MM Case Swap - Tasting Thread

[mugley]

20. Dove Bailey - Amarillo Berliner Weisse

Pale, cloudy, crisp, tangy, tart, refreshing. Had this at a picnic today and it went perfectly with warm weather and food. Could've easily had several or many more - it's a lovely expression of the style.

 

[Vanners]

1. Nick (aka vanners) - American Brown Ale

Weird, no one else has reported it, maybe it was just my bottle but something was wrong, all I could taste was metallic like a bunch coins :/ sorry man

That's no good. Have no idea why that would be the case. Hopefully just a one off. Sorry about that!

 

[Vanners]

5. Carnie - Frau Farbissina Hefeweizen (Drink Now)

Sun+back garden+ Frau Farbissina= Good times.

Perfect beer to smash yesterday after hard work in the garden. Very well made. Nice balance, very drinkable

Great work!!

 

[Vanners]

3. Wolfman - IPA

Hoppy, delicious and drinkable. Got thr sweetness to balance out the bitterness.
Enjoying this!!

 

[technobabble66]

5 - Carniebrew’s Hefe

App-
Golden yellow. Opaque whiteness. V mild head that drops quickly

Aroma-
Slightly sour wheat edge to the floral and light caramel aroma. Maybe a slight earthy element also. It occurred to me that another way of describing it is it smells a bit like a tin of floral baked beans, except that doesn’t sound very inviting! And this does smell inviting!

Flavour-
Fantastic flavour. Perfect balance between the bitterness, the sourish wheat edge, and the maltiness. Delicate hoppy elements coming through a little - maybe slighty citrusy. Nice full mouthfeel, with a moderately dry finish. Good carbonation at the high end. The second glass is much whiter, much more yeasty, and still works well!

Overall-
Baked bean Hefe!! Only kidding - a truly excellent Hefe. As per a previous comment, you’ve really nailed this style. Even works well as it warms in the glass. I’d love to see the recipe with all details, including fermentation temps. What was the mash temp (i.e.: how dry were you aiming for)?
Have you done a banana version of this?
Really great beer, Juzzie.

Edit: slightly jealous h34r:

 

[technobabble66]

7 - Mattias’s Rasp-Berry Saison

App-
Golden amber with a slight reddish/pinkish hue. Nice fine lacing. Good tight head. Fades quickly.

Aroma-
Whoa, nelly … Raspberry!! Maybe a slight hint of caramel underneath, but that’s it, really. Just raspberry.

Flavour-
(Slightly sour) Raspberry flavour shines through. High carb. Moderate to slightly high bitter bite comes through at the end (but only because this is such a light style). Quite a light & dry mouthfeel, but still full - big ups on that front! I’m guessing the mosaic is in there somewhere, but i can’t pick it - which is perfect for this type of beer (where the fruit is the highlight). Matches well with watching Catherine Zeta-Jones … just saying…

Overall-
Best fruit-infused beer i’ve ever tasted. Raspberries work really well in this, and I’m truly impressed as to how well you’ve gotten both the aromatics plus the flavour of the raspberries to come through so strongly. Again, i’d love to see the detailed recipe (Boom - I've got a brochure, haven't I?!).

 

[carniebrew]

Overall-
Baked bean Hefe!! Only kidding - a truly excellent Hefe. As per a previous comment, you’ve really nailed this style. Even works well as it warms in the glass. I’d love to see the recipe with all details, including fermentation temps. What was the mash temp (i.e.: how dry were you aiming for)?
Have you done a banana version of this?
Really great beer, Juzzie.

Edit: slightly jealous h34r:

Cheers mate, great detailed review. All the details of this beer, including my yeast choice, pitch rate and ferment temp (which are critical to the end result) are up on the MM website, and I also posted them in the Facebook thread a while back.

I have tried a banana version, by which I assume you mean a warmer ferment temp? I've gone as high as 24C with my hefe's in the past. But I don't like the result as much as I do this version.

What I also love about this beer is that I can go from grain to glass in under a week. With good aeration before pitching it ferments out in 3-4 days, I keg it on day 5, and leave it at 30'ish psi for a couple of days, and it ready to go.

 

[technobabble66]

Thanks Justin,
I'd "like" your post except apparently i've reached my "maximum quota of positive votes for the day" (wtf??)

