Belgian Rhino Black IPA

Well, I’m a bit behind on a few posts, but I’m going to attempt to catch up in the next week or two.  A couple months ago I decided to bring back one of the biggest beers I’ve brewed (topped only by my recent Phantasm Imperial Stout), with a twist.  I brewed my Angry Rhino Black IPA last year for the first annual Triumph Homebrew Competition. 

I was very happy with the way it turned out, but wanted to turn up the hop profile a bit for the next version.  As an additional twist, I decided to try out Wyeast’s French Saison yeast strain instead of Wyeast American Ale II (1272), which I used for the original version.  I needed to take a little break from American and English Ale strains, and try something new.  So I found myself keeping essentially the same grain bill, amping up the hops (my hoppiest brew to date), and tossing in a yeast strain I haven’t used before.

The finished product came out great and exceeded my expectations.  The earthy saison yeast paired very nicely with the Chinook hops, with some citrus thrown in there from the Centennial.  One of my concerns with using a saison strain was that it might be too potent of a yeast flavor, in a beer that is meant to be primarily hop-driven.  However, the saison actually pushed the hops a bit and added a nice background complexity and smooth mouthfeel (despite the fact that the yeast dried out the beer very nicely).  This 10% ABV monster actually came out very smooth and was not as brutal as it may appear based on the hop bill.  It was definitely a worthwhile departure from the normal Black IPA flavor profile, although I will probably only mix this one in once in awhile.  The next Black IPA I brew will probably be a more standard reprisal of the original Angry Rhino Black IPA.

What better way to test out the new version of the recipe, than in competition?  To be honest, I timed this one to coincide with the Second Annual Triumph Brewing Competition, hosted by Triumph Brewing Company, which was held this past Saturday.  This year, the entries were split into four different categories and was held over three rounds, the first of which was a peer review.  Although the Belgian Rhino didn’t make it past the first round (in hind sight, I probably should have entered into Belgian category instead of Ales/IPAs), I did have a chance to taste a lot of interesting beers, including one made with jalapenos!  The competition was definitely a good time again this year, and was much more organized than last year.  Can’t wait until next year’s competition!

Although I didn’t make it past the first round in the Triumph Competition, I did fair a bit better with the Belgian Rhino in the Buzz Off Competition, hosted by BUZZ Homebrew Club on the same day as the Triumph Competition.  I ended up taking home second place in the Belgian Specialty category, which felt really good considering this was first time I had placed in a competition since last year’s Buzz Off competition, despite coming close on a couple other competitions (more on that in another post).  I also ended up taking second place in the Smoked Beer category for my Moment of Silence smoked porter, so it was a good night overall.  My cousin-in-law and brewing buddy, Jeremy, took home three medals for his beers in the same competition, so it was a good night for both of us!

Anyway, I had a lot of fun brewing the Belgian Rhino, and if you’re looking for a twist on a hefty black IPA, give this one a shot!  Cheers!

Belgian Rhino Black IPA

Batch size: 5.2 gal

Boil volume: 3.5 gal

OG: 1.106

FG: 1.027

Bitterness (IBU): 96.4

Color (SRM): 40.6

ABV: 10.4%

[Grains]

NB Gold LME    12.000lb    Extract    75.0%

Light DME    2.000lb    Extract    12.5%

Crystal 60L    1.000lb    Grain    6.2%

Carafa III malt    1.000lb    Grain    6.2%

[Hops]

Chinook 5.00oz 13.0% AA Pellet @ 90 min, 85.8 IBU

Centennial 2.00oz 10.0% AA Pellet @ 5 min, 4.9 IBU

Chinook 2.00oz 11.5% AA Pellet @ 5 min, 5.7 IBU

Centennial 2.00oz 10.0% AA Pellet @ Dry Hop (Split into two dry hops, a week for each)

Chinook 2.00oz 11.5% AA Pellet @ Dry Hop (Split into two dry hops, a week for each)

[Yeast/Other]

French Saison Yeast    1.0 unit(s), Yeast

Irish Moss    1.0 unit(s), Fining 1 tsp at 15 min

*Note: The saison strain actually attenuates a bit more than indicated above.  It seems to dry out a lot more than American Ale strains.

