Nsw Xmas In July Tasting Notes

[Muggus]

Beer: Stuster Oatmeal Stout
Date: 21th August 2010
Details: 750ml bottled, gold cap 13 Pacman yeast, 6.4%, bottled 4/7/2010
Sampling Notes:
Served in a pint glass.

Inch of fluffy tan head sits atop a deep brown/near-black body with ruby edges.

Moderately low aroma intensity. Good dose of chocolate malt and roasted meatiness, with notes of toasted cereal and leafy, tobacco-like hops.

Slick, oily texture on the body with moderate carbonation and a solid proportion of roast astringency that dries out the palate and lingers for a good while.

Body packed full of roasted malts; golden toasted cereals, espresso, bitter chocolate, charcoal. Hops deliver an earthy leafy note that lingers and provides a reasonably high bitterness.

Really nice stout. Great texture and flavour with excellent balance. Cheers Stu!

 

[DJR]

9. Josh's Dopplebock.

Nothing much to say except great beer, and had no idea it was 7.5% Great bubblegum/malty flavours and nicely rounded out.

 

[Muggus]

Beer: 7. Retsamhsam - APA
Date: 23rd August 2010
Details: 750ml bottled, gold cap 7 (Motueka and US Cascade all the way through) Sampling Notes:
Served in a pint glass.

Pours a reasonably clean gold-copper body, good bit of white head holds on.

Fragrant sort of aroma with decent intensity. Reminds me a slight bit of a cold climate Gewrztraminer at first with some limey citrus and delicate rose-water/Turkish delight notes, bit of grassiness in there too, though an unmistakable note of toasty malt kicks me out of wine-wanker mode into beer-wanker mode.

Body is reasonably lean, surprisingly abrupt malt texture on the palate, with a medium sort of carbonation.

Flavour certainly hits the mark for an APA; good hit of citrus, good hit of grass, good hit of cedar, with some light caramel malt sweetness. Lingering bitterness dries the palate out quite a bit.

Really like the combination of hops in this beer. Ive tried NZ Cascade and Motueka before and really didnt like the combinationbut Ive just figured out Im not a fan of NZ Cascade, which would explain a few things. Quite a dry sort of APA, which makes it really easy to drink and the tastes brings me back. Cheers Damo.

 

[Muggus]

Beer: 8. DJR - APA
Date: 23rd August 2010
Details: 750ml bottled, gold cap 8, bottled 18.7.10
Sampling Notes:
Served in a pint glass.

Quite clear golden body from first pour, foam dissipates to a small persistent white head.

Moderately intense aroma; hops take front seat with bitter citrus, passionfruit, pepper and grass. Subdued malt in the background.

Medium-full palate with medium carbonation and a slight sticky oilness about it.

Bit of biscuity malt manifests itself upfront and holds on for the length of the palate. Notes of bitter orange, mown grass, pine needle and ripe tropical fruits in there. Drying finish with lingering leafy bitterness and hint of bread.

Seems like a good combination of hop to me; nice flavours. Could probably do with a bit more malt character, but enjoyable regardless. Cheers DJR

 

[Stuster]

Also drank DJR's APA. Really nice colour, a lovely rich bronze. Low carb. Fairly herbal aroma more than citrus to me, the hop flavour still has that slightly herbal flavour though with some citrus as well. Dry, with a dry finish. For my tastes, it could do with a bit more hop. I just had a look up which hops you used and I'm very surprised to see those two. No idea how that flavour came across as herbal then but that's what it seemed like to me. Interesting APA and all of it was drunk happily.

 

[white.grant]

No. 4 Pollux's IPA
27.8.10

Big fsst on opening, pours clear, copper with a rocky foam head dissipating but leaving enough of itself behind to lightly lace the glass. Aroma is not over assertively hoppy with sweet caramelly malt balancing nicely, very clean no yeast derived flavours that I can see. On the tongue, initially carb is very bright, you get a big mouthfull of hop flavour, then some complex malt, nutty bready, then rapidly the finish comes with a definite bitterness asserting itself; the finish is long and dry.

After a while warming in the glass, the carb settles down and the malt really starts to shine, there is a good balance twixt the malt and the hops, - bitterness aplenty but coupled to the malt bonanza its a really nice beer. Potent too...

Thanks Pollux.

cheers

grant

 

[BjornJ]

8. DJR - APA - loads of Weyermann Vienna, hops are Sauvin and Amarillo - bottled around 18/7 so will be good to drink around 7th Augus



Pours a great amber colour in a tall glass. Good tight head that leaves about an inch of foam all the way down the glass, nice lacing layers even.
Fresh and big hop profile, very much like a Golden Ale with the big Amarillo hit but even more hoppy tones and probably also more bitter.

I really liked it, would happily drink that one again anytime.


Thanks
Bjorn

 

[Gulpa]

No. 4 Pollux's IPA
27.8.10

Big fsst on opening, pours clear, copper with a rocky foam head dissipating but leaving enough of itself behind to lightly lace the glass. Aroma is not over assertively hoppy with sweet caramelly malt balancing nicely, very clean no yeast derived flavours that I can see. On the tongue, initially carb is very bright, you get a big mouthfull of hop flavour, then some complex malt, nutty bready, then rapidly the finish comes with a definite bitterness asserting itself; the finish is long and dry.

After a while warming in the glass, the carb settles down and the malt really starts to shine, there is a good balance twixt the malt and the hops, - bitterness aplenty but coupled to the malt bonanza its a really nice beer. Potent too...

Thanks Pollux.

cheers

grant

Enjoying this one now. Grant said it all mostly, Im getting a bit of earthyness as well in the aroma from the hop. Great effort. Thanks Pollux.

Cheers
Andrew.

