Underdog Brewing

OK... It's 1 am and I'm winding down from bottling my latest batch. I started at 11:30 or so and I'm sure I made enough noise to wake my wife up - at least I know I woke Josiah up about 4 times. There were a lot of bottle clinking sounds and a few bangs and a lot of water splashing. With all the sanitizing and siphoning and cleaning, it was a ton of noise, at least when all else was quiet.

This one is a less kick-you-in-the-teeth Pale Ale - though I don't know exactly what to call it. It's at least as hoppy as a traditional IPA, even though I used much less hops this time (maybe because the Warrior hops are so freakin acidic - but tasty), but it's not pale. I added some medium (darkness) Crystal malt which darkened it up a little compared to previous brews.

I've just had 2 pints of the pre-bottled product. I'm getting used to predicting what it will taste like when it's fully attenuated and carbonated. It feels like 5% alcohol right now, so it will probably be a little under 6% when it's ready. More than I had in mind when making the recipe. The medium-dark crystal malt brought in some brown to the light golden-reddish color of what I have been brewing. It's pretty close to Shiner Bock in color. Probably a little darker than what Shiner has recently become (seems like it's been getting closer and closer to Budweiser since it was bought out by some Chinese company - or is it just in my head?) It's got a very bright but not too bitter hop profile that really stands out and really lingers, a sweet maltiness, with a little taste of the caramelized sugars (sweet but less a less pure more tasty sweet) of the crystal malt, and the body is weird. It's like you can feel the sugars in your mouth, and there's a little bit of sediment still swirling around. The alcohol stands out on its own as well. Obviously, it's not done yet, and the week to come will totally transform it and bring all these separate characteristics together. So far, I'm very happy with the flavor.