English Barleywine Vertical Tasting - 2022

Since 2014 I have been brewing an English Barleywine on Memorial Day.  I've used quite a few different recipes for my 8 beers so far.  This is a wonderful style of beer for aging since they are typically strong and sweet which helps preserve them.  I have settled into a pattern where I drink half the batch the year it's brewed and then hold the second half for long term aging.  I will drink 1 beer each years a part of an annual vertical tasting to evaluate their development and to compare the various beers.  This post will detail my most recent tasting (read about my previous vertical tastings:  2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, and 2021)

I have 8 beers currently aging.  I started out tasting each beer at the same time but over the last couple years I've begun to really struggle to do that many beers justice in one sitting (these are, by design, heavy and strong beers after all).  Last year I even resorted to spitting out the beer so I didn't get really drunk in the process.  After that I realized the the primary purpose of the tastings, which is to enjoy these beers, had been lost in the shuffle.  This year I've decided to drink one of these a day blindly (with help from my wife), in a random order (thus, the letters), and evaluate them via the Beer Judge Certification Program scoring system.  I'm not a trained or experience beer judge by any any means but I feel like I did my beers pretty good justice in the scoring.

Anyway, this has been a very pleasant week savoring some really delicious beers.  Doing this Vertical Tasting justifies the work I'm doing with the beers and makes me excited to brew a new one this year.

Vertical Tasting:

• 2018 Version (Beer A):

• 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.
• Aged the beer on 2 oz of boiled and toasted oak
• Tasting Notes (36 of 50):
• Aroma (7 of 12):
• Boozy aroma most prominent.   Has some caramel and some overripe fruit like yeast character.  Maybe get a bit of toasty bread in there too.  Has kind of a musty character.  Not picking up on any hops in it.  
• Appearance (3 of 3):
• Pours with 1 finger head that fades down to a thin layer after a couple minutes.  Reddish brown and pretty clear.
• Flavor (15 of 20):
• Toasted bread and dark/burnt caramel flavors up front.  Get a wave of alcohol character in there up front too.  After that first wave a bit of fruit character comes through - apple maybe.  The finish is mostly dark toasty malt flavor with a bit of fruity malt.  There is a mild but fairly deep bitterness to it still on the finish as well.  It's pretty well balanced actually.
• Mouthfeel (4 of 5):
• Medium bodied and slightly sweet.  Coats the mouth and leaves a sticky sensation.  Smooth drinking with a noticeable alcohol warming
• Overall: (7 of 10):
• This is fairly boldly flavored beer with a pretty good level of complexity.  It has a pleasant and rich malt character that I really like.  The fruity esters are more mild and a little strange but not bad at all.  It is pretty easy to drink with a fairly firm hop bitterness which balances the beer nicely - something that feels more like drinking than sipping.

• 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 (39 of 50):
• Aroma (8 of 12):
• Caramel, brown sugar, and toasted bread along with a musty and lightly fruity character.  Get a bit of alcohol coming through as well
• Appearance (3 of 3):
• Pours with a 3 finger head that fades down to a thin layer after a few minutes.  Leaves lacing on the glass.  Dark reddish brown in color and pretty clear.
• Flavor (16 of 20):
• Rich, toasted bread and dark caramel malt flavors.  May have a note of chocolate in there too.  The malt flavor lingers into the finish with a bit of sweetness and is balanced by a medium-light bitterness.  There is a slight bit of fruity character in the lingering in the finish but pretty light.  I may be getting a bit of herbal hop flavor in there as well.  Alcohol is pretty well hidden.  Maybe some oak in there too as I get a bit of vanilla.
• Mouthfeel (4 of 5):
• Medium-full bodied and slightly sticky sweet.  Drinks very smoothly
• Overall (8 of 10):
• This beer has a really lovely and rich malt character.  I think it's very complex and interesting to drink.  I like the kick of hop bitterness it has well which gives it a good balance and makes it easy drinking

• 2017 Version (Beer C):

• 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 (31 of 50):
• Aroma (6 of 12):
• Fruit is most prominent on the nose - raisin maybe.  Has a bit of a musty character as well.  Can smell the booze.  Get a bit of bready malt character in there as well and maybe some caramel.  Smells a bit like BBQ sauce.
• Appearance (2 of 3):
• Dark gold in color and very clear.  Pours with a 2 finger head that quickly fades down to nothing
• Flavor (14 of 20):
• Fruity ester flavor up front.  A bit of bready malt in the finish along with a pretty firm bitter kick.  The ester also lingers into the finish a fair amount.  There is a definite bit of boozy character in there as well.  Maybe get a bit of chocolate in there as well.
• Mouthfeel (3 of 5);
• Medium bodied and slightly sweet.  Maybe a little bit astringent
• Overall (6 of 10):
• A very fruit ester forward beer - it is a bit of strange ester character.  Bold in character.  Not a lot of malt character comes through in the beer so I would say it's not all that complex.  The hop bitterness on the finish is nice - makes this easy to drink.

