Cardinals-themed beer recipes!

I know this isn't the use to which we usually put this blog, but we haven't exactly put this blog to any use recently, so I'm just gonna go ahead and put this here. After all, who doesn't want homebrew recipes tenuously connected to the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals?

The first of these was brewed during the NLCS, the second the weekend after we won the series.  The Redbird Victory Ale is a recipe I'd been working on for a while and only recently repurposed as a Cardinals recipe, whereas the Altbier was from the very beginning conceived in Cardinality and dedicated to the proposition that the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals were created awesome.

Spirit of '64 Altbier

Before lager yeasts and brewing techniques became popular in Germany, ale yeasts were used for most beers. Once lagers largely displaced ales, the term "altbier," or "old beer," came into use to describe the older ale styles. Altbiers share many characteristics with lagers, particularly a clean malt character. I like them as fall beers.

One thing I really enjoyed about this postseason was watching Cardinal legends come back to the stadium to participate in the celebration, and hearing stories about some of the great teams from before I was born (I was two months old when Don Denkinger staked his claim to perpetual Cardinal nation infamy, for reference). I liked the idea of brewing an old beer style like this in honor of Cardinal history (and a nice fall beer to celebrate an October playoff run). So this is a recipe in honor of the great comeback Cardinals team--El Birdos--of 1964, Gibson and Shannon (who would probably prefer an ice cold frosty Budweiser, but oh well) and all the rest.

• 8.0 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain
• 2.1 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain
• 8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain
• 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)
• 1 lbs Wheat Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract
• 6 lbs 9.6 oz Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract
• 1.20 oz Nugget [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop
• 0.50 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop
• 0.50 oz Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining
• 0.50 oz Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 3.0 min Hop
• 1.0 pkg German Ale (Wyeast Labs #1007) [124.21 ml] Yeast
• 0.50 oz Saaz [4.00 %] - Dry Hop 14.0 Days Hop

Original Gravity:  1.058         ABV:  5.8%            IBU:  32

Redbird Victory Ale

This is a pretty basic hoppy American Red Ale. It's a recipe I'd been working on for a while, based originally on North Coast's Red Seal Ale. Now named in celebration of the Cards.

• 1 lbs Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain
• 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain
• 10.9 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain
• 6 lbs 9.6 oz Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract
• 1 lbs Wheat Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract
• 2.1 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain
• 1.00 tsp Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent
• 1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop
• 0.50 oz Cluster [7.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop
• 0.13 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop
• 0.13 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop
• 0.13 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop
• 0.13 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min
• 0.50 oz Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining
• 0.13 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop
• 0.13 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop
• 0.13 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 2.0 min Hop
• 0.13 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 2.0 min Hop
• 2.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [50.28 ml] Yeast
• 0.40 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 14.0 Days
• 0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Dry Hop 14.0 Days

Original Gravity:  1.058.       ABV:  6.0&           IBU:  40