# Tasting Notes - Vic July 2007 Swap



## AUHEAMIC (1/7/07)

Well I said in the main Vic July 2007 case swap thread that I wasn't going to start this tasting notes thread until tomorrow but I couldnt help myself. I'm sitting here grinning from ear to ear after my first taste  . So here it goes.

1. Peels - Cream ale - Labeled Cream Ale by Peels - Ready to drink
2. DarkFaerytale - Smoked Ale - ready to drink, goes good with just about any sort of meat - "S" on cap
3. Lucas - Batz Altbier - labeled "alt" on caps + dodgy masking tape label - ready to drink
4. Wardhog Sloppy Skunk Fart APA - 'WAPA' on lid, will crack a tester soon and update
5. Fents - IPA - Labelled Clearly - Ready to drink!
6. Velophile - Amarillo Pale Ale - labeled - Keep it warm for a week or so. I'll open a tester soon & report
7. Thirsty Boy - Witbier. Labled Half Wit - Drink it NOW.
8. Andrei - Irish Dry Stout - labelled, also with "IDS" on bottletop - could do with more time in the bottle - try and keep it as one of your later tastings if you can
9. Quintrex - Tripel- Labeled Q on cap, ready to drink, as with most big beers, aging will very much improve it.
10. RobW - robust porter - Labelled, ready to drink
11. apd - brown ale - Labelled BA 0507 - Ready to drink
12. kadmium - Hause ale AWOL
13. Mmmmm... beer - Dark Ale - Labelled 'Dark Ale - Belgian twist' - ready to drink
14. mark_mulrooney - Amarillo amber ale - labelled, ready to drink


Lucas - Batz Altbier

Malty to the nose with no detectable hop aroma (to my nose anyway). Lovely deep copper colour with a thin creamy head which lasted to the bottom of the glass. Suffering a little from chill haze. Very smooth with a nice dry finish and lingering bitterness.

All in all a really well made beer and one I will definitely have a crack at.

Well done Lucas (and Batz for the recipe)


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## Thirsty Boy (2/7/07)

Heya folks

I thought that I would honour Peels' contribution and the fact that he got the whole ball rolling for the case swap, by starting with his beer. I'm pretty excited to be starting my case swap tasting with a style I have never tried before. I'll be luck to not get myself in trouble by drinking the whole lot in a few days  But that wouldn't be doing the beers justice, so I will try to exercise self control.

*Peels Cream Ale - *

I've not had a cream ale before, and I didn't want to read the style guidelines before I tasted. So this is just what I noticed in the beer. Tasted in a 330ml Stella stem glass.

*Appearance:*

Beer poured a nice bright straw yellow, hazy but not cloudy.

A good inch of tight white head lasted fairly well, but eventually faded down to a 1mm cap of foam. The cap lasted to the bottom of the glass. Pretty good lacing and the beer was nice and lively with good active bubble formation

*Aroma:*

Light floral hops with a hint of pine. Low intensity malt, grainy and sightly sweet with some toastiness.

low to no fruity estery smells

A quite distinct tart/sour smell reminiscent of the tartness you get from a raw wheat.

*Taste:*

Light to medium body with good carbonation, maybe heading towards too fizzy. Quite a smooth and creamy mouthfeel.

Quite malty with a slightly sweet grainy maltiness. Bitterness is well balanced with maltiness.

The tart/sourness is present in the taste as well and by the end of the glass starts to dominate the other flavours a little. There is maybe a hint of butter hiding in there as well

The beer finishes quite clean, crisp and dry... with just a little lingering toasty malt on the pallet.

All in all a pretty nice beer. I certainly finished my first glass quickly and was fairly happy that there was another left in the bottle. The slight sourness is presenting as "interesting" at the moment and if its intentionally there it is a skillfull addition to the flavour profile. If its a bit of an infection... then the flavour is good now, but will probably end up being far to intense. Depending on which it is, it might be worth drinking these up before they have a chance to change too much.

Thanks Peels.

Thirsty


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## Fents (2/7/07)

bloody hell thirsty you've set the standard for tasting notes!


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## chris.peile (2/7/07)

Fents said:


> bloody hell thirsty you've set the standard for tasting notes!



He sure has! I'm going to go for the 'quality not quantity' approach (i.e. I'm a lazy bugger!)  Great work - I'm going to crack my first one tonight and see what happens.

Cheers
Chris


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## AUHEAMIC (2/7/07)

Thanks for the very descriptive review Thirsty. Its reviews such as yours that really makes you think about your beer.

The sourness has me buggered. It wasn't intentional. I just got home and cracked a bottle and I can't pick it up. Maybe it's just my lack of taste buds/smell. Maybe it's an isolated bottle or maybe I have no idea what I'm on about. It will be interesting to see if is present in the other bottles. I better have another bottle just to be sure.

Peels


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## mark_m (2/7/07)

After Thirsty's post I've developed critique anxiety, great effort.

I took a couple of bottles & shared them with one of my non-brewing but keen beer drinking/gourmand mates last night:

Thirstyboys half wit: thoroughly enjoyable, I've not been a wit fan, but this has definitely inspired me to experiment with the style. As for my German extraction mate - in raptures.

Wardhog's APA: really enjoyed. I'm on a bit of an American Ale kick atm, this is a nicely balanced example & again has encouraged me to work more with the style.

Thanks for your contributions guys, if I wasn't enjoying them so much, I might feel guilty about contributing a kit/extract brew to the swap (if you can't have complexity, then at least hop it up).


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## Wardhog (2/7/07)

mark_mulrooney said:


> Wardhog's APA:



Was it carbed up properly?


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## mark_m (3/7/07)

Wardhog said:


> Was it carbed up properly?



Carbed up nicely, refrigerated approx 18 hours.


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## Wardhog (4/7/07)

Thirsty Boy's Half Wit

Poured beautifully producing a thick white head, with admirable Belgian lacing all the way down the glass.

Nothing on the nose I could notice, but the banana\bubblegum flavours stick out like dogs' proverbials, and stay on your tongue for a long time. A refreshing beer, would be great on a hot day with something chicken and spicy on the BBQ.
I was surprised by the amount of malt taste, maybe I just had the wrong impression of wit beers.

Edit : I cracked my APA in the name of SCIENCE, and here's my notes.

Undercarbonated. A vigorous pour resulted in a thick off-white head that didn't persist, and a hazy body.
Good malt levels, with a large portion of caramel-like flavours, and only a hint of roastier malts.
Mild hop aroma, with balanced bitterness that remains on the tongue after the malt has gone. No real standout hop flavour, perhaps too young.

I would suggest leaving the WAPA in the warmth for as long as you can before drinking it, maybe just before you get into the stouts and tripels. I'd be heartbroken if I didn't have other bottles of it to taste later on  I'm pretty happy with the beer.


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## AUHEAMIC (4/7/07)

These are my tasting notes from last night that I never got around to posting due to the unforseen and abnormally large (for mid week) quantity of beer that I drank. 

Wardhogs - Sloppy Skunk Fart APA

When Wardhog dropped his case off to me he said it needed a bit more time to carb up. The little patience voice inside my head (that I so often ignore) told me not to drink it tonight and wait a little longer. I should have listened to Wardhog as the beer was a bit flat.

Appearance:
Nice deep amber colour. A little cloudy. 

Aroma:
Moderately balanced toward the malt end of the spectrum. Good citrus hop aroma.

Taste:
Perfect bitterness for my taste buds. Nice hop flavour with good supporting malt.


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## Fents (4/7/07)

:beerbang: Just picked up my case, thanks ward! nice amarillo too and thank ben for my sticker! :beer: 

Cant belive no ones really posted tastings yet?

Peels cream ale straight in the freezer (i could not bare to wait) upright of course :chug: i'll report on that tonight then i think robs porter and thirstys wit tommorow, bring it on!


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## Fents (4/7/07)

Peels Cream Ale :

a massive pssssst when cracked! lovely start.

Apperance - One of the cleanest, clearest straw coloured beers i've ever seen. booya.

Smell - Little hops smell there, but can smell somthing else...somthing sweet?

Taste - absolutley beautifull. lovely grain / hop balance and again can taste somthing sweet in the after taste, whatever it is its rocking!

If anything maybe a tab over carb'd, bubble bouncing off the pint glass but i like it!

edit - HA! just got my girls approval too peels and she dosnt drink beer but guess what, shes having a pot of yours!


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## lucas (4/7/07)

peels cream ale

looks: clear as a bell. if it werent for the sediment in the last glass i poured I would have sworn it was filtered and force carbed

smells: scene is my weak sense, so i dont smell much unless it's pertty full on. i couldnt smell much but i wouldnt put much weight in that. heck, i dont really know the style so it might be "to style"

tastes: really nice. has a sweet note to it, but not in the sense of tasting under attenuated, i think it might be the balance between the malt and the floral-ish hops?


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## Quintrex (4/7/07)

peels cream ale

In general a well made beer, most of the detail has been covered in previous tasting notes but just two things 

The adjuncts gave it a real raw grain kinda flavour, I personally would ditch the rice(maybe some wheat instead), maybe use 10% carapils, to help give a creamier mouthfeel which i associate with this style in conjunction with the maize.

The only other thing I would change is, more hop flavour, bitterness was pretty spot on for the style, but just a little lacking in hop flavour for my taste.

But all in all a well made beer, enjoyed it.
Cheers
Q


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## Thirsty Boy (5/7/07)

Fents IPA

Drunk from a Stella stemmed glass - 

*Appearance:*

Deep Copper coloured with rose gold highlights. Hazy enough to be almost opaque.

Initially the beer poured with hardly any head... but I think it was a little too cold. With a little effort it yielded a small, really tight light tan head and a fine grained carbonation. Very English looking.

So English looking in fact that I did a little experiment. I got out my trusty syringe and gave it the pseudo Real Ale treatment... warning, if you want to try it, be careful, the beer actually has plenty of carbonation so it really responds.... I gave it a 2ml shot and got myself 2 inches of thick, creamy sticky real ale style foam... bloody fantastic. The beer begs to be served on cask.

*Aroma:*

Big Floral and Herbal hops are the main aroma, melding with sweet toffee and toasted malt. 

After the beer warmed up a bit and I had created some headspace; then a subtle fruity ester thing came out as well. It was hard to pick out of the dominant hop aromas, but I think its a little hint of kiwi fruit... ?

*Taste:*

Tastes mostly like it smells... but flip flopped. The Malt is the dominant flavour... beautiful toffee and caramel mainly, but with a good dollop of toast to stop it just being syrupy. Its bitter !! Oh yes it is.... Just exactly the right amount of bitter IMHO. BIG malt, BIG bitterness... great balance.

