Back in Black!!! (It's been a while...)

First off, I'd like to apologize to all my readers (what few of you there may be), as I just haven't had the time to post in over a month. I've been really busy with school, and though I've still been doing weekly tastings, I haven't really had the time to write about them. I also DID get around to brewing a batch of beer over the last month, but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the brewing process... I did get a picture of the beer fermenting in the fermenter though!

My "RijzeBrew Ragin' Cascadian" Cascadian Dark Ale
after just being brewed and put in the fermenter

Fast forward 3 weeks and a dry hop addition (adding a whole bunch of hops in a bag into the fermenting vessel for the last week of fermentation, allowing them to steep and let all their hoppy flavour and aroma GOODNESS into the beer), throw it in a bottle, and design some labels, and you end up with...

Ta-daaahhhhh!!! Some OFFICIAL looking bottles of The Ragin' Cascadian!!! Labels designed by yours truly...

Some more pictures to admire...

Clever tagline??? OH! And my brand new insignia above it!

I haven't tasted the final beer yet (when I do, I'll be SURE to blog about it), though I did taste it when it was flat at bottling time, and it was already excellent! Why did I put so much time and effort into designing a label and such you ask? Well I'm hoping this will be my first RijzeBrew signature beer. I plan to re-brew it many times until I feel I have perfected the recipe, and then when I have a keg / tap set up in my future home, it will be one of the mainstays always on tap at the "RijzeBrew Pub".

For those of you unaware of what a "Cascadian Dark Ale" (a.k.a. Black IPA) is, it's basically a fusion of  a porter / stout and an IPA (India Pale Ale). It has all the deep roasty and chocolately flavours of a stout, but also all the bright citrusy hop flavours of a very hop forward IPA... Ideally, I would like mine to taste like you're drinking a Terry's dark chocolate orange! If that sounds at all appealing to you, there's a good chance you'll love this style of beer, and should immediately seek out what I think is probably the best example readily available at the LCBO, Flying Monkey's Netherworld. 

That's mostly all I have to update you guys on for the time being... I have most of the month of December off, so I have a number of brews lined up, and HOPEFULLY (keep your fingers crossed) I will be able to do a little documentation of the brewing process for you guys to see in a future post. Also, I will be making an effort to post a little more regularly. Until then...

Enjoy a craft brew!!!

- Sid Ryzebol -