Tasting Sweet Success

Earlier this year it was the London and South East Craft Brewing Competition, organised by the London Amateur Brewers. With 250 entrants and over a 1000 beers it was the biggest to date and the standards were exceptional.

Having just completed my provisional BJCP beer judging course I was eligible to judge alongside a qualified judge. The category allocated was Fruit and Sour beers, a particularly challenging flight due to the variety of styles. Oak-aged Cherry Barley Wine, Watermelon IPA and Lemon and Ginger Saison were just a few of the creations on the table, which makes for interesting judging when there's thirteen beers...at 9.30am.

The winning beer in our category was the Cherry Barley Wine, it was sublime, and went on to place 3rd in the overall best of show. And while the judging was great experience, the highlight of the festival for me this year was placing 3rd in the Stout's and Porter's category with my Vanilla Bourbon Porter. To top this off I was ranked 10th overall with my 7 entries. Pretty chuffed, as I'm sure you can tell.

 

Nutella in a glass

Off the back of the success of my VBP (Vanilla Bourbon Porter) and with the 2016 London and South East Brewing Competition looming, I'm working on another dark, exotic beauty: an HCP (Hazelnut Chocolate Porter).

Based on the same base recipe as the VBP I've tweaked the amount of brown malt in an attempt to up the 'chocolateyness' a characteristic that brown malt imparts. Along with this I'm adding cacao nibs soaked in vodka, to help bring out their flavour and aroma. This technique appears to be working a treat as, after one night in vodka, my kitchen smells akin to Willy Wonka's Chocolate room it's honestly quite staggering. For the 'hazelnuttyness' I've created a hazelnut extract by infusing toasted hazelnuts with vodka and fresh vanilla pods, for nearly 4 months then straining, crushing and boiling down the crashed nuts with water then blending. In an attempt to push the hazelnut character further, I'm resting the porter on an additional 150g of toasted Hazelnuts.

After sitting on the nuts for nearly a week, I couldn't resist a little sample and the signs are very promising. Good roast notes, pleasant chocolate character on the palette, nutty on the nose and lovely, warming alcohol to finish. It's going to be good...

 

 

The Barrel Project

A good friend at the brew club, Rich Lock, has been running barrel projects over the last couple of years. Sourcing used barrels from around the world, such as red wine, sherry and bourbon, a batch of beer is brewed then stored and left to age in the barrel. Last year I was fortunate enough to be involved with the 4th and final one before Rich moved out of London.

For £36 each, split between 7, we source the grain (malts), hops, yeast, barrel and in return we each recieved 27l of the finished product. Not only this, but we also get the luxury of brewing on Rich's kit which, to put it mildly, is at the larger, more sophisticated end of the homebrew kits - 140l RIMS circulation system to be precise. He's even fitted his own revese osmosis water system for filtration and purity

This particular project was to brew a rather substantial 11% abv Imperial Brown Stout based on an 1848 Barclay Perkins recipe. This was then left to age for 7 months in an american bourbon barrel. After aging, and the mammoth task of bottling, the reward for all involved was a approximately 86 bottles of the brew, not bad for £36.

Due to the strength and the style, it's neccesary to 'lay the bottles down' (store in a a dark place) for around two years where they'll begin to reach a suitable level of maturity. Time to wait...

Hard pressed

With dry Jan' in full swing, I've been thinking, waiting, thirsting after my latest batch of home-pressed cider. It'd been two and a half years since I'd dusted off 'Auld Ethel' the small wood press so, in October, I decided enough was enough, booked a long weekend and headed north to my parents where the apples are. I built the press around eight years ago using a load of spare timber and a 1.5 ton bottle jack from Halfords, though it's had a few modifications along the way.

Of all the alcohol I produce, cider is by far the most labour intensive, but possibly the most rewarding. The production involves 5 main stages: picking, pulping, presssing, fermenting and packaging (well bottling) and this year was no exception. As a rule of thumb when cidering, the more varieties of apple you use, the better the cider. This year I managed to snaffle about 6 from out the graden and a few kind friends.

This was the first year I made the decision to attempt the process on my own, and After a day hard at it on my own, I was completely broken and nowhere near done so on the second day I went crying to my dear mum for a little help with the chopping.

Award winning beer

Admittedly I'm a little late to the party here but, I thought I'd share my success at this year's London and South East Craft Brewing Festival. Arranged by my brewing club, The London Amateur Brewers, it runs every year, held this year at the New Truman Brewery, Hackney Wick. I entered 5 brews in 5 categories, here's a little run down of the selection:
1. Vanilla Bourbon Porter (Wood aged) If you want to spoil yourself, look no further, my pièce de résistance this year. Weighing in at around 9% it'll warm your cockles...and everything else. Aged over bourbon barrel chips, infused with fresh vanilla pods and laced with genuine U.S. bourbon for extra warmth and aroma...it's a real beaut'. 2. Sinead O'Stout (Sweet Stout) Another deep, dark, divine beauty. A robust stout, that's about 6%, it's infused with Milk Sugar (lactose) to give a subtle sweetness that balances out the chocolatey, toasty notes of a damn fine stout. 3. The Golden Lady (English Golden Ale) Ahhhh, a crisp yet full bodied English ale. I brewed this using Golden Syrup and aged for around 3 months to mellow out. 4. The Big IPA (English IPA) Brewed with English Goldings and Fuggles hops this recipe is your typical IPA: golden, sweet and hoppy. Perfect chilled in summer, room temp on a winter eve or on a Park Bench, whenever. 5. See the Light (English Summer Ale) Brewed to be particularly light and refreshing, it's all about showcasing the floral notes of the English hops here. Light, dry and particularly refreshing, at 4% it goes down a little too easily.

Competition this year was particularly strong, with the highest number of entries to date. However, I was fortunate enough to bag a 3rd in the Sweet Stout category winning a brewery trip for two to Windsor and Eaton Brewery and my Vanilla Bourbon Porter came in 5th in the wood aged category receiving a great example of style. However my proudest moment overall was placing 10th out of over 250 entrants. Not too bad, bring on next year. Time to get brewing...