Stan Hieronymus (author of Brew Like a Monk) and our own Kristen England (BJCP Continuing Education Director) bring you this very special kit. "Brouwerij'ed" on the left side of the Belgian town Malle solely for consumption by the reverent Cistercian brothers. This ale is not served or sold to the public, making it one of the rarest beers in the world. Made only from pilsner malt, hops, and yeast, the complexity that results from these simple ingredients is staggering: perfumey floral hops, ripe pear fruit, sour apple, spicy cloves, candied citrus and a slight biscuit character on the drying finish ... a monks' session beer.
Note: If you wish to achieve a level of carbonation similar to the commercial examples of this beer, add an additional 1 to 2 oz plain table sugar to the priming solution.
We don't understand the description - first it says it is not sold to the public, then it talks about commercial examples of this beer. Is there something Chris and I are missing? Probably. Anyway it sounds really tasty.
We had a small mishap with another beer kit that we ordered.
Notre Dame d'Golden Valley - Extract Kit
OG: 1055 / Ready: 2-12+ months
According to Twin Cities lore, a beautiful Scandinavian-American princess once dropped a kringle into Wirth Lake; a walleye brought the soggy, circular pastry up from the depths and returned it to her. To commemoreate the miracle, the walleye was filleted and the abbey of Notre Dame d'Golden Valley was built in the suburb of the same name. The monastic beer brewed here is unlike any other in the world. Seriously, it's totally unique. Wink, wink.
A world-class artisanal ale that defies categorization. Refined complexity from a marriage of ingredients boldly used: high IBUs and dry hops (very unusual in a Belgian-style beer), and fermentation with a mixed culture including Brettanomyces. At bottling, NDdGV bursts with citrus fruit, herbs, and candylike malt layered under a pronounced hop character. The hops fade into the background and eventually disappear as the Brett starts to add complex, earthy aromas, elevated alcohol and acidity, and a leaner body through prolonged refermentation in the bottle. The ultimate expression of beer as a living, evolving, artisanal product: no two tastings will be exactly the same! Drinkable as soon as 2 months from brewing day, but save at least a couple six packs for sampling at 6 months and 1 year.
Sounds tasty, doesn't it? We thought so too, and it was surprisingly simple to brew when we followed the instructions on the box (as we always do - i figured that's why they print them on the box). Unfortunately, we looked at the ingredients online later and realized that they had misprinted the instructions on the box and we hadn't put in all the hops we were supposed to. They had sent them in the kit, but we refrigerate them all and didn't know which hops were for which brew. But listen to this - Chris emailed them and described the problem and our disappointment, and they sent us another kit with all the ingredients inside so we can get the full experience. Now we'll be able to compare the two! Cool. And they are such a great company to do that. The box they sent didn't have the full ingredient list on top either! But now we know to check online.
We bottled our Imperial Skitt Ale recently, and that is a REALLY hoppy brew.
Can't wait to taste that - about 3 more weeks to go. We also bottled the Wheat Wine, which has about 9% alcohol.
We always taste when we're bottling - we sample the extra if we can't quite fill up that last bottle. Some of them aren't that appealing but the FFWW was really tasty! That one is going to be great when its ready. Only a couple more weeks till we can taste that one.
A few that we've been able to taste: Seven Pound Wheat, which was our peach wheat.
We tried it Sunday for the first time, and it was really good but we could barely taste the peach. I'm a little disappointed but we'll just have to figure out how to bring out the peach next time. We also tasted the Sweet Home Colorado. That was supposed to be a Fat Tire clone, but I'm not sure how alike they are. We have no access to Fat Tire out here for a side by side test, unfortunately. I'm afraid to put beer on the plane in my checked bags, because i don't know if the area is pressurized and it would be really sucky to open my suitcase and find broken glass and spilled beer all over. Stupid airline regulations that keep me from carrying on the things i REALLY want to bring back and forth with me!
Ok, well, if that was boring - you didn't have to read the whole thing! Happy brewing!
No comments:
Post a Comment