• 2021 Version (Beer D):

• 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 (39 of 50):
• Aroma (7 of 12):
• Fruity with a sweet malty aroma.  Maybe a bit wine like.  Got a fair amount of alcohol on the nose
• Appearance (3 of 3):
• Reddish gold in color.  Pours with a 1 finger head that fairly quickly fades down to nothing.  Very clear.
• Flavor (16 of 20):
• Sweet bread malt and caramel up front.  This is followed by a nice bit of fruity ester character.  The finish has a bit of bitter kick that provides some balance to go along with the sweet malty character.  There is a bit of alcohol in the flavor as well but it's not harsh at all.  I don't think I'm getting any hop flavor in this one.
• Mouthfeel (5 of 5):
• Medium-full bodied and fairly sweet.  Drinks very smoothly.  Has a bit of alcohol warming.
• Overall (8 of 10):
• A boldly flavored and fairly sweet Barleywine.  Has a fairly simple malt profile and a restrained fruity character so not the most complex beer.  I do think it's delicious and very drinkable

• 2014 Plain Version (Beer E):

• 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
• I aged half the beer on oak that had been soaked in Brandy.  I tasted the brandy one last year so this year I'll do the plain
• Tasting Notes (40 of 50):
• Aroma (9 of 12):
• Rich fruity aroma most prominent.  Smells a bit like a wine.  Also get some caramel and sweet malt in there along with brown sugar.  Some booze in the mix as well.  Don't really get any hops.  A very nice smelling beer.
• Appearance (2 of 3):
• Red in color and pretty clear.  Pours with a small amount of head that quickly fades to nothing.
• Flavor (17 of 20):
• Fruity flavor up front which fades into some toasty and bready malt along with caramel and maybe even a chocolate note.  The finish is fairly dry but has a nice crisp malty flavor.  There is a slight hop bitterness to it.
• Mouthfeel (4 of 5):
• Medium bodied and fairly dry - just a bit of sweetness to it.  It's very smooth.  A bit of alcohol heat to it.
• Overall (8 of 10):
• This is a bold and complex beer.  It has a very nice fruit character (although I'm not sure exactly what fruit it resembles) and a really satisfying bold set of malt flavors.  It's fairly easy to drink but it's also a very nice sipping beer.

• 2019 Versions (Beer F):

• 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 (36 of 50):
• Aroma (7 of 12):
• A bit boozy with an unusual fruity ester character.  Also get a fair bit of bready, toasty malt and caramel.  I think I also smell some oak in there.  I don't really pick out any hops here.
• Appearance (2 of 3):
• Dark red and very clear.  Pours with a 1 finger head that quickly dissipates to nothing
• Flavor (16 of 20);
• Sweet bready malt up front along with a dark caramel flavor.  In the middle I get a wave of booze along with some fruity ester character.  The finish has a fairly assertive bitterness which a bit more agressive than the malt flavors.  I may get a bit of herbal hop character in there as well
• Mouthfeel (4 of 5):
• Medium-full bodied and slightly sweet.  Drinks with just a bit of astringency.  Has an alcohol warming effect
• Overall (7 of 10):
• This is strongly flavored beer with a nice level of complexity.  Has a slant towards strong malt character with a more restrained fruity ester character.  Quite a boozy beer which is nice in a Barleywine of course.  I really like the bitterness to it as well.

