A Year of Craft Beer, Vol. 19, Wissinoming Brewing Eddie's Small Bier

So this one is my homebrew from a second runnings from my Mocha MaryAnn.  This was my third attempt at both and man I love it!

Now this beer is based on a beer from Anchor Steam that got their idea from a colonial American style of table beer.  It is a beer made from the grains already used in a mash for a porter or a stout and meant to be a much lower gravity beer with less alcohol and meant to be drank more frequently with dinner and meals throughout the day.  So it is generally going to have less body and be more watery.  My first attempt was just that, pretty damn watery.  The second better as I added a hair of maltodextrin, demerara sugar and lactose and hopped throughout with cascades.  This one I added a bit less of the maltodextrin, demerara, and lactose, bitter hopped with kent goldings and aromatic hopped with citra.  BINGO!

ABV 3.5%

The beer pours brown with a semi frothy head of white.  It's very brown and very clear out of my keg.  It's a bad picture, sorry.   I have been working all day on Gazela, and after there was a pot luck dinner with some drinking involved and I'm pretty tired at the moment.

So it's pretty dark brown with a white head that dissipates to a thin ring as there is little carbonation in the beer (I may have not added enough priming sugar to condition well) so there is only a little lacing of the head.

The aroma is fantastic!  The citra hops sit on top of a very mellow roasted coffee and malt aroma.  These citra smell great and taste great in this beer.  They are more apparent at the end with the Kent leading the way in the forefront, followed by roasted grain.  The body is very thin and watery.  This is where I need to work on, well that and getting carbonation in the keg better.  In bottle its fine.  The mouthfeel is light as well, but smooth enough.  At the finish is when you get the citra hop and I like it.  It was about a 7 gallon batch and I used only an ounce of Kent and an ounce of Citra and I think it was just fine.  Perfect even.  I like the balance of hops and malts.  It's just a bit watery that is all.

For what it is, I think it is pretty good.  Techically I dont think one is supposed to add body to a small beer in the way of maltodextrin, etc... but I like to juice it up just a little bit.  I will figure it out.

I'm going to give it a 6 or a 7 and be hard on myself.  Many people really like it and I really like it, but it's not quite what I am looking for.  I also used nottingham yeast and could maybe fine a better strain.  It may also have been under yeasted.  LOL

It's getting there!  See you tomorrow!

-Fish