Nsw Xmas Case 2007 - Consumption

[Stuster]

Thommo's Cream ale - as others have posted, this one had lots of phenols, band-aids/medicinal aroma and flavour (from the one sip I forced myself to take). Seems like this one got infected, Thommo.

floppinab's English bitter - light-brown, brilliant clarity, thin head which persisted, low aroma on opening (a bit too cold), light hop aroma and flavour, clean malts with some darker fruits, balanced bitterness, clean with few esters, some dry, roasty flavours at the end. Did you use some roasted barley or chocolate? All in all, a great beer for a session IMO, with plenty of flavour, but the nice dry finish made it very drinkable. Thumbs up from SWMBO as well. Putting on a pointy BJCP hat, it's in some ways not quite a typical bitter, with not much in the way of in some ways more like a mild, but that's really beside the point as it was a very good beer. I'm going off now to see if it's in the recipe thread already. :chug:

 

[monkeybusiness]

OK, I'm finally getting around to a few comments to the beers that I have tasted. I had been holding off to share a few of them with my brother who also brews.

My apologies in advance for the lack of detail. Part of this exercise for me was to see what flavours etc others recognise in a beer and compare with my own experience. I need to work on what it is that I like other 'I like that', 'don't like that', this tastes funny.

Anyway here we go.

Brew #8 Peve - APA
First off the rank for me and I though this beer was tops. Really easy drinking on a summer day (as it was). Had a great head and golden colour with a pleasant kind of tinned peach flavour underlying. Top beer.

Brew # 2 Stuster - Summer Ale
Poured great and tasted good too. Brother thought it was good also. I did get an unusual aftertaste but that may be hops that I haven't come across before. Sorry nothing really constructive here. Drunk on Xmas day so was too preoccupied to make proper notes. just good beer.

Brew #1b SJW - Bavarian Lager
Haven't really tried this style before but I enjoyed what I had. yes, again tasty beer.

Brew #28 Redbeard - English Bitter
Beautiful reddish caramel colour with great head and carbonation. I thought this well balanced and easy to drink beer.

Brew #25 - Tony
I saved this to last because this was the best beer I have had in a long time. Was suddenly very sorry to be sharing the experience with my brother and thought momentarily about knocking him out so I could drink what I just poured for him h34r: . I can't get over that this was 66IBU as I didn't notice the bitterness at all. Something to aspire to.

Thanks to all above as they are all good beers that I would be happy to have brewed.

-monkeybusiness

 

[monkeybusiness]

And now just a few comments on my beer (stout).

I drunk one a few weeks ago and it was flat then so I've been hoping that the carb would come up over time as the FG was 1020. I did however prime at just under 5g/L so I would've thought there would be a bit more carb than what is there (unless of course I duffed the measuring <_< ). Could it be that my yeast was clapped out and unable to do the priming?

I've also had some recent head retention issues so added some wheat malt for a creamier feel and some head retention which would be fine if there was head in the first place! I'll post in the recipe thread and would appreciate any feedback.

I would hang on to mine a little longer in the hope that some fairies magically come and fix up the carbonation which may fix the sweetness Tony mentioned (it was almost too sweet for me).

And of course thanks for the reviews Tony and Homebrewworld.

-monkeybusiness

 

[Fatgodzilla]

11. Punter- Summer Blonde - Clear Golden straw colour with good sized head that disappeared quickly (though it could have been my glass). Little aroma to speak of, and malt is the driving force in the taste department (not overpowering though). Light bodied with a crisp finish that is perfect for day 2 of the Boxing Day test. Excellent summer beer punter (shame that there is no more ). Thanks Pete

Punter's #11, Summer Blonde

Ditto all of Peve's comments. No head - undercarbed certainly. Only fault. This beer tasted tasted real nice, real noice. A tad more life needed, yes, but certainly a brew I'd buy a slab of. Tah mate.

 

[m_peve]

KillerRx4 - JZ Oatmeal stout (WLP002) ABV 4.9% Bottled 6/10/07.

Highly carbed. Filled half the pint glass with foam. Didn't truly gush though.
Light medium body. Some roast in the aroma but not as much as I expected.
Taste was as expected though. Enjoyed it. Thanks Killer!!

