Rocket Fuel # 1 tasting notes and impressions (early)

[Owly055]

My first step in working toward a very high alcohol brew, called Rocket Fuel #1 (tongue in cheek) has been in the secondary phase of fermentation for about 4 days now. Current and probably FG is 1.015. It will go into cold crash around Tuesday. ABV works out to approximately 11% ABV, and drinking the hydrometer sample leaves you with a pretty good buzz!! (I'm a lightweight).

RF1 was brewed with 6 pounds of dark munich 20 (German), which should have given me an OG of 1.065. I missed significantly at 1.058 due to an accident with my immersion chiller that resulted in tap water diluting the wort ;-(. 2.5 pounds of invert sugar syrup were added during the ferment. In spite of the "disaster", I'm at 11% Magnum for bittering, and Calliente and Nelson Sauvin for flavor and aroma, .5 ounce each, with the latter two at 5 minutes, and an IBU of 55

Flavor is rich and body is substantial with a perception of sweetness in spite of the FG. Hops are bold and a bit brash at this point, and the presence of alcohol is very forward and distinct.... It is well named as "rocket fuel" at this point. As a whisky drinker who NEVER mixes anything with a whiskey, I do not find this offensive, but it needs to be toned down a bit. I suspect that a wino down on Skid Row would set aside his bottle of Thunderbird, or his hankie with a blob of Sterno for this in a heartbeat. It tastes good, and goes down with a pleasant warmth like a nice shot of bourbon, scotch, rum, cognac, etc.

Clearly it needs aging to make it slip through the palette without warning you that it is going to "kick your ass". Right now it says "drink me and I'll kick your ass". But it has the body and flavor presence to make the "kick your ass" presence disappear into to the medley of impressions that make up any beer. I do want a lighter body. The alcohol itself lends a perception of sweetness and body exceeding what a normal beer with this grain bill would have.


H.W.

 

[ChillWill]

I have no idea what you're trying to achieve here, but it doesn't sound appealing.

There are ways of getting a strong beer with low FG and thinner body with barley. This looks like a 7% beer with alcohol added and not much else.

 

[RM-MN]

I'm interested in this batch and I hope you keep giving us feedback on it as it progresses. I'm not surprised that it is a bit harsh now but in a year.....it might be ready to sample. In 2 years it would probably be mellow enough to sneak up on you as you would think it was a much lower alcohol beer.....right up until you woke up on the floor.

 

[Owly055]

I have no idea what you're trying to achieve here, but it doesn't sound appealing.

There are ways of getting a strong beer with low FG and thinner body with barley. This looks like a 7% beer with alcohol added and not much else.

What I am trying to achieve is something akin to a barley wine in it's high ABV, but by scaling up a brew I really like. Calliente & Motueka both pair extremely well with Nelson Sauvin (in my opinion). I will be adjusting the grain bill after this brew as needed to make the next brew more appealing. Though I don't think this one will be bad at all after aging.

This is a project, intended to learn what works and does not work in extremely high gravity beers... I will be edging up far beyond 11%, but in steps.


H.W.

 

[Owly055]

I'm interested in this batch and I hope you keep giving us feedback on it as it progresses. I'm not surprised that it is a bit harsh now but in a year.....it might be ready to sample. In 2 years it would probably be mellow enough to sneak up on you as you would think it was a much lower alcohol beer.....right up until you woke up on the floor.

RM

This is going to be an extended project in parallel with my regular brewing, working on achieving a good balance, flavor, and drinkability, while edging ever higher on ABV. The ultimate target is to craft a recipe for a 20%+ beer that will be pleasant and enjoyable to drink.

This will provide my "feedstock" for my artificial aging experiments..... this one should be an excellent choice.
H.W.