Nsw Xmas In July Case 2008 - Tasting Notes

[Gulpa]

1. Stuster - Belgian Tripel, Wyeast 3787, bottled 7/6, 9.8%, needs some time

I thought some time must be up by now.

Poured clear gold with a nice head that falls down to small that stays. Belgian nose (sorry that the best I can do :huh: ). Low carb but just right. More belgian in taste that lingers nicely. Alcohol come through slightly as it warms a bit. Great beer. Nice way to start the evening. Thanks Stu.

Im constantly surprised about how much alcohol can be hidden in a well made beer.


Ive had a couple others over the last couple of weeks that I havent written up. Memory is a bit vague

25. Loftboy - Blue Mountain Lager with dry-hopped Hallertau. 4.8% ABV. Bottled 23/03/08.
Had this after working all day in the garden. I remember this going down a bit to quickly. Perfect beer for after a days work. Thanks Loftboy.

3. nifty - stout (maybe)
Had this in the evening while mashing a couple weeks ago. Cellar temp during that cold snap we had. Stout maybe, certainly. Thick black and roasty. Sipped all evening. Nice beer. Thanks Nifty.


Not too many left now and not one has gone done the sink yet. That certainly a first for me. Looking forward to the next one.

Cheers
Andrew.

 

[Stuster]

1. Stuster - Belgian Tripel, Wyeast 3787, bottled 7/6, 9.8%, needs some time

I thought some time must be up by now.

Poured clear gold with a nice head that falls down to small that stays. Belgian nose (sorry that the best I can do :huh: ). Low carb but just right. More belgian in taste that lingers nicely. Alcohol come through slightly as it warms a bit. Great beer. Nice way to start the evening. Thanks Stu.

Im constantly surprised about how much alcohol can be hidden in a well made beer.

Glad you liked it, Andrew. Enough time should have passed by now. I was going to try one tonight actually to see if it was ready to go. Carb should probably have been a bit higher, but I was a bit anxious about making a swap beer into a grenade so decided to cut it back.

There was some alcohol in there. Hope you're feeling a warm glow from it now.

 

[Muggus]

Been a while...but I'm getting back into the tastings with a vengence after a week in wine country...

Brew: 10. Insight - Terrapin Rye Pale Ale clone
Date: 5/8/08
Beer info: Bottled in brown 750ml Coppers bottle, gold cap "10", WLP051, 5.4%, bottled 08/06/08

Sampling notes:
Served chilled in goblet.
Pours a beautifully creamy dense white head, leaving solid lace atop a uniformly hazy amber body. Citrus hops, peach stones and earthy spice on the nose, grainy biscuit and toffeeish malt in the background, the slightest hint of bready yeast. Full bodied, moderate carbonation, smooth and creamy texture, perhaps the slightest grainy-derived astrigency. Delicious flavour; grapefruit skins, unripe nectarines and peaches, spicy bread, sweet toffee malt and grainy cereal/biscuit. Finish lingers with citrus, grainy dryness with a bold bitterness. Gee, this is a bloody good APA! Excellent balance, with a little extra 'spiciness', I guess you could call it, from the rye. Thanks alot for sharing this Insight!

 

[Muggus]

Brew: 28. Linz - Over dunked Dunkelweizen
Date: 5/8/08
Beer info: Bottled in brown 750ml bottle, gold cap "28", cool label "Hand made beer/made right here", wlp 300

Sampling notes:
Served chilled in weizen glass.
Pulled out the appropriate glassware, and was rewarded with a large foam offwhite head atop a considerably clean cola body. Clove spice apparent straightup on the nose, brown sugar-like sweetness in there, with some subtle roasty/melanoidin-like and liquorice maltiness. Carbonation is reasonably lively, body not as creamy as carbonation leads me to believe, slight stickiness about the texture with a bit of a lactic sharpness. Spice cuts through the slightly nutty roasted, liquorice maltiness of the body, bold clove with a touch of apple and dark berry tartness, yet enough sweetness in there to balance it out. Finish has a slight sharpness, tiny bit of bitterness and spice lingering. A style of beer i'm very fond of, and wasn't let down by the complexity of this one. Cheers Linz!

 

[Muggus]

Couldn't get this far down the list without critiquing my own beer. Which seems logically next in line anyway...

