A Printer's Devil was an apprentice who got all the really dirty jobs - like cleaning ink from movable type, and then sorting the letters back into the type boxes. Covered with black ink, they looked like they came from the underworld.

Black IPA's were all the rage in 2012-2013, although I'm not sure why. Always après-garde, this intensely citrus and grapefruit IPA will be mightily disguised by the deep brown color.
Brew: November 2014 — Ready: late December 2014

Pole Climber – Telephone poles used to have spikes in them, so linemen could climb up the poles to make repairs. This 7.9% ABV Scotch Ale will get you started on your way up. Or knock you back down.

Tsawwassen Ferry is a redux of the Chinooky Nanook of the North from this spring. I'll probably tone down the Chinook's distinctive aroma with Cascade or Belma a little in the final recipe - hence the name change to the ferry terminal near Vancouver.
Brew: September 2014 — Ready: Sept/October 2014

4Ps – No sooner did I finish drinking the last batch of this Dry Irish Stout than I wanted more. So did my friends. I made more.

Nanook Of The North was a 1922 Silent Film documentary about life in the Canadian arctic. Chinook rhymes with Nanook. Chinook hops gives this American IPA a spicy, piney, very distinctive grapefruit aroma.

A Gandy Dancer was a railroad worker. Railroad trains slowly push the tracks out of alignment on curves, and teams of gandy dancers with long iron poles would all heave-ho to push them back. Hard work in the hot sun requires a nice light beer.
Brew: Early February, 2014 — Ready: Late March, 2014

Lime Scale Ale is a beer in the style of Bass Ale. Burton-upon-Trent's extremely hard water contains lots of calcium. Lime Scale is the buildup of calcium in water heaters and boilers.
Brewed: January 12, 2014 — Ready: Early February, 2014

Old And In The Way was a bluegrass band featuring Jerry Garcia of Grateful Dead fame.  A step or decoction mash is traditional for this style.
Brewed: December 20, 2013 — Ready: Late February, 2014

A Grease Monkey was an entry-level auto mechanic who changed engine oil, greased the chassis, and did all the really dirty work. I was one once. Here's to you!.

4Ps is a tribute to Ireland's Four Provinces, a wonderful Washington DC Irish pub from 1978 to 2012. 4Ps website

Jennissey is a Cream Ale in the style of Rochester NY's Gennesse Cream Ale. It's named after my beautiful wife Jennifer Hennessey. The BJCP Style Guidelines call this "Lawnmower Beer". Brewed specially for my lawnmower friend Bruce Whiton.

Exeter ESB is a standard English Pale Ale using standard English ingredients. The hops are British varieties.grown in the U.S.

Dumbe Blonde is another light, thirst-quenching "Lawnmower Beer" for the brutally hot days of August. And a reason to try out White Labs' German Ale/Kölsch yeast.

Del Mar is another IPA in the style of Stone IPA. We used up the last of our 2011 Columbus hops. Del Mar is a community just north of San Diego.

Whoopsey was a last-minute correction when I ordered the wrong yeast for Jennissey. But the starter was made, the grain was ground, and I just threw together some ingredients to make a lawnmower beer.

Vespucciland is an American Pale Ale using a lot of Columbus hops. America was named for Amerigo Vespucci, but shouldn't it have been called Vespucciland instead? Consume a few of these and confront that conundrum.

Uptown Brown is a redux of last winter's Downtown Brown, which I liked so much, I couldn't wait until winter. It's an American Pale Ale with a dark brown color and a nice malty, chocolately taste. This time around I used an English yeast.

Hotel Del is a strong, hoppy, but light-colored American IPA in the style of San Diego's Stone IPA. It's named after the famous "Hotel Del Coronado " on Coronado Island (actually a peninsula).

Super Dog is an English Brown Ale in the style of Newcastle Brown Ale, which is commonly known as "Dog", from the expression "I've got to see a man about a dog". Planned for 5.6% alcohol, Super Dog exceeded all expectations and came in at 6.0%. Quaff a six-pack of these and you'll feel quite super.

Early Spring is a hoppy IPA to celebrate warmer weather after months of those darker beers. The East Coast yeast tones down the hop bitterness, so I've added some extra flavor/aroma hops.

Span The Pond is a cross between an English and American Pale Ale. The malt is mostly American, the hops are mostly English, but with some Belma for bittering. The yeast is English. This is a split batch - 5 gallons with WLP002 and 5 gallons with WLP005.