And of course, there is that lovely Goldings flavour going on too.

Needless to say. Lots of body in this one... but it finishes really well. Just a hint of sweet malt hangs around with some of the hop flavour... and a firm bitter finish.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

I wanted to run back for my second glass, but really wanted to let the beer warm up... I resisted and it was worth the wait. More of everything and smoother. Do yourself a favour and take this one out of the fridge a good half an hour before you want to drink it.

Wonderful beer Fents. I would LOVE to taste it at cellar temps on a handpump

Thirsty


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## lucas (5/7/07)

Thirsty Boy said:


> Do yourself a favour and take this one out of the fridge a good half an hour before you want to drink it.


heh... I'm doing almost the opposite. none of the beers go near the fridge until about 20-30 minutes before I'm going to drink them  same end effect though i guess


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## Wardhog (5/7/07)

Thirsty Boy said:


> I got out my trusty syringe and gave it the pseudo Real Ale treatment... warning, if you want to try it, be careful, the beer actually has plenty of carbonation so it really responds.... I gave it a 2ml shot and got myself 2 inches of thick, creamy sticky real ale style foam...



What's the pseudo real ale treatment? A 2ml shot of what?


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## Quintrex (5/7/07)

And remember, drinking is *serious Business*


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## Fents (5/7/07)

Thirsty Boy said:


> Fents IPA
> 
> Drunk from a Stella stemmed glass -
> 
> ...



:beerbang: :beerbang: jesus mate i feel overwhelmed! really really glad you enjoyed it, its only the second IPA i've ever made! ******* stella review too, everything i wanted to hear, thankyou sir!


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## Fents (5/7/07)

Im fiending to get home and crack someones beer!


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## Thirsty Boy (5/7/07)

Wardhog said:


> What's the pseudo real ale treatment? A 2ml shot of what?



You just take a syringe body, draw up a little bit of the beer, and "shoot" it back into the glass from a couple of inches above.

It rouses the beer in a similar way to a sparkler on a handpump and gives a great head on even a very low carbonated beer, like a cask ale. It should look a little like a freshly poured guinness.

Try cracking one of your slightly under carbed APAs and giving it a go, you'll see what I mean. Although APAs do taste a bit flabby if they are under carbonated. 

I was really careful and only drew up a couple of ml of Fents beer to shoot back into the glass, because his wasn't undercarbed at all. It was just too cold. As it was I very nearly lost a bit of foam over the side of the glass.

TB


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## Wardhog (5/7/07)

Lucas' Alt

Wow. I gotta start using some of the malts in this beer.

It pours brilliantly, creating a thick creamy off-white head, with a hearty brown body.

I couldn't pick up anything resembling hop aroma or flavour, but there was just the right amount of bitterness for the fantastic malt flavour. I guess that's the style, I've never had an alt before - but I very much like :beerbang: 

A fantastic brew, Lucas, very impressive. This is why I wanted in on this case swap, to taste new beers and hopefully discover a few new favourites. This one's a strong contender.
And I've found some new malt I just gotta use - it's Munich, right?


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## Fents (5/7/07)

Thirsty your wits next after this one 

11. apd - brown ale - Labelled BA 0507 - Ready to drink

Apperance - very nice off white creamy think 1 inch head when poured. beautifull deep dark brown colour, exactly what i would expect a brown ale to look like had a drank one before this.

Aroma - Little to no hop aroma at first. Definatly can smell the malt tho, mmmm mmmm!

Tatse - Lovley malty toffee caramel flavours hardly any hop flavours at first but after a few sips they shine through a bit. bitter - if i was going to make this i'd make it a tad less bitter.

All in all i think i cracked this too cold like the other guys, i usually love a cold beer, but this beer in particular is getting better and better as it warms up a tad. Im turning my fridge up a bit.

Lovely beer APD!


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## lucas (5/7/07)

DFT Smoke Ale

I ate some spicy mexican food with the first glass of this, but the spiciness (spell checker tells me thats right, but i think it looks dumb) overpowered flavour in general. waited for my tastebuds to come good again before having the rest of the bottle

Looks: nice golden colour, might be a little hazy but that could very well be the glass im drinking from.

smells: i smell the mild smokiness, definitely not overly intense. I'd be guessing the malt was smoked with hickory. 

tastes: I can taste the smoke, but again only mildly. nicely balanced beer profile behind it. I'm uncertain if I'm tasting a hop variety Im unfamiliar with or if it's the smoke combined with the malt. (will look for the recipe when I finish writing this) probably better that it's not over the top with the smoke for a case swap, I'm a fan of this beer but i also dont think it'd be too offensive for those with a more conservative pallet. I reckon I could go a session on this. good work DFT

I think you've inspired me to do an over the top smokey beer, the sort where a single long neck is the limit that you'd want to drink in one go


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## DarkFaerytale (6/7/07)

i rekon it would have gone well with spicy food lucas (hmmm smoked chilli ale), glad you enjoyed it, might be hazy from the koelsch yeast and it probably suffers from chill haze, most my beers do if i don't add fineings (which i forgot too)

sorry i have not posted yet, been trying to have a few afd's as i went overboard on my long weekend and paid the price, should have a few reviews up by monday morning

-Phill


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## AUHEAMIC (6/7/07)

Fents IPA

What can I say that hasnt already been said. Top drop Fents.


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## Wardhog (6/7/07)

Mark Mulrooney's Amarillo Amber Ale

Pours well finishing with a healthy light tan head sitting on top of a clear-as-a-bell brown body. Picturesque.

Smell those hops as you pick up the glass! Knowing that this is an extract beer, the sharp whack of hops took me by surprise. Definitely not a throw-down-your-throat quaffer, but the amber in it tastes great.

That sharp whack of hops may be a little much for an extract beer to carry off, though. When I say this, it's purely relative to my tastes, it's a little bit much for me. Give this to a hophead and he'd be grinning from ear to ear. The same hop schedule in a darker grain beer would be wonderful. In fact, I might even filch it for the next Amarillo I do.

Overall, a very good beer. BTW, it goes quite well with flake and a couple of cornjacks.

Do you want the bottle and cap back? How can I get it to you?


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## Wardhog (6/7/07)

Fents' IPA

Very smooth. Very malty. Very good.
Pours beautifully, and drinks just as well. Hops just about pick your nose when you raise the glass, and the malt level in this beer is magnificent.
Am I coming across as a malt guy as opposed to a hop guy yet?
Hop flavour is there in spades, kind of a herbal one. Another great beer Peels, thanks again for organising this swap, I've never looked forward to the evenings as I have this week.


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## lucas (6/7/07)

I've skipped ward's pale ale (on his recommendation that it needs more time to carb up) so it's on to fent's IPA.

looks: lovely deep colour, poured with a nice amount of head

smells: lovely like goldings. i need to work on my beer description vocabulary 

tastes: big and malty, but with a suitable whack of hop bitterness that one expects from an IPA. I get a slight warming at the back of my throat with this one that is not at all unpleasant, very nice work fents


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## Fents (6/7/07)

cheers guys.

7. Thirsty Boy - Witbier. Labled Half Wit - Drink it NOW.

This is the first wit i've drunk besides a hoegarden or somthing commercial.

Poured lovely, nice creamy tight bright white head that dosbt look like its going anywhere but down my throat when i get to the bottom of the glass. Nice pale golden colour!

Smells great, lovley hop aroma, no way i can pick what it is but its beautifull.

Tastes great, at first you get this really nice malt taste then the after wheat taste kicks in!! rockin.  

I dont usually drink wheat beers but this is truley enjoyable. Well done mate! :super: 

Off to watch the bombers with my beer! 

editg - im getting a orangey cirtusy afterstaste as well! (i think, im not that good with tatstebuds) sensational.


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## Fents (7/7/07)

14. mark_mulrooney - Amarillo amber ale - labelled, ready to drink

Apperance : NIce deep dark ale copper brown. NOt much head, but defiantly carbonated.

Aroma : Ammarillo, Ammarillo and some more Amarillo! :beerbang: 

Tatse - Loveley Malt and Hops tatse, still has a lilttle twang but if i hadnt of known this was a k&k i probably couldnt of picked it. excellent beer. :chug:


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## Thirsty Boy (8/7/07)

mmm.... Beer's Dark Ale

In honour of the Belgian twist, tasted from a Chimay goblet

*Appearance:*

Poured an attractive deep mahogany. Really quite clear and only just short of bright (had to hold it up to the light to tell though, its pretty dark)

Once again, I poured while it was a little too cold, but with a little effort the beer produced a good 1cm tight off white head. Nice and sticky, it faded by about 50% over ten minutes, but then stuck around for ages. Fairly good lacing.

*Aroma:*

The aroma of this beer was subtle to say the least. OK it was low, BUT... what was there was pretty damn interesting. A slightly resinous and spicy hop aroma mingled gently with dark and slightly burnt caramel notes. A faint moist earthiness creeps in if you smell long and deep enough.

When you let the beer warm up enough (and I mean a good hour and a half out of the fridge, it was basically room temp at this stage) some pleasant alcohol wafts out and gives the caramel notes a little sweetness. Its at this point that the beer displays its first hints of Belgian-ness with some indefinable stuff that reminded me of a Bier de-garde. 

*Taste:*

Much bitterer than I was expecting. The beer is not at all sweet and so the bitterness comes up and grabs you by the tounge. Its only after the first shock wears off that the maltiness starts to kick in in spades. This beer would be a great example for the education those who think that maltiness = sweetness.

Slightly herbaceous and earthy hop flavour plays a walk on part in this beer's cast of characters

As with the aroma this beer's flavour revealed a couple of secrets as it warmed up to room temperature. A little sweetness, a little alcohol and a tiny bit of that Belgian funk thing.

A clean finish, dry with very firm lingering bitterness.

This beer is not really balanced.. there isn't enough sweetness to counteract the bitterness and the somewhat roasted/burnt caramel maltiness. However ... it doesn't need it. The unbalance makes it a little less drinkable... if I got this in a bar, I wouldn't order another one for my next beer, its a bit too much to have two in a row. BUT, you can be damn well sure I would be ordering another one before the night was out.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
IMHO, you have brewed a cracking Dusseldorf Altbier. Very reminiscent of Diebels.

This is a nice two toned beer. I suggest the first half of the bottle nice and cold, not straight out of the fridge, but still cold. The next half, let it warm up to cellar temps. Then you will get two beer experiences for the price of one. Both excellent.

