Paul Mercurio's Peach Beer
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Mercs Own
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OUCH! 
The rate beer review hurts a bit but I also cannot fault it. I just like those qualities more then the reviewer does.
It is funny how people react to the label and packaging. In true style some people hate it and others love it. I chose those colours so as to stand out from what else is in the fridge and be different. In fact when I decided to make the beer I decided that I may as well be different from what everyone else is doing. Novelty factor yes but still a worthy beer. So I went with the peach idea and also steered away from using a wheat yeast as I was concerned that the wheat yeast may add to the acidity - especially a wit yeast. Peach juice was a big unknown. How it would ferment out, how it would react with the yeast, what residual flavours etc
At the end of the day I am fairly happy with the product. I say fairly as it is a work in progress. The first brew - the one reviewed - contains 15% peach juice - which I think does over run the malt character of the beer and is strong on the acidity. The latest batch - not on sale yet as I still have 40 cases of the old stock to move - has a total Peach juice addition of 10% which has worked better and allowed the malt to come out more, the acid and tartness are still there but are a little more balanced.
The next brew I will adjust the finishing hops - add some extra and perhaps also look at adjusting the mash temp up another degree to encourage that malt sweetness that will counter the acidity and tartness that the peach contributes. I am toying with the idea of usingsome crystal to fill out the body question but I really like the colour as it is. Maybe some cara?
I currently use a london ale yeast - the same that Holgate use for their beers. It sits in my bottles a little more chunky for want of a better word where as in Holgates Macedon Ale it tends to dust a bit more - another variable affect from the peach.
So the recipe for anyone who may want to make it at home or even make comment on how I could improve it:
75% pale malt, 25% wheat, 10% depectinized peach juice two additions tettnang hops - bittering 60 mins aroma at turn off - London ale yeast fresh from the fermenter. Srm 4 ibu20 alc 5.5% from a total malt bill of 235 kilo.
Mullet says..."It annoys me that yet another new Australian micro beer is taking the novelty route as opposed to concentrating on making some good, solid beer, which is what the industry in this country so desperately needs" Paul says..What annoys me is when a new micro brewery brings out a clone of what is already available many times over. My mission is to engage, educate and push the boundaries of what people percieve beer to be and to encourage and enlighten people to what be beer can be.
I have a more mainstream style beer in the works that I hope will sit by the Peach Ale harmoniously well. But true to form it will be a little different and no it is not my much touted Pumpkin Ale!!
The rate beer review hurts a bit but I also cannot fault it. I just like those qualities more then the reviewer does. It is funny how people react to the label and packaging. In true style some people hate it and others love it. I chose those colours so as to stand out from what else is in the fridge and be different. In fact when I decided to make the beer I decided that I may as well be different from what everyone else is doing. Novelty factor yes but still a worthy beer. So I went with the peach idea and also steered away from using a wheat yeast as I was concerned that the wheat yeast may add to the acidity - especially a wit yeast. Peach juice was a big unknown. How it would ferment out, how it would react with the yeast, what residual flavours etc
At the end of the day I am fairly happy with the product. I say fairly as it is a work in progress. The first brew - the one reviewed - contains 15% peach juice - which I think does over run the malt character of the beer and is strong on the acidity. The latest batch - not on sale yet as I still have 40 cases of the old stock to move - has a total Peach juice addition of 10% which has worked better and allowed the malt to come out more, the acid and tartness are still there but are a little more balanced.
The next brew I will adjust the finishing hops - add some extra and perhaps also look at adjusting the mash temp up another degree to encourage that malt sweetness that will counter the acidity and tartness that the peach contributes. I am toying with the idea of usingsome crystal to fill out the body question but I really like the colour as it is. Maybe some cara?
I currently use a london ale yeast - the same that Holgate use for their beers. It sits in my bottles a little more chunky for want of a better word where as in Holgates Macedon Ale it tends to dust a bit more - another variable affect from the peach.
So the recipe for anyone who may want to make it at home or even make comment on how I could improve it:
75% pale malt, 25% wheat, 10% depectinized peach juice two additions tettnang hops - bittering 60 mins aroma at turn off - London ale yeast fresh from the fermenter. Srm 4 ibu20 alc 5.5% from a total malt bill of 235 kilo.
Mullet says..."It annoys me that yet another new Australian micro beer is taking the novelty route as opposed to concentrating on making some good, solid beer, which is what the industry in this country so desperately needs" Paul says..What annoys me is when a new micro brewery brings out a clone of what is already available many times over. My mission is to engage, educate and push the boundaries of what people percieve beer to be and to encourage and enlighten people to what be beer can be.
