English Barleywine Vertical Tasting - 2026

It is time for another in my yearly status reports on the progress of my English Barleywine Aging.  I have brewed different English Barleywine recipes (or slight variations at least) for the last 12 years and I have saved half the beer in every batch to conduct a long term experiment on the aging properties of each beer

If you aren't aware, an English Barleywine is a strong beer (close to wine strength) which is often fairly sweet and which usually focuses on malty and fruity yeast ester character rather than hops.  These are characteristics that make it ideal for aging in that it remains more shelf stable than a normal beer and can continue to develop character that tends to compliment the primary characteristics of the style

These yearly tasting experiments are helpful for understanding the style better and informs my decisions regarding recipe selection when I make my next batch.  You can read about my previous tastings here:  2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025

With so many beers to drink I've found that you can't taste them all in one sitting and have any enjoyment from them so I've begun doing the tastings blind and scoring the beer based on the Beer Judge Certification Scoring system.  With this I do a ranking every year and, this year, I've decided to start a trending of the ranking to try to filter out the random noise (could be there is variation in each bottle of beer that impacts scores or, more likely, my ability to consistently judge beer is wanting) - this could maybe help me spot trends in how these beers do over time.  I am excited about this idea.

I always feels some inertia in getting started doing these tastings somehow (finding all the bottles and then taping up the lids to make it a blind test is a bit of a pain) but being able to slowly savor each beer and think about what I'm getting from each one is actually a lot of fun.  I think this is a ritual that makes all the effort of making and then aging the beers worth while.  

Writing after the test, I gave some of these lower scores than maybe they deserved (it's a bit of a tough thing to keep an even mind over 12 days of tasting and it seems like my propensity is to give the first beer the lowest score and maybe is the most likely to be noise).  I think all of them were nice to drink but some really were nicer than others.  I stand by the scoring system even with some known problems

Results:

2016 Version (Beer A):

• Overview:
• Brewed with Maris Otter, 3 lbs of Rye Malt, and 1.5 lbs Double Roasted Crystal 120 L
• Fermented with Wyeast 1335 British Ale II
• Beer went from 1.093 to 1.012 which is 10-11% ABV
• It ended up forming a pellicle during aging although I never really picked up any flavors I'd attribute to wild yeast or bacteria
• Tasting Notes (35 of 50):
• Aroma (8 of 12):
• Fruity and musty with a bit of caramel.  Smells sweet.
• Appearance (2 of 3):
• Pours with no head at all and seems completely still.  Reddish brown and very clear.
• Flavor (15 of 20):
• Toasted bread and dark caramel flavor.  A bit of fruit in there as well.  A slight bitterness to it.  Finishes with a nice malty flavor - kind of chocolate-like - just slighty sweet.  Noticeable alcohol flavor in there as well
• Mouthfeel (3 of 5):
• Medium bodied and fairly dry.  Noticeable alcohol warming.  A little astringent on the pallet 
• Overall (7 of 10):
• The flavors are pretty nice but it's not all that complex and not all that bold.  It does have a pretty boozy flavor.  Not a bad Barleywine but I like them a bit more complex and a bit more bold than this

2020 Version (Beer B):

• Overview:
• Brewed using a historical recipe for 1940 Truman Stock 1 from Shut Up about Barclay Perkins Blog
• I ended up using Vienna and Melanoiden Malts with the idea of replacing the "high dried malt" called for (may have been way off base on these).  Recipe also used a lb of Invert #3
• Used 7.5 oz of Cluster and Fuggle in this batch
• Fermented with Wyeast 1028 London Ale which is supposed to be the Truman brewery's house strain
• Tasting Notes (43 of 50):
• Aroma (10 of 12):
• Musty with sweet caramel and a bit of toasted bread.  Nice smell
• Appearance (3 of 3):
• Pours with a 2 finger head that lasts a couple minutes.  Reddish brown and very clear.
• Flavor (18 of 20):
• Sweet bready malt and caramel up front.  A bit of fruity ester character in the middle.  No real bitterness.  The finish has a slightly sweet character.  has a faint chocolate note.  Maybe a slight alcohol character to it as well.
• Mouthfeel (4 of 5):
•  Medium-full bodied and has a stickiness that lingers on the palate.  Pretty smooth
• Overall (8 of 10):
• This really has a lovely malt character - very bold.  The yeast ester character is there but is very much in the background.  It still has a nice level of complexity just from the richness of the malt

2023 Version (Beer C):

• Overview:
• This was a recipe somewhat inspired by Goose Island's famous King Henry
• Uses Golden Promise as the base and a mix of Munich, Caramel Wheat, and double roasted srystal for a darker English Barleywine
• Bittered with Target and Styrian Goldings
• Fermented with WLP005 British Ale
• The beer fermented from 1.1.00 to 1.032 for 9% ABV
• Tasting Notes (39 of 50):
• Aroma (7 of 12):
• Aged alcohol aroma and maybe some oxidized notes.  A little fruit.  A bit of caramel
• Appearance (3 of 3):
• Poured with a 2 finger head that faded down to nothing in a minute.  Reddish brown and very clear
• Flavor (17 of 20):
• Nice caramel malt and toasted bread.  Has a bit of fruitiness to it as well.  Just a hint of bitterness in the finish but the balances is decidedly towards sweet malt character.  Has a bit of a chocolate note.  Get a bit of alcohol but it's well hidden.  Very nice flavor
• Mouthfeel (4 of 5):
•  Medium-full bodied and sticky on the palate.  It drinks pretty smooth
• Overall (8 of 10):
• This is nicely flavored beer.  It has a good amount of complexity as well.  I think this one leans heavily to malt but also has a nice fruit component.  The aroma makes one think of an aged beer which is intended but it doesn't do the flavor justice really.

