Homebrew CDA

I've been enjoying a variety of the Cascadian Dark Ales that have been available recently. We decided to brew our own, and it turned out great. I figured I'd share the recipe:

5 gallons:
9 lbs 2-row malt
6 pounds pilsner malt
1 pound Carrafa II malt
1 pound 60L crystal malt

Hops:
Bittering: 1.5oz Amarillo for 60 minutes
Bitter/Flavor: 1 oz Mt. Hood (homegrown) for 45 minutes
Flavor: 1 oz Cascade for 15 minutes
Aroma: 1 oz Cascade for 5 minutes
Aroma: 0.5 oz Amarillo for 5 minutes
Aroma: 2 ounces Cascade dry hop in secondary

1 hour mash @ 150 degrees. Standard sparge and boil.

White Labs WLP001 California Ale Yeast

Original Gravity: 1.079
Final Gravity: 1.015

Alcohol By Volume: 8.5%

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This turned out really well for our first attempt at a CDA, other than being a bit strong. The real secret is the Carrafa malt -- it's a de-husked roasted barley. Any other roasted malt would turn this into a hoppy stout, but the Carrafa lends the dark color without a ton of the flavor.

Appearance is black, but with good clarity.

Due to the dry hopping, the aroma is great. Tons of traditional Cascade hop aroma, that lasts surprisingly well.

Flavor is solidly hoppy, with a bit of malt sweetness to balance it out. A hint of roast, but just enough.

Mouthfeel is surprisingly light, especially for the strength. It's almost too easy to drink. Finish is also a surprise -- the balance turned out great. It has enough bitterness to be clean, but enough sweetness to balance it out.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this beer. It was really fun to come up with a recipe for a new style and have it come out halfway decent.

2011 Mac Ale

IPA
Oregon Trail Brewing, Corvallis, Oregon
22oz bottle, 6.3%abv

This is a "meh" IPA that still tastes good because it's only given to those folks that ran the Mac Forest 50k. Funny how limited access "improves" a thing.

Ignoring the "special" nature of the beer, here are the details:

Aroma is a bit stale, with oxidized notes. Hops and malt are there, but don't dominate.

Flavor is better, with a bit less oxidation and better malt and hops.

Finish is initially smooth and lightly sweet, but transitions to a solid, lingering bitterness.

Not horrible, not great, but I'm still going to enjoy it, 'cause only a couple hundred other people on the planet have access to this beer.

What do you get...

For running 31.4 miles and 6700 feet of elevation on muddy trails?

Beer, of course! With a matching pilsner glass

Oh, and a nice long sleeve t-shirt (not pictured).

And sore muscles (also not pictured).

Yesterday I ran the 2011 McDonald Forest 50k trail run. It's Oregon's largest Ultramarathon event, and one of the tougher ones around due to the difficult terrain and crazy elevation gain/loss of the course.

Up to this point, I'd never run an official event longer than a half marathon, but I decided to go right past a "normal" marathon distance and go right for an ultra. Since I live here in Corvallis I got to train on the actual trails the event is on, so I knew what to expect from the event. It went well, I actually had fun -- yes, running for 6 hours and 49 minutes can be fun, if you're crazy enough -- and I beat my goal time of 7 hours. That was my secondary goal after just finishing the damn thing -- plenty of the entrants don't manage to finish.

I had lots of help -- Tracie was patient with my long hours of training, and she and the fam were a great support crew during the race. My brother-in-law Stafford was a great training partner, and it was great to see him kicking ass out on the course.

This is what exhaustion, endorphins and relief look like:

Will I do it again next year? If you'd asked me before yesterday, I'd have said, "No, once will be enough" but today...? Today my answer would be more of a "hmm, maybe..."

I should probably write up a more detailed account of the nearly-seven-hours of running for posterity while the memories are still fresh. Maybe tomorrow...

Southern Tier 2XIPA

Is yummy. That is all.

Russian River Sanctification

"Blonde" ale

This is an interesting one -- they call it a blonde, but it's super sour. Sour nose, with a bit mellower sour flavor, that mellows to malt and a clean finish.

Yet another Russian River beer I like. I'm going to have to make a trip down there some time...

Ninkasi tasting

Photo: double-dry-hopped Tricerahops Double IPA, and Unconventionale Imperial Stout.

Th Tricerahops is a great big IPA, and this extra hoppy version is an improvement on the original.

The Unconventionale is an interesting one -- it's brewed with heather, lavender, and tarragon. Normally I'm not a huge fan of spiced beers, but this is really well done. The spices are very subtle, lending a pleasant "foodness" to the beer -- almost like a middle-eastern dish. It is also very drinkable, for its 10%abv.

Nice to try some Ninkasi beers I hadn't had before -- very enjoyable way to spend the afternoon.