Just a little bit special.


Thirsty

PS... can I please have the recipe for this one.


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## Wardhog (8/7/07)

DarkFaeryTales' Smoke Ale

I'll have to go from memory as I drank this at the beginning of a largish night last night.

It poured well, leaving a neat compact white head that persisted for the whole glass. I've only had smoked malt once before, it could've been described as liquid bacon. This beer had the flavour, but in much more appropriate quantities, a very tasty drop. Was it a high alcohol beer? I think I remember it having a taste that suggested that this beer could sneak up on you and leave you reeling.

Above all, I remember enjoying it and that it was a damn fine beer.


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## Thirsty Boy (8/7/07)

Hey Guys.

I've just been reading the Saison section of the book Farmhouse Ales.

Well, I labeled my Witbier "Half Wit" because I mucked up weighing my grain and put in nearly 5 times too much munich. Which is why people have been noticing its a lot maltier than other Wits they have had. So really, it might be a nice beer, but its not a very good example of a Wit.

After reading this book though, it seems that it might well be a half decent example of a Saison. If its not, then its somewhere halfway between the two.

Cool, I had been meaning to brew a Saison anyway.

A couple of people here and out and about have wondered about the hop character in the beer. Well, there really shouldn't be any. The only hops that went in were 50g of Hersbrucker as a bittering addition. Thats it.

The smells are mostly from the spicing and the Kaffir lime and Orange zest and Kaffir lime leaves. Bloody magical things those limes, the whole house smelled amazing just from me zesting the things.

So, call it a Wit or call it a Saison, its a bit of both and neither of them as well.

Thirsty.


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## Wardhog (8/7/07)

Mmm.. beer's Dark Ale with a Belgian twist.

I like it. I like it a lot. Tastes as good as it looks, which is damn good.

I'm with Thirsty Boy. I want to brew this too.


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## lucas (8/7/07)

:/ Just took an inventory and found I have two of Andrei's Irish Dry Stout but zero of Mmmmm... beer's Dark Ale. bugger, must have mucked up when I was packing the milk crate...


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## Thirsty Boy (8/7/07)

apd's Brown Ale

Tasted from a 1/2 pint glass beer mug. (and also from a little wine tasting glass) and I finally paid attention and took this one out of the fridge a good hour and a bit before I wanted to drink it.

*Appearance:*

Beer poured a fairly cloudy medium brown. There must have been some soap residue or something on my beer mug, because although the beer fizzed vigorously on its way into the glass, no head formed at all. I grabbed a little wine tasting glass because it didn't look right to me, and tried again... this time I was rewarded with a good inch and a half of beige head. Bubbles were a little course and the head only lasted for a few minutes before fading to a ring around the edge of the glass.

*Aroma:*

Its all malt in the aroma of this one. Toffee and caramel with a bit of syrupy chocolate in the background.

Faint hops and a touch of alcohol and fruity ester. A bit like raisins soaked in scotch, but really faint.

*Taste:*

Taste is like the aroma. Toffee, caramel and sweet chocolate. The chocolate character is less cocoa, and more your shot of choc "flavoured" syrup on ice cream. Dont get me wrong, it tastes good, just trying to be descriptive. As the other things fade, the chocolate syrup comes out and could almost become cloying except for the fact that a really quite firm bitterness kicks in to balance the whole thing out.

Maybe a little too bitter actually. Its being picky, but the bitterness sits around the edges of your tounge when everything else has gone away and ends up being a tiny bit harsh. But thats being damn picky considering that I was just talking about how the bitterness does so well balancing the chocolate.

Straight out of the bottle I found the beer to be over carbonated and that took away from the flavours a bit, it was much better when a bit of the gas had worked its way out.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

A nice not too intense session beer this one, very "drinkable". Should have poured myself a pint instead of a half and gotten on with it. To be drunk in volume with gusto.


Thirsty


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## lucas (8/7/07)

thirsty's GWB  (the half-wit)

looks: poured nicely with a good half inch of foamy head. has a cloudy haze, but I'd almost say it's a little on the clear side. it's by no means transparent, but I think a wit should be a little more cloudy. colourwise it looks how I'd expect it too. I approve of the label too, it gave me a laugh.

smells: two words that come to mind are "fresh" and "spicy"

tastes: as others have said, it's maltier than I would have expected, but i think it works in it's favour being drunk in winter. on my first mouthful I wasnt expecting the peppery flavour to be quite so intense, but now that I'm used to it it's actually very nice. Carbonation seems a little low (for a wit), but that probably my fault for leaving it a week knowing it was filled from the keg.

all in all, another very nice beer.


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## mark_m (9/7/07)

Wardhog said:


> Mark Mulrooney's Amarillo Amber Ale
> 
> Pours well finishing with a healthy light tan head sitting on top of a clear-as-a-bell brown body. Picturesque.
> 
> ...



Glad you enjoyed the Amarillo Ale - the hops are a bit over-done, but I've enjoyed it so far.

Hang on to the cap, if you're passing Ivanhoe, my number's on the label, call in for a glass & drop it off.

Cheers,

Mark


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## chris.peile (9/7/07)

Wardhog said:


> Mmm.. beer's Dark Ale with a Belgian twist.
> 
> I like it. I like it a lot. Tastes as good as it looks, which is damn good.
> 
> I'm with Thirsty Boy. I want to brew this too.




Hey there crew... thanks for the feedback (fantastic stuff & a lot of great thoughts/ideas for the next version).

In terms of the recipe - I can't remember off the top of my head, but will get back to you. However, this is the bit where I own up to it not being an AG, it is a kit with some DME, crystal malt and (i think) fuggles hops, with a belgian abbey yeast (1762 from memory)... I'd be interested in hearing an AG conversion recipe if anyone got excited about it.

Either way I will find the details and post them up. I have also done a couple of tastings now (all good  ) and will post these up shortly.

Cheers!


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## AUHEAMIC (9/7/07)

DFT Smoke Ale

Strait from the shed into the glass which I think is at about 10deg c. Great temp for this beer. Poured with a good head which didnt get a chance to die down as it was so easy to drink. I slowed down on the second glass. Subtle smoky flavour which was not overpowering and was well balanced with the other flavours. Veryy nice beer DFT.

I couldnt Find your recipe DFT (maybe I didnt look hard enough). Could you PM it to me please.


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## Wardhog (9/7/07)

APD's Brown Ale

Gee I'm glad I didn't put the brown ale in. This easily kills it.

Pours with a nice thick head that dissipates quickly, and a hazy brown body.

The malts in here are far from boring and one-dimensional like mine was. Lots of lovely toffee/caramel flavours, and a fair smack of chocolate malt.

Nothing really stands out in the nose, and the malts take centre stage from the earthy hop flavour. However, there's plenty of bitter there, but not too much.

A highly enjoyable brew, apd.


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## Fents (10/7/07)

3. Lucas - Batz Altbier - labeled "alt" on caps + dodgy masking tape label - ready to drink

Apperance - Deep Roasted Ale Brown! Didnt pour a great head but im 98% sure that its this friggin dodgy crackenback pale ale glass  next half of the bottle goes in a real glass.

Aroma - Malt smack bang on the nose with a hint of flowers afterwards, smells like its gonna taste.

Tatste - Yep it does what it says it does on the box! :beerbang: Beautifull full roasted malt flavour then smash, did someone say bitter ? needs more bitter! no wait leave it, absolutley beautifull!  

Great beer, heavy but not too heavy shout out to Batz for Lucas's inspiration. :chug:


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## DarkFaerytale (11/7/07)

andrei picked up his case last night so no doubt we will hear from him on here soon. once again i forgot to bring my notebook in to work, i really need to get the net at home

sorry my house smelt so bad last night andrei that forbidden fruit yeast stinks and it's to dam cold to keep windows and doors open.... you probably didn't notice after being savagly mauled by my dog tho *lol*

-Phill


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## apd (11/7/07)

*Mark's Amarillo Amber*
Great stuff. S***s me that someone can make a beer this good with a kit and extract and I fall way below the mark with an all grain brew. Inspires my to try new things and get down off my AG soapbox.

Anyway - great hop aroma and malty flavours. I get no extract twang. Love the colour. Head a little lacking from the start. Thumbs up from Mrs APD as well. She's an amarillo lover through and through.

*Andrei's Irish Dry Stout*
Drank too soon - apologies Andrei. Missed the message about keeping it for later. Nice nonetheless. Great tan-coloured head. Very toasty (or was it roasty) flavours. Too thin in body for my taste but that's just being picky.


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## Wardhog (11/7/07)

Peels' Cream Ale

Dangerous, dangerous beer.

What's the ABV on this one? I hope it's low, or it could be the cause of a disaster quite easily - matrimonial disharmony ahoy "Honest love, I didn't mean to get shitfaced, I didn't feel like I should be drunk 'cos the beer was so easygoing."

Pours well (you gotta tell me how you prime your bottles, they're always good) - thick white head and palepalepale body.
No hop aroma or flavour to speak of, a detectable level of bitterness, but that's about it. No real malty flavours, just clean crisp cleancrispyness..

This is a session beer if ever I've seen one. If you have enough of this on hand for your sessions, you're doing it in style.

A great beer, hard to believe it's an ale.


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## DarkFaerytale (12/7/07)

remembered the note pad today

*Robw Robust Porter*

i probably should of left this till later but god dam it i wanted to drink a porter
nice light brown head which lasted the glass, very dark brown almost black color.

light aroma of dark malts and a hint of something metallic.

very creamy taste with a lovely toastiness at the end that lasts and is in no way overdone

beautifully constructed beer

*half wit*
in my haste i didn't chill this beer down enough befor i drank it

hazy off golden color, perhaps a touch dark for a wit 

the aroma was pretty amazing deffinatly could smell the lime and chamomil with the flavour being pretty much the same as the aroma.

great mouthfeel but with a strange taste at the end, i couldn't pick what it was and because of that i was left wanting more to try figure it out, very interesting

overall it was a good beer, it might have put me off using chamomile in a wit but it was deffinatly interesting

*Peels Cream Ale*

nice half inch head that lasted the glass with a beautifull clear color

no notacable aroma and a light malt flavour

great mouthfeel and carbonation was spot on

very quaffable and would be a great beer to turn people onto homebrew. my old man has ordered me to make more of this beer

perfect representaion of the style

*Velophile APA*

nice tan color with low tight head, slight amarillo/passionfruity aroma. notacable malt backbone with slight bitterness, very drinkable with a good amount of carbonation. the head had depleated by the end of the glass but is more likely the glass and not the beer. another beer i could just kept drinking.

