back to school brewing

That Saison is fermenting nicely as are a basic draft IPA and a fall brown. Right now, in the midst of the single ugliest day of the summer (non-stop dreary ass rain since 6 am) I'm brewing something new. I don't know what it is. I just sorta threw it together. Maris Otter base with a half pound each of five specialty malts: Simpson's Caramalt, Crystal 60 and 120, Amber, and Victory. Why not? It'll be the antidote to the ultra clean, lean other IPA which is a pale-malt-only exercise in minimalism.

Pause: Sipping a Goose Island "Sofie." Good stuff. Middle strength pale Belgian with partial barrel aging that lends a delicate winey quality.

So, yeah, for my beer... Chunky malt. Kinda in the Marzen color range. Toasty. I'll hop it somewhere between pale ale and IPA, maybe a little more toward IPA, but probably taste it before dry hopping lest I obscure something interesting. Assorted C-hops should do the job. Is it an amber? A strongish fall pale ale? A bent IPA? Who cares?