Finished the 2010 mead last night, wish we had some more maturing in bottle because it was just getting right!

Plus mead drunkeness is one of the finest things in life, and very condusive to slinky loving times.

I'm back on it this year, going to be one for much more fermenting. Mead, cider, plum wine, and may even get ambitious enough to try a beer...

The Nelson Sauvin / Maris Otter malt single hop single malt pale ale I do has proven to be the most popular beer I've brewed so far. The folks at my apartment block christmas party drank 20 odd bottles of it, and they keep asking for bottles to share with friends. I've probably brewed 80 litres of it since October, and don't seem to get much of it for myself. People seem to love the passionfruity goodness of the Nelson, even the fizzy pisswater drinkers. I've probably got 150g of NS hop flowers left, so I'll do one more before concentrating on more winter beers.

If you like the NS, see if you can find a beer with Riwaka in it. The Reneissance Paradox Blonde from New Zealand showcases it pretty well. Riwaka is currently so popular with microbrewers that the entire 2011 crop has sold out and homebrewers like me can't get it!

Adam,Yeah, me too. The Alpine growler is a WCIPA called Nelson. NS hops and Rye from Europe.
SL-Wow, that trip to Coors looked insane, thanks (again) for sharing.
NCR-sounds like you are making some great tasting beer down there. (also those taps pictured in the GF picture are only half of them. The place is frikkin huge. Second largest brewery in SD. Oh, and I like your pictures when you add an album in the background!

So, yesterday I drove all over SD to pick up Growlers of what I believe are The Best WCIPA's in existence, to take to In Laws today for a BBQ.
BP-Sculpin 7%.
GF-Palate Wrecker 9.5% (149 IBU's) Columbus & Centennial Hops. (no extract)
Alpine-Nelson 7%

Never heard of Riwaka hops but I will keep a look out for them.

And I want to try that Nelson from Alpine....just read up on it and it sounds good.

Enjoying an Elysian Dragonstooth Imperial Oatmeal Stout. I love bitter finishes to oatmeal stouts but I love a bitter coffee finish, this one is too much like a bitter (black) IPA finish. Still, an enjoyable brew.



Now onto some Red Chair.

I got a bottle of the Palate Wrecker, which just arrived yesterday and have to say, it's nice, but not my style of WCIPA. I'll take the regular GFlash West Coast over this one. For whatever reason, I don't like any caramel nose on my hoppy beers. The hops are very nice on the finish here, but that caramel note on the nose just ain't my thing.
I hope I get the chance to try the other two while I'm out there.

That's cool but that's actually what I like about it. The fact that it's not just a hop bomb. Been drinking it a lot lately. Dig the caramel malt backbone.
Also went to Alesmith over the weekend because they are pouring the Vietnamese Coffee Speedway Stout still AND a "New" Special...Bourbon Barrel Aged Nautical Nut Brown..

Yeah the Plastic Cup sucks and so does the picture, but the beer was tasty. A lot of vanilla and coconut flavor.

ACE, I sent a note to Abby.
The boss and I are aiming to stop there while we're out that way.
We plan to be at Green Flash on that Sunday, uhh the 29th, to hang the sign.

By the end of the Palate Wrecker I was liking it more, but still stick with my original comments. The new Deviant Dales from Oskar Blues is sort of similar. It's a different beer, but it has that caramel malt backbone to it. That one won a silver medal for American IPA at this year's festival. Trust me, I ain't gonna turn one down, just nitpickin'.

I'm with ACE....I find I tend to prefer a nice caramel malt layer to IPA's and DIIPA's.

Cool. I will cruise over and hopefully lift a glass with you. They tend to have a few food trucks in the parking lot most days.
Hopefully Ryno and Million Man can make it down.
If you happen to have a free moment on Saturday, or any day except Sunday, head over to Hess. It's right by Alesmith. Alesmith is open on Sundays.
Any specific SoCal beers/bottles you want to try?
I think I have some Knuckle Sandwich. I could head up to Alpine and see what they have. The most recent Nelson batch was phenomenal but it is gone.
yeah the Deviant Dales sounds good.

Honestly, I'm unfamiliar with a lot of the SD breweries. Obviously, the ones we carry, Lost Abbey, Port, GF I know well, but there's plenty I've never had.
Is there anything from out this way you'd like to try?

Do you get Russian River stuff in Colorado?
Supplication/Consecration/Pliny?
Because that's always around out here.
Obviously the biggie is Alpine just because they basically do not distrbute. Too bad you don't have more time and you could hit The Bruery! Because I know you like sours.

Yeah, we get RRiver. My boss has been friends with Vinnie and Nathalie for a long, long time. My boss is the one who set up their relationship with their distributor, so we have RRiver on tap all the time - more or less. We get an allotment of Pliny every week, but it doesn't tend to last the week. We do 'Tion Fests from time to time starting with, say, Consecration then putting on a different one when that keg blows.
Speaking of RRiver, I just found out that my boss and his group, The Publican National Committee, is going to brew another batch of Publication - one of my absolute favorite beers. It was designed as a blend of Orval and De Ranke XX Bitter and that's just what it tasted like when it first came out. We left a couple of the kegs out for several months and it went sour. That version of the beer was complex, slightly fruity, wonderful and sublime. Vinnie came out about two years after making Publication and I plopped a glass of it down in front of him. He said, "what's this?" I said, "you brewed it." He couldn't believe we still had some. He was at a table with Greg Koch, Garrett Oliver, Tomme Arthur, John from Full Sail, etc. That's pretty much all they drank all night.

We get the Bruery beers out our way. Not all the super rare, brewery-only stuff, but we get enough.
My girlfriend wants me to get more Black Tuesday. We went to a tasting recently and she had some and asked me where we could get more. I laughed.

