Brewing Stout
I’m sure this will make all our devoted Colony Oatmeal Stout fans happy! It has been a long summer, and we have had many complaints from people asking for our Stout. It also has been silly that when people ask for our darkest beer, all we have is the Schild Brau Amber.
That said, based on how it moved last summer, I still feel we did the right thing making it a seasonal. The appearance of stout will also mean the dissapearance of the Pilsner. We are kegging the last batch of Pilsner off, so we should have kegs right up into Christmas time.
Last night I had some fun at the local Homebrew Club (THIRSTY) meeting. There was about 15 people there and everyone brought some interesting homebrew and commercial brews to enjoy. Infact, there really was more beer than we all could handle. I was strategically situated right next to the beer and got to have the first sip of every bottle as it was passed around the table. Everyone tried each beer at the same time and we discussed it. I brought the very first bottles of our Oktoberfest to the meeting, and two bottles of our “experimental brews”. One of the first of was the Goose Island Oktoberfest, which was very light and mildly malty… Our Oktoberfest pretty much squashes it with its big munich malt flavor and hoppy aroma. We discussed how some of the big breweries (goose, boulevard, and Redhook) seem to be make their mainstream beers lighter. We also tried Goose Island’s new Reserve beer, the Pere Jacques. It is a yummy trippel, with some wonderful fruit overtones. It was a stark contrast to their Oktoberfest. It seems like everyone is coming out with a reserve/anniversary brew now (including us!).
There was a nice demonstration of how to build your own converted keg homebrew system. I was quite captivated by some wierd kegs they had there, including a aluminum keg with a teflon coated inside!
It was also time to try the Thirsty Big Brew Double IPA. It was quite tasty and strong. Certainly as good as any I have had. However, after having that, and the Rogue Double IPA and the 90 min IPA from Dogfishhead, I can say that I am Double IPA’d out! My salesman, Dan, came up to me yesterday with a Double IPA homebrew recipe that he wanted some feedback on. I shrugged my shoulders and said, “hey, anything goes, the more unbalanced your beer is, the better!”.
Some one there had recently been to Shakespeares (on first ave, Iowa City) and told us about the new A-B Bare Knuckle Stout that is on tap there. I was surprised to learn that! I’m going to have to go over there and try it. I would love to get my beer in that bar, so if any of you go over, make sure to ask for Millstream! I guess the new AB stout is a Guiness clone.. I can’t see how it can succeed. Guiness is a great beer, but most of it’s success is from its HISTORY, which is something AB can’t compete at. I’m also surprised they didn’t release it under the Michelob brand.
Finally everyone tasted the Experimental Brews. Unfortunately, the Dopplebock had a lot of yeast induced Diacteyl (butterscotch off flavor). It was wonderful a few days before, but when I put pressure on the keg to carbonate it, the diactyl was overpowering. I almost dumped it! But at the meeting, the diactyl was already much reduced, and it recieved some favorable comments. I think in a few days the off flavor may be gone completely, as there is still live yeast in the beer. Chris’s dark ale brew was well recieved. Everyone thought the dry hopping with saaz was an interesting and unique flavor. The massive caramel malt in the brew made it nice and chewy, kind of like a Scottish beer (but with a huge hop nose?!)
Today I am going around dropping off a case of free Schild Brau at the following restaurants. The Motley Cow, Atlas, Devotay, and the Red Avocado. These four restaurants area all participanting in a Chef Competition at the Iowa City Brewfest. The task will be to make a dish that is complemented by our Schild Brau. The best dish will win! Initially there was going to be a dozen places involved, but it turned out that the Slow Food Field To Family event is at the same time. Why is everything scheduled for the same weekend in September!!!