BeeHive Blonde

Brewmiester, Brendanowitz, and myself were sitting down to a lovely breakfast and a couple of beers the other morning, and we got into a very important, yet slightly heated discussion. The topic was vague, yet intricate; subtle, yet explosive; heated, yet I was shivering: Blonde or Brunette?

After hours of slightly raised voices, chin scratching, and accusatory pointing, we came to an agreement: Blonde. But before you jump to any rash conclusions, this isn't just any blonde we are talking about. We are talking about our new pre-spring sensation: BeeHive Blonde.

Allow us to take you into the world of one of the freakiest, foxiest Blonde Ales you have ever come into contact with in your entire adult lives: The life of Ms. Bee Hive Blonde. We can here her buzzing as soon as she walks in the door. We can smell that sweet nectar she extracts as she struts around the streets of Portsmouth. And the taste? Well we haven’t tasted her yet, but that just adds to her mystery.

Check out what went into the creation of this beauty…

8 ounces of Honey Malt (Grains): These grains have an intense malt sweetness, along with a hint of honey flavor.

1 lb of Honey: We went with the honey in the grocery store that is shaped like a giant teddy bear. With the generic brands, we saw that the aroma and texture were not up to par, and being that this is a honey beer, we didn’t want to half ass the ingredients. Although, we did not go above and beyond and extract fresh honey from a beehive, mostly because Brewmiester? Is allergic to bees and the rest of us at Brewnion Street wouldn’t be able to deal with the guilt if he got stung.

*Honey adds a higher sugar content to the beer which has a direct relation to the alcohol content.

.75 ounces Mt. Hood Hops: Derived in the Pacific Northwest (Mt. Hood, Oregon), these hops are on the mild side, but with a distinct spicy and slightly pungent aroma. They tend to rank around 4% on the Alpha Acid (AA) scale, but our strand falls into an AA% of about 6%.

*Boiled for 60 minutes

.25 ounces Summit Hops: These little hoppies definitely live up to their name by being extremely high on the bitter scale (around 18.5% on the Alpha Acid Scale-HOLY MOLY). These hops also give off some orange, tangerine, and citrus flavors, which are great compliments to this beer.

*Boiled for 20 minutes; we added another ounce of Summit Hops at the end of the boil.

1 Whirlfloc Tablet:  A Whirlfloc tablet is the same thing as Irish Moss, but in tablet form. These tablets are used for convenience purposes, but some brewers will use whirlfloc for some beers and Irish Moss for others. These ingredients are used as clarifying agents in the beer. When boiled into the wort, the tablet attracts proteins and other solids, which are removed from the mixture after cooling. This results in a clearer beer.

American Ale Yeast: A very versatile yeast, which allows many malt and hop characteristics to dominate the beer. This strain has moderate-to-low flocculation, which means the yeast will settle to the bottom of the fermentor at a moderate to slower rate.

Estimated Original Gravity: 1.051 SG

Estimated Final Gravity: 1.009 SG

Alcohol Content: Roughly 5.5%

BeeHive Blonde; Bottled on March 3^rd 2012. See you guys in a month ;)