Éirinn Go Beer is a Dry Irish Stout in the style of Guiness.
Think Guiness

The minerals were added to a cold carbonated keg so the chalk could dissolve, and then it was transfered to the HLT.

Hard Water Ale is an Extra Special Bitter brewed with extremely hard water - think Bass Ale, from Burton-on-Trent.

The minerals were added to a cold carbonated keg so the chalk could dissolve, and then it was transfered to the HLT

Downtown Brown is an American Brown Ale

This is really an American Pale Ale with a dark brown color and a nice malty, chocolately taste. The more I drink it, the more I like it. I prefer dark malty beers during the winter, so Downtown Brown is definitely on the list to do again next winter.

Before the weather gets too warm, I'll do it again but use either English Ale (WLP 002) or British Ale (WLP 005) yeasts - and see what that produces.

Belma Blast was an American Pale Ale to try out Hops Direct's new hops strain called Belma

Advertised: "Dual-Purpose variety - Alpha Acid 12.1% - A very clean hop, with a very orange, slight grapefruit, tropical (but not mango/guava, more like pineapple), strawberry, and melon."

My findings: the first few glasses out of the tap had a delicious mango taste. But the flavor quickly disappeared. Perhaps I should have used more late additions for flavor, but I think Belma is better used as a bittering hop. I plan to use it again in that capacity.

Belmacade I split the Belma batch into 2 secondary fermenters. I dry-hopped this half with Cascade to see how much difference it would make. Since I'll have to taste them side-by-side, this will give me an excuse to drink twice as much beer.

My findings: same as Belma Blast.

Same as Belma Blast, except substitute:

East Kent ESB uses imported English malt and hops. It's a little low in alcohol, so maybe "Best Bitter" would be a better appellation.

My brother and sister-in-law loved this beer, even though they are IPA-quaffing hop-heads. It was well-received at my 60th birthday party too. A crowd-pleaser that I'll brew again in 2013.

It had a nice malt-oriented balance, and probably fairly true to style.

Indian Summer is a pretty standard American IPA.

Indian Summer was the hit of my 60th birthday party, but maybe the 6.6 ABV was a factor. Regardless, it was a crowd-pleaser, so I plan to do it again in 2013.

Impaler is a hoppy version of an American Pale Ale

Impaler was the least successful beer at my 60th birthday party. Maybe it's a little too hoppy for the ABV, but I think people just got scared by the name. “Vlad the Impaler”, born in Transylvania, reputedly impaled the heads of tens of thousands of his enemies on spikes. Yeah, my PR department needs to rethink the name. Otherwise, not bad.

Over The Hop is Dr. Frankenstein's Monster

"Over Dose of Hops" would have been a better name. What was I thinking? I wasn't.

Oh yeah, it was supposed to be 6.2% ABV - not 4.7%

Paducah Pale was an experimental American Pale Ale

The hops were only boiled for 30 minutes, which reduced bitterness and added hop flavor. Then aroma hops were added at 5 minutes. A touch of Munich and Vienna malts gave it a touch of malty-sweet flavour. An interesting variation on an old favorite.

Quickie ESB is an American Extra Special Bitter

The only thing English about this Pale Ale is the English yeast, and the appellation "Bitter", the English name for Pale Ale. Otherwise, it's pretty much an American Pale Ale. Pretty tasty, though. And Bob's your uncle.

Highlands Hooch is an American Pale Ale

Originally called "Full Body", the name got changed when it was the featured beverage at the annual Highlands Chapter Pool Party. Medium alcohol and hops, with a light color.

La Jolla was named after a suburb of San Diego, but has no relation to the beer brewed there..

Alcohol should have been in the low 6's, but for some unknown reason, it only hit 4.7. Regardless, it tasted pretty good..

Libo-Lico stands for Light-Body Light-Color

This wasn't too bad of an IPA, but for the English Ale yeast.

Wien Waltz was an exploratory IPA.

The LHBS store convinced me that WLP005 was "the" yeast to use for India Pale Ales. I found out later that they were overstocked and needed to clear out inventory.

Regardless, I had no idea what I was doing, and changed insignificant amounts of other ingredients.

Tire Biter was the first batch - in my second go-round as a homebrewer. I wanted a strong hoppy beer - and I got exactly what I wanted. Nobody liked it, including me. But I drank it anyway - and loved it.

(Android Sisters:)
Porgy Tirebiter! He's a spy and a girl delighter.
Orgie Firefighter! He's just a student like you.
(Porgy:)
Like me?
(Android Sisters:)
Just a student like you!
- Peorgie's Song by Firesign Theatre
from the album, Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers