Into the Keg

10/26: Kegged 5gals of the Pac Man Pale Ale. Dryhopped it with .5oz each Amarillo, Columbus and Simcoe. The beer isn't too far off from what's noted in a previous post. Dropped completely bright leaving a nice golden hue. The flavor cleaned up a bit. I think I'm still picking up some phenolic though. I can't decide if it's a function of some aspect of the fermentation or a result of using such a large amount of hops of questionable condition. Or even simply that there is so much Simcoe used. I'm beginning to understand how strongly Simcoe contributes to flavor. There's a very intense cedar resin note that hits right at the end of the first third of the palate and keeps going and going (ha! how's that for geek). Maybe I'm attributing some aspect of the resin note to the phenol I'm tasting. The bitterness and that resinous thing fade a bit at swallow but then kind of come back a bit, think of waves lapping at the seashore. Waves of hop character. Even though the beer is so hop forward there is a real nice chewy, nutty malt character to back it up. There's some chocolate too, like what you get from a chocolate mint plant. We'll see how it all plays once it's gassed.

Judging Novembeerfest next weekend. Should be interesting.

Will pick up some canning supplies today. Thinking about putting up a couple cases of yeast starter.