Greetings drinkers!
Over the long weekend, I decided (aka, caved to Mrs. Brew Dude's pleading) to brew another batch of the much-loved Chile Beer.
I started out with a wheat beer base: 4 pounds base malt with 1 pound white wheat malt. Now, I have been kind of lazy with the brewing (and blogging) so the ingredients I had weren't the freshest ever, but they had been stored in airtight containers. Also, the heat from the peppers will be the most apparent flavor, anyway. But time will tell if this is as well-received as other iterations of the style.
Because of the old ingredients, I decided to mash for 2 hours as opposed to the usual 90 minutes I utilize with my grain bag technique:
I used 1 oz cluster and 1 oz simcoe hops for bittering and flavoring, respectively. Although, again, the real star of the show is the peppers:
Mrs. Brew Dude roasted them, sweated them, and then removed the stems and skins. We left the seeds for additional heat. In all, we had four green jalapeños and one little red guy, I forget what they're called.
I christened the beer Capsaicin America, after the active ingredient in chile peppers and everyone's favorite patriotic superhero (in honor of Memorial Day). He should be knocking around Red Skulls in a month's time. Check back for taste notes!
Meantime, should the swampy summer prove too much for your Coronas and Cuba Libres, enjoy my new favorite cocktail: The Gin Rickey
1-2 healthy lime wedges
2-3 oz Gin
Club soda to taste
Squeeze the lime over a bunch of ice and toss in the shells, add the Gin and top with club soda or seltzer. Allegedly invented in DC, and it sure does the trick when you need a patio cooler during a summer evening in our fair city. And no sugar, the lightness is key to the refreshment factor.
Happy imbibing!