Song of the Day: “This Darkened Heart” by All That Remains

Beer of the Day: Stone Brewing Company’s Imperial Russian Stout

Gearing Up for Competition Season

I have been brewing at the fastest sustained clip over the last few months since I started brewing.  The main reasons have been two-fold – 1. I literally only had about three bottles of homebrew that were ready for everyday drinking 2. Competition season is very rapidly approaching.  Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t been brewing beers just for the sake of competitions – in fact, I have brewed a lot of beers that have meant a lot to me.  However, I love to have as many beers ready for competition as I can.  Competitions are fantastic opportunities to gain valuable feedback on your beers from trained judges.  They really are a great way to push yourself as a brewer and improve.  And, hey, competitions are good way to use my favorite hobby to satisfy my competitive streak. :-) 

That being said, it seems like a crazy amount of homebrewing competitions take place in my area in the first half of the year, culminating in June, during Philly Beer Week.  I already have several competitions in my sights for the next few months. 

War of the Worts

This February will be my first year competing in the War of the Worts, hosted by Keystone Hops.  I have heard that it is one of the largest competitions in the area, making it a great place to really see how my brews stack up against the rest of the pack.  I ended up entering six beers in the competition – Bulldog Brew (rye amber), Chipotle Ale, my Ruination clone, and all three of the Streetlight beers.  I am hoping they all do well, but I have the highest hopes for the three Streetlight beers.  The final judging for this competition is this weekend and should be a really fun time.  This will also be the first time that Theresa will be able to make it to one of my competitions, so it will be a lot fun to have her along with me and show her what homebrew competitions are all about!  Theresa’s cousin Stacy, and her husband Jeremy, will also be going to the competition since Jeremy is a homebrewer too and has entered the competition.  It will be will great to see them and hang out!

NHC

The National Homebrew Competition is the big one for American homebrewers.  The registration for this is coming up quick, and I am thinking I may enter all of the beers that I enter in the War of the Worts (depending on how they score at War of the Worts), plus my hefeweizen, Theresa’s Ale.  This competition is so big that they have the first round judged at ten regional judging locations, where the top beers for each category from each location move on to the final round at the AHA National Homebrewers Conference in June.  To say that this is the big leagues of homebrewing, is kind of an understatement.  I’ll be pretty ecstatic if any of beers even make it past the first round.

Battle of the Homebrew Shops

New this year, the Battle of the Homebrew Shops is a competition that is being sponsored by Philly Beer Scene, and is planned to be an annual competition.  This one sounds like it is going to be a lot of fun.  Basically, each brewer enters a beer with their respective local homebrew shop, and the best two beers from each shop from the first round move on to the final round, where they will be judged in June, during Philly Beer Week.  The first round is pretty open – the only rule is that it has to be 4.5% ABV or lower (in other words, a session beer).  The entries from each shop will be traded with another shop, where the beers will be judged.  The top two brewers from each shop will move on to the second round, where the brewers will be given a pound of coffee from a local supplier to brew a beer with the coffee.  Here’s the twist – no stouts or porters (the two most logical styles to do with coffee) will be allowed.  The judges will basically be looking to see who can pull off the most creative beer they can, while still producing a great beer.  In other words, a good blonde ale brewed with coffee would have a better chance at winning than an amazing brown ale.  The winning brewer wins a bunch of prizes, plus the homebrew shop that the brewer represents wins the trophy for the year and gets the shop name engraved on it.  It should be a lot of fun to see the friendly rivalry develop between the different homebrew shops in the area.  I am planning on entering Theresa’s Ale in the first round.

BUZZ Off

I am planning on entering the BUZZ Off competition (Hosted by BUZZ Homebrew Club) again this year.  This is another BJCP open competitions, similar to the War of the Worts.  Last year’s competition was the first competition that I entered, and I even managed to walk away with First Place in the English Pale Ales category for a beer that I brewed with my friend Keith.  I am not sure what I am going to enter in this competition yet (this one will probably be in May sometime I am guessing) – I’ll have to see what I have that’s ready when we get closer to competition.

