Posts Tagged ‘strongman pale ale’
The Friday Question
Friday, June 17th, 2011
I hope you’re all aware that the Strongman Pale Ale single hop Sorachi Ace has returned to the taps of the Pratt Street Ale House. This batch is 8.3% abv and I managed to squeeze a little extra hop into it this time. It really has got wonderful, unique characteristics and if you haven’t tried it yet I urge you to do so soon, it won’t be around for long! I’ve sent some cask & draft out to some of the usual places (Max’s, ChurchKey, Meridian Pint, Punks Grill, Pizzeria Paradiso, T-Bonz, Big Hunt and Churchkey) so if you can’t get to the Ale House seek it out. Also coming soon will be the second batch of Draft Punk. The bulk of the batch is sitting on a couple of pounds of Cascade in conditioning tank. The rest is in cask, some dry hopped with Cascade, some with Citra. Casks will be distributed next week to ChurchKey, Frisco Taphouse, Meridian Pint, The Mount Airy Inn, Pizzeria Paradiso and Max’s. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough to save one for the Ale House <sob> so you’ll probably see me sipping a pint at one of the above fine establishments. Also back on tap at The Pratt Street Ale House is Bulldog Bitter, a classic English amber bitter, 4.3% abv brewed with English Maris Otter, Crystal 45, roasted barley and malted wheat and bittered & finished with Kent Goldings and Bramling Cross. … it’s an easy drinking delight, come get some. It will also be on the beer engine next week. Casks are already out and about and it will be featured at the wonderful Metropolitan Coffee House as their Thursday firkin soon.
Jacob’s Summer Celebration moved from fermentation to conditioning tank yesterday and is maturing on a bed of whole leaf Liberty (y’know, coz it’s being released on July 4th, Jacob’s birthday!) Casks are filled, again, all dry hopped with Liberty and a couple also have oak added. They’ll go into distribution on the 4th. The release at the Ale House on the 4th will feature both cask and draft and we’ll (hopefully) have some logo glassware for the event, watch for details soon.
We’re plotting another collaborative brew with one of our DC friends to celebrate DC beer week in August … can’t say too much about it yet but we should be hammering out the recipe details and announcing it officially next week. It also looks likely that we’ll have our friends from Meridian Pint in the brewery again soon, I’ll post more about that soon.
So, The Friday Question! A couple of weeks ago I told you that I’d be brewing batch# 3500. Needless to say I wanted to make this milestone brew something special … a never to be repeated one-off. I decided upon a red ale … I’m loathe to bandy around the term “Imperial” but you get the picture … a “big” Red Ale. Yesterday was brew day … I packed the mash tun with as much grain as I could squeeze in (for those interested, a base of English halcyon and Canadian Pale Ale malt, malted wheat, a little chocolate malt, crystal 45 and German melanoidin), packed the hop back with as much leaf Cascade & Mount Hood as possible and bittered with English Target and American Chinook. I also added some light brown sugar and Juniper berries to the boil and the brew will be dry hopped in tank with more Cascade and Mount Hood.
Not much chance of getting any more grain into this brew!
... or any more leaf hop in the hop back for that matter!
I’d asked what the original gravity of the brew would be? I received a lot of “near miss” answers but nobody nailed it. The brew came in at a very respectable 1.090 which makes Mike (who answered 1.089) and M. Batley (who answered 1.091) joint winners. Congratulations gentlemen, I’ll be in touch.
This week I’ll stick with batch #3500 and ask what is the combined weight of grain and hops that will have been used in this brew? As usual, please answer via the comment option below. The winner gets a growler of Oliver Ale and a bottle of something! By the way, in case you hadn’t already seen it on the Oliver Ales facebook page I’m running a sort of competition to design the tap logo for the brew (which will simply be know as 3500) … so, any budding designers who want to have a shot at it please email me your idea at steve.oliverale@gmail.com within the next two weeks and you’ll get to be the guest of honor at the beer release!
Cheers
The Friday Question
Friday, June 3rd, 2011
That was a brutal week! As I’m sure you noticed, it was damn hot! We brewed 5 times and the mercury was definitely rising in the brewhouse. I ended the week brewing Bulldog Bitter, a 4.3% abv classic English ale brewed with Maris Otter, crystal 45, roasted barley and malted wheat and generously hopped with Kent Goldings and Bramling Cross. It will be featured on cask and draft at The Ale House. Batch # 2 of Strongman Pale Ale (single hop Sorachi Ace) is currently in conditioning (bright tank) prior to carbonation. Casks (dry hopped with Sorachi Ace) will be distributed next week. Casks are limited of course, expect to see them at ChuchKey, Meridian Pint and one or two other outlets. Next week I’ll be brewing “Jacob’s Summer Celebration” for release on Jacob’s birthday, July 4th. If you want to attach a “style” to the brew I guess it would be classed as an Imperial Amber ale … ie amber, strong (8.8%) and generously hopped. You may recall that the specifics of the brew were determined by Jacob’s birth weight, 8lb 13oz, hence 8.8% abv, with 8lb 13oz of bittering hops and 8lb 13oz of finishing hops. The hop grist is split equally between English and American varieties (reflecting his parentage) and, being as the little scamp was born on July 4th, Liberty is used for dry hopping. Also on the brew schedule next week is a second batch of Draft Punk. I’ll be tweaking the recipe a little, a touch more Chinook here, a dash more Cascade there and I’ll be dry hopping casks with Citra and some with Cascade. As with the first batch, a limited number of casks and sixtels will be distributed to a few select outlets (details as ever will be posted on the Oliver ales Facebook page) but the bulk will of course be divided between the Ale House and Punks Backyard Grill.
