If you are not familiar, the story goes like this.. a long time ago (1988) in a land far far away (probably Colorado) some folks got together and decided that the world would be a better place if there was an official day recognized to celebrate the wonder of home brewing. So they rallied together and made their way to Washington D.C. and declared before Congress that henceforth May 7th was to be recognized as National Homebrewers Day (NHD). And so it was written. Now, for some crazy reason Hallmark seems to be able to make cards for National Boss’s Day but can’t find the ability to put something together for NHD. So since our significant others are unable to get us brewers a card, the AHA came up with the Big Brew Day. Brewers rally together where ever possible and brew across the land on the first Saturday in May with a celebratory Simultaneous Toast at noon CDT. And so it was written.
The club will be gathering at CYO Brewing in Evansville to celebrate this prestigious holiday!!
2015 Official Recipes
The 2015 AHA Big Brew recipes come from three time AHA Ninkasi Award winner and current BJCP President, Gordon Strong! This year’s beers are all medal-winning recipes from Gordon’s upcoming book, Modern Homebrew Recipes, to be released in May 2015.
Columbus Pale Ale
Pale Ale is one of the most popular styles in the world. This recipe for a Columbus Pale Ale is as versatile as it is delicious! The recipe is adaptable to many other hop varieties – feel free to substitute the Columbus hops with your favorite varietal!
From Modern Homebrew Recipes: “[Columbus Pale Ale] represents the classic, old-school type of strong pale ale that was quite common in the early days of craft brewing. It uses a variety of character malts with a traditional hopping regime. It won a number of medals, along with a best-of-show at the Riverside Rumble competition in Ohio.”
Old School Barleywine
The first year that the American Homebrewers Association celebrated Big Brew was in 1998. That year, the AHA encouraged homebrewers worldwide to brew a Barleywine recipe. Now we are celebrating the 19th Big Brew, and bringing Barleywine back for the first time since 1998!
From Modern Homebrew Recipes: “An American style barleywine loosely in the Sierra Nevada Bigfoot balance. Big malt and big hops make this an aggressive style. I won an NHC silver medal with a beer based on this recipe in 2010; it was a blend of mostly five year old with a little bit of one year old to freshen the hop aromatics.”
Old School Barleywine – All Grain
Old School Barleywine – Extract
Killer Kolsch
If you are looking for a way to put a twist on this Kolsch recipe, take a tip from AHA Director, Gary Glass: “I recently got together with some fellow Brewers Association staff members to brew a Kolsch. Inspired by a local brewery, we decided to make a coffee variation of the Kolsch by making a concentrated batch of cold steeped coffee that we then put in a condiment dispenser. By adding variable doses of the coffee concentrate to a glass of Kolsch, we could customize our coffee Kolsch to our own tastes.”
From Modern Homebrew Recipes: “I fell in love with this style after a visit to Cologne in 2006. I had enjoyed it before, but it didn’t seem like anything special. Trying it fresh made all the difference… The style allows for subtle changes in balance in several components (malt, hop flavor, bitterness, fruitiness), but all were hovering around moderate intensity. I won a number of NHC first round medals with this recipe, which is in the style of a Früh or Reissdorf.”
Here are just a few pics from BBD’s gone by…