Brew: 8. Muggus - French Oak Porter
Date: 5/8/08
Beer info: Bottled in brown 750ml Coopers bottle, gold cap "8", Bottled 9th June 2008, FG 1.008, 7.1%

Sampling notes:
Served lightly chilled in goblet.
Near-opaque deep brown body with ruby highlights and a dense, lasting tan collar. Dark chocolate maltiness upfront on the nose, brandy-like/vinous oakiness seemingly spurring on the alcohol, some caramel and earthy hops in the background. Carbonation is low, lengthy palate, smooth, oily texture, alcohol and wood seem to combine to give a drying impression long beyond the finish. Flavour seems to be a balance between roasted malts and vinous oak; dark chocolate, vanilla, roasted nuts, burnt wood, toffee, dark berry and apple, somewhat tannic towards the finish with a warm embrace of alcohol. Finish is not as chalky/woody as most oak aged beers i've tried, making it a tad moreish, which ain't good seeming i'm considerably cut after half a bottle. A different take on the porter, quite boozy in all honesty, but an intriguing experiment none-the-less.

 

[Flex Broker]

Just a quick word on that toasted oat porter I brought in to the case swap. I tried a bottle a few days ago. While it's drinkable now, I would definitely suggest leaving it for a while for everything to integrate. It's just a bit heavy going at the moment.

 

[sah]

I've had a head cold and haven't been trusting the snoz and palate too much, however I must comment on these two special beers.

1. Stuster - Belgian Tripel, Wyeast 3787, bottled 7/6, 9.8%, needs some time

Complex belgian flavour, I don't know how to describe what's happening on my tongue. I like that character. A delicate sweetness and alcohol bitterness and warmth both feature, the former comes latter I enjoyed it very much.

8. Muggus - French Oak Porter (Bottled 9th June '08, 7.1%. Needs at least a month of warm bottle conditioning)

This beer is outstanding. Very clear for a porter. My wife tastes coffee but I get none of that. Vanilla is strong, where does that come from? The oak works really well. Nicely sweet, not dry or bitter, that's different. A little alcohol out back. Muggus from your reviews it's clear that you really cherish the subtle aromas and flavours. My senses aren't quite as keen, however I can say there's a lot going on with this beer and it's all good. Thank you.

regards,
Scott

 

[floppinab]

Guys, I've just had quite an interesting beer but I'm interested to know more about it. My palate is no doubt letting me down but it seems to me a typical aussie lager, very PoRrry.

So who's is it??? Well the cap presents a mystery, written in black texta, the hieroglyphics look something like the following

_
|
/

Or the other way round looks like

7
|

There's no way it could be 2 or 7. Any info. appreciated

 

[Muggus]

8. Muggus - French Oak Porter (Bottled 9th June '08, 7.1%. Needs at least a month of warm bottle conditioning)

This beer is outstanding. Very clear for a porter. My wife tastes coffee but I get none of that. Vanilla is strong, where does that come from? The oak works really well. Nicely sweet, not dry or bitter, that's different. A little alcohol out back. Muggus from your reviews it's clear that you really cherish the subtle aromas and flavours. My senses aren't quite as keen, however I can say there's a lot going on with this beer and it's all good. Thank you.

regards,
Scott

Thanks for the review Scott!
Chances are the vanilla you taste is an oak derived flavour. French oak in particular gives off vanillary, buttery, often maple syrup, sort of flavours and aromas. The sort of flavours that are more common place in something like a heavily oaked chardonnay, rather than a beer.

 

[Muggus]

While this topic is fresh, i've got a two-for-one stout session...

Brew: 3. Nifty - Some Sort of Stout
Date: 6/8/08
Beer info: Bottled in brown 750ml CUBs bottle, gold cap "3", Bottled 1st June 2008, abv 5.4%, OG 1.060 FG 1.019

Sampling notes:
Served lightly chilled in goblet.
Opaque black body with small tan collar. Big roasted malt on the nose, burnt, somewhat smokey graininess in there, some wood and bread in the background, possibly some vinous undertones amongst it all. Low carbonation, oily texture, body is quite thin for a stout, only a touch of astrigency from the roasted malts. Nutty malt upfront, slightly sweet, crystal maltiness leading onto far more roasted notes of charred wood, deep roast coffee and tar(?). Finishes with a lactic dryness, not too tannic, not too bitter, smooth, quaffable. Very nice, no nonscence stout, cheers Nifty!

Brew: 27. Monkeybusiness - Oatmeal stout
Date: 6/8/08
Beer info: Bottled in brown 750ml bottle, gold cap "27", Bottled 25-6-08

Sampling notes:
Served chilled in goblet.
Deep black body, theres signs of carbonation in there somewhere, leaving a tiny offwhite collar. Muted roasted malt nose; roasted nuts, dark coffee, wood and cereal. Smooth oily texture, little prickles of carbonation on the tongue, medium density about the body, possibly the slightest bit sticky too, barely any astrigency. Nutty malt dominates the body, slight burnt and woody notes in there, along with some mollasses, deep roast coffee, and floral hop character emerging with warmth. Dry finish, mildly bitter. A particularly smooth stout, goes down a treat. Cheers Monkeybusiness!

