Or should I say “Big Skies?” This year the most popular brew-project at the Florida Park Brewing Company was the Big Sky kit available from our good friends at Homebrew Den. I made four versions over the course of the summer and all proved worthy. The Homebrew Den website states that this kit will easily become your “house brew”…They aren’t kidding. The first version was straight up, following the directions out of the box. I was pleased with the results, but being the hop-head that I am, decided to try dry-hopping for the first time. The second generation of Big Sky was dry-hopped with Cascade. I remember taking a sample while racking it to the secondary and thinking, wow, this is already quite hoppy! Do I really need to add anything else? I chucked the hops in anyways and was very pleased with the results. This tried and true recipe was even better dry hopped. Next time around I used the Citra Hops (13% AA) that was part of the booty from the bronze medal at the Hogtown Brew-Off. Perfection! The Citra hops imparted a wonderful grapefruit aroma and just the right citrusy bite. Alas this keg was a victim of its own tastiness and died far too soon.
The fourth (and final, for now) version of Big Sky was made for an exceptional occasion. Ten plus years ago my good friend Scott and I brewed up a Wedding Bliss Ale for my wedding. We used a recipe called “Old Bottle Rocket.” As I recall, it was a steam beer clone. I still have a bottle left-over; somehow, I’m guessing it is past its prime. Naturally I had to return the favor and brew up something for Scott and Amanda’s wedding. Big Sky had proved to be so reliable and popular that I couldn’t resist one more iteration. I was convinced the dry-hopping technique was the way to go. The Citra was great, but was hard to find. This time the hop selection was truly an accident.
I’ve commented before that Homebrew Den in Tallahassee is awesome: here’s an example of their awesomeness. On my last order, I purchased among other things, a #7 solid rubber stopper for a whopping $0.90. HBD made a mistake and sent me a stopper with a hole. When HBD was contacted, they were happy to send me the new stopper and did not ask me to return the erroneous pierced version. A few days later a rather large box appears on the doorstep; a box far too big for a rubber stopper. I opened it up to not only find the correct stopper, but four ounces of hop plugs (two Cascade and two Amarillo). Now that’s service! HBD has another loyal customer.
I had never used Amarillo before, so I gave it a try. Not bad. Not as good as the Citra, but still quite good. We served up the keg at Scott and Amanda’s wedding after-party. It was well received and sadly, floating the next morning.
