Beer Is Good

Yes, we realize it's been a very long time since our last update.  Moving had slowed things down a little, but we're getting back on schedule and have been brewing up some delicious beer.  With our delays in brewing, our 8 taps got close to drying out. We revived them and have some tasty beers on tap and more coming soon.

On tap:

Blackout - always a great beer and even better with the slightly cooler weather.

Bourbon Barrel Aged RIS - This is basically the same beer we issued as Dispun last year, with some very minor tweaks.  We had some carbonation consistency issues with that beer, so we decided to forgo bottle conditioning and keg it up.  Apparently, despite the added yeast and nutrient, the yeast had some trouble carbonating the 14% ABV bottle of bourbony goodness.  This batch is has carbed up nicely and is very enjoyable.  You definitely get the bourbon, maple, oak on the nose, but the beer opens up to a smooth RIS with hints of chocolate, molasses, maple, figs and some vanilla.  It doesn't have the alcohol heat that you'd expect from a 14% beer, but you know it's there.  This one will be sticking around and making it's way into the seasonal rotation, but will probably vary from year to year.

Brewed:

We've got a double batch of our Oaked Porter going into kegs tonight.  It's had just over 2 weeks on oak and will get moved off the oak and into kegs to carbonate and smooth out.  We'll be tasting this one periodically and should have it ready in a couple months.  This beer likes to take it's time to let the flavors mellow out and blend.  We've found that initial tastes have been a bit too bitter oak, so I'll usually wait til it smoothes out and hits its sweet spot before releasing it.  

We've also got a double batch of SD Session fermenting now.  That should finish up shortly and be ready fro dry hopping.  We'll have this ready to go in 3-4 weeks.  

Next up:

The first up will be an IPA with Warrior, Galaxy, Belma and Amarillo.  There could be slight changes to the hop bill or schedule, but that's the current plan.  We might do a double brew day and get another IPA going as well since we'll have fresh yeast from the double batch of SD Session ready to go, we'll see.

Next will be a double batch of Prohibition Ale.  Then we'll be making some special beers in celebration of some soon to be born IMBC family members.  More on those beers in the future.  Heading into the new year, we'll be getting our spring seasonal Irish Red ready and brewing some new things, as well as keeping our regulars available.  It's looking like a spring/summer release for our Flanders Red and Sour Porter, we'll have more info on that as we continue to sample.

Our next IMBC Food Pairing is looking like mid January in Long Beach.  Hit us up if you want more info.  We can't say what beers will be paired yet, but it looks like we'll have Prohibition Ale, SD Session, 1 or 2 IPAs, Blackout, Bourbon Barrel RIS, and possibly our Oaked Porter to choose from.