2017 Version (Beer D):

• Overview:
• Brewed with 2 Row and Golden Promise as base malt and 5 lbs of white wheat malt.  Only used 4 oz of Crystal.  This finally achieved my goal of a pale barleywine.
• Fermented with Wyeast 1335 British Ale II again
• I'd wanted to get a fairly sweet barleywine on my previous version but had kept on getting more attenuation than desired.  This time I finally got one to stop at 1.034 (from 1.098).  So this is an 8-9% ABV beer.
• The beer was aged with 15 oz of Rum soaked golden raisin along with 0.5 oz of oak
• Tasting Notes (37 of 50):
• Aroma (7 of 12):
• Fruity with a bit of alcohol on the nose.  Maybe a bit of malt in there as well
• Appearance (2 of 3):
• Pours with maybe half a finger of head which dissipates almost immediately.  Clear and dark gold
• Flavor (17 of 20):
• Fruity up front along with some caramel malt.  There is a sweetness to the finish and maybe a hint of hop bitterness.  A bit of alcohol in the flavor profile.  It's a pretty bold fruit flavor
• Mouthfeel (3 of 5):
•  Medium-full bodied and a little sticky on the palate.  Has a slightly astringent character
• Overall (8 of 10):
• This is a fairly fruit-ester forward barleywine.  It's boldly flavored.  Not all that complex as the fruit character dominates.  I think it's a nice sipping beer
  

2015 Version (Beer E):

• Outlook:
• Brewed with Maris Otter, Vienna Malt and down to 2 lbs of Crystal.  Was trying for a more pale beer but ended up darker.
• Used Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale Yeast
• Beer fermented from 1.096 to 1.006 for 12-13% ABV
• Aged with 1 oz of pre-boiled oak cubes
• Tasting Notes (41 of 50):
• Aroma (9 of 12):
• Fruity with a sweet character.  Caramel malt and a bit of booze.  A nice smelling beer
• Appearance (2 of 3):
• Pours with a 1 finger head which immediately fizzles to nothing.  Reddish brown and very clear
• Flavor (18 of 20):
• A bit fruity up front then followed by a caramel and toasted malt flavor.  It has a bit of bitterness on the finish which balances out the malt sweetness very nicely.  Just a hint of booze there in the flavor profile.  This is a nicely flavored beer.
• Mouthfeel (3 of 5):
•  Medium-full bodied and fairly dry for these beers.  Slight bit of astringency maybe and some warming alcohol presence. 
• Overall (9 of 10):
• This is a bold and very nice tasting beer.  It has good complexity and is drinking very nice.  I like that there is a hop bitterness there still (must be one of my younger versions)

2024 Version (Beer F):

• Overview:
• This was a rebrew of my first English Barleywine (2014).  A recipe I came up with
• This iteration uses Golden Promise rather than Marris Otter and a heftier dose of bittering hops based on my observation that these don't last long and the hope that more would sustain the bitterness a bit longer
• The beer was fermented with S04 and Nottingham like the first version but, this time, they only took it down to 1.034
• I aged this one with a lot of brandy soaked oak
• Tasting Notes (43 of 50):
• Aroma (8 of 12):
•  Musty.  I get booze and a bit of caramel malt.  Nice smelling beer but fairly mild
• Appearance (3 of 3):
• Pours with a 2 finger head that fades down to a thin ring after a minute or so.  Dark gold and very clear
• Flavor (18 of 20):
• Rich malty flavor up front.  Maybe a slight bit of fruit in there.  There is a mild bitterness in the finish but the balance is towards sweet malt.  It has a chocolate-like note.  A bit of booze in there.  There is a flavor that makes me think of oak as well - subtle and it could be I'm picking out malt or ester.  Really nice flavors.
• Mouthfeel (5 of 5):
•  Full bodied and a bit sticky on the palate.  Smooth drinking with a bit of warming alcohol
• Overall (9 of 10):
• A very rich and malty beer.  There is a good amount of complexity to it with the depth of malt flavor.  I really like the chocolate note.  A bit light on the fruity character.

2014 Version (Beer G):

• Overview:
• Brewed with Maris Otter and 3 lbs of assorted light crystal malts.  I was hoping for a light colored beer - got a bit darker than I'd hoped.
• Fermented with S04 and Nottingham
• The beer fermented all the way down to 1.016 from 1.101 which is 11-12% ABV
• Tasting Notes (38 of 50):
• Aroma (8 of 12):
• Fruity with a bit of caramel malt.  A bit of alcohol in there as well
• Appearance (2 of 3):
• Pours with 1 finger of head that fades to nothing almost immediately.  Reddish Brown and very clear
• Flavor (16 of 20):
• Bold fruity and caramel flavors up front.  Light bitterness.  The finish is lightly sweet and boozy
• Mouthfeel (4 of 5):
• It is medium-full bodied and fairly dry.  It's got alcohol warming character.  Pretty smooth
• Overall (8 of 10):
• This one has a pretty bold flavor and is definitely a potent beer.  I think it has a nice amount of complexity with it's balance between fruity ester and malt character.  It's definitely a pretty intense beverage - like sipping a whiskey almost
  

