2008 Hag Xmas In July Case Swap - Tasting Notes

[Tony]

THought i would kick this off with Trents Twins.

I poured the first one in the glass at about 8 to 10 deg. 1028. Nice pour, clear, low white to tan head that settled to a fine foam cover that lasted the beer out. Aroma is spicy english hops...... YUM. They smell great. fresh and bright in the nose. Clean beer, fairly neutral on the yeast side, clean sweet malt ballanced perfectly with a smooth bitterness that lingers on the tongue in the after taste. I really like this beer!

I got half way through it and thought........... side by side comparison time!

Poured the 1098 beer in an identical glass. Very similar, hard to pick the difference but i would say the 1098 has muted the hops a tad, both in flavour and aroma. Malt profile is similar with the 1098 beer being a tad maltier. The 1028 was a bit crisper.

If i didnt know they were different yeasts i doubt i would have picked it. But knowing what was what i would say the 1028 was slightly cleaner and crisper in finnish, accentuating the hops a bit more, with the 1098 a tad maltier and softer.

bugger all in it though.

Thanks Trent, an interesting experiment that i enjoyed tasting.

Bloody nice bitter to mate!

cheers

 

[Tony]

Yes im brewing and drinking Its saturday night........ my night to do these things.

Seeing as keiths Stout was brewed a long long time ago in a galazy far far away, i thought it would be my late night, cold garage, adding late hops to brew drink.

Black as the night, perfect dark tan head that doesnt really go away. The kind of head that leaves a moustach on your top lip.
Aroma is of an aged beer, faint but lurking with potential. Notes of deep smooth black malts and a hint of liquorish.
Flavour is mellowed malt........ no hops, deep smooth and comforting, like a soft warm blanket on a cold night. Not too bitter, some sweetness comming through, and that liquorish tint again. ITs nice but intreeging.......... did you use some sort of caramel rye mate?

Edit: Or is it dark malt extract i sense?

Very Very nice stout mate.......... a pleasure to drink!

cheers

 

[Keith the Beer Guy]

Tony,

have you been taking some evening poetry classes at your local TAFE?

Love the superlatives. Keep them rollin' (they don't have to be about my beer - just keep them rollin')

rye ?

Wash you mouth out.

Well that was my first reaction.

No. There ain't no rye. Nor crystal rye. No dark malt extract. Some roast, some carafa III, a little more english crystal alongside some good quality base malt (IMC ale). And a little bit of mistreatment pouring it from the tap.

Looking forward to reading more of your reviews Tony.

Cheers,

Keith

 

[Tony]

No poetry classes mate

Thought i would get a better bite on the extract line :lol: ...... next time!

And i picked up no hints of mistreatment, thats why i drank it strait away, as it was from the keg.

cheers.

 

[pokolbinguy]

Alrighty so I finally got down to tasting my entry for this swap since bottling (#3).

Unfortunatly the bottle I opened was over carbonated, and seeing I bulk primed it would seem that the others may be the same. So might be a matter of "bleeding" off the excess carbonation before drinking.

Seems a little green and mouthfeel is a little light.

Rather dissappointed but would like some feedbaclk anyway. I'll try and dig up my brewing notes but after upgrading computers since they have seemed to go walk abouts

Now just to wait for the others to get cold.

Cheers, Pok

 

[Weizguy]

A little off-topic, but do we have a suggested serving temp for the smoked ale?

Was planning to taste it tonight, and seeing that I got it at (but not in) the case swap...
Anyone?
I was gonna try for room temp (same as Schmick's Winter Warmer).

Anyone with a camera, please post to illustrate your tasting notes, or post in the "What's in the Glass" thread and link here.

Les

 

[schooey]

Too late for pics, I drank mine last night... I think Keith's description of "The first mouthfull tastes like someone took a stick out of the bushfire and put it out in your glass" was pretty close... :lol:

Seriosly though, I served mine only slightly chilled, and there were a lot of complex flavours in there once the tastebuds got past the smokey, burnt, roasty flavours.

