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The story of Midnight Special Pale Ale

In 2004, the Midnight Homebrewers' League celebrated its 10th Anniversary.  During the year, we thought of different ways we could mark the occasion.  One of the ideas put forth was to approach our friend Gregg Norris at Clay Pipe Brewing Company in Westminster, about the possibility of brewing a special batch of beer for commercial sale.  This commemorative beer would be based upon the winning recipe as judged by club members at a competition to be held during our 2004 Holiday Party.

After a few meetings to iron out the details, the competition was on.  To encourage participation among our members, we decided to focus the competition on the popular American Pale Ale category.  However, Gregg Norris encouraged us to “stretch the limits” of that beer style by using non-standard ingredients such as honey.  He knew that club members were fond of using honey to brew beers and meads, so he thought the competition should play to those strengths.

Clay Pipe Brewing Company and the Midnight Homebrewers ’ League have become good friends by supporting each other’s events and, of course, drinking each other’s beers whenever possible.

About a dozen members, along with Norris and Clay Pipe’s brewer Rob Wantz, judged many excellent  homebrew entries at our December party.  The winning beer was brewed by club Secretary and one of its founding members, Steve Kranz.

Steve used a traditional American Pale Ale recipe as a base, and added three pounds of wildflower honey produced by Carroll County beekeeper Mark Glannon for his original 5-gallon batch.  The local honey has a flavor and aroma that is distinct from store-bought clover honey, so we feel fortunate that Mark had enough of this year’s production left to supply the 156 pounds of honey we’ll need for our beer.

Club members will participate in brewing, bottling and promoting the beer, which is called Midnight Special Pale Ale.  It will be distributed through Sanders Distributing Company of Taneytown to liquor stores throughout the Baltimore area starting around late February of 2005.  To enhance the specialty brew’s appeal to beer connoisseurs, it will be produced in 22-ounce bottles, with a permanent label screen-printed directly onto the bottle instead of an ordinary bottle label.

Web site maintained by Steve Kranz.  Last updated July 19, 2008