Craig reviews a Sour-- HBW 127 - Sour and More

Hudson Highland Heather and Hibiscus Hopped Homebrew

Starting with Maris Otter and 2 ounces of Heather to hop it before the Notty yeast, this offbeat home brew batch was like Scottish economics itself, a smooth enterprise with so few bubbles in the airlock that I opened it about 8 or 15 times to see if we had liftoff, Houston.

The result at this point of the primary fermentation was thin, clear red color (from the hibiscus) and a bit floral, if that's how Heather can be described.

Heather is a very common plant in Scotland. It was used in many traditional beer recipes 100s of years ago, but never really enjoyed much commercial success, particularly because it was outlawed by the British Crown in the 1700s, when hops were made the only permissible bittering agent.  So Heather, and certain hallucinogenic qualities the grow on the fungus that grows on the flower.

Well, that was a long time ago, and heather is on the market, but sadly, most of the recipes are all but gone according to Randy Mosher in his outstanding brewing book, "Radical Brewing".  He's included a recipe there that calls for a pound of honey in a secondary fermentation phase, which I've used for inspiration. 

It's now doing a second fermentation with some dried hops, and elements that impart a very little oak flavor.


Ironically, after brewing the batch, I ran across a Smuttynose Scotch Heather ale in Stamford, CT Fairway, but didn't taste it so the inspiration is just the elements we put in it, not anything I've ever had with which to compare.

So we are half way there.

We'll keep you posted.

Captain Lawrence Coffee Stout, Firestone's Wookey Jack and a Peche Lambic

Captain Lawrence Coffee-Expresso Stout is another great coffee beer being brewed in Westchester.  It's got a thick, fun froth, deep dark color, and a great coffee aroma and mouth feel.

This is an outstanding beer, that keeps getting retired at Beeradvocate.com, where it's been rated an 88, which is probly low. 

 
Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA is also an outstanding taste experience by every measure, if less memorable than the Captain's expresso stout, especially when it comes after the first.  This is also an outstanding beer, with a moderately thin malty mouth feel.

Beeradvocates rate it a 95, which is about right.

The Peche Lambic is what it is-- a prefect version of itself.

Moar Good Beerz at Peekskill Brewing: Wakeup Call, The Aristocrats and Bow Before Zod

Peekskill's Brewing's Wakeup Call, The Aristocrats and this week's Bow Before Zod highly hopped cask ale are outstanding ways to wet your whistle.

Wakeup Call is one of the best Coffee beers I've ever had, so if you see it somewhere, don't hesitate to fill 'er up.  At Beeradvocate, 21 samplers rate it a 91, which should mean something if "16 is as good as a mathematical infinity", as my statistics professor used to remind us.

But The Aristocrats is an outstanding example of a Wild Sour with a fast froth, nice golden color, thin bitter mouth feel, and powerful citrus aromas and flavaz.  It's a great addition to the menu with Peekskill's award winning Simple Sour right beside it on tap. 

No word on whether the name came from the Disney movie or the taboo crushing stand up comic's challenge to tell the most filthy joke they can conjure.  With a flavor that sour, I'm thinking it's more taboo defying than in line with Uncle Walt's legacy.  The Aristocrats rates an 88 with 12 members sampling at Beeradvocate.com.

Bow Before Zod has a whopping ABV-- somewhere around 10%-- but it's aroma and flavor are off the charts bitter hopped, but with a thick malty mouth feel that somehow makes it well more drinkable than those thin Belgian deals that typically go off at 10% ethanol.

The froth is outstandingly entertaining, as you can see pictured here, so there was a bit of a wait as it came freshly pumped out of the beer machine.