Not this kind…

This kind!

This Saturday, May 22nd between 1:00 and 5:00 pm we’ll be putting every Abbey style beer we’ve ever served in Maple Shade on tap!  That’s 8 styles in all including some rare barrel-aged and Brett variations.  If you want to try all of them we’ll be offering a sampler with four ounces each of seven of the styles.  One of the styles is a very limited release  and will only be available briefly.  At 3:00 pm we’ll be tapping a single pin of our Bourbon-aged Quadfather.  Below is a complete list with descriptions.  See you Saturday!

Chris

Abbey Single

OG: 1.038 Color: 16 IBU: 15 ABV: 3.9%

Monk’s table beer.  Light to medium bodied chestnut colored ale balancing specialty malts with the fruity and spicy notes of Westmalle yeast.

Abbey Dubbel

OG: 1.075 Color: 16 IBU: 25 ABV: 7.3%

Brewed in the style of a Belgian Trappist, it has a distinct aroma of plum and pear.  The flavor has the sweetness of dark Belgian candi sugar paired with nuances of fruit and spice. 

Belgian Tripel

OG: 1.083 Color: 4 IBU: 25 ABV: 9.0%

Traditional high gravity Belgian-style golden ale, complex aroma and flavor of plums, spice and bananas with a refreshing balanced bitterness.

American Tripel

OG: 1.083 Color: 4 IBU: 40 ABV: 9.0%

Belgian yeast marries with American hops for a nose and palate full of fruity characters.

Brett Tripel

OG: 1.083 Color: 4 IBU: 35 ABV: 9.0%

Our Tripel that has undergone a secondary fermentation in wood spiked with Brettanomyces L.  The Brett adds sour notes and complex leathery, earthy and barnyard characters.

 The Quadfather

OG: 1.099 Color: 18 IBU: 50 ABV: 9.5%

A truly full-bodied beer, Quadrupel is rich, malty and very complex.  Deep brown in color, this beer uses Belgian Abbey yeast, dark candi sugar and a huge assortment of specialty malts, providing layers of complex fruity aromas and flavors with a warming alcohol finish.

Bourbon Quad limited (one pin) serving at 3:00 pm

OG: 1.099 Color: 18 IBU: 50 ABV: 10.5%

The Quadfather aged in a used Four Roses Bourbon barrel.  The bourbon and oak notes add yet another layer to this already complex elixir.

Brett Quad

OG: 1.099 Color: 18 IBU: 50 ABV: 9.5%

The Quadfather after a secondary fermentation in wood spiked with Brettanomyces L.  The Brett adds a hint of sourness and a spicy funkiness.

Iron Hill Turns 100….. (batches of beer out)

This is why I'm a brewer and not a caligrapher

This morning Jeff and I brewed Iron Hill, Maple Shade’s 100th batch of beer.  We’re pretty excited, I don’t know if any of our locations have hit batch number 100 in such a short period of time.  You guys drink a lot of beer!  We thought since we were celebrating our hundreth batch, we’d make a 100-themed beer.  So it doesn’t really fit into a style, the recipe all revolved around a number.  Here it is;

100# Pilsner Malt

100# 2-Row Harrington

100# Maris Otter

100# Munich Malt

100# Vienna Malt

100# Carahelles

100# Malted Rye

100# Malted Wheat

100# Corn

100% Centennial hops (100 BU’s worth in the boil and 100 ounces for finishing hops)

Boiled at 100 degrees Celcius (actually that’s all of our beers, but hey…)

Should be out in around 3 weeks.  I’ll let you know when for sure!

Cheers,

Chris

I had a short video of the big brew day on my last post.  But if you want to see something way more professional with a few interviews, check out what Jeff from Beer Stained Letter put together.

As I’ve mentioned before, we at Iron Hill have strong ties to the homebrew world.  We all started out as homebrewers and we still do whatever we can to support the craft and community.  So when I learned that a group of homebrewers had lost their spot for Big Brew Day I thought “hmmmm, we’ve got a parking lot…”

May 7th is National Homebrew Day.  Every year homebrewers across the country celebrate the legalization of homebrewing on the first Saturday in May by…   Well how else would they celebrate it?  They get together and brew a ton of beer (and drink one or two while they do it)!

This past Saturday the Iron Hill parking lot saw 14 homebrewers (mostly from the newly formed “Barley Legal Homebrewers” club)  brew 16 batches of beer for a total of 135 gallons.

I had a wedding to go to that day so I wasn’t able to join them and make my own batch, but I did have time to help them set up, enjoy a couple of samples and check out the operation.  I was pretty amazed at how much was going on out behind the restaurant.  I was also pretty amazed at how high-tech some of the systems were.  Some of this equipment actually made me jealous!  You can click here or on any one of the pictures to see a short video that gives you an idea of just how much was going on that day.