British Bitter is the beer responsible for my homebrewing.  Falling in love with it when we lived in England, I couldn’t find anything like it when we returned back to the US.  So I decided to start brewing to make beers I couldn’t find.  That said, I’ve rarely brewed it.  This is my 4th time brewing it out of ~170 batches.  But, importantly, this batch is finally very close to what I want!

Malty and full-flavored, with a distinct slightly sweet flavor of the British yeast.  The malt is slightly roasty, and the beer finishes very cleanly, yet bold.  Shocking that it is such a low ABV, but doesn’t taste watery.

Brewed: 12/28/2020.  Distributed: 1/25/2021.

ABV: 4.2%,  IBU: 42

Malts: Maris Otter, Amber, Caramel 20L.

Hops: Target, East Kent Goldings, Challenger.

Yeast: White Labs WLP002 English Ale.

This journey started with Barbarossa IPA, which was an attempt at an homage to Founder’s Red’s Rye.  Then I made Little Barbarossa, which was made with less caramel-y malt but same hop approach.  This batch was supposed to be Little Barbarossa, but got a better mash efficiency than expected, so came in at a higher ABV.

Slightly sweet, slightly hoppy aroma. Crisp taste, with the sweet/slickness of rye on the palate. Lots of hop aroma and flavor waft in as you drink it, then leaves you with a bit of lingering hop bitterness.

Brewed: 1/4/2021.  Distributed: 1/30/2021.

ABV: 5.4%,  IBU: 72

Malts: Brewer’s 2-row, Red X, Rye, Carafoam, Caramel 20L.

Hops: Columbus, Perle, Amarillo, Cascade.

Yeast: Wyeast 1056 American Ale.

Still trying to get the Kolsch recipe dialed in to make the beer my brain remembers from sitting at the Fruh Kolsch brewery in Cologne, Germany.  This one is the closest yet, but there will be YAK III!

Strong sweet aroma. Smooth and sweet flavor that finishes clean and light, with a bit of lingering sweetness from the yeast.

Brewed: 12/16/2020.  Distributed: 1/30/2021.

ABV: 5.3%,  IBU: 21

Malts: Brewer’s 2-row, Red wheat, Vienna.

Hops: Magnum, Hallertauer.

Yeast: White Labs WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch.

This was another experimental IPA to try out a new hop that had a great description and I wanted to try it out- Rakau hops from New Zealand.  I then made the leap from Rakau to Rocky, and this beer was named!

Sweet/fresh hop aroma.  Smooth initial taste with mix of hops and light malt.  No real hop bitterness except a bit in the aftertaste.  Goes down smooth, but as the hop flavors grow in the aftertaste, it gives an overall hoppy experience.

Brewed: 12/21/2020.  Distributed: 1/19/2021.

ABV: 6.7%,  IBU: 89

Malts: Maris Otter, Brewer’s 2-row, Caramel 20L, Flaked wheat.

Hops: Magnum, Rakau, Amarillo.

Yeast: White Labs WLP001 California Ale.

I iterated into this recipe through 3 major iterations, and then one minor one to end up with this recipe that I’ve been very happy with.  It gave me the things I like about NEIPA, without the over-sweetness.

Fresh hop aroma followed by a smooth hop bitterness mixed in with a clean malt taste.  Finishes fairly cleanly, with a bit of lingering bitterness.

Brewed: 12/22/2020.  Distributed: 1/13/2021.

ABV: 5.4%,  IBU: 68

Malts: Maris Otter, Flaked Oats.

Hops: Columbus, Zythos, Citra, Galaxy.

Yeast: Wyeast 1318 London Ale III

I had heard about this hop from someone on a podcast talking about IPAs and how certain hops had good characteristics.  I don’t remember exactly what characteristics, but I did remember the name of this hop- Idaho 7.

Fresh sweet hop aroma.  Slight caramel malt flavor with a bit of hop bite.  Finishes with a nice blend of malt and hop flavor, without a bitter bite.  Very tasty, belies the ABV kick hidden within it.

Brewed: 12/13/2020.  Distributed: 1/9/2021.

ABV: 7.5%,  IBU: 128

Malts: 2-Row Brewer’s Malt, Maris Otter, White Wheat, Munich, Amber.

Hops: Columbus, Magnum, Citra, Idaho #7.

Yeast: White Labs WLP001 California Ale

I fell in love with Dusseldorf Alt after visiting Dusseldorf one weekend while working in Europe.  My early attempts to recreate the beer were successful, but my more recent attempts never turned out as good.  I went back the yeast processes I used at the beginning, and brewing salt additions, and this batch turned out successfully recreating it.

Notable malt aroma and flavor, with a slightly bitter hop bite.  Both of these finish cleanly and allow a nice yeast taste to round it all out.  Flavorful, drinkable, and clean.

Brewed: 11/24/2020.  Distributed: 12/30/2020.

ABV: 5.4%,  IBU: 43

Malts: Munich Malt.

Hops: Spalt.

Yeast: Wyeast 1007 German Ale

This beer I brewed on the day after the Presidential election.  Planning it, I figured the day after would be either a day of celebration or great sadness.  But of course, since it took several days to count all the ballots, it was still up in the air on brew day.  This beer turned out much lower than planned on ABV.  So even though it wasn’t planned as a “Light Stout”, that’s what I ended up with.

Easy drinking with flavors of dark malt.  Goes down easy, either from the use of oats, or the low ABV.

Brewed: 11/7/2020.  Distributed: 12/23/2020.

ABV: 4.2%,  IBU: 46

Malts: Maris Otter, Flaked Oats, Black Patent Malt, Melanoidin Malt, Roasted Barley.

Hops: Magnum, Hallertau, Chinook.

Yeast: White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale