Nsw Xmas Case 2007 - Consumption

[m_peve]

Still running behind

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

 

[m_peve]

10. Brewer - Blonde lager - Ah cricket beer!!! Slightly hazy with good sized head. Well balanced with a clean aroma and taste. Bitterness at the finish makes it very refreshing. Great for a summer's day though a storm seems to be coming in from the southwest. Thanks Brewer

 

[m_peve]

5. Gulpa - Pale Ale - Amber colour with fluffy white head. Toffee and biscuit aroma and taste. A 'woody' (I'm struggling with this) taste toward the finish. Balanced towards sweetness which is a nice contrast to Brewer's blonde (the previous beer). I could easy have three or four!! Thanks Gulpa.

 

[m_peve]

1. SJW - (1c-English Bitter) - A surprisingly light amber colour with a small white head that disappeared quickly. Crystal clear. Detectable hops though dominated by the malt flavours. The bitterness level may be a bit low for an english bitter ( more toward an english mild?? ). A touch more bitterness would adjust this (for my tastebuds anyway) 8^)) A really good drop. Thanks Steve

 

[m_peve]

15 (no line). goatherder - Opaque dark beer. The lighting in the room is dim but I'm going to say black. Creamy head that lasts the whole beer through. Hmmm!!! It's almost finished already (that's bad) Fantastic beer Scott. Back to the review. Little aroma that I could pick although maybe some faint coffee/chocolate notes. Taste - Crisp, clean and refreshing. A great balance between malt and hops. Enough of each to be distiguishable but neither overpowers. A light-Medium to medium bodied lager that is something special. A great way to end a hard day at work. Hats off goatherder!! Great beer!!

 

[homebrewworld.com]

Well guys, after plenty of beer wine spirits and shite loads of food, here is the notes i made on our xmas case. Some when i was very drunk and some just early in the day!
I did give a few bottles away to friends to take home so some notes are not here, so sorry if your notes are not here. I was either to gone to take note, or as i say it was passed on to my friends as gifts.
Thanks to all for a great swap and an enjoyable beer feast over xmas ! Cheers HBW




Kabooby: Belgian Double
Very nice example of style, Imediate Belgian aroma , balanced between malt and phenols. Finishes mod dry not to sweet or dry Top Beer !! great start to my case Cheers !

Crozdog: Johnny Nash
Quite clear, light straw colour with white compact head.
Pine / floral aroma, Pineapple fruity citrus taste.
Body light-med. Nice summer beer indeed! Cheers Crozdog.

Stuster: English summer Ale
Pour very nice clear with white persistant head.
Clear to very clear clarity. Thin - med body. Mod carbonation.
Flavour very much like Crozdog Johnny Nash ? i.e Piney floral fruity.
Another top beer Cheers !

Fatgodzilla: American Ale
Lovely aroma... Easy drinkin summer beer
Floral Amarillo flavour ?Nice hop smack in mouth with off white head.
Really enjoyed this Cheers!

Gulpa: Pale Ale
Sorry Gulpa, mine was hit with an infection.

Brewer: Blonde Lager
Looks very Blonde! I got some lacto infection in there too. Call it a farmhouse blonde ! Thats what every guys wants !?

Baramundi: Swap Ale
I came home from work on Xmas eve and smashed this little beauty straight down the hatch ! Great beer for me at the time Kit or not !!

Steve: Ale
Lovely golden colour,
Nice compact head with nice hop aroma.
Enjoyed this one for sure. Cheers

Trent : Brown Porter
Low carb, as i like. Clear-very clear
Bitterness low side, thin body indeed a very drinkable Porter. Cheers Trent

Red Beard: English Ale
Top Beer, a soon as poured supported by a white compact head.
Copper Red colour, exellent balance.
Nice drop Red Beard Cheers mate.