*marks amarillo amber*
nice half inch head with very clear brown color, it was nice to be able to pour a whole beer and not leave the dregs behind in the bottle. aroma was very amarillo/passionfruit and the taste was the same i was a little dissapointed with the lack of malt (but i love malt driven beers). the beer was bitter but not overly so, low carbonation and a slight metallic taste, this was a really good beer but i'd be quick to try something else, sorry mark

*Lucas Altbier*

nice looking beer with a very small compact head and a light amber color, malt aroma, light mouthfeel with nice malty taste and some slight choc at the end with a light bitterness that lingers, i found the beer slightly over carbed but i was left wanting more, good beer and i'm tempted to change the malt bill in the altbier i'm making soon to this one instead

-Phill


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## andreic (13/7/07)

apd said:


> *Andrei's Irish Dry Stout*
> Drank too soon - apologies Andrei. Missed the message about keeping it for later. Nice nonetheless. Great tan-coloured head. Very toasty (or was it roasty) flavours. Too thin in body for my taste but that's just being picky.



Thanks for the feedback apd... its all good. When I brewed this beer I had in mind a beer in the style of Guiness (which I very much enjoy drinking, especially when in Dublin). Guiness is to my mind a fairly light bodied beer for a stout so even though this was not to your taste I'm not too upset to hear it was thin in body. I am a fairly new AG brewer and a few things did not quite work out to plan with this brew... it had a much higher OG and FG (fg was 1.015) than originally planned. I also went for a very light carbonation and I think it might actually be a little too low... maybe that made it seem thinner in body than it might have been otherwise. Anyway, all feedback is good. I do think it will get a bit better with more time so I look forward to feedback from other tasters in the future.

I'm just enjoying my first beer from the case now (the half-wit) so I'll be adding my own tasting notes to the thread soon...

cheers,

Andrei


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## andreic (13/7/07)

*Thirsty Boy - Witbier. Labled Half Wit - Drink it NOW.*

My first beer from the swap...

Popped the top and had a quick whiff - yep, its a wheaty... initially smelled some banana and bubblegum.

Poured into glass. A nice, light gold colour, slightly towards yellow but predominantly pale gold. Was slightly hazy but not cloudy. Had a nice, white, creamy looking head. Aroma was banana initially but then kind of perfumy? spicy?

It tasted good. Initially I thought I could taste a strong peppery / spicy finish to it. I thought I could taste an orange / mandarin type flavour as well.

It seemed towards the thin end in body (how I like most of my beers). The head dissipated by half way through the glass to not much. It left a little lacing on the glass, but not strong layers for every sip. I do think it might have benefited further from a little more carbonation. It was very easy drinking and I can imagine this going down an absolute treat on a summer afternoon. As I got towards the end I really started to notice a strong spicy/orangy flavour that I wish I could describe a bit better.

I really enjoyed this beer and am looking forward to having a crack at this style myself when it gets a bit warmer.Cheers to you Thirsy :beer: 

Off to get the next taster from the fridge...

Andrei


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## andreic (13/7/07)

*14. mark_mulrooney - Amarillo amber ale - labelled, ready to drink*

2nd taster... this is fun!

Twisted the cap - no pffft! What the?

Poured the beer. Had a real hard time getting a head, and what was there disappeared very quickly. My bottle seems to have a rather low level of carbonation. It is a deep amber/brown colour and quite clear (no haze).

I could smell the amarillo faintly in the beginning but the aroma moved to a more malty / caramel aroma half way through the glass (maybe due to the lack of carbonation).

The predominant tastes to me were malty / caramel, slightly fruity, with a nice bitter finish. The hop flavour was there, but for me didn't quite break through the malt, or maybe it competed a bit with the hop flavour from the kit. The body seemed medium to thick for me, a little filling.

If I try real hard I think I can taste a slight twang or slight lack of "freshness" but thats because you put "kit and extract" on the label and I went looking for it!

I'm not sure I got this beer in its prime due to the low carbonation. It certainly grew on me as the glass emptied and also brought back some fond memories of beers I made with the same kit (the Royal Oak Amber Ale is a cracker of a kit in my opinion).

Thanks for the beer Mark :beer:

cheers,

Andrei


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## chris.peile (14/7/07)

Hey there - I have finally got around to starting the tastings - good stuff!

First cab off the rank.... Dark Faerytale - Smoke Ale

Appearance: Glowing golden colour, a nice 1cm head - it carbed up quite well
Aroma: Slight hop in the first smell, with a bit deeper digging I could really pick out the maltiness, and almost a slight sweetness to the smell - is there crystal malt in this? I couldn't pick up any smokiness in the aroma.
Taste: Clean and crisp alse - great taste. I could just taste a slight smokiness in the flavour - makes it really unique. 

You could give this beer to someone without telling them about the 'smokiness' and I reckon about 1/2 the people would just think there is something 'different' about it and then pick up on the smoky flavour.

Great work on this one... I am keen to try something with 'smoke' in the future. 

Cheers!!


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## andreic (14/7/07)

*3. Lucas - Batz Altbier - labeled "alt" on caps + dodgy masking tape label - ready to drink*

Pours with an off-white head, a little creamy looking. Pale brown - deep copper colour. Very slight haze.

Aroma was a little malty, maybe even a bit nutty.

On tasting had a bit of a creamy feel to it. Really clean and crisp taste. Then the finish kicks in with a real drying sensation and strong bitterness. The body seems medium to me.

I really enjoyed this beer a lot. It was really clean and crisp and the dry bitter finish was awesome. It was quite refreshing. I'm not sure I've ever tasted an Alt before so this was a great introduction to the style. I will add this to the growing list of styles that I want to brew. I feel I will really need to try and locate a few commercial examples of the style to further my research on it now...

cheers for the beer Lucas


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## andreic (14/7/07)

*1. Peels - Cream ale - Labeled Cream Ale by Peels - Ready to drink*

Pours with a slight head that disappears fairly quickly in my glass. Its really pale yellow in colour, slight hint of haze. Kind of looks like a pale lager.

Both aroma and taste had a real distinct character to them that I couldn't place until after the first glass - its corn! There's a hint of corn in the aroma and a lot of it in the taste. It has quite a clean taste, is fairly dry, and has a slight sweet corn flavour at the finish.

Its light to medium in body and is very easy drinking.

This is a very interesting beer - another first for me as I don't recall having a cream ale before. Its really easy to drink and is going down very well - I still have half a glass to polish off.

cheers for the beer Peels :beer:


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## Wardhog (15/7/07)

RobW's Robust Porter

I've never really been a huge fan of stouts. I always pictured a robust porter just falling short of a stout. 
Well, I have been educated.

This beer is f&^king beautiful. Pours into a thick brown head and deep deep red/brown almost opaque body.

It's the roast/black malts that I think I'm not too crazy about in stouts, as they overpower most everything else and leave a gritty feeling in your mouth. This is different. This has those malts in it to the tongue, but balanced in such a way as to avoid that gritty taste. Instead, you get a VERY malty beer, but one that's nicely sweet without being cloying. The hops don't stand out, they seem to be content in their role of offsetting the humungous malt flavours.

Sign me up to the fan club for this beer. Well done, Rob.


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## Fents (15/7/07)

2. DarkFaerytale - Smoked Ale - ready to drink, goes good with just about any sort of meat - "S" on cap

Smoked ale, wouldnt have a clue what its meant to taste like. My impression before i opened the bottle was a big heavy dark ale (i.e i.p.a) with some smoked malt...

Also cause you said it was good with meat i had it with dinner. Oragnic Beef and Cornish (i.e vegetable) bangers and mash complete with onion gravy! :beerbang: 

Apperance - Proven wrong from the get go. Beautifull golden looking ale colour, not a fantastic head but bubbles bouncing sideways off the glass. 

Aroma - First up a hit of hops, was anticipating the smoke to come through much more but it was finally there.

Taste - Lovely hit of bittneress down the throat, then the hops, then finally the smoke to round it out. I thought it would be the other way round but its not either way its lovely! :chug:

edit-spelingg


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## Thirsty Boy (15/7/07)

*mark_mulrooney's - Amarillo amber ale* 

Tasted from a stemmed Stella glass at about 11C. Shared with my wife who has a much better palate than me.
This is a combination of our comments

*Appearance*

Beer poured a beautiful clear and bright light Mahogany colour, with a nice slightly off white head that lasted pretty well

*Aroma*

Big Pine and floral hops. Actually, I thought there must be another hop in there apart from Amarillo, I could certainly smell plenty of amarlillo, but I usually find it to be a little juicy and artificial smelling, but not in this beer. I would have thought there was some cascade or other "C" hop in there if the recipe didn't say otherwise.

Slightly sweet malt on the nose, with toffee and caramel. No esters to speak of.

Picked up a fair hint of a higher alcohol metho/solventy thing 

*Flavour*

A medium to medium thin body with light but good carbonation. Quite a bit of the hop comes through in the flavour as well. The maltiness was toffee and caramel at medium low levels.

I found that I wasn't enjoying the way that the maltiness and the bitterness interacted. There was kind of a gap between them. Instead of them balancing; each one finished, then the other started.

There was a noticeable amount of twang to the beers malt profile, tasted like the kit was a bit old and thats what was on your tongue when the bitterness kicked in, and it pushed the beer out of balance.

There was also a cidery, slightly sour taste around the edges of your tongue in the aftertaste.

- - - - - - - - - 

The beer has a bunch of good points, the colour and clarity and head were great and the hops were really nice. The malt was there and there strongly. But for some reason though, the way they meshed together wasn't doing it for my tastebuds. The couple of flavour faults weren't biggies and if the beer had lit up my mouth in other ways, they would have been minor sidenotes, but I couldn't get past them this time.

Sorry Mark but this one didn't do it for me.

Thirsty

edit: spelling and punctuation


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## chris.peile (16/7/07)

Hey crew - a little off topic, but from reading all the notes being put up there is one very interesting common theme....

There are 2 big factors driving the outcome of tasting beer:
1. The expectation of the drinker of the beer, and
2. The beer itself!

It seems as if when people have an image/idea of what a beer will be like (i.e. stout or ale or wit), then if the beer is different then the outcome is that the beer is _not_ what they expected, and thus they see what is 'wrong' (different) with it a bit more easily.

I suppose this provides a good hint to all those brewers out there from a marketing point of view, whether to friends or to potential buyers: Tell the punter what to expect! 

Next time I have buddies over for beers I will try this theory on them - I might even brew a weird beer (maybe with chilli, or heavy smoke or something) and test whether people like it or dislike it based on their expectations... Other thoughts/comments?!

