Nsw Xmas In July 2006 Case Consumption

[warrenlw63]

From what I can gather here nobody will be fabricating a Marris Otter Ice Beer. :lol:

Warren -

 

[KoNG]

I was referring to previous versions of his brew as well Kong

Shawn.

Sorry Shawn .. you'll note i figured that out just after adding that reply.
Stop talking up your hopping levels Shmick h34r:

 

[Gough]

I was referring to previous versions of his brew as well Kong

Shawn.

Sorry Shawn .. you'll note i figured that out just after adding that reply.
Stop talking up your hopping levels Shmick

:lol: :lol:

My memory of it was that it definitely wasn't lacking in hops... but it wasn't nose-bleed territory. Bit hard on yerself mate.

Shawn.

 

[Stuster]

I've had 5 of the beers so far. I gave some feedback to Linz in person so here are the rest. Fairly short, but hopefully of some use. Personal taste only.

Doc's Irish Red
Nice red colour. Good carbonation and head. Perfect appearance altogether. Thick body, probably a good example of the style but a little too sweet for my tastes.

Stephen's Special Bitter
Good head. Overcarbonated. Light colour. Some herbal aroma and flavour. There was an unusual aroma and flavour to this beer that I couldn't really describe (not very helpful I know.) I know it was an AG beer, but I found myself wondering if it was an extract beer, partly due to the fairly thin body. Sorry that my review can't be more specific, but I couldn't work out what the flavour/aroma was.

T.D.'s Boston Lager
Good head. Perfect carbonation. Good clarity. Honey aroma at first, slightly softening as the drink went on. Clean, crisp flavour, slightly floral. Medium body. I enjoyed this beer, T.D. An easy drinker with nice crispness and some floral flavour.

Nifty's California Common
Again, good head, carbonation to style, slight haze. Gentle, minty flavour (from the NB hops I presume). My notes on this finish here, but I remember I really enjoyed this beer. Great beer and very nice yeast which is currently continuing its work on a steam beer I made on the weekend. This was the first beer of this style I've had and I'm glad I liked it as I had already got all the ingredients together.

 

[Doc]

Stusters Dubbel

Had the pleasure of Stusters Dubbel last night.
Poured cleanly, but with minimal to no head. Good level of carbonation though and a great deep burgundy hue.
Appears to be a little chill haze as well. Not a lot of hop aroma going on, but then that is expected for a Dubbel.
First taste I got some higher alcohols that maybe due to a highish fermentation temp ?
Good body, nice residual sweetness with some low level belgian flavours coming through.
As it warmed up the chill haze receeded slightly and the higher alcohols seemed to diminish. Also a few more flavours became evident.
I really enjoyed this one Stuster, and am happy I have another bottle to savour again later.

Beers,
Doc

 

[Stuster]

Glad you enjoyed it, Doc.

It was actually fermented a bit too cold actually as it was fermented outside at the start of the colder period. Could probably have been fermented a bit warmer to give more of the Belgian flavour to it. It's good to go now from Doc's review. Drink warmer is a good idea. Ratebeer reckon 12-14 for this style. :blink:

 

[Keith the Beer Guy]

Thanks for the feedback about the beer Shmick and Stickler.

I gotta agree with you Stickler - the tasting and thinking about the tasting is a heap of fun, and I'm certainly enjoying the process.

Had the chance to share a couple more ales on the weekend with a few people.

Kongs Bitter

The aroma was malt with an out of place note. At the time I thought the aroma had a solventy note. Others with me suggested burnt rubber.

The beer presented very well. Clear copper coloured capped with a white head.

The beer had malt sweetness and earthy flavours with a dry finish.

Low/medium carbonation.

Overall it was a very drinkable beer, lacking a little bitterness for style.

Thanks for the drop.

Trent's IPA

Let me say Fuggles, Fuggles, Fuggles.

Enjoyed your IPA trent. Aroma was malt and fuggles. The bitterness was good but I suffered from some hop astringency, perhaps a little too much hop as a taste addition (for style at any rate).

However, one of my drinking buddies, namely Dr Dan, was a huge fan. Bring on the hops!

Sorry for the crapiness of this review. Was too busy socialising and not taking enough notes. I apologise in person next BJCP get together.

Thanks,

Keith

 

[KoNG]

Kongs Bitter

The aroma was malt with an out of place note. At the time I thought the aroma had a solventy note. Others with me suggested burnt rubber.

The beer presented very well. Clear copper coloured capped with a white head.

The beer had malt sweetness and earthy flavours with a dry finish.

Low/medium carbonation.

Overall it was a very drinkable beer, lacking a little bitterness for style.

Thanks for the drop.

