Its that time of month again (no not a beeriod)...The Session! Craig at Drinkdrank, a regular Session contributor has offered to host and the topic and its an interesting one: design your perfect idea of a beer.
My favourite Ratebeer style is porter, but actually I enjoy pretty much any style of beer. However if I had the run of a brewery for a day I'd brew a saison. In fact I'd make it a black one. Perhaps using dehusked carafa for the colour with just a touch of chocolate wheat malt for flavour. The balance would be pale malt and wheat. Saison yeast of course with perhaps a bit of Brett too and aim for an ABV of 4-5, something you could drink a few of in a sitting.
So what about the hops? Well I love New Zealand hops so it'd be Motueka for bittering and flavour and would be a liberal sprinkling of Pacifica for aroma added at flame-out and at conditioning.
Now if someone knows of such a beer, or are planning on brewing it let me know!
Sounds like a brewery bitch day is due for you Steve, hoik your idea around, I'm sure someone will pick it up
ReplyDeleteBrewers can be pretty receptive Arbor Ales down here in Bristol have an experimental brew day every Friday. Or maybe you could get the kit and home brew one yourself, that'll be the most satisfying!
ReplyDeleteThanks for comments Andy and Phil.
DeleteYeah I hope to get a proper homebrew setup when I move back to the mainland. At the mo. don't want to increase the amount of stuff I'll have to move!
Let me know when you're over and I'll see if I'm free!
Unsaisonally sounding saison.....but here you go: http://hopville.com/recipe/1644138
ReplyDeleteOooh do you fancy brewing it for my birthday then? ;)
DeleteMmm, would be interesting. I think we all know what we like, and many have a good idea of what gives them those flavours. But going from concept to reality would be a real test of how to brew. I have no idea whether the balance is right here - I have taken the Maris/Pilsner base from the internet, but see that many brewers use Vienna. Does the bittering/aroma hopping work? I have not used these hops before, so I am just going with the IBUs quoted for that style.
ReplyDeleteYou also have a bit of flexibility around yeast profile. Would probably push the boat out for this and go with White Labs. They do 3 Saison yeasts, and you can pick your taste (although Saison 3 only gets sold in summer): http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp565.html, http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp566.html.
Like cooking, we can all imagine what we need to do, but that is not the same as making great tasting food (although it's a great first step).
When's the big day, and how would I get it to you?
I guess you can but try! I'm in Bristol for my birthday weekend; so could potentially arrange to come via Soton first!
DeleteHow long have I got?
DeleteMy birtdhay is 10th Nov, which gives you 2 months! I'd hopefully be in Soton for thursday 8th pm and then have to head to Bristol on Friday.
DeleteAlso meant to say saison 1 sounds best flavour wise, the phenols may not work so well with the hops.
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