Barleywine/Specialty Beers
It's the biggest of beers. So high in alcohol, 8% to 9%, a wine yeast is needed to complete the fermentation. They are best aged for 2 months or longer before bottling and will improve with months of aging.
This is a wonderfully hoppy beer worthy of the god of drunken revelry. The large amount of hops create great character without making this a bitter beer. The Centennial hops provide a fabulous aroma that keep you going back for more. This requires a partial mash of the grains to extract the malty sweetness to help balance this out. The six row barley is used in conjunction with the adjunct grains to compensate for the lack of enzymatic power and increase the extract yield. (fear not the big words, it just makes me feel like I know what I'm talking about).
Some recipes are harder to figure out than others. In this case, Rogue Brewing of Newport, Oregon, made it very simple. They printed the ingredients, alcohol content, and bitterness level right on the bottle. Rogue has always been a favorite brewery of mine, not just for their great line of beers but also their non-conventional way of thinking. They are about as un-corporate as you get. If you find yourself on the Oregon coast, they are well worth seeking out. As for this recipe, it is a high gravity pale ale. Not too bitter but plenty of hop character. It also calls for a new hop on the market called Amarillo. The Amarillo hop is mid-range bitterness at 8.2 Alpha % and lots of spicy flavor.
Stone Brewing has never given up this recipe but it has fostered a hundred clone recipes from frustrated brewers attempting to copy it. This recipe is as close as I have found. This wonderful brew possesses myriad great flavors, from an initial malt bite to a wonderful hop aftertaste.
A German Style Maibock from Oregon's Rogue Brewing. A true Maibock is a lager style but this brewery does everything a little different and always with good results.