Nsw Xmas In July Case 2008 - Tasting Notes

[Doc]

James - American Toasted Oat Porter, at least 4 weeks
Decent pour, one finger head that resembles a good bread starter.
Hint of roast through the aroma.
Deep deep colour with only a subtle ruby hint.
Lots of caramel up front, with big residual sweetness. Hints of stone fruit with a slight roasty finish.
Very velvety mouthfeel probably from the oats.
A complex beer. Very interesting.
Cut back on the body a little and you'll have a great winter session beer.

Doc

 

[Doc]

Last cab off the rank for the night.

Muggus - French Oak Porter (Bottled 9th June '08, 7.1%. Needs at least a month of warm bottle conditioning)
Lovely label.
Great to see some presentation.
Great pour, with a solid 1/2 finger bready head remaining.
Oak whisky aroma coming through on the aroma big time. Awesome. Smells like my bourbon.
Oooooh, first taste and I'm getting typical red wine flavours (liked I cooked dinner in tonight). Shiraz
Great deep deep just off black colour with ruby hue.
Perfect level of carbonation. Not cask, not commercial. Brilliant.
Full bodied with hints of vanilla, nut, chocolate.

Really enjoying this Muggus. Maybe a little heavy on the Oak, but all good.

Doc

 

[Tony]

have you got a buz up after all that doc?

 

[Doc]

have you got a buz up after all that doc?

A little buzz going.
Will finish off with a few of my own beers

My wife is back tomorrow (after being away for 8 days at a Genetics Conference) and the Hills Brewers are touring AIB.
Happy Days

Doc

 

[Doc]

Last cab off the rank for the night.

Muggus - French Oak Porter (Bottled 9th June '08, 7.1%. Needs at least a month of warm bottle conditioning)
Lovely label.
Great to see some presentation.
Great pour, with a solid 1/2 finger bready head remaining.
Oak whisky aroma coming through on the aroma big time. Awesome. Smells like my bourbon.
Oooooh, first taste and I'm getting typical red wine flavours (liked I cooked dinner in tonight). Shiraz
Great deep deep just off black colour with ruby hue.
Perfect level of carbonation. Not cask, not commercial. Brilliant.
Full bodied with hints of vanilla, nut, chocolate.

Really enjoying this Muggus. Maybe a little heavy on the Oak, but all good.

Doc

I just have to say again. That was a damn fine beer.

Doc

 

[schooey]

First up, the bottle looked like it had been through the yeast slurry from the fermenter.

:unsure:

Sorry folks, it was actually a tallie of yeast slurry that got knocked of the fridge and splashed over that crate, I just forgot to give thema wipe before they went off to the swap. Apologies in advance

 

[Fatgodzilla]

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

Since no one has fessed, I reckon they are my "extra beers" I added to the mix. I only could bottle 25 bottles for the swap so brought some lagers I had to boost the numbers. With the dropouts and no shows I had enough of the original entries to meet requirements, but left the extras in anyway. A hard drive crash means I have lost all my Beersmith notes about this beer and have no idea what's in it. The 7 actually is an L for lager which I underlined to differentuate from my main swap beer. I reckons its from a series of AG lagers I brewed in autumn using a wyeast european lager of some sort. The hops are likely perle (I had a mob of them and chucked them into a few brews). Malt likely JW pale with IMC munich or pilsner added or maybe some Weyerman melanoiden and JW wheat chucked in. Sorry can't be specific. I know I liked the batch which is why I was happy to add them to the swap beers.

Best to treat these beers as drinking beer not thinking beer. Anyone else score one ?

