After a week in bottles at around 80° F I cracked one open, as I usually do, just to see how the young beer is coming along.  Carbonation and head were just fine.  The first taste was all I could have hoped for, I think:

• Dark and clear brown color
• Up-front hop flavor
• Crisp taste
• Decent mouth feel
• Enough malt to stand up to the hops without contributing bitterness of its own
• More hop flavor and aroma on the back end

We ended up killing 4 of these on Sunday.  More of a kick than I expected.  My hydrometer broke before I could get a final gravity reading at bottling, but I was expecting 4-5% ABV maybe.  This felt more like 6% or maybe a little more.  I won’t touch it again until this weekend.  I’m keeping it down around 60° until then.

So what’s up with the name?  Well, I had previously vowed to name our beers if I ever felt the desire to brew the same one twice.  I wasn’t expecting the CDA1 debacle, but I will stand by my promise to myself.  We thought long and hard about it and decided to remember and honor our first overnight adventure on Andeleen on New Hogan Lake.  Calm, dark and a true adventure.