Batch #128 - "Winter Welcome" Lavender Amber Ale

Okay, I confess it's a little "out there" in left field, this idea of an herbal beer, but I have an excuse.  It was brew day, I was in the middle of the mash cycle, and found that I had too little hops on hand.  A quick tour around the garden for something to help "bitter" this amber ale, when I realized that Jan's lavender flowers might fit the bill just right.  I clipped a snippet and crushed it into a small glass, drowned it in an ounce of beer, let it sit for a bit, then filtered it into another glass and tasted a delectable bouquet with a bitter bottom.  Sold!
Having sampled a bottle three weeks out, I declare this Lavender Amber Ale to have been worth the risk of a ten-gallon batch of ale, and a worthy descendent of me ole' heather ale, last brewed as batch #103, in April 2010.
Here's to the local flora!

Batch #127 - Marmot Mountain Pale Ale

We must have been intruding on his territory, Jan and I, when on July 4th we hiked over the Continental Divide from Independence Pass to Blue Lake, for some trout fishing.  This Marmot was not at all shy, and came to within a few feet of me when we stopped to rest on the ascent.  I snapped a few photos of "Curious George" and gave him the honor of gracing the last pale ale of the Summer.
Here's to You, George!
MT

Batch #126 - Saison Farmhouse Ale

In celebration of farming as a revered calling, I offer this Belgian Saison Farmhouse Ale.  Citris notes, compliments of Munich and Vienna malted barley, as well as Cascade and Simcoe leaf hops.
I selected this painting by Maryanne Jacobsen to grace this label, because she has so beautifully captured the charm of a French barn beyond a field of sunflowers.
Cheers!
MT

Wonderful Diversion - Valhalla!

Before I post labels for another couple of batches of summer ale, I'd like to share a little preview from a few young friends, whose "Signatures" and "Solitaire" skiing art films have made me smile. I'd like to introduce "Sweetgrass Productions" film "Valhalla", coming in 2013:

On The Road Episode XII - Two Years, Five Winters from Sweetgrass Productions on Vimeo.

Batch #125 - Summer Pale Ale

I admit that I'm a fan of bicycle road racing, and this July is the 99th annual Tour de France.  I'll catch up on my sleep in August!  Last year, British rider Bradley Wiggins crashed out of the Tour, but this year he came back with a well trained Team Sky, including great British riders Chris Froome and Mark Cavendish, to not only win the overall race, but to make history as the first British team to win this prestigious Bike race.  On Saturday July 28, they will race again in the London Olympics, hoping for a 2012 sweep of the best prizes in bicycle racing. Go Team Sky!
Summer must have at least one Batch of Pale Ale, and this is the first one.  Before the Summer gets away from us, I'll have to brew another!

MT

Batch #124 - The Mudman Returns!

What's a Summer without some good Bitter Brown Ale?  For this batch, I've resurrected the "Mudman" label from Batch #95, back in 2009, as well as the recipe.  In spite of the distasteful label, the beer is very tasty!

MT

Batch #123 - Fire Roasted Pumpkin Ale

My 2011 backyard pumpkin crop, shown in Batch #119 below, had to be pretty widely given away because I ended up with 9 pumpkins,  180 pounds worth, of the two varieties I planted.  I saved 50 pounds of charcoal roasted pumpkin flesh, frozen in 5-pound bags, to use for the next couple of years before I need to think about planting another crop.
I saved the seeds from two heirloom pumpkins, a "Cinderella" variety and a "Lakota Sioux" variety (in this label), that I found in a couple different farmers markets in 2009, and grew them out last year, enough pumpkin to take care of pies, beer and soup for awhile.
Yum.

Batch #122 - Homebrewers Ball STOUT

The Roaring Fork HAMs Homebrewers Club brewed 12 batches of beer and served it at our annual Homebrewers Ball in May 2012, this year for the Sopris Barracudas Swim Club.  The Club is a non-profit made up of many parents supporting their kids to engage in competitive swimming with other Clubs around the Rocky Mountain region.  This Stout is my contribution to the Swim Team's fundraiser, and it was a success for them.

Diana Nyad is a world champion distance swimmer, whose exploits you can view at:
http://diananyad.com/
http://www.facebook.com/DianaNyad

She hopes to fulfill a longstanding fream to swim from Cuba to Florida during Summer of 2012.  I dedicate this Batch to honor Diana's dedication to her dream.

Go Diana!

Batch #121: Coriander Rye Pale Ale

With Summer right around the corner, here's a thirst-quencher, made from Rye grains raised in our Roaring Fork High School edible forest garden.  Don't worry, the high school students don't get any of the beer, but they did get some of the grains for baking bread.

The label photo shows part of the high school "Growing Dome" greenhouse in the background, which was nearly surrounded by our grain trials, all non-GMO and Organic, of course.  The Rye grain adds a subtle sweetness to the Ale, and is combined with floral tones added by ground coriander seed.

We're back into weather conducive to outdoor brewing, so this is the first 10-gallon, all grain brew of 2012.  Here's to a productive Summer!

MT

Batch #120: Habanero Red Ale

After retiring the "roller-coasting monks" from my Habanero Ale labels, I searched for a new subject to grace this popular hot pepper beer.  In a series of Google searches including the term "hot stuff" this little devil kept showing up, so I let him strut his hot stuff for this batch.  I thought it appropriate to use something of a "cartoon character" for this one, because I got a little silly when deciding to amplify the "red ale" appearance of the beer by steaming a red beet until I had a bright red broth in which to dissolve my bottling sugar.  The result is a bit surprising, to see a beer with a pink head, a red body, the flavor of a habanero pepper, and the nutritional characteristics of a 6.5% abv homebrew.

The devil's in the details!

Enjoy!

Batch #119: Pumpkin Ale

I have brewed pumpkin ales for some time now, and my fellow homebrewers at the Roaring Fork HAMs Homebrewers Club have voted this one my best to date.  I used to brew this with pumpkin pie spices in the boil, like cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg, and back in 2009, I made a batch that was half spiced, and the other half not.  The latter was the Club's overwhelming choice.  This year, using one of the large pumpkins raised in my backyard with heirloom seed harvested from 2009's crop, I roasted the pumpkin most of the way to soft in my oven, then finished roasting it on my charcoal grille, adding a bit of smoky flavor.  The flesh of the roasted pumpkin was then separated from the skin and frozen, to be used at my liesure for beer brewing and other culinary adventures, until the 2012 pumpkin crop is ready to harvest.

Cheers!

2011 Champagne Cider

All the Cider pressed for my own use in the Autumn of 2011, was taken from "frozen apples" still hanging on the trees.  We had early hard frost during an apple bumper-crop year, so all the trees we didn't harvest before the frost, held their fruit while losing their leaves.  Most folks would consider this a disaster, as they watch the apples turn brown and appear rotten.  If they had read the book, "Wild Apples" by H.D.Thoreau, they would know that these are the best apples for cider, within a certain window of opportunity.

As the fruit goes through repeated freeze-thaw cycles, the apple converts to a higher juice and sugar content.  Eventually, wild fermentation sets in and the flavor of the juice becomes richer, before it becomes a bit "darker", and not so good.  I've been exploring this window between "rich" and "dark" flavor for several years, and I believe I nailed it this year, with my final harvest of frozen apples just before New Years Day, which I processed into a rich Apple Syrup.  Frozen apples I've tasted since then seem to have a tiny bit of off-flavor to them, owing I'm sure to the wild fermentation, which I'm now leaving for the enjoyment of the deer and the birds.
Meanwhile, I await the proper aging and bottle carbonation of the Champagne Cider, estimated to happen by Valentines Day!