Nsw Xmas Case 2007 - Consumption

[nifty]

Righto, this is the final list of beers in the NSW case swap.
Post your tasting notes below.


1. SJW - (1a-Bo Pils) (1b-Bav Lager) (1c-English Bitter) (1-d Duvel Clone) All ready to drink!
2. Stuster - English Summer Ale, WLP005, bottled 28/10 - ready to drink
3. Fatgodzilla - Ronald Reagan all American Ale .. Can drink now but probably needs at least a month more conditioning. A mid strength with Simcoe, Amarillo & Glacier, Wyeast American II ale yeast.
4. Barramundi - SWAPALE (US-05) (sorry guys due to time restraints its a kit beer)(bottled 6/11/07) tasted ok into the bottle)
5. Gulpa - Pale Ale (Nottingham) - Bottled 25/11 - give it a few weeks
6. nifty - esb (WLP023) Bottled 18/11/07. Best to drink it quickly.
7. KillerRx4 - JZ Oatmeal stout (WLP002) ABV 4.9% Bottled 6/10/07.
8. Peve - American Pale Ale - Golden - ABV 4.5% Ready to Drink
9. Steve (ACT) - Nelsons ******* Ale (Nottingham) - Bottled 27/10/07 - ready to drink
10. Brewer - Blonde lager (WLP 830)Bottled 19/11/07
11. Punter- Summer Blonde (US-05)-Bottled 17/11/07-Leave it for a few weeks
12. Kabooby- Belgian Dubbel (WLP550)
13. floppinab - English Bitter (Nottingham) - Bottled 7/11/2007, ABV 4.9% - ready to drink but will improve over the next month
14. N/A
15 (underlined). Oblomov - Belgian Dark Strong Ale - WLP500 - Bottled 29-SEP, ABV 8.0% - ready to drink
15 (no line). goatherder. - Czech Dark Lager. Wyeast 2001. 5.1% abv. bottled 17/11/2007
16. HomeBrewWorld.com- American P.A. EzyBrew Fresh Wort. 514 Dry Yeast. Good to go for Xmas !
17. Beerslayer- Australian Pale
18. - see 15 -
19. Keith - Australian Farmhouse Ale - with extra alcohol, Wyeast 3711 VSS French Saison
20. Trent - Brown Porter
21. Thommo - Cream Ale - Nottingham, bottled 25/11/07, so will need 1 week before you fridge it.
22. Muggus - Armoured Hawk Ale (American Amber Ale) (US-05) ~8.0%abv Bottled 27/10/07 - should be good to go
23. monkeybusiness - something like a foreign extra stout
24. MVZoom - Clayton Koelsch - the one you have when not having a Kolsch. Needs 4 weeks more bottle conditioning (do not put in fridge) Started out a a Kolsch using Wyeast Kolsch yeast but appears more like an ordinary ale.
25. Tony - The Sheep Shagger. 7.4% ABV. 1.066, 66 IBU Bottled 25/10/07. Ready to drink.
26. n00ch - Foreign Extra Stout (Wyeast 1084)- Don't drink until christmas atleast, 26A- Hefeweizen (Wheast 3068)- Only bottled this week so leave some time to carb up then drink.
27. crozdog - The Johnny Nash "I Can See Clearly Now" Bright Ale
28. redbeard - English Bitter (Nottingham). Ready to drink. The sooner the better !

 

[nifty]

I might as well kick off with a quick note about my contribution.

It seems it has developed a bit of an infection. I cracked a test sample last night and it had a slight band aid taste. After I picked up from flops today, I put my no.6 in the fridge to cool down and have just cracked it, mmm bandaids.

When I opened it, there was a gassy pop but no gusher. It might be best to get this one out of the way now while it only tastes like half a bandaid in each bottle, than later.

My apologies people, I've never had a noticeable infection before. Bloody Murphy and his law, it had to happen on the xmas case swap.

nifty

 

[Oblomov]

8. Peve - American Pale Ale - Golden - ABV 4.5% Ready to Drink

Drinking this one right now. Beautiful colour, nice head, smells excellent. Hoppy but not overpowering, nice balance. Dry finish. Excellent beer.

Here's to hoping all 28 are like this one:

 

[Muggus]

Can't wait to start getting stuck into them sometime in the near future.
I might crack a bottle of my brew when I get a chance. It seemed decent out of the fermenter, but i'm still a bit paranoid that I somehow buggered up. :blink:

 

[Fatgodzilla]

First two bottles drunk and appreciated. The Crozdog's Bright Ale (#27) was an lovely easy drinking thing that set me up nicely for Stuster's Summer Ale. (#2) Went from there to a large steak and a nice drop of Red. What better way to round off a weekend. Thanks men !

