2008 Sa Xmas Case Swap - Tastings

[Adamt]

21. Murcluf's Weizen

Very effervescent, fizzing madly from the bottom of the glass. First pour rather clear, big, stiff head holding prouder than a honeymooner's member. Mildish banana/clove aroma. Taste is also rather mild on the yeast character, a lot of carbonic bite on the tongue and a mildly tart finish. Very refreshing.

 

[drsmurto]

Its been a long while since i was a uni student but i remember this part of the year well - lots of beer and cricket and #$% all else!

Enjoying life Adam? :lol:

Damn i wish i could be doing the same!

 

[Adamt]

:icon_chickcheers:

 

[buttersd70]

You damn Uni students. :angry:

Busted my balls yesterday, and will do the same thing tomorrow doing graduation photos.....that Union building gets so hot (particularly with the studio lights) that I swear I sweated out a couple of kilos.
:lol:

But, on topic....

tasted Murcluffs weizen this afternoon....will start by saying that it's a style with which I have very little familiarity; but here are my impressions.

head dissipated slightly quick in the first glass....but lasted much better in the second (which had lost some of its effervescence, and was deliberately clouded up). Personally, I preferred the cloudier 2nd glass...a bit more mouthfeel, but no doubt this is just a personal thing. Got banana and clove, but neither overpowered, so to me, it seemed like a good balance. Mildly tart, but not overly so. Refreshing. I felt like having a second glass (which for me, for a style thats not normally my cup of tea, says a bit).

Personally, I liked it. As a style, I can take or leave wheats. This, at least to my taste, was a good beer though.

 

[peas_and_corn]

RustyC's Bright ale- A thickish mouthfeel, with a nice bitterness that settles nicely. It's quite good, I'm sure to be enjoying this one

 

[Goofinder]

Rustyc's Bright APA - reminds me a whole lot of the LCBA I had a couple of weeks ago at the Royal Oak. I got the slightest hint of what I think is DMS toward the end, but not enough to stop me enjoying this beer. Very nice.

 

[Adamt]

20. Goofinder's (Not So) Special Bitter

Served cool (8C?). Light copper, decent head, pretty clear. Aroma is caramel. Flavour is sweet caramel up front, turns very earthy which lingers with some low-medium bitterness. Decent body, carbonation seems a little high. Getting a bit of alcohol warmth and dark fruitiness as it warms further. Up the bitterness and lower the carbonation and you're on a winner. Favourite of the case so far!

 

[KHB]

MIKES PILSNER

Well i have to be honest and say i was not real sure of what to expect as i have not drunk or made a pilsner before. i also had a nice head which dissapated quickly, maybe not as clear as i would have thought it would be. Nice malty aroma with a little hop background. Tastes nice with the butter chicken im eating, will enjoy the rest of the bottle with it.

Cheers KHB

 

[Goofinder]

20. Goofinder's (Not So) Special Bitter

Served cool (8C?). Light copper, decent head, pretty clear. Aroma is caramel. Flavour is sweet caramel up front, turns very earthy which lingers with some low-medium bitterness. Decent body, carbonation seems a little high. Getting a bit of alcohol warmth and dark fruitiness as it warms further. Up the bitterness and lower the carbonation and you're on a winner. Favourite of the case so far!

Yeah, the carbonation is definitely too high. Glad you liked it!

Murcluf - Weizen
I quite liked this one. I don't think I've ever knowingly had a weizen, and it was a pleasant surprise after swearing off wheat beers years ago. I got the banana aroma, and maybe a hint of bubblegum but not so much the clove. I think I liked the second glass with a bit more yeast as butters did. Quite refreshing and no overpowering flavours/aromas.

