OK, now that 2009 is in full swing, it’s time to get brewing. And, I’m going to kick off my 2009 brewing series this coming Tuesday, inauguration day.

But brewing isn’t the only thing I’m doing in 2009 -- I’m also training to run a half marathon in November (San Antonio’s Rock and Roll Marathon). I’ve been wondering if I could combine training and brewing and came up with the idea of brewing a series of 13 beers to commemorate the 13 miles I will (fingers crossed) be running. Each beer will be brewed on a training day and I’ll give them each a name that fits with the marathon theme.

So today I sat down and picked 13 beers to brew. For the series, I wanted to pick mostly beers that I had already brewed multiple times. Most of these recipes have showed up, in one form or another, in the pages of BYO. For each, I’ve given a tentative brewing date. These might get bumped around a little, but I’m going to try to stick as close to the schedule as possible.

Here’s the list:
 
1. (Jan. 20) “Starting Line Pale Ale” -- This is going to be a straight-up American pale ale, similar to Patrick Henry Pale Ale (Mar-Apr ’06), but brewed as a partial mash, similar to House of Paine (Sep ’08). I’ll be using home grown hops for this.

2. (Feb. 1) porter -- I don’t have a names for the remaining beers yet, but for this I'll follow my old standby porter recipe, published as Colby House Porter (Oct ’06) and in partial mash form as Twoflower’s Luggage(Oct ’08). I’ll probably do this one as a partial mash as well.

3. (Feb. 22) reiterated mash -- In the December ’07 issue of BYO, I gave my method for brewing beers using a reiterated mash. Wort from the first mash is used as brewing liquor for the second mash. This can be repeated again for a third mash. Brewing this way lets you get very high gravity beers without adding sugar or malt extract and without long boils. This makes for a long brew day, but is rewarding when you taste the beer.

4. (Mar. 15) Schnieder Weisse clone -- I’ll follow Horst Dornbusch’s Kellheim Weissbier (Jul-Aug ’06) recipe for this. I’ve never brewed it, but I’ve tasted beers other brewers have made from this recipe. I may try culturing some yeast from a bottle of Schnieder Weisse.

5. (Apr. 5) Vienna lager -- My Redball Express (Jan-Feb ’06) recipe is very simple; the grain bill is just Vienna malt with a smidgen of CaraMunich. One hop addition. A beer where the quality of the ingredients and the skill of the brewer are on display.

6. (Apr. 26) beer brewed with Mt. Dew used as brewing liquor-- It sounds strange, but the Mt. Dew beers I've made have been interesting. I’ll either make Mt. Brew (Mar-Apr ’05) or Beelzeboss (Oct ’07). This will make a good post-workout thirst-quencher.

7. (May 17) Copper ale -- An old beer recipe of mine that was published in the Mar-Apr ’07 issue. It isn’t meant to be a representation of any classic beer style, just a well-balanced, copper-colored ale.

8. (Jun. 7) sour beer -- Lambic? Flander’s Red? I haven’t decided yet.

9. (Jun. 28) rauchbier -- Another very simple recipe, published as Smoke on the Lager (Dec ’08). The grain bill is almost entirely rauchmalz.

10. (Jul. 19) BYO's 10th Anniversary Ale -- A very big, roasty beer. Everyone who’s tried it has liked it. So, I’m going to brew it again. The recipe is in the September ’05 issue of BYO.

11. (Aug. 9)  pale ale -- Pale ale again. I like pale ale.

12. (Aug. 30) porter -- I also like porter.

13. (Sep. 20) “The Finish Line” -- I’ll have to think about this.

Ask any editor to name the greatest editorial invention of all time and he or she will likely say the Top 10 List. Top 10 lists are easy to compile and, since they're just someone's opinion, you don't need to fact-check them. They take virtually no work at all to get on the page. Plus, readers love them. (Even knowing they're just a way for editors to escape work, I'm still curious to read about the "10 Ugliest Sports Uniforms," the "10 Worst Automobiles Ever" or the "10 Most Influential Alternative History Novels of All Time.")