• 2016 Version (Beer G):

• 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 (40 of 50):
• Aroma (9 of 12):
• Booze along with some sweet toasted malt and caramel.  A little bit of fruit in there as well.  Get a bit of wine-like character and some oak.  Maybe get a bit of herbal hop in there as well.
• Appearance (3 of 3):
• Brownish red in color and very clear.  Pours with a 1 finger head that quickly fades to a thin ring.  Bubbles continue to cascade up
• Flavor (16 of 20):
• Boozy up front along with some dark caramel and toasted malt flavors.  Maybe get something like chocolate in there as well.  Slight bit of fruity ester in there.  There is a fairly assertive bitterness in the finish along with more booze and a nice lingering malt flavor.  Get a little bit of grassy and herbal hops in the mix as well.
• Mouthfeel (4 of 5):
• Medium full bodied and slightly sweet.  There is a warming sensation on the palate.  A little bit of astringency that prickles the back of the throat.
• Overall (8 of 10):
• Big bold flavors in this one.  Quite boozy.  It's got a good amount of complexity - mostly focused on depth of malt flavor and not a whole lot of fruit.

• 2015 Version (Beer H):

• Overview:
• Brewed with Maris Otter, Vienna Malt and down to 2 lbs of Crystal.  Still 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 (38 of 50):
• Aroma (7 of 12):
• Fruity ester along with a bit of booze most prominent.  Get a bit of bready malt in there as well along with some caramel.  Not picking up any hop.  Maybe get some oak as well.
• Appearance (2 of 3):
• Pours with a 1 finger head that quickly fades to nothing.  Reddish brown in color and clear
• Flavor (16 of 20):
• Some sweet malt up front - bready, toasty and caramel flavors.  This is followed by a hit of booze.  There is a fair amount of fruit in the middle.  The finish is fairly bitter.  This balances the sweet malt in the finish pretty nicely.  I get some herbal and grassy hop flavor in this one.
• Mouthfeel (5 of 5):
• Fully bodied and a bit sweet.  Got a pretty smooth mouthfeel and leaves a bit of a warming sensation
• Overall (8 of 10):
• This beer has bold aroma and flavor and a pretty nice level of complexity.  It is mostly malt focused but has a bit of fruitiness.  It seems very boozy which isn't a bad thing for a Barleywine.  I like the balance of it with some pretty good bitterness to go along with the fairly sweet beer.

I could have confidently guessed on some of these but, for the most part, I was largely unsure about what I was drinking.  I feel like doing these blindly enriched the experience quite a bit.

2022 Rankings:

• 2014 (40)
• 2016 (40)
• 2020 (39)
• 2021 (39)
• 2015 (38)
• 2018 (36)
• 2019 (36)
• 2017 (31)

So, compared with last year, I still think that the 2014 (my first attempt at the style) is a very good beer (tied for first) and that my odd experimental beer (2017) with pilsner, wheat, and rum raisin is the weakest of the group.  The other beers have shifted around in the order quite a bit but with all getting pretty good scores   The biggest mover of them all was the 2016 version featuring Double Roasted Crystal malt which went from second to last to tied for first.  I had no idea which one this was during the tasting.  I plan to repeat this tasting method next year and will be interested to see how things play out.

Raspberry Sour Blonde (2019) - Tasting Notes

This is my second attempt at a Raspberry Sour Blonde which is an attempt to create a Framboise Lambic.  I have a very large raspberry patch which gets me about 100 lbs of fruit per year.  Based on this, I can afford to be very heavy handed with Raspberries.  I aged this beer with 20 lbs of fruit.

This is a beer I blended up using 5 Sour Blonde which I'd been aging for various amounts of time (from 1-4 years at that point).  I have 12 fermentor (read about the tasting) and I chose the more mild beers to use in this blend to try to avoid an excessively sour product.  I also back sweetened and then bottle pasteurized to retain a bit of sweetness which balances the acidity.

This is a beer that I blended in October 2019 and then bottled in May 2019.  I can't believe it's been so long ago now.  Happy to finally be getting around to a tasting.

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Strong and rich raspberry aroma most prominent.  Get a bit of musty and earthy brett character in the background as well
• Appearance:
• Pours with a thin layer of foam that disappears almost immediately.  The beer is dark red (like a red wine) and seems to be pretty clear
• Flavor:
• Intense raspberry flavor up front along with a pretty assertive sourness.  These flavors linger into the finish together.  I also get some brett character although it's pretty far in the background.  Might be a little bit of malt like character in the finish as well.
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium-light bodied and just slightly sweet.  The acidity of the beer prickles the palate
• Overall:
• Very intensely flavored fruit beer.  The raspberry is front and center here.  I make a Raspberry Wine, which I just drank a bottle of last night (so fresh in my mind), and would say this beer is much closer in character to that wine than to the Sour Blonde but that there is enough beer character that shines through to clearly make this a distinct product.  There is some brett character to to beer that gives it some nice extra complexity and it compliments the overall product. 

