor.

Light and Dark

Sierra Nevada’s Best of Beer Camp #8 is a California Common (6.5% ABV).  Beer Advocate describes the California Common or Steam Beer style as, “is a unique 100% American style lager. It's usually brewed with a special strain of lager yeast that works better at warmer temperatures. This method dates back to the late 1800's in California when refrigeration was a great luxury. The brewers back then had to improvise to cool the beer down, so shallow fermenters were used. So in a way the lager yeast was trained to ferment quicker at warmer temperatures. Today's examples are light amber to tawny in color, medium bodied with a malty character. Mildly fruity with an assertive hop bitterness.”  #8 pours a straw orange with a nice two finger head.  There is very good carbonation with #8 and a pleasant aroma of malt, grain and fruit.  Taste is nicely balanced between the malt sweetness and hop bitterness – very drinkable.  I need to do a side-by-side comparison with Anchor Steam.

Twisted Pine’s Pearl Street Porter (6.7% ABV and 23 IBU) is a Winter Seasonal offering.  Beer Advocate describes Porter as, “Inspired from the now wavering English Porter, the American Porter is the ingenuous creation from that. Thankfully with lots of innovation and originality American brewers have taken this style to a new level. Whether it is highly hopping the brew, using smoked malts, or adding coffee or chocolate to complement the burnt flavor associated with this style. Some are even barrel aged in Bourbon or whiskey barrels. The hop bitterness range is quite wide but most are balanced. Many are just easy drinking session porters as well.”  Pearl Street pours very dark with a small head that quickly dissipates. The nose has malt and slight chocolate hints.  Twisted Pine brewed this beer for the 150^th anniversary of Boulder, CO.  This is a very nice beer with a classic porter taste and chocolate / mocha hints.  Pearl Street Porter would be a great beer to introduce someone to dark beers.  

Anchor – Porter and Deschutes – Obsidian

Anchor is the oldest craft brewer in America that began in 1896, survived prohibition, and Fritz Maytag saved near extinction in 1965 when the brewery had a bank balance of $128.  First, thank you Mr. Maytag for this purchase as this is one of the breweries that started the craft beer revolution.  Anchor is best know for Anchor Steam – a California Common Beer – was first released in 1975.  Flash-forward to today and Anchor has five styles available year-round and special seasonal and project releases.  Lori made a nice birthday dinner last night of grilled rib eye, sautéed green beans and fried potatoes.  I was confident that Anchor’s Porter (5.6% ABV) would be a perfect pairing and it was. You cannot go wrong with pairing a porter with steak.  Anchor Porter pours very dark with a nice thick head.  This beer has great aroma and has a wonderful taste of chocolate and coffee that went beautifully with the grilled rib eye. 

For desert, Lori had made my favorite, German Chocolate Cake.  I was confident that a stout would pair nicely with this and I choose Deschutes Obsidian (6.4% ABV and 55 IBU).   This stout pours black and has a great nose with taste of roasted malt, coffee and chocolate.  This is a very nice stout and I really enjoyed it with the cake.  Obsidian has won many awards ove the years and I can taste why.  I like everything I have tried from Deshutes and they are one of my favorite brewers.  When I get back to Portland, I will stop by the tap room.