Oatmeal Stout No 7:
Overcarbed out of bottle.
Choc Roast notes, Top drop ! Cheers

19 Farmhouse:
Whew !!! Out there baby !
Try explain this one to xmas guests trying for the first time!
Cheers top drop.

13 English
Great Beer !!!!
I need to brew more pomy beers like this !
I dont have many notes, but heaps of praise. Cheers

8 American
Top drop !
Fruity Amarillo, All the USA notes there, cheers drop drop !

26 Nooch: FES
Had this beer with a xmas pudding ( 12 month old ) and what a combo !
Lovely aroma, complex roast and a little alcohol warmth.
Chocolate/ Roasty very balanced. Very Clean easy to drink. Oh yeah it is xmas !!! Cheers Nooch.

23 Monkeybusiness: FES
Roast/Toasty, lacked a little body for my liking. Low head retention Carb med - low as i like for this beer. Nice drop indeed Cheers MB !

25 Tonys: Sheepshager
One of my top favourites of this case !!!!
I want a keg of this Tony !!
Lovely lovely aroma, but not as bitter as i expected.
Balanced to perfection. Very smooth with alcohol warmth in there, but not hot.
Cheers again !

15 Oblomov: Belgian DarkStrong Ale
Ruby, Garnet colour. Low head retention ( as expected for this )
Nice malt backbone ( melanoidin malt ? ) some alcohol warmth comes through.
Top beer for me !! Really enjoyed it. Cheers.

 

[Tony]

Glad you liked my beer HBW.

I tried yours tonight.

There isn't much i can say. Tastes like a FWK beer

I made one a while back.... an amber ale (ESB) one and it tasted exactly the same. I wasnt impressed with it.

Carb was perfect, It laced the glass which was nice but i didnt really enjoy the beer. It was a bit cardboardy to my taste.... the hops were kind of dirty..... the same as the FWK i bought all those years ago.

It would have been nice to taste a beer you brewed mate.... not just a FWK i could have made myself.

SHould this be a rule for future swaps... only beers you made youself. Sure there are some extract and kit beer in here and other swaps but they have some passion and personal expresion in them. They are the wares of the brewer that entered the swap.

Im sorry HBW but I would have rathered you brewed something yourself that was worse than just tip a FWK in a firmenter.

cheers

 

[redbeard]

Tony, I think u might find that HBW did actually mash / boil it, then no-chill it, followed by the ferment. Just that he probably did a few 100l at once (http://www.homebrewworld.com/html/ezybrew.htm). If you dont like the beer, then thats ok, everyone's got an opinion

cheers

 

[Stuster]

Tony's Sheepshagger. Great beer. Very smooth, nicely balanced, the hops do seem to have dropped off a bit, but there's plenty of nice malts in there instead. Excellent stuff.

Peve's APA. Another good beer on the lighter hopping side of APA, and again nicely balanced. A tasty, easy drinking beer. Thanks, Peve. As you asked about my beer, I was left wondering which hops they were.

 

[homebrewworld.com]

Sorry you didnt like it Tony.
Yes, i made it just like you made your contribution ( as redbeard points out ).
Anyway Merry Xmas

 

[Tony]

Well fair enough HBW. I will apolagise if i offended you with my comments on you not brewing it yourself. Just the thought of a retailer picking up a FWK off the shop floor and tipping it in a firmenter. To me the case swap is more than just getting beer to drink..... i already had it in the first place if i entered the swap. Its about trying beers people put some thought and effort into. Individual expressions of the best they can do, that they put out for all of us to try, judge, enjoy or tip out depending on your taste buds.

I was also a bit harsh with my critic of the beer too but i was honest. I would hope people are honest about my beers too. If they taste it and go......oh thats a well made beer but the hop flavour is very off putting..... i would rather they say that than call it an "interststing hop flavour" to avoid upsetting someone. And in no way am i saying someoun has done this. My point is that i need honest (good and bad) feedback to inprove my brewing.