2021 Version (Beer H):

• Overview:
• Brewed using a historical recipe (1954 Tennant's Gold Label) from the Shut Up about Barclay Perkins Blog
• Kind of an unusual beer in that it uses a large amount of Corn (5 lbs).  Also uses 2 lbs of Invert Syrup which is the first time I've used it for one of these beers.
• Used Willamette hops for bittering and East Kent Goldings for flavor
• Aged the beer with 2 oz of brandy soaked oak
• Fermented with S04 while the beer called for Wyeast 1099 Whitbread strain.  I'd understood S04 was a Whitbread strain but may not be quite the same as 1099
• Tasting Notes (44 of 50):
• Aroma (10 of 12):
• Very fruity and a bit boozy.  Not sure I pick up on much malt.  It's a very nice smelling beer
• Appearance (2 of 3):
• Pours with a 1 finger head which fades down to nothing in less than a minute.  Dark gold in color and very clear
• Flavor (18 of 20):
• Strong fruity character with sweet caramel malt up front.  No real bitterness to it.  The finish is sweet malt and fruity ester character and they linger.  It has a bit of booze but pretty well hidden.  It is a bold flavored beer
• Mouthfeel (5 of 5):
•  Full bodied and sticky sweet on the palate.  It's pretty smooth drinking.  Warming alcohol as well
• Overall (9 of 10):
• This is a really nice, bold, and complex Barleywine.  It has a very nice combination of fruit and malt character
  

2025 Version (Beer I):

• Overview:
• This was based on a historical recipe from the Shut Up About Barclay Perkins Blog:  1879 William Younger No1
• It is an all base malt beer which is kind of unusual
• The hopping was agressive
• I used dry Safale Windsor yeast for the beer and, for kicks, since this historical beer was aged and likely wild microbes had a chance to contribute to the flavor, I cultivated some dregs of the famous Belgian Beer Orval which has a secondary fermentation with brett
• Tasting Notes (37 of 50):
• Aroma (9 of 12):
• Very fruity with a bit of a leathery brett funk.  Maybe a bit of malt in there and some booze
• Appearance (2 of 3):
• Pours with a 1 finger head that immediately fades to nothing.  Dark gold in color and very clear
• Flavor (16 of 20):
• Fruity with caramel malt.  Has a medium bitterness which balances the sweet malt in the finish and maybe dominates it.  Has a bit of a boozy character.  Brett character in there a bit as well in the background
• Mouthfeel (3 of 5):
•  Medium bodied and fairly dry.  A bit rough on the palate with noticeable alcohol warming
• Overall (7 of 10):
• Pretty boldly flavored and reasonably complex with the fruit and malt (along with the brett).  It's interesting how bitter it is as this is a well aged beer (Doh!) - prefer the hops to be in better balance with malt and fruit character

Beer J (2019):

• Tasting Notes (44 of 50):
• Aroma (10 of 12):
• Fruity with a sweet and toasty malt character.  Has a bit of an aged character - I think - slighty funky.  Nice smelling beer
• Appearance (2 of 3):
• Pours with a thin wisp of foam that fades to nothing almost immediately.  Reddish brown and very clear
• Flavor (18 of 20):
• Caramel and toasted bread are prominent along with a fruity character.  Has a mild hop bitterness.  The finish is sweet.  It has a slight chocolate note.  It is a very nice tasting beer
• Mouthfeel (5 of 5):
•  Full bodied and sticky sweet on the palet.  It drinks pretty smooth
• Overall (9 of 10):
• Bold, rich, and delicious beer.  It has a nice amount of complexity with malt and fruit notes.  Hides it's alcohol very well

Beer K (2022):

• Tasting Notes (41 of 50):
• Aroma (8 of 12):
• Fruity with a wine like note - maybe oak in there as well.  Smells nice but isn't a strong smell
• Appearance (2 of 3):
• Pours with a 3 finger head that fades to nothing almost immediately.  Dark gold and very clear
• Flavor (18 of 20):
• Fruity and malty up front.  No bitterness to it.  The finish is of slightly sweet malt and maybe a bit of chocolate character.  There is a bit of booze in there as well.  Very nice tasting beer
• Mouthfeel (4 of 5):
•  Full bodied and a bit sticky on the pallet.  It's smooth drinking and has noticeable warming alcohol presense
• Overall (9 of 10):
• This is a nice boldly flavored beer with a pretty good level of complexity.  The flavors are very nice as well

• Beer L (2018):

  • Tasting Notes (42 of 50):
  • Aroma (10 of 12):
  • Fruity and boozy.  Maybe get some caramel malt in there too.  Nice smelling beer - bold
  • Appearance (3 of 3):
  • Pours with a 2 finger head that fades down to a thin layer in a minute or two.  Reddish brown and very clear
  • Flavor (17 of 20):
  • Malty with a slight fruity flavor.  No hop bitterness.  The finish is slightly sweet and malty.  It has a bit of alcohol character.  
  • Mouthfeel (4 of 5):
  •  Medium full bodied and a little sticky.  Smooth drinking
  • Overall (8 of 10):
  • This is a nicely flavored beer that is maybe a bit slanted to malt over fruit but which has a pretty nice level of complexity.  It seems like a pretty strong beer too

The rankings this year:

• 2019 (44) - T-1
• 2021 (44) - T-1
• 2020 (43) - T-3
• 2024 (43) - T-3
• 2018 (42) - 5
• 2015 (41) - T-6
• 2022 (41) - T-6
• 2023 (39) - 8
• 2014 (38) - 9
• 2017 (37) - T-10
• 2025 (37) - T-10
• 2016 (35) - 12

Doing a 5 year trend of rankings (2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022):

• 2024 (T-3, T-1, NA, NA, NA)  - 2.0
• 2021 (T-1, T-3, 1, 6, T-3) - 2.8
• 2019 (T-1, T-8, T-2, T-2, T-6) - 3.8
• 2020 (T-3, 5, 6, T-4, T-3) - 4.2
• 2022 (T-6, T-6, T-2, T-4, NA) - 4.5
• 2018 (5, T-1, 8, T-7, T-6) - 5.4
• 2015 (T-6, 11, T-2, 9, 5) - 6.6
• 2014 (9, T-8, 10, T-2, T-1) - 6.0
• 2017 (T-10, T-3, 9, 1, 8) - 6.2
• 2016 (12, T-6, 7, T-7, T-1) - 6.6
• 2023 (8, 10, T-2, NA, NA) - 6.7
• 2025 (T-10, NA, NA, NA, NA) - 10

Crème Brûlée

 Crème Brûlée is a really wonderful custard desert which impresses when you go to a restaurant but which also is very easy to make at home.  I have been making this for a while and have gotten tired of having to find the recipe so I have documented one of my own here.