I have a more mainstream style beer in the works that I hope will sit by the Peach Ale harmoniously well. But true to form it will be a little different and no it is not my much touted Pumpkin Ale!!
First off Welcome to the forum Paul. I'm sure i'm just as jealous as many of the other posters are here thinking about the fact that you actually get to brew your own beer on a large scale and sell it. And as for the new brew system :super:
Pumpkin Ale? Now THAT sounds interesting, i'm not sure what joe public would think though, i think you might need a pretty good rep to get people to stock that one, although i'm sure it's delicious.
Hope to see you around some more, although between starting a brewing company and judging on TV, i'm sure your pretty busy.
Cheers and :beer:
Well that's certainly diplomatic and very fair of you Paul, i'll have to reserve my judgment until my first taste. Seems a few of us Brizzy people want a taste, maybe we'll have to get a private shipmentMercs Own said:
Geez, and you freely give away your recipe. Most people keep these pretty close to their chest. I wonder how many people have experience enough brewing peach beers to coment though... :blink:
What, not another micro aussie pale ale? <_<
Pumpkin Ale? Now THAT sounds interesting, i'm not sure what joe public would think though, i think you might need a pretty good rep to get people to stock that one, although i'm sure it's delicious.
Hope to see you around some more, although between starting a brewing company and judging on TV, i'm sure your pretty busy.
Cheers and :beer:
Dunkel_Boy
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Great post Paul, I wouldn't worry about what he said in the review.
I will make this up soon... what are you planning to mash at, 68?
The yeast will probably limit you... but you generally design a beer around your limiting factor. I'm glad the peach juice is de-pectinised, don't want any methanol in there!
The beauty of this forum is that you can throw a recipe up and 5 people will make it, maybe change one factor, and you can get all the feedback.
Best of luck.
I will make this up soon... what are you planning to mash at, 68?
The yeast will probably limit you... but you generally design a beer around your limiting factor. I'm glad the peach juice is de-pectinised, don't want any methanol in there!
The beauty of this forum is that you can throw a recipe up and 5 people will make it, maybe change one factor, and you can get all the feedback.
Best of luck.
Mercs Own
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Dukel, I already mash at 68 so I am wondering about going to 69 or 70 - exciting isnt it?!
Jgriffin, I dont know of many or any people that have done a peach beer maybe because it is not actualy all that suitable??! I dont know of any commercial examples besides the belgian styles which my beer is not akin to and which are often essence based.
Pyramid brewery in Seatle does an apricot ale which is quite good although the apricot is from an extract and is very perfumed something I could have done but didnt want to. The peach juice is fantastic but once the yeast gets through with it there is not much peach left.
And sadly yes I am working on a micro pale ale. If a peach ale is too much then a pumkin ale will be too so a micro pale ale will be next. Got to make sales and keep Mullet happy
Jgriffin, I dont know of many or any people that have done a peach beer maybe because it is not actualy all that suitable??! I dont know of any commercial examples besides the belgian styles which my beer is not akin to and which are often essence based.
Pyramid brewery in Seatle does an apricot ale which is quite good although the apricot is from an extract and is very perfumed something I could have done but didnt want to. The peach juice is fantastic but once the yeast gets through with it there is not much peach left.
And sadly yes I am working on a micro pale ale. If a peach ale is too much then a pumkin ale will be too so a micro pale ale will be next. Got to make sales and keep Mullet happy
johnno
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Hi and welcome to the board Mercs Own. Hope you stick around and make yourself a regular visitor to our little community.
I also started with a Coopers kit. I remember vaguely watching the video. I am embarassed to say I had no idea you were into homebrewing.
cheers
johnno
I also started with a Coopers kit. I remember vaguely watching the video. I am embarassed to say I had no idea you were into homebrewing.
cheers
johnno
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Got to say (ahem!) that I had the last peach ale for breakfast this morning, after a big night out (yeah yeah at Ding Dong, watching the Devastations, drinking Cooper's pale stubbies.And no I didn't pull)
ANYWAY I'm willing to testify it's better than orange juice the morning after. Last of the 4 I bought, will get some more ASAP.
jeez just read some of the other posts that have greeted paul/merc's own...we're a f^%&ing friendly bunch sometimes aren't we? what with rate beer...and really, but really, mullet, who EVER gets a "free pass" here? :blink:
pale or pumpkin..check your R Daniels boys..
Will edit this later on. Peach ale for brekky,
:super: and on HB all day...time for bed.
