Back in beer

Nearly two months of silence? You're like a Trappist monk!
Rob S.

Okay, fair point. It has been a long silence. Call it a sabbatical. But a Trappist monk? I think there are some key distinguishing charateristics. I will, however, concede one similarity: beer. Monks make beer. I make beer. That I make beer with my wife, of course, is yet another case where the similarity ends.

Speaking of beer, what have we been brewing, you ask? Well, let me tell ya!

Seaside Park Summer Wheat
It was intended as a German style Hefe-weizen, but alas, the brew store had no German wheat. Instead, we used Belgian Wit yeast. What we ended up with was a light yet fruity beer that went down easy and, for me, embodied summer quite nicely. It was brewed special for our week-long vacation at the shore, and much was consumed there.

DIY ESB
Two three letter acronyms mean one tasty beer. ESB is Extra Special Bitter and boy was it ever special. We enjoy all of our beers. We really like many of them. Then there is the select few that we savor, and when they're gone we remember fondly for years. This one falls into that last category. This was one great beer, and not that it's gone we miss it. (Maybe later I'll upload the label for this.)

Red Ale
Red Ales are, contrary of to the name, more dark than red. The red color can be perceived when you hold it up to the light. This one is more copper than red. Roasted barley is what produces the red hue, though what we ended up with was more copper than red. Maybe next time we'll try roasting ourselves. That doesn't mean it's not good beer. It less hops than some, with a nice dry malt finish.

Marzen
This was actually started before the other beers on this list (in March), but true to style it was not ready until now. It's a classic Oktoberfest lager, fermented and aged at lower temperatures than ales. It's a smooth and malty like it should be. Of course, homebrewing has it's pitfalls. Our old nemesis, poor carbonation, has returned. We'll see if a little more time makes the difference. It has in the past.

So there you go. Finally a blog post, and it's about beer. Now let's see who still comes here....