Underground Brewers of Connecticut

Guilford might be a little bit further of a hike than our club often goes, but Paul H. hosting and the promise of some Polish mead was more than enough to entice the crew to head out east and enjoy the generous hospitality and incredible libations offered. The meeting was well attended, and we all enjoyed some excellent beers, hop water (courtesy of Andy C.!), and food before kicking off the meeting in earnest.

Paul was gracious enough to share 4 different Polish meads with the club that he had shipped back from Poland on his recent trip overseas. His presentation is available on our Discord channel – it’s well worth checking out! Meads are certainly not in my wheelhouse, and I learned a ton during his presentation. Polish meads are a distinct style, where honey is always the most prominent flavor – any fruit or spices will have a light touch. The residual sugar content is balanced by alcohol, rather than acid or tannins, and oxidation is common (and welcome!) in sweeter styles. We tried one of each of the different strengths – with my personal favorite being the Dwójniak.

Following a few pours of mead and the excellent presentation, we continued on to our traditional tasting portion of the evening. Notes are below. Again, a huge thanks to Paul and Kathi for hosting and sharing their home and meads!

Tasting Notes:

• Czech Premium Pale Lager (3B): Santi – extremely subtle, biscuity, a touch of honey, crackers. Not very much hops… maybe a little herbal? Geranium as it warms – sweet floral. Freshly picked corn. Could have more head… could be a little clearer. There’s a bit of a sharp hop bite, harsh bitterness. Peppery. Malt character is there, very crackery. Bitterness is pretty aggressive. We thought it needed more bubbles, but we were wrong. A nice beer, but a bit out of the style, and the bitterness comes across harsh.
  7/2/12/5/5 = 31 – Totally agree with all the comments. Used all Saaz that is low AA (5oz 5gal) and it was a lot of hop matter to boil. “That’s what you get when you boil the shit out of hops”
• German Pils (5D): Mara – this is lovely – so floral. Not much malt. Light honey-cracker malt. Light cucumber. Could use a touch more pils malt character. Could be a little clearer, could use more head. Firm, clean bitterness without being harsh. Invites another sip quickly. Very dry. Maybe a touch of cardboard. Could use at least one more bubble… a little astringency. Really nice beer. I would pay for a pint of that – Paul.
  10/2/16/3/8 = 39 – All Thrall Pils
• Vienna Lager (7A): Santi – full marks on appearance. Just a stunning beer. Okay, back to aroma. Like sticking your nose in a bag of Vienna malt. Toasty. Bready. Super clean. I want to jump into the glass. What would you want different? Wow. Amazing flavor – great balance between the malt and hops. A small touch of astringency in the finish. Not a soft finish. Could be a water profile thing – could maybe be a high sulfate level? Maybe a grain husk-y quality.
  12/3/15/4/8 = 42
• Marzen (6A): Santi – again, gorgeous. Drinking with our eyes first. A good amount sulphur that’s dissipated. Some barnyard/hay. Toasty, crusty bread. Honeydew melon? A hint of honey. Could be that the fermentation could be a little more clean. Flavor is a lot of crusty bread, a hint of maybe burnt bread… molasses? New Haven style bread. It has some real character. Maybe a touch of smoke? It’s certainly not boring or un-interesting. Missing some of that clean fermentation character. A little tiny bit astringent.
  8/3/13/4/7 = 35
• New World Cider (C1A): Pat – looks gorgeous, could be a tad clearer. I smell apples. Full of apples, a little floral. There’s a little alcohol there. A little peppery, but pretty clean. Very drinkable. The alcohol is a little present. A little more sweetness could balance it out a bit more? Good acid. Dryness lingers, makes us want to drink more. Has a wine-like character. Just a really nice cider.
  6/9/20/8 = 43 – Beardsley 2024 w/ yeast added
• Cyser (M2A): Pat – needs some clarity – it’s almost a hazy white. Aroma is very subtle – but there’s a light apple, a touch of grapefruit pith. A little lemon. Some wet papery notes. No honey at all in the aroma. Could be good with some herbal additions. Flavor is quite watery, with some astringency. There’s a salty quality to it, too. Some apple-like character, but nothing is strong here. A bit bland. 3/6/12/5 = 26 – Only 2# of honey added – lots of comments about it being just a cider, wouldn’t enter as a cyser
• Mead w/ Red Currant: Andy T. – lots of legs, fucking gorgeous. Very earthy. Alcohol is readily apparent – not harsh. Deep berry, tart, not juicy. Very layered. Tart – it’s got a great bite. There’s a vegetal, almost green and stemy… broccoli rabe? Currents are super present… almost overtaking the honey, but it’s still there. Vermouthy… there’s a bitterness to it. Would like some more honey flavor. It’s very drinkable, especially given the alcohol.
  6/9/18/8 = 41 – 6 years old!
• Mead w/ Buckwheat Honey and Black Currents: Lyn – BLACK… purple and mahogany hues around the edges. Clear. Not noticing much in terms of legs. Aroma is pretty good. Molasses. Coffee. Barnyard. Feels like the buckwheat is coming through well. The fruitiness of the currents are present. Alcohol is noticeable but not dominant or offensive. Warming. T.A.R.T. Currants are making themselves known. Very dry, out of balance there – aroma gave an expectation of some sweetness. This would go really well with food – savory. Pomegranate molasses. A controversial one – especially given the difference between the aroma and flavor!
  6/10/15/7 = 38