PS I will get back on topic tonight and post up another beer tasting!

Cheers,
Chris


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## Fents (16/7/07)

MMMMMM you are correct. But i will say for myself personally, this is the FIRST case swap i've ever been involved in and really only the FIRST time i've tried different beers in a range like this...(been brewing for 3 years but have never brewd or brought anything other than an Ale or a Lager..)

So i have NFI how a wit or a heifweizen should taste and therefore can only assume on what i have read about the beer, therefore giving me an "expectation"

Def not the best system to be judging beers on but once i have a few swaps under my belt and tried "most" beers out there i'll have a better ideam about it all.

Edit - I also think its all just a matter of opion. My tatstebuds will never be the same as others, therefore you could brew the best porter in the world and i may still not like it (not likely tho )


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## andreic (16/7/07)

*2. DarkFaerytale - Smoked Ale - ready to drink, goes good with just about any sort of meat - "S" on cap*

Pours a nice golden - light amber colour. Its fairly clear but not crystal clear - just a little hazy. White to maybe just off-white head. I had hard time getting a decent head in my glassware and it was all but gone rather quickly. I think my glasses are not the best for a proper tasting...

Theres quite a distinctive aroma there - I'm not really sure how to describe it - resin? I thought I got a hint of smoke in the aroma at one stage but it had a hard time getting past the main aroma.

The initial taste to me was some kind of hops, a little malt, then it quickly turns towards a smoky flavour at the end, with some bitterness and dryness, but not too much. Its a pretty easy drinking beer with a medium body to me. I could easily knock back a few of these, but I think the strong smoky flavour would rule it out for an extended session...

I enjoyed this beer which is another new taste experience for my palate. I did not have it with my dinner, but I think I can see why it would go "good with just about any sort of meat" - maybe I should have had his last night with my steak!

cheers DarkFaerytale :beer: 

Andrei


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## apd (16/7/07)

*4. Wardhog Sloppy Skunk Fart APA - 'WAPA' on lid*
Carbonation almost non-existent. I felt sure it would have had enough time to carb up but obviously not. It has been bloody cold and my storage is in the shed. Lesson learnt.

Nonetheless, the aroma and flavour of this brew battled against the odds and came through as winners. I though it was a bit nothing a few minutes out of the fridge but after warming up it was quite nice.

Not the sort of punch-in-the-face aroma of other APAs. Instead, it's subtle and smooth. Maybe it would have punched me in the face with higher carbonation.

Very nice

*13. Mmmmm... beer - Dark Ale - Labelled 'Dark Ale - Belgian twist'*
Pours a thin head on top of dark, clear ale with ruby highlights.

Much more malt aroma and flavour than hops and a big bitterness. I was drinking this by itself. I think I should have had it with something spicy.

Thumbs up from me.


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## andreic (16/7/07)

Mmmmm... beer said:


> Hey crew - a little off topic, but from reading all the notes being put up there is one very interesting common theme....
> 
> There are 2 big factors driving the outcome of tasting beer:
> 1. The expectation of the drinker of the beer, and
> ...



Hi,

that's probably a fair assessment... but I think its human nature to be influenced by what's on the label. 

I think if you put the "style" you intended on the label, you should probably expect reviews to be comparing the beer against the style. This is of course a bit harder when as a taster you haven't had beers of the style before (there's been a few new ones for me so far). If you put the full recipe on the label, then this may also influence the reviews - e.g. tasters trying extra hard to taste particular malts, hops, etc.

You also have struck on a good hint for future swaps - label the beer how you might want it reviewed... e.g. "beer" if you want no pre-judgment at all, list the style if you want feedback against a style, and full recipe and brewing technique if you want more detailed reviews against style, recipe, possible technique faults.

Anyway, I'm a very inexperienced brewer and taster in comparison to many on this forum and also in this swap. But you only get better with practice so I'm going to keep drinking my way through this case over the coming weeks :chug:

Andrei


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## Thirsty Boy (17/7/07)

*RobW's Robust Porter* 

Tasted from a 330ml tumbler (near enough to a pint glass). Probably around 10 degrees C.

*Appearance*

Poured a lovely deep brown with an inch and a half of light tan head with fairly loose bubbles. Head faded fairly fast down to a film over the top, then ajust a rim around the edge of the glass.

Held up to the light the beer was clear and bright with magnificent deep ruby shining through. A thing of beauty

*Aroma*

Not much hop aroma but detectable. What was there was floral and I flatter myself by thinking that I picked it as Goldings, but it was a guess, and before I wrote this I read the recipe on the bottle, so I'm just full of it really.

Roast, and darkly sweet toffee for the malt aromas with hints of chocolate.

Not sure if it was esters alone or some interplay between them and the crystal malts, but there were some nice raisiny/dark fruit aromas, that mingled with a slight but definite hint of alcohol to give a sort of rum'n'raisin smell that ran through the bouquet and played tag with the roast and chocolate.

It was hard to just keep smelling this beer... it made me really really want to take a taste. So I did.

*Flavour*

A medium full to full body on this beer with perhaps a touch too much carbonation initially.

Roasty without being "ashey" the toffee, fruit and alcohol evident in the nose did their thing in the palate as well. Hints of chocolate and sweet on the tip of your tongue would give this beer a slightly confectionery feel if it weren't for the fact that they are beautifully balanced with a silky smooth bitterness.

Finishing long, smooth and nicely dry this lovely beer leaves your palate grudgingly and with a parting gift of fine bitter chocolate.

- - - - - - - -

I really liked this beer, I drank my first glass too quickly, lingered over the second and was disappointed that there wasn't more


Thirsty


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## Thirsty Boy (17/7/07)

Hey guys,

those of you who have tried DFT's smoked ale (and of course you DFT)

I think I am going to save this one for Wednesday night this week when I am going to roast a chicken with a little cajun spice.

What say you? an appropriate food/beer match?

TB


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## andreic (17/7/07)

*10. RobW - robust porter - Labelled, ready to drink*

Poured my first glass and had trouble raising a head, and what was there disappeared fairly quickly. I apologise now for some of my reviews to date... my glassware has definitely handicapped some beers on the "first impression" side of things.

For my second glass I got a different glass and had much more success - a small off-white head. This didn't last the whole glass, but didn't completely disappear (at least a bit better than the first glass). Carbonation was towards the lowish end. The beer is a rather dark brown colour, with a slight reddish tinge.

The aroma was very pleasant indeed. I thought I could detect a tiny bit of fruitiness at one stage, but mostly it was a nice, toasty aroma with maybe some coffee but kind of "sweet" if that makes sense.

Tastes a little malty, grainy, a bit sweet, then with some really roasty, toasty flavours, and a moderately bitter finish, and also a little drying.

It has quite a silky mouthfeel at first and is medium-high bodied for me.

This was a very enjoyable beer. It definitely got better as it warmed up - maybe it was too cold to begin. Today was [email protected]#$ing cold in Melbourne, and this was a great beer to drink inside in a nice warm house on such a night...

cheers :beer: 

Andrei


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## Thirsty Boy (18/7/07)

*Velophile's Amarillo Pale Ale*

Tasted from a stemmed Stella glass at about 5C

*Appearance*

A beautiful clear copper colour with a bit of orange to it. Nice tight bubbles forming a medium just off white head, that lasts pretty well and leaves nice sticky lace on the side of the glass.

Not much in the way of bubble activity in the glass.

*Aroma*

A little sweet malt in the aroma with a quite light floral American hop note. Not in your face Amarillo though, but definitely American.

No real ester smells to speak of.

I get a bit of plastic / bandaid off aroma hiding under the hops.

*Flavour*

Oh... much more of everything in the taste than there is in the smell. Its really quite full bodied and creamy in the mouthfeel department and there is a chunk of toasty almost nutty malt flavour going on as well.

It smells like it is going to be a subtle light and easy kind of a beer, then it comes over all grouchy maths teacher and gives you a wallop for not paying attention properly.

Its got quite a bit of residual sweetness, but that is well balanced by the quite strong bitterness. Good carbonation has the beer active on your tongue leaving it tingling and happy with the dry and firmly bitter finish that leaves just a couple of glimmers of caramel maltiness.

The bandaids are there in the flavour too, but there is enough of everything else so that you pretty much have to go looking for the taste. Its most noticeable towards the finish of the beer and comes out during retro-olfaction. Not that its all that bad by any means.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

A nice beer Velophile. Very drinkable indeed. Right in the zone where I like my APAs.

Cheers

Thirsty


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## AUHEAMIC (18/7/07)

Apd Brown Ale

A little cloudy. Carbonation was perfect and the head lasted to the bottom of the glass. Its defiantly all about malt this beer and I personally wouldnt change a thing. Well done apd. Top marks.


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## Wardhog (18/7/07)

A note to those who haven't already opened the WAPA : 

I cracked one tonight that has been sitting inside since bottling day. It's perfectly well carbonated. Try to keep it in the warmth for a couple of weeks, and it should be good.

This bottle has been sitting inside since April some time. We only have the heating on for about 1-2 hours in the morning, and 3-4 in the evenings, the rest of the time the house is < 17C.


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## AUHEAMIC (19/7/07)

10. RobW - robust porter - Labelled, ready to drink

This is the first porter I have ever tasted (I know. I have had a sheltered life) and if this is a typical example of the style I will defiantly be looking for more. Its a shame we didnt have a 3 per bottle swap as one was just not enough.

Bloody lovely beer Rob. 

I presume it was a 23 litre batch? What yeast did you use?


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## Fents (19/7/07)

Peels said:


> 10. RobW - robust porter - Labelled, ready to drink
> 
> This is the first porter I have ever tasted (I know. I have had a sheltered life) and if this is a typical example of the style I will defiantly be looking for more. Its a shame we didnt have a 3 per bottle swap as one was just not enough.
> 
> ...



Bust day at work mate? B)


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## AUHEAMIC (19/7/07)

Fents said:


> Bust day at work mate? B)


Like a lizard drinking


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## Fents (19/7/07)

legendary mate.

im outta here @ 3.30pm off to fed square to do my bit for the AHB community.


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## RobW (19/7/07)

Peels said:


> 10. RobW - robust porter - Labelled, ready to drink
> 
> This is the first porter I have ever tasted (I know. I have had a sheltered life) and if this is a typical example of the style I will defiantly be looking for more. Its a shame we didnt have a 3 per bottle swap as one was just not enough.
> 
> ...



Thanks Peels, glad you enjoyed it.