 

[buttersd70]

some notes from earlier this afternoon;

goofinders bitter...
had mine at 10C, agree with adams description up until the bit about bitterness.....I wouldn't call it low-medium, at least not relatively speaking for a bitter. Personally, I found it to be overly bitter; I could almost hear the malt asking to be released from behind the hops. Capped it off with a forced head, and it mellowed somewhat, but for me, it was still too bitter for a bitter. The flavour profile overall was fine, just too many IBU imo.
Sorry...I don't mean to sound bitchy. :unsure:

Rusty's bright apa

Ridonculously clear.fairly firm white head. lower aroma than expected, but what there was was lovely and mellow.
slightly more bitter than the abv/ibu lead me to believe....but was relatively mellow bitterness. didn't kill the malt entirely, but definately hop dominated. Not my fav style, but I liked it. Another beer that makes you want another.

Afterthought. Damn, want another.
second afterthought...damn...ar you sure this is only 4.6%? Starting to feel it.....

Big H lager
little aroma, good carb. Not too bitter (yay)
reasonably balanced. Quite like it for a lager. No saaz makes butters happy. Holds head quite well. A solid Northern European lager.
Interesting in that I haven't tried these hops before...to me, works very well. refreshing and easily drinkable. Where did that beer go? oh wait, I drunk it. :lol:

I then proceeded to fall asleep in my armchair.

 

[Murcluf]

Any potential bottle bombs we should know about yet?
Murcluf's Weizen, bottled in PET is very tight, a lot tighter than soft drink in a bottle. I have never bottled PET, is this amount of expansion normal? I know PET wont explode, but thought there might be a few issues with some late bottling, I put it in the fridge just in case. I never have had a bottle explode of my own, and would not want any to go off now.

Hi Boston no need to worry about mine being a bottle bomb they have been in the bottle since early October and everyone I have had so far have been great in the carb area. The bottles were bulk primed so no chance of an over dosed bottle. Sorry if put the lid on too tight for you

 

[Frank]

Murcluf Weizen

Hi Boston no need to worry about mine being a bottle bomb they have been in the bottle since early October and everyone I have had so far have been great in the carb area. The bottles were bulk primed so no chance of an over dosed bottle. Sorry if put the lid on too tight for you

All good, I don't have any experience with PET. Chucked it in the fridge yesterday and drank it tonight, carbonation just right.
From other tasting notes I inverted the bottle before opening. This was well balanced in flavours, unlike Goofinder I seemed to get more cloves than banana. Once again second glass nicer than the first, I inverted the bottle so won't put it down to yeast interaction. I actually think straight from the fridge was too cold. My suggestion to anyone yet to try this one, is let it warm up to about 6 degrees before drinking.

 

[Murcluf]

Tonights beer was Boston's Nelson Sauvin Summer Ale, excellent specimen of this style fantastic flavour and aroma, enjoyable to drink.
The only change I 'd like to see would be a slight reduction in bitterness, I thought it just distracted you from the overall experience of a very drinkable beer. I must admit that I'm not a total fan of this style thanks to a real dodgy JS Summer Ale I had 6 months ago, but this one has gone a long way to restoring some of my faith in the style again.

I must say so far, we are truly blessed in SA to have a group of people who can brew some really awesome high quality beers. I have no idea why any of us her on AHB would ever bother to buy megaswell ever again.

 

[Frank]

peas_and_corn - Hallertauer Pale Ale
Fantastic colour, fantastic aroma. On the taste it had one of the flavours I have never been able to put my finger on. Bit burnt, bit rubbery. It left a slightly unpleasent bittter flavour in the mouth.

 

[~MikE]

RustyC - Bright ale
having never tried LC bright ale before, wasn't entirely sure what to expect. very little head which seems to dissipate fairly quickly (like i care, head is over-rated ), nice mouth feel and carbonation, very nice clarity. Very nice aroma and very well balanced flavour/bitterness/maltyness. has good complexity without tasting like a flavour orgy. an excellent summer quaff indeed. now to hide the rest of the bottle before dad discoveres it

 

[Murcluf]

Rusty's Bright APA for me also, nice well rounded APA very easy to drink. I had no head issues as mentioned before thought the flavour aroma and bitterness was well balance. Two things i did pick up were one when I first poured the was a massive hop aroma that got my attention in a positve way but it only lasted a short time, still plenty of aroma was left in the beer itself. The other was I detected and underlying yeasty characteristic towards the end of drinking it, didn't detract from the overall experience and I assuming that is apart of the 1056 yeast. For someone who is not a real fan of APA's I must say this is another excellent specimen of the style.

