The Friday Question (updated)
Now if there’s ever a time to win a growler of The Bishop’s Indulgence this is it (if you can get to the Ale House before the snow comes)! I must confess (no pun intended), I think that The Bishop will be keeping me company over the weekend and probably the Scottish as well (mmm, The Scottish Bishop, that could be an interesting blend!) Anyway, Nick wins the growler with his guess of 30. There were actually 25 beans in the Bishop’s Indulgence. Ten were used in the brew, ten in the conditioning tank and five in the casks. Congratulations Nick.
Next on the beer release horizon is the Strongman Pale Ale which will make it’s debut on tap at The Pratt Street Ale House on Tuesday. You may remember from an earlier post that I’ve discussed the type and amount of hops that went into brewing this 8% a.b.v. English Pale Ale. As you may also know, throughout my brewing career I have never given an indication of the I.B.U. value of any beer I’ve produced, but this is about to change. I hasten to add there is no special reason for announcing I.B.U. values other than the fact that Whitelabs are running a special deal on beer analysis this month so I thought it’d be sorta cool to find out a bit about a couple of my beers. I’ve got to say I’m more interested in getting a lab analysis of specific gravities and a.b.v. but I.B.U.’s are included so what-the-heck, why not? Obviously then the question will be this…. what is the I.B.U. value of the Strongman Pale Ale? The winner will get a growler of the Strongman and a souvenir Oliver pint glass with which to drink it. As usual please post your answers via the comment section below. The competition will close next Friday but it may take a while to announce the winner as obviously I have to send the samples of to Whitelabs in San Diego and then wait for the results so your patience is appreciated.
By-the-way, I’ve finally set up the Brewery facebook page (Oliver Ales), please check it out and if you’ve got any photographs from past events/festivals, please feel free to post them.
I’ve just filled a Beaujolais -Nouveau cask with 3 Lions. It leaked a lot when prepping it but as the wood absorbs liquid it expands and the more major leaks have stopped. Hopefully it will seal completely soon, fingers crossed. If all goes well it’ll be sitting in the cask room for a couple of months and will then go out to Bruce at the wonderful Metropolitan Coffee House & Wine Bar. I’ll keep you posted.
At last, England and France in perfect harmony!
cheers
Steve
Tags: strongman pale ale, the bishop's indulgence, the friday question
68
72
Oh, damn, I KNEW I was forgetting to do something last night……… Guess the number of beans,m dammit, and I would have won with my guess, too! Oh, well…..
44
That cask looks great. How big is it? Will they gravity feed from it?
And will they be tapping it on March 20th?
It’s just a baby, 4 gallons. I can’t say for sure when it’ll be tapped, that’s up to Bruce. It will be a gravity pour. If it works we’ll be doing a lot more of them.
Thankfully I’ll be able to get there this afternoon.
Let’s say 82 IBU
52
My guess is 52
77IBUs
Also; I tried the Scottish Ale the other night, but I couldn’t identify the sweet, fruity taste on the back end. Care to share what that flavor was?
March 20th: England-France 6 Nations test.
How do you get 4 gallon barrels?
I don’t know why the French use 4 gal. casks (actually 15 litres) but it was shipped full of Beaujolais Nouveau which was enjoyed by the happy customers of Metropolitan Coffee House & Wine Bar and then Bruce passed the empty on to me. Cool, eh?
Can’t say I get a fruitiness but there’s definitely an underlying malt sweetness and the peated and smoked malts combine to give an interesting flavor profile. Yeast can make some nice fruity esters but this one is not really known for that.
I’m gonna go with 32 IBUs.
58
I don’t REALLY think it’s 63, I just think “63″ gives me the most latitude for getting a correct answer, because no WAY are you going to throw in enough hops to be 83+ IBUs, which would be the other “strategic” guess……..