Beerfest!

The Philadelphia Winter Beerfest was yesterday.  It had been postponed from a few weeks ago due to a run-in with the PA Liquor Control Board and the very odd laws they enforce.  It was a great time, and showcased some amazing beers from craft breweries all over the country.

The Standout, for me, was Williamsburg Brewery's Washington Porter.  Great taste, great mouthfeel, and a good, solid kick...pretty much perfect.  I think I might try a porter in the next experiment, since those seem to be what I've been enjoying the most lately, but I'm getting way ahead of myself.  I was excited to try Stone Brewery's Oak Aged Arrogant Bastard, but ended up being a little disappointed.  The hoppy punch of the original AB was gone, which happens as hop-forward beers age, and the oak flavor was huge, like drinking a campfire.

There is another event in March that I'm looking forward to, but I may not be able to go...that would suck.

On another note, I have come up with the recipe and procedure for phase II.  Basically I am going to switch to an all-grain system, using a technique called brew-in-a-bag.  this way, I can really control the flavor.  I'm going to do a few batches with only pale malts first, so I can develop the base, then throw in specialty grains in the next few batches.  I have a bunch I need to go through, as there are several types of crystal malts, chocolate malts, light malts, dark malts, and all of them have different flavors.  I am going to start with crystal first, specifically crystal 40 and 60 (the numbers refer to the depth of color, as well as the level of caramel flavors), and then move on to 80 and 120.  I'll probably move on to Munich, Vienna, chocolate, and a few others as well.

Heading to the brew shop this Wednesday, and brewing next weekend...Yay!