Hag Christmas Case Drinkin'

[Sammus]

cracked one of mine (7 - some kind of english ale). I wasn't particularly impressed with it TBH - it's a style that I enjoy, but also a first attempt at brewing, and a first go of the yeast. Also a first attempt at bulk priming, and as a result I think the priming isn't quite right. It poured with lots of head, but didnt taste particularly overcarbed. So I'm guess if it was poured with a little more care it could be a little too fizzy for the style.

Anywho, as with most beers, I'd say the longer you leave it the better, but it's certainly drinkable now and I'm looking forward for some feedback from anyone experienced with this style.

Oh and Trent - I think I heard somewhere that you and your uncannily sensitive taste buds aren't the biggest fan of this yeast (1968) - so hopefully you can look past it when you post any feedback you have

Sam

 

[Tony]

Cracked my Ninny a bit ago. Just finnished the first glass.
I feel like someone slapped me in the face with a sap soaked pine tree branch.
Big malty pressence shadowed by a big an aggressive piney hop punch. But its smooth and drinkable. The bitterness is up front and firm and the hops just stay in your mouth, its like eating a chilli, the heat lingers for some time after. I have never eaten a full hop flower but i recon if i ate a cascade one with a pine cone to boot this would be close.
Carb is perfect, held a head to the death, its hot steamy and im cleaning out my brew rig, and this beer fits the bill after dinner. a sipping beer to skull. Perfect.

Im impressed. THis is what i was aimimg for with the sheep shagger in the NSW swap but with NZ hops. only i ended up with more malt whish muted that lingering hop punch.

GReat beer, these are the beers i entered the swap to try, great ninny stuff.

cheers

 

[Tony]

23. Schooey - NS summer ale.

I put it in the fridge a week ago when you said it was over carbed. finnished cleaning my brew rig and opened the fridge to find something to bach up scottys ninny lager........ they are big boots to fill
Found No. 23 and on looking at my list, its a NS summer ale. perfect!.
poured slightly over carbed but not that bad. had to wipe an inch of foamy head off the top and top up once to get a great glass of beer. Straw coloured and fairy clear. a touch of hop haze i expect... did you use flowers, they do that so its not a problem with the beer. beer laced as i drank it. clean sweet malt, could have been maltier and a tad darker, with a firm well ballanced bitterness. good ballance of hop flavour to aroma. This is a dificult hop to get the ballance with on its own. If you go too much one way its over powering but this is just right. smooth and refreshing. no nasty yeast flavours ect, a clean nice easy drinking beer. Well done mate!
one thing i would do is add 3 or 4% JW caramalt to bring the colour and malt profile up a bit to helt the hops out a tad. perhape even 10%munich in there too.
Other than that, one of the better beers ive had in the swaps.

cheers

 

[schooey]

Cheers Tony. Yep, used all flowers, all NS. Next time I make it I might give the Cara a go.

Cheers,

Schooey.

Note to all: This beer is pretty much ready to go if you want to give it a run.

 

[Tony]

I had this one earlier in the day while i was brewing

2. offline - APA.
Poured a nice deep amber and was carbed perfectly. HEld a nice head all the way dowm and was fairly clear..... some hop haze i suspect from the hops i picked up in it.
It had that charactistic "pine" hop flavour and aroma to it that i think APA should have. The beer had a sweet malty profile with a nice firm bitterness to back it up which made it very drinkable.
I find this "american" character a bit tyring after about 2 glasses so im glad thats all that fits in a long neck. but thats me. I dont like APA's but i did like this beer for what it is and it was a good one IMO. Scottys Ninny was very pinney but was different. It had something else that i cant put my finger on that didnt fatigue me as much while drinking it.

I would love to know what the hop schedules in both these beers were for my own personal records. PM me if its a secret... i wont tell!

cheers and good beer offline, thanks

 

[loftboy]

22. Loftboy - Hahn clone.
This Beer poured nice and clear with a nice head..... carbed perfectly. Sweetness from extract on in the mouth but a nice bitterness and carbonation ballances it well. Some fresh hops on the nose and tonge round out a good clean beer. It may have that extract thing happening but the main thing to making a good beer is a good yeast character to suit the beer style. This didnt have any odd yeast character which was great.
Nice beer..... thanks.

22. Loftboy - Hahn Premium Clone
Poured a beautiful golden straw colour with good carbonation. Didnt lace the glass but held a head the whole way down. Very clean, very crisp and to the point. Good malt body with a distant hop zest. Great and to style for a lager.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm glad you liked them.

This was one I tried to keep really simple to make sure I get the basics of brewing down pat. After all, this was only my 5th batch ever since taking up HB

For those that are interested, this was the goo 'schedule'

1.7kg Morgans Stockmans Draught mixed as per directions (i.e. water no hotter than 70 deg C.)
1.5kg Black Rock Light Malt Extract
Steeped with POR tea bag (10gm's ? - whatever MHB's standard tea bag is)
In primary for 7 days, along with the POR tea bag
Transferred to secondary & added hersbrucker tea bag plug. 7 days in secondary.

SG 1043 (7 Oct 07)
FG 1013 (21 Oct 07)
4.4% ABV

Bottled 21 Oct 07 with 2 Coopers carb drops per bottle.

Cheers,

David.

P.S. Not sure that my beer came out exactly in the style of Hahn Premium, but it appears to be very drinkable which is all that matters to me.

 

[Punter]

Unfortunatly David I wont be able to sample
your contribution
I had your bottle on the shed floor next to Niftys from the
NSW swap ready to put in the fridge when there was room.
3.00am this morning, BOOM. Ran to the shed with cricket
bat in hand ready to smack a theif stealing my gear.
No theif but alot of broken glass and beer on the floor.
Looks like Niftys beer exploded and took the side of Davids bottle with it.


10. Tonys Golden Ale.

Poured hazy with a thin head. Nice clean fruity/hoppy aroma.
Good hoppy flavour with a nice maltiness to back it up.
An enjoyable beer Tony.
Cheers.


8. Marks Bright Ale

Straw gold colour with a thin white head and good carb.
I was expecting a big hop punch from this, but it wasnt to be.
I have never had a LC Bright Ale before, so I dont know why I was expecting it.
Light body with a subtle hop flavour and aroma.
I have to agree with Trent. If I knew when I was extract brewing that you could make
a kit beer this nice and clean, maybe I would never have gone AG.
Great beer, thanks.


19. Leeboys American Amber.

Good phssst on opening. Very highly carbed. Poured 1/3 beer the rest was foam.
Was looking forward to this beer Lee, I wanted to do a side by side taste with mine.
I didnt get the sourness that others have found, but mine had a very sweet/fruity aroma.
Good amber colour that was pretty hazy. Cant taste much apart from a lot of
sweetness. Light body. Good head.
Sorry mate, but I couldnt finish this beer. Was just way too sweet.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[puffer_pics]

8. Mark's Little Creatures Bright Ale


Carbonation med-med high , Head lasted about way through the glass.
Great Aroma, light hop aroma and pleasant sweet malt complementing the hops.
Very light body and flavour.
Like punter was expecting more bitterness and heavier bodied beer. This however is a beer great for one of our hot Feb. afternoons after work that we will be experiencing soon enough.
Very well made and a lovely flavour, I cant taste any off flavours at all.
Id likes to see it a little more bitter and maltier version of this.
Very nice beer indeed, Thanks for the beer Mark.

Cheers Colin

 

[MHB]

Like punter was expecting more bitterness and heavier bodied beer. This however is a beer great for one of our hot Feb. afternoons after work that we will be experiencing soon enough.

I think they call that the "Little Creatures Pale Ale"

Thanks for the feedback guys; I am pretty happy with this one for a K&K recipe, I'm sure it will make a lot of punters happy over summer - and thats what it's designed for.

Enjoying the beers!

MHB

 

[schooey]

18: Shmicks Belgian Spiced Golden monster..

Mayyyyyyyyte !!! Not a style I drink, but I think I'm going to have to start playing with some recipes soon. My bottle was a tad undercarbed, and it didn't really hold much of a head, but the head bit may have been my glass. Apart from that, I loved the big flavour of this beer, it was great, but not overpowering for a 9% beer. loved the spices, I'm guessing cloves and coriander were two of them. All in all, a very smooth, easy drinking well balanced beer. Thanks.

 

[Sammus]

15. (no line) Goatherder's Czech Dark Lager.

<snip>

13. Floppinab - English Bitter
<snip>

Hmm.. I was looking forward to both of these after reading tony's rave review... was a little disappointed when I went looking for them and realised I was they mustve been from another swap!

 

[Tony]

ahhhh bugger..... i dont feel so bad cause im not hte first to do it.

TRrent beat me to it

Will move it !

cheers.

PS.... they were good

 

[Tony]

4. David L - AIPA.

There must be something wrong with me!

What does everyone see in these American hops. I just cant take to them.

The beer poured a tad over carbed but thats all good in a big beer. means i can drink it slower and it wont go flat on me. It was hazy (hop have by the look of it) and a nice orange light copper colour, nuch the same as my sheep shagger in the nsw swap. It was cold when i poured it and was harch to taste so i left it 5 min to settle.

once it warmed up the malt came through a bit more, it was a nice creamy sweet malt that was just noticable through the firm but pleasant bitterness that bit the tongue well. I dont know what to say about the hops..... they were "american"...... not unplesant ans i enjoyed the beer..... drank the lot of the bottle, but i just dont like the american hops!

I was very interested to try some of the other yank weeds to the usual cascade/amarillo APA,s.

Mate this was a nice beer, well made, i didnt pick up any dustyness found by oithers but maybe a tad of smokyness in the yeast character. It was so feint i only got it a few times at a certain temp then it went again. I enjoyed that actually. It was good!

All in all a well made AIPA that i did enjoy.....i just cant come to the american hops.

I must be strange.

When i was in marks shop.... he showed me a vac pac of cascade and said........ prices are going up and you may not be able to get this next year. I shrugged my shoulders and said....... so!

cheers and thanks for the beer dave. I must say i liked it better than the one you had in marks shop that friday arvo. was it the same beer?

 

[Insight]

27 - michael mosely's IPA

I lost the review I wrote of this one the other night so I'm going from memory. The colour was a deepish amber and the clarity was quite good. The head poured OK but didn't stick around. There was some hop aroma - typical citrus and fruit of the american hops. My wife reckoned she got lychees, but she's a little better at "name the aroma" than I am. The hop flavour was mild up front and was followed by some caramel malts. There was a weird metallic type tasted in the finish which didn't quite fit. I also got some yeast character towards the back end - quite a dusty type of taste. Which yeast did you use? The carbonation could have been a little higher which might have helped the head retention. The bitterness was on the low side for style but still quite balanced. Overall, not a bad attempt at the style and worth a try. Thanks for contributing Michael.

Tried this one tonight. Poured beautifully bright, copper colour. Head was good initially, settling to tight and small which lasted the whole glass. I got candy, toffee and citrus in the nose. The missus wins description of the week though - "It smells like the bubble bath you got in the little green dragon when you were a kid!"

Tastes of biscuit and caramel in the middle, finishing dry and slightly tongue-numbing (which I usually associate this with rye or high alpha US hops). Most of the hop character is in the bitterness, restrained use late. Carbonation was maybe a bit low ~ 2.2 vols.

I must admit I was expecting a load of late addition hops in a Cascade/Amarillo IPA, but found myself intrigued by this one. I quite like it, but more as an English style bitter - especially when it warmed up. If the hops were Goldings instead of C hops you could almost imagine it was an ESB. If you're going for an American IPA, more late hops and more carbonation are in order. Thanks Michael, I quite enjoyed this one.

 

[bigfridge]

Unfortunatly David I wont be able to sample
your contribution
I had your bottle on the shed floor next to Niftys from the
NSW swap ready to put in the fridge when there was room.
3.00am this morning, BOOM. Ran to the shed with cricket
bat in hand ready to smack a theif stealing my gear.
No theif but alot of broken glass and beer on the floor.
Looks like Niftys beer exploded and took the side of Davids bottle with it.

