Sunday, December 14, 2008

On Saison du Muqunee

So I'm adding my own two cents about Muckney Brewing's Saison du Muqunee, Dave's first all-grain brew. In short, it turned out really well. Despite the jerry-rigging that went into adapting my equipment to Dave's back porch, it went off pretty well.

As for the beer itself: Has a nice spicy-funky aroma to it, with notes of coriander, astringent hops, teaberry, and a bit of sulfur (pleasant, not off-putting). I like to pour out a little of the dregs on these styles, so it was a nice hazy medium amber color, topped off with a thin white head. The taste was really nice - it's been in the bottle for a while now, and has matured nicely. It's not overly sweet, but has a nice balance of pilsner malt character, dry orange peel, and mild spicy hop character. Dry yeasty after with medium bitterness.

Nice beer to drink on a cloudy Sunday afternoon getting ready to watch the Steelers!

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Looking Forward to Brewing Again!

Crikey! It's December already. Time is flying. So, I've not brewed since April, and the secondary carboy now has some nice mold growing on the top of the last beer I made. I'm still going to try to keg the stuff to see how it goes, but I've distanced myself enough from that batch that I won't be horribly upset if it gets trashed (though I'm hoping it's not).

On Friday, Erick and I went out to our local homebrew store to pick up some carboys I need for a chemistry experiment (non-brewing, unfortunately) and we each placed an order for some supplies. Erick's going to brew the IPA we made back in January, in addition to a Belgian white he's going to make for his wife. I'm going to try an Abbey Dubbel for a change, and may or may not add some spices to it. We'll see.

Some local beer news of late: The Coney now has a Marzoni's tap (Avalanche IPA), which many of us here are extremely about; Marzoni's also has now two really tasty special brews on tap: Hoppy Saison and Bill's 5th Anniversary Barley Wine; Otto's has a great apple-flavored tripel available; and Scott at East End has been busy creating some great stuff for the holidays.

Our December homebrew club meeting is just going to be an unofficial gathering of whomever can show up - it's busy this time of year with holiday and family obligations. I finally signed up for a subscription to Brew Your Own, since I keep buying it at the newsstand price.

Over the holiday break, I'm hoping to get down East to see some friends of mine, including Jon, and to visit some fine brewing establishments.

Other excitement lately is that I finally got out for a day of deer hunting this year - the first time since 2000 or 2001. My cousin from Ohio got the one 8-point that roams our hollow, but I had a great time. Tomorrow, I was supposed to go to jury duty, but because this is finals week I was granted a pass. Bummer, because I could have sat on a murder trial (though I have an idea that lawyers aren't too crazy about having academics on juries).