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Author Topic: Catagory Help Please  (Read 2808 times)

Offline saintpierre

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Catagory Help Please
« on: March 04, 2013, 09:30:45 am »
My club has made an old ale in which we aged in an oak barrel that was previously used to age bourbon.  We acquired the barrel from Allagash who used it once for their beer Curieux. 

My question is what category should I enter this in?  Ideally I would enter it twice but I was able to registar only 1 beer into the NHC.  It tastes fantastic IMO and as a club we wanted to enter it.

The beer is a pretty basic old ale (recipe per 5 gal. below) and has background notes of bourbon and oak.  The oak is very light but the bourbon is noticible. 

12 lb. Crisp Maris Otter
2.0 lb. Munich malt
0.5 lb. C-60
2.0 oz Chocolate malt
~2 oz Willamette hops (4.5 AA, 90 mins)
1.5 oz (43 g) Willamette hops (0 min)
English Ale Yeast (varies per batch)
Mike St. Pierre, P.E.
Maine Ale & Libation Tasters (MALT)
BJCP Certified
[719.4, 74.1] AR

Offline ethalacker

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Re: Catagory Help Please
« Reply #1 on: March 04, 2013, 10:02:30 am »
I would think category 23 with the bourbon coming through.   You could always try 22C though.
BoneHead Brewery
Mableton, GA

Offline AmandaK

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Re: Catagory Help Please
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2013, 10:04:26 am »
Without tasting it personally, it is hard to say.

But based on my imagination of what it might taste like, I would say Wood Aged. Mention the bourbon barrel, but I wouldn't mention the variety of wood. If it is 'light', than saying "oak" or "American oak" will have judges hunting for it.
Amanda Burkemper
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Offline udubdawg

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Re: Catagory Help Please
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2013, 10:43:04 am »
sounds delicious...

send me a bottle (I'll pay for shipping!) and I'll tell you where to categorize it, or whether to just send me the rest!   ;D

Offline saintpierre

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Re: Catagory Help Please
« Reply #4 on: March 04, 2013, 12:30:10 pm »
send me a bottle (I'll pay for shipping!) and I'll tell you where to categorize it, or whether to just send me the rest!   ;D
We're bringing a couple kegs to NHC so if you're there please stop by on club night and try it.

I'm leaning toward Cat. 23 with the bourbon being distinct in the flavor.  The wood is really a background note and not really apparent.
Mike St. Pierre, P.E.
Maine Ale & Libation Tasters (MALT)
BJCP Certified
[719.4, 74.1] AR

Offline jeffy

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Re: Catagory Help Please
« Reply #5 on: March 04, 2013, 03:40:14 pm »
send me a bottle (I'll pay for shipping!) and I'll tell you where to categorize it, or whether to just send me the rest!   ;D
We're bringing a couple kegs to NHC so if you're there please stop by on club night and try it.

I'm leaning toward Cat. 23 with the bourbon being distinct in the flavor.  The wood is really a background note and not really apparent.

I agree.  If the wood is not the dominant flavor it would do better in Specialty.

How about this one: An American IPA, fermented with French Saison yeast and aged over cedar.  You can't really recognize the cedar unless you've had a beer with it before, so it could go into Belgian Specialty or Specialty.  I'm leaning toward Specialty since it's not too Belgiany.
Jeff Gladish, Tampa (989.3, 175.1 Apparent Rennarian)
Homebrewing since 1990
AHA member since 1991, now a lifetime member
BJCP judge since 1995

Offline bonjour

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Re: Catagory Help Please
« Reply #6 on: March 04, 2013, 04:58:44 pm »
from 22 C
Quote
Beers made using either limited wood aging or products that only provide a subtle background character may be entered in the base beer style categories as long as the wood character isn’t prominently featured.
So Specialty
Fred Bonjour
Co-Chair Mashing in Michigan 2014 AHA Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan
AHA Governing Committee; AHA Conference, Club Support & Web Subcommittees



Everything under 1.100 is a 'session' beer ;)

Offline saintpierre

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Re: Catagory Help Please
« Reply #7 on: March 07, 2013, 01:43:23 pm »
How about this one: An American IPA, fermented with French Saison yeast and aged over cedar.  You can't really recognize the cedar unless you've had a beer with it before, so it could go into Belgian Specialty or Specialty.  I'm leaning toward Specialty since it's not too Belgiany.
This beer sounds great! Want to share the recipe?
Mike St. Pierre, P.E.
Maine Ale & Libation Tasters (MALT)
BJCP Certified
[719.4, 74.1] AR

Offline jeffy

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Re: Catagory Help Please
« Reply #8 on: March 07, 2013, 02:38:04 pm »
How about this one: An American IPA, fermented with French Saison yeast and aged over cedar.  You can't really recognize the cedar unless you've had a beer with it before, so it could go into Belgian Specialty or Specialty.  I'm leaning toward Specialty since it's not too Belgiany.
This beer sounds great! Want to share the recipe?
If I can remember when I get home.  It was good.  Killed 4 gallons at the keg competition at Brewers' Ball Sunday and it was one of 23 homebrew kegs and 53 commercial kegs, so somebody must have liked it.
Jeff Gladish, Tampa (989.3, 175.1 Apparent Rennarian)
Homebrewing since 1990
AHA member since 1991, now a lifetime member
BJCP judge since 1995

Offline jeffy

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Re: Catagory Help Please
« Reply #9 on: March 10, 2013, 11:04:27 am »
How about this one: An American IPA, fermented with French Saison yeast and aged over cedar.  You can't really recognize the cedar unless you've had a beer with it before, so it could go into Belgian Specialty or Specialty.  I'm leaning toward Specialty since it's not too Belgiany.
This beer sounds great! Want to share the recipe?
If I can remember when I get home.  It was good.  Killed 4 gallons at the keg competition at Brewers' Ball Sunday and it was one of 23 homebrew kegs and 53 commercial kegs, so somebody must have liked it.

Here are some notes on that beer.  For 10 gallons:
OG 1.070 73% efficiency, 11 srm, 69 IBU's
16# Wyerman pils
6# Simpson's Golden Promise
2# Wyerman Munich II (60L)
Mash at 153F, pH 5.5
Add 3TBS CaSO4 to the kettle
Boil 60 minutes
First wort hop 3 oz cascades (5.5%)
30 minutes 2 oz cascades
10 minutes about an ounce of each of Apollo, Glacier and El Dorado, all whole cones.
Split into 2 carboys, pitching 1056 into half (FG 1.015 after 3 weeks) and 3711 French Saison into half (FG 1.018 after 3 wks.)
Dry hop the US version with 2 ounce each of Simcoe and Amarillo for a week
Dry hop the Saison version with 3 ounces of Summit
Add a six-inch spiral of "cigar box cedar" (Spanish mahogany) from Cigar City to the Saison for 5 days.

If anybody is really interested I can try to post it on the wiki..
Jeff Gladish, Tampa (989.3, 175.1 Apparent Rennarian)
Homebrewing since 1990
AHA member since 1991, now a lifetime member
BJCP judge since 1995