Meet “Leslie.” This Holiday Porter homebrew is named for the great Mountain frontman/axe-man, and solo artist, Leslie West. You likely know Mountain’s most famous tune “Mississippi Queen.” However, I wouldn’t stop there with Leslie West’s work. He’s a big, fantastic guitar player that is on par with all of the “greats”, but never got the mass respect he likely deserved ( other than from other guitar players). If you dig Cream, you’ll like Mountain’s early work.
Leslie was, and is a big dude. This Porter is big as well; intentionally. Leslie was known for his big, signature sound tumbling from hot-rodded amps and Les Paul Jr’s equipped with P-90 pickups. “Leslie” was designed to pack a wallop, and was aggressively hopped ( shocker, right?). Simcoe was used, right up to the point where this beer wouldn’t have technically been a Porter by BJCP ( Beer Judge Certification Program) standards, if I had gone even a .1 oz more with those hops. Thankfully, those darker malts in these bigger beers lend you a helping hand when it comes to playing nicely with the aggressiveness of a strong hop. A good amount of beer drinkers would be shocked how high the IBU count is on their favorite Porters and Stouts.
For the Malts, I used Crystal 120, Maris Otter, Carapils, Munich, and Black Patent. For the hops, Crystal and Simcoe utilized. While fly sparging to get the wort, oh man, the smells coming from the brew pot were surreal! I have to admit, the aromas are probably half of the reason I brew! It was pretty apparent during the process, that this one was gonna be big, like it’s namesake.
This November brew presented chillier temps outside, which had the ambient air humidity at “less than ideal” ( i.e. low). I had to be pretty cognizant of my temps in the mash tun, as well as being less aggressive in the boil ( less humidity = faster burn off = collecting less wort = less beer = not happy). Luckily, the mash tun held temp, and the less aggressive boil allowed for slightly more than a 5 gallon collection.
I’ve traditionally bottled my beers as it’s most efficient way to give it away. This was the first time I really threw around the idea of kegging, but knew there was no way I was going to need 5 gallons in one container at any point ( unless taking to a party, which I wasn’t going to). I opted to force-carbonate with the bottle, and it turned out a bit more carbonated than I’d like to see with a Porter, but a gentle pour all but remedies that issue..
Putting this one together was a good amount of fun, and see the results – and yes, since this was a Holiday Porter, I did listen to Mountain’s “Nantucket Sleighride” while brewing.
Enjoy!
Andrew L Hamilton 