When you need some help falling asleep...

Turn to a double IPA. This animal is Serum from DuClaw Brewing Company, and was in a growler given to me by The Flyin' Wop as thanks for helping him out with a move.

Even though he had the growler for two weeks before he saw me again, I'd say this style can take a lot of what time can dish out.

The growler popped when I opened it and held a wonderful orange colored, "thick" liquid, like a honey liqueur- with no head, really. The pour was nice, viscous like a liquor, sending up waves of aromatic lupulin straight into your sinuses.

At first sip, you get something different, though. It's really quite sweet, with a rounded hop finish that plays the line between astringent and bitter and is a sneaky beer where the alcohol lingers on the outside, never peeking in, but letting you know it's there.

For some of you who know me, for a very long time, I was unimpressed with the beers of DuClaw. I thought a few years ago the brews were watered down and lacking in body and flavor. But, a couple of weeks ago, we had a little gathering at DuClaw Arundel Mills and, this time around, I found the beer to be radically changed for the better. (That particular night I was drinking Venom.)

So, this all tallied up earns this beer an honest 7/10. Having it fresh well could see it earn more on my scale.

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Trub-ble

Oh, Nico and Sully, you crazy guys! What is this monster?!? It's the wrong beer to come home to, after a long day at the office, because you'll be asleep long before dinner.

I poured, without looking at any of the packaging, a 12 ounce can of 21A Hop Crisis, in anticipation of a delicious IPA.

Yeah, buyer beware.

Instead I unleashed a 9.7%, 94 IBU animal, which has this absolutely fan-freaking-tastic pineapple/star fruit aroma and just a ridiculous lacing that clings and sticks to the side of the glass like a spider web.

For being such a high gravity beer (read: high alcohol) it is incredibly pale. I mean I have had Weiss beers darker than this! And it's clear too! No nutso cloudiness that typically comes with the DIPA/Imperial IPA style.

A first sip, while still fairly cool, yields some of that tropical flavor and zippy bite from heavy use of bittering hops-my guesses: Amarillo, Tomahawk, Citra?

Letting it warm for 10 minutes allows a lot of the oak it was aged on to really come through and deliver a French vanilla note and a quite pleasant smoothness, rounding off that initial bitter edge.

Letting it sit for another 40 minutes while your pizza cooks unlocks something amazing too! A blinding smoothness that makes this simply irresistible.

9/10, and guaranteed not to disappoint!

(Must appreciate a disturbing use of hops and heavy-handed amount of alcohol.)

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Night & Day

I wanted to show everyone two very excellent beers, that are delicious representatives of their styles.

A coworkers' first attempt

I enjoy the fine hobby of homebrewing and it is truly my dream that, one day, I will have the ability to take it to the level of professional brewery. In the meantime, I have been encouraging several of my coworkers to start or get back home brewing--at least 5. (It was several of those folks who got on my ass to restart brewing too, essentially putting my foot where my mouth is).

Tonight, a coworker of mine who is very new to the hobby, offered me two bottles of his inaugural brew: Brewer's Best Irish Stout. This is where I think everyone cuts their teeth. Get a few kits under your belt, then go bonkers. (At least, that's what I did.)

He expressed concern that his brew was under carbonated. When I got home, I immediately set forth to open a bottle that was the PERFECT temperature--just about 55 degrees.


Fzzt! Sounded about right to me.

The stout poured a thin black into my glass, and built a very fast tan head that quickly dissipated (see my previous post for similar conditions). I held it to the light and could clearly see through the beer--it wasn't easy but it was possible. So, at that point I'd call it a porter. It was just not opaque enough. I read the instructions and have some issues with their description, calling it deep brown. It should be black. Even the BJCP guidelines say "jet black (to deep brown)". Seems like BB is missing one whole part of the spectrum...oh well.

(I did look at the bottle and in the bottle afterward--I was shocked to see that there was only a trace amount of yeast on the bottom of this bottle. Somewhere in his process he was able to either get this yeast to drop out, and not transfer it between fermenters, or has some voodoo-like filtration skills.)

The aroma seemed spot-on: heavy coffee/roasted notes. Not any hops presence, and no detectable grains (boo). I sniffed and sniffed and sniffed. There was something else going on in here. And I can't pin point it, yet. When I open the other bottle, I'll post a comment to this one to identify what it was I smelled.

Tasting the beer was fun, because it's someone who is new to the hobby, eager to learn and willing to try their hand at being a janitor. I found the flavor to be really thin and found a note of fusel alcohol--probably from fermenting in the mid to high 70's (F).

I'm going to pass judgement on this beer, given it a first try, and these kits aren't exact. This stage of the game is familiarizing yourself with the concept of brewing. Getting your equipment together. Finding kits that interest you. Then dialing it in.

The first thing I learned about brewing with a kit is to not trust the yeast that comes with the kit, as you really don't know the age of the packet; I would go with a vial of While Labs or pack of Wyeast instead.

When I post tomorrow's comment, perhaps I will have enough information to give some additional suggestions.

Until then, dial it in!