ABV: 7.5%

Vessel: 22oz

Hops: “European” so says the bottle

First impressions are of a golden, honey color and great head retention. Moderate hop aroma, though dominated by the great smell of the yeast. At 7.5% this is a pretty serious beer, and the malt – listed as “German malts” on the bottle – stands up nicely. Most noticeable though, is a strong hop bitterness that I wasn’t expecting. I also get some good peppery notes from the belgian yeast as advertised. This beer got better with each sip; possibly due to high alcohol content on an empty stomach, or possibly because it is starting to warm up a bit. I would recommend this beer.

JHH

ABV: 4.5%

Vessel: 12 0z bottle

Hops: ???

This is one of Dogfish’s summer brews, and it scratches the itch. It is an extremely light bodied ale that packs a significant peach aroma and flavor. The dominant characteristic here is the tartness, which carries the beer. I’m not sure it would be all that great as a stand alone brew, but the fruit addition makes this very enjoyable. Light in color, no discernable hop flavor or aroma. Just add a hammock and you’ll be ready to go.

JHH

After moving to Virginia, I started to brew again sticking to the all-grain process. I’d research information on different styles of beer and try to imagine what I’d like to create. Part of home-brewing that is satisfying is the field research. One can’t simply stick to drinking cheap, big-name brews and hope to know what they are talking about when it comes to good beer. Simply put, to make good beer, you have to drink and appreciate good beer. With that knowledge in hand and brewing over and over, you start to get a feel for what would make a recipe work or not. To this day still, even though I’ve crafted beers that I thoroughly enjoy, I’m always still wondering and exploring what could make it better; what part of the process or ingredient could I enhance or change or add that would make a beer absolutely dynamite.

I read an article from a filmmaker once wherein he stated that films are never really complete. You do what you can do to make them the best they can be, yet in the end, in the mind of the filmmaker, there is always something else that could have been tweaked about a certain scene or the flow of the storyline. In essence, he stated that films are never really complete and are ultimately abandoned and you move on to start a new project. Creating your own recipes in brewing and being creative can give you that same feeling at times though the great thing about making and drinking your own beer is that it eventually runs out and you have to make more so the creative process never really dies. You might make a beer that turns out O.K. and never revisit that recipe again, or you might pick it back up 6 months later, re-work it and try it again. This inherent creativity in the process is what I enjoy the most. Who doesn’t need an escape while working, a place to drift off to in your mind to get you through the hours of the day? Crafting your own beer and daydreaming about it can definitely be an awesome outlet. I traveled a lot for my job in Virginia and all those miles spent on the road led me to some great ideas and thoughts about brewing.

I’ve upgraded a lot of my equipment during my brewing efforts in this state. I’ve come up with new recipes and reworked old ones time and again. I’ve collaborated and brewed with my MadMan partners and have shared some great times and ideas about brewing. As a collective, we’ve been able to bring our minds and experiences together to learn and grow with each other.

Now, on the cusp of returning to Delaware, it seems that the sky is the limit and that anything is possible. We’ll all be closer geographically and have more opportunities to work and create together. Sometimes brewing alone and drinking that beer alone can serve a purpose, but the experience and camaraderie of doing these things with friends and family is what I miss the most. I can’t wait to get back to that and really get the ball rolling with great new beers and the realization of dreams for our own brewery.

If there is one lasting thing that I’m proud of about my time brewing in Virginia is the pile of spent grains, hops and grass clippings that I leave in the woods behind my house. That steaming, larva-ridden poundage of natural refuse, sprinkled with my own blood, sweat, tears, urine, and DNA is something to be proud of. It’s time to create a new refuse pile on some other unfortunate piece of Earth. I smile to myself now at the beauty of such a thing.

RSD

If you’ve never been to a brewfest, you need to attend. I can’t stress that enough. Dozens of breweries brought their best/newest/most famous beers and were there to answer any questions you could come up with. By the end of the day, the questions were getting pretty ridiculous, but thats the nature of the beast…

Some notable selections besides the New Holland beers – which were all great, I’m not just saying that – were Brooklyn’s cask conditioned Blast, an Imperial IPA, and another hoppy giant, Dogfish Head’s 90 min IPA, run through a hopback called Randall the Enamel Animal. Holy crap. For the uninitiated, Randall is a huge cylinder filled with hops through which the beer is passed before it is served. Again, holy crap.

The next NVBF is coming up on the 24th an 25th of October. Though buying tickets is a perfectly respectable way of getting in, I recommend volunteering. What better way to see what’s out there and hang out with the brewers themselves? Not to mention it’s free. Who knows, you might run into this guy:

Now there’s a MadMan if I’ve ever seen one, and yes, that is the ENTIRE Bigfoot label on his back. A work in progress; something we can all relate to, even if we can’t to relate to it. Cheers! Here’s to you, Sierra Nevada Guy!

Style: Barleywine

ABV: 8.2%

Vessel: 12 oz bottle

Hops: Cascade, in kettle and dry hopped.

Very drinkable. It has a deep amber color, with good carbonation and head retention (not common for the heavier examples of the style). A noticeable hop aroma from the dry hopping and a sweet alcohol nose. Malty and full bodied with notes of citrus and wood. Well balanced with a slightly bitter finish.

JHH

The beer was Grolsch, which I hadn’t had in recent memory. Not because it isn’t a great beer, but I’ve lately felt the burn to try as many new beers as I can locate. I thank/blame Whole Foods for this. Now, I realize they’ve been brewing for almost 400 years, but I was really surprised by how good it was. I had honestly forgotten. Shame on me. It was golden, malty, cold and delicious, with just enough bite at the end to obligate another sip. So this got me thinking, as beer tends to do: can MadMan Brewing Co. ever make a comparable beer?

I was talking to a Spaniard last night about paella, and how the increasingly famous chef, Jose Andres, has tried too hard to put his mark on the iconic dish. It’s just not as good as the traditional – interesting, but not as good. How can you even try to out do hundreds of years of tradition?

I don’t know when MMBC will venture into lager production, but as we continue to grow and develop, we are faced with the same type of paella dilemma. How do you out-grolsch Grolsch?

In the meantime, we have several other beers that we’ve recently released: Duko’s Irish Red, the Strawberry Blond, the Morningwood Summer Ale, and the HMS 3d, a belgian strong ale. Check out the beerforpeople.com for pics and more details.

post script: Oh, and by the way, while we were enjoying the concert, we had a Matthew Lesko sighting (you know, the guy from the infomercials who tells you how YOU can get millions in government grants. I wonder if there are any for starting a brewery?).

Because there’s a MadMan in everyone.