Ideal four house-brew lineup

[philipCT]

I've been brewing a lot of variety recently, and I've even more recently brought my kegerator online. So now I'm thinking about settling down a bit and having four beers that are always on tap - my house brews.

I'm all for appealing to the unwashed (BMC) masses with something easy to like, but I also want that to be something I really enjoy. So, although I do like an occasional Blonde Ale, I prefer an Amber, and I still feel it's every bit the crowd-pleaser.

Anyway, I'm still in the process of massively over-thinking this. I'd love to hear what some of you think... here's my tentative line-up, with the role each beer serves and any comments on recipes..

1. Crowd-pleaser: NCS American Amber Ale - very drinkable, dry with just enough of hint of caramel following to keep you wanting the next sip
2. 2nd Stepper for BMC converts, also a go-to beer: Pale Ale (Dale's clone or the BCS American Pale Ale, which is a bit dryer, and tamer)
3. IPA (it's a style, it's a role): IPA - The BCS American IPA is clean and solid, no messing around, drinkable IPA, and at 7.7%, if you're looking for trouble, you got it.
4. The deep (dark) end of the pool, for those interested in experimenting or the real beer enthusiast - Imperial Stout - sweet with coffee and chocolate, 9.6%

To back those up I would plan to have three seasonal/rotating favs (seven taps total). Among those that first came to me are:

• Brown Porter (fall/winter)
• American Barleywine (winter)
• Blonde Ale (summer)
• Red Rye PA (spring/summer)
• Triple IPA-Pliny clone (fall/winter)
• Honey Pale Ale (summer)
• ESB (summer)

Thoughts?

 

[mdbrewer1]

I love the amber selection.

I don't see a wheat beer, but you look to have just about everything else covered. I don't know if you like fruit in your beer, but you could toss a wheat beer with a variant or two (cherry, raspberry, watermelon, etc.) for the spring/summer or maybe a cider.

 

[iijakii]

I think it'd be fun to play around with your staples some during the seasons. Your nice house stout, brew a few batches and have a bourbon version, coffee, lactosed etc. Could do fruit variants of your blonde etc.

 

[fj605]

I like your list as it makes sense for a balanced tasting flight and has something for whatever your mood is on any given day.

I'm still in the "let's see what I can brew next" stage so my tap list is a little all over the place. I need to narrow down a few regulars and only have a couple oddballs at a time.

 

[ktblunden]

I try to keep an easy drinker on tap at all times (blonde, Irish red, etc.), a medium hoppy beer (pale), a hoppy beer (ipa, dipa), and a high gravity beer (imperial porter/stout, Belgian dubbel/trippel/quad, barleywine, etc.), and then my 5th tap can be another of those or something different.

 

[philipCT]

I love the amber selection.

I don't see a wheat beer, but you look to have just about everything else covered. I don't know if you like fruit in your beer, but you could toss a wheat beer with a variant or two (cherry, raspberry, watermelon, etc.) for the spring/summer or maybe a cider.

Yeah, I don't have a Wheat there. I'm actually drinking one now but I haven't decided whether I like it a lot yet. So, I'm not sure I've brewed a good one yet and I don't want to have something on the house short list that I'm not crazy about.

So, a good American Wheat Ale is a challenge I have yet to meet, andI will keep brewing it from time to time to see if I can get it right.

I'm not a big fan of fruit beers, but I do have an open mind and I will very likely try something with a Wheat or Blonde just to see.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

On your seasonals think of a session beer YOU want to drink and rotate it in occasionally. Even if you tend toward big beers there is a lot to be said for:

Caribou Slobber/Moose Drool American brown ale - Fall
Dark Mild - Winter
American Wheat (as mentioned) - Summer and/or Spring

One comment on the Barley Wine on tap...they tend to age very well and in my experience do not disappear that quickly so they tend to tie up a keg for long time. They do not specifically benefit from being on tap verses from a bottle and I find that they, as well as you RIS, need to warm up from the most common serving temps of 40-44 f before I can fully enjoy them. In short, consider 3-gallon kegs for this application and bottle the balance.

 

[dpatrickv]

Personally, I only have 1 or 2 "house" beers and then rotate through everything else. Maybe I'm THAT guy, but if you come to my house and want to drink crap, then bring your own....and then take it with you at the end. I don't care for having a blonde ale or cream ale on tap to cater to non craft guys.

Typically I almost always have my house saison and some sort of an IPA. Spring/Summer there is always a session IPA(3-4% 35-50IBUs) and fall I typically make a pumpkin/squash ale and a black IPA or a stout.

I have 9 taps, and I really always do variety of things, and rarely actually have a plan or rhyme or reason to what gets put on tap.