English Barleywine Vertical Tasting - 2023

It is once again time for my yearly tasting of the English Barleywine I've brewed every Memorial Day starting from 2014.  I have been aging about half of each batch and doing one tasting of these a year to evaluate how they develop with age.  English Barleywine is an ideal style for this as they are high alcohol and sweet with helps them age and they are often malt and yeast ester forward so that they are still richly flavored even after hop character declines with a long aging period.

In general, I think this yearly tasting approach has shown that these beers continue to be very good with a lot of age if not improve.  Read about my previous tastings here:  2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.  I plan to continue this tradition for many years to come.

I have been brewing with quite a few different recopies in my 9 beers so far.  All are focused on the core parts of the style.  Once I got to more than 6 beers I really struggled to do a proper tasting evaluation without getting really drunk and wasting the beer I worked so hard to make and store.  To avoid this I've started doing a score based evaluation of the beers.  I drink one a day blind to the details of how it's made to avoid letting that knowledge interfere with my judgement.  This has allowed me to both savor each beer and to compile some proper tasting notes.  For fun, I also rank the various beers against each other.

Anyhow, I'm excited to get to taste my 9 beers again

Tasting Notes:

• 2015 Version (Beer A)

• Overview:
• 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 (34 of 50):
• Aroma (8 of 12)
• Dark fruit aroma most prominent - has a wine like character and maybe some apple.  Musty character to it - some oxidation maybe.  A bit of caramel malt in there as well.  Smells fairly strong in terms of booze.  Also a bit like a candy sweetness character.  
• Appearance (3 of 3):
• Dark gold and pretty clear.  Poured with a 1 finger head that quickly subsided into nothing.
• Flavor (14 of 20):
• Fruity flavor up front along with a dark caramel and toasted bread flavor.  Get a bit of a hit of alcohol in the middle.  This is followed by a bit of a musty and aged kind of flavor that lingers into the finish.  The finish has a mild bitterness that balances a fairly sweet character.
• Mouthfeel (4 of 5):
• Medium-full bodied and fairly sticky sweet.  There is a bit of a prickly character to the beer.  Has a warming effect.
• Overall (5 of 10):
• A fairly boozy and reasonably complex beer.  It has a fairly pleasing compliment of malt, fruit, and aged flavors.  The flavors aren't particularly bold in this one 

• 2022 Version (Beer B)

• Overview:
• Based on a historical recipe for 1954 Tennant's Gold Label.  This is the same recipe used for the 2021 version
• Used Marris Otter, 5 lbs of Corn (which is quite interesting) and 2.5 lbs of Invert #1
• Primary fermented with Whitbread Ale Yeast (Wyeast 1099) which is the Tennant strain
• Secondary ferment with Brett Anomalus (WLP 640) which is a "Yeast Vault" product which was isolated from historical English beers and thought to be prevalent in a beer meant to be aged (like this one)
• This started at 1.110 and ended at 1.020 (Brett took it down from 1.030) for an ABV of 12% ABV
• Tasting Notes (39 of 50):
• Aroma (7 of 12):
• Fruity ester character is dominant.  I'd say it's kind of tropical fruit and maybe peach.  I get a bit of caramel in the background.  Maybe a bit of oak in there too.  Some booze as well and maybe some hop character
• Appearance (2 of 3):
• Copper color and very clear.  Pours with a 2 finger head that fades down to a thin ring pretty quickly
• Flavor (17 of 20):
• Fruity ester character followed by nice caramel malt and lightly toasted bread.  There is an herbal hop flavor in there as well.  The finish has a medium bitterness which is balanced by rich malt flavor with a light sweetness.  A bit of alcohol character to it but it hides it pretty well
• Mouthfeel (5 of 5):
• Medium bodied and only a little bit sticky on the palate.  It drinks very smoothly.  Noticeable alcohol warming.
• Overall (8 of 10):
• Rich and bold flavors in this beer.  I has a great deal of complexity between yeast, malt, and hop character.  I really like the fairly firm bitterness in this one and the balance it achieves.

