A New Challenge

I have decided to give myself a new challenge, and I have yet to decide how much I am going to hate myself for initiating it.  My guess is very much but at the same time, it will give me a lot more experience and help to expand my horizons in regards to beers that I haven't brewed yet.

Is the anticipation killing you?  I bet you can't wait to hear what it is.  I, Aaron Piskorowski of Lake Effect Brewing, plan on brewing my way through the BJCP 2008 Style Guide (even the meads and ciders just to try something outside my comfort zone), much in a cooking your way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, just with more drinking and less Meryl Streep and Amy Adams.

I want to lay down a few ground rules before I embark on this task.  First, this is going to be my main source of beer, so all of these batches will be five gallons.  If I want to do something a bit more out of the ordinary, I always have my two gallon batches or even an off five gallon batch (There may be a quite a few of those just because I already have ideas floating around in my head).

Second, in order to keep a variety, I will be brewing one from each category/subclass, then move onto the next (ie.  1A - American Light Lager, followed by 2A German Pils).  This is a necessity since when you get to Scottish Ales, brewing a 60/-, 70/-, then 80/-, I don't think I will get the full appreciation since they are pretty much the same beers just at different alcohol levels.

Third, I want to try to give a short history lesson (one to two paragraphs) about each beer as well as a couple random facts.  This will be more of a check for myself, making sure that I have done thorough research on the style of beer before I attempt to brew it.

Fourth, I want to do a couple reviews on the style of beers that I will be brewing.  This will work on a two fold level.  This way, I can immerse myself in the style of beer.  You can read all you want about a beer but until you actually taste it, you're really missing out and not fully appreciating it and the style.  I also want to do this as a way to compare the beer that I brewed once it is drinkable.  It will serve as a gauge as to how close I am with the style and might give me some insight into where I may need to improve the recipe.

I realize that this will take an extremely long time, years in fact, but it is something that I think will definitely be worth it and fun along the way.  My 1-A Lite American Lager was just brewed today.  Details will be coming soon.

Primary: Lite American Lager
Carbonating: Honey Dunkelweisen
Total for 2011: 53 Gallons