2009 Nsw Xmas In July Tasting Notes

[Cortez The Killer]

6. Nifty - Some Sort of Stout

Poured very hard into a straight pint glass to rouse a small tan head. Jet black. Completely opaque. Aroma full of roast and coffee notes. Some dark fruity esters, and some malt in the background.

Flavour is very smooth. With most of the bitterness coming from the roasted malts. Medium to medium high body. Carbonation low and perhaps making the body more substantial. Lots of coffee and some dark chocolate. Some roasty dryness at the end. After 1/2 a pint I'm getting some nice sweet caramel flavours and dark stone fruits hidden in between the roast.

Overall a very easy drinking and approachable stout. Verging toward a sweet stout. Lovely for a cool evening. Great beer!

Cheers

 

[Bizier]

I have some bad news.

4:00 am last night a number 17 (I purposefully haven't checked who the culprit is yet) exploded voilently and made a huge arse mess in a recently cleaned room. I have cleaned everything, and it has taken a good amount of my sunday to do so, besides mopping the bulk of beer off the floorboards last night.

PLEASE PEOPLE:
If you are taking part in a case swap, you have a responsibility to the recipient of your beer. Please sort out your finishing gravity (even if it is winter and your yeast is sleepy), ensure your priming sugar is mixed evenly and that there are no rampant infections. And please put a beer carbed to 4 volumes in an appropriate vessel. I will take a lesson from this and put any case swap beers in a solid-walled crate covered with a towell from now in case I am being given grenades.

I know that everyone involved is a decent person, but please get this shit sorted out before submitting your beer to others. Taking your own eye out is one thing, taking someone else's out is plain avoidable.

Dan

 

[jonw]

4:00 am last night a number 17....

Well, that was mine. Sorry about the mess, Dan.

I guess everybody else should put theirs in the fridge. Has anybody had any problems with it? Has anybody drunk it?

Jon

 

[Bizier]

Sorry Jon, join the newt swap please, but please sort it out. Everyone refridgerate this beer pronto and treat as dangerous (esp if in screwtop longneck).
I will actually get the opportunity to taste your ber Jon, so there will be a review to come.

 

[Gulpa]

Had a few at a f.day thingy yesterday so there are no real notes, just impressions.

19. barls - kels special honey ginger beer 4.3%

Sweet and gingery as expected. I suspect its a nice ginger beer but its just not my kind of thing. Others enjoyed it.


1. Josh - Oktoberfest Wyeast 2308

This is more my kind of thing . Light gold. Nice carb. Lovely lovely malty goodness. Nice complexity. Didnt want it to end. Great beer Josh, thanks.


2. RetsamHsam - Doppelbock 7.5%

More malty goodness. Background of munich malt with the dark malts coming through. Malt seemed to be developing flavours I associate with a bit of age, but then again I could have just been a bit "tired" by then. Very nice beer. Thanks, Damien.

cheers
Andrew

 

[Gulpa]

Agree. Jon, dont let a little thing like that stop you.

cheers
Andrew.

Sorry Jon, join the newt swap please, but please sort it out. Everyone refridgerate this beer pronto and treat as dangerous (esp if in screwtop longneck).
I will actually get the opportunity to taste your ber Jon, so there will be a review to come.

 

[Stuster]

Agreed. You certainly aren't the first to end up contributing a bomb to the swap, Jonw. :lol:

Anyway, I've been extremely slack about getting tasting notes up here, so some quick thoughts from memory.

Muggus, had yours last week. It had a very strong aroma on opening - a dry, dusty sort of chalky aroma. Rather off-putting at first so I left it aside for a while and came back to find that smell (and taste) had mostly gone away. Other than that a very nice beer, but that was really the main impression I got from your beer. Nobody else has mentioned it though. :huh:

Nifty, was looking forward to your one as I've liked a number of your beers, but this one didn't do it for me. A fairly strong salty, vegemite flavour which kind of dominated.

 

[nifty]

Nifty, was looking forward to your one as I've liked a number of your beers, but this one didn't do it for me. A fairly strong salty, vegemite flavour which kind of dominated.

Bugger, sorry mate, I don't know what happened there. Any idea what can cause those sort of flavours ?? I didn't pick them myself. I used some molasses in this, I wonder if that's it ??

cheers

nifty

 

[barls]

Had a few at a f.day thingy yesterday so there are no real notes, just impressions.

19. barls - kels special honey ginger beer 4.3%

Sweet and gingery as expected. I suspect its a nice ginger beer but its just not my kind of thing. Others enjoyed it.
cheers
Andrew

hey andrew, they are definatly a love it or hate it thing, personally i cant drink them but swmbo loves it so do most. actually put 3 kegs on fro her bday and out of all the kegs its the lowest at almost empty. the others being a rogers clone and a honey blonde.

 

[Stuster]

Ah, could be that. I can't say I've had much molasses so it certainly might have been that. What kind of molasses did you use and how much?

 

[nifty]

Ah, could be that. I can't say I've had much molasses so it certainly might have been that. What kind of molasses did you use and how much?