Commercial Breweries’ Competitions

There are also a couple competitions a little further out that are being sponsored by local breweries.  Triumph Brewery (in Old City) is going to be bringing back their homebrew competition that they did last year in conjunction with the Preston and Steve Show.  This competition was a blast last year and turned out to be a fun networking opportunity with other brewers.  The winner of the competition gets to brew a beer with Triumph on their system.  I’m not quite sure what I am going to enter in this competition, but I am leaning towards entering a re-vamped version of Angry Rhino (a Black IPA), which I entered in this competition last year. 

Boxcar Brewing Company is planning on hosting their first annual homebrew competition this year.  The details haven’t been fully released yet, but it sounds like the winning brewer will be brewing a beer with Boxcar to be served during Philly Beer Week (see what I mean when I say that competition season culminates with Philly Beer Week?), which would lead me to believe that the competition would be sometime in the next 2 -3 months.

As you can see, I’ll have my hands full with a bunch of competitions coming up.  I just brewed up an imperial stout that will be fermenting for the next couple months before it is bottled and conditioned (more on the imperial stout in a future post).  This will probably be my last beer that I do on my own for a bit.  I’ve been brewing at a pretty fast clip for my time and capacity constraints, so I need to take a little bit of break from brewing on my own.  In the mean time, my hands will be full with competitions and brewing and planning a couple collaborations with a couple of my buddies.  Now that I have several different beers ready for competition, and my homebrew stock is more than caught up, it will be nice to experiment around a little.  Until next time, cheers!

Song of the Day: “Wrong Company” by Flogging Molly

Beer of the Day: Victory Brewing Company’s Headwaters Pale Ale

Happiness is a Beautiful Fiancee, a Warm Puppy, and a Cold Beer

Been way behind on posting here, so here’s a big post to entertain your eyeballs:

Life in General

Life has been pretty solid the last month or so.  My new job is going pretty awesome and I am settling into it nicely.  I am becoming more confident and am working more independently each day as I get more familiar with my new environment.  It is definitely a nice change of pace from the consulting gig that I was doing prior to this new job.  The best part of this job is the fact that I get to come home at night rather than getting on a plane every Monday and Thursday.  This is allowing me to spend a whole lot more time with my incredible fiancée Theresa!! :-)

Now that the weather is getting nicer, I have also been able to spend a little more time hiking with Theresa and Abby at the local parks.  The park we have been going to the most is Smedley Park (just the other side of 476 from us off of Baltimore Pike).  This park has a lot of good trails including several solid hills and a creek that makes for some very scenic spots.  It is not a massive park but seems to be pretty jam-packed with a lot of fun trails that are a good work out and a lot of fun.

A small waterfall on the creek at Smedley.

As mentioned earlier, I have been able to spend a lot more quality time with Theresa now that I am home a lot more - which I very happy about!  Just this past weekend, we went to see Super 8 and were both very impressed with it.  The kids that acted in this movie did an awesome job of convincingly portraying a tight-knit group of friends growing up together.  The movie basically is about this group of kids that are filming a film in the late ‘70s for a film festival.  In the middle of this, increasingly bizarre events start happening, starting with an extremely destructive train crash in the beginning of the movie.  Not going to say much more about the plot because I don’t want to give anything else away, but it is definitely worth seeing.  The special effects in the movie are awesome; but by no means is this movie about the special effects – it has a much heavier emphasis on the characterization of the kids and plot of a military cover-up.  It is very nice to see a movie use special effects and CG for right purpose – a tool to fool the viewer into thinking that something is real and believable.  Too many movies, especially big blockbusters, get lost in the special effects and forget that they still have to tell a great story.  Go see Super 8!

Wedding Plans

Wedding plans/activities have also been coming along very nicely the last few weeks.  Earlier this month, Theresa and I attended Pre Cana (a requirement for getting married in the Catholic Church).  I was pleasantly surprised at the fact that it was actually fun to go to.  It really was not as much of a lecture, as it was an informal discussion around practical aspects of marriage.  All of the couples came from different backgrounds and were all very nice.  It was nice to hear different couples’ perspectives that have been married for various lengths and situations.  All in all, it was a fun night.