For my recipe I'm going for something very simple to make.  I use half and half which I always have on hand for coffee and White Russians and vanilla extract.  Heavy cream would be more traditional along with a vanilla bean but I think the desert is plenty good with these short cuts. When using a vanilla bean you usually steep it in the warm cream and then temper the egg with that.  I am skipping this step as well and mix everything cold.

With all that this still makes a really nicely flavored custard with a nice soft and creamy texture which is lighter than when using cream (tried making it with whipping cream recently and I much prefer the texture with Half and Half).

Anyhow, here is the recipe so I never have to try to find one I like again

Recipe Details:

• 6 egg yokes
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 pint Half and Half
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 tsp Orange Liquor
• 1 pinch of salt
• Extra Sugar for Top (2-3 tsp is a good amount for a 4 in ramekin)

Process Details:

• Separate egg yokes into a mixing bowl
• Add sugar and mix thoroughly - the mix will become a lighter yellow color as  you mix it

• Add the vanilla, orange liquor, salt, and half and half and mix
• Divide the mix into ramekins - this batch will make 4 ramekin worth
• Pre-heat oven to 325 F
• Have a pan of water in the oven and cook the ramekin in them - water bath will slow the cook.  They take about 45 min to setup.  You want them to be jiggly but not liquidy
• Let them cool on the counter top for an hour and then more to the fridge for a couple hrs
• Add sugar to the top and use a torch to caramelize it into a candy layer.  I think some dark patches taste really nice.  Doing a couple thin layers of sugar and two rounds of the torch seems to get a better layer.  Move it back to the fridge for a couple hours to cool down before serving (or you could eat it right then as well)

Russian Imperial Stout with Bourbon Soaked Oak - Take V

This will by my fifth attempt to make a Bourbon Barrel Stout in the vain of the great Goose Island Bourbon Country Brand Stout.  If you have never had it, it's a beer with a very strong bourbon character - there are many beers that market themselves as being bourbon barrel aged and I find almost all to be disappointing compared with BCBS.  It's a beer that is released once a year in small quantities so I find I never have enough to drink it as much as I want.  Being able to make a reliable clone would be a very nice thing.

I have learned some valuable lessons with my previous 4 beers (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th) but none have gotten particularly close to the real thing.  Some lessons learned:

• Aging the beer with the appropriate amount of oak to simulate contact with a barrel is very important
• About 56 sqin per gal of oak surface area
• Toasting and Charing the oak to the right level is important
• See this experiment on oak aging for how I arrived at a good number
• Aging the oak with a barrel strength alcohol is critical to getting the intensity of whisky flavors
• Making sure that the created bourbon tastes like bourbon is important
• I have settled into aging my oak at a higher oak to spirit ratio than used in a barrel to conserve spirit.  I have found in previous batches that this creates more of a caramel flavor than vanilla compared with the normal oak to spirit ratio.  I experimented with boiling the oak before aging to mellow it a bit such that I would get more vanilla.
• Getting the beer to finish at around 1.035 is critical as an overly sweet beer will  hide the whisky flavors and throw off the balance
• This bit me on my last batch which ended up at 1.042 and definately too sweet.  I think using a very strong yeast (White Labs 099 Super High Gravity Yeast) is critical to ferment down such a big beer (starts at 1.13 to 1.14)
• Having the oak saturated with spirit such that it fortifies the beer is very important I think
• I did some calculations and came up with about 5 oz of spirit absorbed into the oak per gal of beer was a good target

I plan on taking very good notes this time to hopefully give myself a reasonable shot at reproducing these results if it's a winner.

Other than these notes, I will be brewing basically the same recipe I've used in all the previous attempts.  This was provided by Goose Island in a promotional video linked in my first attempt.  As I believe I've said before, their lack of protection of the recipe makes sense in a way because getting into the fermentor is relatively easy compared with trying to get it to ferment down enough and then in getting their magical bourbon character.  I'm very excited to be trying this again

Recipe Details:

• Grain:
• 22 lbs Pale Ale
• 8 lbs Light Munich
• 2 lbs Crystal 60L
• 1.5 lbs Chocolate Malt
• 1.5 lbs Roasted Barley
• 12 oz Black Patent
• 4 oz Acid Malt  
• Hops:
• 3 oz Chinook (Pellet, 11.8% AA) at 60 min
• Yeast:
• White Labs 099 - Super High Gravity Yeast (2nd Pitch)
• Water:
• 15 gal spring water
• 5 gal tap water
• 2 tsp CaCl
• 2 tsp Gypsum
• 1 tsp Irish Moss at 1 min

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 6.5 gal (Target 6.5 gal)
• Mash:
• 152 F for 60 min
• Boil:
• 4 hrs
• Fermentation Temperature:
• 68 F (Ambient Basement Temps)
• Primary Duration:
• 1 month
• Secondary Duration:
• > 6 months

Results:

• OG:
• 1.140 (Target 1.025)
• Efficiency:
• 72% (Target 66%)
• FG:
• 1.032 (Target 1.035)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• 75% (Target 68%)
• ABV:
• 16.8% (Target 12%)

Brewing Notes:

• Oak Preparation
• 3/13/26:
• I decided to make bigger pieces of oak this time.  Settled on 2.25 x 6.5 x 1.125 inch pieces.  I will use 8 of them which should give 371 sqin of oak surface area (46.4 sq in per block).  At 6 gal of beer this is 62 sqin per gal where 56 sqin per gal is the surface area for a standard barrel (close enough)
• I charred and toasted the oak per the results of this experiment (Low +2 Toast and then 3 pass char)
• I then boiled the oak twice to seep out some of the rougher flavors.  I measured the weight of my 8 oak blocks as 53 oz
• I mixed up 4, 2 qt jars, with 60% spirit using Everclear and Spring Water (I didn't record the volume of spirit per jar which was a mistake - was probably about 3 pints) and then added the oak

• Had this in a cold room next to a heating element to age - this would hopefully cause multiple cycles of heating and cooling to accelerate the aging effects
• 8/8/26:
• After aging for nearly 5 months the spirit tastes good.  I am adding the oak to the beer today.  Weighed the oak at 80 oz which means that the oak absorbed 27 oz of spirit.  This is about 4.5 oz of spirit per gal of beer which is pretty close to my calculated target of 5 oz
• 7/2/26 - Prepared a yeast starter for part of the yeast I intended to pitch (pulled from my barleywine)
• 7/6/26 - Brewday - from 11 AM to 6 PM including setup and cleanup
• Heated 8 gal of strike water to 175 F
• Milled half my grain and added half the gypsum and CaCl to it

• Moved 7.5 gal of strike water the the mash tun and cycled through the Grant and RIMS until it was 162 F
• Stopped the cycle and added my grain - stirred well to eliminate doughballs
• Let the mash settle for 10 min before cycling the RIMS again
• Heated 6 gal of sparge water to 185 F
• At the end of the mash I slowly drained into the boil kettle.  I setup a fly sparge as I collected and ran until I had 7 gal
• I started to heat the kettle after collecting and had it at a boil shortly after the end of the sparge
• Boiled for 2 hrs

• I collected a couple gal of extra wort from the first mash which I am returning to the second mash
• Milled my second half of grain.  Added the other half of Gypsum and CaCl to this
• Cleaned out the mash tun
• Heated the second mash Strike water (6 gal) to 185 F
• Added 5 gal of strike water pls the 2 gal of remaining mash water to the mash tun and cycled through the RIMS until it had settled to 162 F
• Added the grain to the mash tun and stirred to eliminate dough balls.  Let this sit for 10 min and then cycled through the RIMS at 153 F
• Heated 5.5 gal of sparge water to 185 F
• At the end of the first 2 hr boil I was down to about 3 gal of wort.  I drained the second mash ton into the boil kettle slowly to maintain the boil.  I fly sparged until I'd collected 10 gal of wort
• Boiled for another 2 hrs to reduce down to about 6 gal.  Had to pay attention to avoid boil over at first
• Added hops at 1 hr left
• Added Irish Moss at 15 min
• With 5 min left, I added to wort chiller to sanitize
• Chilled down to about 80 F
• Drained the beer into 2 fermentors.  Let the beer fall about a foot to aerate.  Pitched my yeast during the transfer (both from my starter and from the barleywine fermenter - split the two between the two)
• Collected about 6.5 gal of beer and measure the gravity as 1.140
• Set this up in my basement to ferment with the lids loosly attached
• 7/7/26 - By the next day, very vigorous fermentation was underway - krausen pushed out the airlocks even with the 6 gal buckets about half full
• 8/8/26 - Transferred to secondary and added the oak.  Measured the gravity at 1.032 - I am very happy about this!  Collected just about 6 gal.  The beer has a pretty nice set of roasty flavors, a fairly distinct alcohol character, and is decidedly not very sweet - I think this is a base beer that is going to go nice with the bourbon and oak flavors rather than overwhelm them but only time will tell.  I am going to age this batch near the same room that the jars of whiskey were aged and let it at least go through one winter before bottling.  I am excited about this one.

English Barleywine XIII

This will be my 13th version of the English Barleywine style which I have brewed every memorial day since 2014 (read about my previous versions here:  2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025).  English Barleywine is a lovely style as it is complex with Malt, Yeast Ester, and sometimes Hop flavors and, with a high alcohol level, ages well.  I age half the batch and then do a tasting every year to see how the beers develop - based on the tastings of the older versions I can confirm that the beers age well

For this year's version I am attempting to replicate a beer that is no longer made - Edridge Pope's Huntsman's Goldie.  It is an earlier and lighter version of a famous beer I've attempted to make a couple times:  Thomas Hardy's Ale.  I got a lot of good detail from the Shut Up About Barclay Perkins blog but there isn't a recipe for this in circulation.  It is intended to come in at a gravity of 1.085 rather than the 1.11-1.12 that the Hardy's ale does.  Other than that, very similar with a mix of pale malt and wheat, heavily hopped, and then fermented with the potent Eldridge Pope yeast strain (WLP 099 "super high gravity").  This yeast took my 2019 version of the beer from 1.120 down to 1.010 which is 16% ABV - amazing.  The yeast produces really nice flavors as well - I'm excited to use it again.

This is the first beer I've made in 12 months.  I still love brewing (which this brew day confirmed for me) but the dedication of time is proving challenging for me somehow.  I very much want to be brewing more - hopefully I can manage that over the next 12 months.