• 2016 Version (Beer C)

• 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 (37 of 50):
• Aroma (7 of 12):
• A bit of dark, overripe fruit along with a musty aged beer character.  Get a bit of alcohol and some caramel malt
• Appearance (3 of 3):
• Redish brown in color and very clear.  Poured with a 2 finger head which fades down to a thin ring quickly.  Continues to send up cascading bubbles for some time after the pour.
• Flavor (16 of 20):
• Bready malt and dark caramel up front.  A little bit of fruit in there but its fairly subdued.  There is also a bit of chocolate flavor in there.  Maybe some herbal hop too.  It finishes with a medium bitterness that is balanced by a slight sweetness.  Maybe getting a bit of oak in there too.
• Mouthfeel (4 of 5):
• Medium-full bodied and just a bit of stickiness on the palate.  Has a slight astringency.  Pretty drinkable for a big beer.
• Overall (7 of 10):
• It's a boldly flavored beer with good complexity.  Malt is the star of the show with this one with hops coming in second and fruity yeast ester a fairly distant third.  It's a nice beer

• 2018 Version (Beer D)

• Overview:
• Brewed using a historical recipe for Eldridge Pope's Hardy's Ale from the Shut Up about Barclay Perkins Blog
• Used a mix of 2 Row and Maris otter, 3.5 lbs of Flaked wheat, and 1.5 lb of crystal
• Used Nottingham yeast and, per instruction, allowed it to ferment in the 70s.  It was an agressive fermentation which produced a very strong and estery aroma.  The beer didn't turn out to be overly estery fortunately.
• Fermented out to 1.030 from 1.105 for an ABV of 10-11%
• This was the most aggressively hopped beer so far (7.5 oz of low alpha acid English hop in the boil) with an IBU target of 84.  Was very bitter just after fermentation but this had settled to a nice balance after 6 months of aging.
• Tasting Notes (37 of 50):
• Aroma (7 of 12):
• Some fruit and an almost spicy character (almost like candy).  Booze.  A bit of caramel malt in there as well.  
• Appearance (3 of 3):
• Dark brown and very clear.  It pours with a 2 finger head that lingers as a thin layer for several minutes
• Flavor (16 of 20):
• A little fruit up front followed by dark caramel and toasted bread.  Maybe a bit of graham cracker in there as well.  It has a boozy kick in the middle.  The finish has a medium bitterness which lingers and is balanced by a rich malt flavor with just a hint of sweetness.
• Mouthfeel (4 of 5):
• Medium bodied with just a slightly sticky mouthfeel  Has a very slight astringency.  Slight alcohol warming
• Overall (7 of 10):
• This is a fairly complex beer with a mostly malt forward character.  Flavors are pretty bold.  I enjoy the balance of it with some hop bitterness remaining.  Tastes like a very strong beer.

• 2019 Version (Beer E)

• Overview:
• Brewed using a historical recipe for Eldridge Pope's Hardy's Ale from the Shut Up about Barclay Perkins Blog
• Used a mix of 2 Row and Maris otter, 4.5 lbs of Flaked wheat, and 1.5 lb of crystal
• Used WLP 099 Super High Gravity which is supposed to be Eldridge Pope's house strain
• Fermented from 1.120 to 1.010 which is a crazy 16% ABV
• Hopped with 8.5 oz of Fuggle
• Aged with 1 oz Cabernet soaked Toasted Oak
• Tasting Notes (40 of 50):
• Aroma (7 of 12):
• Light fruit flavor - overripe dark fruit and maybe apple.  Musty.  A bit of caramel malt and maybe some toasted malt in there as well
• Appearance (3 of 3):
• Copper colored and very clear.  Pours with a 1 finger head that fades down to a thin ring after a few minutes
• Flavor (17 of 20):
• Fruity up front followed by a rich dark caramel and toasted bread flavor.  The finish has a medium bitterness and a firm and bold malt flavor which lingers.  It's lightly sweet in the finish.  It also has a chocolate kind of character to it.  A bit of booze in the flavor profile as well.
• Mouthfeel (5 of 5):
• Medium full bodied and a bit sticky.  Drinks very smoothly
• Overall (8 of 10):
• This is a nice boldly flavored beer with pretty good complexity.  It has a nice balance between fruity and malt flavors (and leans a bit more towards the malt).  Has a nice bitterness which balances the finish nicely.