I'm planning two longnecks a tasting session, next one on Wednesday. Redbeard (#28) English Bitter and Steve's (#9) Nelson's ******* Ale next cabs off the rank. So many beers, so poor a liver !

 

[SJW]

I had Redbeards English Bitter #28 last night and I am not sure about it..............................
Carbonation was fine and all the rest was fine for a EB but IMO there was this funny after taste. I dont think it was an infection but put it down to being a hop that I have not used. Not a bad drop but I would like to see the recipe and find out where the after taste came from.
We will see what the others think.

Steve

 

[Stuster]

It seems it has developed a bit of an infection. I cracked a test sample last night and it had a slight band aid taste.

It might be best to get this one out of the way now while it only tastes like half a bandaid in each bottle, than later.

Thought I'd better get this out of the way as you suggested, nifty. Poured a beautiful red colour (love to know the recipe for this one to know how you got that colour, might start a recipe thread). Tight, creamy head which lasted really well. I've had bandaids in my beer before, but I really didn't pick up any in this beer (full disclosure - it was pretty late at night, but only my second beer). What I did pick up though was astringency, very dry taste and a bit of a puckering aftertaste. Still, as I say, it was late so it could just have been me.

Sorry to hear about your dog, mate.

 

[Trent]

I, too, am sorry about your dog, Nifty.
I just tried your ESB, and as Stuster said, it poured a lovely colour, crystal clear, probably a little too much carbonation, but other than that it really looked the piece. Unlike Stuster, however, I did manage to pick up the band aids, they were fairly prominent to my nose, and also on the palate (though I could see how stuster has referred to it as astringent). There is a VERY feint line around the neck, and I am very sorry to say that I couldn't finish it. Sorry that ya got a bad batch for the xmas case, but it will happen to the best of em.

Redbeard's English Bitter
I have not been a fan of some of Redbeards previous offerings (just my opinion, of course), but found this one to be much more pleasing. A little hazy, but a lovely colour, just the right amount of carbonation and plenty of esters and hops on the nose. It was fairly pleasant to drink, though I did pick up a "grassy" flavour in the aftertaste that I seem to be sensitive to. It wasnt as prominent as in some of my own beers - though my beers that have that flavour have always gone down the sink, until now (as I recently bottled a few stubbies of a particularly bad case, only to have friends tell me they could taste nothing wrong!). Either way, the grassiness detracted a little from the enjoyment, but I still thought this was a pretty good beer.
Thanks for sharing
All the best
Trent

 

[Trent]

#2
Given that I am still holding onto Stuster's Bier de Garde from last case swap, I figure that I had better review his english summer ale early in the piece.
Very nice amber colour, fairly hazy (though given that it is straight from the fridge, it could be chill haze) and a nice dense white head. Malt and a little fruitiness on the nose, and a slight medicinal aroma (though I am using the same glass I just had Nifty's ESB in). Medium low body, moderate bitterness and some malt sweetness. The bitterness lingers into the aftertaste, and there is a moderate hop presence that has the grassiness that I found in redbeards beer, but much less noticeable.
Not the best beer I have had from you, but quite an easy drinking beer that I am certainly enjoying.
All the best
Trent

 

[Muggus]

Brew: #22. Muggus - Armoured Hawk Ale, Bottled 27th October 2007, 8.0%abv

Yeah, I know it's my own beer, but i'm also yet to officially try it and I figured what better way to kick off the case-swap tastings than try my own crappy beer and work my way up to the good stuff!

Served chilled in glass.
Quite a pungent grassy fruit hop aroma, citrus and tropical fruits, something familiar but I can't exactly put my finger on, possibly passionfruit or guava. Some slightly noticeable caramel maltiness, and a note of alcohol as it warms. Pours a dense, murky, deep bronze body containing many a chunk of hop with a dense collar of off-white foam. Mild carbonation, full-to-rich bodied, lengthy palate with quite an assertive lingering bitterness. Hop character is dominant on the body; lemon citrus, unripe stonefruit, nondescript tropical fruitiness with a subtle hint of underlying maltiness, leading to a dry finish.
A word of advice: though I couldn't see myself drinking many of these, the abv is a creeper! h34r:

 

[m_peve]

On your advice Nifty, I thought I'd get to #6 first up.
Great label, I didn't even have time to take the old labels off my bottles!! Sorry to hear about the dog.

A very attractive beer when poured, clear and a brilliant copper colour; though i am noticeably colour blind at times :huh:
Perhaps too much carbonation for an ESB? Maybe caused by the rogue yeast?
Unfortunately, I got the 'band-aid' aroma and flavour as well, and i struggled to taste the beer underneath.
Disappointing because given it's presentation, it promised to be a beauty!!