Recipe Details:

• Grain:
• 17 lb Golden Promise
• 1.5 lb Crystal 60L
• 1.5 lb Flaked Wheat
• 5 oz Acid Malt
• Hops:
• 5 oz Cluster (Pellet, 8.9 % AA) at 90 min
• 2 oz Fuggle (Pellet, 5.3% AA) at 15 min
• Yeast:
• White Labs 099 Super High Gravity Yeast (Edridge Pope's Yeast Strain)
• Water:
• 10 gal spring water
• 6.5 gal of tap water
• 2 tsp Gypsum
• 2 tsp CaCl
• 1 tsp Irish Moss

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 6 gal(Target 6 gal)
• Mash:
• 156 F for 60 min
• Boil Time:
• 120 min
• Fermentation Temperature:
• Ambient Basement Temps
• Primary Duration:
• 1 month
• Secondary Duration:
• 6 months

Results:

• OG:
• 1.093 (Target 1.085)
• Efficiency:
• 77% (Target 70%)
• FG:
• 1.010 (Target 1.030)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• 88% (Target 68%)
• ABV:
• 11.3% (Target 7.2%)

Brewing Notes:

• 5/24/26 - Made a yeast starter and set it up to propogate on a stirplate

• 5/25/26 - Brewday - From 10 AM to 4 PM- Including setup and cleanup
• Brought 11.5 gal up to 180 F
• Milled my grain and added CaCl and Gypsum to grain and boil kettle (for later)

• Moved 8 gal of strike water to my mash tun and cycled through the grant and RIMS until the temperature settled to 165 F 
• Added the grain and stirred well to eliminate dough balls
• Let the mast sit for 10 min to settle before cycling the RIMS.  Mashed for 50 min
• Heated 8.5 gal of water to 180 F for the sparge
• Flysparged slowly until I'd collected 10 gal of wart.  I started to heat after collecting 3 gal and had it up to a rolling boil by the time the sparge was complete
• Added the 90 min hops
• Boiled for 2 hrs
• Added Irish Moss and Flavoring hops at 15 min
• Chilled to 80 F
• Transferred to the fermenter - let the beer fall a foot to aerate.  Pitched my yeast during the transfer
• Collected 5.5 gal of wort and measured the gravity as 1.102 which is 77% efficiency - way over target.  Added spring water up to 6 gal to get me a gravity of 1.093 (vs my target of 1.085
• Set the fermenter in my utility sink to ferment
• 5/26/26 - The beer was fermenting so vigorously that krausen was pushed up through the airlock
• 5/29/26 - Fermentation seems to have finished up
• 7/3/26 - Transferred the beer to secondary for aging.  Measured the gravity as 1.010 which is a very impressive 11% ABV.  It is a nice fruity flavor with the booze being prominent but pleasant

Tavern Style Pizza

This is a really interesting style of pizza which is very easy to make at home and get good results.  It is a pizza with a cracker thin dough which is crunchy rather than chewy.  My recipe is based on one I originally saw on America's Test Kitchen (called "Chicago Thin Crust Pizza").

It is a low hydration dough (50% hydration with 10% olive oil).  It traditionally uses raw sausage which is cooked on top of the pizza and is intended to be cooked to a dark brown color.  The toppings go to the edge of the pizza and there is little exposed crust.  It is cut into rectangles rather than wedges which is a fun way to eat it.

I have made this pizza several times.  I find that making enough dough for 4 pizza is a good time savings.  I'll typically eat a couple of them soon after making the dough and then I'll freeze the other two.  It is a dough that isn't meant to get much in the way of air bubbles so over proofing isn't a concern with this one - making it a day to a week in advance and then letting it slowly ferment at fridge temperatures is a good way of doing things

Crispy Pizza Crust Cross Section

Recipe Details:

• Dough for 4 pizzas:
• 680g All Purpose Flour
• 340g Spring Water
• 68g Olive Oil
• 2 tsp table salt
• 2 tsp yeast
• 1 tbs sugar
• Sauce for 2 pizza:
• 8 oz seasoned tomato sauce
• 1 tbs tomato paste
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
• Toppings on 1 pizza:
• 6 oz Monterey Jack Cheese
• 6 oz Spicy Italian Sausage

Process Details:

• Mix up the dough (flour, water, oil, salt, sugar, and yeast) - it is a shaggy dough initially

• Kneed the dough in the bowl until it becomes a smooth ball

• Let this ferment for a few hours at room temperature (it will double in size).  This is really more about flavor than it is about formation of air bubbles.

• Flour a work surface, dump the dough, and then cut it into 4 equal pieces (these should be about 270g each which will make 12 inch diameter pizzas)

• Move the pieces of the dough into the fridge until ready to use
• Mix up a batch of sauce.  I think this makes sense to make a day ahead of use as well and then keep it in the fridge
• When it is time to make the pizza, pre-heat the oven with a pizza stone to 500 F.  Probably want to heat the oven for an hour or so before using
• Form the dough into a rough circle with your fingers

• Then roll out the dough to be roughly 12 inch in diameter with a rolling pin.  The pizza will be about 1/8 inch thick when rolled out.  You want to make it even thickness - I don't put much stock in getting a round pizza but you want it to fit on a round pizza stone.  Move the dough to a pizza peel with corn meal to avoid sticking

• Build the pizza.  Add sauce first (I don't measure but it's a fairly restrained amount of sauce), then dime size pieces of sausage, then add cheese

• Make sure there aren't any sticky spots on the peel - add corn meal where it's sticking.  Ease the pizza onto the pizza stone

• Bake the pizza for 10 min and then check to see how dark it is before deciding how much more time to give it.  In my oven, I typically give it another couple minutes.  The cheese should be browned and the pizza will have burned edges

• Take the pizza out of the oven and let it cool for 5 min
• Cut into 2-3 in rectangles
• It is very good

Margarita Recipe

I really love a Margarita and I found this recipe for making a very simple but really delicious drink.  It uses juice from a freshly squeezed lemon for the flavoring which I think is much better than a pre-made Margarita mix.

