Posts Tagged ‘Hot Monkey Love’
seasonal offerings
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
The Fall/Winter is without doubt my favorite beer making season. I love the winter warmers/barley wines/Christmas ales that come out around this time and of course I love brewing our own seasonal offerings. I’m delighted with the way my first ever pumpkin ale turned out (especially on cask) and it’s been a very popular beer, we’re already down to our last keg! If you haven’t already tried it, be quick, it won’t be around for long. I guess we’ll be doing it again next year and probably doing a double batch (14bbl) so it will at least make it through Halloween and hopefully even Thanksgiving!
Today we’ll be putting the Hot Monkey Love on tap (just as soon as the tap handles are ready). As I’m sure you already know, this cheeky monkey was brewed back in April and weighs in at about 10% a.b.v. It’ll be served in 10oz pours only (trust me, this is one monkey that can kick your ass!) so come along and share the love. The Hot Monkey Love will be on cask soon(see future blogs for details) and its Oak Aged brother “My Monkeys Got Wood” will have a very special release on Valentine’s Day 2010.
Coming up on Friday November 6th is my son William’s 8th Birthday so to celebrate we will be releasing the new 8% a.b.v. “William’s Winter Warmer” at about 1pm, come along, sing happy birthday, and try this wonderful ale. The following week we will aim to release “Merry Ole Ale”, a spiced Christmas Ale (6% a.b.v.) …. it’ll put some color in your cheeks and have you hearing sleigh bells before you know it!
Cheers!
mid-week round-up
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
Firstly, a shout out to Mr. Alexander D. Mitchell IV, venerable scribe for the Mid-Atlantic Brewing News, author of the beerinbaltimore.blogspot.com and (obviously) beer enthusiast extraordinaire for his “Best Drinking Blog” award from The City Paper. Congratulations Sandy, for some well deserved recognition!
I spoke with Mike @ The Judge’s Bench earlier who informed me that the Dark Horse Ale is currently on tap and selling well and once that kicks it will be replaced by the 3 Lions Ale. Can’t wait to get over there for a pint! Look out for the Irish Red going on tap at NcNevin’s in Canton any day now. It’s a cool bar, well worth checking out. Our Vanilla Pagan Porter will be the featured cask @ The Metropolitan Coffee House soon, again if you’ve never been there, check it out! Cask nights are every Thursday from 6pm at the upstairs bar. Also check out Dego Dames in Little Italy and Sonoma’s in Columbia who will have Ironman Pale Ale on tap any time now.
Things are coming together for The Chesapeake Real Ale Festival (www.spbw.org/realale). We’ve shipped a number of firkins out west so (God willing that the breweries can turn them around in time for delivery to the festival) expect casks from Stone, The Bruery, Lagunitas, Weyerbacher and The Boulder Brewery. We will of course be featuring casks from all your favorite local (Brewer’s Art, Clipper City, DuClaw etc.) and regional (Troegs, Lancaster, Dogfish Head and more) breweries. This year’s festival will be bigger and better than ever and will likely feature 35+ casks throughout the whole of the Pratt Street Ale House including the upstairs bar and function room for the first time. Tickets are available now, $35 in advance/ $45 on the door through the spbw website and will be available for sale at the Ale House later this week. I’m particularly excited that we’ll be offering a very special pre-release of “Hot Monkey Love” and “My Monkey’s Got Wood” (an Oak aged version). Both casks have been aging since April and will weigh in around the 10% abv mark. Only 2 casks of each of these exist so get it while you can!
We’re likely to be experimenting with some bourbon barrel aged 3 Lions in the near future. It’s been a long time since I’ve used bourbon barrels, 2002 I think so it’s an exciting prospect. I’m going to put a batch of 3 Lions in 4 bourbon barrels, stick ‘em in a darkened corner of the basement and then release one every 3 months. Hopefully we can make a bit of an event for each release … should be an interesting experiment in barrel aging!
right, I’d better get back to kegging the Coventry Cream Ale….
Cheers
Steve
What’s happening ….
Monday, July 6th, 2009
Today I brewed an old favorite of mine, a 4.3% abv Best Bitter which is to go on tap as “Chelsea Best” to celebrate the forthcoming soccer match beween London’s Chelsea FC and AC Milan at the M & T Bank Stadium on July 24th. The Pratt Street Ale House will be the official headquarters of the Chelsea In America Supporters Club (see the events section of the site for more details) so it seems only proper that we honor them with a truly unique British brew. This bitter is deep amber in color, medium bodied with a bold, but balanced, hop presence. It is brewed using English Halcyon Pale Ale, Crystal and Chocolate malts along with malted wheat and is hopped with Kent Goldings and English Fuggles. This was a regular brew when I worked for the Firkin Brewery in England but I have brewed it just once in the U.S., to celebrate my 14th anniversary as a brewer in 2008. On that occasion I was myself honored by this beer being recognized as The Best Of Baltimore by The City Paper. “Chelsea Best” will, of course, be available as both a cask-conditioned and carbonated ale.
Speaking of unique beers, I conducted a taste test of the “Hot Monkey Love” winter seasonal today. The HML was brewed back in April and has been conditioning since then and will remain in conditioning until early October. The transformation since I first sampled it just a week after entering conditioning is remarkable. The harshness of the high alcohol (approximately 10%) has given way to a more mellow warmth with some sherry type undertones and a lingering sweetness. This beer is well worth the wait! Of particular interest this year is the fact that I’ve aged some firkins with American Oak (and some without the Oak). These will have been sitting in a quiet corner of our cask room for some 6 months before their debut tapping at the Chesapeake Real Ale Festival in October. It’ll be interesting to see how the vanilla and coconut flavors that the oak impart combine with the complexity of the beer.
Don’t forget, Tuesday night is Cask Night at The Pratt Street Ale House, with pints of all three of our cask-conditioned ales being only $3 after 5pm.
Cheers
Steve