In my pantry, a new beer has come to life, spurred on by the appetites of a healthy colony of Ringwood beasties (WYeast 1187). It's my second Old Ale, and the second that was assembled and brewed with a first snowfall of the season that didn't melt outright. I've not gone so far as to collect snow to add to the boil, but I think I may leave that idea alone for the time being. This is destined for large bottles and will be put away until next year, when a fair amount of it will be distributed to you good people. Waiting will be hard.

Next to it is Pete's Zero Hour Russian Imperial Stout. The stout is almost completed its initial tour of secondary, and by the time this weekend rolls around, Pete will decide whether the beer will be dry-hopped in the final conditioning. Currently, it has a pronounced roasted coffee character and is decidedly less sweet than I think Pete was hoping. It is scheduled for a 2-3 month aging before the first of it is cracked, and during that time, some of the tannins should mellow sufficiently to provide a more rounded flavor.

Just bottled is The Brown Pants, a Northern English Brown that was formulated at the very limits of the style. Honestly, though, I think it would have been better if I scaled it back a bit. It's not overbalanced, but it is rich enough that it's flirting with being a Porter. I like Porter, but less so when what I was going for was something entirely different.

I've some crazy ideas of what to do with the empty carboy(s), ranging from a strong bitters with a robust porter pitched on the lees two weeks later, some kind of mead variant (vanilla metheglin has strong appeal, as does braggot and whole hive mead), and possibly a new attempt at Red Ninja Altbier. I'd also be willing to set someone else up with a brew of their choosing, provided you leave a six with me once all is said and done. Basically, if you have an idea/desire/yen to make beer/mead/wine/soda/whatever, let me know and we'll put it in queue. It really is high time the Hat of Authority was dusted off. There hasn't been near enough HKAT in the house of late.