Designing a Beer which represents the members of a Band

Mashing
1

So the band (I am the drummer) is Progressive Rock. Yuck, right?
2 of the members come from Oregon, the other 2 of us are So Cal boys.

We all are in Los Angeles now (for the past 20 years), and I have converted them all into Beer geeks.

I have an idea to design a beer that somehow encompasses the spirit of the band, and will draw on the individual beer styles that each member likes. Also taking region into account etc… and any other nerdy thing I can come up with. Ideally this will become the Band Brew,and will be served at an upcoming Album Release party in Hollywood.

This is what I have initially put together: (also this is Kitchen sink idea, meaning this is from ingredients I currently have. I don’t want to go buy anything if possible.) I have a shitton of hops at present.

Amt Name
10 lbs Pale Ale Malt, Northwestern
8.0 oz Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM)
8.0 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)
6.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM)
4.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
4.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)
1.00 oz Simcoe [9.30 %] - Boil 60.0 min
1.00 oz Cascade [6.40 %] - Boil 10.0 min
1.00 oz Simcoe [9.30 %] - Boil 5.0 min
1 lbs Corn Sugar (Dextrose) [Boil for 5 min]
1.0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001)
2.00 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop
In secondary - 2oz Oak Chips soaked in Whiskey - 10 days

I know, thing that sticks out is Simcoe as Bittering. But I got 16oz of it.
Thoughts? Is this a beer soup? Trying for a smooth, slightly hoppy, progressive beer with a malt backbone that comes from California.

I also have a large inventory of: Cascade, Centennial, Columbus (CTZ), Magnum and a few oz of H Hersbrucker, EK Goldings, Styrian Goldings.

2

I like the idea of making a recipe that is meaningful to you, in your case representing the character of your band. Very cool.

I have a kitchen sink batch that I am putting together too. In my case just to try out some odd-ball malt combinations, and for practical purposes, to serve as a big starter for a double batch of munich helles/export that I will be making next.

Anyway, with respect to your recipe I think it looks interesting and would probably turn out to be a very drinkable beer. If it were me (and it’s not, obviously) I might think about the 4 oz choc / 4 oz roasted barley. That will be quite dark, and the roasted barley might bring on a little bit of astringincy to compete with the hops???

If it’s a black IPA type of beer your are after, I have seen others profess to the success of using black wheat to give color withoug astringincy. If you want significant flavor from the darker grains maybe using some dark crystal and munich II, along with just enough roasted barley to brimg up to desired color?

So that’s just my 2 cents.

Good luck with the music release. What is the name of the band?