Letting Go

I bottled the Caramale tonight. Final gravity is 1.012, which brings the ABV to about 5.9%. It attenuated fast, and I didn't want to leave all the bottling to the weekend if I didn't have to (the Mole Porter is still going...it usually takes a while.) I'm not sure how it's going to turn out...usually, I tend toward beers with strong flavors, and this is a much milder brew. As a result, it doesn't taste like much of anything at the moment. Not bad, just not much there. Hopefully a little more age and carbonation will round it out a bit. I did end up dry hopping with one oz. of Chinook, so the aroma is quite nice at this point. Also, the color is gorgeous.

I poured out a few bottles left over from last year, something I've never done before. It felt pretty wrong, but I knew I wasn't going to drink any more overhopped/overgassed IPA. Plus, I needed the bottles...

It's good to let go sometimes. Life is just too damn short to drink substandard beer.