 

[Muggus]

Brew: 1. Stuster - Belgian Tripel
Date: 8/8/8
Beer info: Bottled in brown 750ml bottle, gold cap "1" Wyeast3787,bottled 7/6, 9.8%

Sampling notes:
Served chilled in goblet.
Beautifully clear viscous-looking golden body with sizeable dense white. Spicy nose, packed full of fruit, apple and pear, some grainy caramel maltiness, alcohol is very well concealed. Full-to-dense body, good carbonation with some silkiness about it, alcohol shows itself in the density, but isn't too warming. Big rich body, plenty of apple and spice in there bolstered by caramel maltiness, esters seem to shine through much better with rise of temperature, dried apricot/sultanary even, alcohol is well concealed amongst it all. Very nice indeed, certainly has the overall appeal of tripel rather than just a blonde Belgian strong ale. Thanks Stu!

 

[Muggus]

Brew: 18. Thirstywench- IPA.
Date: 10/8/8
Beer info: Bottled in brown CUB 750ml bottle, green cap "18"

Sampling notes:
Served chilled in goblet. Pours pale copper body with pretty decent clarity and a small amount of offwhite foam. Good hit of spicy, earthy, citrusy hops (English?) straightup, something perfumy about it, sweet toffee biscuit malt in the backgroud, maybe a touch of bread in there too. Lean body, soft carbonation, drying throughout spurring on the moderate bitterness. Sweet toffee body with some nice earthy and fruity hop flavours (vanilla? passionfruit?), slightly grassiness towards a drawn out dry finish. Nice hoppy ale, seems borderline Bitter/IPA, but thats a fine line anyway! Cheers Thirstywench!

 

[Flex Broker]

James - American Toasted Oat Porter, at least 4 weeks
Decent pour, one finger head that resembles a good bread starter.
Hint of roast through the aroma.
Deep deep colour with only a subtle ruby hint.
Lots of caramel up front, with big residual sweetness. Hints of stone fruit with a slight roasty finish.
Very velvety mouthfeel probably from the oats.
A complex beer. Very interesting.
Cut back on the body a little and you'll have a great winter session beer.

Doc

Cheers, Doc. Thanks for the positive comments. Agreed on the lack of drinkability - I think this beer would be more of an end of session brew at the moment. Don't know the exact alcohol content, but I suspect it's about 6.5%. After tasting one myself the beer is not quite ready to drink, I reckon. It has a vinous, alcoholic quality that will take some time to settle down a bit.

 

[Muggus]

Brew: 23. Jez - Belgian Golden Strong Ale
Date: 11/8/8
Beer info: Bottled in brown 800ml Reshchs Dinner ale bottle, gold cap "23"

Sampling notes:
Served chilled in goblet.
Orange gold body with some hazy and a small dense white cap atop. Reasonably subdued aroma; lemony citrus zest, with some unripe stonefruit alongside it, throw a bit of sweet bread and spice in the mix there. Body shows its size straightup, thick, sticky, juicy malt profile, moderate carbonation with a silkiness about it all, dries out toward the finish. Rich biscuity grain malt the base for plenty of stonefruit flavours (apricot, peach) along with some citrus (lemon, bitter orange), adding a nice zesty sharpness to the overall flavour. Finish is quite lengthy, bit of alcohol makes an appearance with warming of the beer, with a bready note. Very tasty, quite Duvel-esque...how strong we looking at here Jez?
Cheers!

 

[3GumsBrewing]

Brew: 1. Stuster - Belgian Tripel

Hey Stuster, this brew was awsome!!

To tell you the truth my IIPA runied pallet could not tell much difference from a my Belgian Golden Strong ale, what should I be looking out for in a Tripel?

Also have you posted the recipe?

Anyway a bloody top brew.

Cheers
DK

 

[Stuster]

Glad you liked it, DK.

To be honest, I think they're really that Tripels and Golden strongs should be in the same category but don't say that too loud or I might get my judging badge revoked. In theory though, a tripel isn't as dry as a golden strong and usually not quite a light in colour. Basically, it comes down to Tripels being based on the Westmalle one and Golden Strongs being based on Duvel. There's so much more variation in a category like bitters though. :blink:

Anyway, enough style-geekery. Sounds like you enjoyed the beer which is good to hear. :beer:

 

[Muggus]

Glad you liked it, DK.

