Meeting Success + Recipe Possibilities

The HOPS meeting last night was really nice. It was just me, George & Nancy (of course), a fellow named Bruce and his friend Erica. Bruce brought a two year old Old Ale and a smoked Baltic Porter that were both quite nice. The Old Ale in particular was really delicious. It had some really nice dried dark fruit aromas and a head that was intensely persistent. Very nice offerings.

There was talk of putting together a competition in early-mid November. Now that I've been more interested in competing, the prospect has me excited. More on that as things progress.

Leaving for BCTC tomorrow! I'd emailed Offshore Ale a day or so ago to let them know that I'd be pouring for them. Just heard back this morning from Joe Cleinman that I'd be pouring with him and the head brewer Matt Steinberg. I look forward to hanging out and pouring some great beers.

Lastly, I'm looking for suggestions. I have a bunch of grains around and I can't decide what to make with them. Here's what I have lying around:

10 lbs. Maris Otter
5 lbs. Munich Type II
.5 lb. CaraAroma
.5 lb. British Crystal 60L
.5 lb. Brown Malt
.5 lb. Carafa I (Dehusked)

I also have 2 ozs. of Palisade (9.7%AA) and some Safale S-04.

I'm thinking I could go any of the following routes: American Amber, American Pale Ale, American Brown, or an Imperial Brown Ale. I'm sort of leaning towards the last option as I haven't made anything much over 1.055 in the past few brews. Let me know what you think.