Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Festival Beer Preview

The festival is only 17 days away! Here's a preview of the three of the beers that I brewed for this year’s event. A lager and two Belgians, perfect for drinking on a hot August day listening to some live music and eating barbecue. Adam made a couple pale ales, no specifics on those yet; he mentioned something about a medicinal boot.

Keep checking back as we post more information and details about the event.


California Common
5.5% abv

Color
Light gold, straw
Aroma
Malt, spice, and pine
Flavor
Crisp, clean, malty and medium bitterness
Overall
A solid beer that has the clean crisp flavor of a lager and medium bitterness of an ale.

Recipe Specifics
Original Gravity: 1.055
Final Gravity: 1.015
Yeast: Wyeast 2112, California Lager
Alcohol by Volume: 5.5%
IBU: 34
Ingredients: Pale, Crystal, Munich, Victory and Chocolate Malts. Chinook Hops



Abbey Single
4.8% abv

Color
Gold. The Caravienne malt provides a rich saturated color.
Aroma
Apple, Plum and mild spice. The fruit aromas come from the yeast and the spice from the Styrian Golding dry hop.
Flavor
Mild bitterness, crisp, mild malt sweetness. The Caravienne adds a touch of caramel sweetness at the finish.
Overall
A good low alcohol Belgian style beer. I didn’t have much info on this style of beer, so I made it up.

Recipe Specifics
Original Gravity: 1.048
Final Gravity: 1.013
Yeast: White Labs 540: Belgian Abbey IV
Alcohol by Volume: 4.8%
IBU: 27
Ingredients: Pilsner and Caravienne Malts, Styrian Golding and Saaz hops




Belgian Wit
5.1 % abv

Color
Cloudy gold. The yeast stays in suspension creating the signature hazy look of a wheat beer.
Aroma
Pineapple, apple, bubblegum and plum. The fruit and bubblegum is definitely present, but not overwhelming.
Flavor
Tart, crisp, peppery. The flavor begins tart and finishes very dry.
Overall
This is a very tasty beer; I am pleased with the fruit aroma that developed without the addition of any fresh fruit. It is a true to style Belgian wit.

Recipe Specifics
Original Gravity: 1.050
Final Gravity: 1.011
Yeast: Wyeast 3924, Belgian Wheat
Alcohol by Volume: 5.1%
IBU: 26
Ingredients: Pilsner and Wheat malts, Flaked Oats and Saaz hops


1 comment:

Desomniac said...

Well I can't edit a post that I didn't do originally so I'll add my two cents here...

I've got 20 gallons of Festival Pale. Two different recipes but they are fairly similar. I'm going to be kegging them in the very near future so I'll get you all a more in depth analysis of them at that time.

It's kind of exciting. First batches since I got out of the boot!