I did a bulk grain pickup yesterday at White Birch Brewery. That place is pretty inspiring for me. The guy started on two morebeer systems, and basically worked his ass off to get where he is today (which is successful enough to hire a new head brewer, and upgrade to a 7bbl system). The shop isn't big, but it's certainly bigger than what I have.
I'll need to really push my expectations of myself and my brewing if I want this to work. After this move, I'm planning on at least 2 brews per month and using those brews to hone 5 or 6 recipes to perfection. My first will be the brown ale posted. While I like this IPA I've brewed, it's really tame compared to whats out there on the market in terms of hop flavor. I'm going to work on it to get it boosted so that it's a true Imperial IPA. I've got a stout lined up that will hopefully have some beautiful stone-fruit notes and a spicy raisin flavor throughout. Finally, I've got a recipe that I want to perfect that is something like a bold kolsch.
Those are just my year-round offerings. Clearly, I'll need some great seasonals, and special releases. I have a catalog of brews that I've done, and brews that I want to do, sitting in my recipe book. Time to get brewing.
Hey man, if you have a quality IPA, don't go trashing it by making it an imperial.
ReplyDeleteI love hops and IPA's (have about 16 plants growing in the back yard), but there is definitely a point where they are over done. And what has become the standard in the US, is definitely over done. More is not always better. Ever have a British IPA? You can still taste the malt, but the hops are in the forefront. There is something called balance. Seems to have been forgotten.
Ever wonder why most non beer drinkers tend to stay non beer drinkers? They can't take the over bittering in most American beers.
Sounds like you are trying to work towards a brew pub. And actually having one with solid, respectable beers (unlike many out there today). I understand you have to play to the customer to an extent, but don't pander to the mindless drones that believe more is better and that Arrogant Bastard is the epitome of good beer.
If that is a solid, well balanced IPA, I say refine it from it's current state. You may win over many more non beer drinkers and pleasantly surprise many hard core open minded beer drinkers when they realize a good IPA has malt. It's also nice being able to taste after sipping an IPA.
And if the hard core complains, you could always brew an imperial as a rotational specialty brew.
I've gone over it a few times, and I'm probably going to keep it at the level it's currently sitting with - somewhere between ESB and IPA. I've got quite a few non-beer drinkers who really like it, and as a business they're the majority - cater to them.
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely correct.