Annabelle Progress

Just a quick progress update. I moved Annabelle into secondary today. She fermented all the way through, exactly as planned without a hitch. I understand this beer will not be everybody's favorite, since it's sort of an obscure and esoteric style, but trust me that, from what I can tell by tasting it so far, this may be stylistically the best representation of a Dierksenkougan beer yet. The hopping and malt levels are seemingly perfect in balance, along with a great bitterness from the kilned barley and smokey earthiness from the rye and smoked grain.

If all goes well, I might consider entering this batch into a national homebrew competition (yes they have them, and yes it's a bit nerdy but it's a great way for professionals to critique your beer as a culinary artform) and get some feedback. The big stress in these competitions is on staying within the boundaries of a specific style (meaning color, bitterness, adjunct flavors, presentation) while retaining uniqueness and personality. Cross your fingers that Annabelle stacks up.

Big thanks to Molly, Markus, and Data for helping out with this batch, by the way.

Cheers,
Sam