So, The Friday Question … Last week I asked you to guess the price
per pint of an Apricot Ale that I brewed with the Firkin Brewery back
in England in the 90′s. The answer was £1.80 which makes Mark the winner with his guess of £1.82 congratulations sir, you win some delicious Porter. This week I’ll be offering another growler of Oliver Ales of course and I’m sure we can find a bottle or two of something interesting as well. The Question will run for a little longer than usual as I won’t know the answer until about June 15th when we brew batch #3500 which is going to be an “imperial” red ale with juniper. The question is this. What will be the Original Gravity of batch #3500? (for example 3 Lions Ale is 1.075) Good luck and, as per usual, please post your answer via the comment option. Have a great weekend.
The Friday Question
Sunday, March 13th, 2011
Yeah, o.k. it’s Sunday but cut me some slack people, it was a brutal 5 brew day week last week and yesterday I had a long day in D.C. for the Brewer’s Ball (which was a great event by the way). I had planned to post Friday evening after Jacob went down for the night but made the mistake of deciding to watch CSI first! Of course I woke up on the couch in the middle of the night barely able to move my neck, ho hum. So anyway, here it is … the fashionably late Friday Question. But first let me ramble on about other beer related news. Strongman Sorachi Ace is out and about now, seek it out and let me know what you think. Sorachi Ace is like no other hop I’ve used, it imparts some very interesting flavors & aromas. It’s famed for having a lemon citrus finish but there is so much more happening in this beer. It has the malt backbone & underlying sweetness you’d expect of my Strongman series, with hints of caramel/toffee as a result of both the crystal malt used (hence the golden color) and of course the yeast metabolism. The first thing that I noticed about the beer were hints of vanilla, almost as if it had been oaked and indeed a gentleman at The Brewer’s Ball last night was convinced that it was barrel aged. Personally it’s my favorite of the series so far. I’m not sure what hop(s) I’ll use for the next brew yet but your suggestions are welcome. I’m also edging closer to brewing the single hop Bramling Cross version of Ironman that I’ve been threatening for the last year (trying the wonderful BrewDog Bramling Cross “IPA Is Dead” has served to strengthen my resolve!) By the way we shared some of the leaf Bramling with our friends at The Brewer’s Art which they have used in their latest Zodiac brew, which I believe should be on tap by the end of this week …can’t wait to try it. Speaking of the Brewer’s Art, we’re planning a “triple brewery tap takeover” of Meridian Pint in D.C. in April along with Stillwater Ales. You can expect to see a few exclusives there, including a blended “sweet & sour” cherry ale … half of our sweet Cherry Blossom Ale, half Brewer’s Art Sour Cherry Ale! Yum! The latest Meridian brew will also debut at the event.
The whole “exclusive” brew for a particular bar thing seems to be catching on! In the wake of the Meridian brew we’ve received a couple of enquiries from other venues interested in brewing something … I’ll keep you posted should these ventures progress beyond the planning stage.
So, onto the Friday Question. Last week I asked how many owner operated brewpubs brewing in Great Britain at the end of 1972.? The answer, I’ve got to admit, surprised me. My source material informs me that a hundred years previously there had been 30,000 pubs & beerhouses brewing, representing almost 25% of the total commercially brewed beer. In 1972 there were 4! Incredible! That makes Bryan F. this weeks winner. Congratulations sir, you win a growler of Oliver Ale and a bottle of something (I’ll pick up from the Wine Source later).
I’ll be brewing the Cherry Blossom Ale very soon, what is the percentage of malted wheat in the grist for this brew? As usual please answer via the comment option below. A growler of Oliver Ale is up for grabs.
Strongman Pale Ale
Monday, February 8th, 2010
Strongman Pale Ale, on tap Tuesday 9th.
On tap tomorrow, Strongman Pale Ale, oh yeah.
The Friday Question (updated)
Friday, February 5th, 2010
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
End of week round up
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
Firstly, no Friday Question this week as I’m letting last weeks question for the bottle of Tactical Nuclear Penguin run until next Friday. It’s something of a relief actually as it’s becoming quite a challenge to come up with a question and prize every week!
I’m getting ready to move the Strongman Pale Ale out of FV and into conditioning tank. I’ve just weighed out hops for dry hopping the tank which I think will add an extra dimension to this ale (the “dimension” of aroma!!….I think my former Physics and Biochemistry professors might have something to say about that!) We’ll be doing a couple of casks which will be dry hopped with Maryland grown Chinook, hand picked and air dried in Frederick County, in contrast to the Kent Goldings which I’m using in the conditioning tank. I’d like to do more casks of this but we used so much cooperage on the Dark Horse yesterday that we don’t have any more available at this time. I’m praying that we get some empty firkins returned next week so I can fill them with the Biere de Garde. Speaking of which, that fermentation is being crash cooled at the moment. The Belgian Ale Yeast strain behaved very differently from my English Ringwood, fermenting well at a lower temperature than I am normally used to and with little yeast head accumulation, almost like a lager yeast. I had to battle to keep the fermentation below 70F whereas I’m normally trying to keep it above 72F! We’re expecting a grain delivery today so a second batch of Scottish Ale is on the schedule for Tuesday.
Have a great weekend.
Cheers
Steve