I haven’t posted in a while. My basement flooded in “The Great Flood of 2013”, and I’ve been a little busy with that. (I’m mostly done. Mostly.)

However, GABF is right around the corner and I’m planning on hitting several events: a face-melting concert spearheaded by TRVE and 3Floyds, Left Hand Brewing’s 20th anniversary party (I got tickets!), and multiple vertical/horizontal tastings throughout the city. Liver be strong!

Until then, how about a homebrew recipe? This is an Imperial Southern Brown named, Imperium. If you’re a fan of either ancient Rome or Fear Factory, then it makes total sense.

13 lb Pale Malt (2 row)
2 lb Brown Malt
.25 lb 120L
.25 lb 80L
2 lb Country Made Syrup

What is Country Made Syrup?
This.

I found it in The South. Not sure what an acceptable substitute would be.

1 oz. Phoenix hops @ 60 mins
0.5 oz Phoenix @ 30
0.5 oz Phoenix @ 15

Anyway, we did a 90 minute boil to get an OG of about 1.092. For something this massive, we pitched it right on top of a yeast cake created by a fresh hop (starter beer?) at 60°. Yep. Low and slow. It still nearly exploded, so make sure you have a blow off!

A few weeks later we were at 1.012 and ready to bottle! So, um, not quite a fall beer, as it will hit its peak sometime in January or February. Next time we will age with bourbon.

Try it out!