The Bruery Or Xata

Well, while I try to find my notes for my Brett Trois IPA that I brewed, I figured I might as well get this beer up here.  Last year I joined The Bruery's Preservation Society club for a short time (moved on to the Reserve Society now), and as a result I got this beer.  For friends who know me, I have a bad habit of frequenting the Mexican restaurant across the street from my apartment to grab 32 oz. horchatas and consequently drinking them until I am sick.  I am really going places in life.

The Bruery Or Xata 

Appearance- Golden and slightly orange in color.  Bubbly egg shell white head that becomes patchy fairly quickly.  Slight lacing on the glass.

Smell- A lot of spice comes across first with the cinnamon unsurprisingly leading the charge.  A rich vanilla emerges the cinnamon that is subsequently complimented by a slight pepper character.  Overall sweet smell.

Taste- A lot of cinnamon to begin with, although the pepper character plays a more prominent role.  Towards the middle is a milky vanilla taste.  However, the flavor becomes more medicinal than I enjoy out of a saison.  Some very slight bitterness in the finish.

Mouthfeel- Medium-light in body with moderate-low carbonation.  A fairly dry finish.

Overall and Notes- Interesting beer, but as someone who loves horchata, it is not there quite yet.  Not sure if there is a better way of getting a more rounded out horchata taste though, and I suspect the problem might lie in the base beers that could even be used in such a replication.

The Yule Against Perpetuities Brew Day

Well, I need to get back to this on a regular basis.  What better way to make my tenth comeback to the interwebs than with some brewing and bad puns?  My firm once again asked for a beer for their Christmas party and I obliged with another Christmas Ale.  This time I changed up the name of the beer to another bad law pun, mostly because I have no friends.  Or something like that.  For those unaware of my lame sense of humor, check here.  It is fairly similar to last year's recipe, except it turned out a little bigger.

The Yule Against Perpetuities

Batch size: 6.0 gallons
Original Gravity: 1.082
Final Gravity: 1.022
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Grain

18.5 lbs. English Maris Otter
0.75 lb. Crystal 80L
0.25 lb. Black Patent Malt

Hops

1.0 oz Horizon @ 60 minutes

Spices

1/2 broken up cinnamon stick @ 1 minute
1/3 tsp Ginger @ 1 minute
1/8 tsp Nutmeg @ 1 minute
1/8 tsp Allspice @ 1 minute
1/8 tsp Cinnamon @ 1 minute
1/8 tsp Cinnamon @ bottling

Yeast
Wyeast 1028 London Ale

This time I remembered to keep a 90 minute boil, unlike my last effort, therefore helping to boost the final gravity in the process. As a result, the beer ended up bigger than last years, but that is alright with me, and seemed to be alright with the firm. Although I am still not as cool as this guy.