Ales over ALS 2024

After a successful showing that did not result in any awards in 2023, the 2024 Ales over ALS competition snuck up on me. By snuck up I mean I thought I was judging instead of brewing this year until I saw an email with my name listed as a brewer. I had to fire up my kettle for the first time in a couple of months and brew something. 

I had no idea what I wanted to brew. The easy thing would’ve been a re-brew of Broken Fist which went over so well last year. I felt like I needed to bring something different. That, and I didn’t want to spend a ton of money on hops. Instead I chose to brew a beer I already purchased the hops for. 

Color and clarity on point.

The idea for this beer came to me several years ago when I was in Portland, Maine. I was visiting the Shipyard Brewery and browsing their excellent gift shop when a particular item caught my eye. They were selling tap handles of one of their legacy beers for only $10.

Brew Day and Tasting Notes:North Shore Brewers Q2 2024 Double IPA

As part of North Shore Brewers Quarterly in-club competition, the style chosen for Q2 was Double IPA. I haven't brewed a Double IPA in a long time, which is part of the fun of pulling a style out of a jar.

My first thought was to re-brew my last Double IPA, The Anti-Chris. That was a beer I brewed before I was kegging, so it was bottle conditioned which meant the beer sat at room temperature for three weeks to carbonate which isn't exactly ideal for maintaining hop aroma and flavor. Plus I didn't have temperature control back then either and couldn't cold crash.

These homegrown hops aren't getting any better sitting in a freezer

In the end I made a new recipe designed to use up hops I had on hand. Money was a little tight at the time, and I didn't want to spend a ton of money on hops for a double IPA. 

Double Brew Day & Tasting Notes: Muntons American Light Lager and Sullivan & Buckley Irish Stout

April arrived and I only had one brew day in the books for 2024; a mediocre one at that. With summer approaching that was not going to cut it. Starting in May, my schedule opened back up a lot, but before that became clear I came up with a plan to get a couple of batches quickly fermenting.

The best way to quickly make a batch is a canned beer kit. I've had great success making quality beer with beer kits when I worked for Muntons and since. Brewing at least one beer kit made a lot of sense if the goal was to make a batch quickly.

Beer kits and Hopped Extract. Homebew cheat codes

As a dark beer lover, I always want to have at least one dark beer on tap even in the summer. Originally I wanted to re-brew Spring Training Stout and have a double brew day when I brewed my Amber Lager. I just didn't have the time for a double brew day. Looking for something a little lighter than an Irish Extra Stout, I decided to re-brew my Murphy's and Beamish-inspired Irish Stout Sullivan & Buckley. That was an all-grain batch I brewed in the summer of 2020 and enjoyed thoroughly. Looking to save time my first thought was to convert the recipe to extract. From there I took the conversion one step further in the interest of saving time.

Brew Day & Tasting Notes: International Amber Lager

So far I can best describe 2024 as painfully busy. After my position with Muntons Malt was eliminated at the end of 2022, I started working as a consultant for one of Muntons' distributors Pro Brew Supply. Ironically most of what I have been selling for the past year has been yeast, although we will be making a push to sell more malt in my territory which is Virginia up to Maine. I have been supplementing my income with a variety of side hustles which have been consuming my weekends for the past four months or so.

Behold, the Jar of Destiny!

This has left very little time to drink beer, let alone brew beer.  I only just finished my kegs from Ales over ALS in March as I kegged this batch. I also dumped what was left of Inverted Fest, and a version of Derby Wharf Porter I brewed for an in-club competition last year.

Ah yes, in-club competition! Last year the North Shore Brewers started doing quarterly in-club competitions. Every quarter a style is pulled out of a jar (the idea was stolen from Brew Dudes), club members brew that style, and at a meeting all the beers are tasted and club members vote for the batch they think is best. At the end of the year, the brewer who accrues the most points is the club's Brewer of the Year. For the first quarter of 2024 the style was International Amber Lager