Drake's Alpha Session

Drake's Brewing Alpha Session.  Drake's calls this brew their NorCal Bitter.  Low ABV (3.9%) session beer that is loaded with hops; bittered to 50 IBU with a healthy dose of dry hops.  I was served this beer at my favorite bar in town, Tony's Darts Away, in a classic pint glass.

Appearance - Golden yellow. Thin white head, not much lacing.  Super clear.

Aroma - Absolutely love the smell.  Super dank and piney with hints of grapefruit, mango, and green onion.  Not much in the way of malt aroma, the hops really stick out.

Taste - Explosion of hops. Lots of resiny grapefruit zest. Hints of mango and tropical fruit. Light bready malt profile; slight cracker.  Nice clean fermentation profile.

Mouthfeel - This beer drinks like any superior session beer should; its not watery or thin, just enough there to balance the wallop of hops.  Keeps you coming back for more.  Mouthfeel is light to medium with medium carbonation.

Overall - One of the best beers I have ever had, period.  I'm a fan of the West Coast-style IPAs but I'm not a huge fan of high ABV beer; I enjoy quaffing beers and not a huge fan of getting blasted on my ass after 3 or 4.  This beer satisfies that craving and you can drink them all day long.

Cannibal Red

Time to resurrect this blog back to life with a brew day and some tasting notes.

A few months back I brewed up an IPA.  It was based on a beer I made when I was living back in Ohio.  My brother and I wanted a red colored IPA with a killer hop flavor and aroma to honor a friend's band called Cannibal Red, whom the beer is named after.  The original recipe called for a malt bill that had just a touch of caramel malt to keep the sweetness down and a dash of Rye Malt to add some mouthfeel and a hint of spice to compliment the hops.  Speaking of hops, the original was hop bursted; meaning that I didn't add any hops until 30 minutes into the boil and a shit load at that.  We finished it off with a decent dry hop as well. Oh yes, we used straight Apollo hops as well; I was curious and wanted to see what this newer variety of hops was all about.

So with the background out of the way, let's get to the beer I brewed.  I made a couple of changes to the grains and hops.  This was mainly due to the availability and a bonehead move I made.  First off, I didn't have the time to order up the Apollo hops.   I had to go with what the local homebrew shop had on hand. Hop blends seem like a going trend at the time, so I decided to make my own blend of American mid to high alpha hops that I named Brutality.  The players in the blend were Summit, Centennial, and Columbus; all equal proportions (2 ounces of each in the 7 gallon batch).  My bonehead move was that my original recipe called for some Melanoidin Malt but I grabbed CaraMunich instead.  So I had a little more caramel malt in this version that I planned on.  Here's the recipe:

7 gallons
Efficiency: 80%
60 min boil
OG: 1.056
FG:  1.012
ABV:  6%
52 IBU
11 SRM

Grain Bill:
11.0 lb Cargill 2-Row Pale Malt
1.0 lb Weyermann Rye Malt
1.0 lb Weyermann CaraRed Malt
0.75 lb Weyermann CaraMunich

Mash Profile:
Mashed with 18 qt at 161 ºF, target temperature 150 ºF.
Batch sparged with 22 qt at 180 ºF.
Collected 8 gallons pre-boil.

Hops Bill:
0.50 oz Brutality - 30 min
0.50 oz Brutality - 20 min
1.00 oz Brutality - 10 min
1.50 oz Brutality - 0 min
2.50 oz Brutality - dry hop for 5 days after primary fermentation

Yeast:
1 package Fermentis SalAle S-05

Rehydrated yeast in 1 cup of boiled and cooled water.
Fermented at 66-68 ºF for 10 days.

Additional goodies:
1 tablet Whirlfloc - 10 min
1 package of gelatin

I bloomed the gelatin in a cup of cool water then brought to a near boil.  I dumped this solution in the keg before transferring the finished beer.  This stuff made the beer a brilliantly clear product after two days in the keggerator.

Tasting Notes:
Sorry doing this one from memory and the few notes that I have jotted down.  The beer was a beautiful orangey-brown with ruby highlights when head up to the light.  The aroma was full of orange, resin, pine, slightly fruity, hints of bread and light caramel.  When you first took a swig, a blast of dank citrus smacks your tongue.  Then there are some delicate fruity floral hints once that citrus blast starts to fade.  There is a solid bitterness there that is nicely balanced with a slightly sweet toasted breadiness with a hint of caramel.  The bitterness lingers a bit on the back of the tongue though.