And bottled!

Catherine's UnCommon was successfully bottled today. The brew checked in at a FG of 1.014 for a nice 72% attenuation and 4.8% ABV. The taste profile was a little more bitter than I was hoping for, but I would not be surprised if it mellowed a little bit in bottle. The beer will be making its public debut on May 15 at the Benz Beer Festival in Cedar Rapids as part of the CR Beer Nuts Homebrew Club table.

On a Beer Nuts note, Saturday was, of course, Big Brew Day and like last year, Little T (Travis Schidecker) was kind enough to provide the ingredients and the 3rd Base Brewhouse to crank up this Octoberfest beauty. I provided the hop addition measuring and hoed out about 350 lbs of mash grain. For some strange, strange reason, I actually enjoy hoeing out a mash tun. Don't ask why, but it just feels so......good. We also were able to crack open the one of the two bottles of Tactical Nuclear Penguin the club ordered from Brew Dog (www.brewdog.com).

TNP, at 32% ABV is one of the strongest beers known to man and a damn fine ice distilled Imperial Stout to boot. You would think that at that high of alcohol content, the alcohol would be extremely overpowering and out of place (see: Rouge Imperial Stout). Alas, TNP does not fall victim to this. You can smell the warming vapors, but they are not unlike a 10% Imperial Stout. The taste is a very well balanced Imperial Stout with a nice little burn as it goes down. Take a little too much of a slug and it will kick your butt. I would love to try this beer again (and the 41% Sink the Bismarck), but at $60/12 oz bottle plus shipping, this isn't an everyday beer.

Hope everyone's weekend went well and I will keep you informed as to when Reservoir Brewing will be making Smoke on the Res and Dave's Black IPA (Reservoir name to come later).