Thought I'd go with something a little different this time around and review one of my own creations. This has always been one of my favorite styles and one of my favorite recipes. It's one I'm always trying to improve. Coming in at 7.4% ABV, the CDA is a very dark black with little if any light shining through. About a finger of creamy brown head that sticks around for the most part. Nice lacing. Aroma is mostly characterized by a strong woodsy character. Not a lot of pine that I like in this style. Some herbal and mint notes shine through. Little caramel malt, but almost none of the roast/charcoal/toast I was hoping for. This is the first time I didn't dry hop this recipe, and though I really do like the aroma, I think I might go back to just a small addition.
Starts out with a very dry, burnt, and roasty character. I used quite a bit of black barley in this. This moves into some smooth caramel before becoming dominated by hop character. A lot of my IPA-style brews have never been quite as bitter as I would have hoped for. I did some tweaking with the water chemistry and finally got some really sharp, noticeable bitterness out of this one. Hops have a very strong wood character to them. The Simcoe really shine through, but I'm not getting enough of the citrus/floral hops that I was hoping for. Leaves a decent pine taste lingering in the mouth. Medium body and carbonation.
I think this is one of the best I've brewed, but as usual, there is always room for improvement. I want more pine/roast in the aroma and definitely in the flavor. Needs some tweaks to the grain bill and perhaps just some dry hopping.
No comments:
Post a Comment