August brought us to Berlinetta Brewing Company in Bridgeport where they spin GenX-oriented vinyl and serve truly excellent beers, two of our favorite things.

Summer meetings can be small. People are busy with vacations and other activities. But turnout was solid, with about 10 people braving the heavy rainstorms to make the trip. Several of us came early to sample Berlinetta’s beer and pizza and we were not disappointed.

No lecture topics this month. So, once we were suitably filled up, we started judging homebrews.

That’s when we came face to face with our limitations as judges.

Andy C presented us with an American Light Lager. You’ll see in our tasting notes below that we liked it a lot. In fact, we thought it was a great example of the style and scored it very highly. The joke was on us. The grist was 30% rye – half flaked and half malted! It truly did not have the viscosity or the spicy notes one expects in a rye beer. And, in our defense, competition judges agreed with us. Still, we were left wondering how we could have missed such a large rye addition.

As usual, the homebrews were generally quite good. Tasting notes below.

With just a few to judge, we had time afterward for more Berlinetta tipples and some conversation. We also detoured into cookie judging, trying the rye cookie recipe that Justin is tuning for potential retail sale. We rated it “Yummy. 12/10. Would recommend.”

No one remembered to take pictures.

Major thanks to Berlinetta Brewing for hosting us!

Tasting notes:

American Light Lager. Matt. Lovely floral hop nose with pilsner malt and maybe a little elderflower. Crystal clear and pale. Bone dry and perfectly clean. Lightly grainy and just a little too bitter for style. Very drinkable. Only real ding is that it might be too flavorful and aromatic for the target style. 9/3/18/4/9 = 43

American Light Lager. Andy C. Subtle melon and green apple but a very “macro” nose. Crystal clear and pale yellow. Grainy and a little sweet up front with a dry finish. Almost no hops. Nails the style. Very drinkable. 10/3/17/4/9 = 43. Ha-ha, contains 30% rye!

German Pils. Cameron. Butterscotch nose which hides the hops, with honey rather than crackery pils malt. Hazy and pale gold. Subtle notes of wintergreen in the flavor along with honey malt. Solid bitter finish which lingers. A bit too full in the mouth, probably due to the diacetyl. Still, very drinkable and not too far out of style. 5/1/12/3/6 = 27

Hazy IPA. John. Hardcore fruit salad nose: grapefruit, orange, melon, passionfruit, kiwi. Everyone in raptures. Cloudy, rather than opalescent, and without a head. Very sweet up front with a little too much bitterness in the finish. A little too much tannin. Tons of hop flavor. Can feel suspended hop material. 12/2/15/4/7 = 40. Grain to glass in 6 days with kveik yeast; still very young. Will be amazing when the hop material drops out.

This post comes to us from Santi, who offered to draft a blog covering our April meeting, which I was not able to attend.

Our July meeting – coming right on the heels of our club’s trip to Vermont, was graciously hosted by Andy T. at his home in Trumbull. Given recent conversations within the club around different fermentables, Andy put together and conducted a presentation on different sugars, with a focus on brewing of course. He went through slides that analyzed the chemistry of these sugars, their diferences in perceived sweetness, fermentability and other related topics. This was met with much interaction and discussion about mashing techniques and wort composition, which is to be another educational moment down the line.

At the end of the slides, Andy had prepared solutions of equal concentration for a variety of different sugars for us to taste and compare their sweetness and flavors. (Author’s Note: I am deeply disappointed to have missed this presentation – and I certainly can’t wait to pick Andy’s brain, and the brains of those who attended the meeting!)

It was the perfect finish to a fantastic educational segment outside on a gorgeous summer night. Everyone was so wrapped up in the presentation that the only thing we’re truly missing is pictures from the event to capture all the new learning!

As part of the continued 50th Anniversary Celebrations, a handful of the Underground Brewers took the trek up to the Northeast Kingdom in Vermont, for a visit to Hill Farmstead Brewery and a day on Seymour Lake, courtesy of Andy and Jacqueline Cox!

