Nsw Xmas In July Case 2007 - Consumption

[petesbrew]

Had another one of Trent's complimentary stubbies last night. An APA (batch 106).
Low carb but nice thin creamy head. Had a really nice floral aroma and taste to it.
A really nice beer overall. Stupidly I'm coming down with a cold, and should've left it till I have my full senses back.
Cheers, Pete

 

[Trent]

Glad ya liked it Pete
I always tend to carb my APA's and IPA's fairly low when I can. I will try my IPA later in the week and let ya know how it is (cause I know you were gonna compare it to yours in a few weeks)


Anyway, I had SHMICKS ESB on friday night, before heading to Chilled's wedding on saturday morning. The brew was very lively when I first poured it, I got 2/3 foam in a pint glass. It took a few mins, but settled down to a good carbonation level. The aroma was of caramelly malt sweetness, some faint esters and a low-ish hop aroma. I drank it at the neighbours, so didnt take notes, but I recall the colour being really nice, a deep copper colour, but slightly hazy(?). The flavour was great, plenty of maltiness, and a reasonably firm bitterness with a little hop flavour. Everything about it was well balanced, and I can honestly say I wish I could brew bitters like this. It was an excellent beer, and one that makes me very excited about the rest of the case. A great contribution, Schmick, with a great label to go with it. Thanks for sharing it with us
All the best
Trent

 

[3GumsBrewing]

13. T.D. - Honey-Brown Lager

Nice drop T.D.
Great colour, smell and taste. No bitter aftertaste which I like :lol:

Really went down well, could have easily had a couple more of these!
The "honey" was the colour and not any additions was it?

Cheers
DK

 

[crozdog]

Hi guys,

Just wanted to advise that I tryed my irish red on Sat might (for quality purposes of cource B) ) & must say it is ready to go! :beerbang: I'd suggest drinking it a bit warm ie around the 8+ degrees to get the full effect, cause it was a different beer after I'd left it out for a while to when I first porured it.

It's the 1st time I've tried to make this & must say I'll be doing it again!

Hope you all Enjoy it.

Crozdog.

 

[Slurpdog]

Just put TD's Honey-Brown Lager and Pete's Dark Ale in the fridge to chill down so I can give them a run tonight.

 

[DJR]

Had a few tonight so i'm going to be breif

DJR- Dusseldorf Alt
Dark copper colour, good carb with a thin off white head.
Slight malt aroma, medium bodied, malty with a slightly lingering bitterness.
Nice beer, thanks mate.

Glad you liked it. It's actually my first attempt at an Alt. It was about 70% Pils, 30% Munich/Vienna and some carafa for colour. Just got a 60m and 80m charge of Mt Hood and Saphir, that's it. 100g of low alpha hops at that rate does leave some hop aroma/flavour :lol:

 

[PostModern]

Slurpdog - Choccy Porter

Sipping Slurpdog's Choccy Porter now.

It initially poured very foamy and was a tad overcarbonated, so I let it sit in the glass for 10-15 mins giving the glass the odd swirl. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I have tasted a few American Porters recently and this beer fits right bang in the middle of them. A bit dry, a little fruity (from hops?) and with a choc/roast flavour right in the middle. Quite nice once the gas gets out of the way.

Cheers Slurpdog! :beer:

 

[Slurpdog]

Just hooking into TD'S Honey-Brown Lager.

The first glass poured very clear, so if you take your time pouring, that clarity should last till the last glass.
Very fine , persistant bead and a roasted honey aroma on the nose.
The flavours are very well integrated with first the malt then the slight bitterness of the hops coming through on the finish.
I'd say the flavour is more dominated by the malt than the honey but different people will pick up different things in the final product.

 

[Slurpdog]

Slurpdog - Choccy Porter

Sipping Slurpdog's Choccy Porter now.

It initially poured very foamy and was a tad overcarbonated, so I let it sit in the glass for 10-15 mins giving the glass the odd swirl. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I have tasted a few American Porters recently and this beer fits right bang in the middle of them. A bit dry, a little fruity (from hops?) and with a choc/roast flavour right in the middle. Quite nice once the gas gets out of the way.

Cheers Slurpdog! :beer:

Wow, I'm really suprised that people are picking up on the fruity side of the beer.
Sounds like you guy's are fairly susceptible to the Amarillo I snuck in there!
I think it really gives things a lift.

 

[PostModern]

tbh, I generally prefer unhopped English style porters, with a little more body, but the US style is a refreshing change. The hops in your one are obvious, especially now that you mention the variety a lot like the porters from Flying Dog that I tasted the other night. I'm just getting to the end of my second glass now and... yeah, it's nice. The choc really comes through once its warm.

 

[Punter]

Just finishing off Redbeards pale ale
Mate, on the list you say its got low carb, my bottle is fine.
Poured well with a nice white head that lasts till the end, with
good carb. Pale straw colour, with a bit of haze. Good hoppy aroma.
Nice hoppy flavour, with good bitterness.
This tastes very similar to tonys bright ale I made
recently, but this is a lot smoother. I used czech saaz in mine.
Very nice beer redbeard, thanks.

 

[Slurpdog]

Just sampling Petesbrew's Dark Ale.

Poured with a light brown head and large thick persistant bead.
Black as night in colour, the beer is well carbonated.
Just looking at it you'd swear it was a stout.
As with all beers out of my fridge it started off fairly cold, but once warmed up started to show slight sweet, roasted malt aroma's.
The taste mirrors the lightness of the nose and is no where near as heavy as the colour might suggest.
Quite dry on the finish too.
All together quite a nice, subtle drop.

Did you add any grains to the recipe Pete?

BTW love your label. It rocks!