25 litre batch and the yeast was SafAle SO4. Probably be better with a quality liquid yeast but the SO4 is convenient and does a decent job.

The recipe is Warren's Power St Porter from the recipes section here.  I've been making this one for a while now and it always seems to be well received.

ed: spelling


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## Thirsty Boy (21/7/07)

*Andrei's Irish Dry Stout.*

Drunk at about 10C from a big tumbler thats as close as I've got to pint glass. Shared this one with my wife and had it over dinner. Roast Kangaroo with assorted roast veggies. Comments are a mixture of the responses of both myself and the better half (and better palate) of the tasting team.

*Appearance*

Poured a lovely black with a tight well formed tan head. Pretty good head retention. Beer was hard to see through, but clear and bright where you could with ruby highlights around the edges of the glass.

*Aroma*

All malt and a little English hop (goldings??) Not a lot of roastiness, but it's there. A bit of beer drunk, and some more headspace in the glass gave up a bit of coffee and chocolate. But not much.

*Flavour*

Much more body than I was expecting. This is medium/full bodied and with a nice silky mouthfeel. Almost like an oatmeal stout. Beautiful malt flavour dominates, but the roasty character is fairly subdued. Later in the glass, the roast came out a bit more and there were touches of ashiness around the edges of your tounge.

A fair amount of sweetness balanced nicely with the hop and roast bitterness. If you really really went looking for it, there was just a titch of the Guinness like sourness around the edges of your tongue in the aftertaste.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Two levels of response to this beer. First, I really liked it. It was a great choice to match with my dinner, it was smooth ,malty and easy to drink and all in all a fine stout.

As an irish dry stout though... I didn't think it was a great example of the style. It had way too much body and sweetness and so wasn't "dry" at all and it was too low on the roasty bitterness. Although I suspect that if it was a bit dryer, the roast would have stuck out a lot more.

But hell, don't change it, I liked it just the way it was. Good Beer.

Cheers

Thirsty


----------



## andreic (21/7/07)

Thirsty Boy said:


> *Andrei's Irish Dry Stout.*
> 
> Drunk at about 10C from a big tumbler thats as close as I've got to pint glass. Shared this one with my wife and had it over dinner. Roast Kangaroo with assorted roast veggies. Comments are a mixture of the responses of both myself and the better half (and better palate) of the tasting team.
> 
> ...



thanks for the feedback Thirsty :beer: 

Yep - goldings hops were used in this beer.

Its amazing what different palates pick up in these beers... I can't pick out half of what you describe in my own beer. And looking back at some of my descriptions - they are quite different to other tasting notes on the same beers! Oh well... just have to keep practicing my beer tasting as well as my brewing.

When I have another crack at this style I will definitely try and get it a bit "dryer" - but I'm glad you liked it ok as it was.

cheers,

Andrei


----------



## Wardhog (22/7/07)

Andreic's Irish Dry Stout

Only the roughest of pouring would result in a brown head sitting on top of a body that's pitch black but shows some ruby colour when held up to the light. But, that's no problem, there's plenty of carbonation contained in each sip.

Roast malt flavours run the show, with hop flavour coming in a distant second. Hop aroma might've been scratched.
A sweet beer, not at all what I expected from the name, but nonetheless one I liked and would not have said no to another bottle once the first ran out.
No gritty burnt taste, either. A thoroughly enjoyable beer, well done.


----------



## SpillsMostOfIt (22/7/07)

One thing that has impressed me as I wade through the beers left at my house on the day is the number of homebrewers who must actually drink Victoria Bitter - I reckon I've got nearly a box of empty VB bottles in my garage now!   

Waiting for the excuses to start...


----------



## AUHEAMIC (22/7/07)

Excuse number one.

If you go behind my local reception centre Sunday morning you will find 14 (yes I have counted them) wheelie bins full of beer and wine bottles. When ever the bottle stocks get a bit low drive in, load up and drive away.


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## chris.peile (25/7/07)

SpillsMostOfIt said:


> One thing that has impressed me as I wade through the beers left at my house on the day is the number of homebrewers who must actually drink Victoria Bitter - I reckon I've got nearly a box of empty VB bottles in my garage now!
> 
> Waiting for the excuses to start...




Excuse #2: I stole my bottles from a pub... honest!!!


----------



## Fents (25/7/07)

I gave up about 5 or 6 good coopers 750mls in my swap case


----------



## DarkFaerytale (25/7/07)

mine would of been a mix, probably even got rid of some of the really old CUB or XXXX ones, you know with the fella with the hat on them, there great bottles. as for why some of my bottles would have been VB's (but with label removed) is beyond me, would of pinched them from somewhere -~

-Phill


----------



## SpillsMostOfIt (25/7/07)

I've kept all of the bottles I've emptied so far. I figure that some are the sort of things that their previous owners might want back, although they look a bit manky sitting next to my mountain of Mauritians...


----------



## Fents (25/7/07)

hahah did u get some of those maritiuas bottles too from the old wharehouse?

make spirits out of the old contents too


----------



## SpillsMostOfIt (25/7/07)

Fents said:


> hahah did u get some of those maritiuas bottles too from the old wharehouse?
> 
> make spirits out of the old contents too



Just a few dozen...  The contents went straight down the drain, though.


----------



## Wardhog (25/7/07)

All of mine were VB/MB twist top bottles - sourced from my old man.

I did score some nice non-twist-top bottles, though. Thanks guys, I'll use them until the next case swap and then put them back into circulation. That reminds me, gotta catch up with mark_mulrooney and give him his custom PET bottle back.


----------



## Thirsty Boy (28/7/07)

*DarkFaerytale's Smoked Ale*

Had this over a nice roast chicken the other night. Shared it with my wife. At about 8 or 9 C from a stemmed stella glass.

Must apologise about the lack of detail in this review, I was hooking into the chicken which took me ages to bloody cook and I didn't pay as much attention to the beer as I should have. Also left the review a couple of days so I'm going off memory.

- - - - - 

Beer poured a deep clear gold with only a slight haze. Good inch of head that lasted for most of the beer and was pretty sticky.

Lots and LOTS of english ale fruitiness on the nose dominated. malt and hops definitely second fiddle but there. I didn't get the smoke, but my wife said it was obvious to her.

The flavour was quite sweet, malty and full bodied; with lots of the fruitiness from the aroma carrying over to the taste. I picked up the smoke in the aftertaste, but in all honesty only recognised it for what it was because I knew it was supposed to be there. Once again, the wife thought my taste buds must be faulty because she tasted it distinctly.

I probably would have found the beer a little too sweet for me if I hadn't taken the advice to have it with food. Having taken that advice though, it was a great match with the roast chook and I thoroughly enjoyed the beer.

Thanks

Thirsty


----------



## Wardhog (28/7/07)

Velophile's All Amarillo Pale Ale

Dude, tell me. Please. 

How the hell did you get this so clear? Out of the case so far (and there's only one more to go out of my case), this has to be the best looking beer.

I know I was supposed to wait til the 31st, but I couldn't.

Delicious beer. That malt, superb. Whack in some English hops, and you'd have a close runner for Fuller's London Pride - did you supply the recipe? I want to make it and apply whatever tweaks you did to make it so photogenic.

I am thoroughly impressed. Great job.


----------



## apd (31/7/07)

*Peels - Cream ale*
Brilliantly presented but like Thirsty Boy said, there's some flavour there that could be a masterly addition or an infection. Whatever it was, I wasn't a big fan. Someone said they picked a corn flavour so maybe I don't like corn as an adjunct.

*Lucas' Alt*
Malty goodness. Enough said.

*RobW's Porter*
Beautiful ruby highlights. Chocolatey goodness. Initially, I thought there was too much bitterness but (for some strange reason) I was drinking this with a very spicey chilli pasta and by the time I finished the dish, the beer had warmed nicely and the bitterness was just right.

*Velophile's All Amarillo Pale Ale*
I'll second Wardhog's exclamation of amazement at the clarity of this beer! Certainly a more subtle use of hops compared to other brews using Amarillo.


----------



## Fents (31/7/07)

Right i'd taken a haitus from the case swap cause i was getting low so i hooked into my keg now back on the swaps tonight!

Who's is the one in the glass longie with just a yellow coopers cap on it and nothing written on it or the cap?

edit - looking through the list there isnt one of these. oh well im drinking it cause its cold!

2nd edit - i have WAPA, IDS, Q, Rob w's porter and Velliphiles APA left to go.


----------



## Fents (31/7/07)

bugga! whatever this beer is i just opened is good. tatstes and looks like my IPA. But i never use yellow coopers caps! Damn i wish i knew what it was.


----------



## Fents (31/7/07)

Right bit of sleuth work and i reckon this is mmmm beeers dark belgian twist....cept mine wasnt labelled...

mmmmm beer, did you use yellow coopers caps?


----------



## Fents (31/7/07)

I've just posted 3 times in a row, didnt think that would be enuff so here we are on the 4th.

Mystery Bottle - Yellow Coopers Cap

Poured absolutley lovely in my half pint glass. Great tan colour with an off white to grey head that lasted the whole way!

Aroma - Hmmm cant pick this, Def not hops. Smells a tad malty. I reckon its mostly the belgian yeast!

Tatse - First impresssion is all malt. Sweet sweet caramel toffee coming through inside the venue! Thats why i thought it could of been my IPA. Anyways not much hop action goin on until the bitter kicks in and even then its not a harsh bitter its like the "laramie smooth" type of bitterness  Also a distinct somthing else that i have no idea what it is? again could be the yeast? i dont drink belgians usually. Tad tatste of vegimite to the missus reckons.

All in all a bloody fantastic beer. I'd be happy if i brewed this.. well done mmmm beer (if in fact it is ur's!) and cheers :beerbang:


----------



## andreic (31/7/07)

Fents said:


> I've just posted 3 times in a row, didnt think that would be enuff so here we are on the 4th.
> 
> Mystery Bottle - Yellow Coopers Cap
> 
> ...



Hi Fents,

I think you have guessed correctly. I just checked in my fridge and I have a bottle of mmm beer's "dark belgian with a twist". It has the coopers bottle top and a card attached with a rubberband which names the beer. I'm guessing your rubberband broke somewhere and the label got lost...

I haven't done any tastings myself for a while, will get back into the remaining beers later this week or on the weekend.

Andrei


----------



## chris.peile (2/8/07)

Fents said:


> Right bit of sleuth work and i reckon this is mmmm beeers dark belgian twist....cept mine wasnt labelled...
> 
> mmmmm beer, did you use yellow coopers caps?