 

[Pollux]

Glad to hear you both enjoyed it, might chill a bottle myself tomorrow...

 

[BjornJ]

Bottle marked "12. 27/6".
Definetly not beer number 12 which is Mrs Eyres Black Buste Porter.
No other label or anything on the bottle.

Not sure what has happened to the numbering here :lol:

The beer is VERY clear. Reddish colour, lots of foam that dies down to a ring that seems to stay forever even though carbonation does not seem all that high.
"Clear" as in I can watch TV through it. A little akward given that I have a long thin glass, but you get the drift, I am sure. ThirstyBoy would have used a technical term like "bright beer" for sure.

Is it an Irish Red, or an English Bitter? Hard to tell (for me).
Quite bitter initially but little or no hop flavour/aroma?
Has a slight smell of something I can't taste, smells slightly of ...something my kit beers used to have a lot of.
Maybe just a touch of something I am not sure of. Overall a good beer, wouldn't mind knowing how far away I was from the facts. Was it a light lager, no. Was it a porter, no. Anything in between? Quite possibly.

I'm rambling here..
It's a nice beer, thanks to whomever made it

Bjorn

 

[smileymark]

That will be mine. Label must of come of. Full marks! It was an English bitter and I am glad you enjoyed it.

Cheers.
Mark




My numbering! it was the date it was bottled and a batch identification code.

Cheers.



!

Bottle marked "12. 27/6".
Definetly not beer number 12 which is Mrs Eyres Black Buste Porter.
No other label or anything on the bottle.

Not sure what has happened to the numbering here :lol:

The beer is VERY clear. Reddish colour, lots of foam that dies down to a ring that seems to stay forever even though carbonation does not seem all that high.
"Clear" as in I can watch TV through it. A little akward given that I have a long thin glass, but you get the drift, I am sure. ThirstyBoy would have used a technical term like "bright beer" for sure.

Is it an Irish Red, or an English Bitter? Hard to tell (for me).
Quite bitter initially but little or no hop flavour/aroma?
Has a slight smell of something I can't taste, smells slightly of ...something my kit beers used to have a lot of.
Maybe just a touch of something I am not sure of. Overall a good beer, wouldn't mind knowing how far away I was from the facts. Was it a light lager, no. Was it a porter, no. Anything in between? Quite possibly.

I'm rambling here..
It's a nice beer, thanks to whomever made it

Bjorn

View attachment 40516

 

[BjornJ]

thanks Mark, it was a very nice and enjoyable beer.

I see you are in Manly, are you coming to the northern beaches brew meetup on Saturday?

thanks
Bjorn

 

[smileymark]

Will do my best!

I have got a friend in hospital So it depends on the visiting hours.

Cheers..

mark

thanks Mark, it was a very nice and enjoyable beer.

I see you are in Manly, are you coming to the northern beaches brew meetup on Saturday?

thanks
Bjorn

 

[smileymark]

The smell was from being left on its lees a little to long..
Cheers.

 

[barls]

just updated the wiki,
mines good to go. very tasty not enough smoke though

 

[Muggus]

Beer: 5. Thommo Bitter
Date: 31st August 2010
Details: 650ml bottle, bottled 23/7/2010, 5%
Sampling Notes:
Served in a pint glass.

Loud psst on opening. Just get it into the glass before it rushes out of the top of the bottle. Pours quite a clear copper gold body with creamy off-white foam that slowly dies down.

Nice aroma with grainy, cereal malts, hint of toastiness and bread. Bit of yeast derived spice and light ripe fruit esters too.

Medium/lean body, low carbonation, good lingering persistence spurred on by hop bitterness.

Sweet biscuity malts upfront on the body. Notes of pepper spice and leafy hop in there with a decent bitterness and lingering fruity esters.

Pretty good bitter. Drinks very well with nice flavour. Cheers Thommo!

 

[Muggus]

Beer: 1. Barls Smoked Belgian Dark
Date: 1st September 2010
Details: Label 750ml Chimay punt bottle. Bottled 5/6/2010
Sampling Notes:
Served in a pint glass.

Big points for the bottle and label. Class act really.
Loud uncorking, pours a hazy amber-copper body with uniform hazy and big fluffy orange-white head that takes its time going down. Foam slowly creeps out of the bottle outside my watchful eye kinda looks like a melting candle!

Pungent aroma. Decidedly spicy, earthy, somewhat phenolic with a smoky/metallic note to it. Hints of plum/prune and peppery alcohol in background.

Thick, rich palate, high carbonation with good persistence, alluding to a good whack of alcohol in there somewhere.

Less phenolic/earthy on the body, rather opening out with rich caramelised malts, date, plum and dried apricot fruitiness and woody spices and pepper that lingering with a warming caress of booze.

Certainly a unique brew. I was expecting it to be more smoky, bit of a shame, but certainly quite complex and tasty.
Excellent beer to mark the 400th homebrew sampling to date. Cheers Barls!

 

[barls]

thanks mugus. im a bit disappointed with the smoke level as well but am impressed with the rest of it though. will definitely have to brew this one again with more smoke. hmm what am i doing tuesday next week??? im off to check the smoke malt stock levels.

 

[Muggus]

thanks mugus. im a bit disappointed with the smoke level as well but am impressed with the rest of it though. will definitely have to brew this one again with more smoke. hmm what am i doing tuesday next week??? im off to check the smoke malt stock levels.

Should try some peated malt.
I put a fair whack of peated and rauch into a smoked ale recently...best of boths worlds really...bacony and whiskyish.

 

[barls]

i dont think the problem was with the amount of malt but how quickly it went from the smoker to the mash tun.
ive got plenty more to use so im going to just rebrew it as the recipe stands, then i can decide if it needs peated or not.