It's good with an inexpensive toquilla (at least to my taste) and is nice with varying strengths and levels of sweetness.  Below is a mix that I find very pleasing

Recipe Details:

• 3 oz Taquilla
• 0.75 oz Triple Sec
• 0.75 oz Agave Syrup
• Juice of 1 Lime
• Ice

    I shake the drink

Russian Imperial Stout with Bourbon Soaked Oak - Take IV - Tasting Notes

This is my fourth attempt at brewing a Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout Clone.  I am using a recipe from the brewery - the same one I've used before.  It is a challenging beer to make as the grain bill is more than my mash tun can take and I end up doing 2 mashes on it and then boil for 4 hrs to get down to 6 gal-ish of beer

It started at 1.128 and I had to pitch a second round of super high gravity yeast to get it close to my target of 1.038 (I ended up at 1.042 - although in my bottling I measured it a bit higher than that).  It aged on a large amount of oak that I toasted and then aged with ever clear to attempt to simulate the character of freshly drained bourbon barrel (I didn't think the oak had soaked up as much bourbon as I would have liked so I added some of my extra spirit to try to compensate (perhaps this was a mistake)

I aged the beer up in my attic for more than 3 years before bottling a couple months ago.  The beer hasn't carbonated in that time.

Anyhow, as you'll see, the beer didn't turn out as I'd hoped and is probably a regression from version III.  "You don't learn anything being right" is what I tell myself when drinking this beer.  I'll do a head to head comparison of all my beer to confirm this assessment.  Still I'm happy to drink it as it is not a bad beer even if a bit off the mark

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Chocolate, coffee, and a bit of boozy character and toasted oak which very much blends with the other characters I think - it doesn't smell that much of bourbon.  It is a very aromatic beer though and smells nice.
• Appearance:
• Dark brown - can't see light through it when held up to a lamp.  It pours with just a thin layer of fizz around the edge of the glass that is then gone pretty quickly
• Flavor:
• Chocolate and toasted and roasted flavors up front (once again, for how much oak is in this, some of that toast and roast flavor must be the oak).  Get a hint of booze character in there as well.  Quite sweet on the finish.  It has a bit of bitterness which balances the sweet a bit.  There is a fruitiness in there too and maybe other yeast character  I just don't get much that I would associate with bourbon in this one
• Mouthfeel:
• Full bodied and very sticky on the palate
• Overall:
• This is a rich and flavorful stout.  The boldness of it and the sweetness are lovely but, as a beer intended to imitate BCBS, it is way off the mark.  The other flavors are overpowering any bourbon character it might have and I suspect even if it were more muted there isn't that much of the bourbon character to taste.  I am going to need to think about what when wrong here before my next attempt

English Barleywine (2025 Version) - Tasting Notes

This is my 12th version of an English Barley wine.  It was brewed on Memorial day 2025 and bottled it about 2 months ago now.

This was based on a historical recipe from the Shut Up About Barclay Perkins Blog: 1879 William Younger No. 1.  It is all base malt (Pilsner, Golden Promise, and Munich) and is fairly heavilly hopped and then was dry hopped in a 5 month secondary.  Also, I cultured brett dregs from Orval and pitched these in secondary - this is a very interesting fruity Brett which I was thinking could go well in an English Barleywine.

Lets see how I did

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Fruity ester character is pretty prominent (apple maybe).  Get some toasty and caramel malt character as well.  Some booze.  Maybe get some hop character in there as well.  It's fairly bold in aroma
• Appearance:
• Pours with only a thin wisp of carbonation.  Dark gold in color and very clear
• Flavor:
• Very fruity up front (a bit of an odd character - this is the contribution of the Brett harvested from Orval).  Caramel and toasty malt come next.  The finish has a fairly firm bitterness.  It's lightly sweet.  The slightly funky fruitiness lingers in the finish along with the hop bitterness.  Get some alcohol character.  Not picking up much in the way of hop flavor but it's complex beer with quite a bit going on that could overshadow the hop flavor on a beer that is already 9 months old
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium bodied and only slightly sticky on the palate.  Drinks pretty smooth
• Overall:
• It's an interesting beer with it's fruit forward character - I think the Brett delivers a character very much in line with what you might expect from an English Barleywine.  The malt is nice but is pretty much overshadowed.  I like the level of bitterness in it.  I think it's a reasonably complex beer and it's pretty light and easy drinking for a ~10% ABV beer - hides the alcohol well and is a bit dryer than many I've made in the past.  Also, appearance is the least concern but I think the color is very nice on this beer - I don't think I got the priming sugar evenly distributed when bottling this batch so this one had little carbonation and I may have some surprises opening the later ones 

French Baguette

This is an attempt to make something resembling a classic French Baguette in my home.  These are fairly simple in terms of ingredients and technique I think but figuring out the right way to cook them to get the lovely crisp and chewy crust is a real challenge. 

I have tried making these a few times now and they've come out pretty well so far - I will likely continue to tweak the process and use this post as a record of what I've done.

Attempt #1:

I have chosen to start out with the recipe from King Author - Classic Baguettes.  With some minor adjustments.

