"Bery Blonde" Review

This evening, I opened up a bottle of my "Bery Blonde", which is a combination of a blonde ale with a mix of raspberries and strawberries in it.  I added them during fermentation, and then also added small pieces of raspberry and strawberry to each bottle.  It was definitely one of my more experimental batches of beer, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  I had read mixed reviews of fruit based beers on the different brewing web sites, so I knew there was a chance it wouldn't come out very good.

I have to say that overall, the flavor wasn't bad at all.  Because I added the berries to each bottle, I had to pour it into a pint glass in order to avoid getting parts of the berries in it when I drank it.  I would say that there is more than a "hint" of berry flavor, but it isn't overwhelming.  It was a bit tart from the raspberries, which I read can happen, and that the tartness fades as the beer ages.  So, I have several bottles of it that I'm planning to save to try after a couple more weeks.

It wasn't my worst creation, but was a bit less than I was hoping for.  I would like to try it again at some point and make some adjustments to the recipe.

IPA with Simcoe Hops

Today, I just finished making an IPA using Simcoe hops exclusively.   I got the recipe off the internet, and made it this morning.  Here is the recipe.  This beauty is now fermenting in my upstairs closet in a dark and cool place.

5 gallons of spring water
7 lb Light Dry Extract
1 lb Munich malt (grain)
.25 lb Crystal Malt 40L
1.5 oz of Simcoe hops to the boil for 60 minutes
.5 oz of Simcoe hops 55 minutes into the boil (5 minutes before the end)
.5 oz of Simcoe hops after the boil is complete while the wort cools down
.5 oz of hops added to the carboy (dry hop) during fermentation

I also took the grains and began a batch of bread.  It smells really good.  Will bake it later today and have with dinner.