 

[Weizguy]

Sounds exciting. I'll give it 10 min in the fridge and then "Zang"...drinking time. Right after the fish and chips, I s'pose.

Regarding the photos, I meant that to cover the entire gamut of swap beers.

Shall we officially censure a certain down-South HAG for non-attendance?

 

[Offline]

...Shall we officially censure a certain down-South HAG for non-attendance?

Im most upset by the certain down-Southers non-attendance, as his contribution in the last HAG swap my favourite, I was keen to see if he could do better this time.

 

[Tony]

Drank my bottle of smoked pale ale tonight.

I love smoked beers............. but........

I will have to agree with keiths opinion of it, that i was promptly told when asked........... "whats it like"

Those there know the response.

No pictures, not worthy.

Report:
Amber, hazy from someone stiring it up while banging the cork back in by hitting it on the floor thanks mate.
Aroma of mellowed aged hops, then a big smokey single malt whiskey like Bowmore or Laguvlin.
Flavour, initial mild malt, bugger all hops, some sweetness, quickly engulphed by bitterness and then blown away by peat smoke that stays for the duration.
Somewhat out of ballance and awkward. A bit thin and astringent.
Its a lot darker than the pale on tap........... i much prefered the one on tap too Its Y.U.M!

Glad you didnt do this on purpose!

cheers

 

[CjWealands]

Hey Gents,

Just a quick message; as I don't have much time to write being Keith's lackey/gopher/<insert whatever here>.

Thanks again to the guys I spoke to - and apologies for people I didn't introduce myself to! I wasn't being rude, probably better off that I remember a few names to faces rather than none at all. At the end of the day I'm going to be utterly f*cking confused with the use of usernames and real names!
*Sigh*
Maybe another Braggot Grand Cru (23a - I think) might clear things up again. Like I wrote to Backyard Brewer the carb was slightly lower than expected but even without the expected effervescence it still smacked me in the face with flavours of bubblegum, slight vanilla & ....honey. I actually really liked it and would be perfect for the non beer drinking girlfriend to convert her to the dark side. Although I'm happy to be the only one to carry the beer gut in that relationship.

I've also drank Keith's Stout over lunch with him; I'm no poet, linguist or enrolled into Cessnock Tafe like Tony has; but putting aside Keith's negativity regarding the Stout it has high drinkablility. It was asked "how would this beer be better"? I came out with an ordinary answer but in retrospect and for anyone that hasn't opened it. Pour it into a pint on one of these cold winter nights a couple of beers in, have the fire going and get a nice dark bitter chocolate dessert to complement this milky chocolate, smooth bitterness that this Stout has to offer.

Anyway boys I better get back to polishing fermenters and mash tuns.

All the best

Craig

 

[Tony]

I'm no poet, linguist or enrolled into Cessnock Tafe like Tony has;

Ahhhhh cocky little bugger too

Keep it up and you may just fit in buggiebottom :lol:

 

[Tony]

23b - over honeyed grand cru

Nice golden colour. Creamy smooth mouth feel, nice mediun carbonation, could have used more to lighten the beer a bit.
Sweet honey in the flavour, backed by fennels that are somewhat masked by the honey sweetness. Bitterness makes an aperence in the end and is short lived in the mouth.

A nice beer but a bit sweet. A bit more gas would have helped, not much, just a bit

very nice clean well made beer non the less......... well done and thanks.

cheers

 

[schooey]

23b - Over honeyed Grand Cru

On the back of Tony's review, I thought I better drink mine before the gas all disappeared. I wish I had of drunk it the day of the swap, would have been a different beer I reckon. Definitely the sweetness of the honey hits you up front, but its followed with a spiciness of cloves across the palate. A little less honey and if it was bottle conditioned, this would be a winner IMO.. Thanks Geoff!

