This is a new style for me. Most of the beers I've brewed lately have all been pretty high in gravity, so I want to brew something sessionable. Sessionable doesn't have to mean flavorless, so I looked through some flavorful beer styles that were sub 1.040. Scottish 70 Shilling jumped out at me. This is also perfect, since with the holiday season fast approaching, it's nice to be able to offer guests a beer that won't knock them on their ass in a hurry.

Our friends Kiernan and Shannon are having a house warming party this December, and I'm brewing them a couple kegs to help celebrate. Since one of the two kegs will be half of the Pliny the Elder clone I recently brewed, we decided the second should be something with more mass-appeal. My Blonde Ale fit the bill nicely. Also, since my last two batches were big Double IPAs, this is a welcome change. As is usually the case, I'm forever tweaking my recipes, and this one is no exception.

I've had a number of requests asking how I wax dipped my 120 Minute Clone bottles, but I haven't made a batch worth aging for some time. Thankfully, my recent American Stout turned out fantastic, so I decided to set aside a six pack for a little while. I figured this was a good opportunity to do a step by step walk through on how I wax dipped the bottles.

It's time for something malty, roasty, and dark. The nights are getting chiller, and I'm in the mood for a big stout. Lately, I've been drinking quite a bit of Sierra Nevada's and Deschutes' stouts, both of which are fantastic examples of an American stout with a big hop character. One thing I noticed about both recipes is that they use black barley rather than roasted barley. So I took that idea and ran with it.

This beer is an interesting one. Why create a clone recipe for a beer that has possibly the most widely distributed clone recipe on the Internet? Well, from what I know, I don't believe that clone recipe is exact. It's really close, but we can make it perfect.