Smiles All Round

Hm, things seem to be going my way these days. I like that.

So just an update on some of the beers I brewed back on St. Patty's Day. Kegged off the IPA into two 18.9 L kegs. In one keg I put 18 g of centennial and in the other 18 g of cascade for dry hopping. The centenntial is much more forward than the cascade. I've actually renamed it "some kind of hoppy beer" now as its not quite to style for and IPA. In fact, I've had no less that 5 BJCP judges try it and suggest that its an ESB (although with American hops, but who cares). The brown ale I just kegged off and is on tap at my house now.

I served two of my creations on tap at the most recent Edmonton Homebrewers' Guild meeting, my Special Bitter and my "some kind of hoppy beer". As I said before, I had lots of great comments on my hoppy beer, which apparently is an ESB, and people really loved it. Luckily I have a keg and a half left! I also received some rave reviews for my special bitter (4.4% alc). It was really good to get this feedback from the members there, many of whom are certified BJCP judges and have many many MANY years of experience in brewing and tasting beer. Its great to know I'm on the right track!

Regina ALES Festival
I've shipped off 8 entries to the ALES homebrew competition. I entered my "hoppy beer" as three different styles: ESB, American Pale Ale, and IPA. From what I hear I probably won't do well for IPA, APA is a possibility, but depending on what else shows up for ESB I might do really well there. That is, unless my bottles are infected or the sanitizer I used was too strong (which it may have been... bah). I also entered my special bitter, my brown ale, and my two crappy belgians just for the hell of it... I'll let you know how it goes!

Cheers!