Each month we seem to be knocking off more and more things off of our list for wedding planning.  In the last few weeks, we picked out the tuxedo style for the guys, Theresa picked out her flowers, most of the bridesmaids got fitted for their dresses, and most of the groomsman got fitted for their tuxes.  Things are moving along nicely!  The big day is coming up quick and I can’t wait to be married to my incredible Theresa! :-)

Brewing Competitions

BUZZ Off Homebrew Competition – A few weeks ago, I entered in my first homebrew competition.  The BUZZ Off Homebrew Competition is an annual BJCP-sanctioned event hosted at Iron Hill West Chester by BUZZ Homebrew Club.  As posted earlier, I entered three beers into this competition – English Pale Ale (which started out as a Bass Clone and got tweaked and turned into an EPA of its own), Batch X (a barley wine with Special B malt), and Banana Bread Ale (basically an old ale with bananas in the steep and spiced with cinnamon and vanilla).  I had a great time hanging out at the competition with Theresa’s cousin Stacy and her husband Jeremy (who also is another homebrewer that entered this competition).  Stacy’s brothers and parents also came out for the competition.  I always have a great time hanging out with Theresa’s family!  When the dust settled on the competition, I ended up taking home the blue ribbon on the English Pale Ales category!  I was really excited to take first in the category for the EPA that I brewed with my buddy Keith, and got to take home a Party Pig (a small keg alternative that uses a pressure pouch to maintain pressure in a 2.25 gallon bottle with a nozzle for dispensing) for the win.  My other two beers did not place but I was able to get my score sheets from the judges after the competition, which provided me with some great feedback on all of the beers that I entered.  All in all, my first brewing competition was a big success.  Here are the full competition results of the BUZZ Off Competition.

Preston and Steve Homebrew Competition - About a week and a half ago, I entered my Angry Rhino Ale (Black IPA) into the first annual Preston and Steve Homebrew Competition with Triumph Brewery.  This competition was a much different format than the BUZZ Off competition – instead of having certified judges score each beer against its respective category, this competition was open to pretty much all ale styles (excluding wood-aged, lambics, and sours) and would only crown one winner for the whole field.  Basically, it just skipped the whole placements-by-category concept and went straight for the best-in-show.  The other very different part about this competition was the first round of judging was done by a peer-review of other homebrewers.  Basically, about eight homebrewers were assigned to each table and moved to another table to judge another groups.  The first and second place from each table moved on to the final panel of judges, which consisted of Preston Elliot from the Preston and Steve Show, one of the Eagles, a beer journalist, and a few guys from the crew at Triumph Brewery.  Of the twenty or so beers that made it to the final panel, they crowned one winner and one runner-up.  My brew did not place but it was voted as the best beer at my table, and went to the final panel (along with beers from around 20 or so other brewers), and was met was some very positive remarks.  On top of the good performance from my beer, I was also able to do a little networking (we had about 2 – 3 hours of downtime between the first round and the final panel) with a few other homebrewers and came away with some new ideas and a few brewers that I hope to run into and/or brew with in the future.  Second competition = great success! 

New Brews

As always, I have been keeping my free time pretty well occupied with brewing up some new beers.  My supply of everyday session ales was actually getting a little low so I churned out a quick hefeweizen.  I also have been enjoying the occasional bottle of my black IPA now that is ready, and even tried my hand at a small batch of mead.

•  Theresa’s Ale (Hefeweizen) – This Spring, Theresa and I have been drinking a lot of Sierra Nevada’s Kellerweis (a traditionally brewed hefeweizen).  This beer really pulled me back into hefeweizens and is probably my favorite of the style.  Inspired by this beer, I decided to take my own crack at something similar.  I started with some pale and wheat malts and malt extracts, added one bittering hop addition of Tettanger, and fermented it with a traditional hefe yeast strain (Wyeast 3068).  To try to keep with tradition, I partially open-fermented (fermenting the beer without a lid/airlock for part of the time) this brew during the primary and racked it to the secondary just before the krausen fell, and closed it with an airlock for the remaining week and a half.  I also put the zest of four oranges in the secondary fermenter.  I popped open one of these this past weekend (a week after bottle day).  It was already carbonated and tasted delicious.  The final product came out a bit lower in alcohol than I was shooting for (probably a result of either my first attempt at partial-mashing, or me topping it off with too much water, or a combination of the two), but it definitely came out full-flavored and very close to the flavor profile I was going for.  The yeast definitely adds a nice velvetiness and flavor to the beer, so don’t be bashful – pour it all in!  I have a feeling this one will go quick in the summer months.  For those that are interested in the techniques or ingredients that I used in creating this, or any of the rest of my beers, I will be posting recipes up to this site soon – stay tuned!