This is a 70% hydration dough which is pretty easy to work with (hydration level is the ratio of water to flour) such that the shaping steps are pretty fun

Recipe Details:

• Preferment:
• 120 g of All Purpose Flour
• 120 g of room temperature Spring Water
• 1/8 g of Dry Instant Yeast
• Main dough:
• 420 g of Flour
• 255 g of room temperature Spring Water
• 1.5 tsp of Dry Instant Yeast
• 2 tsp of Table Salt

Process Details:

• Day 1:
• I mixed up the preferment and left it covered to ferment for 16 hours or so.  This is intended ot give the dough some extra fermented flavor as the main dough is a fairly short fermentation with a large amount of yeast

• Day 2:
• Added the main dough ingredients into the preferment and mixed until all the flour is wetted
• Covered and let the dough sit for 15 min before doing stretch and folds of the dough.  With this you pull up a side of the dough and fold it over on itself.  I did 4 of these.  It's all mixed in the container - it is best done with wet hands to minimize sticking.  It starts out pretty shaggy and then gets smoother over time

• Let it ferment for an hour and did another stretch and fold.  The dough becomes stretchier over time which you can tell from doing the stretch and fold.  The working of the dough is intended to make it stronger (although I'm not really sure that it does)
• I fermented it in the container until it had roughly doubled in size which was a few hours maybe (the temperature of the room will play a big part so I think this is a case by case variable)

• I turned the dough out onto a floured work surface and split it into 4 roughly equal pieces.  These make a loaf of the size I would consider to be the "classic" size.  Dividing into 6 equal pieces would make a "sandwich" sized loaf.  On another attempt I divided it up into 2 pieces and that was good too (although the crust to crumb ratio is better with the 4 loaves I think.
• I pre-shaped these by stretching and folding the dough balls into the middle in attempt to give the loaves some initial tension internally (plus gives an excuse to play with the nice dough a bit - it requires little flour and isn't very sticky at all).  I cover this with a towel and let relax and rise a bit while I prepare the oven.  I think you have quite a bit of flexibility at this stage where you can let them rest longer or shorter depending on when you want to bake

• I pre-heated the oven to 475 F and put in a pan of water to create a moist and steamy backing environment.  I believe this is an important step to get the nice chewy crust
• I did batches of two on each baking run.  I did the final shape on two of the loaves which involves folding them in half lengthwise and then rolling them in your hands until you get a long cylindrical piece
• Move the shaped loaves to a cookie sheet and let them do yet another rise for 30 min or so covered by another pan.  The proofing level you want can be tested by pushing a finger into the dough and then watching how the hole pushes back out.  You want it to fill back but do so "slowly"

• Once proofed I sliced the loaves to create the weak point for it to break during the rise

This is it after the 30 min rise - I considered this "proofed"

• I then put them into the oven for 10 min before opening it to turn the sheet (and let out a big wave of steam).  I gave it another 10 min before the color looked good.  I thought the bottom looked a little light so I flipped the loaves and gave them a couple more min

• Let them cool down to room temp before slicing into them

• They are chewy and crusty with a very good flavor.  I feel like I can do better with the crust though.  I plan to refine my process further and will post an Attempt #2 if/when I feel like I've improved on this writeup

Raspberry Wine (2022 Version) - Tasting Notes

This is my fourth version of Raspberry Wine.  For this one I have used 58 lbs of home-grown raspberries and 12 lbs of sugar to ferment which got me about 5 gal of 13% ABV wine.  I used campden tablets to ensure fermentation was halted and back sweetened the wine to 1.025 which balances out the alcohol and tartness of the fruit a bit. 

I bottled this back in January 2024.  I haven't consumed many of these yet even though I've had them for a while.  Excited to be capturing some notes finally. 

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Tart and jammy raspberry along with booze and some fermentation character
• Appearance:
• Dark red (almost purple) and fairly clear when you hold it up to a light
• Flavor:
• Rich fruit flavor up front and then booze hits - it is a fairly mellow alcohol flavor - not hot.  Tart on the finish with just a slight sweetness.  Has a bit of a bitter character as well
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium bodied and only slightly sticky on the pallet.  Maybe a little astringent
• Overall:
• It is a boldly flavored wine with some nice complexity.  The tart and bitter flavors are quite a bit more pronounced than the sweetness on this one so I think it's a bit less drinkable than otherwise - a glass is nice but I can't see reaching for a second in a night

Raspberry Wine (2021 Version) - Tasting Notes

 This was my third version of a Raspberry wine.  I made 5.5 gal of wine using 54 lbs of fruit and 13 lbs of sugar (there was no water added).  I ended up bottling this back in July 2022 so it's been in bottles for over three years now which is hard to believe.

These are tasty but I don't end up reaching for them very often.  I am excited to finally be capturing some tasting notes

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Jammy raspberry with booze and a bit of a funky yeast character
• Appearance:
• Dark red/purple.  Too dark to tell if it is clear
• Flavor:
• Strong raspberry flavor followed by booze.  It has a milt tartness and finishes slightly sweet
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium light bodied and a little sticky on the pallet
• Overall:
• This is a very flavorful and nice drinking wine.  The sweetness balances the fairly firm alcohol presence nicely

Palmier (French Cookie)

Palmier are sugar cookies made from puff pastry which have a really nice flaky, buttery, and caramel sugar flavor.  They are really easy to make and are a lighter and more elegant dessert snack than a typical cookie.  I am making this batch with cinnamon but they are just as good without it

Recipe Details:

• 1 sheet of puff pastery
• ~1/2 cup of sugar
• ~1 TBS of cinnamon 

Process Details:

• Thaw frozen puff pastry

• Roll puff pastry out maybe 25% larger than original proportions 

• Add half the sugar to the top and use rolling pin to press this into the dough

• Flip the dough and add the other half of the sugar - using the rolling pin again to press this into the dough
• Add the cinnamon

• Then fold or roll each half of the dough up at each end until it meets in the middle to form a log shape

• Move the dough log to the fridge for 30 min which will make the next step easier
• Cut the dough into 1/4 inch cookies

• Place the cookies on a parchment lined cookie pan

• Cook in a 425 F oven.  Flip after 8 min and then cook for another 8 min
• Let the cookies cool before eating.  They cool to a crunch texture with caramelized/burnt sugar being part of the flavor component