I used about 500g in a 40 litre batch. The recipe I usually use calls for black treacle, which gives a nice edge to it, but for the batch before this one I had a brain fart and bought blackstrap molasses instead :blink:. Anyway, i used it and it tasted all right at the time so I thought I'd give it a go in the xmas case.

I just had a taste of the molasses and it has a very strong caramelly?? taste, but there might be a hint of saltiness in the background too.

cheers

nifty

 

[barls]

just had jon's 17, nicely carbed mine was and very drinkable. so jump back in the next one mate as i look forward to another fine beer from you.
drinking mugus one now.

 

[Stuster]

I had Jon's beer last night. Fairly highly carbonated but not leaping out of the bottle and not enough to make it pop. The high carbonation had stirred up the sediment though, despite a careful pour and so there was a lot of yeast in it. Fairly muddy because of that and so hard to tell what the beer was like other than that. Didn't seem like there was enough carbonation in this bottle to pop it, or in barls', so seems the carbonation is uneven, or one of the bottles was weak.

Gulpa's American Amber is going down a treat tonight (just off to bed, Brian, honestly). Clear, lovely reddish-brown. Clean, great balance of fruity hops and caramel malts. Love it, Andrew. Recipe up there yet?

 

[Bizier]

I tried 17 a few nights ago, it definitely crawled quickly out of the bottle neck after opening. There was some fermentation funk, and I am interested to know what yeast was used, but it was not infected. I would prefer a little thicker and obviously less carbonation... but that said, I am just now drinking an overcarbonated beer I brewed.

 

[nifty]

I had a couple of very tasty beers tonight.

14. Monkeybusiness APA and 20. Gruntus Not so Sparkling Ale

both very enjoyable beers.

Thanks guys

 

[Cortez The Killer]

17. jonw - Pooch Drool. American Brown

Bottle wasn't a gusher, but beer poured just about all foam. After settling the beer is a deep amber almost red/brown, slightly cloudy with lots of activity from high carbonation. Foam is off white and billowing. Aroma has some nice hops coming through not so much citrus as perhaps pine and other fruity notes perhaps pears/apples (it's on the tip of my tongue but I can't name the dominant aroma). Nice caramel maltiness in support. All very appealing. I'm also getting some belgian phenolics in there I think - but not 100% on this.

Nice malty body to the beer with good bitterness to balance. Lovely caramel notes coming through, with a hoppy zing in the back ground. Dark stone fruits also coming through. Medium body and medium carb. Very smooth and well balanced. Finishes medium dry.

Overall a very tasty beer with excellent balance and approachability. Please send a slightly lower carbed case at once!

Cheers

 

[Cortez The Killer]

20. Gruntus - Not so Sparkling Ale

Pours with amazing clarity into a straight pint. Amber in colour with a fluffy white head. Aroma very clean with some malt and a hint of hops - touch of fruitness. Not too dissimilar to CSA.

Lean body and nice bitterness coming through, fairly clean. Some nice malty characteristics rounding the beer out. Some tasty fruity esters peaking through too. Hop flavour fairly low. Medium high carbonation. Finishes toward the dry side.

A most tasty and sessionable beer, a very good representation of the style. Top work!

Cheers

 

[Cortez The Killer]

11. Insight - AIPA, Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale clone

Pours a bright orange nearly red in a tulip pint glass. Small off white head which persists. Lots of fruity hops upon opening the bottle. Usual C hop notes - pine, citrus and a delicious caramelly malt bank bone.

Massive bitterness in the flavour. Chewy malt upfront and a bitterness that lingers. Medium high carbonation. Medium body. Fairly citrusy - orange/citrus peel. Finishes dry. Nice and warming in the belly.

This beer is definitely a celebration! Most awesome

Cheers

 

[white.grant]

No. 15 Syd_03 ESB

Pours dark honey, slight haze and strong head. Hoppy aroma and I'm thinking more IPA than ESB. Hops dominate the flavour and triumph over the malt, bitter finish is satisfying. Really enjoyed this beer, but lacked the sweet malt character that I associate with an ESB but came acorss as a great english IPA. One of my favourites.

No. 6 Nifty's Some sort of Sout.

I must be mad. Stlll 28 degrees and after working in the gardens, I turn to a stout!

Not mad, just lucky!

Not enitrely optimistic with the heavily dimpled cap (what did you use a nail punch?) Pours a lovely black with a tan head. Great stout aroma, choc and toffee competing. Nice harsh grain bitterness on the flavour and a satisfying tart finish with malty sweetness well balanced against the darker flavours. I love stouts and this is a good un. Thanks Nifty.

cheers

grant

 

[Gulpa]

Gulpa's American Amber is going down a treat tonight (just off to bed, Brian, honestly). Clear, lovely reddish-brown. Clean, great balance of fruity hops and caramel malts. Love it, Andrew. Recipe up there yet?

Thanks Stu. Glad you liked it. I should put the recipe up but I havent got around to it yet.

cheers
Andrew.