Cheers
Pete

 

[nifty]

Yeah, it's a shame about the beer. I guess I'll have to look at my process, maybe I got a bit slack, although I can't see that I did anything different from all my other brews. I hope the brew I have fermenting now is ok. It tastes alright, but then, the xmas case was tasting good at bottling and 2 weeks down the track it is off.

Anyway, sorry guys, especially whoever got 2 of mine.

As for the assistant brewer, he had a good run at 15 and a half years. He was a good mate.

Cheers

nifty

 

[kabooby]

Pretty tuff school so far for the beer judging h34r:

 

[floppinab]

Pretty tuff school so far for the beer judging h34r:

Given it's my first case................ I'm more than just a little aprehensive

Hmmm, I might sign up under another name and start talking my beer up before you blokes get to it

 

[Stuster]

#2
Given that I am still holding onto Stuster's Bier de Garde from last case swap, I figure that I had better review his english summer ale early in the piece.
Very nice amber colour, fairly hazy (though given that it is straight from the fridge, it could be chill haze) and a nice dense white head. Malt and a little fruitiness on the nose, and a slight medicinal aroma (though I am using the same glass I just had Nifty's ESB in). Medium low body, moderate bitterness and some malt sweetness. The bitterness lingers into the aftertaste, and there is a moderate hop presence that has the grassiness that I found in redbeards beer, but much less noticeable.
Not the best beer I have had from you, but quite an easy drinking beer that I am certainly enjoying.
All the best
Trent

Thanks for the detailed review, Trent. I'm interested that you picked up a medicinal aroma (not sure if it's just the lingering effect of the earlier beer which sometimes happens, have to see if others pick up on it too). The grassiness is presumably from the dry hopping, used 15g of EKG on the 31L batch, so shouldn't be too intense. Easy drinking was the aim for this one, so glad that's how it seemed.

 

[Gulpa]

I tried Nifty's as well last night on his advice. Agree re appearance etc and well carbed. The problem was there in my bottle if you went looking for it. I thought it was a quite minor aspect of the flavour . Ive had much worse :huh: and I didnt have any trouble finishing the bottle. Perhaps some bottles are better than others.

 

[SJW]

I had Stusters #2 Summer Ale last night and and Peve's APA #8. Both great beers and great to drink with no problems that I could detect.
Sorry about the lack of detail.

Steve

 

[Trent]

Gday
Just tried a stubby of my porter, and it is drinking OK, but is fairly undercarbed. Dunno why, 'twas bottled 3 weeks ago. It wouldn't hurt to leave it another week or 2, but is drinkable now either way.
All the best
Trent

 

[Trent]

#9
Steve's ******* Nelson Ale
Pours a crystal clear golden amber colour, with a long lasting dense white head. Sweet caramel malt, some honey notes, fruity esters and moderate hops on the nose, though i cannot pick the hops. Slightly lemony - glacier? Anyway, there is a medium-high carbonation, firm malt and a pretty high bitterness. The lemony comes through in the flavour, adn the beer finishes fairly sweet. I would suggest that it is a little too bitter to be an easy drinking beer, and could benifit from a 5IBU drop, and maybe more.
It is an enjoyable beer, though leaves me burping a little bit, and also a little bloated. As I said, nothing wrong with the beer at all, and the appearance is faultless, but when I started brewing, my beers were similar to this, very full in body, heaps of flavour and bitterness and something I loved to drink - only problem was they were too bloating to drink more than 3 or 4 glasses in a sitting. I find this problem in this beer (though I am being picky). I can only suggest mashing lower, or reducing the amount of crystal in there (if any) to make it more drinkable. There is just a residual sweetness there that I find distracting, or possibly a little cloying, that I found in my extract beers (though I mean no offense if this beer is all grain). I dont think I could drink more than the 2 glasses in the bottle, but I am certainly enjoying it. My suggestions are only to increase the drinkability, and be a little more to my tastes. Apart from that, it is a very well made beer, looks the part, and has HEAPS of flavour and character. Maybe try brewing it to a lower starting gravity next time, and if it is a mash brew, mash lower to get a lower FG, and you will have an excellent, easy drinker.
Thanks for sharing.
Trent

 

[Keith the Beer Guy]

#28

Loved the pour. Gorgeous colour. Aroma great complexity. Malt came through with hints of sweetness. Excellent.

Great mouthfeel with a pleasing creaminess. Carbonation level spot on.

Well balanced beer, malt well balanced by low/low med bitterness.

An odd flavour stuck out. Almost a hint of lemon with a perfume like character. I wondered for a while if it was a grain charcter, a little bit of astrigency perhaps, but in the end I think it's a hop flavour that stands out a little bit too much.

Overall, a good looking, easy going, easy drinking, enjoyable lighter style beer. Well made.

Thanks for the ale.

Keith