Skip to main content

Out of the Bottle: Surly Cynic, proof that there's nothing wrong with buying a kit.

I follow a lot of beer websites. Occasionally, a deal comes up on one of them that's too good to pass up. When a chance to get a nice discount on kits at Northern Brewer came along, I pounced.

I purchased the partial mash version of Surly Cynic and gave it a whirl. The kit was purportedly created by the brewers at Surly Brewing and is a copy of their take on a Saison. I won't post the recipe, because that would allow all of you to cheat and not buy the kit. The only change I made was with the yeast. I wanted the full Saison experience, so I picked up Wyeast's French Saison instead of the prescribed Belgian Ardennes. Otherwise, I followed the kit's instructions.

The yeast got to work within eight hours of pitching, but it wasn't the fastest worker. The fermentation lock bubbled regularly for a couple weeks before dying down. Cynic is fairly light, so it was ready to bottle after three weeks. After a couple of weeks of bottle conditioning, it was good to go. The finished beer has an alcohol content of 5.9%

Cynic pours with a hazy apricot pigment and has a generous eggshell cap. I can tell right off the bat that I went a little crazy with the priming sugar. The bubbles in the beer are frenetic. I like a good amount of fizz in my Saison, but..... On the upside, the bubbles are holding the head up nicely.

I have a weakness for certain hop varieties. A new one has made it onto my list. The lone flavor and aroma hop in this beer is Styrian Goldings. It's closely related to one of my favorite English hops: Fuggles. It's both fruity and earthy, with a touch of spice. It is anything but the citrus bomb of many popular American hop varieties. I knew I would like it when I opened the hop packet on brewing day.

Anyway, Cynic is an interesting beer. The yeast does a lot of the work. It brings a subtle sourdough funk to both the aroma and flavor. The grain bill for this beer also includes a fair amount of aciduated malt. You can tell its there and its acidity is a bit too much for my tastes. If I were to do this over, I would either cut it way back, or eliminate the grain all together. The rest of the flavor is quite nice. The sweet/bitter balance leans ever so slightly to the bitter side. The body is acceptably light and a bit grainy. Again, my heavy hand with the priming sugar nets a bit too much tingle.

With many commercial Saisons weighing in with high alcohol contents, this kit's relative lightness is highly welcome. The story goes that Saisons were originally brewed to quench the thirst of farm workers during in the late summer harvest. A relatively light one like this lets you plow the fields without getting plowed yourself.

For the brewer nervous about formulating their own recipes, I strongly recommend this one.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In the Fermentor: Bohemian Kölsch

Being a brewer on a budget, I don't have an extra fridge to lager in. That poses a bit of a problem, because I love a good Pilsener on a hot Summer day. To my palate, the closest style to Pilsener in the ale department is a German Kölsch . To that end, I've wedded a Bohemian Pilsener influenced recipe with a Kölsch yeast strain to create my Bohemian Kölsch pseudo-lager. I realize that the finished product won't be as clean, crisp and clear as a traditional Pils, but I'm hoping to come close. I want a full five gallons of this beer. Since my kitchen setup isn't conducive to five gallon all-grain batches, I've taken the partial-mash approach. I've also thrown in a bit of Irish Moss toward the end of the boil to help with clarity. Here's the five-gallon recipe: Grains: 3.5 lbs German Pilsener 8 oz Munich 8 oz Crystal 10L 4 oz CaraPils Hops: 1 oz Saaz: First Wort Hopping 0.5 oz Merkur: 60 min 1 oz Saaz: 7 min Extras: 3 lbs Pilsen ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Out of the Bottle: Insert clever use of the word Wit here

My latest Wit was a hit at my friend's birthday party. He especially liked the beer's citrus components. Others found it to be light and refreshing. I heard no Blue Moon comparisons, which actually made me quite happy. Compared to My Wit's End , this beer is much closer to style. Unmalted Wheat is part of the reason, as there's much less grainy sweetness at work. Instead, the beer is crisp and dry. The bitter orange peel really does its thing. The peel's sharp flavor melds nicely with the sweet orange peel I also used. Coriander pushes the beer's spicy character along. If I were to change anything, it would be to dial it back a notch or two. Some light sourdough aromas round out the flavor and aroma. Despite the relatively low ABV of right around 5.0%, the beer sports a fairly hefty body. Overall, I'm quite happy with this Wit. Next time, I'll hold back on the coriander. Maybe I will even take a shot at a Turbid Mash, which sounds like a great sub...
Post a Comment
Read more

Out of the Bottle: Porter vs Porter

My Beer My attempt to clone Samuel Smith Taddy Porter is ready to pour. For a change of pace, I've picked up a 4-pack of the real deal to compare and contrast against my efforts. Since I'm not exactly an impartial judge, my girlfriend agreed to blind taste test the two beers side by side in identical, unmarked glasses. I've mixed her notes in with mine. First off, I must say that the beers look remarkably similar. Taddy pours with a slightly larger head, but the beers share the same deep garnet hue. Mine has a bit more carbonation going on. Both beers have good head retention and leave some lace behind. My girlfriend's first comment was that my beer was very similar, but finished quicker than the Samuel Smith. She also noted that the Samuel Smith is slightly more bitter, with more depth of flavor. The first thing I noticed was that my beer has a more roasted edge and is a bit nuttier. It also lacks the unique dark fruit esters that I sense in all of the Samuel...
Post a Comment
Read more