Thanks,

Keith

Hi Kieth, that doesnt sound to good at all... i definately didn't add any "michelin - low profiles" into the last 10min of the boil... :lol: i had a few extra bottles left over from that brew and have had 2 or 3 in the last couple of weeks, put it this way.. i'm not overly happy with the way it turned out <_< (i think i needed to mash 1-2*C higher and maybe up the flavour additions) but i havent noted any solvent/rubber. I think i have one bottle left, so i wil crack it tonight - give it another go and take note.
sorry about the rubber. (hopefully it was just your bottle..!?!?! )

Cheers
KoNG

ps. i have had a few beers now, so i'll try and get some comments up on board tonight.

 

[Barry]

Good day
Had Stickler's Bitter/APA last night. Really enjoyed it.

Appearance: Gold/dark gold, very clear, fairly good head, low+ carbonation. Looks inviting.

Aroma: Citrus hop (cascade), clean malt with caramel coming through, good balance for style.

Flavour: Fairly rich malt with caramel coming through, citrus hop flavour builds up well, finish is medium malt with some lingering cascade bitterness, low medium carbonation. very good balance of hops and malt.

Mouthfeel: smooth, soft with medium body and enough carbonation to support flavour.

Overall: Really liked this APA, very drinkable. reminds me of subdued LCPA. A very good APA without being extreme.

38+/50. You might give this less in a comp re the high hop bitterness, flavour and aroma expected for the style but I like it the way it is for drinking a pint or two. A very good home brewer I know, who has won many awards for his APA, use to a make high hopped version for comps but drank a more subdued version at home. Hope this makes sense, matter of personal taste in the end. :beer:

 

[berapnopod]

...with apologies to Borrett...

PoMo's English Bitter

Aroma: Papery/perfumy aroma with a bit of toffee malt underneath. Some esters. Little to none hops.

Appearance: Red/brown. Clear. Very thin head.

Flavour: Strong harsh and vinuous flavour that hits you in the nose. No hop flavour. Some malt in there that is characteristic of extract malt, but more pronounced than usual. Bitterness is miedium to low and could be a bit higher for a bitter. Finish is puzzling. Its dry, slightly bitter, also cloying and a touch sour.

Mouthfeel: Medium body ( a bit full for a bitter?). Low carbonation - just right. Pronounced warming that initially hits you in the nose, suggestive of higher alcohols (high fermentation temp?)

Overall: OK, so you reckon there's something wrong with this beer, PoMo? Well, lets see what evidence we have: papery aroma. No hop aroma or flavour. Vinuous, with a slightly harsh warming character, cloying finish. Most of those (paper,no hops, vinouos) point towards oxidation. Pretty strong too. Not sure why it is cloying but there might be something else going on in there that I can't identify. Its difficult to comment on your recipe because the oxidation has killed the hops and so its hard to see what it could have been. Sorry to sound so negative. But I hope this helps for next time!


Berp.

 

[Doc]

Kungy AIPA

Tight white head on a deep golden ale.
Great nose of American hops.
Nice crisp very clean beer. Lots of hop bitterness, flavour and aroma.
If there was anything to detract from it for me, was the dry finish. Probably just me, but I like a slightly more sweet finish in my hoppy beers.
That isn't to say I didn't enjoy it though. I have throughly enjoyed it. A very well made beer. Very enjoyable.

Beers,
Doc

 

[PostModern]

Vinuous, with a slightly harsh warming character, cloying finish. Most of those (paper,no hops, vinouos) point towards oxidation. Pretty strong too. Not sure why it is cloying but there might be something else going on in there that I can't identify.

I don't want to drag this thread down with discussion of the beer that could have been, so I'll try and keep future comments to PM. I think what you say here makes something sing out to me. The beer tasted fine coming straight from secondary to a sampling glass. I always sample from the spiggot before racking to the bottling bucket to see if all is well, and, as usual, it was. As I have not bottled for some time, I have not used the hose I use for racking to the bottling bucket for some time as the one I use for kegging is a lot shorter. It seems feasible to me that my old bottling hose doesn't sit as snug inside the tap as it used to. Perhaps it was sucking air in, in enormous quantity, as I racked from secondary to the bottling bucket? This would account for the massive oxidisation that was not present anywhere before the bottle...

Apologies for harping on.

Now, as it is Friday night, I'll be sampling 3 case beers. I have HardMans Golden Sarz Pilsner. Whose is that? And one labelled JB. Is this James Boag? Who is James Boag?

Already tried PoL's Dortmunder, I will post reviews on tonight's brews tomorrow.

Cheers,
PoMo.

EDIT: typo

 

[Josh]

And one labelled JB. Is this James Boag? Who is James Boag?

Cheers,
PoMo.

JB is me. Already put my hand up for poor labelling. Will be fixed for next time if I am lucky enough to get in.

I have tried a few of the beers and will post my thoughts soon. Currently looking at the last inch of TDs Boston Lager. Don't want to finish it as I am loving this beer.

