Good Things Come in Threes

It's always a bit fun to check out beernews.org and see a local favorite on the front page. Boulevard's been creating quite the reputation for Kansas City and itself through the Smokestack line, and there's no sign of slowing. While Saison-Brett has a special place in my heart because I just can't get tired of it, I always look forward to what's next in their new releases. They're really cranking them out lately.

As you probably read on Drunk Monkey's blog recently, Harvest Dance is set to come out on Nov 1. The label's great, and I'm excited to see wheat wine gaining in popularity. It has a mouthfeel that can't be described other than soft and velvety. Wheat wine's not a session beer, though - at 9.1% ABV, it'll sneak up on you.

Also to be released on Nov 1: Tank 7 in bottles. If you haven't tried this one yet, you're missing out on a solid saison. The base for Saison-Brett, Tank 7 is a citrusy, spicy, slightly hoppy saison that is a bit less sweet than their current Saison (which is being replaced by Tank 7). I'll be interested to see how the bottled version compares to what we've had on tap.

Finally, the much-beloved BBQ (Bourbon Barrel Quadrupel) is ready to go. It'll join Harvest Dance and Tank 7 out of the gates on Nov 1. If this release is anything like last year's, the bottles will be pretty difficult to find. Once you see it, grab a bottle; it might be the only time you find it on the shelves.

Yet Another Successful Brew Day

I don't know that this past Saturday could have gone a whole lot better. Dozens of different beers to taste, both homebrew and commercial. Meeting new homebrewers & beer enthusiasts & new fellow beer bloggers. Making something I've never made and having it not blow up. Delicious BBQ, fun people, and perfect weather. Do Saturdays get much better than that?

KC Hop Head invited Boulevard's Director of Marketing (Jeremy), who stopped by for a while to chat. I was focusing on getting the wort for my braggot going, so I didn't get to chat with him as much as I'd liked, but we did have a chance to talk for a bit. I am pretty excited about the direction the Smokestack series is taking; Boulevard's developing a quality beer reputation for Kansas City through that line, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.

In the short term, it's going the route of the malty Bavarian lager known as Doppelbock. Jeremy brought over a bottle of the Seeyoulator for everyone to taste. And oh my was it delicious. It had the malty flavor and warm alcohol feel of a doppelbock, but with a twist - it was aged on cedar, lending a subtle hint of that bright, citrusy moth-repelling wood in both taste and aroma. We joked about expectations of closet linings and dresser drawers, but there was nothing in the Seeyoulator smacking you with a cedar board. Instead, you get a little citrus from both the hops and cedar, along with just a hint of cedar-y spice. Fabulous. It's a little lighter in color than your typical doppelbock, but in no way is it detrimental to the beer itself. Once these hit the stores, pick up some to drink now and some to age.

Anyway, back to brew day. For the braggot, I made 4 gallons of wort (with 5 ounces of hops!) and added 9 pounds of honey (about 2/3 of a gallon). That's a lot of sugar. (my recipe was a combination of Ken Schramm's recipe in The Compleat Meadmaker and some directional guidance from his session on Brewing Network). It also has 3 ounces of Cascade and 2 ounces of Centennial hops. It smelled delicious during the boil. This stuff should be high in alcohol and pretty hefty, hoppy, and sweet - akin to a strong barleywine or a very hoppy dessert wine. I'm curious to try it, but I'll have to wait quite a while. Braggot takes about 3 weeks to complete fermentation and is ready to drink in about 6 months, but changes and smooths with age.

The mead was so easy, I'm inclined to make a bunch more. You really do just mix honey and spring water with some yeast nutrient & energizer, then add your yeast. That's it. There's a lot of stirring involved, but that takes about 5 minutes. How is homemade mead not more popular?


In less than 5 hours, I had 10 gallons of fermentable honey-based goodness. We shared some more beer, chatted a bit more, then headed home. In all the excitement and commotion of the day, I forgot to take the Original Gravity on BOTH items, so I have no idea where they started out. I'd even bought a fancy-pants pH meter to make sure they were at a suitable acidity for fermentation and forgot about that too. That's the thing with brew day - it's easy to forget steps, ingredients, or other aspects of brewing. I didn't drink much during brewing (just little samples) to keep my head on straight, but in trying to remember all the details in the process I forgot a big one. Ah well.

Mead can commonly get stuck in fermentation for a variety of reasons - poor yeast, low acidity, not enough nitrogen, or a variety of others. You can do a lot to avoid a stuck fermentation by doing a Stepped Nutrient Addition the first three days of fermentation - basically removing a bunch of CO2 through stirring and adding Diammonium Phosphate and a yeast energizer (basically yeast food). Today was my first addition after fermentation. I think "yeast energizer" is an understatement. As soon as I put it in (1/2 tsp DAP and 1/4 tsp Fermaid-K), I got this:


Looks like we're off to a good start...

Like a Kid in a Candy Store

It's been a long week. I left work early to get a head start on the weekend, and thought I'd stop at Royal on my way home to pick up a little treat. I was thinking maybe a little bottle of something Belgian.

That'll teach me.

Yeah, yeah, you're thinking, "WTF is that Bud Ice doing in there??" Well, as it turns out, ice beers are not just about higher alcohol content (and in fact, some "ice" beers have water added back after the ice is removed). When ice crystals form, they also trap impurities in the beer. The idea is that when the ice is removed, any impurities in the beer are removed along with it. My guess is that this makes for a "smoother" beer, although I'm not sure how much smoother Budweiser is supposed to be. For a couple bucks, I figured it was worth finding out.

I picked up a good mix of 12oz bottles as well; a little something for every mood: Southern Tier phin & matt's extraordinary ale, Schlafly Helles, Sam Adams LongShot Weizenbock, New Holland Full Circle Kölsch, Schlitz Gusto, and Tommyknocker Maple Nut Brown. I'll try to remember to come back and post about my thoughts on each. They're all new for me, except for the Tommyknocker which I already know is delicious.


The story about the Schlitz Gusto comeback is somewhat interesting. You can read a pretty long story about it here, or check out the website or Bull E Vard's blog post about it... I'm drinking it right now and it's not bad. It definitely has a nice bitter aftertaste without being too adjunct-sour. I only recently tried PBR (despite living in Portland during the PBR revival, where you can't go anywhere without seeing a bunch of hipsters clinging to their PBR tallboys) and thought it was pretty damn good - great summer or session beer. Schlitz has more flavor, more bitterness, and is a bit more complex. Aside from the hop bitterness, there's some light malt flavor and roasted corn. Pretty good - try it!

And finally - Boulevard Saison-Brett. Yes, this is the 2009 batch. $12.99 at Royal Liquor on State Line - they have quite a bit of this in stock at the moment.

Really, with a ton of beer already at home, the last thing we needed was more beer. Everything just looked so good....

More details on Boulevard's upcoming releases

Owen over at the Pitch recently discussed what's in the works at Boulevard (and his thoughts on two upcoming releases). Providing more concrete details, a news release at beernews.org laid out the plans.

Boulevard is releasing four new Smokestack beers this year, two with limited availability and two of wide but seasonal availability. Boulevard's also aligning its seasonal beer releases with Smokestack releases this year. Apparently, the Imperial Stout and Irish Red were the first to be paired. Next up - Zōn and Two Jokers, a new double wit. Additionally, the base Saison for Saison-Brett (without the Brettanomyces fermentation) will be available on draft in April at various locations. I'd put money on its appearance at Barley's & Waldo Pizza but I'm sure it'll be available at several places locally.

More info about the releases, as well as a reference to Owen's brewmaster's night blog post, is available in the beernews article.