Our First Critics!!
We recently brewed up a Moose Drool clone beer, with a nutty twist. We added some hazelnuts to the specialty grains during steeping, and more importantly adding a small amount of hazelnut extract to the secondary fermenter.
Now I’ve never tasted the real Moose Drool (only another clone that I’ve made), but this one came out great regardless. It is a smooth, nutty brown ale, and the light hazelnut finish is an excellent touch. The beer is easy to drink and packs some good flavor. If we ever do open a brewery, I think this will be one of the first things we make.
We liked it so much that we started handing it out to friends with tasting sheets! Hopefully their palates are up to the task of giving us some useful advice. Once we get some results back, I’ll tally them up and put them here.
<fancy tasting graph>
We also gave it to our good friend Pete, who happens to work at Fairground Wine & Spirits. He is a beer aficionado, and had nothing but great things to say about it. Since he was so nice, we decided to give him a second bottle and he made us a tasting video, enjoy!
Getting our feet wet
Our good friend Jenn Arata over at That’s SO Jenn wrote an article and made mention of us and our brewing skills.
After sharing all of our homebrews with just about everyone we know, a few of them were interested in making their own brew. So I sent them a link to the Northern Brewer site and had them pick out an extract kit to their liking. The three kits were an IPA, an Irish Stout, and a basic porter. The porter brewer decided to run to the store and pick up some custom spices; cinnamon, allspice and some nutmeg to make a holiday porter. Once all the parts arrived, we then set the date and began a very long brew day!
I tried to teach as much as I could on the first 2 brews of the day, giving the guys more and more freedom as I felt they could handle the job without screwing up. Eventually the last brew of the day was my most hands-off, and they all pitched in to brew it as a group. I will say it felt great to sit down!
A few weeks later we bottled, and a few more weeks after that had a tasting day. Everyones brews came out great, quite an accomplishment considering we brewed for almost 9 hours straight. Everyone had such a great time we are doing it again later in January! Hopefully I can sit down for most it and just supervise.
Check out Jenn’s blog for more details on the process!
http://thatssojenn.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/beer-makes-me-hoppy/
First post!
A blog to post any and all thoughts regarding my new addiction to brewing!
Left Lane Brewing 