 

[PostModern]

Josh's Pilsner

Poured a nice pale amber. Slightly overcarbonated, so I had to pour into three glasses and wait for head to settle. Still drinking this as I type.

Excellent pils malt aroma. Nice and rich that aroma. I take a whiff every sip.

Apart from the carbonation, this is a nice sipping beer. Personally I would have lots more late hops, to balance the malt, but am really enjoying this. Maybe some more Caramalt would not go astray (not looking at your recipe, just basing this on taste).

Not bad at all for a first AG.

 

[PostModern]

pint of lager's Dortmunder export

Poured a deep copper colour. Also a bit over carbonated (seems to be a case theme ). Once settled, formed a moussy head. Nice aroma of hops, malt and some yeasty notes as well. Slightly hazy when poured, which I put down to the yeast getting out of floc with the carbonation. A little yeast carried into the flavour but didn't detract too much from the malt and hops. Flavour nice and balanced, with a medium body. Very morish. My wife really enjoyed it. She said it reminded her of the beers she drank in the beer gardens of Germany. My son also enjoyed a little taste and asked for a whole glass A really nice drop only spoiled by the carbonation. Thanks PoL!

 

[PostModern]

DrewCarey84's Pilsner

Poured very clear with a few yeast clumps in the second glass (I guess I tried to squeeze too much out of the bottle). A harsh yeasty aroma like say Toohey's New or VB. No malt or hop aroma. Flavour was clean with no discernable malt or hop. I'm assuming a high adjunct rate as the body was also quite thin, but a... ?? sliminess... maybe from maltodextrin? This beer could have done with more malt and hops and I didn't really like the finish because of the slimey mouthfeel and possibly the kit yeast. No signs of infection, cleanly fermented but lacking in "oomph" to make it stand out. Not a bad beer, but not a great one.

I hope you get some good results with your newly found passion for partial mashes, DC. Seems you have the fermentation side down pat.

Well, that ends my Friday night 3.

Cheers,
PoMo.

 

[T.D.]

I've tried a few beers so far. I figured I'd wait and give my comments for a few beers at a time so now is that time...

Linz's Scottish Stag: Its been said before but the carbonation was too high. In fact it kind of made it difficult to dig down to the flavours that lay beneath. There was some nice malt, but a kind of harsh, almost astringent edge to the flavour. This wouldn't have been helped by the high carbonation of course. Not a bad beer but I must say it doesn't make me want to run off and buy a Grumpy's masterbrew!

Doc's Irish Red: Very nice beer. Really well balanced between the malt and bitterness and a great colour. Also was nice to be able to pour it down to the last drop (gotta get me a counter pressure bottle filler!).

Stephen's Special Bitter: An enjoyable beer but lacked in hop flavour and bitterness for the style in my opinion. Still went down very nicely mind you! Great colour - definitely had that quintessential English Ale look about it.

Barry's Robust Porter: My favourite so far, and I am not usually a big drinker of porters. Beautiful tan coloured head - almost looked like the crema of a coffee! Plenty of body (especially given the 65deg mash temp). Carbonation was spot on. This was a really well brewed beer - you can tell it was brewed with a lot of attention to detail and carefully chosen ingredients etc. I know its probably not traditionally the done thing with this style, but being a hop-crazed brewer I would have liked some more hop flavour/aroma, but geez it was bloody nice as is!

I am just about to crack open Nifty's Californian Common. Looking forward to it - I have only ever tried this style once and it was in North America.

 

[pint of lager]

Have just opened another bottle of my swap beer and it is overcarbonated. Could everyone please check their bottles, release some of the pressure and keep them somewhere safe.

 

[T.D.]

POL, is it ready to drink? I might throw it in the fridge if it is and try it next...

I am onto my last few mls of Nifty's Californian Common and I am wishing it wasn't so! This is a great beer! As I said, my experience with beers in this style is limited, but I am really enjoying this brew! The carbonation is perfect, and its as clear as crystal! Yet another user of the No Chiller Method who is getting perfectly clear beers! The flavour is great - plenty of body (probably helped by the significant amount of Munich in the grain bill) and the hopping is perfect for an every day drinking beer. Head retention is very good also. I have only about 1cm left in my glass now and its still got a few mm of head and nice lacing on the glass. Well brewed Nifty!

 

[Gerard_M]

I was fortunate to score a few extras from the swap case that I have tried over the past week. POL's was a gusher, so was a blank bottle marked JB on the crown. I really enjoyed T.D's Boston Lager. The non-brewers that tried it were very impressed. I also had another bottle of the same brew, but bottled in a Champagne bottle. Interesting to note the effect that the "Punt" in the base of the bottle had on the beer. Lesson learnt.

I am drinking a Ten Inch Porter whilst watching the Rugby. Interesting beer. Very nicely put together.

Cheers
Gerard