Are you sure that it wasn't Tony in your shed with the Cricket bat ?

You know what he thinks about these hoppy Americans

 

[Tony]

Right now.... who has a bottle of American swill left?

I know where you all live

 

[Trent]

Tony, was that you I heard creeping around my house at 3am? It musta been, cause nothing was taken, but all my APA's seem to have gotten a "house" infection. You are good, mate, reeeaaal good :lol:

#23 Schooey's NS Summer Ale
Wow. This one poured a really light gold colour, a colour I have never been able to get in my beer, even with 100% pils, so I can only ASSUME that there is a fair slug of wheat in there too. Slightly overcarbed, but with a bit of careful pouring, I got it in the glass OK.
The aroma was great, smelt a little wine-like, and I was very intrigued. I think there was a bit of low level malt in there, and some fruitiness as it warmed, but it smelt great.
I had always heard that Nelson Sauvin produce a real sauvignon blanc type taste in the beer, and the few examples I have had didnt really show that to me, but this one did. My first mouthfull tasted really winey, in a good way, and really did taste like sauv blanc. The 2 ladies of the house both also thought it was great. There was a moderate bitterness, med-light body that finished fairly dry, again, making me think there was a fair slug of wheat involved. The maltiness was there, but not overpowering, and the hop flavour was there in perfect balance, giving it a slight tartness to the finish. Fruity esters came through as it warmed, adding to the complexity of an easy drinking beer.
I absolutely loved it, and will now do my best to fit a beer like this into my brewing schedule. Well, done, mate, and thanks very much for sharing. I am suitably impressed.
All the best
Trent

 

[shmick]

18: Shmicks Belgian Spiced Golden monster..

Mayyyyyyyyte !!! Not a style I drink, but I think I'm going to have to start playing with some recipes soon. My bottle was a tad undercarbed, and it didn't really hold much of a head, but the head bit may have been my glass. Apart from that, I loved the big flavour of this beer, it was great, but not overpowering for a 9% beer. loved the spices, I'm guessing cloves and coriander were two of them. All in all, a very smooth, easy drinking well balanced beer. Thanks.

Thanks Schooey, glad you liked it.

It's hard to keep a good head on high ABV brews but It's most likely a touch under carbed. I played a little on the safe side as I didn't know how much further it would ferment in the bottle and wanted to avoid a crate of grenades.
The only downside is it may be a bit sweet without the initial carbonation bite.

The Ardennes yeast is fairly subtle for a Belgian (fruity with a touch of clove) and so I kept the spice level low as not to overpower it.
No cloves in the 3 spice mix but the corriander is correct.

A free hoorah goes to whoever picks the others :lol:

 

[loftboy]

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;​

Except for Keith's beer.

Which was over-carbonated, making a very loud noise when it exploded scaring santa, his reindeer and the neighbours.

Actually, my bottle did not blow up, but it was way too fizzy.

I advise people to put it in the fridge and drink NOW!

(Sorry)

K.

Keith,

I wished I had of read this post before I went away on 3 weeks holiday. Your bottle let go sometime during the break & almost took out #9 & #10 with it as collateral damage. I had Xmas case swap's in the shed, so no real damage was done - just a sticky residue to clean up

Take Keith's advice people - get #5 in the fridge NOW

 

[Tony]

I went to the fridge and opened it up for a tasting of fine swap beer.

I had the small bottle with SH or something on the cap instead of a number, 14 and 15, both american beers.

MMMM, ahhh i will get into them and enjoy them.

15. Craig's American Rye.

I just made a phone call to Simmo and called him off!
This beer was great. It was sweet, bitter, spicy, smooth, drinkable, and with a head you could eatr with a spoon!
The hops were there but i enjoyed them this time round..... cascade ans maybe something else in there, or was it the rye sweet spiciness that complimented it...... im not quite sure. I enjoyed it more cold than when it warmed up and it was great on a hot arvo after a long day.
Thanks for the bottle Craig..... very nice beer and i hope you post the recipe!

cheers