Bell’s Manden Med Leen Ale – Next Homebrew Competition Winner to be Tapped @ Eccentric Café 1/26

KALAMAZOO – The winner of Bell’s Third Annual Homebrew Competition will be tapped at 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26 at the Eccentric Café in downtown Kalamazoo.

Nick Rodammer’s, Manden Med Leen (Danish for grim reaper), is a black IPA brewed with Belgian yeast, barley from the Bell’s Farm in Shepherd, Michigan and a blend of other U.S. and European malts.

It was dry hopped three separate times with Amarillo, Galaxy and Zeus hops. These same hops were also used in the kettle along with Michigan grown Chinook hops.

The first things people should notice is a lot of hop aroma and flavor, Rodammer said.

The beer has a rich tropical fruit aroma with a subtle dark malt character and an ABV of 6.95%.

“I wanted to brew something a little outside the box for this competition,” Rodammer said.

After putting together a few different ideas he settled on merging three IPA styles – Black, Rye and Belgian.

“I wanted it to be black in color but not roasty, for the rye and Belgian character to really be background notes and I wanted to make sure there was a good malt backbone to it as well,” he said.

“With so much going on I didn’t want to overshadow the hops, but I think it really melded together quite well.”

The Grand Rapids resident has been homebrewing for about a year. His first two batches were pre-packaged kits. He went all grain after those and has designed all of his recipes since then.

“I hope this shows that you don’t have to have been homebrewing for years to make good beer.  Anyone who is passionate about brewing and takes the time to learn about the art and science of the craft can apply what they learn and brew beer they are proud to share with others,” Rodammer said.

For more on the Third Annual Bell’s Homebrew Competition, visit the Bell’s Blog.
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