2010 Adelaide, Mildura & Whyalla Case Swap Tasting Thread

[raven19]

Boston's AIPA

Low to medium aroma
Good medium lingering bitterness, but not harsh at all
Minimal to low carbonation with a thin lacy head
Darkish golden in colour

I would never have guessed this brew as being 80+ IBU beer. Clean ferment, and well made imo.

Cheers!

 

[jonocarroll]

(Brewbot's?) Nelson Sauvin Summer Ale (black cap, yellow sticker, #22... whose beer has just a 22 on top then?)

Poured with a loose but prominent head. This *has* to have been filtered - I can clearly see my fingerprint through the glass (second pour leads me to believe this is likely CPBF too - beautiful clarity!). Nose is distinctively NS, but with what might be a little aging character to it - NS is best had as fresh as possible. Palate is balanced okay with a big lingering bitterness, perhaps slightly too bitter for this particular beer, but by no means unpleasantly so on the front palate. Some ferment character coming through as it warms that detracts from the hops - warm or stressed initial ferment perhaps? Was the bitterring addition NS? I might take a stab and guess that it's something less delicate.

Overall an easy-drinking summer beer. My only improvement would probably be to the bitterring addition and the ferment (yeast, temperature, or both).

What's with all the good beers so far? Who's got a horrible one in there I can rip into?

[edit: tipo]

 

[drsmurto]

I agree.

This is the best case-swap i have been involved in for the consistent level of quality beers. In the past i have tipped out a significant number of beers.......

No detailed tasting notes for the last 2 beers.

Kieran's Litha

Strong aroma the minute i cracked the lid. Carbed medium-high. Lovely colour. I dont have any more notes other than i enjoyed this. More hop flavour and aroma than Bostons but still had enough malt to hold its own. Wasnt as high in IBUs so no real lingering bitterness. Think you could go higher given that Bostons 80 IBU felt balanced to me.

TonyC's ABA

Gorgeous looking beer, nice hop aroma but not overboard as some tend to do with ABAs. Malt and hops were balanced which is something i love in a beer. Despite the dark brown colour there was no overly roasty flavours coming through, plenty of malt/caramel but didn't get the bit whack of choc/coffee/roast you would expect from something so dark. Reminds me i need to brew a few ABAs, AAAs soon.

 

[Kieren]

Will be driving down to Adelaide this weekend so I can bring the rest of the swap case back to Whyalla.

For my Litha I was aiming for a summery beer with good citrus/spicy hop presence.

OG 1.044
FG 1.010
IBU's 31

MO Pale 95%
Bairds pale crystal 5%

EKG for bittering and flavour
Galaxy for aroma (inc. dry hopping)

Think next time I will add another flavour hop in to the mix, Perle or Spalter maybe?

 

[Hatchy]

I'm looking forward to getting back to Adelaide so I can get through a few more swap beers. We're in Margaret River now & I've been slightly disappointed with the 2 micros we've been to so far. I didn't expect too much from the lagers or wheat beers because they're not beers that I generally enjoy but I thought I'd enjoy the pale ales & IPAs more. I reckon Phil uses more hops in a 23L batch of 10 min IPA than these guys use in a 1000L batch of IPA. The porters were good at both brewerys but the rest of the beers left a lot to be desired.

I was at a bottle shop last night grabbing some beers because neither of the micros we went to do take away & ran into the brewer from the bootleg brewery. We're going there today & from briefly speaking to the brewer I'm expecting better beers & hopefully a tour of the brewery. The girl that served us at the 1st brewery doesn't drink beer but was able to tell me that they don't sell bottled beer because they don't use preservatives. WTF? I politely didn't say anything about the fact stacks of brewerys bottle beer without preservatives. If she said that they don't have a bottling line & couldn't be bothered bottling by hand I would've understood. They do do 2L growlers for take away but fill them from the tap when people order them & say best before 5 days from now. No counter pressure filler, stick a hose on the tap & fill a 2L bottle.

Has anyone (apart from me) tried my swap beer? I'd like to know what you blokes think because I'm planning on brewing something similar when we get back.

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

Will be driving down to Adelaide this weekend so I can bring the rest of the swap case back to Whyalla.

For my Litha I was aiming for a summery beer with good citrus/spicy hop presence.

OG 1.044
FG 1.010
IBU's 31

MO Pale 95%
Bairds pale crystal 5%

EKG for bittering and flavour
Galaxy for aroma (inc. dry hopping)

Think next time I will add another flavour hop in to the mix, Perle or Spalter maybe?

i was wondering what the hop combo was. very tasty and the aroma was awesome when i cracked the lid.