 

[Punter]

Trents dry stout
This is only the 2nd stout i've ever tried!
Black as you can get, with only the slightest whisper
of a head. Lightly carbed. I think I drank the first glass too cold,
left the rest to warm up a bit and the flavours really came out.
Some smokey flavours in there which i thought were pretty nice.
Dry, roasty and very filling. That could be the massive steak I ate
while drinking this tho.
All up a very nice beer Trent, thankyou. may even try and brew a stout
myself now.

 

[PostModern]

I'm going to have to start chilling these beers ahead of time, I think. Just got another carbonation bite from a freezer-chilled beer.

DJR's Alt

Copper/amber coloured, very clear. Poured with lots of foam (must be the freezer-chill trick stuffing about with CO2 equilibrium?). Malty aroma. Hint of hops. Once settled and the carbon bite passes, it tastes like the ingredients list Very clean fermentation. Nice and dry, yet malty with some hops in the background. A little too carbonated, detracting from the flavour until the gas blew off, but given the number of bottles I've experienced this with, I think it's my chilling method.

Cheers DJR, you've given me a good benchmark. My only attempt at Alt so far ended up being fermented with WLP017 (had to keep the strain going until I brewed an ESB for it and the Alt wort was all I had on hand!) so it was a very different beer to this.

 

[petesbrew]

Glad you liked it Slurpdog.

Yep, I steeped 150g Choc Malt for 1/2 hour. I'd previously used 250g, and geez it came through. I don't know why I dropped it back (only cos Country Brewer sell 150g bags). in future I'd punch it back up.

It sucks having a cold.... I'm awaiting the return of all my taste buds till I open the next tallie.

 

[petesbrew]

Cracked open Shmick's Special Bitter last night.
Mate, this beer was fantastic! Bittersweet Caramel Toffee flavours, low carbed, and a nice thick head.
I've only made one bitter so far, and I keep forgetting how good this style tastes. This has made me realise I need to make more.
I took a photo, but forgot to download it last night... Will post it over the weekend.

By the way. I'm sending PoMo's bottle openers up to MHB's today for you N'Castle guys (my boss is heading up to Wallsend so he's gonna try to head over that way). So next time you're in the shop he should have them for you.

Pete :beer:
edit: pic added.

 

[Trent]

Gday all
Punter - Glad ya liked me stout. Its always a tightrope walk going in these things, as in if yer ever gonna do a bad beer, this will be the one! I have got one good review, so I am happy now. Everyone else can be as critical as they want

Just sipping away on SHONKY'S IPA - Without meaning to sound harsh, I am just going to describe the beer (which I am quite enjoying, mind you) as I am not sure if I may have gotten a ring-in or not. On the lid was a 7 written in liquid paper. Speaking of paper, there was actually some on the rim of the bottle under the lid :lol: Anyway, the beer istself poured with low-ish carbonation, as warned, but it isnt too bad, developed a nice off white head that is slowly dissipating. The first thing I noticed, was the very dark colour of this beer, it is like a deep brown, about the colour of my brown ales. The aroma I get, rather than being hops, is a distinct honey aroma, more pronounced than in TD's honey brown lager. As a matter of fact, I coulda mistaken em! The flavour is also of honey, and caramelly maltiness. The bitterness is med-high, and I cannot detect the hops as prominently as I was expecting. I put my hand over the glass, and gave a light swirl then took my hand away and sniffed, and instead of hops, I actually got quite a solventy aroma - not terrible and "oh yuck", but it is definitely there, and fades quickly back to honey. The beer is quite sweet, as if it had a high FG, or had honey used as a priming agent (?) The beer is clear when held to the light, and is a beautiful copper colour. The bitterness is high enough to keep the malt sweetness in check, and balances it well. I can only ASSUME that the honey note is a sign of oxidation, as hop aroma certainly breaks down with oxidation, and can sometimes (IIRC) have a honey note to it.
The body is fairly full, and it is thick in the mouthfeel, but is far from a bad beer, it is clean, no signs of infection, and is quite pleasant, if not a little filling.
As it warms, the alcohol note comes through a little more in the aroma and flavour. What temp was this fermented at, and were their any sugars added? My apologies if everything was done correctly, and there were no sugars, I am just trying to work out where the higher (but not hot) alcohols have come from.
As it is, I may have gotten a ring in somehow, but if not, then if you dont mind, Shonky, I will treat it as a Honey Brown Ale and thoroughly enjoy it as such.
Thanks for sharing, and all the best
Trent

 

[Trent]

Now I am having Slurpdog's choccy porter
It is certainly quite a drinkable drop, at first I was getting the faint hint of chocolate, but I am not getting it so much any more. It is quite a nice beer, probably more along hte lines of a robust porter with the hop aroma as it warms. At first, there was a fair metallic aroma, though I seem to be alittle sensitive to that (whatever the hell causes it!) There is a fair slab of roastiness in there, a med-high bitterness, and a slight fruitiness. The fruitiness isnt esters (I get them alot in my porters during summer), but I would not have picked the amarillo, there mustnt be much in there, as I find it to be one of the most distinctive hops going. Doing the "hand over the glass and swirl" trick bring out the chocolate again, and it really reminds me of cocoa. Did you put some cocoa in the boil or in secondary? Or is it just a whack of choc malt? Anyway, I quite enjoyed this beer, as other have pointed out, its a bit overcarbed, but still something nice to drink on a cool winters night.
Thanks for sharing
Trent

 

[nifty]

I have just finished Punter's Schwartzbier, a very nice beer. I'd like to give this a go soon, so I hope you post your recipe.

thanks

nifty

 

[Josh]

I tried my leftover bottle last night. They should be carbed now, so maybe chuck it in the fridge and give it a week to settle out and it should be ready for next weeks Friday night footy.