brew dog blog

At the end of August I brewed a “Belgian Pale Ale,” which I called a “Sour IPA” at the time because I didn’t have anything else to call it.  Since then, I’ve tried most of the easily obtainable examples of commercial beers which pair Belgian Yeast with big doses of American or Noble hops, and I’ve been surprised in both ways — sometimes very pleased, sometimes disappointed.  Although this beer didn’t turn out sour in the slightest, there’s a great amount of leathery, deep Brett character on the nose, mixed with more typical Belgian yeast esters.  Taking a cue from Mike at The Mad Fermentationist Blog, I decided to post a review of some of my homebrews, so that I can have a public record, and try to step outside myself a bit to give it some honest critique.  Overall, I’m pretty pleased with this beer, especially as it was my second homebrew.  It pours a beautiful golden color, with a huge, fluffy white head that leaves plenty of lacing.  A lot of great aromas from the melange of yeasts I employed, with the slightest hint of dry malt character as well.  The flacor is pure hop bitterness up front, which finishes bone dry, leaving a bit to be desired on the mid-palette.  I’d like a bit more assertive malt character for the next time around, but in terms of a relatively sessionable 7.5% ABV beer, it’s pretty tasty.  I learned a lot making this beer, and I still have a lot left.  Anyone wanna come over and help me finish it?