Hey Fents - sorry been out of touch for a few days. I did have yellow coopers caps - and by the description it does sound a fair bit like my beer. I have to agree - the hops really hasn't come through (used fuggles at a few diff temps), and it was quite dark and malty with a fair chunk of bitterness.

Good sleuth work!!

PS I am going to have to get my act together and post a few more tastings - I have written notes, just not posted them yet!

Cheers,
Chris


----------



## DarkFaerytale (3/8/07)

*big warning*​
might be a good idea to put fents IPA into the fridge guys, opened my bottle up warm last night and it started to pour out the top within seconds. of course i did the smart thing and tryed to put my thumb over the lip of the bottle....just like putting your thumb on the end of a water hose i ended up with beer all over my walls  

-Phill


----------



## DarkFaerytale (3/8/07)

going to do this over 2 posts so i can get up to 500 

i'm going by notes on these beers that are probably a couple weeks old

*mmm...beer dark ale with a twist*

i poured this beer and walked into the kitchen only to have to run back into the lounge 'cos i smelled the most amazing belgian yeasty smell, deffinatly was not prepared for that! excelent work

nice large head on top of a dark purple type color with a lovely bubblegum type aroma, clovey bubblegum taste which is backed up by some dark malts that linger, the bitterness i thought was a tad high for my likeing and was perhaps a little over carbed, bloody fantastic beer

*andrei IDS*

another beer i should of left for later but i have no stout in the cave at the moment 

the beer poured black with minimal head and a slight dark malt aroma, flavour was alot the same with some slight roastiness that lingered, was low bittered and had a nice amount of carbonation, V. good beer

also the PA you gave me rocked andrei :beerbang: better than the one i'm drinking at the moment

-Phill


----------



## DarkFaerytale (3/8/07)

*WAPA*

poured with a clear light colored amber body, no head unfortunatly. had a v. low hop aroma but had a nice crystal kick in the taste, was low bittered and unfortunatly even tho it was kept in the loungeroom and only cooled for a couple of hours befor i drank it it was under carbonated

*Fents IPA*

after the initial opening where beer sprayed everywhere i ended up with half a tulip glass of this beer and it was fantastic

i decided not to talk about how the beer looked as the yeast had been put back into suspention

lovely malty aroma with a bit of what i assume is east kent golding (or is it styrian?) and a slight hint of alcohol. taste was amazing, kept changing as i let it sit on my tongue and as it ran down my throut. started off with a slight alcohol, then a lovely lovely malty taste that was quickly backed up by more ekg and a slight hit of alcohol. even tho the beer went absolutly everywhere it was in no way over carbonated, must of lost most of the CO2 in solution all over my lounge/kitchen walls  great beer and one i'm going to be making very soon (minus the bottle hoseing), thanks for the recipe on the bottle!


-Phill


----------



## Fents (3/8/07)

nice one phill!

Sorry about the walls mate. just blame it on me im sure she will understand 

glad you enjoyed, stoked with my case swap seems everyones been diggin it.


----------



## DarkFaerytale (3/8/07)

the good thing about not having a missus is i don't get into trouble for that sorta thing 

my dog liked it too, she helped clean the floor 

can't wait for the x-mas swap  only a few left in my box

-Phill


----------



## Fents (3/8/07)

haha assumption is the mother of all....

single life eh...i remember that, going out picking up chicks living the bachelor life  hahaha

at least get tasting notes for me of your dog!


----------



## DarkFaerytale (3/8/07)

congrats on your 500 as well fents, seems there is a few of us

i'll ask her tonight!


----------



## Fents (3/8/07)

Cheers DFT 

4. Wardhog Sloppy Skunk Fart APA - 'WAPA' on lid, will crack a tester soon and update

Apperance - Cracked with a nice hisss. Struggled to pour a head but what was there was white n creamy. Beers not so clear. In fact i tipped the bottle about a week ago to rouse the yeast so it would be nice n carbonated. could of not settled properly.

Aroma - Beautifull hop cascade hop aroma.

Taste - Lovley crisp clean finsihing taste. Hops and some clean malt. Bitter enouff for me too. Tastes a little thin on the malt side. And i swear i picked up a hint of coffee dunno, i had it with mexican tortia's so...?

All in all a nice beer, some improvements could be made but im no expert and im enjoying as much as anything else. biggups ward


----------



## andreic (3/8/07)

*11. apd - brown ale - Labelled BA 0507 - Ready to drink*

poured a light-medium brown colour. Was quite hazy/cloudy. Small head which didn't last too long - this has been a common theme with my tastings - its my glasses. The carbonation was medium - a good level for the beer.

The aroma at first was malty, a little sweet. As I worked my way down the glass I started to notice an earthy/spicy aroma. It was very similar to what I noticed in DFT's smoke ale. Can't quite describe it... my wife thought it was citrus? Once I noticed this aroma it seemed to push aside the malt aroma until I topped up the glass again.

The taste was malty at first, but had a real effervescent / spicy / peppery feel on the tongue. This mellowed greatly as the glass emptied... it had a slightly creamy texture and was medium bodied. I really noticed the hops more than the malt. I think the bitterness was well balanced with the flavours.

I really enjoyed this beer. It is high on the drinkability scale!

Cheers apd :beer: well done.

Andrei


----------



## Wardhog (3/8/07)

Fents said:


> And i swear i picked up a hint of coffee dunno, i had it with mexican tortia's so...?
> 
> All in all a nice beer, some improvements could be made but im no expert and im enjoying as much as anything else. biggups ward



Yeah, there was a touch of choc malt in there, but not a lot. You've got a keen sense of taste there.

I gotta say I'm disappointed with my contribution, sorry guys. Not one of my best beers. At least I've learned something, which I set out to do on this case swap, don't bother with two Cooper's carbonation drops per king brown. Bulk prime instead.

Probably a little underhopped for the style, but hey, that's my personal tastes coming through.


----------



## andreic (5/8/07)

*5. Fents - IPA - Labelled Clearly - Ready to drink!*

Poured a brown colour with slight reddish tinge. Very cloudy - muddy looking. I got a big, just off-white head which looked sensational.

For aroma I thought I got a little caramel, a bit of fruit and some spice?

I tasted malt up front, then real spicy / peppery, then a burnt / toasty flavour and a real bitter, drying finish. Its very bitter, and the bitterness lingers afterwards.

I find it medium to full bodied and it had a real creamy feel to it.

I am really enjoying this beer... I have half a glass left and will be sad when it is gone.

thanks Fents - another top beer from the case  

I went to Purvis Cellars today and got a range of english bitters and 2 IPAs (research  ) - I am looking forward to trying the IPAs to see how they compare now....


----------



## apd (6/8/07)

*2. DarkFaerytale - Smoked Ale *

False advertising, I say!  
I couldn't get any smoke in the aroma or flavour. Neither could my fellow tasters at the time. 
That being said, the ale was great. Great carbonation, great head, great aroma and flavour. Just no smoke.

*7. Thirsty Boy - Witbier*

Mmm, witty. I'll copy/paste some of what I said about DFT's smoked ale:

"Great carbonation, great head, great aroma and flavour. Just no smoke."

*9. Quintrex - Tripel*

This little blighter climbed out of the bottle. It was obviously begging to be drunk. Even after initially spilling half a glass then pouring a full glass, the creeping tide of head kept coming. The alcohol is just about the only thing I could detect in flavour and aroma. I think this needs a lot more time in the bottle.


----------



## andreic (6/8/07)

*13. Mmmmm... beer - Dark Ale - Labelled 'Dark Ale - Belgian twist'*

Pours a nice brown - copper colour. Its fairly clear. I got a decent off-white head, which did not last the full glass.

For the aroma the main thing I could get was malt... some toast perhaps.

The main flavours I got was real malty, with some spice, and quite a bitter, roasty finish. It also has some warming alcohol taste.

Its medium to full bodied for me.

I poured it cold out of the fridge. I enjoyed this quite a lot more towards the end as it warmed. It also feels like it packs a bit of a punch in the alcohol department. 

Thanks for another great beer mmm... :beer: 

Andrei


----------



## apd (6/8/07)

and finally...

*5. Fents - IPA*

andreic seems to have said all I wanted to say except one thing. I had a good little laugh to myself when I saw the label - "Thankyou, come again". Champagne comedy!

That's my case done, unfortunately. Thanks for everyone's feedback on my beer and thanks to everyone for offering up your brews.


----------



## Thirsty Boy (7/8/07)

*Wardhog's Sloppy Skunk Fart APA*

Drunk after work so I'm nice and thirsty. Temp is about 6 degrees on the first glass and I'm tasting from a stemmed stella glass.

*Appearance*

A quite hazy dark amber / light copper colour. It needed a bit of a vigorous pour to raise a small, white, tightly formed head. Head faded down to a light cap on the beer fairly quickly, but the cap is sticking around and also sticking to the side of the glass for light but fairly nice lace-work.

*Aroma*

Interesting... its got a smell that is made up of a bunch of components that are all individually nice, but I'm not sure I like the overall effect... not sure I don't like it either. Its got me a bit confused.

Hops are obviously American, but the particular variety isn't leaping out at me. At a guess I'd say Amarillo is in there, but something else as well?? I think whats throwing me a bit about the smell is that there are fruity esters meshing in with the hop aroma and I'm also getting a bunch of spicy peppery phenol smells as well... or it could be spicy hops?? The malt is a little sweet and grainy/worty on the nose, it smells like its going to be pretty thick and chewy.

*Flavour*

Well, not nearly as thick and chewy as it smell like its going to be. But still quite a lot of body to it. Fair amount of residual sweetness, but its not overly sweet or anything. Maltiness is quite soft and a little grainy, there, but not overpowering. Not very bitter, but nicely in balance.

Hop flavour is there but only lightly. I'm getting a little citrus.

The dominating flavour is a strong peppery spiciness at the mid to end of the palate. And I get a sort of curacao orange taste.. its almost a little like corriander.. but not quite

It finishes with a light dry bitterness and lingering spice

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Bloody interesting beer !! It grew on me as I drank the first glass, and I'm heading out to grab the second right now. Never had an APA with such a strong spiciness before. Not sure if I'm a fan. Torn about this beer, need to drink more of it to make up my mind if its love or hate.

Either way, a drinking experience I'm really glad to have had.

Thanks Wardhog

Thirsty

Edit: - came down on the side of love after finishing my second glass.. still spicy as buggery and I'd almost say it was approaching belgianess.. several thumbs up


----------



## andreic (9/8/07)

*6. Velophile - Amarillo Pale Ale*

Pours a copper colour with a slight haze. It was very hard to get a head, and what was there disappeared quickly. Carbonation was light.

