Beer is good and stuff!

I had a couple of the Old Scrot Porter's this weekend and they were quite tasty, if I do say so myself. And I think I may have made a dark beer that The Natureboy will drink! I'll try to send some up with Casey to the Christmas party so everybody can try it out. Of course, that requires me to not drink the rest between now and then so it will be touch and go there.

I forgot to talk about the batch of beer I brewed after the porter. It's my attempt at a spiced, holiday ale. It's got some honey, cinnamon, orange zest, and ginger added to a base of light and amber malt extract. I used 1/2 pound of crushed black patent malt in my grain mixture which should give a nice dark color without imparting too much bitterness. It's been fermenting for about a week now, and, unlike the honey amber, I'm going to make sure the honey has completely fermented before bottling. I don't want to make any more carbonation bombs!

I wanted to add some cloves to the holiday ale because I really like cloves and thought they would go well. In fact, I chewed on a whole clove while I brewed up that batch. When I talked to Liz about how many cloves I should add, she asked if the recipe called for it. I said no. She reminded me that deviating from a recipe had disastrous results in the past. So this time I followed the recipe verbatim. But, I've got enough honey for one more batch! So my next batch of beer will be Holiday Ale Part Deaux. I'll cut down on the cinnamon, add some cloves, and add some nutmeg.

After that, my next batch will be a cherry wheat for Adam. Anybody got requests for something they'd like to see after that?