Cherry Sour Blonde (2019) - Tasting Notes

Here is a long overdue set of tasting notes for my 2019 version of a Cherry Sour Blonde.  I blended this beer from 5 Sour Blonde's (based on a sampling of my beers) that had been aging for several years at that point and which had complex flavor profiles but fairly low levels of acidity (as the fruit contribute quite a bit of acidity themselves).  This is my second attempt at this style (read about the first attempt here)

I aged this beer with 11 lbs of sour cherries and 8 lbs of sweet cherry, that I picked from a local orchard, for 8 months.  I bottled with 1.5 lbs of homemade invert #2 syrup and pasteurized once the beer had carbonated in the hopes of preserving a bit of sweetness to enhance the fruit flavor.

The beer how now been in bottles for nearly 2 year which is incredible.  I'm going to be blending up some new Sour Blonde here in the next couple weeks so it's time to get some tasting notes in the record-book to maybe help me make decisions in the next round

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Musty, earthy, and leathery brett character. Also get a well integrated cherry aroma - tart and overripe fruit
• Appearance:
• Pours with a thin layer of foam that quickly disappears completely.  Light reddish brown in color and a bit murky (I ended up pouring in some of the dregs which didn't help this)
• Flavor:
• Up front the beer is quite tart.  Once the initial wave of acidity clears I get a strong cherry flavor, almost candy-like in character.  The cherry flavor lingers into the finish.  Also in the finish I get some brett character - earthy and leathery.  I also get a bit of what seems like bready malt.
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium-light bodied and pretty dry.  The acidity prickles the palate slightly and lingers for quite some time which calls on  you to take another sip
• Overall:
• This is a pretty boldly flavored fruit beer.  It has a pleasing and prevalent cherry character to it but it has a lot of the brett character that is able to cut through and give it a fairly distinct Lambic-style character.  It is pretty sour but in a way that compliments the acidic fruit and seems like it could be the natural tartness of the sour cherries.  I find it to be very drinkable and quite refreshing.

Raspberry Crop - 2022

It has now been 5 years since I planted my Raspberry beds - we're now headed into the sixth growing season (read about the 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 crops).  The plants have emerged from another winter and are producing a lot of growth here in April (like normal).  Some initial status/thoughts on my 4 varieties:

• Prelude:
• These plants didn't put out a whole lot of new growth last year which left several bare patches in the beds.  I decided to buy 10 more bare root plants to fill in the gaps this year.  They were planted in the first week of April
• Joan J:
• Starting the season pretty strong already - these are a summer variety that I've been treating like a spring variety (leaving the old growth to fruit in the spring).  They do quite well treated this way.
• TulaMagic:
• These produce some very long canes full of pretty nasty thorns.  I neglected these last year and had quite a bit of deadwood to cut out this spring.  The new growth starts pretty slowly on the lower parts of the cane.  They may be getting a bit weaker year to year.  Will be interesting to see how full the bed is with viable 1 year canes this year - if it is a weak growing season I'm contemplating replacing these with some new variety.  The fruit from these plants taste good (big and sweet berries) but the volume isn't that strong - not strong enough to justify both the maintenance difficulty and need to be replaced.
• Nova:
• These guys are very strong growers here in spring.  Get a lot of early growth from these on practically all the 1 year canes and there is strong coverage through the whole bed.  These produce tall canes but they are pretty much naturally hanging over the top wire of the beds without any need for tying.  They are very easy to grow and produce a lot of fruit - it tends to be a fairly tart fruit when ripe (less sweet than the other three) 

I've been consistently getting more fruit than I can use from these raspberries which is a pretty good problem to have.  I'm out of freezer space so I'll need to use a good amount of fruit coming up here in May to make room for another 90-100 lbs.  I need to find something new to do with these rather than save them for beer (thinking I'll try some more ice cream/sorbet using fresh berries) - may have to give some away this year

Anyway, hoping to keep these plants growing strong this year.  I've been pretty lazy so have quite a bit of weeding and other plant care to do here this spring.  These plants are a fair amount of work even once a good setup is in place but I think it's well worth it.

