After a couple of weeks in the bottle I think my Grande Cru is nearing completeness.  One thing I’ve noticed is that there seems to be an excessive amount of carbonation.  When I crack open a bottle, it immediately starts to bubble from the bottom and the first pour gives more head than beer.  I’m not sure the reason for this, but I have a feeling I should have left it in the fermenter a bit longer.  The taste is very sweet, obviously because of all the honey in there.  Should I do this again I will note to not use so much honey and maybe even boil it a bit longer.   Overall, it is a good beer, it’s giving me a nice buzz already.  The taste is very powerful, the honey seems to take precidence in the taste.  The brew has convinced me that going forward, I will definately filter the wort before adding to the fermentor as the hop pellets were just too much to leave in and clogged up my racking cane.

There is a definate difference in using the White Labs yeast as opposted to the dried or even smack pack for the Abbey Ale.  The Grande Cru bottles have a good 1/4″  of yeast sediment on the bottom and when I swirled to get all of the yeast out of this bottle and into my glass, you can see the yeast film on top of the head and definately taste it.  Since I’m quite the yeast fan this is good for me, but I can see how you would want to disclose this to others drinking it who may not feel the same way.

Overall, this seems like a good, robust brew.  I’m looking forward to how a few more weeks and months might affect the taste.