• 2021 Version (Beer F)

• 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 (38 of 50):
• Aroma (7 of 12):
• Fruity aroma is prominent - musty and overripe dark fruit.  Has a wine-like character
• Appearance (2 of 3):
• Golden and a little cloudy.  Pours with a 1 finger head that lingers around for quite a bit
• Flavor (17 of 20):
• Fruity up front with a bold dark caramel malt character.  Also has a chocolate like flavor.  There is a bit of grassy and herbal hop flavor in there as well.  Fairly firm hop bitterness is balanced by a fairly sweet finish.  A bit of booze but it's well hidden  
• Mouthfeel (4 of 5):
• Full bodied and a bit sticky on the palate.  Has a slight astringency and noticable warming effect
• Overall (8 of 10):
• Really nice bold flavors in this one along with a high level of complexity.  I like the bitterness and the balance it brings.  Makes it easy to drink for as sweet as it is.

• 2020 Version (Beer G)

• 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 (39 of 50):
• Aroma (8 of 12):
• Caramel malt and toasted bread.  A bit of mustiness.  Wine like character.  Some fruity notes - raisin maybe
• Appearance (2 of 3):
• Reddish brown and very clear.  Pours with a thin layer of foam that quickly dissipates to nothing
• Flavor (16 of 20):
• A mix of fruit and malt up front.  The finish is slightly sweet with just the faintest bit of bitterness.  It has a dark caramel and chocolate flavor that lingers in the after taste
• Mouthfeel (5 of 5):
• Full bodied and a little sticky.  Smooth drinking
• Overall (8 of 10):
• This is a pretty complex beer with malt character being primary and fruit secondary.  Flavor and aroma are pretty bold and rich

• 2014 Plain Version (Beer H)

• 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 (40 of 50):
• Aroma (10 of 12):
• Fruity (raisin and apple maybe) along with a musty character.  Wine like.  Some caramel malt in there as well.  Has a bit of a spicy character as well and a candy like sweetness.  Pretty bold aroma.
• Appearance (2 of 3):
• Reddish brown in color and clear.  Pours with very slight bubbling that fades immediately.
• Flavor (16 of 20):
• Fruity and caramel malt up front.  Also has something like a maple syrup flavor.  There is a mustiness in the flavor.  Get a bit of booze in there as well.  Only the tiniest bit of bitterness to it.  The malty and musty flavors linger on the finish.
• Mouthfeel (4 of 5):
• Medium bodied and only lightly sweet.  It has a slight astringency.  Noticeable warming alcohol.
• Overall (8 of 10):
• Complex and bold flavors in this one.  This is an enjoyable beer to drink.

• 2017 Version (Beer I)

• 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 (42 of 50):
• Aroma (9 of 12):
• Fruity and oaky.  Also has a bit of a mineral character.  Also get a bit of caramel malt.  Has a musty character
• Appearance (3 of 3):
• Dark gold in color and very clear.  Pours with a 2 finger head that quickly fades down to nothing
• Flavor (18 of 20):
• Fruity up front followed by a strong dark caramel flavor.  Has a chocolate note to it.  Has some herbal hop flavor and a medium bitterness.  The finish has a nice balance between bitter and sweet malt character.
• Mouthfeel (4 of 5):
• Medium-full bodied and a bit sticky on the palate.  Smooth drinking.
• Overall (8 of 10):
• Very bold flavors in this one and a good amount of complexity in the interplay between malt, fruit, and hop character.  This one is very nice to drink.

So, the rankings this year are as follows:

• 2017 (42)
• 2014 (40)
• 2019 (40)
• 2020 (39)
• 2022 (39)
• 2021 (38)
• 2016 (37)
• 2018 (37)
• 2015 (34)

So, 2017, which was the lowest scoring beer last time, gets the high score this time and 2015, which got a respectable 38 from me last time gets a 34 this time.  The first beer got my lowest score and the last beer got the highest score (maybe my scoring approach wasn't good this time or maybe it was bad last time) - 2017 tasted damn good is all I can say.  Anyhow, this is one more data point and that's all.  

