Yesterday I took the plunge. On that day, I jumped head-first into homebrewing.

I’ve sampled some offerings from area homebrewers before and have truly been impressed. Come to think of it, right around Christmas of 2006, I discovered that my upstairs neighbor had brewed a holiday ale with her uncle in New York state, and had brought some back to share. I was blown away at what one afternoon and some cheap supplies could do. So while everybody else was downing Miller Lite, I was nursing some savory homemade beer, enjoying the evening.

Well Sunday was my first go-round with the actual hands-on part of the process, but it helped to have my hands on some beer at the same time, too.

Steve and I met up around mid-day at his house, where he had all the equipment lined up and ready to go. We set out to brew a Belgian-style Dubbel, so naturally we cracked a Collaboration Not Litigation from 2006 to get things off on the right foot and got straight to work. First came the sanitizing, a crucial first step. He’s brewed before, and told me the horrors of not properly cleaning just one item. This is a story I’ve heard from other homebrewers who’ve also made sure to avoid that mistake with an ounce of prevention.

After we made sure everything was clean and good to go, we got the wort kits ready by softening them up in some hot water on the stove. Then, we poured them into some water and stirred thoroughly for the boil. Following that, we cooled that sucker down in the sink with some ice water.

In the meantime, we sampled some cave-aged Gruyere and French country bread with a Pierre Celis Grotten Bruin. Once the beer had properly cooled, we transferred that sweet nectar into the primary fermenter. As an aside, the place smelled absolutely delicious! I could’ve drank the wort without fermentation and had a blast, but we had to give that fancy yeast an opportunity to do its thing.

So with the proper addition of water, we pitched the yeast, White Labs Abbey Ale yeast to be exact. Then, after sealing the ol’ Ale Pail, there was only one thing to do: Stanley Cup playoffs and some 2006 Pannepøt! The Red Wings and the Predators were playing in Nashville, which made for an incredible game, despite the extended interruption from tornado coverage by the local NBC news affiliate. The Pannepøt was a great way to cap off a fun day of homebrewing.

So now, to commemorate the homebrewing occasion (which will probably become more than just an occasion in the very near future), I’m cracking a local Virginia beer. This time, it’s this year’s foreboding Dark Hollow by Blue Mountain Brewery.

Dark Hollow is just that, a completely opaque black that produces only a thin layer of small bubbles around the edges where the ominous liquid touches the sides of the glass. This Imperial Stout has had the privilege of resting in oak bourbon barrels, this year’s is Jim Beam to be exact, for 100 days. It certainly shows.

Coming as no surprise, the bouquet is quite woody and boozy, with a light touch of chocolate, which I expected to be stronger. The sharpness of the liquor is noticeable, and it’s got me thinking about what the Wild Turkey barrel-aged version will taste like next year.

Sipping the beer, I notice more of a roasted coffee malt profile rather than chocolate, which is great because it tempers the alcoholic kick of the bourbon that lies on top. That slightly parching oak flavor enters toward the middle, and dries out in the finish, leaving an aftertaste that’s closer to Beam than it is beer. This doesn’t bother me, because it clearly and smoothly transitions, so it’s not all bourbon and oak like some barrel-aged offerings.

There was nothing like sampling this at the brewery, with the tanks right in the window behind the bar, and the scenic vistas of Afton all around, but this seems to fit my local outlook today. I’ve been reading more and more about people sticking to their local selections lately, and I thought I might add a little something to the local mix myself. Good to see area brewers going out on a limb with interesting methods like barrel-aging or exotic beer styles.