Mug Of Saint Arnold

With some family and friends coming into town to celebrate my recent engagement I wanted to brew a beer for the occasion. I really was puzzled over what style to make. I wanted something that would appeal to both the non-beer drinkers and the craft beer connoisseur. I started to flip though my brewing books for some inspiration and I came across a recipe for bride ale in The Homebrewer’s Recipe Guide. Instantly, I knew I found a winner.

The recipe explained that in medieval time, when brewing was done mostly by women, brides would brew beer to commemorate the upcoming wedding. The beer would then be sold to raise money for the wedding and to increase the bride’s dowry. This tradition of bride ale is where we get the term “bridal” today.

I used that recipe as a base for this homebrew. I wanted to make some minor changes and additions to make it more my own. I knew I wanted to make it a bit stronger, so I increased the malt extract from 6 2/3 pounds to 9 1/3 pounds. The recipe called for a pound of honey, so I added a ½ pound of honey malt to add to the sweetness. I also substituted crystal malt with Briess crystal 80L and double the amount of malt. In addition to these malts I used ½ pound of flaked barley as the recipe suggested.

With the increases in malts I also doubled the amount of hops I used.  I stuck with the hops the recipe suggested: Willamette, liberty, and cascade. The recipe also called for a secondary fermentation with Cascade hops, which I have never done before, but I look forward to trying the additional brewing step.

I have a feeling this is going to be a malt bomb, but that is what I am hoping for. I just hope there will be various malt notes within the beer that would create a complexity.

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