happenings abound:
many curious things been happening in beer lately. Rumors of Westy 12 being imported into the states later this month. More new breweries than one can possibly follow. And some strange occurrences with the Manifest Destiny beers as of late.
First off, its been said many a time that you should enter a beer into a comp as what it came out as, not what you intended it to be. So when I had the Bismarck, a failed Doppelbock attempt, on my hands, I first entered it as a traditional bock, thinking it should still fall within its bockish means. It fell flat on its face. A few weeks later I entered it as a Munich Dunkel. 3rd place. Finding that niche for where each beer will fit best seems to be a new skill to acquire. Likewise, my latest English Pale/ IPA brewed with sage was originally intended to be a fusion of styles but leaning closer to American. meh, looking back I guess it was rather British all along. tasty beer though.
Infection and inoculation seems o be the way of the game as of late. My small beer made from the 3rd runnings of last year's barleywine seems to have picked up a nice lacto infection, due to its shockingly low alcohol of 2.5% and limited hopping. Meh. I figured let it go. there's not all that much sugar left in there as it is, so bringing the gravity below 1.000 might not be such an issue. plus its a great way to craft a natural english based berliner weiss of sorts. Dare I say, Butroner Weiss?
additionally, and more of my own hand, the skyfire saison that was oh so nice a few months ago seems to be turning a very interesting corner in its age. at 11 months, a saison is well past its peak typically. however, the Brett C. I added in last August seems to have taken over as the dominiant species in the beer and is now overpowering all other flavors present, lending a growing sharpness and acidity, low funk, and some slickness to the mouthfeel that wasnt there before. Oddity. sending the beer into comps last month yeilded results and comments satating that its was falling outside of saison bounds, yet falling into more lambic territory in terms of flavor profile. Most interesting. I may have to keep a few bottles and let them sit a year or two to see if I accidentally set myself on the path to geuze unknowingly.
let em go, see where they land, and claim to everyone that its exactly how you planned it all.
keep on destining (?)
C
