I'm not much of a beer drinker. But Justin's enthusiasm for beer and homebrew is so catching I buy a ticket to the Kona Brewfest, whose homebrew contest he entered, just to see beer through his eyes (or goggles). Spending $50 (plus a plane ticket) just to go drink beer? That's how infectious his energy (maybe mania) over homebrew and beer is; it's enough for me to push my lava flow aside and get over beer-associated memories of frat parties and sticky floors.
So I find myself at Justin's, learning about homebrew and watching Justin's latest creations come together: a tripelbock and a bourbon chocolate lager.
Above are malts, which are surprisingly tasty as is, for the tripelbock. I still don't really understand all the steps and ingredients, so here's how Justin tells it:
[The tripelbock] is really a doppelbock that's got some extra malt (hopefully with a final ABV of about 10%) that I spiced with orange zest and coriander (like a belgian tripel, in honor of my third anniversary of brewing and my first beer, which was a tripel). Triple refers to the amount of malt you add (three times more than the regular amount). We used a "base malt", "specialty malts" (crystal, aromatic, roasted), and "malt extract."
My favorite part of learning from Justin is translating all the beer flavor descriptors into what I like and don't like. Don't like: strong hoppy taste. Like: malt (which has a mellow, sweet taste). So I expect to love his tripelbock...unfortunately, it won't be ready for months.
His other creation is a bourbon chocolate lager. He soaked french oak chips in bourbon (an amazingly aromatic combination) and added them to a chocolate lager he brewed a few weeks earlier. There's no actual chocolate in the chocolate lager, just chocolate malt substituted for roasted barley.
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