On Friday, Hill Farmstead was gracious enough to offer a space for us to gather and enjoy their fantastic beers. There were plenty of lagers poured, including their fantastic 15th Anniversary Festbier, and more than a few bottles opened as well. A particular highlight and topic of conversation was the fantastic hop water, No Bad Parts, brewed by Hill Farmstead. Lightly fermented, and featuring lime juice and Strata hops, this was a huge hit with the club, and has led to more than a few attempts at creating a copycat hop water!

Saturday was spent relaxing on the lake, where we shared excellent food, beers, and naps (see pictures below). Some of us even took advantage of the lake for some kayaking, canoeing, and fishing! A day by the lake was exactly the recovery we all needed after the hours spent at Hill Farmstead. While there are a few pictures to document the days we spent up in Vermont, for the most part we were simply enjoying each other’s company, which seems like a perfect way to continue our anniversary celebration. It certainly will not be the last time the Underground Brewers make their way up to northern Vermont!

May didn’t have a typical “monthly meeting” – instead, we gathered to celebrate one of our own. Andy Cox won this year’s Twelve Percent Beer Project homebrewing competition and with that, the right to brew his beer on their system! Andy’s Essential Vienna took home the win in a crowded field of excellent beers – and he generously shared his recipe on our club’s Discord channel!

A few months after claiming the title, Andy got the chance to brew his beer at Twelve Percent – and on Friday, May 23 we got together to celebrate and try out the beer – which was absolutely fantastic (although I may have a bias towards the homebrewed batch). The release party was even better – with friends and family coming together to enjoy a great beer and celebrate the brewing accomplishments of an even better person. Cheers, Andy! Here’s to hoping you can retain the title at this year’s competition!

Well, it wouldn’t be an Underground Brewers gathering in 2025 without a little (or a lot!) of decoction going down! I almost titled this post “99 Bottles and 99 Decoctions” – because that’s certainly what the day felt like. We got an early start, with brewing underway a little after 8 AM. That is also when the bottles started getting opened. What began with a bottle of 2017 CBS from Founders Brewing led to many many more being opened. Some were unexpectedly outstanding for their age – like the 2013 Bourbon County Coffee Stout – while others were… less than stellar. It was a great day filled with food, beer, and brewing! In all, we opened more than 50 bottles of beer – something that definitely has to be done again to help me clear out more from the garage! Many pictures are included below – at least as much as we were able to document throughout the day.

Pierre & Andy (with the help of Beth!) brewed up a 7(!!!) decoction grisette that may or may not have reached a full boil as the day progressed, while Matt and Santi brewed a take on the Underground Brewers Golden Anniversary Ale using Nugget and Victoria hops from Argentina!

If you’re interested in trying out our take on the 50th Anniversary recipe (appropriately named Dorado Anniversary Ale), it will be pouring at our 50th Anniversary Party on June 20!

I am incredibly grateful for everyone who came, hung out, and brought things to share. I can’t wait for the next one – hopefully this fall. Group brews and big bottle opening sessions are the best – thanks again to everyone for coming to hang out!

Our April meeting brought us to Ridgefield, CT and one of CT’s more hidden gems, Nod Hill Brewery. With an outstanding food truck and fantastic tap list, many arrived early to take advantage of some good conversation over sandwiches and beer before the meeting started. We had quite the turnout, too, with some new faces and some we haven’t seen in a very long time!

Tasting notes from the meeting are included below. We took a break in the middle of the tasting for an “educational interlude” where Andy T. led the group through a discussion about butyric acid including what can lead to its development, how to avoid creation of the compound in the first place, and the limited options for remediation (mostly through the use of brettanomyces to metabolize the compound into a more desirable flavor) should you find it present in your beer. It was an incredibly informative and engaging discussion, and I think we all learned a lot from the conversation! Some notes from the session are included here:

• Butyric Acid – it doesn’t smell or taste very nice. Vomit/rancid/cheese flavors and aromas. Not dangerous. Very beneficial – we have a lot of it in our gut… but not flavors/aromas you want in your beer.
• Human taste sensitivity – 2-10ppm… but aroma is much more sensitive (0.2ppm)
• Where does it come from? Raw food – glucose… bacteria converts to butytric acid (glucose + water) – source is from the grain!
• Water + grains gives you glucose and the bacteria are present… still active below 150F, and apparently they can still survive a boil of 90 minutes.
• Biggest risk is between mash and boil (TIME)… and a slightly lower risk between boil and fermentation – Time is the biggest factor.
• Adding CO2 increases activity of the bacteria.
• Reduce risk: grain – dry, cold, sealed. If you are doing a kettle sour or sour mash, lower the pH below 4, bacteria can’t work below that. Time – minimize time between mash/boil/start of fermentation – yeast outcompetes, takes up the glucose… alcohol produced hampers production… and lowers the pH.
• So what do you do if you have it? The longer you boil, the more you concentrate it. Brett – some strains will convert it into Ethyl Butyrate (pineapple).

