Scotch Ale

11/1/04 - Scotch Ale - Once again this beer changed very little. We just can't mess too much with it or Shag will give us a right thumpin'. The only difference, again, was a slight increase in the smoked malt profile. We upped it from 1.5 to 2%. It's still a very subtle smoked character, but comes out just enough to add a bit more intrigue.

Malt:
Pilsner Malt
10L Munich
35L Carastan
Chocolate Malt
Rauch Malt

SG - 18° p
TG - 3.6° p

Hops:
IBU - 28
Willamette - Bittering

Big A IPA - 2004 Edition

8/30/04 - Big A IPA - Well I guess Stash got tired of Sy and Paul laughin' away at him on their lawn chairs (rumor has it he's the one that kicked in the trailer door) and so the Polish purveyor of prodigious potables decided to up the ante by revamping his Big A IPA. 6.6 percent alcohol? Please, try 9. 70 IBU's? Stash figures 100 will do just nicely, thanks. The malt bill has pretty much stayed the same, but the hopping has been totally updated for the challenge of it all. The bittering's done with Magnum and a tad of Cascade for the harsher notes it imparts. Once again the flavoring additions were added every 5 minutes for the last 30 minutes of the boil. These were done using Horizon with Ahtanum added at the very end of the boil. Columbus were used in the bright tank for dry hop aroma.

It's the end of the summer and this beer still has a long way to go to reach maturity. The beer is still a tad hot and I'd sit bottles down for at least 6 months. The flavor is quite nice with the Belgian malts showing their beautiful characters. I think the flavor additions in the hopping could use to be bumped up and I'm sure Stash will look into that next year. All in all I think this is another fine effort by the Smutty crew. Enjoy.

Malt:
Pale (2-row) malt
Belgian pale ale malt
Aromatic malt

ABV - 9%

Hops:
IBU - 100
Bittering - Magnum and Cascade
Flavoring - Horizon
Aroma - Ahtanum
Dry Hopping - Columbus

Maibock

4/30/04 - This year's Maibock is about to hit the shelves and it's not even May yet, how about that. The production gods must be smiling down on the Smutty boys. We once again pulled off the double decoction and are quite happy with the results. The difference from last year was a matter of color. We were trying to lighten it into the golden range, by dropping some of the specialty malts. We went from 33% Munich and 12% Belgian Pale Ale malts to 15% and 26% respectively. However, the decoction still darkens the beer to such an extent that we ended up in the amber range. It's a beautiful color but not exactly what we wanted. I may try 100% pilsner malt next year.

Barleywine

2/20/04 - This year's Barleywine is a showcase for the subtlety of the S-hops: Simcoe and Santiam. These hops were featured in all the additions except for the dry hops, where we used Horizons. You gotta love the smoothness of the bittering character of those Simcoes, even at 90 IBUs, which by the way was a slight drop from last years 100 IBUs. We loved the malt profile from last year so that hasn't changed. The biggest difference is of course that we have finally moved into bottle conditioning. This is the first stab at this practice here at Smuttynose and my first venture into this realm since my homebrewing days. Back then it was a matter of necessity, but now I'm really only looking to scavenge any remaining oxygen from the headspace of the bottle as we fill them. The first batch actually went fairly smoothly but then we became too smart for our own good and tried to bottle at a warmer temperature and weren't able to keep enough CO2 in solution and so ended up with a beer slightly less lively. The first batch was bottled at 45°F while the second was at 50°F. The bottle conditioning process was right out of homebrew practice with a small amount of yeast (3 gallons for 30 BBL's) and an appropriate amount of white cane sugar (dissolved in hot water) added right before bottling. That night I had a recurrence of the old nightmare (you know the one) where your couple cases of homebrew are slowly exploding in the back of the closet but you're deep into your fermentatively induced dreams and think it's your neighbor (you know the one) who wears the hunting cap, with flaps, year round taking pot shots at your right front tire. Now multiply this nightmare by the fact that it's not 2 cases but upwards of 500, sloooowly exploooding all night long. Alas this never happened and I've managed to keep my job through another seat of the pants experience.

The beer itself pours with a beautiful orangey white head and has an aroma of tangerines and citrus that fades into pine. The bitterness is resiny yet smooth with the malt body holding it's end up nicely. I'm getting a bunch of citrus notes with a hint of vanilla. It's definitely still hot right now but don't worry it's bottle conditioned so lay it down for six months or so at least. Enjoy.

Malt:
Pilsner Malt
Belgian Pale Ale Malt
Caramunich
Aromatic Malt
Special B
Brown Sugar

SG 22.5°P
TG 4.2°P

Hops:
IBU - 90
Simcoe - Bittering
Santiam & Cascade - Flavoring
Santiam - Aroma
Horizon - Dry Hopping

Imperial Stout

1/20/04 - This year's Imperial Stout was perfectly presented recently down at Redbone's Stout and Porter Festival. We poured a firkin which had been maturing for over a month and had included an extra plug of dry hopping. Beautiful beer. Great nose, big silky body, long legs, wow. I know what you're thinking: dude, you gotta get out more. And, of course, you'd be right. The alcohol content on this beer was reduced slightly from last year and we were a bit nervous about that, thinking it might not balance quite as well. It certainly dosen't have the warming character of some Imperial Stouts but at 8% ABV it's really not out of range for the style. Another change we made was to reduce the roasted malts. We backed off both the Chocolate Malt and Roasted Barley from 5% to 4%. We felt that last year's vervion was a tad too acrid and at 75 IBU's we didn't want the added bite of too much roasted grain. I really don't think this beer needs much ageing, but it'll be interesting to taste in six months or a year. I've got my cellar stocked, but of course it's a lot cheaper for me. It's good to be the brewer.

Malt:
Pilsner Malt
Munich Malt
Crystal 120°L
Carastan 17°L
Chocolate Malt
Roasted Barley

SG 21.5°P
TG 5.9°P

Hops:
IBU - 75
Magnum - Bittering
Cascade - Flavoring
Fuggle & Cascade - Aroma
Columbus - Dry Hopping