#11 Smoked Amber

I was looking for a strong tasting beer -- something that fill the enormous gap that my Scotch Ale left.

And I have not been let down by this Creamy Smoked Amber.  Powerful, flavor first beer.  If you, like me, love peated scotch whisky, then this may be a beer for you :-)  The malted barley was in fact smoked, much like peated whisky from Islay or Jura.

I brewed this beer by myself, at home, on one absolutely gorgeous Austin day.  75F and sunny with a lovely breeze floating down the canyon.  Okay, so I'm never entirely alone when I brew...

I kegged my Saison, and actually put the remainder of my Scotch Ale into a real oak cask for some aging.

All in all, this was a nice, drama-free brew.  This was my first full water boil.  As an aside, I enjoyed a very nice bowl of gumbo mid boil :-)

The original gravity came in at 1.045 (target 1.052), and final at 1.012 (target 1.014).  The color (distorted by the indoor lighting) definitely checked in as a lovely, red/amber.

Recipes follow.

Cheers,
Dustin