This was a very enjoyable 9 days

English Barleywine (2022 Version) - Tasting Notes

These are tasting notes from my ninth attempt at an English Barleywine.  I brewed this on Memorial Day 2022 based on a historical recipe from the Shut Up About Barclay Perkins Blog.  This beer underwent a a 9 month secondary fermentation with WLP 640 - Brett Anomalus which was isolated from English beers and thought to be a contributor to the original beer this recipe was based on (Tennant's Gold Label).  My 2021 batch used this recipe as well but without the Brett so it will be interesting to see how the two compare.

It has been in the bottle for about a month and a half now and tasting great.  Time to do an official testing.

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• A fruity character is most prominent - it is a sort of musty and maybe somewhat tropical fruit flavor - very interesting.  This is the Brett based on the smell of the culture at pitching.  In the background I get a bit of caramel and bready malt.  Maybe a bit of booze in there as well.  Also so oak character.
• Appearance:
• Pours with 1 finger of head that quickly disappears down to nothing.  It is a dark copper color and is pretty clear.
• Flavor:
• Up front there is a fruit-like flavor this fades into a bready caramel flavor.  There is a bit of herbal hop flavor in there as well as an oaky and wine like character (some of it is sort of reminiscent of coconut even).  The finish has a medium-light bitterness that offers some balance to the slightly sweet malty flavors - these linger quite some time after the sip.  A bit of booze flavor in there as well but it's hidden behind the other flavors
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium bodied and slightly sticky on the palate.  A little bit of astringency on the palate and a slight alcohol warming effect
• Overall:
• This is a rich, boldly flavored, and complex beer.  The fruit character is different than any I've gotten from a traditional English yeast.  The yeast and malt flavors get along very nicely in this beer.  It is a strong beer but it's easy to drink due to the balance provided by the hop bitterness that remains almost a year after brewing

Sour Cherry Crop - 2023

 This post will track the continued maturation of my 4 North Star Dwarf Sour Cherry trees over their 4th season (read about Season 1, Season 2, and Season 3).  I've never felt like I was very good with plants so it has been a real pleasure to watch these trees grow from twigs to be 8-10 feet tall on my watch.

I got about about 2 lbs of fruit last year - enough to get a good sense for the quality of the fruit.  They are very dark and seem to me to have quite a bit more rich cherry flavor than the more famous Montmorency Sour Cherry.  Here in the fourth year I stand to get a lot more than that (maybe enough to make a beer out of).  I didn't do any trimming this winter - I'll have to keep my eye out with any problematic growth

They should continue to grow stronger this year if I treat them right - looking forward to watching this happen.

6/2/23

5/20/23

4/17/23

Growing Notes:

• 4/16/23:  Cleared away the weeds from the trunks of the trees.  Have a lot of flowers this year.  Even without fruit the trees are worth having for how they make for a very beautify yard picture:

• 6/7/23 - I've been picking for the last few days and there is a lot more to go
• 6/30/23 - The fruit is just about done.  Ended up collecting 8 1 gal freezer bags worth which weigh 39 lbs

Raspberry Crop - 2023

We are headed into the seventh growing season for my large raspberry beds (read about the 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 crops).  The plants have been putting a lot of growth over the last few weeks and (as of Mid-April) are off to a strong start.

Last year was a bit of a down year in terms of volume (only got 50lb rather than the 80-100 I had previously).  This was largely due to one of the rows (Prelude) not having as many runners as previous years.  I put in some new canes and these look much stronger this year.

I'm excited to see how they do this year and am still very much enjoying this project (even though I have more fruit than I have the time to use).