Tasting Notes:

• Czech Pale Ale (3A): Matt J. – smells cold, very clean, meadow – grassy, in a good way. Herbal hops – more hoppy than malty. Light honey, lemon. Could be maltier. Lightly hazy – not quite brilliant. Bready comes through more on the flavor. More malt driven on the flavor. A little herbal-spicy hop character. Well carbonated, beautiful lacing. Maybe a little astringent. Very drinkable. Solid 7. Easily down a liter.
  8/2/15/5/7 – 37
• American Pale Ale (18B): Jon/Joe/Ernie – guava, pear, grape. Very tropical. White grape. NZ vibes. A touch of fresh mint. Not getting a ton of malt, but could just be hiding behind the hops. Absolutely beautiful. Herbal flavor… thyme, mint… pine? Spruce? The malt needs to be brought up to support the hops. Whatever the source, it’s overpowering the balance. Clean, well fermented. A little more body, a little more carb. 
  10/3/11/3/6 – 33 – Spruce Tips and Cascade
• Session WCIPA (21B): Pat S. – Orange rind/peel, pine resin, the aroma is almost chewy, light prune, maybe some green apple. Maybe too much going on in the malt… too much crystal for an American IPA. Stunningly beautiful beer. Right on the upper limit for color. Tastes like 1991. Bitter. Super bitter. Lingers forever. Gives some alcohol off that. Wouldn’t declare it as a session. Bitterness overpowers… would live well in a Red IPA. Lots of hop-plant flavor. A little harshness from the bitterness, missing some body – not quite smooth. Drinkable, needs some tweaks and would be better as a Red IPA.
  9/3/13/3/6 – 34 – leftover expired extract cans… Cashmere/Columbus/Centennial/Chinook
• Belgian Dubbel (26B): Pierre – missing some malt character. Some spicy/pepper. Yeast phenolic – good fermentation character. Needs everything to be turned up a bit, this is a little subtle. Gorgeous beer, maybe needs more bubbles. Hard to tell with these glasses. Coming across like a biere de garde. Needs more bubbles to carry it through. Sweet bready, light cherry. Needs more phenolic and esters, and some more deep malt character. Peppery. A really well brewed beer. As a BDG it would be higher. Could use at least 1 more bubble, but preferably quite a few. He should bring his bubbly friends. Delicious, drinkable, loving it… just not to style. Very sessionable.
  7/3/13/4/7 – 31 (Pierre) – “it’s a fair assessment” – aiming for a quad or a dubbel… lots of tweaking… brewed for the Armada event. Way too much residual sweetness… blended with a Czech amber lager! 50/50 blend.
• Belgian Tripel (26C): Pierre – strong phenol… but it’s so nice. Melon. Ripe banana, light clove. Baking. Inviting. A touch of earthy hops, a little apple estery. On the dark end. Maybe missing some head/effervesence. Too sweet. Lots of overripe banana. Needs to be drier. Some green banana too. More attenuated this would be spot on. Sweetness is really hurting it. No off flavors, but that’s what’s hurting it. A little thick/sweet. Some astringency. Needs more bubbles. Still quite drinkable. Needs to drop a bunch more points.
  10/3/10/3/6 – 32 – shooting for a Belgian strong blonde, but classified it as this for the Armada comp
• Irish Stout (15B): Matt J. – roasty, pale chocolate. Something vegetal. Dusty. Licorice. Light green pepper maybe? Something lightly solventy- like a water-based polyurethane. Brownies. Apple-y esters. More chocolate than coffee roast. Gorgeous appearance. Complex, dry… more roasty grain in the flavor, but still moderately low. Carrot? Coffee flavor kind of lingers. Light creaminess. Pretzel like bready quality. Toasted almond? Infinitely more complex than Guinness. Mouthfeel is fantastic. Carbonation is just right. 
  7/3/15/5/8 – 38
• Lambic with Roselle: Andy T. – smells beautiful. The barnyard-y notes are subtle and supporting, adding to the complexity. Light raspberry/fruits… vinegar… appearance is perfect. Flavor complexity is off the charts. Maybe a little something savory/meat-y… acidity is so wonderful. Sweet cherry, raspberry. Bone dry, a little tart, and so drinkable. What else would you want? Wonderful mouthfeel. Just exactly what you want from a beer with dinner.
  12/3/18/5/10 – 48 – 9 years old, using Roselle (hibiscus) from Thailand.