My hefeweizen in the secondary fermenter before getting transferred to the bottling bucket.

• Angry Rhino Ale (Black IPA) – I have been meaning to do a black IPA for awhile now, and when the Preston and Steve competition came along, I decided to pull it ahead a couple months from when I was originally going to brew this.  Angry Rhino started off using a rough clone recipe of Stone’s Sublimely Self-Righteous (and still has roughly the same ratios in the grain bill).  However, I did not want it to be exactly the same hop profile.  Instead of doing a citrus-hop bomb, I opted to switch it up with using Centennial and Magnum as late kettle additions and dry-hop additions.  The ending beer came out very good, and I am looking forward to sharing and drinking my remaining bottles of this hop batch (I gave up a six pack to competition and ended up with only 13 other 12oz bottles after the whole leaf centennials sucked up some beer in the secondary).  The hop profile is still not quite where I want it, but it is close.  I may tweak the hops a little the next time (and there will be a next time) I brew this. 

Angry Rhino Ale in one of my new glasses from a glass set that Theresa got me for my birthday :-)

• Mead – As I mentioned in my last post, I took my first crack at mead this past weekend!  The process was very easy and really didn’t take that much time.  Since this is my first time (and I really don’t know much at all about mead), I kept the recipe pretty simple – no fruit, no spice, no honey-barley hybrids – just straight-up clover honey, water, yeast nutrient, and Red Star champagne yeast.  Started my mead experience with a small, one gallon batch for a few reasons – 1. It could very easily turn out like crap since I don’t know what I’m doing, 2. I want to try doing a few small batches with different types of honey to get a feel for the different flavors I can get, 3. I really don’t have the space to have a full-sized carboy dedicated to fermenting mead for a couple months at a time (a one gallon jug is a lot easier to stash away as a secondary fermenter than a 5 gallon is).  Aside from adding some more nutrient to the fermenter a couple days after brew day, I will just be transferring it to a one gallon jug in about a week or so to sit and clear out for a couple months before bottle conditioning.  More to come on this batch in a few months. 

Foreground: Barley wine fermenting in one of my glass carboys (more on this beer in the months to come).  Background: Mead fermenting away in my bucket fermenter.

Looking Forward (A.K.A. Other Miscellaneous Stuff)

So it has been a very long time since I’ve talked about video games on this blog, and to be honest, it has been a very long time since I’ve even played video games.  But with the E3 2011 Convention that just wrapped up a week or two ago, came some new trailers announcing some very cool games that are going to be coming up soon.  The ones that I am most excited to get my hands are Gears of War 3 (September 2011 release), Modern Warfare 3 (November 2011 release), Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition (a remake of the original Halo for the tenth anniversary of the game due out November 2011), and last, but certainly not least, Halo 4 (due out late 2012 – damn, I don’t want to wait that long!).  I’m also excited about the upcoming Mass Effect 3 but I’m holding off my excitement on that until I get through the first and second games in the series (I’m about halfway through the first).  I am trying to make more of an effort to get back to playing video games on a casual basis to spend some time hanging out with my friends who I don’t get to see often, and to enjoy another big passion in my life.  With the summer months coming, I will most likely be less tied up with brewing, so I am hoping to get some more gaming time.

Well now that you’ve read a bit over 2,000 words on this post, I suppose I should wrap it up.  I’m really looking forward to the nice weather coming up now that summer is finally here!  I can’t wait to spend some time outside barbequing and having some beers outside!  I’m also looking forward to a few more moments like this one:

Abby resting in the grass after a hard day of playing with her soccer ball - what a hard life she lives!