ANYWAY I'm willing to testify it's better than orange juice the morning after. Last of the 4 I bought, will get some more ASAP.
jeez just read some of the other posts that have greeted paul/merc's own...we're a f^%&ing friendly bunch sometimes aren't we? what with rate beer...and really, but really, mullet, who EVER gets a "free pass" here? :blink:
pale or pumpkin..check your R Daniels boys..
Will edit this later on. Peach ale for brekky,
:super: and on HB all day...time for bed.
Ross
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Mercs Own said:
mercs own - Ijust enjoyed a bottle of Baders golden Glory, brewed with extract of peach blossom - have you tried it?
http://www.beer-pages.com/notes/brewery.php?id=badger
good luck with your venture - every AGer's dream....
Dunkel_Boy
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Paul - I'll probably mash it at 67-68C, with 75% pale, 20-22% wheat and 3-5% carapils/caramalt... just will keep the colour down. Probably Amarillo I'll use, through the whole lot. And, London ale yeast... and 10% depectinised peach juice. Hopefully it will be drinkable! I'd buy those last 5 cases if you want to ship them up here?
voota
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Paul, you get get it distributed to King & Godferys in Carlton. They have a great range and the guy there said they move heaps of Aussie micros, they had sold out of Jamesons raspberry ale and the guy seemed pretty interested when I asked him to stock your beer, i'll stay on their back about it.
kook
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Mercs Own said:Pyramid brewery in Seatle does an apricot ale which is quite good although the apricot is from an extract and is very perfumed something I could have done but didnt want to. The peach juice is fantastic but once the yeast gets through with it there is not much peach left.
And sadly yes I am working on a micro pale ale. If a peach ale is too much then a pumkin ale will be too so a micro pale ale will be next. Got to make sales and keep Mullet happy
[post="52353"][/post]
Hi Paul, and welcome to the site.
I know this is completely off-topic, but I've cooked some of your beer influenced recipes from your website before, including making my own twists on them. The hoegaarden risotto is a regular I cook over here
I cannot speak for mullet myself, but as a ratebeer member I have to say that he was probably just trying to be as objective to his own tastes as possible. Everyone has their own tastes in beer, and it probably just didnt suit his. I think he is probably more acustomed to lambics when it comes to fruit beers.
I have to admit I have tried very few fruit beers I like that are not lambics. It will be interesting to see if i like it when i get a chance to try it.
Mercs Own
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Dunkel I look forward to hearing how it turns out. I am not a big fan of amarillo - although the Speculator down at the James Squire Brewhouse in Melb is certainly a favourite of mine and it has gobfuls of the stuff. Billy Bells wheat beer has a big handful also but I dont find it as appealling. It seems to be a hop that you use when you want people to know there is a hop in the beer. It is also fast becoming the "in" hop and so I am steering away from it. Oh and I will look into some shipping charges!!
Voota, thanks for the tip - keep asking them for it and I will look them up in the book - unles you can send me their phone number. Unfortunately the police department decided that they wanted to get my licence back off me for a little while due to me having a little tooooo much fun on my motorbike in a very quite and wide industrial back street - a strange place to have a speed camera I thought??! I will get up to see them in a couple of weeks.
Kook glad to hear you are enjoying the risotto and hopefully a couple of other recipes as well! I was holding beer dinners at a hotel in Melbourne last year. They changed hands and I am now investigating holding them elsewhere. I will let you know about them and if you cant make it you can always getthemoff the site.
Voota, thanks for the tip - keep asking them for it and I will look them up in the book - unles you can send me their phone number. Unfortunately the police department decided that they wanted to get my licence back off me for a little while due to me having a little tooooo much fun on my motorbike in a very quite and wide industrial back street - a strange place to have a speed camera I thought??! I will get up to see them in a couple of weeks.
Kook glad to hear you are enjoying the risotto and hopefully a couple of other recipes as well! I was holding beer dinners at a hotel in Melbourne last year. They changed hands and I am now investigating holding them elsewhere. I will let you know about them and if you cant make it you can always getthemoff the site.
Trent
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Paul
Welcome to the site, and good to hear that yer having success with yer brewing. I havent had the pleasure to try your beer, nor the pyramid apricot ale, but would have to suggest that you try and get your hands on a Magic Hat #9 from the vermont (US) brewery magic hat. It is also an apricot ale. I have tried quite a few apricot beers, and this one stands head and shoulders above the rest. Dunno if they use juice of fruit though.
