Beer reviews

Just a follow up on both the Arrogant Bastard clone and the Summer recipe --

The Arrogant Bastard clone isn't. There is not much hop flavor at all, not like the mouth puckering you get out of a real Arrogant Bastard. The beer is very good, though, nice and malty and strong. People at the brew club told me that for first year hops, I should have used double to get the same strength as more mature hops. I'll keep that in mind for next time -- maybe. I really like how this came out, and I'm hoping I can reproduce it again. It will need a new name, though. Maybe 'Atomic Bomb' since this one can sneak up on you for a strong buzz before you know it.

The Summer ale has matured very nicely and is a nice looking and good tasting beer. This one falls more into the session category than does the AB clone. The Northern Brewer hops are nice, I'd consider using them in Panama Red as a Nugget substitute. Hops substitution charts always confuse me, Nugget is usually listed as a substitute for Northern Brewer, but not the other way around. I wonder why? There are other cases where the substitutions are not reciprocal.