I just recently finished brewing 3 beers based on the band The Hold Steady and their songs. The beers are:
Ybor City - Pilsner made with 2-row, specialty malts, Ultra hops and Budvar Yeast
Charlemagne in Sweatpants - Belgian Pale Ale
Your Little Hoodrat Friend - Wheat/Rye Red Alt made with Sorachi Ace hops and Alt Beer yeast
For more information:
http://freshbeereveryfriday.blogspot.co ... beers.htmlIncludes label art.
The ultra reference caught my eye - I’ve got a # of the stuff. It’s an intriguing hop: noble heritage with 9% alpha acids. Came out pretty well, eh? I’m thinking of doing a faux altish beer (a lot of Munich malt and not much else, but using Nottingham instead of German Ale yeast. Ferment around 58 F, lager for a few weeks at freezing). I’d love to use the Ultra for that, but I’ve got a # of Mount Hood as well (not to mention a # of Hersbrucker), and it’s not supposed to store well, so I feel obliged to use it. I did a 100% Munich/ Alt yeast/ Mittelfruh (just 8 oz long boil in a 10 gall. batch, no flavor hops) beer treated that way; one of the best beers I’ve brewed
I’m not surprised that the Sorachi disappointed - I brewed one beer with that and I’m done. Everyone describes it as lemony, but it’s more dilly, and not in that way hops have of making flavors that shouldn’t taste good in a beer work. It’s the only batch I’ve brewed that wasn’t infected or funked but got poured down the drain. But hey, nothing ventured nothing gained - when a totally original beer works, all the glory, not to mention the beer, is yours.
Nice blog, but my (boss’s) computer started getting glitchy when I played the music.
Appreciate it.
I won’t use the Sorachi Ace again, but I think that beer was okay. I had 2 in a row on Saturday night, and they went down fine. I’ve got an alt scheduled. That’s a lot of hops you have there, but if you’re making 10-gallon batches, those should go quick.
Yes the Ultra made a good Hallertauer/Vanguard sub. Of course, they’re twice the AA% of Hallertauer, so you have to account for that. Wouldn’t mind using them in a German pils. Just do 100% Pilsner malt and shoot for an OG of 1.055; not TOO strong, but stronger than your typical 4.5-4.6% ABV German Pils.
Hey, just had a chance to read your blog.
NICE JOB! 8)