Wow - strictly 17°C only. No wonder my only Hefe attempt was much less impressive at 23°C!
Yeah - i'm not sure about the banana thing. It's good to have it in one glass, but it loses its novelty quickly on the 2nd or 3rd glass.
7 day turn around is a big bonus :icon_cheers:
Really great beer.
Thanks!!

 

[carniebrew]

So far I've only had a couple of my case swap beers:

1. American Brown Ale - Wow, big beer this, great American hop combination really compliments the brown malts. I can see where someone said they got "metallic" out of this, but only because I think it has such a big bitterness, I don't think it has any faults at all. Would love to try a more sessionable version of this too.

7. Raspberry Session Saison - I really enjoyed this beer, good raspberry nose, and all around just a great Saison, perfectly carbed for the style, zesty, refreshing, top job.

 

[pomsaleius]

16 - Viv's APA. Lovely maltiness. Lots of crystal? Or maybe a touch of (pleasant) diacetyl? Very nicely balanced & great mouthfeel.

 

[Vanners]

16 - Viv's APA. Lovely maltiness. Lots of crystal? Or maybe a touch of (pleasant) diacetyl? Very nicely balanced & great mouthfeel.

Yeah I had this as well. A good beer,I agree with Kev about the sweet maltiness. For my taste it could've been a tad less sweet. If you wanted that, maybe try a tad less specialty grain and/or a D-rest near the end of fermentation.

I wish I was knocking out stuff this good with only my second all grain batch. Keep it up Viv!!

 

[brouhaha]

19. JordanElwell - Mosaic single hop AIPA

A nice golden amber colour. Pours with a good creamy white head that disappeared fairly quickly. There's an immediate grapefruit and mango aroma with a hint of something earthy/piney almost simcoe-esq in the background which is awesome, it really hit me right in the back of the nose and had me champing at the bit to get stuck into this beer.

Very hop forward flavour with LOTS of delicious tropical fruit and citrus. I would like to see this beer fermented a little dryer as I feel that the tropical fruit flavours in conjunction with what is probably only a little malt sweetness makes this beer seem sweeter than it actually is - maybe a little too much crystal?. Personally I'd like to see a few more IBU's in the beer to give it a more bitter backbone, but I understand that I probably like my beers more bitter than most. I don't pick up any yeast derived flavours so I'd say it was a really clean fermentation. I've not used mosaic a whole lot but it really comes across like a beer that uses both Citra and Simcoe. I think I'll be using it more after this.

Overall it's a really enjoyable brew that I would enjoy for a couple of pints and a good example of the style. But I think that making it a little dryer and and a little more bitter would have me coming back for 6th and 7th pints. Nice work Jordan.

 

[plunkett195]

Justin's hefe. Quite tart, but an enjoyable weizen, enjoyed it with my dinner last night.

Currently drinking nick's brown ale in the backyard. Fantastic. The balance is of hops to malt is perfect for a brown ale. Getting a bit of burnt toffee too.

So far, from the four I've had of 21-22.... Merri Mashers got some skills! ( but we all knew this already didn't we?)
Like a true home brewer I've got the fear that mine won't be up to scratch!!

 

[swedebeer]

7 - Mattias’s Rasp-Berry Saison

App-
Golden amber with a slight reddish/pinkish hue. Nice fine lacing. Good tight head. Fades quickly.

Aroma-
Whoa, nelly … Raspberry!! Maybe a slight hint of caramel underneath, but that’s it, really. Just raspberry.

Flavour-
(Slightly sour) Raspberry flavour shines through. High carb. Moderate to slightly high bitter bite comes through at the end (but only because this is such a light style). Quite a light & dry mouthfeel, but still full - big ups on that front! I’m guessing the mosaic is in there somewhere, but i can’t pick it - which is perfect for this type of beer (where the fruit is the highlight). Matches well with watching Catherine Zeta-Jones … just saying…

Overall-
Best fruit-infused beer i’ve ever tasted. Raspberries work really well in this, and I’m truly impressed as to how well you’ve gotten both the aromatics plus the flavour of the raspberries to come through so strongly. Again, i’d love to see the detailed recipe (Boom - I've got a brochure, haven't I?!).

Thanks for those awesome detailed tasting notes! Really happy you enjoyed it! Just got some raspberries today, getting ready for batch #2! Here's the recipe if you're keen on giving it a go.