 

[grw74]

Hi all

I agree with Craig, Tony and Schooey's opinion of 23b. it was bottled straight from keg without any priming so carbination did get a hell of a knock so please drink it RIGHT NOW. There is a pretty big hit of honey so you you might want to spread it on your toast for breakfast... (and put Kieths stout in your coffee cup as well. the wife will never know)

cheers

Geoff

 

[Weizguy]

I polished off the smoked pale ale and thought that it was unusual, but quite pleasant.

The underlying style was there but well subdued by the peated malt.

Frankly, I'd be happy to drink more. I certainly got the hop flavour and aroma of the APA, but with the peaty nuance.

If I was going to give this beer a mark out of ten, it'd have to get about 7.5. Quite easy to drink, for me at least, and just a little over the top in peaty goodness.

Having said that, I'm a big fan of the peated malt specialty ale from the Protz and Wheeler Classic Euro beers book - Adelscott (which has been brewed by Stephen, who made the BoS Orval clone at the most recent Hunter comp).

Beerz. Now back to my APA yeast culture. Mmmm ,...Liberty hops.
23b going in the fridge now.

 

[m_peve]

No 7 - Goatherder - Maibock

After a VERY VERY long week at work I thought that trying Scott's offering would be the perfect way to wind down.
I wasn't disappointed.
I poured most of the bottle into a pint glass and sat back to smell the crisp, clean malt aroma. Oh I love that smell!!!
It had a long lasting medium sized white head that laced the glass beautifully. 20 mins in and the head was still hanging around.
Dark golden in colour and crystal clear it begged to be drunk so I obliged.
The beginning of the first mouthful suggested significant malt flavours that lightened and lifted wonderfully as I swallowed to end in a light dry finish.
Overall a clean and crisp tasting beer with a great balance between malt and hop flavours.
It was medium-bodied and gave only the barest perception of the 6.4% alcohol.
Treemendous!!

Thanks
Scott

 

[Tony]

I have Pok's beer in the fridge. I have been burping it every morning all week and its gassed down now. may try it on the weekend once the yeast settles back down.

For now i have ByB's 23a IPA.

Deep golden colour, clear, Well carbed..... almost over carbed. Dont pour it quick and its fine.

Big hoppy aroma of either Amreican or NZ hops.......... my guess is NZ hops but i have been wrong before.
light maltiness, nice medium body and big hoppiness in the mouth.
Very bitter, could have used a bit more malt IMO but nice all the same.
Slight carbonic bite from carbonation.

A clean, bitter, hoppy American style IPA. Well made beer!

cheers

 

[m_peve]

No 11 - Nooch - Maibock

Pretty rushed tasting this one - (putting monster boy to bed).
Aroma contains notes of caramel or toffee (I can't get a bearing on it)
Medium thin head that disappeared fairly quickly. An extremely clear golden colour.
Now for the tasting. Medium bodied. Toasty Malt flavours quickly fill the mouth only to be slowly overtaken by flavour from the hops. A good balance has been achieved that seems (to me) to be slightly leaning toward the hops.
Alcohol well hidden and not noticeable at all.
Excellent brew!!

Tanks Nooch

 

[m_peve]

23b - Backyard brewer - Over honeyed Grand Cru

Last one for the night. Will be lucky to get off the lounge after these 3 !!

Huge floral aroma, honey and the flowers that they come from. It brought back memories of trips to my Uncle's when I was a kid (lotsa flowers and home brew at his house).
Poured with a thin-medium head that dissipated quickly. Straw-gold in colour.

SWEEEETTT!!!! Oh boy!!

Honey is everywhere. It is the dominant flavour by a long way but hops are there to stop it from being sickly sweet. Cloves finish off the mouthful.

I haven't noticed the alcohol (maybe when I stand up :huh: ).

I agree with schooey in that (for my taste) it could use slightly less honey but nonetheless I have truly enjoyed this beer.

Thanks heaps Geoff