Until next time (hopefully these updates will be coming a little more frequently), cheers!

Song of the Day: “Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash

Beer of the Day: Rogue Ales’ Chipotle Ale

Homebrew Update

So I've been putting off updating on my homebrewing activities for awhile now due being busy with a bunch of other stuff, traveling, and other priorities.  But, here it is!  The long procrastinated homebrew update!!

I have actually had a very productive past few months in regards to brewing.  So far, I have brewed five batches on the year, putting my well on pace to meet, if not exceed, my goal of ten batches by the end of the year.  Here's a little recap on these beers, as well as a few from the end of last year that I have tasted again recently.

Banana Bread Ale: This was the first beer I brewed on the year, as well as the first recipe I wrote myself.  This was also the first brew that I used spices and fruit (bananas) in the brewing process.  All in all, I am very satisfied with this beer.  The banana flavor didn't come through much at all, but the spices definately came through in the flavor and aroma.  I was especially pleased with the body of the base beer - very happy I added some oats and chocolate malt in this one.  When this beer was a bit younger, I actually thought the spicing was a bit too strong, but I popped open a bottle about a week ago and was very happy with how it tasted.  The spicing mellowed a bit and balanced out nicely.

Blueberry Wheat: This one will probably be going back to the drawing board a bit.  Don't get me wrong, it is still a very drinkable beer and is light and refreshing - very nice for the warm weather.  However, this was the first attempt at standard american wheat beer with fruit flavoring in the secondary.  I ended up deciding to use a can of blueberry puree in the secondary.  The blueberry flavor definitely came through but was not too overpowering (which was one concern I had when I brewed this).  The body of the beer was very light and had very little head retention and a lot of blue haze from the puree.  Still a solid beer, but I would definitely like to improve on it.  It's not a style that I am overly concerned with (I see myself only doing one, two at the most, american wheat fruit beers per year), but I would still like to make it better.  My next step with this recipe will probably to take out the fruit and nail down a solid wheat beer recipe that I am happy with, then go back to trying the fuit in it again.

Bass Ale Clone (sort of):  I say "sort of" because Keith and I did base this recipe off a clone recipe of Bass Ale, but ended up substituting a couple of hop varieties due to lack of availability of the hops at the homebrew shop I went to.  All in all, this one came out as a very solid English pale ale.  Not quite like bass - was a bit more bitter than Bass due to the difference in hops - but certainly a solid beer.  The one thing that I wish we had done, was to put it into a secondary.  Unfortunately, Keith and I were a little crunched on time with our busy schedules, and the beer ended up sitting in the primary for a couple weeks.  Given our hectic schedules for the few weeks after that, we ended up just putting it into bottles.  I know that putting that kind of beer (with no flavor or hop additions in the secondary) into a secondary fermenter is really just to clear up the beer for aesthetic purposes, but I do take a lot of pride in the taste, smell, AND appearance of my beer, so I would have liked to see it a bit clearer.  However, overall, I was very pleased with how it came out and have been flying through my supply of it at home. :-)

Batch X (oak aged barley wine with Special B malt): I decided to do something a bit different for my tenth batch and try out a few things.  This recipe has been one that I have been working on for awhile now and has evolved quite a bit (I was originally intending this beer to be a big imperial red, but ended up with a barley wine).  I was designing this batch to be a pilot half-batch for a full batch that I am going to brew up for later this year (more on that in a few months).  I wanted it to be something that can hold up well to age, but not not be too high in alcohol content.  As a result, I ended up with a barely wine that is on the lower side of alcohol for this style (a little over 8.5%abv).  The grain bill and hop additions are pretty much in line with a typical English barley wine, with a few twists - I added in some Belgian Special B malt to give it some raison flavor, I added 2oz of medium toast American oak cubes in the secondary for two weeks, and I lightly dry-hopped it for about a week.  I was very pleased with the samples I got from this beer when I transfered it to the secondary and when I bottled it.  I was particularly please with how the oak and Special B flavors were coming through.  This brew just hit the two-week mark in its bottle conditioning (meaning it should be fully carbonated) this past weekend.  I popped a bottle open on Saturday and was very happy with how this came out - the flavor was just what I was going for (maybe a little light on the oak) and it was very well carbonated with great head retention.  It was a little cloudy, but I think that was largely due to the fact that the bottle I grabbed was the last bottle I filled and had a bit more sediment because It was from the bottom of the bottling bucket.  We will see how it tastes in the weeks to come, but I am very happy with how this came out.  I will probably be doing a full 5gal batch of this in June to condition for a few months.  I don't think I will change much with the recipe, aside from leaving it on the oak for a week or two longer to get more oak flavor. 