 

[KHB]

BOSTONS SUMMER ALE

As i poured it showed a nice fluffy head and was really clear. (bottle or keg conditioned?) Nice carbination, had a really nice aroma to it, but tend to agree with murcluf, was a bit to bitter for my liking. Not sure if i like these hops yet, dont get me wrong i enjoyed it, just not my kinda session beer.

Cheers Ben

 

[Frank]

BOSTONS SUMMER ALE

As i poured it showed a nice fluffy head and was really clear. (bottle or keg conditioned?) Nice carbination, had a really nice aroma to it, but tend to agree with murcluf, was a bit to bitter for my liking. Not sure if i like these hops yet, dont get me wrong i enjoyed it, just not my kinda session beer.
Cheers Ben

These were bottle conditioned (Fermentis US-05). I think they may be on the top end of carbonation (8g/L caster sugar), but helps hold the head if you are drinking in the sun.
The bottles have been sitting upright in the cold room 3C for about 10 weeks, so the yeast has formed a nice crust on the bottom of the bottle. No fining agents used, all cold conditioned and racked before bottling.

 

[buttersd70]

an afterthought on BigH's lager....
realised today that I still had half the bottle left....so had it as a first beer of the afternoon....
I could happily session on it. I don't know lagers from a bar of soap, but I enjoyed it. Put me in mind of the kind of drop you would have in mid afternoon in an outside cafe....

Dr Smurtos Publican...
Well, I've been looking forward to this one. I must confess the heresy of not having tried the original.
I had half the bottle last night, and half the bottle thisafternoon....and had vastly different experiences between the two, that I thought I would share as an interesting distraction, because I think it highlights the duality of Yorkshire beers quite well.....

Last night.....
Bright as a new sixpence. Clean and crisp. Bitter (more so than my personal preference), but not aggressively so.

Today....
1469 gives a solid, compact, sediment in the bottle....be careful that it doesn't stir up, because if it does, it will come out in one big chunk. I had a massive floaty make it's way into the glass. .......
as a result, I poured it out of that glass into another, through a fine mesh tea strainer. It got the yeast out (as I said, it was solid), but it also did something interesting......Going through the strainer basically did the same as a sparkler. It knocked all the remaining CO2 out of suspension, and more imprtantly, aerated the beer.....first taste, and the bitteness was much milder than last nights. That bit of air in there smoothed it out, and mellowed the flavour. It let me pick up the malt more, when compared to last nights tasting. It was still bitter, but it seemed to knock the corners off it. Just goes to show why they use sparklers up north.

Very enjoyable and well made beer.....would cut my left one off to taste this out of a handpump. :lol:

Choppadoo bitter.

It's been said that this isn't bitter enough for a bitter.....I disagree with that entirely. To me, the bitterness level is just right, exactly where a bitter should be imo. Beyond that, I'm having a bit of a hard time trying to get my head around it...the foreign hops are confusing me slightly....but I like it. I am getting that slight tartness others have mentioned, but I would have to agree that I don't think it detracts, but rather enhances. For some strange reason I can't put my finger on, kinda makes me think of Devon in summer.... :huh:

 

[Goofinder]

A couple of lagers this evening:

Youngy - House Lager v1.2
Lots of malty sweetness, with fairly low bitterness and hop character. Carbonation was on the low side (due to bottling from keg maybe) which accentuated the sweetness a bit. I found it a bit too thick and sweet for my liking.

~MikE - Pilsener
Again, a fair bit of malty sweetness but a bit more bitterness to balance it out. Also I was getting a bit of spicyness from the Saaz. Carbonation was a bit higher and didn't seem as thick as Youngy's.

Thanks for another couple of good beers guys, but I'm thinking more and more that lagers really aren't my thing. Which is kind of a good thing, because I don't think I've got the patience to do them properly.