I was just getting going again. After taking a break from brewing for four months to enjoy the summer being a toddler daddy – not to mention to avoid the hottest brew days of the year – I started brewing again Labor Day weekend with a nice simple pale ale to restock the kegerator. I followed that a week later with a lavender mead I brewed to honor the birth of my daughter who’s due at the beginning of December. Two brews in one month. I had momentum, and I was all set to take the hat trick by brewing again today.

Today’s brew was going to be an ESB to serve later this fall at a party to celebrate our new baby. Whatever we don’t drink at the party, we’d save to be our “coming home” beer, and my wife’s first drink after her pregnancy.

The timing was great. The pale ale was ready to keg yesterday, so all I had to do was get it in the keg and I could soak the fermenter overnight, have it clean and ready to receive a malty delicious new ESB wort today. It was all so perfectly planned …

Then, inexplicably, yesterday morning I came down with a stomach bug that left me pretty much unable to even sit up straight, let alone be on my feet. I was back in bed before noon, and woke up three hours later parched and needing a drink. The water kind, not the alcohol kind.

I’ll breeze through this next part for your sake. All I’ll say is that as soon as the water found its way to my stomach, it decided it wanted to be out again. And it wanted to take everything else in there with it. There’s nothing like a four-round toilet-hugging session in the afternoon to leave you feeling bruised and abused … I pretty much gave up on trying to get anything done that day. I had a vague sense of that screwing up my plans somehow, but I wasn’t really thinking about it at the time.

It was only later that I realized that I hadn’t gotten the pale ale kegged, and I wasn’t going to with my energy sapped. Not to mention a number of other chores and errands I hadn’t gotten done that needed to be done before Monday. There was no way I was going to brew this weekend!

This morning, getting dressed to do the stuff I was supposed to do yesterday, I felt sad and disappointed at missing a brew day I was really looking forward to. But I quickly realized something that I should have realized a lot sooner.

The beer I planned to brew is to celebrate the birth of my baby girl! My first daughter, second child, and if everything goes according to plan, probably my last. Doesn’t she deserve something a little more special than an Extra Special Bitter? I know it’s got “extra special” in the name, but surely we can do better. And then an idea hit me. November party, late November/early December birth … we need to get some sweet potato in there!

So after some research and careful consideration, I’ve adjusted my ESB recipe into a Sweet Potato ESB recipe that I will brew next Sunday. It’ll be made from a mix of Maris Otter and Golden Promise malts, Kent Goldings hops, organic sweet potatoes from our CSA, whole cinnamon and nutmeg. It’ll still be low-to-medium alcohol – a necessity if I want to turn it around in five weeks, but always a good idea for a party beer or for momma’s first beer after coming home from the hospital.

So thank you, stomach virus, for making me unable to get anything done yesterday, and forcing me to take the extra time to realize how to turn my recipe into a perfect tribute to autumn and a much more fitting welcome to my new baby. I appreciate your contribution to my craft, stomach virus. And I think it’s safe to say that I will always remember you.