Sample from Batch X on the left and some hops before they went into the kettle for my Black IPA on the right.  This turned out to be a long day - I bottled the Batch X and brewed the Black IPA in the same day!

Angry Rhino Ale (Black IPA): One of my favorite beers is Stone's Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale/11th Anniversary Ale, which is a Black IPA (or American Style India Dark Ale or Cascadian Dark Ale - whatever you want to call the style).  So I figured it was about damn time that I brew a beer of my own in this style.  Should be a pretty hefty, hoppy beer, coming in around 10%abv (probably, I forgot to take a gravity reading when I transferred it to the secondary) and about 99 IBUs.  I was originally going to do this one a little later in the year, but pulled it ahead for a homebrewing competition with Triumph Brewery and the Preston and Steve Show (a local radio morning show on 93.3 WMMR).  I just dry hopped it this past weekend and will bottle it this coming weekend.  It should be ready in plenty of time for the competition in about a month.  Much more to come on this one!

Tripel Extract Kit: Keith and I brewed a batch of a Tripel extract kit that we got at our local homebrew shop back in the fall that came out very tasty.  Keith and I split my last bottle from this batch last Wednesday, and it was a nice treat.  This beer definitely stood up to the aging pretty well and was even better (in my opinion) than the earlier bottles. 

Ubu Ale Clone: Keith and I also popped open one of my last bottles of the Ubu clone last Wednesday.  Similar to the Tripel, this one was awesome!  I liked this bottle better than any of the previous bottles that I had drank.  The flavors mellowed and blended together very nicely and the malt character came through beautifully. 

Ruination Clone: Drank my second to last bottle of this one last night.  Although the hop aroma had dimished quite a bit (which is to be expected with a American-style hop-bomb IPA), I was still very impressed with this beer.  I still would like to see it more clear, however, considering, I didn't use a primary with this one, it came out awesome!  This still remains one of my favorite beers that I have brewed so far.  This one will probably find its way into my annual brewing rotation.

In other brewing news, I am entering, not one, but TWO homebrew competitions in the next month. :-)  One is a BJCP-sanctioned competition called BUZZ Off, hosted by BUZZ Homebrew Club out in West Chester, PA.  I entered three beers into this one - the Banana Bread Ale, the Bass Ale Clone, and Batch X.  The other competition was the homebrew competition at Triumph Brewery in Philly that I mentioned earlier.  This one is a bit more interesting, because the winner will get $500 cash, Triumph will brew the winner's beer and serve it at the brew pub, and they will enter the recipe in the Great American Beer Festival competition.  I entered Angry Rhino Ale in this competition.  I'm not sure how I will do in either competition but I see it as a great opportunity to get feedback on my beers from trained professionals with calabrated palates.  More on these competitions in the weeks to come!

Finally, I also had a blast at the Brandywine Valley Brewers' Festival in Media, PA on Saturday!  This festival is put on every year by Iron Hill in Media.  The festival featured about 25 local and regional breweries, as well as a couple local bands.  The cloudy weather that we had on Saturday actually made it a perfect day for tasting beers from the local breweries and brew pubs.  The stand-out beer for me was Iron Hill's Tripel Sec (their already-awesome Tripel infused with oranges if I am recalling correctly). 

Taster glass with some delicious local beer from the Brandywine Valley Craft Brewers' Festival. :-)

That's all for now - hopefully, more to come soon!!

Song of the Day: "Sunshine" by Matt Costa
Beer of the Day: Iron Hill's Tripel Sec