I'll be posting monthly status through the year as well as daily fruit harvest weights for the sake of trending:

7/11/22

6/6/22

5/15/22

4/22/22

Raspberry Picking Tracker:

• 6/12/22 - 1 lb 1 oz
• 6/13/22 - 15 oz
• 6/14/22 - 1 lb 3 oz
• 6/15/22 - 1 lb 8 oz
• 6/16/22 - 1 lb 4 oz
• 6/17/22 - 1 lb 15 oz
• 6/18/22 - 1 lb 12 oz
• 6/19/22 - 1 lb 11 oz
• 6/20/22 - 1 lb 12 oz
• 6/21/22 - 1 lb 14 oz
• 6/22/22 - 2 lbs 1 oz
• 6/23/22 - 1 lb 10 oz
• 6/24/22 - 2 lb 12 oz
• 6/25/22 - 2 lb 13 oz
• 6/26/22 - 3 lb 6 oz
• 6/27/22 - 1 lb 11 oz
• 6/28/22 - 3 lb 14 oz
• 6/29/22 - 3 lb 6 oz
• 6/30/22 - 3 lb 14 oz
• 7/1/22 - 15 oz
• 7/2/22 - 2 lb 6 oz
• 7/3/22 - 1 lb 10 oz
• 7/4/22 - 10 oz
• 7/5/22 - 9 oz
• 7/6/22 - 9 oz
• 7/7/22 - 6 oz
• 7/10/22 - 10 oz
• 7/17/22 - 9 oz
• 
  
• 9/10/22 - 4 oz
• 9/13/22 - 5 oz
• 9/15/22 - 6 oz
• 9/27/22 - 5 oz
• 10/10/22 - 6 oz

• Running Total - 50 lbs 4 oz

Growing Notes:

• 5/15/22
• The plants are doing pretty well.  I have a lot of growth on the old canes and quite a bit of new growth coming up from the roots as well.  This is true of all 4 beds
• I've been spending a lot of time in this last couple weeks weeding the beds (and the gravel around the beds) as well as applying Blood and Bone Meal and top dressing with compost.  So far, I've just about finished this on 2 of the beds.
• We have lots of buds forming on the plants but no flowers yet
• It's been a rainy couple of weeks so I haven't had to water yet
• 6/6/22 - I'm starting to see a bit of ripe fruit on the plans.  Probably another week or two before picking really begins.
• 7/4/22 -  I've been picking for most of the month now and the fruit is starting to wind down.  I'm quiete a ways off my average this year with 46 lbs of fruit.  My Prelude were pretty weak to start out with which was likely part of this.  We haven't had a lot of rain this last couple weeks.  I noticed that the ripe fruit is drying out on the Nova raspberry which is likely due to insufficient water.  I did water the plants this weekend but it seems I waited too long.  46 lbs is still a lot of fruit and a lower yield year will help me make more room in the freezer for next year.

Sour Cherry Crop - 2022

This will be a post tracking the progress of my 4 Sour Cherry trees in their third growing season (read about Season 1 and Season 2).  These are Dwarf North Star Cherry trees which came to me as bare root stock of about 3 feet in height.  They are expected to grow 8-10 feet tall and wide and start providing some meaningful amount of fruit about 3 years after planting.

Last year the plants grew pretty nicely and the trunks have been getting pretty thick.  It put out a dozen flowers maybe and I ended up getting to taste a few reasonably ripe pieces of fruit.  Another rejuvenating winter has passed and I'm happy to see that all of my young trees have come back strong and healthy and have produced many flowers.

I believe I'll be able to taste quite a bit of ripe fruit this year (and get a sense of the difference between this variety and the Montmorency variety of sour cherries which are common around here but which are quite different than the Belgian variety which are used in Kriek Lambic).  My main goal, aside from getting a bit of the fruits of my labors so far, will be to keep these plants healthy and growing strong (which will largely be a job of protecting the plants from the deer).

I will post a photo update on here monthly over the growing season:

7/11/22

6/6/22

5/15/22

4/22/22

Growing Notes:

• 5/15/22 - 
• Stripped away the weeds in a 1 foot radius around the trees, applied a couple handfulls each of Blood Meal and Bone Meal, and then top dressed with a couple inches of compost.  I made sure to not cover the splice point on the trees
• We've had quite a bit of rain in the last couple weeks so I haven't had to water
• I applied deer spray but the rain washed it away and some of the trees were nibbled on a bit.  Fairly minor damage I think.  I'll have to be better about applying it.
• Lots of green berries are forming at various stages of development (1/8 in to 1/2 in at this point) 
• 6/6/22 - Starting to see the small number of cherries ripen.  I think I'm just going to eat them all rather than attempting to harvest this year.
• 6/19/22 - I've been picking cherries for the last week.  I've got them in a 1 gal freezer bag (have 2 lb 6 oz at this point).  I'm picking them when they're dark red

Kölsch - Tasting Notes

I brewed up this Kölsch style beer way back in December.  It fermented for a couple weeks, laggered at near freezing for over a month, and has now been in the keg since Mid-February.  It is a very nice beer to have on tap as it's very easy drinking and has a smooth crisp flavor.