All the best
Trent
Welcome to the site, and good to hear that yer having success with yer brewing. I havent had the pleasure to try your beer, nor the pyramid apricot ale, but would have to suggest that you try and get your hands on a Magic Hat #9 from the vermont (US) brewery magic hat. It is also an apricot ale. I have tried quite a few apricot beers, and this one stands head and shoulders above the rest. Dunno if they use juice of fruit though.
All the best
Trent
Ross
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Paul,
looking at your reply to the ratebeer review it would appear that you were not entirely happy with your product - is it wise to make your initial launch with a "work in progress" beer? It would appear to me you are in danger of putting people off your beer & damaging your chances of repeat business, while the people who enjoy the product will reorder to find the product has changed. I would have thought consistancy of product to be paramount?
I do wish you every success & I'm green with envy - just surprised that this ale seems to have been hurried out, but then maybe there were reasons this could not be avoided?
looking at your reply to the ratebeer review it would appear that you were not entirely happy with your product - is it wise to make your initial launch with a "work in progress" beer? It would appear to me you are in danger of putting people off your beer & damaging your chances of repeat business, while the people who enjoy the product will reorder to find the product has changed. I would have thought consistancy of product to be paramount?
I do wish you every success & I'm green with envy - just surprised that this ale seems to have been hurried out, but then maybe there were reasons this could not be avoided?
Mercs Own
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Trent, I have just had - two nights ago - a Magic Hat IPA. My sister is visiting from New York and brought me a selection of beers from Vermont as a birthday present. I enjoyed it very much! No Apricot ale though.
Ross, the beer wasnt rushed out to market we just didnt and dont have the funds or ability to do experimental batches of 12hectolitres. Doing 50 litre test brews is helpful but the scaling up to the 12 hec isnt that straight forward and there will always be variants. I could have chosen to wait a year and done alot of brews at home on my soon to be arriving mash system but my investors were pushing me to get it going. How often have you gone to a brew pub or a fellow home brewing mates place to taste their beer that was great the last batch only to find they have played or tweaked it yet again? I think this is the great thing about the micro brewery. We can tweak the product. I agree once we feel we have it exactly right that is the end of the tweaking process. I know from working with Paul Holgate and having a few drinks with the Mountain Goat that they are releasing product to the market and continue to tweak until they are happy. The realities of the commercial market are unless you have a large heap of money to burn you have to put the product out there. I discussed with my investor the possibility of not being happy enough with the beer do we dump it and start over. They supported the possibility and the loss of income if that was neccessary - thank fully it wasnt. The beer is good and even better getting better with each tweak.
I know of a micro that dumped 6 or 7 25 hec brews before they were happy with one aspect of it - now that is having a heap of money.
Ross, the beer wasnt rushed out to market we just didnt and dont have the funds or ability to do experimental batches of 12hectolitres. Doing 50 litre test brews is helpful but the scaling up to the 12 hec isnt that straight forward and there will always be variants. I could have chosen to wait a year and done alot of brews at home on my soon to be arriving mash system but my investors were pushing me to get it going. How often have you gone to a brew pub or a fellow home brewing mates place to taste their beer that was great the last batch only to find they have played or tweaked it yet again? I think this is the great thing about the micro brewery. We can tweak the product. I agree once we feel we have it exactly right that is the end of the tweaking process. I know from working with Paul Holgate and having a few drinks with the Mountain Goat that they are releasing product to the market and continue to tweak until they are happy. The realities of the commercial market are unless you have a large heap of money to burn you have to put the product out there. I discussed with my investor the possibility of not being happy enough with the beer do we dump it and start over. They supported the possibility and the loss of income if that was neccessary - thank fully it wasnt. The beer is good and even better getting better with each tweak.
I know of a micro that dumped 6 or 7 25 hec brews before they were happy with one aspect of it - now that is having a heap of money.
Dunkel_Boy
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Paul,
The plan was to keep a carton for myself, and give 2-3 to a local-ish bottleshop, a pretty high traffic one which stocks a lot of boutique beers. I hope that's legal, and since I'll be giving it to them free of charge, they shouldn't give me grief! That will leave me with one or two to give to Ross or somebody else. At least that's the plan...
Cheers,
Adrian
The plan was to keep a carton for myself, and give 2-3 to a local-ish bottleshop, a pretty high traffic one which stocks a lot of boutique beers. I hope that's legal, and since I'll be giving it to them free of charge, they shouldn't give me grief! That will leave me with one or two to give to Ross or somebody else. At least that's the plan...
Cheers,
Adrian