Started my night off with some Stone's Oaked Arrogant Bastard. Nice.



Followed that with some Great Divide's Colette. Meh....I do no like Great Divide's attempts at using belgian yeast, though this was better than Hades. The yeast just hits way too hard for me personally. Didn't finish this one to be honest.



Now onto some Great Divide's Yeti to finish things off. Now this is more like it.

I love Colette.
Had one last night, in fact.
They ferment it at higher temperatures which brings out more fruitiness from the yeast (esters). Try something like this on a hot day and see how it goes.

Finally got to try some Maduro Oatmeal Brown from Cigar City. I am not much of an english brown ale fan but this one totally won me over.

We'll see about giving Colette another shot....

I know I've crapped on and on here about how shit the craft brew scene is in Australia, but I now wish to retract this sentiment.

I just went to Murray's bar in Manly, a branch of Murray's Brewery up the coast.

19 house taps, normally 1 guest tap, but as I went as a party of homebrewers, we got treated to 6 guest taps, all Australian offerings.

I'm a massive fan of the US craft brewing scene, but in a fit of nationalistic pride, I'm happy to say that Murray's Icon 2IPA and the Spartacus IIPA can match any US offering I've had, and yet offer somehing different by not using US hops in either.

It's quite odd having the beer you've been trying to perfect for months served to you on tap at a bar!

If anyone is thinking of heading here, I'd thoroughly reccomend a visit. Hell, I'll even meet you there.

http://www.murraysbrewingco.com.au/manly/manlyOnTap.php

Finally trying Odell's Shenanigans tonight.

Its good but I agree with SL's assessment....good but not special. Glad I tried it but at $15 a bomber I won't be buying this one again. The aroma is giving me a little head ache....I get that its the wood from the barrel giving it its aroma but to me it smells like rubber. And its strong.

My remarks might seem overly negative, like I am not enjoying it, but I really am. Flavor wise this one has a lot of depth to it IMO. Lots going on an it all works together.

Currently enjoying my first Mikkeller beer, an Imperial Oatmeal Stout brewed with coffee, Beer Geek Breakfast. I am a sucker for oatmeal stouts and this is a good one.

It was nice seeing you again, SL. Wish I could make it out more frequently, especially to Falling Rock, but being unemployed and a student, I just don't have the funds to go out much (like barely ever).

I got to admit, that Palo Santo kicked my ass and went right to my head. I knew it was high ABV but damn, having to drive home I couldn't get myself to finish that one. I think you are right with that one, best drank as a sipper, over a period of time, and at home. I definitely enjoyed it though, far more than than that Left Hand Smoked Jumper Imperial Porter....that smokiness was something else and not for me. Tasted like smoked meat....I'd rather eat it I think, not drink it.

Favorite of the night was definitely the Pliny The Elder....after all the hype and I wasn't left down. It really was so clean and balanced to go along with that great flavor...you're totally right that a sessionable Pliny would be awesome. At 8%, or whatever it was, it could easily get you in trouble. I didn't detect any of that alcohol.

Anyways....let me know when that 10 year anniversary show for Deer Creek is. I will do my best to make it.

Hey SL and Adam,

You guys know your beers pretty well, and from what I see here I know you can write, so I want to ask you cats a favour.

I've got to write up a 25 word description of my brew for the contest to win a tap at Young Henry's brewpub, which is due next weekend.

My brew is a fairly hop-forward US style IPA using the NZ hops Motueka and Pacifica in equal proportion according to their Alpha Acid content. Motueka is a triploid of Czech Saaz ( Used to be called B-Saaz, the B standing for Belgian) and Pacifica is a triploid of Hallertauer Mittelfruh (previously Pacific Hallertau).

In the off chance you've sampled either of these hops, or their parents, would you think describing them as " Coriander Spiced Citrus and Orange Marmalade" be apt? As it warms up in the glass, the spice hits harder and even though I've used a US yeast (Wyeast US-05), malt bill and hop quantities, it tastes like one of the spiced Belgians, even though the only ingredients are hops, malt, yeast and water.

Trying to honestly describe your own beer is hard work! I should just fork out for a BJCP course!

Yeah, that description should work well enough.
I'd be tempted to liven up the description a bit. I'm half-kidding, but use words like "righteous", "wallop" and "whisper" (i.e."...with a whisper of fading nutmeg.") People will think, "I don't get the nutmeg, but I do get the coriander and orange", but they'll think your palette is more sophisticated. A lot of tasting/aromatics is the power of suggestion. And your job here is to both describe your beer AND to subconsciously get the tasters to fall in love with your beer. Of course, the proof is in the pudding, so hopefully your beer backs up the love.
Good luck.

Oh, "with blooming hop spice as it opens up." Money, that.
:-)

Stick with SL on that one; he's the beer connoisseur. I am still in the learning phase.

Been thinking about the Palo Santo all day...going to have to grab some of that next time I come across it. Not sure if any place I have checked out offers it as singles, so might splurge for the 4 pack. I'd imagine that one would do fine if I didn't get to all 4 right away.

Made a poor decision yesterday and got suckered into laying out nearly five pounds for a half litre bottle of beer - Bristol Beer Factory imperial stout.

It was strong, quite tasty, VERY syrupy... not worth over double what a beer costs though.

One more thought on this:

25 words ain't a lot.
Think of it from the perspective of the bartender trying to convince you, the customer, to try this new beer. How is he/she going to sell it?
Think of the one or two salient points the bartender might use to sell it. Don't beer geek out on the description. Most people don't give a shit about what kind of yeast you use. How does it taste? What's the nose like?