“The best beer in the Eastfarthing…or used to be.”
Lawmi’s Research:
This Ale is made with water from Haysend which is “where the Withywindle flows out of the Forest into the Brandywine” just a short walk (a hobbit would never take a boat unless he were looking for trouble) down the river from Stock. “The Withywindle valley is said to be the queerest part of the whole wood,” Could this be what makes this the best beer in the Eastfarthing?
Old Withywindle is always enjoyed at the Golden Perch but since it is the finest ale in the Eastfarthing, many travelers like to take some with them on their journeys and this most likely has led to the addition of more and more hops to the ale. The hops in beer act as a preservative and by putting more in the ale, it can stay fresh for long journeys. The different barleys used were picked to best compliment the strong hop flavor. The specific hops used in this ale come from all over. The first hop used is grown locally in the shire just to the north west of Stock in the Green Hills. Hops from Evendim and the North Downs are carried down the Brandywine by traders while Pride of Chetwood Hops are brought by wagon from Bree. All three of these hops are used at different times during the brewing of this fantastic beer. I first had this ale on my first trip to the shire and it was the first beer I’d had since Bree. Good luck Law!
Middle-earth Recipe
| Amount | Item | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 7 Buckets | Malted Winter Barley | Grain |
| 1 Bucket | High Temp Malted Spring Barley | Grain |
| 1 Buckets | High Temp Malted Winter Barley | Grain |
| 1 Buckets | Caramel Malted Winter Barley | Grain |
| 1 handfuls | Prepared Pride of Chetwood Hops | Hops |
| 2 handfuls | Prepared North Downs Hops | Hops |
| 1 handfuls | Prepared Green Hill Hops | Hops |
| 1 Cup | Ale Yeast | Yeast |
| 10 Buckets | Filtered water from The Withywindle | Water |
Law’s Research:
This is an Imperial IPA. Imperial just means “big” (High Original Gravity and thus high alcohol content). IPA stands for India Pale Ale and gets its name not because it was made in India but because it was the beer taken on the British ships when they went on the long journey to India. As mentioned above, hops and alcohol act as a preservative in beer so increasing the amounts of each can make beer last for the duration of the trip to India. Today brewers have taken the IPA flavor to the extreme and the best examples of these are some of the California IPAs. In order to create the same complex hop flavor that would have been in the Old Withywindle, I am using three different American Hops at different points in the boil. I hope you enjoy it!!
Translated Beer Recipe
| Amount | Item | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 13.00 lb | Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) | Grain |
| 1.00 lb | Munich I (Weyermann) (7.1 SRM) | Grain |
| 1.00 lb | Carafoam (Weyermann) (2.0 SRM) | Grain |
| 1.00 lb | Caraamber (Weyermann) (36.0 SRM) | Grain |
| 2.00 oz | Columbus [14.50 %] (60 min) | Hops |
| 2.00 oz | Centennial [9.00 %] (30 min) | Hops |
| 1.00 oz | Centennial [9.00 %] (10 min) | Hops |
| 1.00 oz | Glacier [7.50 %] (3 min) | Hops |
| 0.5 oz | Centennial [9.00 %] (Dry Hop) | Hops |
| 1.0 oz | Glacier [7.50 %] (Dry Hop) | Hops |
| 1 Pkgs | American Ale (Wyeast #2487) | Ale Yeast |
| 8 Gallons | Mystic, CT Well Water | Well water |
Finished Beer
Appearance
Pours a reddish yellow, just a little lighter than amber. A large head forms and holds its structure for at least 7 minutes. I had to dive in to give it a try.
Aroma
The first smell to hit you is the citrus from the hops. There is a slight undertone of malt but mostly just hops. Fresh cut grass comes to mind.
Taste
Front
Right up front is bitter followed closely by a strong hop flavor
Middle
The middle continues the hops bringing in a slight grapefruit and some more malt undertones. The mouthfeel is thick and you can really feel the beer in your mouth as is almost sticks to your tongue.
Finish
The beer finishes with hops still on the palette with a little more hops coming through. The after taste is one of hops hops and more hops
Overall
Overall I think this is one of the better Imperial IPAs I’ve had and I think it might almost live up to the name of “Best beer in the East Farthing”
November 9, 2011 at 9:46 am
Since it’s so near the Old Forest any chance this brew may have some “treeish” effects, maybe like Ent-draught?
Yay beer!
November 9, 2011 at 6:26 pm
I take mild umbrage at the assertion that the best IPAs come from California.
Washington State represent! We grow those hops, yo.
November 9, 2011 at 8:43 pm
Taeniel,
Yeah that didn’t come off right. I ment that the best examples of this extreme hop IPAs come from California. I’ve actually no had many beers from Washington. Alot from Oregon but none fromWashington
November 9, 2011 at 9:26 pm
Oregon IPAs are awesome. Gotta Represent the home state
November 10, 2011 at 4:45 pm
And now I want a beer…
November 15, 2011 at 7:15 pm
Woohoo! Yeah. Mmmm, Old Withywindle. British Broadcasting Corporation, huh? Hehe, let’s have a sip then. Phew! Delicious. The perfect pint.
Tom Bombadil would be proud, y’know? And Farmer Maggot too I reckon.
Aye, cheers me dears. Bottoms up! See you in teh Prancing Pony some day.
- Halcyon(WWS) of Withywindle(EU/UK server)
November 18, 2011 at 6:20 pm
Coming at ya from Australia. Nimrodel Kinship – Not All Who Wander Are Lost!
Ingredients have been bought, many imported hops. Had to do a little substitution. Columbus hops had to be substituted with Chinook hops (Couldn’t get them easily where I am and cost of getting just those hops alone is not worth it). However, being bittering hops, Chinook should do just fine.
Mashing this begins in about 4hours. We’ll give you our feedback on this in a few weeks.
If this is a ‘hit’, I’ll consider doing some more LOTRO Ales in the future with my kinship. However, I may do a ‘down under’ version (Substitute US hops with Aussie Grown hops. We’ll call it the Rohan Classic Ales or something..
)
Dave, aka Aydrianna, Lvl 68 Hobbit Warden, Nimrodel.
November 18, 2011 at 7:25 pm
That is Awesome, I can’t wait to hear how it is!!…Yeah bittering is bittering flavor comes from later additions. Let me know any tweaks you think could be made too!!!
November 20, 2011 at 6:50 pm
The brew session was a success. It was also an instructional for the kin who have either never brewed or never brewed from grain before.
It’s now fermenting as we speak. However, being Australia with days approaching 30C here and there, I’m fermenting it in a temperature control fridge. Still getting the temp right. It’s at about 14C now. I need to get it to about 16c for the ferment (Yeast is 15c – 24C strain). 16c just gives a little tolerance which is good.
November 29, 2011 at 10:57 pm
And an update. We are up to secondary now. I have dry hopped into secondary.
Have done an initial tasting with some run off. Very nice.
My tasting notes almost match yours. Likewise the details. (OG measured 1095)
As this is run-off rather than the actual final beer, I can’t comment on head or colour yet.. (ie.. Head = none and colour = cloudy
)
Looking forwards to bottling and drinking.
November 9, 2011 at 8:44 pm
All beers make me feel like I’ve grown a bit