The aroma was a little fruity / orange-y. The aroma was there, but not over the top by any means.

The taste was malty for me up front, then citrusy, then some bitterness. There still seemed to be a bit of malty sweetness still there - it was not overly bitter.

It was medium body, and fairly easy drinking but probably too much for a session.

I think the lack of carbonation let this beer down a bit. A big fluffy head would have enhanced the amarillo aroma which I like a lot. I also imagine that some of the hopheads in this forum would call this a little light on in the hops department for an APA, but I liked it. I did enjoy the beer, but a little more carbonation would have improved it a lot I reckon...

cheers Velophile :beer:


----------



## Fents (10/8/07)

apd said:


> and finally...
> 
> *5. Fents - IPA*
> 
> ...




was waiting for someone to finally say somthing..


----------



## Wardhog (10/8/07)

Quintrex, I've only got your tripel left in my case, and am wondering how long it should remain undrunk for best results. Got a best after date, or should I hoe into it now?

Thirsty : Cheers for the feedback, that's excellent reading. It was a Chinook/Cascade combo aimed at (and probably undershot) the low end of APA bitterness range. It was fermented with US-56, so maybe there's some local strain of brettanomyces residing in my fermenter or in the Greensborough air


----------



## Quintrex (10/8/07)

Wardhog said:


> Quintrex, I've only got your tripel left in my case, and am wondering how long it should remain undrunk for best results. Got a best after date, or should I hoe into it now?
> 
> Thirsty : Cheers for the feedback, that's excellent reading. It was a Chinook/Cascade combo aimed at (and probably undershot) the low end of APA bitterness range. It was fermented with US-56, so maybe there's some local strain of brettanomyces residing in my fermenter or in the Greensborough air



To be honest, I have no Idea. I've only been brewing since November last year , hardly time to have accumulated beer aging knowledge.  
I've been drinking them sporadically lately and been enjoying them.
Coupla notes on the beer though.

This beer is a foamer :-(, using candy sugar made from dextrose gives head, lottsa head :unsure: so be prepared to just let the first bit foam out.

Also, I've found that depending on what i've have been eating or drinking before I have this sucker dramatically effects my opinion of it.

My Advice, keep it in the fridge a day or so then drink as a desert beer after dinner, while mashed and fermented as dry as possible, still has sweetness.

I have one bottle that was exposed to the same bottle conditioning as the others so I'll crack that open tomorrow and let you know.

Hope you guys like it, its a fairly different beer, and I can understand if its not a fave!!!

BTW loved your wapa wardy !! 

Quintrex


----------



## DarkFaerytale (10/8/07)

same goes just have quintrex and apd's beer left 

unsure when to drink it, the brown ale will dissapear sometime this weekend i'm sure

-Phill


----------



## apd (10/8/07)

DarkFaerytale said:


> same goes just have quintrex and apd's beer left
> 
> unsure when to drink it, the brown ale will dissapear sometime this weekend i'm sure
> 
> -Phill



I'd definitely get into the brown ale sooner rather than later and give Quintrex's a few more weeks at least.

Andrew


----------



## DarkFaerytale (10/8/07)

it'll dissappear tomorrow arvo as i'm mashing in most likely


----------



## andreic (12/8/07)

*4. Wardhog Sloppy Skunk Fart APA - 'WAPA' on lid*

Was a light amber-copper colour, and a little bit hazy.

I could not get much of a head except for my 2nd glass where I poured very rough and from high. The carbonation was very low - basically flat.

I could smell a fruity/citrusy hop aroma..

I tasted some malt, but not much, and also some hop flavour but I couldn't quite pick it. It had a low bitterness. It tasted a little thin. The body was low to medium.

I have one of my own beers at the moment that just won't carb up and it suffers greatly. Unfortunately I think this beer suffers from the same fate - it doesn't reach its potential because its a little too flat for me.

cheers,

Andrei


----------



## Fents (14/8/07)

6. Velophile - Amarillo Pale Ale - labeled - Keep it warm for a week or so. I'll open a tester soon & report

I've been hoarding my stash, time to get back on board! :beerbang: 

Apperance - Struggled to pour a head, got a tiny one in the end looks like it may last the whole glass tho (small 280ml mini pint glass). Deep Golden roasted copper colour, spot on i reckon. Maybe next time use some carapils (say 5% or 10%)...i do it all the time and people say my beers give pour good head.

Aroma - Unmistakable amarillzle my nizzle shizzle, prob not enough for my liking tho, but top marks anyway.

Flavour - Bam....amarillo backed up by some nice ale malt, bitter enough too. god i love this hop. anyone thought about naming their duaghter amarillo? :unsure: 

Overall a good beer. Some refinements may be needed but if thats how it turned out then well done, would be a great session beer i think.


----------



## Fents (15/8/07)

9. Quintrex - Tripel- Labeled Q on cap, ready to drink, as with most big beers, aging will very much improve it.

Time for the Trip! Got a mate here who will be assisting me in the process :chug: 

Apperance - Deep clear as daylight golden finish! 9 out of 10 paintjob on this mate, defiantly the best looking beer outta the case hands down for me. No fog (haze) in site :super: 

Aroma - Sweet subtle fruit....hops presnt and another smell we dont know how to describe but we like it...alot!

Taste - Just a great balance between everything, i dont drink heaps of tripels but i can tell you i want the recipe for this one. Absolutley lovely beer Quintrex, best in the case for me so far.


----------



## Wardhog (16/8/07)

Quintrex's Tripel

I'm curious, what was the FG on this? 1.020? 1.025?

Beautiful deep gold, but not much head, even when poured roughly. I'm not surprised that the CO2 can't make it's way through the beer, it's so thick with malt.

A very sweet beer, with that characteristic spicy Belgian yeast flavour through it.

I found it a little off balance, tending more towards sweet than anything else, but I guess that's the style.

I've only ever had one tripel before, and it was a while ago, but this beer brought the memory of it flooding back. A very good beer, keep up the good work.


----------



## Quintrex (16/8/07)

Wardhog said:


> Quintrex's Tripel
> 
> I'm curious, what was the FG on this? 1.020? 1.025?
> 
> ...




Wow, No head!!!, I usually find this one foams like nothing else!!!
anyway, FG was 1010, to give ~9.8%.

Finished the ferment by ramping the temp up a fair bit, managed to chew a lot of the gravity off.
The belgians typically have low bitterness/hops so I made it reasonably to style, although i probably hopped it at the higher end, mainly to allow a little aging. But it ended up a lot sweeter in taste than my previous triple.


BTW Fents glad you enjoyed it, means a lot considering how much I enjoyed your IPA, similar someone else's comments all I could think of was adding a little oak. I'm really tempted to make it and let it sit on some oak chips. Great work!!!


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## Fents (21/8/07)

10. RobW - robust porter - Labelled, ready to drink

Just got home from work, house is cold, just switched the heating on - any better conditions for a nice warm robust porter? i think not..

Apperance - Lovley pour...nice and rich and darrrrrk! This bottle poured the best head of the case for me i think.

Aroma - Its that exact same smell i get from my IPA's!! All about the goldings and the choc coming on through for a late sniff.

Taste - **** im glad i opened this beer! Taste is a big chochlate and caramel hit with some after hops floating about as well....BITTER? I think NOT!!! Creamy creamy creamy aftertaste!

If i brewed porters - this would be the one.

Thanks rob w!

One more tasting left after this - Andreais IDS :super:


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## Fents (21/8/07)

8. Andrei - Irish Dry Stout - labelled, also with "IDS" on bottletop - could do with more time in the bottle - try and keep it as one of your later tastings if you can

quick look in the fridge and this was the only beer staring at me. fridge empty, one 750ml down, stcoks out.....what would you do? picking the trifecta it would of been the same as i did.

Apperance -Whowwww turn the lights on! dark dark dar, twice as dark as rob w's porter...No head...struggled, wasnt the glass either unfortuantly.

Aroma - Perefct Hair of the dog beer cause it smells like coffee! yum, also bit of chochlate coming through insideeee the venue. :chug: 

Tatste - Not much unlike it smells, big coffee/chochlate/caramel...And nice bitter as well afters and now i know why you called it a DRY stout  

Well done mate, prob middle of the range for me but hey it was free swap really im sooo happy with so many of the beers i've tasted im dfeiantly in for another swap! (plus i want to recive my grouse coopers longies back! B) hahah)

Thanks for the swap guys, best.


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## andreic (24/8/07)

*9. Quintrex - Tripel- Labeled Q on cap, ready to drink, as with most big beers, aging will very much improve it.*

last beer...  

Big pphhhtttt on opening.

Poured with a fairly substantial off-white fluffy - foamy head. It had fairly high carbonation but didn't seem over the top. Whilst I was admiring the beer the foam from the remaining beer in the bottle rose up and crept out of the top. The only beers I've ever had do this to me were some way over-carbonated lagers that I primed when they were 10c with the usual amount of priming sugar. The head stayed there for most of the glass, but did slowly dissipate to a thin patchy layer of foam at the end.

Its a nice light golden colour, quite hazy. It looks good.

The aroma was a little perfumy? slightly spicy, hint of alcohol. I liked the aroma.

The taste was a little sweet at first, a bit of spice, some orange flavour? It had a slightly drying finish with a strong alcohol kick. It had a warming alcohol feel to it.

It felt medium bodied and quite effervescent on the tongue early on. I think this has a seriously high alcohol level - I'm feeling quite a good buzz after one longneck (minus the small glass my wife stole...). It is definitely not a session beer (unless you want a short session), and took some time to drink.

This was a really tasty beer. Its probably not quite the right beer to crack on a Friday night when you get home from work and want a quaffer... but I really liked it. There were some aromas and flavours that reminded me of Duvel which I tried for the first time a few months ago.

Top beer Qunitrex :super: 

geez... my "aussie pale ale" beers that I intend to drink now will feel like water next to that... :unsure: 

cheers,

Andrei


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## andreic (25/8/07)

Just thought I'd say thanks to everyone for contributing their beers to the case and providing constructive feedback on mine. I've enjoyed trying lots of different beers and reading other people's thoughts on them all. I will definitely be back in for the christmas case swap if one is organised. There were some truly great beers in the case. My 3 favourites (hard to choose) were the IPA, the Porter, and the Tripel.

cheers,

Andrei


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## Fents (26/8/07)

Yep thanks everyone who organised this!

My 3 picks were the tripel, rob w's porter and peel's cream ale.

Cheers.


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