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What's Happening

Some exciting things are going on here at Jailhouse Brewing. I wanted to give a down and dirty look at what to expect from us in 2012.

First up we just released Hop Riot. It is our second release in the Solitary Confinement Series of beers. The reviews have been great. This is a one-time release so don't miss your opportunity to try our first double IPA. Twice dry-hopped with tons of green hop bombs. It is surprisingly balanced but won't leave you dissappointed with it's aggressive hop character.

Next, new tanks are arriving in early February. We've been moving things around in anticipation of their arrival. The new fermenters will allow us some breathing room and flexibility in the brewing schedule. We'll keep you posted on this as it progresses.

Our 2012 Beer Release Program is available. Check it out here. You will notice we have an ambitious brewing schedule for our little brewery and will make every effort to stick to it. Not on the schedule but in the works is a collaboration with a couple of great local brewers. More on this as we firm up details.

We are planning pint nights all over the place this year as well as beer dinners. We are a family here and have been bringing the whole crew out to meet and greet everyone at these events. Please stay tuned to the schedule on twitter and facebook. Unfortunately we cannot post details on the website due to state restrictions. We will do our best to keep you informed.

Progress Report - Midnight Special

A week ago Friday, we brewed our first beer in a series of beers to be released throughout 2011. The Solitary Confinement Series beers will only be brewed once and then we'll move on to the next one. Midnight Special is our first one-off creation and it is progressing quite nicely.

The plan was to brew a Black Ale (also called an India Black Ale or Black IPA), but we couldn't resist the need to dial the beer up a few notches. Before it was all said and done we had an Imperial Black Ale on our hands that rings in at 10% +/- alcohol by volume and 90+ IBU's.

Based on recipe design we expected a hint of roast character, a supporting cast of malt flavors and a good citrusy hop presence. After adding the dry-hops (5 pounds of Cenntennial) the beer will have a total of 15 pounds of hops in the 10 barrel batch.

As it turns out, the beer shows that hint of roast in the first taste, which quickly dissappears on the second sip once your palate is baptised in all that hop goodness. It's a little tough at this point to decipher the hop aromas without some level of carbonation, but we epect a nice nose of pine and citrus. The alcohol is absolutely raising its hand to be recognized. For now we're liking the warming effect it has in this god-awful cold weather. We'll see what age does for it.

Having never brewed this beer before, we are very excited to see it progressing as planned. If anything, we were surprised to find the level of roast character coming through but can't say we are dissappointed in it. Can't wait to get this beer in a bright tank and really see what we have on our hands.

Here is a picture of John adding hops post fermentation:

Midnight Special

So, for weeks now we've been trying to brew our new Solitary Confinement release, Midnight Special. It's the first in a series of one-off beers we are planning to brew this year, and from what we can tell so far it promises to not only test the limits of the brewery but also your taste buds.

The idea for this beer came from an old prison song called "Midnight Special." Popularized by Credence Clearwater Revival, “Midnight Special” is about a train that shone its ever lovin’ light in the cells of the prison. The light represented a light of salvation and escape from the walls that held them. There are many historical versions of the song and it is part of what made making this beer so interesting and special to us.

After a few conversations about what type of beer it would be, we finally settled on the idea of a Black IPA. Black IPA’s are becoming more prevalent these days and it seemed this would make the perfect match for our “Midnight Special.” I also wanted to try out a new malt from my supplier that would impart dark color without roast flavor and bitterness. It was perfect for this beer.

At this point I envisioned a decently hopped IPA with a respectable amount of alcohol and body when our resident hop head, John Carden, mentioned we should go big or go home. His first thought was to make it a 12%’er. It was a brilliant idea given the name. I’m on record that 8% is about where my limits for balance and enjoyability fall but I do love a good challenge. After a little calculating and research I realized that 12% would not be attainable with our setup and house yeast so we had to settle for closer to 10% ABV.  We had a new target. On to the hops.

We scoured the freezer for the hop profile in this beer. Since we would brew this for the first time full throttle (no pilot batch) we felt it best to keep it simple. But, once again we’d go big or go home. This beer is bittered with Warrior hops and then gives way to all Centennial hops every 20 minutes for the last hour of boiling. To achieve the proper bittering and level of alcohol we were shooting for, we had to boil this beer for two hours. We also intend to dry hop with a very generous amount of Centennial hops until we feel it is right. How’s that for creative freedom?

When Midnight Special is ready, we expect it to have a nice malt backbone to support 90+ IBU’s of bitterness and around 10% alcohol by volume. It will have a subtle roast character with a very citrus hop aroma and flavor. Oh yea, it will be black as Midnight!

Solitary Confinement beers from JailHouse will be in very limited quantities each year. Be sure to keep track of what we’re doing so you won’t miss out on each release.

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