 

[m_peve]

12 - Kabooby- Belgian Dubbel (WLP550)

Really well made kabooby. A light brown colour, lighter than others that I've had. Not overwhelming in taste with alcohol well hidden. Excellent!!

Pete

 

[m_peve]

22 - MVZoom - Clayton Koelsch -

Clear, golden colour with medium head that last well. Aroma, I didn't get because I've picked up a cold.
My only experience with Koelsch is that from Potter's and it is different to that beer though the base yeast flavour seems the same. A good crisp beer well worth drinking.
Thanks MYZOOM and Fatgodzilla

Pete

 

[Fatgodzilla]

5. Gulpa - Pale Ale.
Poured a nice clear deep golden to orange colour, Some fresh hops in there that i enjoyed, smooth beer with a refreshing bitterness, held a good head and was carbed perfectly. Nice beer mate.... thanks.

5. Gulpa - Pale Ale.

Ditto Tony's comments. Poured this into my favourite Stella Artois glass which allows the nose to inhale the lovely aroma before pouring this nectar down the throat. The flavour was lovely. Enjoyed two glasses of this brew. This beer is as good as it gets. Others will make it different, but they won't make it better. Good stuff mate.

 

[Tony]

I put this in the HAG swap post so its been moved to its ritefull place.

cheers

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

Mate!............Maaaaaaaaaaaaate!

Fantastic beer. I shared it with my brother and we both agreed it was a quality beer.

Big malty sweet chocolate aroma, ballance between bitterness, sweet malty body and chocolate roast was perfect. Carb was perfect. Clean well made beer. One to be proud of...... thanks for the bottle.

13. Floppinab - English Bitter

Fantastic colour..... nice deep copper with no haze at all poured chilled. Carb was a tad high but didnt go over the glass so non problems. Big fluffy tan head that eased back to a nice head to the bottom of the glass. Nice sweer crystal malt sweetness to ballance the bitterness that is there but smooth and refreshing...... even in this fairly malty beer. Nice crisp english hops that are done just right.
Very impressive english bitter....... very drinkable.
The best bit is i still have the second half of the bottle in the fridge

cheers and thanks for the tops beers folks!

 

[SJW]

Floppinab - English Bitter

What Tony said, that was a great drop. Well done.

Steve

 

[Stuster]

Gulpa's Pale ale
There seemed to be a low level infection in here, Gulpa. Noticeable in the aroma and the flavour. Other than that, the recipe seems good, clarity was excellent, good carbonation and there seemed to be some nice malts and hops hiding under the phenolics. Happens to everyone from time to time (certainly does to me anyway). Look forward to your next case entry.

 

[Fatgodzilla]

Gulpa's Pale ale
There seemed to be a low level infection in here, Gulpa. Noticeable in the aroma and the flavour. Other than that, the recipe seems good, clarity was excellent, good carbonation and there seemed to be some nice malts and hops hiding under the phenolics. Happens to everyone from time to time (certainly does to me anyway). Look forward to your next case entry.

Explain yourself further sir. I tasted nothing wrong (though my palate is much younger and therefore I might see something different). If something was wrong, what should I and others be looking for ?? :unsure:

 

[Trent]

Explain yourself further sir. I tasted nothing wrong (though my palate is much younger and therefore I might see something different). If something was wrong, what should I and others be looking for ?? :unsure:

FGZ
I had Gulpa's Pale Ale the other night, and it appears I have so far neglected to review it. From memory it looked the part, but there was a strong phenolic and band-aid taste to it that I couldnt get past. For mine, it was a definite infection, and from the sounds of it, it is isolated to a few bottles. Obviously some will get a good bottle, and others a bad bottle.
As far as what you should be looking for - if it tastes good, you can detect nothing wrong with it, and you quite enjoy the beer, who am I (we) to say that it isnt enjoyable? I have made too many infected beers in my time, and understand how much it sucks, so am not trying to bag out Gulpa or his beer. If your bottle had a low level infection in it, my money says you would have known about it.
That said, if you personally dont find it infected, then just do what most are doing here (and as you did), and post your findings as you see them - doesnt mean that everyone else has to agree.
All the best
Trent
PS It appears I DID review it, and here is my account of said beer. Hope that explains it enough. T.