Raspberry Session Saison
Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 40,00 l
Boil Time: 90 min

Equipment: 58L keggle as a boiler , converted 55L esky as a mashtun and a 50L keggle HLT

OG: 1,040
FG: 1,004
Alc. Vol: 4,7%
Measured efficiency: 57,00 %
Start fermentation temp: 24C
End fermentation temp: 26C

8,00 kg Pilsner, Malt Craft Export (Joe White) (3,2 EBC) 88,9 %
1,00 kg Wheat Malt, Malt Craft (Joe White) (3,5 EBC) 11,1 %
40,00 g Pride of Ringwood [9,00 %] - Boil 90,0 min 24,7 IBUs
50,00 g Mosaic [12,25 %] - Boil 0,0 min 0,0 IBUs
2,0 pkg French Saison (Wyeast Labs #3711) [50,28 ml] Yeast
2 kg Thawed Frozen Raspberries (Primary 5,0 days)

Pitched the yeast on a Saturday, dropped the raspberries in on the Monday. Cold crashed on Thursday. Kegged and carbed the beer on the Sunday. Wyeast 3711 is a beast!

Cheers!

 

[swedebeer]

1. Nick (aka vanners) - American Brown Ale

Great looking brew with a nice brownish head that lingers all the way down. Liquid is brown/red. Very clear.

Aroma is caramel, roasted chocolate, some alcohol and American hops. My mind goes towards west coast black IPA's etc. Beautiful.

First sip, well balanced is what really hits me. The bitterness and sweetness together with the alcohol is spot on.

I'm not the best at these reviews but hey man this is seriously awesome! It matches plenty of commercial examples I've had. Good job mate! I would love to brew this at some point!

 

[technobabble66]

20 - Dove’s Ticking Brett Bomb, aka Amarillo Berliner Weisse

App-
Pale golden yellow/straw. Slight white opaqueness as per a weissbier. Mild head, collapses fairly quickly. Bit of fine lacing.

Aroma-
Strong citrusy fruity aroma from the Amarillo combined with little honey element from the malt (pils malts i assume). Slight undertone of sourness (but not in a bad way).

Flavour-
Very interesting light wheat beer with a moderate sour edge. Fruity (citrusy) hops flavours continue to shine through, with a clean ciderish sourness and a slight spicy undertone. Maybe a little of the honey-like malt tones hiding in there also. Slightly high on the carbonation as per a wheat style, though a bit high for me. Light but decent mouthfeel. Bitterness is hard to detect, but with the sourness there’s a nice balance with the malts and hops. Light and refreshing with a dry finish, and very well balanced as such. No sign of alcohol, though i recall this was a low ABV.

Overall-
Another great beer. The aroma and flavour from the hops really shine through, and the overall balance throughout the beer is outstanding. The sourness creates a really nice twist to it. I’ve never done a sour, so i’d certainly be keen to see the details on this one. Excellent heat quencher.

 

[Dove]

Thanks very much for the compliments on the Berliner guys! I'm stoked you're enjoying it. The carbonation is indeed very confusing. Justin suggested for wild beers I could just bottle from the keg which I think will be a much easier way to get an even carb rather than trying to prime a miscellaneous blend of bugs.

I also drank a couple of great brews yesterday!

7. Mattias' Rasberry Session Saison - Totally delicious, heaps of fruit flavour with an awesome dryness from the powerhouse French saison yeast. A better beer than Founder's Rubaeus in my opinion.

1. Nick's American Brown Ale - Another amazing beer! Huge hop hit with a whole lot of delicious nutty/chocolatey malts to back it up. Drinks really well for the higher abv. One of the better browns I've had in a while. Would be great to drink next to Dogfishhead's India Brown Ale.

I also passed both of these beers around to all my mates and they all agreed they were delicious (most of them being hospo and having pretty good palates)

 

[Forever Wort]

Just enjoyed 22 - the Highland Amber. Delicious. Very dark, darker than I was expecting, but exceptionally pleasant to the palate. Had a few out beforehand so can't give more feedback than that, sorry :blush:

 

[Wolfman]

5. Carnie - Frau Farbissina Hefeweizen (Drink Now)

This is classic Hefe!

 

[Wolfman]

4. Forever Wort - Mongrel Saison

**** yer this is a ripper!

Not your typical Saison but I really like it. Fruity, sweet and very very moreish!