I felt your beer was a well made beer. It had great body, colour, carb was perfect and it laced the glass. It was a bit hazy but my taste buds dont see that...... haze doesnt worry me. I felt the overall flavour character of the beer was a bit kind of dirty and stalish.......i dont know the exact words but it didnt have the clean slightly sweet malt and fruity cirtus hops i look for in an APA. As i said before..... I made an Amber Ale FWK years back. It was one of the Peakhurst (ESB) ones and i have never forgoten the flavour it had. This tasted exectly the same and i still cant put my finger on whats in it. Almost like its got a heap of amber malt in it and its overly buiskety.... but its not just that, its hop character as well in the mix.

CHeers

 

[Gulpa]

Keith - Australian Farmhouse Ale - with extra alcohol

Feeling the extra alcohol bit. Im having trouble typing :huh: . Interesting beer. Not sure how to describe it. Flat belgian like with distinct caramel bits is the best I can do. Alcohol is there but not over powering. Im really enjoying it and I wasnt sure that I would (I sometimes find these beers a bit funky). Fantastic beer, Keith. Thanks heaps.

Cheers
Andrew.

 

[Gulpa]

Gulpa: Pale Ale
Sorry Gulpa, mine was hit with an infection.

Im really sorry about that, HBW. Ive had a few of these now. Some seem OK and some seem infected (with varying degrees). Ive obviously screwed up somewhere in the bottling dept.

Andrew.

 

[Fatgodzilla]

Im really sorry about that, HBW. Ive had a few of these now. Some seem OK and some seem infected (with varying degrees). Ive obviously screwed up somewhere in the bottling dept.

Andrew.

Ditto Andrew.. Not a huge infection in my bottle but noticable. Drunk it anyway !! A lot to like about it. I just pretended that was how it was supposed to taste (kind of like some weird saisons I've tried !!!!)

 

[Punter]

I've had a big day at Potters brewery today, so sorry for being vaige. (sp?)
17. Snaglers ESB
poured with a nice creamy head, good colour,slight haze, good carb, nice hop aroma
and a good crystal/hoppy taste with a nice bitterness.

 

[Punter]

15 underlined.
Hazy brown colour with a head that didnt last long. Couldnt detect much aroma with my blocked nose.
First taste was of licorice/molasses which died down further into the bottle. Nice alcohol warmth.
But not my kind of beer.
Thanks for letting me try something different mate.

 

[Punter]

2. Stusters summer Ale.
Poured aq nice golden colour with a head that didnt die..
Spicy aroma which carried into the taste. Good carb with a bitterness that
lingered into the finish.
Cheers.

 

[Punter]

19. Keiths farmhouse ale.
Whoo. After a big day at the brewery I dont think I should
have had this beer today!
Good Phssssst on opening that poured cloudy with
good carb and a thin white head. First taste was a good
malty backbone with the big alcohol kick hiding behind
a nicely balanced beer. Slight winey aroma & flavour.
A bit too much at 10% after today.
Thanks Kieth.

 

[Tony]

20 Trents Brown Porter.
Poured well, nice carb, whispy head that didnt hold very well. Very clear and the colour was fantastic. Posibly a bit light for a porter. It is the same colour as Floppinab's bitter i had yesterday. Around the 30 EBC mark i recon. not as dark as tooheys old would be.... more nut brown ale colour. The trade off was not much roasty chocolate flavour or aroma. I got plenty of sweet crystal malts in there with a touch of roast but it needed more. Bitterness was firm and well ballanced to the malt. A touch of hops and pleasant yeast character.

All in all id say its a great Northern Brown Ale! ..... Dry, ballanced bitternedd ans sweet caramel malts.

A Porter needs more chocolate in my opinion.

Great beer though mate....... much injoyed

cheers

 

[Tony]

4. Barramundi - swapale.
Poured clear and a nice golden colour. HEld a good head in the same glass for both halves of the bottle which is great. Clean with a malty presence and a firm bitterness that lingers nicly. VEry refreshing!

Did you add some hops tro this mate..... it being a kit beer and all. It smelt great when i first poured it. I sniffed and thought.....oooo thats nice. It has a fresh clean crisp aroma. It has a touch of yeast flavour and aroma but its bugger all. mostly present when warmer at the end of the glass.

cheers and thanks for the beer.