I'm drinking the v-twin northern brown at the moment ( it think it's tonyc's?). Very nice. I reckon it'll go onto the to-brew list. any clues on recipe and yeast selection?

 

[TonyC]

Dr Smurto, Mom,

Thanks for the positive feedback, i have been quietly panicking about my beers after tasting the awesome beers on the day. I will put up the recipe later. Again thanks

Regards Tony

 

[jbirbeck]

finally picked up the beers from Raven...cost me a suit though seeing my pants split, damn expensive suits never last but the cheap suits last forever.

Looking forward to getting stuck in. I think I have all the names matched to beers bar the one with an M on the cap which could really only be Phil's...am I right?

 

[Effect]

M = 3

 

[jbirbeck]

M = 3

:lol:

Looks like a f aux Greek E as well...but a 3 I would not have picked.

 

[Kieren]

Someone may have gotten a Litha Ale without a label, if so, it has an L on the cap - coopers long neck. Sorry.

 

[np1962]

Someone may have gotten a Litha Ale without a label, if so, it has an L on the cap - coopers long neck. Sorry.

May be the one Hatchy gave me as I left, either anL or a 7 in a bottle with a coopers label still on it.

 

[drsmurto]

Tasted a few more last night.

Phils 10 min IPA (3 on the cap)

Having tasted these beasts fresh i can understand why you arent 100% happy Phil, it did seem a tad muted in the hops department. Still a very nice beer but the wow factor you get when its on tap is missing. On the plus side it did make it much easier to chug :chug: Carbonation was very high.

Hatchys APA (6 on the cap)

A very well balanced APA. Loved the darker colour (bordering on AAA) and the malt backbone was very nice, supporting the hops perfectly. The hop flavour and aroma wasn't aggressive which is how i like it. Carbonation was good.


Getting through these beers and yet to have a bad one. The standard is ridiculous :beerbang:

 

[jbirbeck]

I pity the fool that has a problem with a bottle...I sure hope all of my bottles were clean :unsure: :blink:

I'll be hitting a few of the swap beers this weekend including my own.

 

[Kieren]

May be the one Hatchy gave me as I left, either anL or a 7 in a bottle with a coopers label still on it.

Yeah, probably mine, if it smells like galaxy hops then most likely.

 

[Goofinder]

Have had a couple more over the last few days:

Kieren's Litha Ale
Great hop aroma, quite grassy I thought but I liked it. Carbonation was reasonably high and looked like it was going to take off when I poured it into the headmaster glass. Seemed quite well balanced to me and was rather enjoyable.

Hatchy's APA
Initially got a hint of something that didn't quite seem right but by the second or third mouthful it was gone. Tried to pick it up again but all I could find was a tasty amberish ale. What hops did you use in this one? Maybe it was just some combination I'm not used to.

 

[jonocarroll]

Gopha's Simarillo Ale

Poured with an off-white, but lasting head. Nose is a gorgeous mix of hops and malt, and strongly reminds me of my first all-grain APA. Colour is a nice rich dark amber. First taste makes me wonder if I've mixed up bottles and found one of my APAs that fell into some sort of time-preserving wormhole. Carbonation spot-on for how I like this style. Wonderful balance of maltiness with hop flavour that I like to call a non-traditional APA style (not over-the-top, but the right sort of blends, becoming very popular). Bitterness falls away smooth with only a hint of slight vegetal character in the aftertaste. I could drink a lot of this on a nice summer day. Well done.

Let the amazingly good run of beers continue!

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

Drinking Hatchy's APA at the moment. Not quite what I expected. More like an american amber. Lovely malty taste. Very nice beer none the less thanks mate. Very similar beer to Awesome furys that i drank last night. without the chilli kick.

I tried one of mine this afternoon. I'm a little disappointed. Not a complete train wreck though. It's a little grassy for my tastes. I reckon I should have forgotten about the dry hop.

taste on !!!

 

[raven19]

finally picked up the beers from Raven...cost me a suit though seeing my pants split

Insert joke re: too excitable and not being able to contain one's self! I hope you cleaned up the courtyard after! :lol:

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

Having a dip at rooting kings beer. Some sort of dark beer (no idea what). dark brown not black. Heaps or carbination.. big pop from the bottle. Nice big creamy head. Wasn't keen on this initally. A bit of hot alcohol. But as it warms it gets better. It has a similar flavour that I get from the stout at the brewhouse in brisbane.

Any clues here rk?

Thanks mate

MOM