Although this was loosely based on the barleywine that did so well a couple of years ago it’s pretty different. Given my experiences with rye lately in English barleywine and American black IPA I felt like it’d be a good dose to this beer. Centennial was left out and substituted with Amarillo due to running out of Centennial.(time to order a few more pounds) Given the reception the beer got based on how hoppy it was before I decided to up the ante a little more with some additional flame out hops. Finally I substituted a healthy dose of Munich in place for crystal malts. I’ve found I’m getting far better reception for beers when crystal is balanced with Munich than I got before using straight pale malt with crystal. I think it just adds complexity to the malt bill overall.

So for the first month or so this thing will basically be an American Triple/Quad IPA if you will. I see the American Strong Ale listed in the 2014 BJCP guidelines and given how dry I’m shooting for with this thing I’d bet it could pass for one if it finishes out appropriately.

Brew day was a stormy May 30th and it all went fairly well. Pump lagged a few times but the bigger grain bills seem to stabilize better on mash temperature. I had to modify the recipe some because I had pretty poor efficiency hence the two pounds of DME. Broke my refractometer near the end of the boil but it’d already gotten over 1.1 so I’m pretty certain it’s around the 1.11 we were shooting for. As always with this sort of beer the mash, boil and finished wort was heavenly. Cooled it down to 74ish then put it in the mash tank over night to chill down to 63F before transferring the wort on to the yeast cake from my oat/wheat pale ale I brewed a week or two ago. Oxygen added and it was fermenting in no time. 3 days later it’s still going but slowing down. If it’s anything like the English barleywine it should be terminal gravity by day 5-6.

Update 6/25/2015

I think this beer turned out quite fine. I really enjoy drinking it. I do wish I’d used some aromatic malt in this sucker since it has to warm before you get any of the fine maltiness in the nose. Small detail in the grand scheme of what can typically go wrong with a barleywine. I’m happy!

Update 10/17/2015

This beer really came together given a few more months. The maltiness came out a little more and the hop character settled in to a fine background note. It was just in time to finish 2nd at the Dixie Cup for 2015.