I decided to step out and brew something a little different than my usual’s, an American Amber Ale. So what is an American Amber Ale?………….. From Beer Advocate;

American Amber / Red Ale

Description:

Primarily a catch all for any beer less than a Dark Ale in color, ranging from amber (duh) to deep red hues. This style of beer tends to focus on the malts, but hop character can range from low to high. Expect a balanced beer, with toasted malt characters and a light fruitiness in most examples. The range can run from a basic ale, to American brewers who brew faux-Oktoberfest style beers that are actually ales instead of lagers.

Average alcohol by volume (abv) range: 4.0-7.0%  

I have a copy of “BeerSmith 2” loaded on my computer, FYI, I love the program!  I did a search of the recipes in the BeerSmith cloud and found an American Amber Ale that caught my eye…..probably for all the wrong reasons….Uncle Mickey is the brewer’s name. I do need to give him credit for the recipe because, I brewed it step by step, just as he submitted it. I chose to honor his “naming convention” for his beer but, in order to be a little less crass, I translated it into German – “Zucker Zitzen” – Therefore it will be labled “ZZ Amber Ale”.

The beer is in the bottle and now capped with a dark pinkish red cap. I use cap colors to differentiate my beers until they receive a label. The 6 gallon batch filled 54 standard size bottles…12 ounces. I was almost a week late getting it into the bottles but, the sample I pulled for the gravity check was nice, definitely malt forward and a hint of sweetness. I think it will be nice. It is not heavily hopped, 1 ounce of Summit at 60 minutes, 1 ounce of Amarillo Gold at 10 minutes and 1 ounce of Cascade at flame out and I let it sit for about 15 minutes before beginning to chill the wort.  I have 21 days to let it condition and age before the crawfish boil. With my lack of patience, I will most likely have sampled a couple just to be safe before the party. FYI – I worked up a sweat bottling so I enjoyed a bottle of my SMaSH IPA (American Flag cap), while resting before the cleanup began. I think I am down to about a dozen of that batch left……I better be a little stingy and hide a few!

Five six packs of random shaped bottles, all 12 ounce bottles, but recycled from my broad and diverse drinking habits. ( a six-pack of stubby bottles are hiding below the Sierra Nevada six-pack)

23 and 2/3 perfectly uniform bottles of “ZZ” American Amber Ale. Yes, 2/3 of a bottle….nothing goes to waste here! Yum……

Now……What is next on my brew list?

• A clone of Alpha Hive Double IPA from COOP Ale Works in Oklahoma City? It is an amazing beer if you can find it. http://coopaleworks.com/beers/alpha-hive-double-ipa/
• A session IPA is also something I have threatening to brew for quite some time now? A clone of founders All Day IPA is high on the list!!!!
• I do have bee hives at a blueberry/blackberry farm so, a fruit wheat ale may taste pretty good?
• Or another SMaSH IPA with either Simcoe, Citra or Amarillo hops…..????

So many choices and so little time!

Drink Local and Drink Responsibly

Bishop