To be honest, I think they're really that Tripels and Golden strongs should be in the same category but don't say that too loud or I might get my judging badge revoked. In theory though, a tripel isn't as dry as a golden strong and usually not quite a light in colour. Basically, it comes down to Tripels being based on the Westmalle one and Golden Strongs being based on Duvel. There's so much more variation in a category like bitters though. :blink:

Anyway, enough style-geekery. Sounds like you enjoyed the beer which is good to hear. :beer:

Its such a fine line. But then again alot of styles, according to the BJCP, can be very similiar.
As you mention, i've always found Tripels (specifically the likes of Westmalle and Karmeliet) seem to have a darker hue and seem somewhat more regimented in their quality, ie, better balanced and more complex. And then you have your strong blonde Belgians which can be something like 6-7% session beer to something as brutal as Dubuisson Bush Ambre.
At the end of the day, the power of suggestion really seems to be all brewer has to make their beer fit in that 'tripel' catagory, and from there the drinker has to make up their mind what catagory if falls in.

 

[jonw]

Best to treat these beers as drinking beer not thinking beer. Anyone else score one ?

I did. Unfortunately mine was a gusher, so I didn't get to drink it!

Cheers,

Jon

 

[Flex Broker]

Brew: 1. Stuster - Belgian Tripel

Hey Stuster, this brew was awsome!!

To tell you the truth my IIPA runied pallet could not tell much difference from a my Belgian Golden Strong ale, what should I be looking out for in a Tripel?

Also have you posted the recipe?

Anyway a bloody top brew.

Cheers
DK

The Belgians hate style guidelines so trying to define rules that go along with their beers is a bit like trying to herd cats. One helpful way to discriminate between tripels and golden strong ales is that golden strongs tend to have a fruitier profile and tripels focus more on the spiciness. Tripels are also usually more bitter and have a more pronounced hop aroma.

 

[Jez]

Orange gold body with some hazy and a small dense white cap atop. Reasonably subdued aroma; lemony citrus zest, with some unripe stonefruit alongside it, throw a bit of sweet bread and spice in the mix there. Body shows its size straightup, thick, sticky, juicy malt profile, moderate carbonation with a silkiness about it all, dries out toward the finish. Rich biscuity grain malt the base for plenty of stonefruit flavours (apricot, peach) along with some citrus (lemon, bitter orange), adding a nice zesty sharpness to the overall flavour. Finish is quite lengthy, bit of alcohol makes an appearance with warming of the beer, with a bready note. Very tasty, quite Duvel-esque...how strong we looking at here Jez?

Thanks for the detailed notes Muggus.

It wound up about 8% I think.

Jez

 

[Flex Broker]

I'm drinking Kabooby's bock at the moment. Or should I say gulping the stuff down. This is a fantastic beer. Great rounded malt flavour, with flavours of caramel, dark chocolate and warming alcohol. Perfect for a cold night. There's also some great vinous qualities to the beer. Very complex and really, erally drinkable for a beer of this weight. Awesome job, Kabooby.

 

[kabooby]

Thanks mate, glad you liked it.

Kabooby

 

[Tony]

Muggas oaked porter.

worked a 16 hr day yesterday. got home at about 11pm and wanted something enjoyable to finish a long stresfull day commissioning raw coal conveyors at one of the hunter valleys largest coal mines.

opened the fridge and found this one.

Perfect!

Poured in a nice pint glass with a big wide mouth.

YUM

Full aroma of smooth roast malts and oak, no decernable hops, a touch of sweetness on the nose....... very nice start.

tasted........... swished...........Oh yeah.

Medium body, smooooooooooooooooooooth finish, Who was it that said secondary doesnt improve a beer?
Malty, sweet and roast compliment, guessing the sweet is the oak. I can taste the oak and its very nice....... perfect amount for me. nore would have overwelmed the beer, less would have been hard to really decern.
once again..... bugger all hops for me, a bit of yeast character but clean and smooth!

low carn making for a smooth lasting finnish and a very easy to drink dark beer.

Thanks mate........ top notch!