"Zorn-Vort" Maibock

The Story: Brewing is always better with a friend. This beer was a collaboration with my friend Bill, who is from the first generation of American homebrewers. I think with the mass influx of new brewers and beer lovers, we can still learn a lot from the generation that started brewing in the dark days of draft beer, they challenged the status quo and brewed their own before anyone ever heard of Extreme Beer.

The Brew: Utilizing Bill's awesome MoreBeer brew sculpture and cooled conical fermenator, we wanted to brew a kick ass lager. For the Spring Monterey Competition and Festival, a Maibock was natural, but we wanted to hop it up a bit more. It has the classic character of a German Maibock

Ingredients:
Malt: (60%) Golden Promise, (27%) Vienna, (10%) Munich, (3%) Caramunich
Hops: (First wort hopped) Cascade, Saaz, Hallertau Mitt., French Strisselspalt
Yeast: German Lager
Specs: 1.069 OG, 7.4%abv, 30IBU

Saison Du Monterey

The Story: Saison means season in French and I think that is a perfect name for a style of beer. Afterall, we remember certain beers we've had based on our experiences, and the seasons play a big role in that. Maybe it's that crisp Pilsner or Pale Ale on a Summer day, or a nice roasty Stout or high-octane Barleywine on a cold winter night. The seasons are ingrained in our lives and our beers...naturally.
 
The Brew: So for my last season in Monterey, late spring and summer, we went back to the classic Belgian roots and made a hoppy pale saison  with classic ingredients. Although it's hopped up a little more than most, it's not in Belgian
IPA territory. That's the beauty of using traditional noble hops, in my experience they provide a much more refined and subtle complexity to moderately hoppy beers than your typical IPA hops. This is a jazzed up hoppy Belgian summer ale for the geerbeek in all of us.

Ingredients:
Malt: American 2-Row (75%), White Wheat (15%), German Munich (7%), Honey Malt (3%)
Hops: Cascade (Bittering); Styrian Goldings, French Strisselspalt (Late Hopping)
Extras: Turbinado Sugar, Wyeast Nutrient, Irish Moss
Yeast: Belgian Saison Blend (WLP565), Dry Belle Saison
Specs: 1.053 O.G., 6.2%abv, 27IBU

UPDATE: Won People's Choice 2013 MASH831 Spring Monterey Homebrew Invitational

Romping Rye India Pale Ale

The Story: There are a ton of great beers out there, and good IPAs are pretty easy to come by, on the West Coast especially. For the upcoming Monterey Spring Homebrew Competition and Festival I helped organize, we decided to do a special ingredient showdown. I've been a part of these over the past few years with herbs, spice, fruit, etc. But I wanted to go a little more mainstream to really see where brewers went with a unique but fairly classic ingredient. Rye seemed natural, it's been used in brewing for centuries and contributed a wonderful spicy quality in various styles and intensities... and not just in Roggenbier.


The Brew: Leaving Monterey soon, I had a stock pile of wonderful Aroma hops to contribute to this brew. The key was the right balance of malt backbone and character with the rye and hop aspects, I think we hit it on the mark with a bit more malt character than I would call for in a standard IPA.

Ingredients:
Malt: (73%) American 2-Row, (13%) Malted Rye, (3%) Crystal 40, (2%) Crystal 60, (3%) Victory, (2%) Honey Malt
Hops: (First wort hopped and Dry Hoped) Cascade, Columbus, Galaxy, Galena, Palisade
Yeast: California V (WLP051), Cali (WLP001)
Specs: 1.062 OG, 6.7%abv, 70IBU