I am thinking about my inaugural 2013-2014 season brew, I just moved into an apartment so an AG batch might be kind of hard. I've had success with extract+specialty grains before. only now I can do a lot more. I have the ability to grow starters, manage temperatures, do a full wort boil and chill in minutes. I can also enlist friends to brew with now. I have a large supply of homebrew ready so I'm not worried about production or time. I've come to like a lot of light colour styles and also more hops, APAs, Cali Commons, Belgian pales, DIPAs et.al. One of my projects I'd like to do is a gueuze, make Belgian sours (not exactly lambic style, thinking inoculating with Roselare or Sacc primary+lacto/Brett secondary) but I'm not sure how long I'm going to stay in one place so maybe that's a project for another year. So, what do I brew first?
I'd say brew something that's different enough that you'll remember it, but still in line with what you like. Maybe brew a DIPA that uses all British or German ingredients. Stone did this with British for 14th and then with German for this year's 17th anniversary and I thought that they were both great and a nice change of pace.
If you are able to do a full boil you should be doing BIAB. I'll ask you what you have on hand right now, so you don't brew more of the same. You'll want to keep this session beer range so that you can drink it by the new year.
Second vote for BIAB. How about a Belgian pale with brettanomyces as a secondary strain? Less of a commitment than a sour, you can go from brew day to finished beer in less than 6 months.