I will post a photo update every couple week to a month to record my progress:

6/2/23

5/20/23

4/16/23

Raspberry Picking Tracker:

• 6/7 - 1 lb 1 oz
• 6/8 - 1 lb 2 oz
• 6/9 - 1 lb 2 oz
• 6/10 - 1 lb 1 oz
• 6/11 - 14 oz
• 6/13 - 1 lb 8 oz
• 6/14 - 1 lb
• 6/15 - 1 lb 6 oz
• 6/16 - 1 lb 11 oz
• 6/17 - 1 lb 6 oz
• 6/18 - 1 lb 2 oz
• 6/19 - 1 lb
• 6/20 - 14 oz
• 6/22 - 1 lb 6 oz
• 6/24 - 2 lb 15 oz
• 6/26 - 2 lb 2 oz
• 6/27 - 1 lb
• 6/28 - 14 oz
• 6/30 - 1 lb 1 oz
• 7/1 - 13 oz
• 7/6 - 5 oz

• Total:  25 lb 11 oz

Pliny the Elder Clone

 Back in 2016 I attempted to brew up a clone of Russian River's famous Pliny the Elder.  The beer turned out to be dark, murky, and didn't carbonate.  It tasted pretty good but was clearly not a very well made beer.  I'd like to think I've come a long way since then so I've decided to try making this again.

This recipe will be based on one that the Vinnie (the owner of RR) provided - found on the Bertus Blog.  Below is my interpretation of the recipe (which is all in percentages).  The grain bill is pretty simple with just a touch of caramel malt (which is about 25% of what we had last time which should help with the color) and some sugar to create a dryer and lighter bodied beer.  The hops are the star of the show - this recipe has a pretty big dose of flame out hops (although maybe not that high compared with the hazy beers being made today) and I've opted to dry hop with 8 oz which should create a satisfyingly hoppy Double IPA

I'm diverging a bit from the recipe by using Imperial's Juice yeast but it's contributions will be pretty subtle in a beer this hoppy.

I haven't brewed a Double IPA since making this beer previously.  They had been very popular back in the early 2010s but seemed to have diminished in popularity quite a bit since then.  Pliny the Elder was a very difficult beer to get back then as well but these days you can find if fairly regularly on tap here in SEPA as well as in Norther California some 90 miles away from the Brewery (which wasn't the case just a couple years ago).  It is still an excellent beer having had it just last week - I'm excited to drink a keg worth of a (hopefully) close approximation of it.

Recipe Details:

• Grain/Adjunct:
• 14.5 lbs Pale Ale
• 4 oz Crystal 60L
• 12 oz Sugar
• 4 oz Acid Malt
• Hops:
• 2 oz Chinook (Leaf, 12.2% AA) at 60 min
• 1 oz Simcoe (Leaf, 10.6% AA) at 30 min
• 1 Cascade (home grown) at 0 min
• 0.8 Centennial (Leaf, 8.7% AA) at 0 min
• 0.8 Amarillo (Leaf, 8.8% AA) at 0 min
• 0.8 Simcoe (Leaf, 10.6% AA) at 0 min
• 3.3 oz Simcoe (Leaf, 10.6% AA) Dry Hop
• 2.6 oz Cascade (home grown) Dry Hop
• 1.4 oz Columbus (Leaf, 14.6% AA) Dry Hop
• 0.7 oz Amarillo (Leaf, 8.8% AA) Dry Hop
• Yeast:
• Imperial Yeast A38 Juice (Using a saved yeast from last year)
• Extras:
• 13 gal Spring Water
• 1 oz CaCl
• 1 oz Gypsum
• 1 oz Irish Moss at 15 min

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 6 gal (Target 6 gal)
• Mash Temp:
• 154 for 50 min
• Boil:
• 60 min (Target 60 min)
• Fermentation Temperature:
• Mid 60s (Ambient Basement Temp)
• Primary Duration:
• 3 Weeks
• Secondary Duration:
• NA

Results:

• OG:
• 1.072 (Target 1.070)
• Efficiency:
• 75% (Target 73%)
• FG:
• 1.024 (Target 1.010)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• 65% (Target 85%)
• ABV:
• 6.3% (Target 7.9%)

Brewing Notes:

