(Responding to Sweetcell from previous page)
I did notice Idiom and made a note of it. I think we've been to at least three other breweries in Frederick in the past, but only Monocacy merited a return visit.
I think we will be back out that way for some hiking next month, so we'll see...we could also detour to Waredeca and Brookville Beer Farm. Neither have beers worth writing home about, but they're nice if the weather is nice.
I think we had half pours of everything but the stout at Sapwood. They were all good to great, most of them closer to great.
Conference Room 11 – 4.6% ABV: A lightly-hoppy wine-influenced wheat beer. Wine and beer aren’t enemies. Vintners have been selecting cultures that enhance the naturally fruity flavors of grapes. Luckily hops contain many of the same aromatic compounds. So We tried boost the already fruity aroma of German Huell Melon hops with the small addition of wine yeast. The result is all strawberry and cantaloupe with a smooth low-bitterness base.
Lord of Light – 5.6% ABV: Our brand-new pale ale is in the mold of Rings of Light and Danger of Light, but with a more complex blend of hop aromatics from the combination of 50% Australian Galaxy, with 25% each Mosaic and Citra. The result has tropical fruit (passionfruit, papaya) with citrus and some dank herbaceous notes.
Orange Sorbet – 5.6% ABV: One of our favorite variants from 2018 was Orange Sorbet Rings, so we wanted to super-size it with a 200 gallon batch based on Lord of Light! For this one Scott zested more than 100 Cara Cara oranges and heaped in 24 Vanilla Beans from Madagascar. The combination is rich and fruity, but without being sugary sweet.
Atomic Apricot – 5.7% ABV: We took a stainless-steel-fermented pale sour beer and loaded it with apricots at a rate of 2 lbs per gallon. That’s most of what you’ll taste, but we layered in fruity complexity with a moderate dry hopping with Amarillo and Citra, plus fermentation with 12 strains of Brettanomyces. We didn’t back-sweeten or add lactose, so don’t expect it to taste like fruit juice! I also wouldn’t call it a sour IPA as the hops are a complexity rather than the star.
Hop Swirl – 6.8% ABV: : Our extra-New England-y IPA! Hopped with a swirl of Sabro and Citra. Sabro brings a unique range of vanilla, fresh coconut, and tropical aromatics. We wanted to make an almost dessert-like IPA so we boosted the sweetness, and cut the bitterness. Fermented with our house English yeast.
Western Shore – 7.1% ABV: Our East Coast take on a West Coast IPA. Cleaner, drier, and bitterer than our standard IPAs. We dry hopped this one with Simcoe and Strata for a more dank aroma without the juicy frutiness our hazy IPAs usually have. It’s a bit clearer than our usual hoppy beers, but with 3+ lbs/bbl of dry hopping it isn’t crystal.
Grapefruit Cryovolcano – 7.9% ABV: Citra and Mosaic are two of our favorite hops. Together they provide an intense aroma of green pineapple, melon, and grapefruit. 25% of our 4.4 lbs per barrel triple-dry-hopping was with Citra and Mosaic Cryo. The hops already provide grapefruit aromatics, but we wanted to reinforce that with actual grapefruit zest for this 180 gallon mega-variant of Cryovolcano! It took 58 peels to get a citrusy aroma-boost, and slightly elevated bitterness.
Boom, Roasted! – 9.2% ABV: Our second stout, this time an English-inspired Imperial Oatmeal! That means it’s rich, strong, and malty. Flavors include: chocolate, toffee, and faintly woodsy.
