Sherlock Holmes

The Red Circle, on my counter-top

"S" is the 19th letter of the alphabet, and this is my 19th attempt to clone Witchwood's Hobgoblin ale. "S" also stands for "Sherlock Holmes", one of my childhood heroes of fiction. When it comes to adaptations of the original stories, I'm one of the many who consider Jeremy Brett's performance to be definitive. In fact, Brett brought additional personality to the character. I often see Basil Rathbone offered up as a rival to Brett, but that particular incarnation of Holmes leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. Not because of Rathbone's performance, but because of what surrounds it.

Even though movies in general were a lot better in the 30's and 40's than they are now, the filmmakers often tried that ancient trick of contemporizing old stories for there audience. For example, in one film Holmes is pitted against Nazis. That's even more ludicrous than pitting Hercule Poirot against Jack the Riper. (seeing as Poirot would have had to take a boat to England as a teenager in order to investigate the crimes.) It's a bit odd watching a 67 year old film that's passing off a character that-- at the time, already belonged 50 years in the past. What am I trying to say here? Why does this bug me so much?

Well, I'll put this into perspective. In the late 30's to early 40's the original Holmes would probably have been in his mid 80's. If you consider the probable span of his career, (1880's-1890's and a bit beyond) That's a 50 year difference. People who where actually born at the time of the Rathbone films are pushing 70 today. If one of them was a real life incarnation of Holmes, they would have begun there career in the late 1960's... Maybe this is just a useless nitpick. Considering what was contemporary of the Brett version, I should be thankful. One fantastic adaptation in a hundred years. That's a victory, not a cause for complaint.

Anyway...

THE GRAIN BILL

10 Pounds 2-row
8 Ounces cara-8
5 Ounces black patent
1 Pound barley flakes

As you can see by the grain bill above, and the hop additions below, this beer doesn't really belong in the ranks of my other Hobgoblin clone attempts. Even the yeast is wrong. I don't know what possessed me. Maybe I was looking for some wiled mutations to carry forward.

THE MASH PROFILE

Strike with 12.5 Litres @ 75° Celsius for 66° Celsius. Rest for 60 Minutes.

THE RESULTS

I ended up going with 76° Celsius, and still got 66° Celsius, though, admittedly it was a touch higher then that in a few spots.

1.1 Ounces simcoe boil (15 AAU)
1 Ounce simcoe finish
1 Ounce fuggles dry

Pitched Wyeast 1056

A wild mutation is exactly what I got. The color was a pleasing red, and the hops actually worked well together. It's not really Goblin, but it's good on it's own. The only real issue I had during the this brew was a slightly low volume. This makes the OG questionable. It would probably have ended out as 1.048 otherwise.

No big deal.

OG: 1.050

TG: 1.010