Brewed: Feb 27, 2016 Bottled: May 28, 2016
This was a homebrew collaboration with Ryan of Maison Brewing (formerly Playhouse), but Ryan has done the bulk of the planning, brewing, and after-pitch care. I add this to my list for completeness, but Ryan deserves the lion’s share of the recognition for this beer.
We teamed up on this beer because we both had the same vision for what it should be: Somewhere in the 13 – 15% ABV range, minimally bitter, and inspired by English style barleywines such as Pelican’s Mother of All Storms. I had wanted to do a barleywine with rye, particularly flaked rye, so we worked that into the recipe. Ryan had a large starter of WYeast 1318 for our initial pitch, and for insurance he also pitched WY1728 after fermentation was well underway. This was brewed on Ryan’s system.
Ryan developed a feeding schedule for this beer after knockout which included additional oxygen, nutrient, and sugar by way of DME additions. While our OG at the end of the boil was approximately 1.100, the theoretical OG after the additional sugar additions should put us at 1.131. All post brew-day activities have been performed by Ryan.
OG: 1.135 (theoretical, based on sugar additions)
FG: 1.038
Tasting Notes:
05/28/2016 – Bottling from keg. Tastes nice, it’s already not overly harsh and the malt character shows raisin, fig, and plum. Nice English-level bitterness and plenty of sweetness. It’s a tad on the sweet side for style, but that’s the side we wanted to err on anyway. It’s also more pale than anticipated but it’s not a fault, as it’s still within range for style.
06/10/2016 – First bottle. Holy mackerel is this ever viscous stuff. Syrupy, sticky on the lips. Definitely lots of residual sugar but strikes a nice balance nonetheless with caramel, plums, and dark sugar flavours.