#5 Gulpa's Pale Ale
Pours a beautiful crystal clear amber colour, with a dense white head that dissipates to a thin white head that lasts.
Aroma is caramelly malt, but not much hops, along with a moderate sourness that suggests infection. For the record there was also a light ring around the neck at the fill line, which suggests either an infection, or priming with DME.
Bitterness is medium, with some caramelly malt, though the sour flavour takes over, and suppresses any hop flavours, and alot of the malt. Pity, cause the appearance is great, carbonation is spot on (maybe a little high, but I have found that with my infected beers). Sorry that it happened to a case swap beer, but it tastes very similar to my recent house infection. I tried EVERYTHING to rid myself of it, and the only thing that worked was replacing all of my plastic fermenters. If you have had this bug more than once, I suggest you do the same. Its not cheap, but much more sensible when ya consider the cost of ingredients and hours that go into a regular brew.
I look forward to your next contribution, as everything else with the beer seemed spot on.
Thanks for sharing
Trent

 

[Stuster]

Seems like Trent and I got the same thing, a medicinal aroma and flavour, band-aids. I'd be surprised if you didn't taste something like that in the beer I drank. My guess is it's just something in a few bottles rather than the whole batch.

 

[Fatgodzilla]

Seems like Trent and I got the same thing, a medicinal aroma and flavour, band-aids. I'd be surprised if you didn't taste something like that in the beer I drank. My guess is it's just something in a few bottles rather than the whole batch.

Agreed. Two says yes, two says no. Whilst not conclusive, does point to a bottle by bottle proposition. My worry, I was missing something that really, I couldn't find. clearly, nothimng phenolic in my bottle (or Tonys)


Pity, I think you missed a good'um. I rated this beer very highly. Go figure. Something to think about everybody !!

edit : extra comment.

 

[Tony]

FG... my bottle was a tad funky but as i said...... it wasnt to a level that detracted from the beer too much, but from memory, it was there in after taste.

I drank all of it, i have tipped others out so my bottle wasnt too bad.

From what others have said, id say it was a good beer but bottle sanitation needs attention.

you may have got a clean bottle

cheers

 

[Fatgodzilla]

FG... my bottle was a tad funky but as i said...... it wasnt to a level that detracted from the beer too much, but from memory, it was there in after taste.

I drank all of it, i have tipped others out so my bottle wasnt too bad.

From what others have said, id say it was a good beer but bottle sanitation needs attention.

you may have got a clean bottle

cheers

Yes. Luck's a fortune.

 

[Gulpa]

Sorry for the infected brew guys. Ive had a few of these now and bottles and they vary from undetectable to badly infected. It wasn't in the bottle long enough for me to discover this before the swap. Im very disappointed/embarrassed it turned out that way as it seems to be nice beer otherwise.

Fatz, I get confused by the infection bit as well. I find common infection can range from a not unpleasant yeasty character to undrinkable. The trick is to brew a badly infected beer. You never forget the taste.

I will have to redeem myself in a future swap.


Cheers
Andrew.

 

[Stuster]

The trick is to brew a badly infected beer. You never forget the taste.

I think that's why I can pick the taste so easily.

Not to worry, Andrew. These things happen.

 

[Fatgodzilla]

Sorry for the infected brew guys. Ive had a few of these now and bottles and they vary from undetectable to badly infected. It wasn't in the bottle long enough for me to discover this before the swap. Im very disappointed/embarrassed it turned out that way as it seems to be nice beer otherwise.

Fatz, I get confused by the infection bit as well. I find common infection can range from a not unpleasant yeasty character to undrinkable. The trick is to brew a badly infected beer. You never forget the taste.

I will have to redeem myself in a future swap.
Cheers
Andrew.

I hear ya brother. Been there, done that. My worst was from not washing the bleach based sterlizer from my fermenter properly. Bandaids !!- more like a hospital.

I was worried that what I tasted as good someone else thought bad. Hate to miss out on anything. Since I got the good bottle, there wasn't anything bad in it, so you at least know it wasn't the brew. I've no doubt you'll redeem yourself.