• 3/25/23 - Setup a yeast starter for the beer.  I wanted to see yeast activity to confirm it was a healthy pitch so I didn't put it on the stir plate this time.
• 3/26/23 - Brewday - 10:30 AM to 3:00 PM - Including setup and cleanup
• Heated 11 gal of spring water up to 180 F
• Milled my grain.  Added CaCl an Gypsum so I wouldn't forget

• Moved 6 gal of strike water into the mash tun and cycled through the RIMS until the system had settled out at 164 F
• Stopped the RIMS cycle and added the grain.  Stirred well to eliminate doughballs.  Let this sit for 10 min to settle (ended at 155 F).  Cycled the RIMS at 155 F for the next 50 min
• Heated 8 gal of spring water to 180 F for the sparge
• Fly sparged until 8 gal of wort was collected.  Started heating the boil kettle after collecting 4 gal.  Had it at a boil shortly after the end of the sparge
• Boiled for 60 min
• Added the bittering hops

• Added 30 min hops
• Added sugar with 20 min left
• Added Irish Moss at 15 min
• Put in the wort chiller to sanitize with 5 min to go
• Added the zero min hops
• Left the heat on low and chilled down to 190 F
• Let the hops steep for 30 min as the temperature settled down to 170 F
• Chilled the beer down to the mid 60s
• Drained the wort into the fermenter.  Added the yeast starter during the transfer

• Measured the gravity as 1.072 and collected 6 gal of wort
• 3/27/23 - Signs of fermentation being underway by this afternoon
• 4/10/23 - It has been a couple weeks since brewday.  I'm adding the dry hop addition now and will plan to keg in a week
• 4/13/23 - Checked the gravity today and found it has only fermented down to 1.032 when I'd targeted 1.010.  I guess my aged yeast just didn't have enough vitality to do the job.  I wish I'd checked this before adding the dry hop.  Anyway, I think I'll pitch some additional yeast to try to finish the job (WLP 99)
• 4/14/23 - When I went to add the extra yeast today I found krausen still on the surface of the beer.  The gravity was down to 1.026.  I'm going to give it a few more days and will check the gravity again.
• 4/24/23 - It seemed to settle at 1.024 which I'm calling "close enough". Chilled the beer down to 35 F and added gelatin to fine the beer
• 4/28/23 - Kegged the beer - still at 1.024.
• 6/24/23 - Tasting Notes - This is a boldly flavored hop forward beer.  I think the hop aroma and flavor have subsided a little bit over the almost 2 months I've had it in the keg but it's still plenty hoppy.  The haziness isn't an intentional trait here but it does look nice (if this weren't intended to be a clone of the clear Pliny).  This was intended to be a 7.9% ABV beer and I only managed to hit 6.3% but this is still a pretty strong beer - I like drinking it but it's not a beer to do 2 of on a week night.

French Style Pork Loin Pot Roast

This is one of my favorite Recipes from America's Test Kitchen.  I've made quite a few times and always have some trouble finding it so I thought I'd capture it here for posterity.

This recipe uses a fairly elaborate process to make a pretty boring and unflavorful cut of meet (a pork loin) rich and delicious.  Note, I said pork loin which is different than a pork tenderloin.  It is a cut with a fat cap but very little intermuscular fat.  Apparently a French Pork Loin has a bit more fat.  To try to approximate a French grown pork loin this recipe butterflies the roast which sort of unrolls a log shaped roast down down to a thin flat piece of meat, adds butter to increase the richness, and then rolls it back up into the log shape.  This also allows for more surface area for seasoning the meat.  It is a really great technique.

The recipe also focuses on a spice I haven't encountered much but which is really excellent:  Herbs de Provence.  They provide an amazing aroma and flavor that really go nicely with the pork, onions, apples and garlic which make up the rest of the recipe and really enhance the cooking process while they fill the kitchen with the wonderful smell.

