Sunday Brewday!

It's Sunday and I've got the goods to get another homebrew up and running!  Only the 3rd one and I'm taking a bit of a risk here..   still goin with the 'kit' but they didn't have a wit, so the shop found the ingredient card for an old wit kit they used to see.  So I substituted whole grain for the extract in the recipe, threw in some bitter orange peel, light Belgian candi sugar and.......  *drum roll*  PINEAPPLE!  Gonna do some crushed pineapple in the boil, then a mild dry-hop with some more crushed pineapple in a semi-secondary fermentation.  Totally winging it on this one!  I'll check back in a few weeks with ya'll.  (oh, and the most recent one, the Arrogant Bastard clone - Smug Sonofabitch - was a hit!  The review will be up shortly)  (pps..  had a helper with this brew, so if it actually comes out good, I may not own all the brews =(  but it's worth it, cause she's cute!)

But while brewing, ya gotta partake in some beers, right?!  And a nice little local brew sounds about right..   recent start-up Slumbrew outta Somerville has hit the MA scene HUGE!  It's an Imperial Cream Ale, which I've never heard of, and also did it one half colder lager fermentation and one half at a warmer ale fermentation, then combined the halves..  to create My Better Half!  7.2% ABV and 21 IBUs with a gorgeously deep amber brown pour.  Lightly sweet, fully bodied nose..  cereal grains are present with some caramel malts, light honey notes and the faintest floral hops..   Like any good cream ale, this puppy is for sure creamy!  A decent amount of carbonation balances this body out with a nice cereal grain profile.  Follows the nose almost spot on, nice caramel malts, a little bit of spice and honey and a nice floral bordering on piney hop to round it out.  This went super well with the warm kitchen of brewingness!!

I found this lil guy at Craft Beer Cellar a bit back... sounds delicious, so duh I bought it!  Lagunitas - Cappuccino Stout..  8.8% ABV and 29 IBUs, any sort of coffee stout or porter is a must-have for me!  A crazy black pour with a huge mocha head, gorgeous!  And right from the pop, this is just oozing with coffee, oops excuse me, cappuccino aroma.  Roasty, nutty, sweet, creamy, some chocolate, everything you could hope for in a coffee-centric stout.  Despite the big bold nose and rich pour, this was rather light bodied.  But nice and creamy with big espresso notes with some roasty and smoky malts underneath.  A bit of that characteristic Lagunitas/west coast style hop profile is present in the middle and lingers a bit on the finish, but is drowned out a bit by the malts.  No complaints there though, this is a stout baby!

After brewing, had a nice little dinner and TV night, with one last beer to cap off beer Sunday!  Another local brew: Mystic - Saison 'An Dreoilin' named after an ancient Driud winter solstice festival..  a 7.0% ABV take on their normal saison.  A hugely carbonated pop emanated from the champagne-sized bottle and an equally huge, super fluffy light head is created.  Damn this is one bubbly brew!  Slightly spicy nose with tons of fruity notes, sweet apple, lemon, tropical fruits.. yeasty and a nice sweet bready malt profile.  Incredibly crisp and refreshing, the taste follows the nose..  starts of with crackery malts, typical to the Belgian style with tons of yeast poking through.  Nice drying spice and a decent funk.  The fruit is a little less present than in the nose and some faint floral hops come through to round it out..  Mystic has got their Saisons down, I'll tell you what.