Once or twice a year the stars align we go out of our
way to ensure that Hacksaw Brewing and Down the Hall Brewing get to do a joint
brew session. Typically Every time we up the ante on the scope and go
bigger and better. This most recent QUADRUPLE brew day was no different… except
it was by far our worst joint brew day to date. It wasn’t as if there was one
major disaster that happened but more of a compilation of issues that resulted
in this being the worst. Allow me to explain!
First off, let me lay out what QUADRUPLE brewday was all
about. The idea was to brew two huge beers and then take the second runnings
from each of those beers and create two more beers. Naturally we didn’t want a
partial batch with the second runnings – we wanted a full 5 gallons. In order
to accomplish this we had to go REALLY big on the first beers. I’m talking a
Russian Imperial Stout and a Double IPA of which the goal was minimum 10% ABV.
With the recent discovery that my wife enjoys bourbon barrel beers (because of
the less bitter aftertaste), the Russian Imperial Stout would be hit with a
heavy dose of bourbon soaked oak chips.
