I’m prepping for my first AG brew day sometime in the next few weeks and I’m having a heck of a time deciding on what to brew! So, I’m turn to the community for inspiration. What type of beer really screams “spring” to you?
To give you a picture of my current cellar, I have a holiday spiced ale, ESB, Irish red and pumpkin porter on draft (yes, I really need to get through that holiday themed beer faster!) In (recent) bottles I have a milk stout which came out superbly and a hoppy brown gone wrong. I don’t really know how to describe it, it’s not really a brown ale and it’s not particularly hoppy… but it’s good! On deck I have an applewine that’s currently cold crashing and a pre-anchor steam beer that should be ready to bottle later this week, plus a cranberry braggot that probably has another month to go before I do much else with it.
I’m looking for something medium bodied that will be ready soon, and I’m perfectly happy to use a kit. So, what do you think, world? What’s your perfect spring beer?
I personally like a good Pale Ale or IPA for Spring. My Pale Ales and IPAs are session style beers, so not very high ABV, usually high 4s low 5s. After drinking a lot of malty dark beers for winter, I’m looking forward to some lighter body, hoppy beers. My wife is asking me to brew a Wit (I currently have a Hefe on keg for her).
I couldn’t agree more. I think a nice hoppy APA at 4.5% or so would be perfect. Still flavourful and full bodied enough for the not quite summer days but more refreshing than some of the ones you mentioned. You could come up with some sort of Easter themed name to keep with your holiday trend.
But, I’d also get to work on some pilsners or kolsch right away to give them good lagering time before summer really gets here. I’m finding fall and winter beers can be ready fast but summer beers take some forethougt. My next big batch is going to be 10 gals of pilsner to have ready for July.
Never really liked the traditional spring beers that much or the summer ones for that matter. But I guess I’d go with a nice pale ale, also. I’m starting to not really care what season it is for beer, if I have good beer on tap, it doesn’t matter what the weather is like.
Last year I made an orange blossom honey-amarillo pale I called Brewce SpringSting. I used 3 lbs. of honey for a 6.5 gallon batch so it was a bit sweet for me but turned out to be my Mom’s favorite.
I agree with the others that a Pale Ale is a good choice. I also have to throw in an American Honey Wheat as my top choice. Make it a little higher than session strength at 6-6.5% abv.
I usually have a pilsner or two on tap throughout the spring/summer months, either a CAP or a BoPils or both. Last year I brewed a kolsch that went down nicely and I’m trying to figure out when I can fit that in my brewing schedule again.
Brown, Bitter, American Amber, California Common, or Saison/farmhouse are where my mind is…something with still a little meat on the bone…saving the Kolsch (brew now, for later), PA, blonde, hefe, wit, Pilsners for when it is hot out. Of course, I don’t live in the south (where hot is perhaps already)…if I lived further north, I would include lower shilling Scottish, Brown Porter, and English Stout as spring beers.