As you'll see below, the process is complicated but it's worth the effort.  There are a few challenging steps but for the most part it's just waiting for it to slowly cook that is difficult.  It's a great meal that nig

Ingredients:

• 2.5 lbs Center Cut Pork Loin

• 6 Cloves of Garlic
• 2 tbs Butter
• 1 tbs salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp Herbs de Provence
• 2 tbs Olive Oil
• 1 Granny Smith Apple Pealed Cored and cut into 1/4 in pieces
• 1 Onion chopped fine
• 2 tsp thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/3 cups of Sauvignon Blanc
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1 tbs unflavored gelatin

Process Details:

• 1/22/23:
• Pre-heated the oven to 225 F and set the rack to the lower middle position
• Sliced the garlic thin and put about three cloves worth in a pan on medium-low with 1 tbs of butter.  Cooked this until golden brown.  Once at this stage I poured the garlic and butter to a small bowl which I moved to the fridge to solidify

• With the fat side up I butterflied the pork roast out to a flat piece.  I started 1/3rd of the way up from the bottom, sliced through, parallel to the cutting board, until about an inch from the other side of the roast and then cut the remaining 2/3 side of the roast roughly in half so that it was unrolled (or unfolded like a business letter).  It doesn't need to be perfect but don't slice all the way through the meat

• I then pounded the meat to an even thickness

• Then applied 1/2 tsp of salt to both sides of the meat, 1 tsp of sugar to the inside (side without the fat), and then the garlic and butter mixture to the inside

• The meat is then rolled up  and tied with kitchen twine spaced about 1 in apart

• Herbs de Provence are sprinkle on all sides of the roast at this point

• I then heated 1 tbs of oil in my Dutch oven on medium heat and cooked the roast on the fat side and the two sides until they were each brown (the roast will sit on the bottom during the long slow roasting step so it doesn't need to be browned separately.  Remove the roast to a separate plate after the browning

• Chopped the apple and onion

• Add an additional 1 tbs of oil to the Dutch oven and then cook the onion and apple until the onion is softened (5 min or so).  Then add the garlic and cook for 30 s.  Then stir in the wine thyme and bay leaf

• Added the roast back onto the pot, covered with foil and the lid (to try to better retain moisture) and put into the oven.  Cooked until the meat registered 140 F which took about an hr

• Once cooking complete I set the roast aside tented to rest for 20 min

• Removed the bay leaf from the pot
• To make a sauce I rehydrated the gelatin in chicken stock and then added to the pot along with 1 tbs of butter.  Simmered over medium heat during this.  Added salt and pepper to the sauce for taste

• Sliced the meat and served with a generous helping of the sauce

Raspberry Mead

This will be my fourth attempt at making a mead.  I've made a Spiced Mead, a Bochet (Burnt Honey Mead), and a Braggot (Mead with some Grain derived sugar) so far.  This time I will be attempting a Mead with Fruit which is also known as a Melomel.  I will be using frozen raspberries grown in my garden last year for this.

I've decided to try 3 lbs of rasberries for this one.  I'm going to make a syrup out of it so I don't have deal with fruit solids.  I think this should be a good combo.

I made something close to a 2 gal batch of mead which seems like a good size as honey in larger amounts would get pricy and it is easy enough to make that the volume produced to hrs of work ratio is still pretty good.

It has been over 3 years since I made a mead which is hard to believe.  I look forward to going through this process again

Recipe Details:

• 7 lbs of Honey

• 3 lbs of Raspberry

• 8 oz of sugar
• 1.5 gal spring water
•  0.25 tsp Yeast Nutrient
• Red Star Premier Cuvee Yeast

Results:

• OG:
• 1.139
• FG:
• TBD
• Apparent Attenuation:
• TBD
• ABV:
• TBD

Process/Notes:

• 2/26/23 - Brewday:
• Heated 3 lbs of frozen raspberries and 8 oz of sugar in a pot until the juice had been released and the fruit had degraded down to paste
• Separated the juice and fruit solids, using a metal sieve, into the fermenter

• Added the honey to the fermenter.  Heated some of the water to boiling and added to the honey containers to get all of it out

• Put in the yeast nutrient
• Added the remaining water.  Stirred well to mix everything

• Rehydrated the dry yeast and added it to the fermenter

• Set the fermenter up in a dark corner of the basement to ferment out