 

[Stuster]

Gav, could it be 25? Seems like the only one that it could be is Loftboy's Blue Mountain Lager.

Glad you liked my beer, SAH. Recipe should be in the recipe thread. (Must remember to put recipes in database from now on. )

 

[Tony]

I also tried Monkeybusiness' stout a few nights ago.

Low carb......... head died away to nothing but that didnt worry me. This was one of the nicest stouts ive tried in a while. Smooth, clean, smooth roast coffee, roast malt. Sweet and bitter...... fairly neutral ballance. Oily texture as Muggus said, probably due to the low carb.

A very enjoyable stout. thanks.

For anyone still sitting on it.......... put it somewhere over 20 deg for a few weeks and see if it carbs up some more

great beer thanks mate

cheers

 

[Flex Broker]

Had the Terrapin Rye clone last night. Poured an organe amber colour, a little hazy. Fantsatic head with great retention. Seriously, I've only seen a handful of other beers with retention this good. Nice fruity hop aroma with a little spiciness from the rye. Taste is assertively bitter, which enhances the dryness of the beer. Rounded hop flavour with a bitter finish. Spicy, light malt flavour. A little young perhaps. Bitter, refreshing finish. Went down very easy - a very nice session beer.

Good work, Insight!

 

[Doc]

Finally getting back into the case after letting the beers that need some time to have some time
First beer heading into a big weekend :beerbang:

Tony - ESB, Wyeast 1469 TTL yeast... about 6.5% abv..... not sure
Good pour, good initial head that almost fully dissipates after a few mins.
Lovely brown colour with a nice malty aroma.
Great malty body with residual bitterness that reminds me of the classic ESB style.
Lovely beer.

Doc

 

[Doc]

Insight - Terrapin Rye Pale Ale clone, WLP051, 5.4%, bottled 08/06.

Great pour, awesome nice tight fluffy head.
Awesome deep golden colour with slight opaqueness.
Nice aromatics from the aromatic hops.
Awesome lacing forming on the glass.
Lovely grapefruit flavour on the initial hit. A very malty backbone with the late balance towards malt more than dry and crisp with lingering bitterness.
A lovely drop. Almost downed the whole tally in the few mins it has taken to write this

If it was mine, I'd add some pilsner to the grist and drop the mash temp a little to give it a dryer finish.

Doc

EDIT: Just re-read the beer title and noticed it was a RYE IPA. Rye is giving it the body, and is to style. Disregard my comments then for a PA. I love Rye beers, especially RyeIPA's and this is a cracker.

 

[Doc]

floppinab - Nthn English brown, WLP004, bottled 12th June filtered out of necessity, needs 4-6 weeks in the bottle)

Whoah, we have a live one here.
Big foamy pour. Large bubbled foam.
Deep burgundy hue. Filtering has produced a very clear beer.
There is something going on at the front of the palette that I can't pinpoint.
A lot of flavour on the tongue, good balance, but (personally) prob missing some of the roast/caramel flavours of some of the Nth Eng Browns I've previously tasted (HB).
A good solid beer. Clean well balanced.

Doc

 

[Linz]

So who's is it??? Well the cap presents a mystery, written in black texta, the hieroglyphics look something like the following

Dont suppose you could supply a pic of the cap...I'll have a look in my case for the mystery mark...

 

[Doc]

Schooey - English Mild - You can drink now, but a week in the fridgewould do it good. It's overcarbed for style
First up, the bottle looked like it had been through the yeast slurry from the fermenter.
My wife is away at a conference and has the camera, so here is a really crappy shot from the webcam.



Optimistically I'm hoping I got maybe the last bottle from the batch and some of the sediment dribbled over.

Pours lively. Nice big solid big bubbled white head.
Lovely ruby hue and crystal clear. Aromatics of peaches.
Not a huge body, with a residual sweetness.
Very quaffable lawnmower beer.
Nice and clean.

Doc

 

[Doc]

Linz - Over dunked Dunkelweizen(1st attempt)

Decent pour, with a good solid head that dissipates to a single finger pretty quick.
Great weizen aroma, and a very pleasing medium brown colouring. Great clarity.
Very good balance. Not too malty, not too thin.
Carbonation is great too for a wezien.
Really enjoying it Linz. Great beer.

Doc

 

[Tony]

Na doc.......... Schooey won the award for the dirtiest bottles in the swap. Clean inside but looked like they had a mud bath on the outside

:lol:

cheers