What to Brew Next?

Ah the eternal question facing every brewer. "So I have this beer and it's great but what do I make now?" Well I have a beer (Belgian at the moment) and I have little idea of what to do next.

So we were pondering this question and came upon the idea of making a really intense IPA along the lines of an Imperial. Two reasons for this: #1 One of our tasters is always commenting (read: complaining) about how our beers are a mouthful and she likes really hoppier beers. Okay, so some recent brews have been a bit thicker I'll admit, but that is because of the maltiness that we get and maybe a bit of over zealousness with some oats... And #2 Hop shortage. We all know about it. We have all read article after article on the subject. We all know it's here and so I won't go into it.

In any case, what with this business of hops being scarce the thinking was, wouldn't it be nice to have one last big hurrah before we have to start making modifications to our other recipes to cope with the loss of our usual hops (Ingenuity and creativity be damned!)? Well it would be nice. So with that in mind B brewer paid a visit to our local homebrew shop and lo and behold the shop is essentially out of hops. Out, empty, gone, devoid of hops, there is a hop vacancy, the lights are on but no hops are home, need I go on?

Staff teleconference time to discuss the problem. B Brewer suggest we bitter with what Anheuser-Busch uses... urine. Okay sorry cheap shot (though true perhaps? I once heard a craft brewer say his favorite beer is Budweiser because every time he drinks one it makes even his worst beer taste better). I had no suggestions. Teleconference over.

Maybe we could just throw in the mish mash of obscure hops they have left. We could call it... Hop Medley, Hop Melange, Hoppodge, Hop Jumble (can you tell I just visited Thesaurus.com?).

Well readers, we now have a plan. IPA. Ordinarily this brew would be happening today but B brewer has a group meeting for class and I am sick with one bastard of a cold. So this brew will happen likely this week late at night or next weekend. Stay tuned for the results.