time for another beer, or seven
Though I haven’t been posting, I’ve been faithfully keeping notes. I should start somewhere, and what better place than beer? Since the previously mentioned Pear Beer effort I’ve…
Not much to say about the Irish Red, I shared most of it with friends, and it was very well received. I’ll probably brew it again. Great color, a balanced taste, and just the right amount of head on it.
The Fat Tire clone was what you’d expect. As long as I have the kegerator running, I’ll always have this on tap, or at least, I’ll try to.
The Porter turned out beautifully, even if it’s the wrong time of year for it. I wasn’t wholly confident in it initially, but it’s matured very well in the keg. When tapped, the brew yields a rich chocolate mousse colored head. The flavor carries a very rich taste and has just a hint of chocolate in the nose and aftertaste. Very exciting.
The Bier de Mars is pretty disappointing. I wound up using dry extract rather than a liquid, and I think I might have skewed my measurements trying to compensate for the dry extract being stronger than the liquid. I plan on going back to review my notes then try the brew again. Considering that Bier de Mars is undoubtedly my favorite New Belgium offering I’d really like to get this one right. It also wouldn’t be a bad idea to invite Scott or one of the Black Star Pub brewer guys over to have some and help me figure out where I went wrong. In the future I’ll probably try to err on the side of too much rather than too little given my taste in brews.
I’m still yet to name any of my beers. The reason for this, at least partially, is that since all of my brewing has consisted of other peoples recipes, I don’t really feel entitled to naming the brews. On that note though, I’ve recently picked up ‘The Joy of Homebrewing’ and ‘Designing Great Beers’ and hope to come up with an original¹ recipe sometime in the months ahead. Needless to say, this is something I’m very excited about.
¹ relatively speaking of course. it would be nigh impossible to do something that hasn’t been done before.
July 19th, 2006 | 7:08 pm
the /cool/ AB was in Peru and he drank a local brew that was made by all the local women by chewing up yucca root and spitting the mash back into a pot to then let ferment. It was milky looking and he described it as ’sweet’. If you did such a brew I think it would be so uniquely you that you should feel comfortable naming it whatever you wish. Nobody will drink it though.. just an idea.
I would also like to note for the record that I think the Bier de mars is deliciously light. the porter-fat tire-bier de mars fridge was a great combo.
can’t wait for the raspberry!
July 23rd, 2006 | 10:25 am
I like the brain age comment math verification system.
Also, it could be said it would be nigh impossible to do something that has been done before.
January 23rd, 2008 | 10:43 pm
Hello,
Do you plan to brew New Belgium’s Biere de Mars clone again?!?
That;s one of my all time favourite beers. I plan to brew it soon, only I don’t have my own full system yet…They used Brett in theirs’, which probably has a lot to do with why they didnt release it last year and wont again this year. I’d really love to taste it again; until then, I guess I’ll be drinking Orval and Saisons…
I’m also a member of Black Star. Im MarcoEsquandolas on the message board.
Cheers!
January 25th, 2008 | 3:43 pm
You and me both. I visited New Belgium Brewery while visting friends in CO and it was so great to have Biere de Mars on tap in the summer. I wound up bringing several growlers home, two of which were BDM if I recally correctly.
I’m going to give it another shot, but it’s been a while since my last tasting I’m going to be way off in terms of judging accuracy.
I’ll need to check my notes because I can’t recall what yeast I used for the clone. I’ve heard people say that the BDM aroma had Brett characteristics, but not the taste so much. White Labs’ WLP645 Brettanomyces claussenii might be a good choice going with that info; it’s something to consider.
Pardon my ignorance, but why would using Brett have caused New Belgium to cease production on the brew?
February 21st, 2008 | 8:29 pm
Mason,
The AHS clone just uses a Saison yeast, which I think would be good for starters. Im sure you know more about homebrewing that I, but from Ive gathered on Brett, its indestructible, unpredictable, and takes about half a year to really come through in flavor. NB used to say “unidentified flying yeast strains” on the bottles of BdM.
I don’t know how good of an idea it is to just add some Brett into some of the bottles; I think it’s possible they could pop the tops off.
I have some in a week and half old BerlinerWeisse I got from the last Black Star BrewDay. Details: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=566543#post566543