A Kölsch is a hybrid style of beer which is brewed with a special yeast strain specific to the style and fermented warm but then lagered for a period at cold temperatures.  It is a beer brewed in Cologne Germany.  That warm fermentation is supposed go give the beer a more fruity character than a typical lager.

Anyway, this has been a lovely beer to have on tap.  I very much enjoy brewing German styles of beer and was very confident that this would be no different.  I was right to be confident.  I'm happily surprised to have this beer left after two months.  Onto the tasting notes.

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Bready pilsner malt and a bit of grassy herbal hop.  Has a lager yeast aroma with a bit of fruit aroma in there.  Maybe a bit of a wine-like character.
• Appearance:
• Pours with a finger of head that lasts a couple minutes before settling to a thin ring - leaves lacing on the glass.  Light gold and very clear.
• Flavor:
• Light bready malt followed by herbal hop flavor.  Also get some lager yeast character mixed into the flavor profile up front.  It is lightly bitter on the finish.  This is pretty nicely balanced by a very slight bit of malt character.  I want to say there is a slight fruitiness to the flavor as well (hope this isn't just my imagination playing tricks on me)
• Mouthfeel:
• Light bodied and pretty dry.  Very smooth and easy drinking.
• Overall:
• This is a light, easy drinking beer, with some very nice flavor and aroma.  Flavors are fairly mild but with a a bit of focus you can appreciate that it has a fair amount of complexity.  The style is said to be differentiated from a more standard lager by a fruity character - this isn't something I picked out in my more casual enjoyment of the beer (where the beer seemed to have a lot of the standard lager fermentation character) but on closer inspection I would say this beer does offer a subtle fruitiness.

    

Tired Hands HopHands Clone - Tasting Notes

This is a low alcohol, very hoppy pale ale, which I brewed back in January and which I've been enjoying on tap for the last month.  This has become one of my favorite styles of beer to brew since I started kegging.  It is a very drinkable beer session kind of beer that has hop flavor comparable to the famous commercial examples of IPA when it turns our right.  This is an expensive style of beer to buy (frequently see $4+ pint cans for these.  Buying hops in bulk makes the price for homebrewing pretty good

Tired Hands is a very good local brewery here in SEPA that makes some very good hoppy beers.  I got this recipe from another PA Homebrewer's former blog "Ales of the Riverwards".  It has been a while since I had the original beer so I can't really comment on how close this is as a clone to Hop Hands

This was kind of an interesting recipe in that it uses a large amount of flaked oats (2 lbs).  The original beer is very hazy due to this.  My beer started out pretty hazy as well but has dropped fairly clear over time in the keg.  These beers are so hevilly hopped that the malt usually doesn't come through much - this one has a bit more malt character than others I've made (which may be the oats or the fact that it finished at 1.020)

I've been drinking quite a bit of this beer and am starting to expect it to kick soon.  Figure I better do an official tasting while it lasts

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Sweet Citrus (Grapefruit and Orange) along with a bit of piney aroma.  I may be picking up a bit of fruity ester in there as well.
• Appearance:
• Pours with a 3 finger head.  This fades down to a thin layer over 5 min or so.  Leaves lacing on the glass.  Straw colored and a little bit of a haze to it.
• Flavor:
• Bold hop flavors up front - piney, herbal, and citrusy.  These linger into the finish.  The finish fairly assertive bitterness that lingers.  There is a bit of malt character that cuts through in the finish as well - the balance is strongly towards the bitter and other hop flavors.
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium-light bodied and pretty smooth.  A very easy drinking beer - bitterness lingers and makes you want to take another sip
• Overall:
• This a very nice hoppy beer.  It has bold hop aroma and flavor and a nice level of complexity.  The level of bitterness is very nice - makes for a really drinkable beer.  It has a nice level of body and substance to it that you would not guess that it's a 4% ABV beer (kind of like the way an English Bitter doesn't drink like a low alcohol beer).  I'm drinking this after quite some time in the keg (a bit over a month) but the hops haven't really fallen off in any significant way which I'm very happy about.  This is a beer that I will make again for sure.